Thanksgiving: a change in plans

The Thiels planned to drive from Wisconsin down to Illinois to visit Mom, Dad and Grandma Joyce. Then about a half hour before we were about to leave Claire threw up. She seemed to be fine afterwards, but Elise had thrown up 2 days before so now we were fairly certain that Daryn was going to come down with whatever it was.

To avoid spreading our sickness (and an eventful car trip) we settled in and made preparations for an impromptu Thanksgiving dinner. No comparison to Mom's fantastic feast and gorgeous table. But luckily it involved more than just saltines and sprite.

We employed the girls to make cranberry garlands.

There were some saltines involved that day, but Elise thought that was ok too.

Oh, and the other cranberry craft was... pincushion oranges?... abstract turkeys? Not quite sure what to call this one.

Getting ready to eat. Check out the pretty new table Nathan finished that morning.

"I'm thankful for my chicken dinner... And turkeys."

Afterwards:

Nathan felt queasy all evening - it wasn't the food, we think. Krystle was out of commission all Friday. Daryn (the ticking time bomb) never did throw up but spiked a fever the whole next week with a sinus infection. So we were glad we didn't subject Mom and dad and Grandma to this, but we missed them terribly.

The end. Hopefully. Of the sickness, not the Thiels.

How was YOUR Thanksgiving?

If you have pictures, we'd love to see them! :)

We have such an awesome family. Love you all!

Some more from Thanksgiving!

"The Crew" in Washington

Laura, Mike & Kathleen's daughter, Emily & Jared.

The kids playing the piano together.

Tom at the pie station. Delicious blackberry cream, pumpkin, pecan and yogurt!

Aunt Natalie and Karen playing and singing beautifully. Lots of great music traditions!

Thanksgiving in Washington!

Tom's creation, "Creamy Yogurt Pie" was a big hit with the kids.

Emily says, "Thumbs up!" to the feast!

Dallin is ready to go!

Tom taking a break.

Grandpa getting a short nap break with tiny baby Louisa.

The hostess with the mostest and her parents, Karen & Brent.

Kirk & Dallin

Emily & Laura cheesing it up.

We caught baby Louisa's smile on camera! So cute!

Tom loves holding babies!

Halloween 2011

On the front porch with the pumpkin family.

Our "scary pumpkin". The top drawing was Tom's idea that he shared with Jared. Jared replied that it wasn't nearly scary enough, and drew the pumpkin on the bottom. We went with Jared's idea.

Here is the result -- Jared was thrilled.

And it was the thickest pumpkin we've ever seen. The shell was honestly at least 4 inches thick all the way around.

Our funny crew at the Trunk-Or-Treat night a few days earlier. Laura and I are flowers, Tom is a Pole-Vaulting Zombie (all from Plants Vs. Zombies) and Jared, who changed from his costume idea last-minute, is a skeleton. Once again, he was thrilled.

I had a hard time capturing a good picture with all of us in it. We really, really tried! Here are the three of them during the dinner chaos in the cultural hall.

We hope you all had a happy Halloween!

Baby Louisa Joy Price

There has been great excitement in the Price Family (Vancouver Division) household. On Tuesday morning at 4:00 AM Lindsay started having labor pains, with contractions strengthening until about 6:00 when Lindsay woke me up. Labor strengthened significantly at 6:30, which completely caught me off guard as I expected labor to take longer.

Lindsay hit transition at 7:00, her water broke at 7:30, and the baby was born at 7:40 in the morning. Lindsay negotiated the challenges of labor like a professional and handled things very well. Labor was so fast that our daughter beat the midwives, so I got to catch the new baby.

As the baby was a girl, Lindsay got to name her Louisa Joy Price. She was 8 lbs, 12 oz and was 21" long -- a keeper for sure!


The proud mother with her two daughters Emily and Louisa. Emily likes to put the golden hair on pretending that she is either Rapunzel or Pocahontas.


Here are pictures of the little Louisa. We think that she is the cutest thing around.


Emily, Dallin, and Louisa are all rolled up as mummies! Emily and Dallin have been learning about Ancient Egypt and thought that Louisa looked like a mummy -- of course they wanted to follow suit as well!

We feel very blessed that the mother and baby are doing well, and that we have a special little baby in our home.

new baby!

Louisa was born today! We should have Kirk and Lindsay tell all about it. What a perfect, beautiful baby. We enjoyed being with her for a little bit this evening, took some pictures, cooed over her perfect little face and fuzzy blonde hair. Good work, Lindsay! Thank you for a wonderful addition to the whole family! :)

Singing Time!

