Christmas with the Ferguson side

On the Sunday before Christmas, we all gathered at Mema and Papa's house (my mom's parents) for Christmas with the extended Nelson family. Unfortunately, Caroline had a stomach bug, so Matt kept her home (good Daddy!) except for just a few minutes of present opening.




Christmas Day, we got together at Grandma and Granddad's house (my parents) along with Aunt Jenn, Uncle Jason, and Kaitlin. We let the kids open a present each, but we saved the rest of the opening until we had more time on Friday. We spent the day hanging out on Friday. It was nice to have a little time with all of them!



The kids helped hand out the presents Friday morning.






(Sorry there aren't any more pictures of Nathan. I tried to get a few, but somehow didn't. The only one I have is a really goofy looking picture. Oh yeah...and if you'd like to see some pictures with the adults in them, check out Dropshots soon.)

Christmas morning at home

Christmas morning, the first thing we did was gather to read the story of Jesus' birth from the Bible. For Caroline's sake, we also used her manger scene and "acted" out the story as it was read. Afterwards, we had breakfast of bacon and pancakes (a treat around here). Then, we moved on to opening presents. As you can see here, Matt was very excited about the diapers that he received!


Caroline's Christmas was marked by lots of baby doll related things. Here she is opening the doll itself.


Nathan has been very much into rockets and space for a while so we got him some pj's in that theme. They even has stars that glow in the dark!


Here are some clothes for Caroline's baby doll. She very quickly endeavored to change the clothes. Her favorite shoes of all she got are some pink sparkly "jelly" shoes. No matter that they're supposed to go with the princess outfit. I specifically included this picture because it shows how Nathan participated in much of the Christmas festivities...right up close to the action. He didn't want to miss what anybody got!


Nathan's big gift was a telescope. We spent some time looking at things we could see outside the window. We still haven't found the time to get it out at night to look at the moon and planets and such. We've either been busy, traveling, or it's been cloudy. Hopefully, we'll find some time soon, though.


As funny as it seems, I think these markers might be the gift that he was most excited about. Every time somebody asked him what he got, very close to the top of the list was markers.


And again, to fit the baby theme, Caroline got some bottles in her stocking. She has enjoyed feeding her various babies with them.



(If you're interested in seeing more pictures, I plan to put more over on Dropshots soon.)

around Christmastime

Here are a few pictures from around Christmastime.



The kids and I made Christmas cookies. I didn't eat any, but those who did said they were pretty good. I think Nathan and Caroline had fun (despite that last picture of Caroline).

my little helper

This morning, Caroline helped me fold clothes. She took the washcloths. For a not quite 2 year old, she did a great job! Here are a few action shots as well as a picture of her finished pile. I have a great helper in the making!

more birthday pictures

Here are a few more pictures of Nathan from his birthday. The last one will show you the true Nathan!

Happy Birthday Nathan!

In honor of Nathan's 5th Birthday, I want to share with you the "official" pictures of him on his birthday (or very close) through the years. I couldn't find an electronic version of his hospital picture, so I included another one taken while we were there. Our little boy is getting so big!!!








And here is Nathan with his beloved William on his first and fifth birthdays. William has definitely changed along with Nathan over the years!




I look back over these pictures and smile at how much Nathan has grown and changed. At the same time, there is a tear in my eye. A bit of sadness in my heart. And I can't really explain it. But I love just where he is now and wouldn't turn back the clock. Happy Birthday, bud!

just a few more pictures

(Can you tell that I'm catching up on the pictures that I haven't posted from the last two weeks?)

rockets - take 3

(make sure to scroll down and look at all the new posts)

We also had lots of fun with the large foam rockets that Uncle Sean and Aunt Lisa gave Nathan. As you can see, Nathan really got into it!



He also helped Caroline to be able to use it. He would put it just on the very end. Then, she could actually get it to "shoot" off...like 12" away. :)



Daddy and Caroline also got into the action together.


And then, Nathan and Daddy used the two foam rockets and had a competition to see who could get theirs the highest.


Amazingly, Nathan and Caroline both had lots of fun collecting up the rockets after they were all shot off. Thanks for all the fun, Uncle Sean and Aunt Lisa!

rockets - take 2

As I mentioned before, Caroline was not a fan of the sound of the "real" rocket going off. She also wasn't really involved in the process. Instead, she spent part of the time playing with the small foam rocket that Nathan got from one of his friends.