Hayden the Pirate...with knocked out Teeth!

 ARRRRGGGGG Ya Matey

Hayden loved being a pirate this year, especially since his missing teeth just added to his costume!!

This kid is such a character!!  He seriously makes me laugh at his fun, crazy, over the top personality!

Lost Tooth

Lost tooth

October 2012 

Hayden has been losing teeth like a mad man!  He had a necklace he received from school that was in the shape of a tooth that could open up to keep a tooth lost at school safe until the child got home. But Hayden, being Hayden, liked to swing his necklace around and around making it easy for the tooth to fall out.  I kept warning him he should go put the necklace away in his room until he wanted to put it under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy to find.  Well, he didn't heed the warning...warningS and his tooth went flying and he lost it.  We searched and searched and it was no use.  Hayden was upset and said "Mom, I still can't find it, even after I prayed."  Such a sweet boy.  The vacuum cleaner would be the finder of this one.  Hayden was really upset.  He feared that the Tooth Fairy would not visit him now because he had no tooth to place under his pillow.  After talking to him about it and suggesting for him to write a note to the Tooth Fairy and see what she or he (it might be a boy Tooth Fairy, especially since my boys have watched the movie "The Tooth Fairy" with The Rock  aka Dwayne Johnson they like the idea of a tough boy Tooth Fairy!) could do.

 This is Hayden's note, equipped with a very sad picture of himself.  The T-F refers to Tooth Fairy!

 Here is what Hayden found under his pillow in the morning along with money from the Tooth Fairy.

Hayden thinks the Tooth Fairy is pretty cool and is an understanding guy! 

Total of 5 Teeth gone..

3 on top

2 on bottom 

Love this boy!

September 2012

September 2012

 This is what can happen if you have three older brothers!! Is was so funny to watch Roman use all the muscles in his face to figure out just what was on him.  The other three were rolling over hysterically laughing!

Roman is 1 month old!  He is a great baby, who is happy and easy to care for.  Such a character with all his smiles he easily gives! He is very content on his own but also loves to cuddle up and be a part of the family with our Friday movie nights.

Justin is my firecracker!  This kid is smart!  He will turn four in January and is practicing sight words and spelling with me at home!

 Fun Fun Fun at Kristy and Scott's House.  Diana was in town still so we had a barbeque with the family.  Always fun to get the Humphrey's, Collymore's, and Cottrell's together.  We enjoyed swimming, bouncing on the tramp and soaking up some sun!




Kristy is the master at the double stack!!  Clayton and Hayden thought this was hilarious!!

I love watching all the kids having so much fun together!  Playing with cousin is always a blast, especially when all the Uncles and Aunts and Grandma Cottrell get in on the fun!

1 week old

ROMAN PAUL

Time seems to fly by once your baby has been born!  Our family sure does love this little guy!!

Justin has a ball being around Roman.  He has his own special time with him while his older brothers are at school.

First Day of School

August 2012

First Day of School

Clayton : 3rd Grade Teacher Ms. Janik

Favorite...

 Color: Blue and Purple

Movie: Real Steel and Harry Potter

TV Show: Ninjago and Americas Funnest Videos

Food: Ribs at Applebees

Candy: Dark chocolate

Toy: Legos 

Activity: Doing art and crafts.

 Hayden: 1st Grade Teacher Mrs. Vasica

Favorite...

 Color: Red and blue

Movie: Despicable Me, any super hero movie

TV Show: Americas funniest video, Sponge bob

Food: anything with sausage, ribs, and pork.

Candy: cotton candy and ice cream sandwiches

Toy: Wii

Activity: to Play Wii

I love their answers!!  My boys crack me up!

 Since Roman was born August 17th, my mom was here to see the boys go to their first day of school!  This was really special for my boys to have their grandma walk them to the bus stop and watch them drive off!  Too bad that also was the same day she had to fly home.  So it was bittersweet since she wouldn't be here when they got home.

Grandma's Love

 Grandma's love! 

August 2012

 Roman was showered with love from Grandma Thompson and Grandma Cottrell.  Complete with hugs, kisses, and homemade baby blankets for Roman to wrap up in!  We love having them here, spending time with our family!  My Mom came to stay with us for ten days.  She was able to spend time with us before Roman arrived and it was so helpful having her here to be with our boys while Nathan and I were at the hospital.  It was fun to come home to her and our boys with the new addition to our family...Roman Paul Cottrell

 

Diana, Nathan's Mom came to stay with us as well, to see baby Roman and help out. I am so grateful to have these women in my life.   Having family to visit is always a special treat for us and we were able to see both Grandma's in the same month!!  Lucky us!

Roman on top of a blanket quilted by Grandma Cottrell

 

 

Look at the beautiful flowers Nate's finance department sent to me!!  All my favorites hydrangeas, lilies, roses, daises and all the extra little fillers in deep purples and blues!  Made my day!

 

Roman Paul Cottrell

Roman Paul Cottrell

August 17, 2012

Roman was born at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, Illinois

on

August 17, 2012 at 6:18 am

Weighing

8 lbs 14 oz and 21 inches long



 

 I'm in love...again!!!  Such a wonderful thing to bring a new little life into this world and to build our family!  I am a proud mother of 4 wonderful boys and am grateful for the husband that I chose and how great of a father he is!  We are truly blessed to be together and to be parents to our sons.  There is lots of love in our house and our new baby Roman just adds that much more into it!! 

Roman's first outfit!  The newborn size fits him just perfect right now!  Roman has the biggest delivery weight out of all of my boys!  He'll be able to hold his own in our household just fine!

 My Cottrell Man and 4 Cottrell Boys

 Clayton, Hayden, and Justin (with Grandma Mindy's help) taped  a

 "Welcome Home, Mom and Roman"

Sign on our garage!  I loved it!

