Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

We have had a lot of fun celebrating Kiera's second birthday over the past week! We went to Dairy Queen on March 7th with all of the cousins. We have 3 March birthdays...Olivia, AJ and Kiera...we celebrated them all. It was a little crazy, but A LOT fun! The pics are in random order (It's 10:30 and past my bedtime, so I'm not going to be picky and rearrange them!)

Everyone models their Miami tees from Nicole...Can you guess where she goes to school?

Kiera is more interested in the size sticker than having her pic taken!

The big girls help Kiera do the "I love you" sign
We missed our biggest cousin, Nurse Michelle who was working :(

I can't believe these "baby girls" are in college...I remember when they all were born.
What am I going to be like when my baby girl is in college?

Girls just wanna have fun!

The Three March Birthday Amigos

All of the cousins goofin'

Group shot!

Auntie Em helping Kiera open gifts

Thank you for all of the gifts!!

Wow...a picture of me! Thanks for taking pics at the party, Dave.

Love Ava's grin!

On to celebration number two...an Irish dinner at Mimi and Papa's. We had the best corned beef ever, cabbage, potatoes and rye bread. For dessert, DQ cake! As you can see...Kiera thoroughly enjoyed the cake. Thanks for a special day, Mimi and Papa!

They got Kiera just what she asked for...a pink balloon!

Dying to put her fingers in the frosting...

...She's going in for the (frosting) kill

...the frosting has almost reached its destination...

...Mission accomplished!

Proof that her mission was accomplished!

Blowing out the candles

Kiera's wish: Sparkle
Not quite sure what she means by that, other than that
she loves Sparkle (Mimi and Papa's dog)

An almost two year old enjoying her cake
(Age: 1 and three hundred sixty-three over three hundred sixty-fifths)

More fun to come tomorrow!

Bye for now, Auntie Em!

Auntie Em heads back to Chicago today as her Spring Break ends. Boo hoo. We will miss you. We always have fun together! Thanks for helping Kiera celebrate at Dairy Queen, I know she loved sitting on your lap (even if she barely smiled the whole time!). Thanks for volunteering in my classroom. The kids miss you, "Miss." We miss you around our dinner table...especially when you make your guacamole!

Have a safe trip back, and we'll see you over Easter weekend!

Drawing

I have to renew my teaching license this year. To do so, I need to complete six graduate credit hours. I am taking a drawing class called Creative Thinking. Dave, my artist husband, is "helping" me with the class. I'll let you interpret what "helping" means; what if my professor stumbles across my blog?

Kiera likes to help too...

I had to draw a profile pic of myself. Didn't "I" do a good job?

I hope Kiera gets Dave and Grandma Kette's artistic abilities. They are so talented. I'll take a pic of Grandma Kette's pic of Kiera (after the camera is done charging) and show you her work.

Fun with Grandpa Jerry

On Monday, we went to visit Grandpa Jerry. As per usual, Grandpa was Kiera's number one playmate! He gets out of his chair and caters to Kiera's every desire...playing with the blocks and her green football, letting her use his "grab thing," giving her suckers, giving her any food she wants...this time, he even let her play with the washing machine. Kiera is usually asleep before we drive out of his development...and I'm pretty sure Grandpa is too!

Ponytails and Macaroni

Another exciting Friday night in the Kette household! Kiera and I put on our pjs at 5 o'clock (she's wearing her signature piggy jammies, of course). We put a ponytail in her hair then went in the kitchen to make dinner...Annie's mac and cheese. Here is Kiera spilling noodles all over the place...er, helping me pour the noodles out of the box.

A bird's eye view of our dinner preparation...

Why won't she smile at the camera?

Shortly after we finished eating dinner, Dave came home from New York, where he was working with Mark). Hooray! We missed him! Right after I snapped this (not so great) pic...

...Kiera gave Dave a really big hug!
Then, we all enjoyed a treat that Mark and Lynn
sent home with Dave. The most delish chocolate covered
spun-sugar-thingy. Yumm! Thanks, Mark and Lynn!

Also...Kiera is modeling her new Elmo socks from
Uncle Mark and Aunt Lynn.

Have a great weekend! Stay tuned...more fun to come!

Public Squares

So you all know we LOVE to do the Public Squares puzzle in the Plain Dealer, right? It's usually a family affair...Ty is the whiz at the sports and Latin questions...Dave excels with the music and "oldie" questions...and I, um, do well in a "little bit of this and a little bit of that." We try to answer the questions as Kiera draws on the comics. She loves Marmaduke. But I digress...

The point of this picture is that Kiera answered her first Public Square question correctly!

The question: Bert's Best Buddy
Kiera's Answer: Ernie

She is a puzzle master! HA!
I know that any (almost) 2 year old can answer this question
...but we're still proud!

Snow, Sledding and Smiles

It's been a fun, snowy two days! I had a snow day (my first snow day of the year!) so Kiera and I got to play together all day Friday. And today, Dave went to work, so Kiera and I stayed in our jammies to lounge around. I did a lot of little things...wrote St. Patty's day cards, did some laundry, worked on Kiera and Ty's scrapbooks, ordered bedrails for Kiera's bed...in between playing with my favorite playmate. Then, Dave got home from work and we went outside to play in the snow. Dave took Kiera for a sled ride around the block. Dave made a little hill in our yard for Kiera to sled down. We visited Auntie Kate and saw her snow creations. We topped it off with hot Ovaltine and a nap! Well, Kiera napped, I blogged.

Kiera and Aunt Kate pose with
Snowgirl Aunt Kate and Snowdog
Winnie

Kiera's first snow angel

Trying to catch snowflakes on her tounge

Going for a sled ride around the block...

...Kiera likes when Dave runs and they go fast...

...See?!

Dave got the shovel and built up a little hill so
she could "sled." We would like to take her sledding
on a "real" hill, so we're going to wait until Ty
can go too!

Kiera: (whining) I want to stay in the snow!
Me: Let's go in and have some hot chocolate.
Kiera: (smiling) I can have hot chocolate?
Okay, mommy. Let's go inside.


Stay warm! Drink lots of hot chocolate!