Little Personalities

Since we live so far away from everyone here's a glimpse of what the girls are like these days. Mostly  I just needed to capture it because Elise is growing up so fast. Nathan made the girls root beer floats for the first time this weekend. I was just trying to catch Elise's smile, but she was squinting too fast... Then as a bonus you can see her "surprised face" which she makes at every opportunity it seems.

Now for some other snapshots of life recently. Making room in the garden for a little campfire to roast marshmallows. The big girls also got to go backyard camping with Dad. Claire's suggestion the next day was that we should try "frontyard" camping next. You know, for the change in scenery. 

We do have blocks at our house, but macaroni boxes make houses just the right size for ponies and beanie babies. They played with these boxes for hours over the course of 2 days, no joke. Then after I squished a few boxes by stepping on them I put them in the cupboard to save for another day. Wouldn't want the novelty to wear off on this toy. 

First Day - Thiel Edition

Today was our "official" first day of school. Can you sense the excitement? 

Claire is 5 1/2 and in Kindergarten. Daryn is 4 and in Pre-K. Elise is not-quite-two and along for the ride. This year we are doing school work at home. We've been practicing intermittently all summer and this first day went really well.

(Claire really isn't that much taller than Daryn, she's on her tip toes. They often get mistaken as twins.)

And I guess a big help is going to be our newest family addition: 

 

Some may say it's about time for us to get a bigger car... and yeah, it pretty much is with baby on the way. With just 3 carseats in the back our Sentra was about to burst at the seams, but what a trooper. 

New School Year

Hello Family!  

 Thank you for your extra prayers and good-luck wishes as we go through the big day of our IVF cycle tomorrow.  I'll be home after 3pm and then on bedrest for a while, so I'm sure I'll be available on the phone!  Cross your fingers.

On the more "normal" side of things, it's time for school over here!  Our goal for Labor Day was to have a "Family Adventure".  So Tom found a great, challenging day hike to do, and off we went.  The destination for the loop trail was Ramona Falls - a beautiful surprise at the peak of our climb.  Here are photos of us at the base of Mount Hood.

Here is J's first day of second grade photo from this morning.  He reports that he had a good time and had "more good things than bad things".  He likes his teacher (fabulous lady who has been teaching challenge for over 15 years!), likes his classmates (though he admits he thinks making friends isn't the easiest thing to do on your own), likes the reading nook, liked 3rd recess, and like his lunchbox items.  He especially likes that we are carpooling instead of riding a bus (he changed schools this year and we have a 5x longer drive -- haha, that sounds like a lot, but it was from 3 minutes to 15 minutes).  I'm grateful for an amazing carpool group we have of kids in our neighborhood who are going to the same school.  I'll only have to drive 2-3 mornings a WEEK.  (Only mornings!!!)  What a blessing so I can be home to teach my 3:30 students without stressing.  

Here he is (behind the kid with the yellow backpack) going into his classroom for the first "official" time. 

 Look how attentive he is!  Keep it up, little guy!

Toothless

Claire has lost her first teeth! Yes, plural. It seems a little early (she is 5 1/2) but maybe I'm just not ready for my first kid to be old enough to have gaping holes in her smile.

Both bottom teeth fell out within a month. After the first tooth came out she told Auntie Kendra about the anticipated visit from the Tooth Fairy over the phone.
Claire: "And she'll bring me a dollar!"
Mom: "Or maybe a quarter, Claire."
Claire: "Or a quarter!... Or a sweet treat!".

We set tooth fairy expectations low here at the Thiel household. She just as excited about her shiny new quarter the second time around as well.

Saturday Family Adventure

On Saturday we went horseback riding with cousin Amanda and her horse, Princess.  This horse was the softest horse we have ever felt - her neck and flank felt like velvet. Jared and Laura (with cousin Elisa and their mom, Debra) fed her carrots...

 Tom got a great workout being the "horse" for all the kids.  He worked hard! 

 Laura riding with her dad. :)

 Jared became quite the brave horseman!  He must have led Princess around the arena nine times. 

 Kathryn and Laura taking a turn.

Family vote: Two thumbs up - fun family adventure.  Thank you, Amanda!!!

