Saturday morning soccer

One of the great things about our small town is the recreational sports. We play football in the fall, basketball in the winter, soccer in the spring and baseball in the summer. Garrett plays soccer with a group of Kindergarten and 1st grade boys and girls. This season when the kids show up for the game the coaches just divide them up into teams and we play. The kids love it and we don't keep score. This last Saturday there were not very many kids so several of the younger siblings joined in the soccer game.
Garrett is in the green shorts and Anna is the little one in the purple.


Taylor and Garrett going after the ball.


Garrett and Taylor hit the turf.

Anna is the short one on the left in the purple shirt. She was not afraid to get into the action. She even got rolled down the field once but she popped right back up and took off. She might be our only girl but she just may be toughest one in the bunch. She had a great time.
Poor Sam didn't get into the soccer game but had tons of fun playing along the sidelines with this ball.

Weekend around the Farm

Our favorite home-away-from-home is the farm. There are all kinds of fun things to do and that is about the only way we get to see Dad this time of year.

Of course Tuffy is Anna's favorite. Notice he finally got a haircut. We need to get Papa out here to make it look a little better, but for now I think Tuffy is just glad to be able to see.


Sam has a favorite place on the farm. In fact one afternoon he disappeared and we looked everywhere for him. He was finally found in the barn with his favorite playmates, the bottle calves. Their names are Red, Red 2 and The Other One. He just loves to spend time with them and they chase Sam around the barn.


Sam and Red

K-State Open House

The weather was beautiful for KSU's open house a few weeks ago. We had a great time walking around campus playing games and looking at all the fun stuff.


Anna rolling out dough to make her own pretzel while visiting the Bakery Science kitchen.


Sam, proud of his pretzel.


McKenzie with her finished product.


Did you know K-State has an Insect Zoo? It is over near the greenhouses on the NW edge of campus. We caught a very exciting giant cockroach race while visiting the zoo.


The kids took a break to enjoy a honey straw.


It's Willie!!!!!!


There is a great tree in front of Umbuger Hall on the North side of campus. For those of you who don't know, the blond little girl is my niece, McKenzie. My kids got my dark hair and Kate's daughter has her blond hair.


Have I mentioned that I now live with 2 KSU celebrities (no, it is not Bill & Frank). The photo behind Garrett is hanging in the brand new Leadership Studies building. It was just dedicated a few weeks ago. This photo of Garrett and his Dad was taken last summer. They are checking the wheat to see if it is ripe and ready to be harvested.


A trip to Kansas State University would not be complete without stopping at the Call Hall Dairy Bar.


Garrett enjoyed some mint chocolate chip ice cream.


Anna wore just a little bit of her chocolate ice cream.

McKenzie enjoyed some chocolate as well.

We had a great time and can't wait to go back next year, hope you will join us. There are activities for the whole family.

Saving $$$$ and the Earth

If you follow my blog you must not have much to do because I have only posted 2 times in the last 4 months. So, I bet you are shocked to see my 2nd post this week.

I guess my post is in honor of Earth Day which was almost a week ago. If you know me very well you probably are not shocked that I am late (because I am ALWAYS late). Anyway, I felt compelled to share with you how I have reduced the amount bright orange Tide containers I use. It actually started out as a way to save money but then I realized it was also saving the Earth.

I make my own laundry detergent. I found the recipe on the Duggar's website. Yes, that is right the people that have like 18 or 19 kids. It is pretty simple to make and seems to work just fine. I highly recommend checking it out. http://www.duggarfamily.com/recipes.html.

Horses and House

Meet Tuffy, the latest addition to our horse herd. He arrived last week and the kids (especially Anna) are crazy about him. It appears he needs a bit of a haircut. We hope to get that taken care of real soon.

Our House Lift

Before

After

A few of my favorite things

Santa must have thought we were exceptionally good this year. We received lots of nice gifts from family and friends.

Joe's Aunt Debbie is a very talented quilter. There are a few guaranteed ways to earn one of Aunt Debbie's quilts.

1) get married

2) celebrate 50 years of marriage

3) have a baby

We already got one 12 years ago for #1, we have a few years to go before we get one for #2, so that would leave #3, but she added a #4 "at the quilters discretion." We exercised #4. When we got married in 1997 we received the first quilt she made, although we love that quilt and still use it on our bed she always thought it was not her best work. So, we got a new quilt this year without having to have a baby!!! Yahooo!!!! She produces lots of quilts and it is an honor to receive one. Thank you Aunt Debbie!