My great friend, Marcia, singing with Laura. Our favorite part is when the little one blurts out "ITSY BITSY FIDER!"

First Day of School!

I insisted on wearing his old Transformers shirt to school -- that was not a battle I care enough about (though his button-up was sure cute before he took it off!) but even he noticed it was getting small. He's growing so tall! What a cute boy, ready to start 1st grade.






Jared with his cousin, Sam. We're rockin' a carpool this year! As my friend, Marcia, said, "That looks like double trouble!"

Claire's First Day

Before:

After:

Still smiling and she says she wants to go again tomorrow so we'll call this first day of school a success!

The Post-school interview: (Claire's answers are in bold)

Did you meet your teacher? And I introduced myself, Claire Skippy Thiel.

Claire Elizabeth. No, Claire Skippy Thiel. I want to be Skippy.

How was school today? very well

What did you do: I couldn't find my gluesticks.

What did you do then: I walked home without my gluesticks. We went to the earth and outer space.

So you flew into space? Yeah, and Taylor had a birthday and he turned 5. And then he turned 6.

Yes, Next year he'll turn six. I had cupcakes and chocolate milk.

Did you eat at your table? Uh-uh, pretty good. And I didn't scream or yell.

Did other kids scream or yell? No.

Did you read a book? No I played. I saw a turtle on the board. The white board.

(Daryn: the orange board!) No, the white board

(Daryn: the blue board!) No, the white board and there was a little bit of blue on it and my teacher wrote on it.

What did you see on the white board? I saw a turtle called frankl on the white board and he didn't fight or scream.

What did frankl do? He went to school.

What did you play with outside? The slides and swings, but not the slides. But my teacher said don't play over there, only play right here bcause we like it.

Do dyou ride the school buses? No. But my schoolmates do.

Do you have any friends. Mom I have lots of friends. Lots and lots and lots of friends.

My Babies are Growing Up!

Claire left for her first (half)day of Preschool today, and baby Elise just cut her first teeth this week. Sniff. They're just growing up too fast.

Yeah I know, Elise is 11 months old so it's about time. But all the same I'm going to miss the toothless smile and she won't look like a baby anymore. So here's a fun video of Elise at home without her "game face". She really DOES smile in real life.

Zoo Time!

Some pictures from our trip to the zoo this week. We rode the Zoo Train for the first time, Jared and Tom got attacked by a dinosaur, and Laura visited the Lorikeets. :)
This one was Jared's favorite picture - it makes him laugh and laugh. He loves how his dad is tackling the dinosaur, but he's being eaten anyway.


It's hard to get Laura to look at the camera when there are so many more interesting things to do...

Held up high on Tom's shoulders. Look how tall she is getting!

So here's the latest family portrait. I'm so glad we all got in front of the camera at the same time!

The Star Wars Party

Jared's "Jedi Training" birthday party this weekend...Here is part of the troop with their Padawan Learner robes on, ready to begin their Jedi training. Jared is the one standing behind the "speeder".

First, a multi-part challenge course (balance using your "force", defending your space using the "force", shooting goals, jumping over lava, throwing balls into a target, fixing the Millenium Falcon, driving a speeder). Very fun for a hot, sunny day! Extra points for having this all outside with 16+ kids plus parents and relatives here!
Tom (aka Obi Wan) prepares the younglings for light saber training. Distributing the light sabers.


One of our treat table attractions was "Han Solo in Carbonite". They loved it! I wish we got more pictures of our food table. We had "Princess Leia Buns", "Yoda Soda", "Droid Dip" for the fruits, "Moon Milk", Ewok Food (fruits and vegetables), Wookie Cookies, Sweet Red Lightsabers, "Han Solo Rolos", and a light saber cupcake birthday "cake" presented with 6 1/2 candles.

But wait, I sense a disturbance in the Force!Oh no! It's Darth Vader! He has come to pursuade you to join the Dark Side. Will you go to the Dark Side? Neverrrrr!
Uncle Andrew in full costume. He knew all the lines. I think he's done this before a time or two...

Jared facing Darth Vader. He fought valiantly.

The danger of being Darth Vader...there is always an uprising against you!



The defeated Darth Vader retreats without any new recruits for the Dark Side.
Tom teaching the Padawan Learners awesome fighting technique before they faced Vader and Destroyed the Death Star (our pinata).

It was a tough pinata. After 17 people went through blindfolded with 3 hits each, we let them go without blindfolds. Here is the explosion of the Death Star!

It was a great day.