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!

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.

Daddy Daughter Date

While I headed back to school, Kiera and Dave headed to see the Tribe game!

 A blurry selfie! 

Shoregals Softball

Kiera is playing travel softball this year...She's an Avon Lake Shoregal! 

Her favorite position to play is catcher and she's currently in a hitting rut.

She's got a powerful swing, but isn't making contact with the ball. Thankfully, she's not 

letting that ruin her fun! She's signed up for a hitting lesson mid June, 

so hopefully she'll get her bat going.  She has a new fondness for dill pickle sunflower seeds. 

Dave is helping coach. 

 Trying to look tough

Christmas Day 2017

For Christmas, everyone got the gift of sleeping in this year! Kiera didn't wake up until 8am which was a treat after hosting Christmas Eve. First up were the stockings, both K and Ty won on their lotto tickets. Kiera's big gift was a softball bat and a waterproof bluetooth speaker. Ty's was a new gym bag. We didn't have a true Christmas breakfast this year, we just nibbled on the leftovers from the night before. 

Kiera loves baths! Here she is with bath crayons, 

but also got bath bombs and shower gel. 

 Santa brought a softball bat! 

 As Kiera was posing for the pic, both Ty and Dave shouted,

"Get your elbow up!"

 After a disastrous canoeing trip this summer, both Em and I

gifted Ty waterproof cell phone holders, ha! 

 For the past few years, Kiera has slept in front of the tree in 

hopes of seeing Santa. This year she slept on the couch, as you

can see all of her pillows and blankets!

 Kiera made Dave a button Christmas tree picture for Christmas

 Handmade gifts are the best!

 New pajamas for me

 Kiera has become quite witty, thanks to the tween shows on the 

Disney Channel. I wish I had written down what she said, but
here's the look that when along with her doozy of a comment...

 Santa brought this toy for Kitty, not Kiera!

 Brooke wants in on the action

 She looks so cute here, but she's still a D.C., as we call her.
D.C. is short for Devil Kitty, which would technically be D.K,
but once you start with a nickname, there's no going back! 

 Christmas Beverages for both!

Kiera got vanilla syrup and coke in bottles and Ty got a pack of

seasonal local beers...Thanks to World Market!

 Vanilla Coke for breakfast? Pouring sugary syrup on the couch?
Sure, it's Christmas!

Now off to see the family!

Halloween 2017

Another fun Halloween is in the books! Our pumpkin came from Millersburg (not at our farm) but it gave us an idea...make a pumpkin patch at the farm! Kiera sketched out her design on paper, then got to work. We always take a pic of her pretending to eat the pumpkin guts. This year, instead of a candle inside the pumpkin, Kiera saved a little LED flashing light from a light stick and used that. She was quite proud of her creation. Kiera was a deer this year, Dave a hunter, Brooke a squirrel and Kitty and acorn.The weather was chilly and cool, in the 40s. Kiera's favorite candies are Sweet Tarts, Twix and Take Five. After they came home, around 7:30, she sorted and ate some candy then took a warm bath.  This was the first year Kiera wasn't allowed to dress up at school. Since she's in fourth grade, she's now in "intermediate" status, not primary. She wasn't too upset about it because she said they got to watch a Halloween movie in class. They also got to wear a Halloween accessory. Kiera chose cat ears. 

 Brooke the squirrel...her costume was too big

So happy to have a kitty, Kiera insisted on taking her outside 

to show the neighbors the kitty in costume. Just then, the neighbor's dog scared

kitty and  she scratched Kiera. A few scratches, drops of blood and tears later

she decided she wouldn't do that again. I may or may not have said something 

similar to "I told you so."

 Dave borrowed some hunting gear from Grandpa...

Thanks Dad!

 Oh deer!

 Posing with our neighborhood friends...

These four girls were inseparable all summer...they call themselves "The

Canterbury Crew." They even named their group text message that...

funny part is 3/4 of them don't have their own phone and use their mom's phones!  

Showing off her tail!

 Kiera's Jack o' Lantern 

 Coming in for the night...

 ...look at that full bag!

 Just a doe and her fawn

 Sorting her all the candy! She knows that she has 14 Reeses, 

3 Almond Joys....

Here's a picture from earlier in the day at school...the 6th grade team!

If the costumes look familiar, that's because Dave, Kiera and I wore 

them last year for our Halloween Block Party. A great, easy group costume.

I just had to make the honey jar. I also shared with the sixth grade classes

the pictures of us extracting the honey and brought in a jar for all to taste!

 f=- op[

(that was typed by Kitty) 

Every morning, she climbs up my leg to sit on 

my lap as I drink coffee and sit at the computer.

Then she climbs up on the keyboard. She does this

at least 5 times!