Sweet Sixteen : Phase 1 : Canyon Crew

My plane got in very, very late on Friday night. I knew it was going to happen, but didn't expect it to be 3AM before I arrived!!! Luckily, my cousin and her husband were up for picking me up (although if they had known my flight would keep getting delayed, they might have changed their mind)! It wasn't until I arrived to Dallas baggage claim that I realized my friend, Brennan, from church had been on my flight! Crazy! My family from Canyon, TX arrived to Dallas Friday night before I came in. My aunt, Becky, uncle, Chris, cousin, Nicole, her husband and their 4 kids all came. We missed cousin Amy and her husband, Nathan, who were stuck in Canyon due to the fact that she's basically 9 months pregnant (she'll be having a c-section next week as baby Jaxon is breech...keep them in your prayers!). We also missed cousin Christopher and fiance Abbey who were stuck in Iowa due to weather. But, the rest of us had a BLAST! It was two full days packed with lots of fun and entertainment.

All the "kids" and grand-kids stayed at Beth's house and the four grandparents were at my mom's house. I must say, I wake up a lot earlier in a house with 6 kids ages 10 and under! Saturday, we took it pretty easy in the morning. We did have a delicious breakfast including special chocolate brioche I brought from Levain in NYC...Beth made scrambled eggs to go along with it. After playing around the house all morning and getting everyone showered and dressed, some of us went ice skating at Plaza of the Americas in downtown Dallas - we figured it would be much less crowded than the mall rinks and we were right! It was a great place to go. Nicole's 3 oldest kids skated for the first time ever, while Beth, Nicole, and I had fun reliving our childhood memories of ice skating together.

Playing at Beth's house

Me dragging Beth around the rink

The newbies - they did a GREAT job!!

Beth & Nicole helping the littlest out

Saturday dinner brought White Christmas Chili at Beth's. Afterwards, we all piled in a rented 15-passenger van to go see Christmas lights! I provided snacks for that....a couple of boxes of Starbucks cocoa (so convenient since it comes with their cups with lids), cookies from Levain, and my family's favorite NYC popcorn. We had so much fun seeing lights. The Canyon crew was pretty impressed with Dallas lights...although, I think we ALL were. They've really started going crazy the past couple of years. The best houses are those set to music, which you can turn your car radio to. If you haven't see this yet, check out the youtube link below. It's pretty impressive (you'll have to tune out my family oooing and ahhing to hear the music). We also went by a house that was featured in the newspaper this year - whoa!! Talk about over-doing it. But, it was so over-done, that it was actually cool. This lady and her friends sit outside the house on Christmas Eve wearing Easter Bunny costumes and smoke cigars - weird, right? My family went back on Christmas Eve to witness this, but only saw one Bunny costume.

KayKay (my mom) our tour guide for the night

Big Daddy (cousin's hubby) - our driver for the night

Front Row - Cousins!

Middle of the van - Granny (aunt Becky), Pops (uncle Chris), and Ryder enjoy the lights.

Back of the van - Buster (my dad), Brian, and the Canyon kids...plus little Beau down there between Buster & Brian

We had to wake her up to see the lights - she wasn't so happy at first!

Crazy Liz's house

Coolest house ever...turn on your volume!

Sunday morning was church day. We all sort of split up to go to churches of our choosing. I went to my old church- PCBC- and Beth & Brian and fam came along since their church wasn't meeting. We took their kids to the nursery and brought Nicole's two oldest to Sunday School. Her 2nd grader made the coolest project in his class!!

Sunday afternoon was a trip to NorthPark mall for everyone except my mom and dad. We went to see the train show where Ryder & Beau had their very own train car on display (Brian buys them and proceeds go to Ronald McDonald House). We also went to see the short Scrooge play they put on there - really cute and funny! I also ran into a family from my church...in town for 3 days and already seen 2 people from my NYC church - crazy - although, maybe not so much since most of us are from Dallas.

The kids loved their train hats!

The toddlers squeezed into the back of Beau's stroller for a ride around the mall

Sunday night was a party at my mom's house. All the Canyon crew was there, plus my parent's mutual cousin, Susie, and her clan. It was a Christmas Party/Birthday party as it was also cousin Bella's fifth birthday! We had a great roast beef dinner and lots of fellowship. The BIG surprise was when a knock came at the front door and it was a REAL Santa who came in with candy for the kids and took pictures with them. The adults later learned that it was my Dad's idea and mom and Beth immediately jumped on it and bought a costume. Brian wrangled his friend, Matt, into wearing it. Matt loved the idea so much that it was his 3rd party as Santa and he had more to come! He did great and the kids loved it! The kids also loved opening all their gifts. The adults played the gift-exchange game. I made a cute "Taste of New York" basket for the exchange, which I filled with some little food items, such as a packet for make-your-own Serendipity Frrrrozen Hot Chocolate. My basket went over very well! I ended up with nice salt & pepper shakers which I really needed! After the party, Nicole and I went with our moms on a wild-goose chase for a last-minute gift for JB...a Fuzion scooter. They were sold-out ALL over Dallas. Luckily, Jason found one at a store on their way home on Monday!

Santa greeting the kids upon arrival

Birthday Girl with Santa

Jake with Santa

Nicole's Kids with Santa

Ryder & Beau with Santa

Kids opening their gifts - madness!

Moments before this pic was taken, even the toddler was mesmerized by the TV. What was on? The home shopping channel. What were they selling? Shower-heads. I guess the party was over!

The Canyon Crew left early Monday morning - we were sad to see them go, but can't wait for the next McCanstonwrightis Christmas in Dallas!

Adding to the chaos of the weekend, my parent's are keeping my uncle's birds for the week. I'm disgusted by them and shocked at how my mother has taken to them. This is her as the Bird Lady...