Carhartt and Stanleys from Kiki, oh my!

 Kiki got the all the kids Carhartt hats and Stanleys for Christmas!

Poppy and Kendall hung out with us while mom and dad were at work. We went for a walk and the kids stayed warm and cozy and cute in their new hats!

Merry Christmas 2024

Merry Christmas from The Kettes!

This picture cracked us up...one of us has her pants pulled up too high, one of us looks beautiful and one of us looks like Mr. Clean with his white bushy eyebrows (courtesy of the down lights). We celebrated Christmas Eve at Mimi and Papa's with the Kettes 2.0, Shapiros and Groths. We were extra cozy this year as we all wore matching pjs. We enjoyed one of our favorite traditions together...Christmas Eve fondue. Kiera requested a chocolate fondue this year. We laughed, ate, loved on eachother, drank, opened gifts and ate some more, then headed home to wait for Santa to come! 

The Bockraths

The Groths

                                                                           The Kettes 2.0

The Shapiros

Three Generations of Kette Guys

Dave and his mini me!

Happy 4th of July!

God Bless America!

We celebrated America's independence with dinner at Mimi and Papa's...

smoked brisket, pasta salad, fruit salad and a homemade ice cream cake for dessert. 

We cut our fun short so Kiera could head to Bay Days with friends. 

Fun fact: Lucy is wearing a hand-me-down dress of Kiera's! 

Here's Kiera in the dress, but a full blog post with more pics is on August 6, 2011 

Can't wait a few more years until the dress gets passed down to Poppy! 

Our Beloved Pediatrician

Dr. Guadiz and Kiera

 Kiera had her 15 year old well visit today. In true Dr. G fashion, we had to 

wait for her for 30 minutes, but we love her so much it's worth the wait. 

Kiera got a clean bill of health. She's in the 97th percentile for height at 

almost 5'9".  Kiera got an order for her first blood draw, which will do

later this summer. We don't suspect anything is wrong, it's routine and

 will be baseline data for future. We treated our sweet doctor to a note and

a jar of honey because she is the absolute sweetest! 

Homecoming #3

Kiera went to Bay's Homecoming (her third homecoming dance) 

with one of her favorite neighborhood pals, G and her group of 

girl friends. Kiera said this was the best dance so far and then 

she asked, "Can I transfer to Bay High?"

                                                                                K & G

Mini and Mom

Though she looks taller than me in the pic,

I've still got 1/2" on her! 

                                                                     Off to Bay Arts for pics

Potato Harvest

We tried growing potatoes for the first time this year. We planted them in grow bags and they sat on our driveway. We planted two bags, one white potatoes and one with red. Each bag started with three  organic tubers (shriveled up potato starts with eyes on them). We harvested them this weekend 

and we can't wait to eat them! 

Our bounty! 

 

St. Raphael School Homecoming 2021

The 8th grade fall sports were recognized at the St. Raphael Homecoming game this weekend. The girls got a flower and their names were announced as they walked on the field at halftime. The announcer didn't say her name right (something like Key-era Key-tee) but we're used to that so it gave us a good chuckle!

Kiera #8

Father Tim and the team

Teammates and Friends!

Proud Parents! Dave was there too, but he was in the

stands talking (no surprise there!)

Each 8th grader received a yard sign. 

Here's Kiera begrudgingly posing with hers!

 

Last Day of 7th Grade

And just like that, Kiera said goodbye to 7th grade and hello to summer! The school year ended a day earlier than planned this year, on June 7th, a Monday. Because the year was basically over and grades were already submitted, we did something we don't normally do - a school night sleepover! Kiera had two friends sleepover. The girls went to bed around 11:30 and were up at 6:30. The school day doesn't start until 9, but they went to the local coffee shop, Mojo's for breakfast before school. 

A new look to our first/last day pics as our home reno is finally complete!

K+ MG + R = Friends Forever 

Love these silly pics!

An interview with Kiera about some of her favorite 7th grade memories:

Closest friends - MJ and R

Fave class - Religion

Fave Teacher - Mrs. Seitz (also her daughter, Genevieve) 

Favorite school memory - volleyball

 

New Truck

Dave knew his brakes were "acting up" what he didn't know is that they would go out on him! He and Kiera were at "the locker" (aka the storage unit where he stores his work tools and equipment).  The truck was acting funny so he was going to back it into a parking spot so it would be easy for a tow truck to pick up the truck...but the truck had other plans! He pressed the gas to get it to go, and it the truck wasn't moving. So he jammed on the gas which made the truck move and when he went to put on the breaks, there weren't any! The break pad on the right side fell out and they ran right into a pole. Thankfully, other than a few bruises and scrapes, Kiera and Dave were fine. It was a bad time to be looking for a new truck, because of the chip shortage during Covid. We called and visited dealerships to find a new truck but weren't finding anything (thankfully he had a loaner truck). We finally found one almost a month later. It wasn't quite what he wanted (we were spoiled by the Platinum package on his former truck). 

His new truck! A 2021 F-150 Lariat 

We went to Thai Spice for dinner to celebrate!

Kiera was super jazzed because they had bubble tea.

OVR Volleyball Tournament in Columbus

Kiera and her teammates ended the AVC Club Season at the

OVR tournament in Columbus this weekend. They didn't place well 

(2nd in platinum) but we had a great time! We went down to Columbus 

on Saturday afternoon. Then went to Buca di Beppo for a team dinner.

After dinner, we walked down the fun, happenin' North High Street

to get dessert at Jeni's Ice Cream. 

Dinner with some of the team at Buca di Beppo

 

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

I love good stationery and sending cards in the mail. I especially love Christmas cards. Time got away from me and I *almost* didn't send cards out. But when Kiera and I drove down to the farm to feed the ducks, we had a little Christmas Card photo shoot at the She Shed. 

Look at the thin layer of ice on the pond

Kiera's driveway pics are my fave! 

The She Shed got some Christmas touches...wreaths, trees and buffalo check pillows

Selfie!

This is the shot we used for the cards!