Celebrating Dr. Seuss (with poor spelling)

Today is Dr. Seuss' 108th birthday. In honor of the beloved children's author, I sent Max to school in a Star-Bellied Sneetch shirt. For those unfamiliar with Star-Bellied Sneetches, they are characters in his book 'The Sneetches and Other Stories", a Kaetzel family favorite. On the front of the shirt I stenciled a big star:

On the back, I stenciled 'Sneech', yep...Sneech, without the 'T'. Nothing like sending your kid to school in a shirt with a spelling error that is meant to honor a writer. I realized the error before Max left for school, but I let him wear it anyway. Apparently I have no shame.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss! Thanks for reminding us that it's okay to laugh at our mistakes.

Baby Marin!

I've just returned home from a wonderful 5-day trip to Columbus, Ohio, to visit sweet baby Marin (and her parents too, of course) She is wonderful! So precious. Take a look below and prepare to fall in love!

Sleeping Beauty:

Proud Mama:

Look at those cheeks!!

Dad is in L-O-V-E!

She has the prettiest blue eyes that just sparkle like crazy:

The Marins!

Such a sweet, happy family:

And we can't forget Clementine and Lucy!

Auction Project

I once again volunteered to head up Max's classroom auction project. This year we did concentric circles based on the work of Wassily Kandinsky, the Russian abstract painter of the early 20th century. I am so proud of how well the kids did. They worked really hard on it. Each 4x4 square is a different child's work and they combined so beautifully! Lake City Framing graciously donated their professional framing services which makes the mural look incredible. This photo is pretty terrible, it's so much more vibrant in real life...but you get the idea.

Lego Pride

My parents gave Max this Lego Hogwarts set for Christmas. 1,290 pieces! During the snow days Max built and built and built, working so hard. He did it all himself, with very minimal help from Mark or I. He finished it this morning and is so proud and excited. It's amazing to watch Max change from one year to the next. Last year he couldn't snap two Legos together to save his life. This year he built a castle. Incredible.

Congratulations Max! You worked so hard and we are so proud of you!

Snow Day Fun

Snow Days!

We have been having a blast these last few snowy days and I finally got my camera out to shoot a few pictures. Today we spent the day with the Murfin-Paz and Bellabiod families. We had so much fun sledding down the hill right by our house.

Gus and Max are ready to head down the hill:



Down they go!

And back up they go:

Jack-Jack wasn't interested in the sledding, but he still had fun:

Can you see the sledders at the top of the hill?

Here they come:

Oops! Daddy & Max are heading for the ditch!

Nothing like cookies and hot chocolate after a cold day of snow play:

Here's Jack after everyone left:

Cozy and warm on his brother's lap:

There's no better place to be.

O Christmas Tree

I loved our little Christmas tree this year. In fact, it was my most favorite tree we've ever had. It was small and unassuming, but so perfect and lovely. It drank water every day, dropped very few needles and stood proudly in our living room for nearly 4 weeks without any trouble. Normally by the end of the season I am so eager to get our tree out of the house that it's down on the 26th. But not this year. I could hardly bear to part with it! It just fit perfectly into our home and when I took it down today, my heart felt a little twinge of sadness. Seems silly to even type that, but it's true!

Thanks for being so wonderful, little tree.