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!

I take it back

Apparently, putting the gifts under the tree sooner than Christmas Eve would not work. :) I'm basing this off of the drama currently happening in my front room as Micah literally pounds the floor in a mock tantrum demanding that I tell him what's in the presents. Hee hee.

To be fair, I'm kinda mean. (See last Christmas) I find it much more entertaining to *not* label the gifts traditionally. 

This year, three of the piles are labeled with character names from three of the boys' favorite shows...with no indication as to which boy goes with which pile (or even if the piles should stay together). The rest are all labeled with seemingly random numbers...like 47, 48, 49, 7, 8, 9 and so on. I have given them the following hints:

• Asher is not Tony.
• Micah's will be the easiest to sort out.
• Gifts with numbers in the 20s are from Asher...in the 30s are from Micah and in the 50s are from Noah. (Yeah, that's what you get if you don't wrap the gifts to your brothers yourselves, so there, lol.)

This has not appeased the boys. ;) 

Bwaaahahaaaa!

Late night "night before Christmas Eve" thoughts...

1. My cards and packages are all in the mail! (The packages actually went out early last week, so I'm totally good.) 

2. I'd like to point out that my cards are NEW YEAR'S cards, not Christmas cards. They have been for years, as they generally wish you a happy or lovely or joyous coming year. So. They're not late. Ha. :)

3. Do you give gifts to your neighbors? According to Pinterest, everyone does, lol. Just curious if that's true in real life. ;) We always have...but only the nine or so neighbors that we actually know and talk to somewhat regularly. I really love our neighborhood, though some years the extra work of putting together neighbor gifts is just one more thing, kwim? 

4. To that end, I *had* a plan for this year. But, in the end, we reevaluated our time and such and went with an old standby recipe that was easier. Got half of them delivered in the wind this morning...will try for the rest again tomorrow.

5. Growing up I remember there always being gifts under the tree throughout the holiday season...more were added as they were wrapped. Traditionally, for us, I end up not wrapping things till the last few days and then putting everything for the boys under the tree at once. (When they were younger, this was partially to keep boys from opening things early, lol.) What do you do?

6. I'd really like to put things under the tree sooner from now on. Gonna work on that. :)

7. Is it just me, or do there seem to be more movies in the theater that I actually want to see than normal right now? :) 

Feeling incredibly blessed this year and less stressed than normal. If I've completely forgotten something, please don't tell me. ;)