This was a few hours after Tom and Jared got home from "Mud Cubs" - a muddy obstacle course for the scouts at Scouter Mountain - but we haven't gotten our photos from that adventure yet.  A great end-of-summer-oh-no-school-is-starting day!

Catch up time

Ok family, so much has been going on - and many moons have passed since any of us have logged on.  We really should go back and post everything about big events (wedding!!!  Camille!  Canada!  Kendra's little kit!  Lots of trips!  Lots of visits!  Lots of birthdays!).  We just had a great time celebrating Emily's 5th birthday as part of the 'Cousin Party' crew.  Pioneer games, dinner on the lawn, admiring Lindsay's amazing garden and yard, and lots of play time and enjoy talking with the Baxters.  Jared talked about it again today and went on and on about how he's so grateful to have a good family, how he liked Emily's party, and how much he likes playing with cousins - all of his cousins.  He does have it really good in the family department, I must say. 

Tom passed another big exam this morning, the series 24 exam.  He is now licensed to run his own office, plus supervise investment bankers and specialists on the floor of exchanges.  Way to go, Tom!  Jared knows his dad is all about "totally conquering tests".

We have chickens!  Our 3 little fluffballs have grown into large-ish birds with talons and pretty feathers.  We're 5 weeks into this adventure and it's been a very good thing, even with the extra "babysitting" we do for them to keep their supplies and brooder clean.  We figure they are very lucky chickens to be living here.  The best benefit is that Jared has become very confident in picking up and caring for his animals.  This is a big deal since he always recoiled away from animals (all types) before, always preferring them at a distance.  Now he doesn't need anyone to reach in there to pick up whichever bird is wanted for holding and he's not afraid of them pecking food from his hands (which used to hurt).  He remembers them first thing in the morning and is very diligent in making sure they are safe.  Hooray for our first pets!  Laura is always demanding, "I want to take care of Lady Brown!  I want to hold her in a napkin on my lap!"  Of course, Lady Brown is the strongest and most daring of all the chickens, so is least likely to stay put in a little girl's lap.  But Laura doesn't give up!

The kids start swimming lessons on Monday - Laura's dream come true.  Her two favorite things in the world are birthdays (especially her own birthday) and bathing suits. 

Today we hit a garage sale jackpot.  Not only did we have a great time getting our exercise in the morning (me running with the stroller, Jared rode his bike), but we got Blokus (the game) for $1 brand new!  I've been wanting it for 3 years since we played with the Johnsons in California.  And we came home with nice baseball gloves for everyone in the family!  And the mom liked Jared so she gave him her boy's new roller blades for free.  Jared said, "I'm not sure I'm into those things, but we can try it." 

What are you all up to in the last weeks before school starts? 

St. Patrick's at the Pearsons'

Dallin (2), Laura (3) & Emily (4) getting ready for their St. Patrick's Day lunch at our house on Saturday.

I love Laura and Emily's eyes in this one. 

We had a visit from Leprechaun Cousins Annie and Hannah!  

What we didn't have pictures of (sadly): cute baby Louisa, who was so good and easy to please.  She was sleeping for two hours of our babysitting time.  She likes to be swaddled with her left arm in the blanket and the right arm out so suck her thumb.

The Price/Pearson cousins played (and bickered over) forts, read books, had a pancake breakfast, a healthy lunch, reorganized the play room, left Jared's Legos alone (yay!) and talked a lot with Aunt Kathryn.  Then Lindsay went on a run with me so we could get our exercise in for the day.  It was a rare time with NO RAIN during our run.  Very nice.  It made me think of when Krystle and I would go running together early in the morning in our BYU days.  I'll always be glad we did that because school is such a busy time of life, we wouldn't have seen much of each other if we hadn't!  Sisters and sister-in-laws are great running partners.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

CFP conqueror!

After conquering a battery of monster tests, Tom is an official Certified Financial Planner (CFP).  Yeah, he's kind of a big deal in these parts.  I'm proud of him!

First Steps!

She is almost 17 months old now but "noodle legs" is starting to take an interest in walking!

Yesterday Baby Elise took her first steps! She took 3 shaky steps towards Nathan last night. We were so excited and tried to encourage her but then she thought cheering was for falling down.   Yay!

*she is "noodle legs" because even as a little baby she would never straighten out her legs or try to stand with help, she would pull her feet up if you made them touch the ground.

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.