Silly Things Groomers Do to Dogs

We couldn't handle all of the shedding any longer (and our winter has been ridiculously mild), so we decided to have Daphne shaved recently. When Abby and I picked her up, we couldn't stop laughing. If you've met Daphne, you know how absolutely silly it was to put bows in her hair. She's not exactly a dainty dog! 

Things that Daniel Makes

Daniel makes such great things in school. I put a lot of the flat papers in a binder and we periodically sit down together and look at his art work. He is very PROUD and BEAMS as we look at all of the things he has made. We also have a lot of Daniel (and Abby) art on our walls.

But the three dimensional objects are another story. There simply is no good way to display and/or keep them. It pains me to throw them away, so I keep them and they start piling up around the house.

I realized that it had reached a point where I needed to impose a Daniel-artwork-hoarding-intervention on myself. So, I snapped some photos for posterity and tossed Daniel's creations in the waste basket. (PAIN! PAIN! PAIN!)

But at least I can put these photos in Daniel's binder as a reminder of his work.

Daniel brought this adorable bracelet home around Halloween.

I think this owl came home in November.

And this airplane just came home last week.

New Year's Day on the Beach

So, I managed to skip a month or two of updating lots-o-stotts at the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012. Even though I like keeping things in chronological order, I've decided to toss in a post or two out of order. Given that I have so many fun photos, it would be a shame to keep them all to myself!

Here is Abby on Carmel Beach on New Year's Day 2012. It was a cold day (not Minnesota cold, but Carmel, California cold), so I didn't let Abby wear her swimsuit to the beach. As you can see, that didn't stop her from getting completely drenched! The girl loves the ocean!

Aerospace Engineering

Daniel loves building airplanes at school with bristle blocks. We gave him a set of his own bristle blocks for Valentine's Day.

On Sunday, we discovered that Will and Grandpa Engelhardt also love to build airplanes!

Daniel's plane was a hit.

When Daniel saw Grandpa's very cool plane (we thought it looked like a crop duster or a stunt plane) his eyes got so big. He stared at it intently. You could tell he was attempting to memorize it to build his own version at a later date.

Will went with a stealth bomber style plane.

And like all fine aerospace engineers, Daniel and Will simply had to see their planes fly!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day from Daniel...

...and Abby.