On our way again.

We flew out of Nashville which is a smaller airport (translation: less expensive). Nikolai and MaryKate were great at keeping Sara entertained.

The highlight of departing from a smaller airport onto a smaller airplane was boarding! The lady at the inside gate let Nikolai talk on her radio to the ground crew. "Trick-or-Treat! Where's my candy!" was what she coached him to say. The blonde at the foot of the stairs was who he was talking to. She didn't have any candy but the pilots brought some for every child on board!
After experiencing the walking toy at Karl's house Sara was excited to practice this new skill and pushed her stroller around in circle during our layover.

A big THANK YOU to Amy for dropping us off and picking us up at the airport!

Good bye :( Everybody

On Monday we had to leave by 2pm to get to the airport in time and Karl had to work so we met him for lunch before heading out at Nothing But Noodles. Sara's in the extreme front then around from the left is MaryKate, Karl being silly, Charla, Heather hiding behind Charla, Michael at the far end then JoJo, Nikolai and Kevin. Big empty chair was mine. Karl then took us on a tour of his workplace before we took off. I never realized before seeing this picture that Karl and I have the exact same hair... mine is just a little longer.
Thanks for the fun vacation Karl and Charla, we miss you!

Sunday Afternoon

Before the big family dinner we had Sunday night we relaxed by playing in Karl and Charla's backyard.
Sara LOVES swinging!
This is the view that they have out their back door. It was such a pretty sunset.

Michael's Blessing Day

On Sunday, the day after the sealing, Karl blessed Michael. Charla's parents and sister's family were there along with us. The sun was glaring in our faces, hence the squinty looks and covered eyes from my kids.
My kids enjoyed picking up yellow magnolia leaves and took a few home (they are fuzzy and soft on the back side). After we took this group photo and several with Charla's camera I asked Charla to take a picture of just the 5 of us (see our new main family pic). Well... Charla is a really good photographer and has a fancy camera and takes beautiful pictures but I think she's forgotten how to use a point and shoot camera... she kept trying and nothing was happening.... hehehehe It was in video mode! Here is the last one of the 5 she took. When it suddenly cuts off at the end I'm saying "it's because it's set to record video's" and as I'm saying this I switched it to picture mode. We laughed and laughed and laughed consequently getting the really good family picture! Thanks Charla! We love you! (by the way, it's a really steep hill that we are standing on and it was very hard to walk on, let alone run down, in my heels)

The best of days!

The best day of our trip was on Saturday. We were so lucky to be in town when Karl and Charla took Michael to the temple and was sealed to him. The temple is a mini temple, and mini really means mini. I've heard them called doll house temples and I think that description fits perfectly.
Heather was so beautiful in her dress.
Michael was so cute afterwards, running towards his Aunt Felicia for hugs
I love Michael's grin, sitting on his "forever and ever" sister's lap.
Thank you Karl and Charla for accommodating us and letting us stay with you and for scheduling this day for the time that we were going to be with you. I am so happy for you!

New Title: A FUN Day, thanks to Kristopher, who doesn't even live in Alabama, yet knows all the great kid museums to visit! Is that better, Kris?

This was MaryKate's favorite exhibit. It is "black sand" the little itty bitty black iron particles you find in regular sand separated. When you place it between the two strong magnets it "floats" you can build bridges and shapes in the middle, practically floating in the air yet when you grabbed it and pulled it away from the magnets it turns back into regular "sand". It was SOOO cool! JoJo is helping her in this picture.
Nikolai enjoyed bending and separating white light into separate colors.
MaryKate being the Wicked Witch of the West trying out the tornado.
Sara playing the xylophone.
Heather, Karl, MaryKate, Nikolai, Sara and Kevin blowing huge bubbles.
Sara practicing standing up, another feat she has been constantly doing since we got home... there must be something about that Alabama air.
The coolest technology ever! Shadow sensors! There were several "games" like these. One we did, if you stood still, like a tree, then a tree grew from your shadow! Soccer! Air Hockey! Psychedelic colors!

MaryKate built this track for the golf ball... look how proud she is!

