Christmas Is Coming....

...and so we dance.

The Charleston

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Disco

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Happy Thanksgiving

Above all, I am thankful for my family, all of my family and my friends. Thank you for being a part of my life. Happy Thanksgiving.

The Baking Time of Year

Carley loves, loves, LOVES her new Williams-Sonoma Kid's Baking book that I gave her for her birthday. Last week we made gingerbread 'kids' from one of the recipes. Today we made s'more bars.








And boy were they good!

I'm not much of a baker, it's just too precise for me, but Carley's baking desires are rubbing off on me. Or maybe it's just the time of the year. Today I made a pecan pie from scratch and I mean s c r a t c h. No Pillsbury crusts for me when I decide to really make a pie. Although I can't even remember the last time I made a real pie.


It wasn't runny. That's a good sign.


Walt goes in for a taste. That's the true test.


30 seconds later he's heading to the finish line. Just call me Betty Crocker-Thiel.

Mandarins and Motorcycles

Saturday was a fun family day. We went to Auburn for the Mountain Mandarin Festival where you can find the best mandarins in California. Mmm.


There are lots of enjoyable things to eat, see and do at the Mandarin Festival.


We watched a 10 (minus one) piece brass ensemble. We really enjoyed that especially since there were 4 trumpets!


The kids rode a few kiddie rides.


And decorated little mandarin heads.


Which took a lot of tendering loving care.


While the mandarin heads dried, they stayed in the Mandarin Daycare.



Where Josh's mandarin was not on his best behavior.


And of course we bought our 10lb. bag of mandarins. Our 10lb bag is almost empty already.


After the Mandarin Festival, we drove further up the mountain to a dirt road area where Josh and Walt rode their dirt bikes.

It was Josh's second time taking out his new bike and this time Walt brought his along for a little fun himself.


It was great to see the two of them having fun together.


Josh really enjoyed himself and got a lot more comfortable on the bike. He even got up to second gear for the first time.


I love to see them bond.


Walt was just like a boy wanting to catch air off the little jump. Towards the end of the day he was getting pretty high. I unfortunately had put away my camera by then.


Josh started pushing his comfort zone a little and got off the ground just enough. He was so happy about that.


After seeing the boys have so much fun, Carley wanted to go for a spin. She borrowed her brother's helmet and hung on tight to Walt's pants. He took it easy but she loved it.


I did hop on Josh's bike and took it for a few spins myself. What fun.

It turned out to be a terrific family day. We all enjoyed being together and went home smiling.

Josh Joined Band

Did I forget to mention that? Nah, not me! I never forget anything.

Josh joined band this year. It's a privelage and rare for 3rd graders to join band, usually reserved for the 4th through 6th grades. Josh is one of a few Gate students in his grade, meaning he is advanced academically (you knew that, right?). Gate 3rd graders are allowed to start band a year early but because his teacher learned it late, Josh started band a few weeks later than the upper grades.

I was surprised that Josh, who typically doesn't like to stand out from the crowd, wanted to go ahead and join anyway. Luckily, two friends from his class joined the week after him. Band practices are twice a week after school. He started the week before we went to Washington so has been playing for about a month.

Josh is playing trumpet (obvious?), which was his initial choice. Just like most music students though, he doesn't like practicing and he gets frustrated easily when he can't grasp a song quick enough. Thankfully the first concert will be in February, thankfully because he's already a little nervous about performing in front of an audience. I think he'll do great.

He really does enjoy attending band.

The Real Deal

Even though we had a surprise birthday party for Carley while in WA, we still had a mini celebration on her actual birthday. Good thing too. She doesn't really count the party at my mom's because it wasn't her real birthday.

Carley's birthday was simple. After school, a friend from her preschool came over. Carley loves to bake so I let her and Bela make the birthday cake. They did a great job with only a little help from me with the measuring and of course putting it in the oven.

It was a simple yet sweet birthday. Carley enjoyed it.

























































Happy Birthday Carley!

Two Weeks Ago...

...was Halloween and I'm finally getting around to posting pictures from the fun. Apparently I'm in a blog slump or a picture slump. I took hundreds of pictures while in Washington with family but have processed probably only half. *Sigh* I promise I'll pick up the pace soon. Just after I catch up on the homework I haven't finished.




Halloween wasn't too eventful this year because of all the events surrounding my sister's wedding. My mom and Dave had a couple pumpkins waiting for the kids to carve into jack-o-lanterns but we never even got around to that. *Gasp* In fact, the kids are lucky that I managed to get them into their simple costumes and get them out for trick-or-treating.


Poulsbo is a town about 15 minutes away from my mom's house. It's "old town" is very Norwegian and cute. I haven't been through there in... actually I can't even remember how long, that's how long it's been. Anyway, the old part of town closes down it's main street to traffic on Halloween and the kids can trick-or-treat the shops. My sister, Ashley and I took the kids there. It was quite crowded but really enjoyable. After that closed down at 6 o'clock, we met up with Alex, another sister, and her family. It was great to see them, especially my little clone trooper nephew. We finished up trick-or-treating in a nice neighborhood close to my mom's house (neighborhood's are hard to come by in the country) and then called it a day.

At the Wedding

It's rare that we get dressed up,especially the whole family at once, so this may end up on your Christmas card this year. Well not really but it felt good to be cleaned up a little and having a good time with my family.

Here's another favorite from the wedding. I just love how Carley is looking up at Aunt Shelly. Carley, by the way, was a little dancing queen.

I think it started when she found out that her dress twirled nicely.

She kept twirling it before it was time for pre-ceremony pictures.

During the reception, Carley and Ethan, the ring bearer, tore it up on the dance floor.

He even spun her around and around.

The even tried to do the Twist (is it the Octopus?).

When I was talking to Carley later about what a good dancer Ethan was and how he was spinning her she said, "I was spinning myself, Mom. I was showing him how to do it". Apparently Carley is the star dancer, not Ethan.

By the end of the night she was tired but still wanted to dance so she would sweet talk family, like Uncle Nick, into holding her on the dance floor.

Poor girl's feet were so sore from all that dancing that she cried and cried. Thank goodness after a good night's rest she was recovered and back to normal.