The Miles' Trio: Our "First" First Christmas

   Let's rewind approximately two weeks... the girls had their "first" First Christmas at Grandma and Papa Miles! We drove down to Rolla on Thursday afternoon/evening/night and stayed until Monday. We found that KC - specifically Aunt Hilary's house - makes a perfect pit stop, so we invaded her house both on the way down and on the way back home. The girls needed to stretch and expend some of their everlasting energy!
   On Friday the girls got to go to school down in Rolla - they were a hit (was there any doubt) with all the teachers, and the kids for that matter. Favorite comments: "look at all the twins" and "look, there are three triplets" (thank goodness we only have triplets and not nonuplets - had to look that one up!). We also visited where Papa works (Key Sport) and got to go in back and meet everyone. I think the girls like to put on a show...
   Saturday brought lots of family to town... Aunt Parilee (all the way from Atlanta!), Aunt Mary Jo, and Uncle Jim all drove down from St. Louis, and then Uncle Greg, Aunt Amy, and cousins Margaret and Katie came down from Marshall, Mo. Of course Aunt Hilary and Uncle Henny (we're working on a name for Jeremy since we know there's no way they're going to be able to say that one for awhile) were there as well! The girls loved having so many people to play with... I think they impressed everyone with their eating skills (lots of meatballs, mac and cheese, and frozen peas were eaten for lunch). What can we say, the girls love their food! They also got to open presents for the first time. Not surprisingly - they preferred the paper! All in all, it was a wonderful day - and by the end of it Ryann had another tooth (which explained some of her diapers - whew!)!
   On Sunday - the girls had their first, first Christmas! Santa must have been preoccupied, because I don't think there's anyway they were that good all year! ha! We won't use the word spoiled, instead, I'll just say they are very, very, very loved! The two most favorite gifts? The choo choo wagon (picture below) from Papa and Grandma and the Hippo ball tosser (for eye-hand coordination) from Aunt Hilary. Both were played with all day! The best part - we stayed in our PJs ALL DAY!
   The weekend passed too quickly and then it was time to head home. We decided to tackle the drive home the same way we did on the way down. So we left shortly after lunch (around 1:30) and headed to KC... in the rain. Got to KC without any problems, girls slept most of the way, though the last 30 minutes or so were a little trying for mama sitting in the back trying to entertain three little munchkins! At Aunt Hilary's the girls played, ate a little dinner, played some more, and then we headed out about 6:30 or so... in the rain. Girls had their bottle and then fell asleep - they were exhausted from the weekend! When we were about to St. Joseph - all the sudden we hit sleet/snow... we called to see if this was going to last the rest of our trip (if so we were going to get a hotel room), but we were good to go about 15 miles further north. In fact, things were going great until we were about 25 minutes from home... when we got a FLAT TIRE!!! Not cool. Especially not cool in a new car. Trav (daddy) was our hero, we got the manual out, located the jack and the tire, and he got it changed - while the girls and I partied in the back of the van... ugh. Not the greatest ending to our trip since it added almost an hour to our trip (figuring out how to lower the tire from under the van was a little time consuming), but all in all, a great First, First Christmas!