Christmas is Over.... Ho Ho Ho....

I'll apologize now for any typos and will proof read this later (too tired now)....

While of course I am quite sad that another Christmas has come and gone....  I am also happy to settle back down into "normal."  We can escape our routine for a day or two, but we have been going and going for days now with no naps.

Thursday night, we joined my Aunt & Uncle, their kids and their adorable grandbaby for dinner.  We had a WONDERFUL time and I have to say these types of events are getting easier as the triplets no longer require constant supervision and hand holding.  The food was great and it truly was special.  Of course, the kids didn't get to bed until 10:30.

Friday, we woke and I honestly can't recall what all we did during the morning, but at 1:30 we started getting ready for Church.  We had to be there at 3:15 in order to get a seat for the 4:00 service.  This of course meant no time for naps.  The nursery was closed so we also had to cope with Cody during Mass, but he was pretty good and it was lovely.  This was the children's mass, so during the homily they invited all the kids up to the front.  Jadon was tired and reluctant to go, but he went and halfway through the homily started crying and returned to his seat.  The Church is always so beautiful during the holiday season.  After church we headed over to my parents house for dinner and the annual Christmas ornament opening from GG (Great Grandma).  David, Kerri, and Lane arrived about 7:00 and we sat down to dinner.  When we felt everyone was tired of us (we are a three ring circus), we headed home and put the kids straight to bed.  Of course, after we had them all down we realized we had forgotten to put out milk and cookies for Santa, so we got them all up again, took care of Santa and then put them back to bed again.  Then I began stocking stuffing...

We woke the kids about 7:00 (normal time) and opening stockings and fed them breakfast then loaded the car with gifts and headed over to my parents.  From that point... it's just a blur....  it really was chaotic with soooo many kids and soooo many toys requiring batteries.  Jadon doesn't handle routing changes and chaos well, so he was crying quite a bit.  When all the gifts were opened, we layed the kids down in front of Dora and the adults ate a quiet meal in peace.  BEAUTIFUL... then it was back to kids.  When we got home, I worked to get the house back under control and we WORKED HARD to get the kids down.  OMGosh.... they were very tired and very emotional!!!  It was a rough evening and I was happy to see their little heads hit the pillows.

We woke at 7:00 Sunday and started getting ready for Church.  My Mom was sooo happy to have all of her kids and grandkids with her.  Once again, the nursery was closed so we wrestled Cody, but he was pretty good again.  After Church, we took the kids to lunch and attempted naps (it was too early) to no avail, then headed over to my parents (yes again) for the extended family Christmas party.  My Mom put out a spread you would not believe (She truly is AWESOME)!!!  We exchanged gifts and once again went home with exhausted kids...  and exhausted parents...

While it was busy, crazy, and tiring...  it was also MAGICAL, FUN, HEART WARMING, AND JUST PERFECT and I owe so much of the experience to my Mom who worked very hard to take care of the details and the food.

In the end, Addison got her Jessie with a String, Kaylee got her Unicorn Pillow Pet, and Jadon got his 10 teddybears and Cody, well he just attempted to take their toys away (ha).

Not everyone appreciates me having a camera attached to my face all the time, so I took very few pictures and focused on family rather than shutter speed and aperture, but here are a couple pictures I was able to get.