Christmas!

We finally finished our trek and traded in the always-below-zero temperatures and ice and snow of IA for this:

And we got to meet our cute new nephew, Justin!

It was great to see all of our family (minus David in Tanzania :( ) and the kids were so happy to be with their grandpas and grandmas again. They were suitably impressed with all the decorations at Jeremy's parents, especially with the snowmen. They love snowmen!

We spent a lot of time going back and forth and trying to get at least one visit in with several people. We succeeded with some, and not with others. The kids didn't go to bed well the first night or two (Jaina -screamed- in anger) but they did a little better after that, and soon were sleeping normally. It usually takes a little adjustment. I look forward to when they're a little older, and sharing a room, and will sleep wherever we put them. Reilly is definitely getting there, and though I don't look forward to getting rid of her crib (she sleeps so well in it!) I know Jaina isn't far behind. Of course now we'll be adding a new baby to the equation, but hopefully he or she is more laid back about sleep than his/her siblings...

We spent some of Christmas Eve at the Kerrigans and finished up the evening singing some Christmas songs together. After the kids were in bed I think we tried to watch Miracle on 34th Street, but Jeremy and I were worn out and had to go to bed before it was half over. Pretty exciting, huh?
Christmas day was pretty crazy. We spent the morning with my family before Emily and Jason headed up to Jo City to do Christmas with his family and spend the second half of their vacation there. It was so good to see them! Other than a few hours in June, we hadn't seen them since last Christmas.

The kids got WAY too many presents from everyone (especially us) and we've decided to scale WAY back next Christmas, because we can't continue to deal with this huge amount of stuff.... It was a lot of fun though, and the kids had a blast opening all the presents both places.

My favorite part of Christmas morning might have been the waffles. We had waffles 3 or 4 times in the 2 weeks we were there and I love my dad's waffles.

About an hour before lunchtime we headed up to the Kerrigans for Christmas round 2. The kids were, of course, excited to open more presents with their cousins Chloe.

We had a fun afternoon and a delicious Christmas dinner there. We didn't take many pictures on actual Christmas day at either place. I'm hoping I took more video!

To see a lot more interesting versions of this group:

check out the "overflow" album on facebook HERE.