I'm so close to completing the 12 Days of posts but I'm running out of things to catch up on without going back to 2013! Speaking of, I've had this sense of just starting to slack on the blog for the past year or two. While I've been creating these 12 Days posts, I've often tried to link back to posts from, say, Halloween 2012 or our advent activity calender last year. It turns out I was only posting weekly early on in Thiel Family Happenings. You have probably listened to me whine and complain about never posting for several years now. My solution for you? Join Facebook! I post lots of pictures there. Either that or be patient with me. :)
This post is a bunch of pictures selected from my phone photos.
Josh took his hunter safety course and got his hunting license this year. He and Walt went dove hunting on opening day of the season. They got a few birds. They have also gone deer hunting a handful of times but unfortunately didn't bring a deer home. We stocked our freezer (actually Wendy's freezer) with beef instead.
Josh's room has been this bright orange since he got his own room. Walt and I painted the room yellow and ragged red over it. Not only is Josh a teenager now but we are planning on selling our house in 2015 so it definitely was time for a change.
Walt and Josh were hunting all day and I took on the project. I've actually had the paint, which I purchased with birthday money, since February. For those of you that know Walt, you may realize what a BIG STEP it was for him to let me paint the room from start to finish. After 18 years of painting experience, he is a bit particular and very good at painting. I have learned so much from him over 15 years of home ownership that I have to pat myself on the back. I even got Walt's seal of approval; he never touched anything up!
Talking of house projects and selling next year, this is pretty much the state of our fireplace currently. All year I have been saying that if we are going to complete a fireplace makeover, we should have it done by Christmas so I can,
for once, hang our stockings on a beautiful mantle. As it turns out, starting in mid-November was not quite early enough to get the project finished. We are slow movers when it comes to projects and I sometimes forget that. Good news is we have a hearth and stone veneer picked out and purchased!
In August, Walt and I escaped to the Bay area for 24 hours to attend a Jack Johnson concert. We had such a great time for so little time!
We had some fun with the hotel room closet door while in Reno for the black belt testing.
Carley and Josh each broke a brick in Taekwondo after they had received their black belts. It is a real-life, heavy, concrete brink. My girl broke that, watch out!
Knox is Carley's third cousin. His mom and I share great-grandparents. These two were the youngest at the Christmas family gathering on Saturday. He sure loved her! She even took him for a ride in his new police car.
We had a scare with Smokey recently. I came home from work on a Friday a couple weeks ago and he couldn't walk and there was vomit on his bed. Short story is Smokey had (has?) vestibular disease, and the symptoms are similar to vertigo in humans. The doctor hydrated him, gave him nausea medication and sent us home with antibiotics and ear drops to clear up a middle-ear infection. Over the course of the weekend, I got little sleep. Smokey would need help to move about the house and get outside to relieve himself. Ultimately, after several days, he started improving. He is pretty much back to normal but it seems he has lost the rest of his hearing. This picture of him was right as he was starting to turn the corner. He is wearing booties to help him have grip on our wood and tile floors. Smokey is about 13.5 years old. There is a day soon when he won't be able to get better, but for now we are happy to have more time with him.
Buddy always has to sleep on someone's bed, otherwise he acts like he's freezing to death.
