Pinch Me!

Over the years I've become an avid Broncos fan, and all-around football fan.  There's nothing better than lounging around the house on a Sunday afternoon watching the games and snacking!  My go-to favorite - some homemade green chili.  After last year's disappointing devastating loss that put Steve into a depression causing him to ban playoff football in our house for the rest of the season, we were excited, yet nervous to cheer our Broncos on again!

 

It's always more enjoyable to watch the game with other fans, so we had little parties for the two playoff games.  It was fun to have the kids play, while we actually were able to watch a little football.  There's nothing like having your team going to the big dance - the hype around the city, the kids' schools, and everywhere in the media.  We'll be in our home, just a lazy Sunday, cheering on our team like usual but hoping we'll be celebrating afterwards in a big way.

 

 

Even Adaley has become a fan......

*I'll make sure to get some pics of the kids in their gear this weekend.  I never thought of breaking out the camera during the game - I may be banished!

GO BRONCOS!

A Little Sophistication

This year I was faced with the possibility of taking my girls to the Nutcracker Ballet.  Now, I'm not one who particularly enjoys ballets, and I was honestly somewhat dreading the day they'd ask to go.  Then we were stumped on what to get our tween niece for Christmas when we're so out of the loop.  I wanted to do something with her (back to our "stuff" post), so I thought I could stomach men prancing around in tights for a couple hours, since she loves the Nutcracker.  So we went out to a hip restaurant for lunch before heading to our nosebleed seats at the ballet.  It was, surprisingly, lots of fun and such a nice time to spend with Kenz.  She is such an amazing kid in every way - she's so sweet and will play with our girls for hours.  She's never "too cool" for anything!  

Our Instagram Selfie (such a hip aunt)

Brooklynn was invited to a roller skating party at school, and since she had never been before and her reputation was on the line (haha) we thought we should do a trial run the weekend before.  So Kenz came up to join us.  Again, she was never embarrassed by her hunched-over, wall-hugging aunt or her 5 year-old cousin struggling to get it down.  We had so much fun again with Kenz and hope we can do more skating trips!  

#mylittlesweetskaters (really cool aunt now)

Our Christmas

When we Santa was contemplating on gift ideas for the girls, we decided we were so sick of the "stuff".  Last year we felt like we went to Toys R Us and just grabbed stuff for the girls knowing we needed to get them more "stuff", and there's only a toy or 2 they still play with.  Having 3 girls compounds the problem even more - there's no variance in toys, because they're all girly - Barbies, dolls, doll accessories....yuck!  So we decided we wanted to do something - make some memories!  We found out Brooklynn has a long Presidents' Day weekend, so why not head to Florida and visit Steve's grandma and throw in a few days at Disney?  

I absolutely love the commercial where the dad tells the kids they day they leave, but I knew that wasn't an option since it was a Christmas gift.  We didn't go into it with a lot of expectations, because we knew they're pretty young and still don't understand the magnitude of Disney World.  So even after opening all Disney - shirts, dresses, and scrapbooks, they still had no idea.  So we set-up a scavenger hunt with clues involving Disney themes to find out their gift.  They loved the hunt and were pretty excited to find out they were headed to Mickey's home.  (See video below).

Now the waiting game (the toughest part).  We are all so excited to get there already!

New Minnie dress

 First clue

 Picture & autograph scrapbooks

Here's the girls finding their last clue on our Mickey decoration.  I know it's somewhat long and a little uneventful, but only it sunk in they really were excited!  Disney, here we come!

Christmas Time!

So all the anticipation and excitement led up to these few days of fun!  We were lucky enough to spend a lot of time with Carrie, Josh, and Callen and Steve took a lot of time off work, so we had lots of family time.  Christmas Eve was the usual Wesling tradition, but we added another bundle to the craziness this year!  The girls were so excited to hang out with Callen and play with him.  

We started the afternoon making gingerbread men, and the girls loved putting their creativity juices to work, while Callen enjoyed bouncing around.

 Apparently you can never overdo it!

 And then onto presents.......

New sledding gloves (now we just need some snow)

 Bug pondering her next move......what shall I destroy?

 Carrie & Josh helping the girls figure out the marshmallow guns.  Uh oh!