 Nathan with his newest little boy!

I think even Roman knows he is a keeper!!  He has won all of our hearts!  Happy Day

Ready to Pop!

 August 2012

 

Whoa!  Can you say ready to Pop?  It's baby time for sure.  I am scheduled to be induced on Friday, August 17.  I will be 39 weeks along and since my previous deliveries were really fast both my doctor and I felt it was best to have me checked in the hospital in order to make sure everything goes smoothly.  My mom is coming to stay with us for ten days.  She will be here to watch Clay, Hayden and Justin while Nathan and I are at the hospital.  It is such a reassuring thing to have them at their own house, and to be able to spend time with family.  Nathan's mom will be staying with us later in the month, so my boys will be getting good Grandma time in!

Here is a front view on the baby belly and also some of my hair.  I recently went dark with it and in July my sisters sent me a new curling iron for my birthday and these are the curls that it produced.  Love the new curling iron.  It was so much fun to play around with!

Chicago Bears Family Night

August 3,  2012

 

Chicago Bears Family Night!!

Solider Field Stadium

Chicago!

 

 

 Go Bears!!  Family night tickets to watch the team practice, followed by fireworks!   We loved being at Solider Field watching the Chicago Bears go through their practice drills and different touch down scenarios.  We had great seats by two other close family friends, the McMillans and Woodlands!!  As with other stadiums the food was pricey, but still fun to eat pizza and do the wave with the crowd.  Clay thought the wave was so cool and Hayden said, "Here it comes!! Here it comes!  Get yourself ready, here it comes!"

It was great having our own little section full of friends by us! All the kids loved seeing the players run out of the inflatable bear tunnel and cheered really loud when they announced players names!

 Our family decided to take the train to get downtown.  We made great time and the boys loved being on the train.  This was not to case on the way home unfortunately though.  Our night went from a great time with friends, stadium food, and fireworks to a crazy nightmare in downtown Chicago!  We decided to walk to the stadium at the beginning and take a taxi back to the train station for the night.  So we walked the 2.2 miles from the train station to the stadium which was a good hike on it's own, especially being 9 months pregnant, in sandals and keeping track of three other kids.  The plan to get a taxi for the way back to the train station  and get on the 10:30 pm train didn't go so well.  The problem was that the Chicago Bears family night was on the same night as the Lollapalooza.  The Lollapalooza is an annual music festival featuring popular alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock and hip hop bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. It has also provided a platform for non-profit and political groups. It was a 3 day concert fest held in Grant/Millennium park and the city was to anticipated having over 300,000 in attendance over the three days it was on.  So all of the Bears fans and all the people at the concerts were trying to get into taxis, and buses and made a mess of the streets.   Roads were closed off.  Construction blocked cross streets allowing no access.  The streets were packed with crazy, drunk, immodestly dressed people all over the place and since the streets were closed they felt they had free rain to hoot and holler and act obnoxious.  The boys were great troopers and we stuck close together as we weaved our way through the huge crowds.  Normal roads that we planned on crossing to get to a taxi were fenced off and we had no choice but to walk around.  Buses were not running toward the train station we needed and were not available to access anyway from where we were at.  We were all tired.  My feet were killing me.  I'm sure I looked like a crazy mother duck waddling all over the place, pregnant with baby boy #4 and have my other three out late with eccentric concert goers. The boys were definitely wearing down and by the time we came to a street that was open to traffic and we could get a taxi we were only 2 blocks away from the train station.  If having to walk another 2.5 miles back to the station amongst drunks and glitter sprayed concert goers wasn't bad enough for the night, we missed the 10:30 train by five minutes and now had to wait until 12:30 in the morning for the next one!!!  The station was packed with people waiting for the next train with us and we all took to sitting and laying on the floor waiting for the time to pass.  We needed drinks from walking so much and the water and snacks I brought along were long gone.  So just to be the cherry on top for the night I had to pay ten dollars for three 20oz soda pops!! We all were exhausted, tired, and had blister on our feet.  Once on the train,  Nate and I became really annoyed to be traveling with teenagers, who were talking way too loud, each one trying to top the other with their bigger and better stories for the night.  After an hour long train ride we finally got back to our own car and arrived home at 2:30am!

 

A memorable night for sure!  Wish that walking over 5 miles for the night would have sped up my pregnancy but alas this was not the case.  I can't say enough on how great the boys were!  They kept up with our fast pace and didn't whine and just dealt with our situation with us.  At one point Hayden said, "Man, there goes another taxi!  That's seven taxis we could have taken if this crazy fence wasn't here!"  I felt his pain and was frustrated for and with him.  Although, they were super tired once we were home, our boys thanked us for taking them to see the Chicago bears play for the night.  Glad to have it all over with and glad to look back and laugh about it now! 

Louisiana Trip

Louisiana Trip

This picture is a good example on how the kids feel when we go to see Gr & Gr Cottrell!!

Like they can FLY!! 

Seriously, so fun down south

 Grandma Cottrell knows all the good eats around town.  A Snow cone is a must!  Flavors picked were Blue raspberry/cherry for Hayden and Justin's Spiderman cone, Black cherry for Nathan, pink lemonade for Diana (Gr Cottrell) and Clayton and I choose Tiger's blood, which is soooo good!

Nate and I also enjoyed some beignets to die for and Diana and Steve treated me out to a fancy seafood restaurant called DRACO'S for a pre-birthday dinner.  Fresh lobster yummmm
 

 While in Louisiana with more free time on our hands and a always willing Grandma that will babysit, I got my hair dyed from blonde with low lights to an all over dark brown!  Darker hair with highlights on top to give dimension.  I loved how it turned out!