Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Happy Birthday Nathaniel!

It happened - my baby turned 5! We didn't have a party this year . . . instead our good friend Sonya made Nathaniel this wonderful cake and we celebrated at a Christmas/New Year's party at Barb's house. Nathaniel loves Wild Kratts. It is a show about animals for kids on PBS. I couldn't ask for a better cake! Thank you again Sonya!




 




On his actual birthday, we got to celebrate with Izzy and Konrad! Fun times.



He got a lot of Lego sets for his birthday. He loves Lego! Here are a couple of the things he has made. He can sit down and follow the instructions to make the finished product.

At his 5-year checkup, Nathaniel was 3' 6" and weighed 41.2 lbs. He is a healthy boy, and we are so thankful.

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Christmas!

This was our first Christmas as a family of 5! Will took some time off, and it was so nice to be together as a family. We certainly missed our annual trip to see grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. But it would have been pretty difficult to do this year.


We opened presents with my mom and Aunt Hill while they were in town. It was wonderful to have family open presents with us!

I got to cuddle with Seth while gifts were opened.

Joel slept while we opened gifts.

One of Nathaniel's favorite gifts - two little twin sock monkey brothers for Buford (Nathaniel's sock monkey).

As you can tell, they were a hit. The sock monkey brothers have had many adventures together already.


Seth noticing the animals above him for the first time.

These pictures are from Christmas Eve. Nathaniel wearing a sweater my Uncle Les gave him last year. All 5 of us went to the Christmas Eve service at church. The first 35 minutes of the service went great. Then we had to take all 3 boys out because they were crying! Seth, Nathaniel and Daddy went back in and I stayed with Joel in the cry room for the last little bit.
 

The little boys ready for church. These will also serve as 3 month pictures. :) Joel is on the left.











Beth finally got to meet the little boys over the break.

Izzy and Joel

These pictures are from Christmas morning. Nathaniel had a blast opening presents from Neena and Pops and Aunt Wendy and Uncle Greg and others.

His Thomas raincoat, which has worked perfectly since almost all of January has been rainy. I wish I had gotten more pictures of us opening gifts, but with 2 adults, 2 babies and Nathaniel we didn't really have a chance.

Seth driving on his (and Joel's) new playmat from Neena.

Nathaniel and Joel


This last one was Nathaniel's shadow show. He loves doing shows for Will, me and the babies. We've also had some puppet shows. Nathaniel is great at making the babies smile or laugh. He loves them so much, and the feeling is mutual. Hope your Christmas was as blessed as ours!

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Early December Catch-up

The second week of December, Will was picked for a prominent jury trial and was downtown for a week. It was my first week to get Nathaniel ready and to school each day (with the babies too, of course). We were a little late, but overall I think it was a success. Mimi came the 3rd week of December, and we were ready to have some help! Everyone had a great time (and quite a few naps were taken). Nathaniel even got to take Mimi to his school Christmas party. Apparently he consumed muffins, donut holes and lots of fruit. There is one picture below where he is just looking longingly at the food table. He has grown quite a bit taller, so I guess some fuel is needed. :)










Seth on left, Joel right

Joel

Seth

Joel

Starting to look a lot more alike! Seth on top here. This is from early - mid Dec.

These are some pictures from early December. I get to have some alone time with these cuties while big brother is at school. I try to hold each one and give each one some attention. Joel first two pictures, then next three pics Seth.