The Rocket Center

We spent a fun day at the rocket center with Karl, Jo Jo and Michael. I had to practically lay on the ground to get the top of this rocket in the same frame as Nikolai.
This picture shows how massive it really is with MaryKate peeking up one of the thrusters.
Michael and Sara enjoyed traveling in style... Go Strollers!
Inside this display of a Russian Mirr they have it tilted at this angle. (I'm tilting the camera) It is disorienting inside, being someone with sensitive inner-ears (basically I get carsick at the drop of a hat) I got really dizzy inside and took this picture of everyone else from the doorway.
Looks like I didn't turn this picture, right? Wrong, they are laying inside a landing capsule. Can you imagine how crowded it would be with bulky space suits?
The kids were excited that they had a kid sized version of the rocket ride. Nikolai and MaryKate are on the far left and JoJo is on the far right.

These are a few of our Favorite Things

Sara discovered "kneeling" at Karl's house. She is so proud of this accomplishment and does it constantly.
MaryKate fell in love with their electric mini grand piano. She spent most of her free time exactly like this.
While Nikolai fell in love with Karl's X-Box Star Wars game and goaded him into playing with him as often as possible.
Heidi spent two evenings playing Dungeons and Dragons with Karl and Sara and Kevin spent them like this... neither of them look very comfortable but way cute!

Alabama here we come!

We just got home from a week in Alabama with my brother, Karl. Nikolai and MaryKate were Stellar the whole trip, especially on the plane ride there.
Entertaining Sara in the airport.
Sara was frightened of the airplane. She finally crashed halfway on Kevin and my laps.
After we landed there was still a 2 hour drive from the Nashville airport to the Bielefeldt house. MaryKate and Sara fell asleep within the first 15 minutes and Nikolai wasn't far behind.

Sunday is my favorite day

MaryKate on the back porch, reading the Sunday Comics.
Nikolai adding to his Christmas wish list using the Sunday Toys R Us ads!
Sara banging pot lids together.
And an afternoon bike ride. I love how happy Sara looks. She and I both LOVE her bike seat.

Wings, wings, and more wings

I don't call MaryKate: Katie Scarlet for nothing. She has a stubborn and sometimes snotty streak in her. We picked up wings for dinner one night and MaryKate declared that she didn't like them and would not eat any. I insist that the kids eat at least one bite of whatever we are eating when it is new because you don't know if you like it unless you try it. Well... a huge standoff ensued off of my expectation. MaryKate crying and complaining and me being just as stubborn. 20 minutes later she finally took the one itty-bitty bite that I had set aside for her. "Can I have more!" was her immediate reply. She then devoured 7 wings in a matter of minutes and has repeatedly asked for them since. Big Sigh...

Random snapshots of our Fun Life

Kevin with his grandson, Haydan, and his daughter, Sara.
Another example of MaryKates creativity. She made this CTR shield and sword during conference and has planned a Family Home Evening lesson using them.
We went to the park with the Rapiers and got to see this beautiful rainbow... I love the pot of gold at the end of it!

Chesley's birthday party!

So, Chesley turned 9 and decided to have a Harry Potter themed birthday party. Everyone was required to come dressed in their favorite character costume. Immediately Nikolai said he wanted to be the golden dragon and MaryKate wanted to be Hermoine in her pink dance dress. I have yet to see that particular movie so I went online to check out pictures of what they were talking about. I am personally very pleased with the results of what I came up with.... Okay, I'm darn right proud of my work.

Sara fell asleep right before we left so she couldn't attend but I had concocted an owl costume for her.

Basketball Jones

Nikolai has persuaded me to go outside regularly and shoot some hoops now that it is cooler in the afternoon. This one day I took my camera and took several pictures. He is getting to be a pretty good player. We played HORSE this afternoon and guess who won? Not me, that's for sure. I'm actually better then I've ever been at basketball because of these regular practice sessions, I actually make some of my attempts. He has already surpassed me in skill and is only 8. Either he is really good or I'm really bad. He is so good to watch out for Sara as she wanders around the driveway in and out of our dribbling path, and I wonder why she needs a bath every night.
"Ummm, Sara, can I have my ball back please?"
Check out that form!
Yes! One of 6 in a row that he made. Check out Sara looking on in the bottom left corner of the picture.
"Yep, I'm cute."
A proud, proud boy.