Ten on Tuesday

1. Here's our holiday card for those who haven't seen it:

(We took this while finding our tree for the year, courtesy of my fun selfie stick, lol.)

2. I meant to mention before...while we were at the Broncos game, Nathan and I noticed that the head cheerleader had short hair. It was actually a little weird...not in an "it looks bad" sort of way at all...just that we hadn't really realized before that all the cheerleaders (except for this one that we noticed) have long hair. Wouldn't it be cool if they all went together as a group and donated to Locks of Love or something similar? (Not judging or anything here...it was just a passing thought. :) It would probably bring pretty good publicity and all, too.)

3. Noah started his second semester at CEC today. I wasn't going to say anything, because it felt like bragging, but then I decided that really the only people reading this are grandparents anyhow, so it's okay. ;) Anyhow, I'm so proud of this boy. He got all A's in his first semester. And he took the placement tests again (as is required) and passed them all this time. Which means that he's now eligible to take college classes. (The placement tests are the actual ones that folks take in order to take classes at the local community colleges...which means that even though he just turned 14, he technically passed the tests to go to community college...which, honestly, makes me a little sad for our public school system.)

So. This term he'll have College Trigonometry (we skipped College Algebra, as we were told it would be basically a repeat of the algebra classes he's already taken), College English 101, College Computer Programming and Chemistry. The college classes only meet M/W/F, so he only has one class on T/Th's and it's in the afternoon. We're going to have to work on our new schedule a bit, lol. 

Furthermore, the advising guy tells us that Noah (having bypassed many of the high school classes) will actually have enough credits to graduate in three years (total...so when he's 16). We made sure he knows that we're in absolutely no hurry and are very open to stretching that and making it take longer.

(The real issue is the math, apparently. We'll have to get special permission in the fall for him to take his math class off-campus due to his age (by off-campus I mean at one of the community colleges...the actual campus/building of CEC is where they have most of their classes (yes, they bring in the community college professors to teach community college classes at CEC)), and he'll run out of community college math courses by spring of 2017. Hoping they're able to work something out before then.)

4. Noah's still growing! Oy. We hadn't been in to practice for a bit due to the holidays, but at Sunday's archery practice we realized his draw length definitely needs lengthening again.

It's a good thing the boy has his new bow that has much more range for adjustment. 

5. Realizing that we've seen a lot of movies in the past month or so. :) Big Hero 6, Mockingjay Part 1 (only the older two boys and me), the last Hobbit movie, and the latest Night at the Museum movie were all seen in the theaters. All have been pretty darn good. :) We've also watched dvds aplenty, with the most notable one (that we hadn't already seen) being The Lego Movie. Omg. Please someone get that song out of Asher's head. Please. ;)

6. Would it really be so difficult for sheet makers to put the size of the sheets on the tag? (And could they all standardize and put the tags in the bottom right corner or something so it's easier to know which way to orient the fitted sheet?)

7. Nathan saw this at the store last weekend and felt it was Micah's soul mate:

(It's a "Grumpy Cat" but Micah has declared that she's named "Fluffy" and is actually very happy. So there.) 

8. Santa delivered a Wii U and a Disney Infinity system to our house. I was skeptical, lol, but we've actually been having a good time with both. It turns out (though neither Nathan nor I was aware of this) that with the Wii U, five players can play at a time. So, we've been having some entertaining family game nights. :)

9. Wow. I really should sit down and go through all the things I've been pinning on my Pinterest account...course that's just going to add to my to do list, isn't it? ;)

10. In case you were wondering, I read 79 books during 2014. I'm working on a blog post with some of my favorites. Stay tuned. :)

Grandparent Visit

Catching up here... ;)

So, after the awesome Broncos game on Sunday, we spent the week enjoying grandparent time...playing lots of games in the warmth of our home, going out to dinner, going to the movies, etc. Amid all that, we also had a couple of special outings. 

First up, we signed up for another learn to curl class...but this time for all of us and at a more local place. The boys and Grandpa John all joined us on the ice (Grandma Nancy opted to watch since it hurt her back and, unfortunately, the throwing/helper stick was unavailable). I won't lie; there was some frustration involved, lol. But, in the end, everyone had a pretty good time. :)

This was Micah delivering the stone, with his brothers down the ice to sweep. After more practice, we played a couple of ends (just for fun), wherein Micah, Grandpa John and I totally won. ;)

And here we were at the end:

Later that day, we all went to the Candlelight Dinner Theater for a special showing of Miracle on 34th Street...complete with dinner, dessert, a toast, and party favors:

(Yes, Micah opted to wear his "fancy" clothes. Asher decided that a camouflage tee was dressy enough, lol.)

In any case, it was a fun show and a great time!

And then we went home for our (now) traditional chocolate fondue and midnight sparkling cider and watching of fireworks on tv. :) 

(Um, I wasn't fast enough to get a "before" picture, lol.) 

Whew. 

And then grandparents flew home Friday evening. :) 

And now we're getting caught up again...

Go Broncos!

As part of our Christmas gift from my lovely inlaws, we all attended the last regular season Broncos game yesterday at Mile High Stadium (yes, I know it has a different name officially...tough). With highs expected to be about freezing, we weren't sure how to best dress for the conditions so went with layers. It worked. We ended up rather warm for the first half and into the third quarter (our seats were south-facing, so we had plenty of sunshine and were thankful since that meant the snow and ice on our seats had melted already, lol). Once the sun went down, our layers went back on and we were happy to have them. :)

Here's Micah before the game started, sporting his knit hat, long underwear top and tee shirt while Asher attempts to block the sun. ;) 

Meanwhile, Noah used the time before kickoff to eat:

(That was about a quarter of a pizza. Don't tell him you saw this picture! lol)

I did, though, let Noah off the hook from being in our group picture by having him take the picture. I forgot my selfie stick...which was sad. (Noah thought this was quite alright and would have been mortified if I'd remembered to bring it, lol, though I did see others using one!)

