Basketball

 Clayton and Hayden have a "ball" with their dad when he comes home from work and says its basketball time after dinner.  Justin gets in the fun to, usually trying to get in his older brothers way setting a perfect screen up for Nathan.  It's so funny to watch it all play out. 
 Nathan is such a great father to his all his sons.  Our boys are lucky to have a dad who is so involved and will play for hours with them even after a long day at work!
 One of these is not like the other! Roman was so not happy when they boys needed their ball back to play.  Seriously, look at that lower lip he is pulling off perfectly!  Such a cute mad face!
Giving me his great smiles and posing like a star!

Fun with Boys

April 2013
 Boys will always need a fort to play in!!
 Roman in his Sunday Best
 A funny text picture I teased Nate with when I went out shopping!




 Can never go wrong with Hot Wheels with boys!  They can't get enough of them!  I'm pretty sure they run better with baby slobber anyway!
Justin taking a swing with his little bud Roman, soaking up some sun together!





My oldest, next to my youngest!




Love this man, who surprised me with flowers when he came home from work.  Just because he knew I had a bad day!  It's the little things sometimes!

Love this Boy!

April 2013

 Having a baby in the house is pure joy!  It is so fun going through every stage with them, helping them grow and learn.  Roman is such a happy little guy.  He lights up the room with his smiles and gets a kick out of the littlest things.  I don't mind that he is a mamma's boy.  Its nice to have a boy stretching his arms out to have you hold him, especially when he turns and grins back at the person handing him over!  
 Roman is Eight months old and trying tons of new things, He is a super fast army crawler, and will at any moment get the full on crawl down.
 His first reaction to peas and carrots was not what he expected at all.  I felt sorry for the boy with all the gagging he was doing, but he also kept swallowing it down to, so by the end of the jars he was OK with peas and carrots.  Just was a dancing game for his taste buds to get use to I guess.

Sitting Pretty

Sitting Pretty
March 2013
 Roman sure loved Grandpa and Grandma Cottrell.  Although I wasn't able to catch a great photo of Grandma and Roman even though she snuggled tons with him.  I think Grandmas and moms sometimes are like an elusive animal that is hard to capture on film especially with their natural tendency to be moving around watching out for everyone else and giving a  helping hand. They are rarely found just sitting down not doing anything and because the camera is usually in their own hand taking all the photos.  I like a challenge though so I'll get a photo of Diana yet! :)
 Love this picture of Steve and Roman.  Sitting pretty watching the crazies around them play in the pool.
Hayden also thought he was sitting pretty on Grandpa's Garden Guard Mr. Stork!  Hayden was telling it to fly up to the sky with him!  silly boy!

Spring Break 2013

Spring Break March 2013
Louisiana Bond

 Our Spring Break this year was spent enjoying some good sunshine and playing with family down in Louisiana.  The boys love visiting their Gr & Gr Cottrell there and are great traveling in the car.  Clayton is showing off his blue tongue from the ring pop the kids had while on our road trip.  This was the first big trip in our new Town and Chrysler Van and I loved how much packing space it can hold!  Stow n Go bins are awesome! Such a key feature with a bunch of kiddos for sure!
 What good is a pool without a few games right?  With boys is usually always is with some sort of ball!  They have so much fun jumping off the diving board trying to catch the football that is thrown either by Nathan or by Gr. Cottrell.  The weather was a bit more cool than usually when we visited, making the pool rather cold, but that never stops my crazy sons from going in.  Nathan and his brother BJ also braved the cold and said it wasn't too bad once you were in and past that brain freeze part.  I enjoyed spending my time in the spa.  I have no idea how Clay and Hayden could go from hot spa water to jumping in a pool that was in the 50-60 degrees in temperature.  Justin would also go in the pool but usually only once then right back in the spa.  Unless of course he taunted his dad or grandpa with pouring a cup of cold water on them, then he would be thrown in.  He would be totally shivering with a full smile on his face and would hurry out of the pool to get in the spa and say "Ha Ha that was fun" to Nate and Steve.
 We were lucky enough to be with Diana and Steve for Easter Sunday.  Nathan's brother BJ and his wife Edlin recently moved to Louisiana as well and it was good to spend time with them as well.  We all got together for Easter Sunday, attending church have some delicious food and being treated to a Easter Egg Hunt BJ, Edlin, and Diana put together for the boys to have fun with.  Who wouldn't love candy and some dollars stuffed in plastic eggs!?!  Good times for sure.

 All my boys have the knack for teasing, something I think they get from both their dad and grandpa.  All innocent fun!! Both Clay and Hayden are such big talkers sometimes though and this time it was to Grandpa Cottrell on whether he could actually throw them in the pool or not.  We (the adults) all knew he could, but it never occurred to the boys that he actually would do it since it was a cloudy day, a very cold pool with no heated spa yet, and because they're his grandsons.  So to my boys; don't be surprised to end up in a cold pool fully dressed when you dare Grandpa!!  It was hilarious to see the shock on their faces.  First, that Steve actually carried they out to the pool and dropped them in, second, it was COLD COLD water, and third, they couldn't believe how hard it was to swim with heavy wet denim on!!  Oh, we all had some good laughs at this dare challenge.  Winner?  I'd say Grandpa since he definitely not cold and wet!!
Our other thrown in victim was Diana!!  Not by Steve that's for sure he is smarter than that, but by her own son BJ!  She also was fully dressed and when she first went in her shirt got stuck over her head and she couldn't pull it off for a while.  I was getting worried she couldn't breath, and then her head popped out again.  She was able to give BJ a good dunk underwater for all the trouble he caused.  She is a good sport with it all.  BJ made sure she was OK and that she didn't hate him for it.  I'd watch out if I was BJ though, since Diana can do her own set of teasing and pushing peeps into cold pools!!  Good thing she had no cell phone or her or anything!


It's always a blast in Louisiana with Diana and Steve.  They are so welcoming to our crazy crew and together we all laugh, eat good food, watch movies together and are fully aware of how blessed we are to share these times together!  Until the next time right?!!  Thanks again Diana and Steve!  Gr & Gr Cottrell