Dallas Christmas, Part 1

This year we spent Christmas in Dallas at my Mom's house. We try to take turns for holidays with Matt's family each year, but it has gotten tricky over the past couple of years with newborns and surgeries. I'm confused where we even stand on the schedule. But since Christmas Eve & Day fell on a weekend and Matt was given time off during the week for those days, we decided that it made more sense to take the longer amount of time since Dallas is about twice as far. (We will head to Austin soon for Christmas with his side of the family).

Anyway, we decided to take off on Thursday to give us a little extra time before the madness began and get the babies settled. Good choice. The babies actually did really well in the car, not too much crying and alternating sleeping and watching movies. I am still a little scarred from our foray to Alabama when they were just a year old (not our smartest move) so I was a tad nervous. But they did really well - and we even took them to Chili's on the way - first time we've been in a restaurant just the 4 of us in months and months. Not that they aren't good at restaurants, but it's just, ummm, stressful, at this age. They are well-behaved and do not cry or anything like that. But they are a tad high-maintenance and Matt & I typically alternate shoveling down food and pulling crayons out of babies' mouths. Not exactly a cool way to spend money. But they were angels at Chili's. Christmas miracle?

Anyway, we finally made it to Gigi's late afternoon and got them all settled and unpacked. Again, it's always a little stressful to go into a different environment and find out what all they can reach that we need to re-org or put away. There are A LOT  of "Noooooo, don't touch that precious antique." "Noooooo, stay away from the ornament." Or my new favorite, "Slow your roll" (especially to Ryan). My mom's house has these step downs into the living room and there literally is zero transition - same wood floors from the step up to step down, so the babies had no real depth perception that they were about to go flying.

Ryan, all wound up from sitting in a car for hours, hit those step downs going 100 miles an hour and face planted at least 8 times. I just knew we were going to be hitting up the ER that night. Quinn, on the other hand, watched by example, face planted a single time, and then daintily took the step downs for the rest of the time. Eventually Ryan got the hang of it too - right as I was pouring my first glass of wine to ease my nerves. He spent the rest of the trip slithering down those steps from a mile away to ensure his precious head stayed intact. Stitches avoided that night.

We ate a low key dinner with Mom & Steve (Papa Murphy's - oh my, Houston needs this!), chatted for awhile and hit the sack.

Friday we had a HUGE day planned. At least for us. First up was a playdate with 2 of my oldest friends from Sting Soccer days - Mel & Ashley and our kids. Melanie has a "Quinn" (2 1/2 yrs), twin boys (15 months) and is pregnant with 1 more due in February. She is my hero! She was nice enough to host our little playdate complete with bagels, coffee, and plenty of toys for the kids to go crazy with. And Ashley brought her precious new little girl (4 months old) who I hadn't met yet and was dying to hold. Sweet, sweet baby. Almost made me want another one. Almost. Not quite. Anyway, the guys hung out while the girls chatted, the moms (my mom and Mel's mom) caught up, and the kids went nuts. Thanks for having us, Melanie, and sharing these fun pictures!

Big Girl Quinn and baby Quinn

Quinn playing with the boys. Lord, help me.

Lots of excitement for Wesley Ann

Sweet girl!

The kids did so well playing together!

Tent time

See - Ryan is out of there & Quinn is chilling with the boys. Yikes.



This was another Christmas miracle - kids and moms all looking at the camera. Only 2 takes thanks to the daddys' help!



After their very busy morning, the twins were ready for lunch and a loonggg nap. Since they typically take 2 naps a day, it's always an interesting day when they just have 1. Anyway, they slept for awhile and I was even able to catch a bit of a nap and recover from the pack/drive/unpack/setup.

Next stop was our matchmaker's Lisa & Adam's house to see their family. We hadn't seen them since our day trip to Galveston so I was so excited. Lisa and I speak all the time but nothing like catching up in person!

We let all of the kids play for a little while (she has 3 little girls, Grace, Emma & Layla) while the grown ups caught up and had a glass of wine (are you seeing a pattern?). Anyways, we also managed to take a fairly decent group shot of the kids. Ryan is such a stud with the ladies all around him : )




Layla, Emma, Ryan, Grace, and Quinn

  We spent a little bit of time there, then headed back to Gigi's to feed the babies some dinner & get them bathed before having a little adult night out with Lisa & Adam. On our way in, we ran into my brother and Christina, who were in from Austin and on their way to a friend's house. So we said a quick "hi", let them kiss the babies, and we were all off and running again. We met Lisa & Adam at a delicious sushi place in Frisco (name is escaping me) - oh my, it was so good. And it was so good to have adult conversation and not have to yell over babies. After dinner, we headed to the Cheesecake Factory for dessert. Lis ran into a friend of hers who just happened to have read my blog during Quinn's surgeries and recovery. Small world! And we even managed to take a couple of pictures to document the evening out because lord knows when we may be able to do that again!

 We got home late, late (for us) and immediately crashed. The day had completely caught up to us but it was so worth it to see some great friends and just enjoy the day! Big thanks to Gigi & Steve for watching the babies and to Lisa's mom for watching the 3 little girls so we could have a nice night out. That was a GREAT Christmas present.

Next up: Christmas Eve & Christmas Day.... for another post...another day : ) Oh, and Lord, more pictures!