It's 8 o clock and I am the only one up!

We've been in Michigan visiting my extended family for Christmas and it has been SO MUCH FUN! The crazy part is--if you know my kids--they almost never sleep past 7:00, even when they stay up late. We've been keeping them so active and up so late for the past three days they've been sleeping in until 9:00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is so unheard of for us.

We got here on Christmas day with a very nice and uneventful drive to get here. Everyone was quiet and relatively peaceful. Once we arrived here the partying began and almost literally hasn't stopped. We're staying with my dad's parents (my mom, dad, and brother were here too, but left yesterday) and I have a relatively big family so there are people (and especially kids to play with) around pretty much all the time.

We ate Christmas dinner and then the crazy fun began. We always have a white elephant gift exchange among the adults with lots of stealing. The kid's "bedroom" is in the finished basement with the ping pong table and area for running around and building forts, etc. so they really couldn't go to sleep until everyone left so most night they've been going to bed around 11:00.

The next day was spent relaxing at my grandparents house with just the core of us who were staying here. We watched cable and played ping pong and took a nap. That evening we got dressed up to celebrate my grandparents 60th anniversary (their 50th was just the day before we got married) by surprising them with a stretch limo (for all 26 of us) to take us to dinner. The kids' favorite part was playing games on some of my family members iPhones and getting to walk around while the car was moving--NO seatbelts, mom! We drank champagne and wine and had a great time getting to the restaurant. When we got back to their house at 10:00 p.m. we ate cake that my aunts and cousins made before we crashed.

I'll post the rest of our weekend later. Kids are waking up.