And then they started the pre-game show stuff with the skydivers and tunnel and anthem and everything. :)

And we proceeded to watch the game and not take photos. ;) We had a really good time and were all very glad that the Broncos won...particularly since this is what happened any time the Raiders managed to do something constructive:

You can't really tell, but that's Micah yelling at the players. ;) Kid takes his football seriously.

And here's Noah pretending not to be having a good time and trying to get far away from me:

Noah and I actually had a great time chatting about the game and the stadium and laughing at the drunk group behind us. I think our favorite was when one of them loudly announced, "I like broccoli!" during a lull in the action. :)

(For what it's worth, though we were a little worried about the potential rowdiness of the crowd, the folks around us were pretty good this time. When Nathan and I went back in September, it was so warm that there was a LOT of drinking going on...leading to a lot of profanity and shouting. Yesterday's drunks, by comparison, were warm and cuddly for the most part...and sometimes entertaining.)

It was nice, also, that the Broncos dominated the game so had possession of the ball most of the time...which made for a quieter game. Micah and I had fun stomping and shouting when the Raiders had the ball (as instructed), though Noah stubbornly refused to so much as clap, lol. 

And here are a couple last shots, just because:

This last one was taken as we were walking back out of the stadium. :) We then made our way to the busses which took us to our cars so very efficiently...that's definitely the way to go if you're thinking of trying to park near the stadium, folks.

And that was yesterday. :) Boys are now playing one of our new board games with grandparents and we're all looking forward to the rest of their visit.  

Gifts given

While my guys are busy in the other room playing with their new toys (we're taking things in turn...they get to play, then they must take a break and clean, lol), I thought I'd do a quick post about some of my favorite gifts this year...gifts given, that is. :) 

I'm feeling more blessed than usual this holiday season...realizing how fortunate I am not only to have received gifts but to have been able to give them. So. I thought I'd share some of my favorites...

For their friends this year, my boys opted for an experience together rather than tangible gifts. Love this, as we've been trying to emphasize experiences over stuff. :) So, here are the six young men I spent the day with a few days before Christmas:

Took them to Loveland Laser Tag for the day, where they thoroughly enjoyed unlimited laser tag, laser maze and climbing wall plus the $10 arcade pass and one time through the ropes course. I'm sure the fact that I fed them throughout and stopped for frozen custard on the way home didn't hurt either, lol. They were all (even my guys) so appreciative and happy...they kept thanking me and smiling. I really feel like I got the gift though...look at these friends--so close and so happy together. Thankful for beautiful relationships!

And then there was one of the gifts I sent my 93 year old grandma...

When I asked her what she wanted for Christmas, she promptly said, "John Wayne." So that's what I sent her. :) According to my sister who took this picture for me, Gram said, "This takes the cake." As part of the back story...Gram loves John Wayne (obviously), and we've all been building her dvd collection over the years. As we're running out of those, I took this route this year. :) At 93, I don't know that there are that many other things that could make my Gram smile like that, lol...what a wonderful gift to have been able to do that. 

For nieces and nephews, I take the money route. But, so as not to be too horribly boring, I tried my hand at some money origami this year. Clockwise from the top left, that's an armadillo, an elephant, a butterfly, a ring and a turtle. For what it's worth, I think the armadillo turned out the best, lol. I'm hoping they enjoy spending the money as much as I enjoyed thinking of each of them as I folded these...

(I tried to match the origami to the recipient and stuff they like, though I admit that the armadillo was pretty random, lol.) 

And, in keeping with the experiences theme, we asked the boys to each think of something we could do together as their gifts to us. Micah decided to put on a play for all of us using his stuffies (and enlisted Asher's help). I won't give away the story (as he's planning a repeat performance when grandparents get here) but it was sweet and just the type of gift I love. :)

(Okay, I realize that one wasn't a gift I gave. ;) But I had a picture and wanted to record it somewhere. Deal with it, lol.) 

And this year, I even managed to get back to making things, as I put together an album of Micah's stuffies...with a page for each stuffie including a picture, his/her name and his/her birthdate. I love that even at these ages I can still make something that they truly appreciate.

I missed the picture where he hugged it to his chest but was warmed inside as he discovered that even their birthdays were included. I also had to laugh as he was trying to figure out when (and where) I'd taken all the pictures. (We then reminded him that he's out of the house one day a week at Options, lol.) Happy sigh. :)

There were other gifts that I loved giving as well, but this was a sample and I wanted to remember because the giving this year was special. 

So blessed.  

Christmas thoughts

1. Since I know some of you were wondering...Noah's were prime numbers, Micah's were even numbers and Asher's were the odd numbers that weren't prime. :) (I grouped them in three's, though, to throw them off...so 47, 48, 49 for instance. Boys thought one of them got the 40's.) Is it wrong that I got so much pleasure out of watching them try to figure that out? ;)

2. Must note here that I'm thankful that my boys aren't early risers. While I saw many Facebook posts about parents being woken in the wee hours of the morning, mine all agreed the night before that we would all meet up in the front room to open packages at 9am...and that we were welcome to wake them at that point if they were still asleep (which wouldn't have been out of character). (For the record, they were all awake on their own and everyone waited patiently. Love that they're old enough for that.)

3. Wow. The younger two have much quicker reflexes than the rest of us, particularly on video games. Enough said. (It could also stem from less caution. Just sayin' lol.)

4. Hooray for a white Christmas! (The snow's coming down and finally sticking!)

5. More to say, I'm sure, but off now to enjoy this leisurely day with my guys...

Happiest of holidays to you and yours!