Thanksgiving

This year, we had Thanksgiving at our house.  The unfinished basement proved to be plenty of room to spread out. Walt and Rachel came with their family from Minnesota, and Chad and Tori and their family were here, along with Jess and Ruth's family and Mom and Dad.

It was a full house and we had a great time all being together. 

Friends from AZ!

Chad and Tori came to visit us. We got to spend Thanksgiving together. We had so much fun. The kids loved playing together, and had a difficult time saying goodbye. It was great to get to meet their two littlest ones.

Miss Lindsey. What a doll!

 Wyatt and Natalie got along great. One would have thought they had know each other forever. They hugged and held hands, and she had him playing with dolls in no time. What an adorable little guy. 

 Kaitlyn and Daddy

 Kaitlyn and Alyssa. How she has grown. Hard to believe the last time we saw her she was 3... and looked exactly the same! The kids seemed to pick up right where they left off... playing with dolls, coloring, and telling stories.

 Talon has always loved Uncle Chad.

 Aunt Tori and Lindsay. It was so good to get to stay up late and catch up. 

Seemed like old times.

Homeschool Outing to the Science Museum

We took the kids to the Gateway to Science museum in Bismarck for our homeschool outing this month.  The kids had a great time with all of the different science stations and experiments.

Natalie somehow coerced Caitlyn P. to carry her around a good portion of the day.

This station was fun.  Two people sat down, one on either side of the glass, and it merged them together to form one person.  It was pretty funny.

Even the adults got into the experiments.  We learned some really fascinating facts.

Kaitlyn putting the human head and brain together.  Let's just say, she may need a little more training and practice before she performs actual brain surgery.

Talon found the noise making machine. Surprise!

Even the little kids had fun with the experiments.

We love the Sefciks!

Group picture

Can't have a group picture without doing at least one crazy pose!

For lunch we went out for pizza.

The "boys' table", with a visit from Mariah.

The "girls' table"

Nolan's 5th Birthday

It's hard to believe my little Nolan-bug is already 5 years old!

We had a big birthday party yesterday. He had a blast celebrating with all of his friends!

They had some war game going and they all had long sticks that they were running around with.  The nurse in me wanted to confiscate them, and give them something they couldn't poke each other's eyes out with, or impale themselves if they fell.  The mom in me really enjoyed the fact that they were having so much fun and using their imaginations.  The mom side one.  No one got their weapons taken away, and no one got hurt. Win-win!

The finished product... the Mario cake that Grandma Bauer made for him. It was super cute, and tasted fabulous too! He loved it!

(...though you would never know it by his face, would you?)

Group picture with all the kids

Time to open presents!!!

He got a lot of really fun gifts!

I love Kaya's expression in this picture. She was shocked when he opened the doll!

Jonathan and Taneil kept telling him they were going to get him a baby doll of his very own.  He didn't believe them. Guess what they got him... Yep, his very own baby doll.  He wouldn't touch it.  It was pretty hilarious! They also got him a fun 'boy toy', so he gladly gave the doll to Natalie.

One thing he requested was "a hat like Uncle Jesse's", so Uncle Jess and Aunt Ruth got him one.  He was very pleased.

Thanking everyone for the gifts.

Me and my baby boy. Love him to pieces!

Natalie wanted a picture of her in her "wollers".

"Cheese!"

What a fun day.  Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate, and helped make Nolan's birthday so special!