Lucky for me I happen to know someone else who is crafty. That would be my long time friend, Stephanie. She made me a lovely wall hanging. I have received lots of compliments since hanging it on my wall in early December. I just love it.

Our new Wii is bringing out the competitor in all of our family members and I hope to share some video I have taken with my new flip video. I will save that for another post.

Hope everyone is enjoying 2010. Tomorrow it will be back to reality after a 2 week break from school.

Enjoy a few more photos and moments from our Christmas.

Christmas Eve we left some cookies for Santa. Anna asked me about 5 days before Christmas if I had Santa's phone number. She thought we should call him to find out what kind of cookies he likes. I know you can't see it but the paper on the chair says, "Santa sit here." Garrett thought Santa might need a rest so he left the sign.

This is Sam in his brand new cowboy boots. All of our kids got new cowboy boots from Great Aunt Mary Kay.

This picture was taken in front of the alter following Christmas Eve Mass at St. Joseph's Church in Dorrance. The church always looks so beautiful in anticipation of the birth of Christ.

Thielen Family Christmas Letter 2009

Garrett, Sam and Anna

Garrett and Anna were never afraid of Santa so I never considered that Sam might be afraid. I was quite surprised but thought the pictures were priceless.

Christmas Letter

Well here it is folks, my first digital rendition of the Thielen Family Christmas letter. I am doing it this way for several reasons. I am doing the in thing and “going green.” I am what some would consider cheap, although, I like to refer to myself as “thrifty,” call it what you want I just know it is saving me a whole bunch of money. The last reason I did it this way is because I set up this blog in May and never posted anything so I though this might motivate me, so if you are reading this that means it worked!

Here is the lowdown on what the Thielens have been up to for the last 12 months. The farm continues to be the center of our lives. Joe and his brother, Matt, seem to be busy as ever. He keeps telling me it will slow down in a few weeks. I think I have heard that for the last 52 weeks. His biggest challenge of the year came during harvest this year when he developed a staff infection in his leg. He had 2-3 hours of IV antibiotics twice a day all through harvest. His nights at home were short but I think he got a little sleep while at the hospital. Other than that it was a good harvest.

I am still working part-time at Wilson elementary school teaching computers. My youngest class is Anna’s 3-year old preschool class. I stay home with Anna and Sam on the days when I am not at school. I like to tell people on my days off I drop the kids off at daycare and go to school. I’m not sure if teaching or staying home is more work. I consider myself lucky that I have a great job and I get to spend some time at home with my kids.

Garrett is 6 and having a great year in the 1^st grade. I am always amazed at how much they learn. He seems to enjoy reading and is good at math. There are 13 kids in his class and he has a wonderful teacher again this year. When he is not in school he likes to spend time at the farm.

Anna just turned 4 and goes to pre-school one afternoon a week. She too has a really good teacher and is enjoying the social aspect of school. As the only girl she deals with a lot of tractors and boy stuff around the house but the boys can occasionally be spotted helping her take care of her babies. She prefers to spend her time with Mom but can occasionally be convinced to go with Dad if he is stopping at the co-op for a treat.

Sam turned 2 in October and he lets me know on a daily basis that he is indeed 2 and WILL act like it. He throws fits, tells me NO and hangs right in there when he thinks he has been shortchanged by Anna and Garrett. He has a huge vocabulary and keeps us laughing.

We did take the kids to Omaha to the zoo for a few days in March. I worried about the weather but it turned out to be 80 degrees, which we found rather HOT while walking on asphalt at the Henry Doorly Zoo. I think the kids enjoyed the zoo but after about an hour Garrett told us to hurry up so we could get back to the hotel and swim. I think he would have been just as happy if we drove 15 miles down the road to the nearest hotel with a swimming pool and stayed there.

Our other getaway was to Springfield, MO where my sister and her family live. We took my parents along and spent a day at Silver Dollar City and a day on Table Rock Lake. It was loads of fun and the kids want to do it again next year.

I hope my new blog is more than just a “Christmas thing” and I find the time to make a few more posts throughout the year.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!