Birthday and Cousins

Last weekend, we went to Gaia's birthday to celebrate her turning 3!

Her party was at Auburn Gymnastics Center and the kids jumped, climbed, spun, swung and ran wild. They loved every minute of it.






Emma.


Gaia. Birthday girl.








Kiele.






And we finally met this little bundle of joy. She's almost three months old.


Isis Rose. Our newest great-niece.


Here's a video of the "Happy Birthday" song.

Kiele came home with us after the party. Since the kids were out of school for the week, she stayed two nights. It was so great to have her around.







I love to watch the cousins play.

Lesson Learned

Do not tightly screw your oven door handle back onto your glass oven door while the oven is still hot. Because minutes later you get BOOM-crash.


Uh-oh. But hey, the handle is still tightly attached!


Glass was everywhere. Including on the window sill above my sink and in the living room in front of the entry way.

Thankfully it's tempered and only blew sideways rather than out. The kids and I, including Kiele, were playing a game at the table. Quite a shock!


Check out the oven door without the glass.

Needless to say, we have another project on our hands.

Until then... I'm getting the duct tape.

Be Their Valentine

There isn't much of a Valentine celebration going on in the Thiel household this year. But as always, the kids have a Valentine exchange at school. I typically buy the cheap, cartoon character Valentines and let the kids sign their names.

This year I got the idea for a personalized Valentine card from this blog that I frequent. She got the idea from a different blog.

Walt told me to do it. Carley approved.


I started by taking this picture of Carley.


Then I added text in Photoshop and bought 20 prints at Walgreens.


On the photo, a slit is made at the top and bottom of Carley's extended hand where a sucker is inserted and viola, homemade Valentine card with a goodie.


The Valentine cards came out much cuter than I anticipated.


Josh, on the other hand, is giving a packet of Fun Dip as his Valentine card.


Nothing wrong with Fun Dip. It used to be one of my favorite candies when I was young.


But nothing beats a pile of grinning Carley faces.

Love of Paint

Carley has loved painting for as long as I can remember. Probably since the first time she ever got the chance to paint, which isn't often.



She even requested "painting" as her family activity on her third birthday.



For the past week or so, she has been asking for painting paper. So we finally bought some small poster board.



And a painting she will go.



Paint time makes a happy Carley.

And Carley cleaning up her mess makes a happy mom.