Busy, busy, busy

Well, we have been busy to say the least, these last few days. They have been great days though. There have been so many potentials for disaster, and we have survived them all! On Friday, we headed to Philadelphia with the O'Reilly clan to visit Grandpa's office, see the light show at the Wanamaker building and tour the world's (well, our world) largest gingerbread house at the Ritz Carlton! It all started with one of the best parts... a train ride! The kids loved being on the train, and despite some cold wind and rain, did remarkably well.

We rushed home so I could drop the girls off with the babysitter to head to cheerleading practice. The ladies were not that happy. That was nothing compared to an hour later when I return from practice in a whirlwind, get dressed, and another babysitter shows up for the evening shift! Ugh. Now they really were not happy. They usually love Gwen, but tonight they wanted Mommy. I don't blame them. Bridget, of course was a star. She smiled and laughed all night. She was a joy for everyone to pass around. At the end of the night Mags collected everyone's purses and was carrying them around. It really was too cute. For being such a tomboy, she loves dress up and doll babies.

Saturday was Christmas at the O'Reillys. It started with church at 9:00am. We made it... on time too! The girls were adorable during church. We even got a few compliments on how well behaved the girls were (we were in the front row on display for everyone to see us slip up if we did). I sure am proud of the girls when they are on their best behavior. We try our best, but the best ain't always good enough!

We had breakfast then sat down to open the kids gifts. Once again, everyone was too generous and the girls got way too much. They really did love it. They especially loved sharing it with their cousins. They played so well together (There was one little slip up where Maura said Caitlin was no longer her cousin...ugh!). Other than that, the kids were fantastic. We packed up and came home to get ready to start all over the next day.

Today we headed to my p's for the day. We exchanged gifts there. Maggie say OOOHHH! very loudly when she opens up a gift. She even got excited about the clothes she got and wanted to try it on right away. Maura was not as thrilled by the clothes. Of course, the highlight was seeing their cousin Ryan. they always love seeing him and he is so good with them even though he is so much older. After a great afternoon there, we rushed out to stand in the back of the back of the lobby of church for Christmas mass. It was only 45 minutes long though... not bad, then over to the Smith's for our "annual" gift exchange with them. All the girls get along so well together. It really is a pleasure to visit with them. They go off and have so much fun. We are able to sit down and have adult conversation (with an occasional interruption here and there).

On our way over to the Smiths we saw three deer... I mean reindeer in the road. It was a great way to start off Christmas eve night. We told the girls they were out checking who was awake and who was asleep. M & M wanted to go to bed right then, but were easily swayed to visit the Smiths first. On the way home we talked about all the fun things we were going to do. The girls were so excited to cone home and sprinkle reindeer food on the front lawn, leave out cookies and carrots for Santa and his crew, read The Night Before Christmas, and finish breaking the pieces off the Christmas Countdown chain. Maura was so excited. As soon as Sean finished the story Mo said, okay lets go to sleep. I laid in bed with her for a while. About 5 minutes passed and we heard jingle bells ringing. There was no reaction from Maura for about 30 seconds. I thought she may have fallen asleep. She then jumped up, turned toward me and whispered, "Do you think that was Santa?" It was indeed. We decided he was on his way over but saw we were not asleep and kept going to Isabel and Chloe's house. Maura said, stop talking, we have got to go to sleep. Within 4 minutes she was sound asleep.

All the girls are asleep upstairs, Jameson is asleep on his couch, and Sean is asleep in his chair. It sure is nice and peaceful. As i enjoy this peace, I am also ready for the craziness of tomorrow. It really is getting more and more fun each year to celebrate the holidays. The eyes of a child are priceless!