 Birthday cake for mommy!

 After a late evening we had to get home to write Santa a note and leave some cookies and milk.  (Then Steve and I had to get to business.  Christmas Eve is a little crazier with kids and making sure you're sneaky).

Brooklynn writing her note

 The girls actually had trouble falling asleep because of the excitement.  This was the first year we've experienced this, and I'm sure it's not going to get any easier.  Luckily they didn't wake up until after 7, but I'm sure that'll change too.  Maybe spiked coffee next year!

Stocking time!

 Who doesn't love pink sparkly boots?

 Getting decked out in Disney gear.  Hmmmm......why could that be?

 Their "real" gift from Santa came after with a scavenger hunt.  (Video to come)

The girls actually bought their own gifts this year at Brooklynn's school's Santa shop with their piggy bank money.  It was sweet to watch them get excited about giving this year.  I'm always worried about raising spoiled brats, so it made me feel like we must be doing something right.

Our annual donut-making tradition

 Even Addy was in the spirit this year

 Later that afternoon we drove to mom's.  Chandler slept the whole way there and then more at mom's house.  We figured she was just wiped, but we dragged her down for gifts.  A few minutes later - projectile vomiting all over me!  Worst Christmas present ever!  So she spent the afternoon cuddled in my lap.  (No one else puked, and she was done, so maybe it was all the excitement and hype.  Christmas is no joke to these kids).

 The lynn ladies - Brooklynn & Braelynn

 The twins (one 30 years older)

So, in 2 days - 1 puker, many glasses of wine, lots of laughs, and a Disney trip!  Whoa!

Dance Videos

Here they are:  (Don't mind the poor videography)

And Chandler's

Christmas Time!

I've decided to post one jam-packed blog entry with all the Christmas activities we did.  This month seemed busier than ever, with school parties, friends' & family parties, and still trying to squeeze all the light tours the girls always enjoy.  So here it is!

Our gingerbread house we made at Andrea & Tracy's party.  They actually made the gingerbread homemade, so it was a real treat!

Rolling out our own cookies - such good helpers!  I foresee a couple bakers in the future.

Cookie decorating party at Grandma Betsy's with lots of cousins!  

 Even Adaley joined in (notice her missing limb on the cookie...hmmmm......)

And more cookies.......

Steve's work's vendor hosted another party at the Botanic Gardens, with yummy foods and a fun light tour.  The weather was absolutely beautiful!

Bug enjoying the treats!

Chandler's Christmas program was cute (as always).  It's so fun to see these kids perform for the first time in their little Christmas outfits.  When Brooklynn had her program 2 years ago, her classmate starting yelling at the audience and flipped out (poor Brooklynn didn't know what to think).  This year Chandler was placed next to his younger brother, and he almost lost it.  Whew!

Our little Rudolph

Chandler and her BFF Taylor being silly girls

Right after Chandler's program I had to literally run to Brooklynn's party to help out and make sure all went smooth.  We organized a Polar Express party, and the kids loved it.  There's something so cute about kindergartners in their pjs (way cuter than when the middle schoolers did that).

More cookie decorating

Off to visit Santa at Bass Pro

Nothing better than a girl with a gun, right?

After our hour wait, they were ready!  Luckily they have other fun activities and toys to play with to keep the kids occupied.  Adaley wouldn't get close to the big man!

Steve took me to a Nuggets game for my birthday celebration, and we had floor seats right near the Nuggets tunnel.  After I pushed the little kids next to us aside I was able to slap some hands.  Whoop whoop!

For my birthday we took the girls to Denver Zoo Lights.  It was frigid, but the lights are so beautiful.  The girls didn't mind as long as they were able to ride the carousel.

Brrrrr.........

This season went by so quickly, and I found it more difficult to enjoy the little things that I love so much about Christmas.  I felt stressed getting my shopping done, baking for all the neighbors, and making sure we were ready for our performances and parties.  We're going to work next year on enjoying it more and stressing less, because that's what Christmas is about, especially with young kids.  It's so magical for them right now, and wasting time on insignificant gifts seems silly.  Now I just need to figure out how to do that with my crazy control-freak ways.

Merry Christmas to all!