The Nelson Family: holidays

Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Halloween 2011

Cowboy Derek
Cutest Cowboy in town!!
Derek continues to wear his cowboy boots almost every day.

Now batting number 1 on the Yankees...Nathan!!
I have to admit, this was the easiest costume in history! Thank you Nathan! You looked so cute.

m & m Livie
This is the first year that Livie and Matty made their own costumes. I did help a bit, but they really did a great job coming up with their ideas and creating their costumes. It was fun to see them be so proud of their creations. And they turned out FABULOUS!!

Flaming Marshmallow Matty
We used an upside down collapsible hamper for the shape of the marshmallow and then covered it in white fleece and of course every 8 year boy wants flames on his marshmallow.

My Halloween Cuties
They were all dressed and ready for their school Fall Festival
(carnival games, food, contests, and lots of fun)

This year the kids got to enjoy the carnival with their cousins. Anne, Emma, Sarah, Laura, and Adam joined us for the afternoon. Rachel and Howard too :)

Livie and her BFF Briley ("Fear the Beard")

Emma and Matty participated in the mummy wrapping contest. Emma wrapped and Matty stood still. It was so fun to watch Emma run around Matty as fast as she could and try to cover him in the entire roll of toilet paper.

Here's my little Cowboy blowing me a kiss. He had been throwing up the night before...so he really wasn't feeling all that well. I was just happy to see him having a good time. David came with us to the carnival, but left as soon as we got there because his stomach wasn't feeling so great. I felt so bad for him.

Go Emma, Go!! (oh, there was a hair spraying booth that my kids really enjoyed...hence the green hair)

Briley & Olivia in the mummy wrapping contest. They actually placed First! Way to go girls!

Kids needed to cool down in the shade under the pie eating contest tables. It was a beautiful sunny day. Not sure the cousins were used to feeling so warm on Halloween...they just moved to California from Colorado.

Halloween night. This is our trick or treating group just before they headed out to collect pounds of candy. After a Sunday of barfing in our house (by EVERY ONE of our family members), it was a relief that David and Howard could take the kids trick or treating on Halloween. I walked with them to the houses in our court, but then headed home due to my achy body. And Rachel was home with a messed up toe. It was killing her to walk on it. We were both home on the couch. Even with all the sickness throughout our Halloween weekend, the kids managed to have a great time and they looked so stinking cute!

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Christmas Tree Lane

Monday night before Christmas, we had a great Family Home Evening together with our friends, Sean & Lisa and their girls. We drove up to a fancy neighborhood in Sacramento to check out an area I had read about in the paper. All the houses on a few streets have created a really neat display of Christmas lights, inflatables, nativity scenes, and more. We parked our cars and walked "Christmas Tree Lane" together.

Most of the sidewalks were lined with archways lit up with Christmas lights. It felt like you were walking in a tunnel. Here is Matty, Livie, Sydney, Nathan & Hannah. (Kendall & Derek were being pushed in strollers)

Santa was there taking last minute Christmas wishes from kids. It was great. Derek was the only one afraid of the jolly old elf. Each of the kids took turns sitting on his knee long enough for me to snap a photo and for them to ask for something for Christmas. Livie asked for a vanity. Matty asked for a Wii and Nathan asked for "Star Wars Stuff". One out of three was pretty good, Santa. Nathan did get some "Star Wars Stuff".

After "Christmas Tree Lane", we headed over to the Sacramento Capital Building to see the Christmas tree. We had a few kids who needed a bathroom, so it was time for us to get going to our last stop...Cold Stone for ice cream.

We needed one last photo together. We had to make it a silly one. Not hard to do with this group. We had a great night celebrating not only the Christmas season, but friendship too.

Christmas Day 2008

Christmas morning brought lots of excitement to our house. The kids were happy with the gifts they got and were very excited to give their gifts too. Both Olivia and Matty got to shop alone this year for their family members. There was a Santa's Shop at their school. I can remember doing the same thing when I was in elementary school. They each brought $5 to school and got to buy 5 gifts (I love the Dollar Store). They picked out great gifts for their siblings and parents. Good job guys! This year Olivia was very excited about the pink Razor Scooter Santa brought her. She also liked her pink and white polka dot basketball from Grammy and Papa. And of course she loved all the doll clothes for her American Girl doll sewn by Grandma Lynnie. Matty was excited about his remote control Hummer from Santa and loved his new Webkinz from his Grammy and Papa. Grandma and Grandpa spoiled him with a great Legos Speed Racer set and a new Indiana Jones whip that plays the theme music with every crack of the whip (gotta love that!). Nathan was thrilled with his new Clone Wars dress up Clonetrooper outfit from Santa. He shoots Nerf darts all around these days thanks to his very own Nerf gun from Grammy and Papa. And yes, Nathan has an Indiana whip, too. He and Matty have fun playing "Indi" as they call it. Derek was happy playing with all the wrapping paper and his new stuffed dog. He got to wear his red "Baby's First Christmas" pajamas and we chased him away from the Christmas tree over and over and over.