Cottrell Family

4th of July

4th of July 2013

I love a good parade! And we can walk right out our front door 2 minutes before it starts and have great spots to enjoy the show! I could resist taking pictures of Roman in his little flag shorts!

Justin thought the Yellow Fire Truck was the coolest!

Man these boys scored in the treat department!

This was Justin at the start of the fireworks show later that night. I tried to tell him hearing the loud booms was part of the fun. He wasn't convinced until he came and sat with me in my chair, then he was good with it, and I was good with him snuggling with me!

Scout Summer Carnival

Pack # 274 Summer Carnival!

The Summer Carnival this year was a hit for our scouts! Loads of games and goodies! We had a throwing skills game. There were six hoops to throw at, each with different difficulty such as a smaller hole, partially blocked hole, and higher ones. Each with its own point value. The scout with the most points got to pick a prize! A Nerf gun game. I taped plastic forks to the back of monkey paper plates and stuck them in the grass, then the boys had to lay on their bellies and take aim and see how many monkeys they could hit. We also played the classic towel water balloon toss game. We had 2 teams Clay& Hayden and Josh & Ammon do 13 catches in row!! They were so pumped!

Another game we played was pie bubble contest. Like pie eating and bubble gum eating but together. Place a double bubble, bubble gum unwrapped on the bottom of a paper plate and cover with whipped cream. The boys had to eat through the cream to find the bubble gum and start chewing. The first to blow a complete bubble with their gum is the winner!

We had cupcakes, lemonade, Twizzlers, popcorn and prizes! Super fun!

Rock Friends

The boys and I had fun making Rock Friends during the summer. Our Rock Friends like to be put on display on the boys bookshelf and Justin says "They also guard the books"!

Justin makes me smile all the time. He saw my roses and said "Mom, these are Beautiful!! You love flowers...your a girl...girls LOVE flowers, come you have to smell them and see"! I am a girl and I do love flowers...and each of my funny lovable boys!

Six Flags

Six Flags 2013

For Christmas last year we bought our family season passes to Six Flags Great America! The boys were super excited and couldn't wait for late spring for it to open. This year our roller coaster man was Mr. Hayden. He could not get enough of the rides. He would get that from his dad, who enjoys the thrill of roller coasters way more than I do. I was shocked when Hayden said he wanted to go on the giant drop! I hate that ride and will stand my ground not to go on it, but he went...twice...back to back!!! I'll have to keep my eye on this boy down the road that's for sure!

This is the reaction we got from the boys after they went on a few water rides with their dad. Hayden just wanted to go again and again. For what ever reason Clayton was not so much of a fan of the rides this year. He went on them but didn't really have any desire to go again once it was over. We had many talks and discussions on how roller coasters are, and that he has been on these exact ones before, and that we were there to go with him. I told him I don't like some of the rides that much but there are some that I love and you just have to be open minded that you might have fun. This worked on a some rides on which he come off totally excited from the thrill of them, but still there were others that even a crazy bribe didn't work any magic for us. I give it to him for sticking his ground and being totally fine with sitting with me and Roman on the side lines. Clayton is a deep thinker which is a good skill to have in solving problems and thinking things through...not so much for when it comes to looking at a roller coaster from the ground and listening to others screaming as it goes by. Maybe he will have a love for rides more later in life with a bunch of his friends, if not, no biggie he knows he has gone on them before and it wouldn't matter either way really.

Six Flags was sooo fun for Justin! This kid is a hoot and I got a kick out of him every time he saw a character and was totally cool about saying "Hi" and being their pal. Clay and Hayden were more forced by me to get in the picture!

Talking about forced, check out these grumpy back seat drivers! I could not stop laughing at their complete slumped over, bored as ever faces! Justin was all smiles for this little kiddy ride of his.

Six Flags also has a water park called Hurricane Harbor that was included in our passes. Always a great thing to go to on a hot summer day!

My lil Roman just chillaxin in his stroller! He really is a trooper and can just kick up his feet and go with the flow on things.

Garage Sale Season

I couldn't have any cuter peeps helping out at our garage sale. Justin loved overseeing the candy station and I honestly think people bought our treats just because he is so darn cute. And it doesn't hurt to have a sidekick in the background giving up adorable smiles either.

Our whole subdivision has a garage sale every year so we end up getting a good turn out of people which makes me I feel like it's worth all the effort it takes to put up a garage sale in the first place.

All in all we made some cash and decluttered the house. A Win Win!

Reading is Out of This World

Super Reader Hayden!!

Hayden had his end of the year program for 1st grade on May 21, 2013! His teacher is Mrs. Vasica who we loved!! The 1st grade students were challenged to read 5 books or 5 chapters if they are into chapter books, each week. This challenge lasted over 7 weeks. Hayden never missed a single time and he was one of six top readers of the entire 1st grade class that were awarded as "Super Readers" at the performance. The songs they sang were super fun with the "Out of this World" theme and you could tell the students were excited to perform for their family and friends. Mrs. Vasica also gave Hayden a big book called, "All about our Solar System" since he was her top reader for her personal class. Loved that she made him feel extra special and was proud of all his hard work. I was sure proud, one proud mama!!

Also, guess who was able to be here to see Hayden perform...his Grandma Cottrell!! Diana came just to help hold down the fort since I would be gone being a good citizen because I was called to jury duty. I had called her to have a casual phone call, talk about how things have been and what's going on and I'm sure I mentioned, or probably complained about being assigned jury duty and what a hassle it was going to be, and next thing I knew she was packing her suitcase and getting in her car to drive 15hrs to my house to be my rescuer!! I love my mother-in-law or mommy #2 she is the best!! I ended up only having to go to the courthouse one day and after that my juror number was never called so I got to have fun with Diana all week! Such a treat for all of us!

First Tooth!

Roman's First Tooth

May 2013

9 months old

Just look at the one adorable tooth! I love seeing a glimmer of white shining back at me when this boy smiles. It just melts me. I can't even complain about him teething or anything, he's just that good of a baby for me! All bit of extra drool and lots of chewing on toys, blankets, pacifiers, and BAM a new little tooth!

Look at him playing hard to get but still cracking a grin for me. My little cheeser!

Scouts-Cub Mobile

Scouts

(May 2013)

I have so much fun with my scouts! I love being involved in the scouting program. Since I have a cub scout myself (Clay) and am also the wolf and bear den leader for troop 274, this keeps me busy in the program. Here my scouts are doing various minute to win it games and I could not stop laughing at the "Eat Your Cookie" game and the faces my scouts were pulling!

CUB MOBILE! Hayden is so ready to be a scout. He can't wait till January for his birthday so he can turn eight and get to come to scout all the time. He was beyond happy to be able to participate in the cub mobile though. He was just tall enough for his feet to touch the front of the car so he was able to steer the wheels.

We had a drawing contest for my scout to make a design for our cub mobile. Everyone submitted a design with their names on the back and then each scout voted for their favorite entries. The winning design was to be put on the back of the cub mobile. Clay's drawing had the most votes so he his design is featured on the back of Troop 274 cub mobile!

I loved watching all the scouts race to the bottom of the hill! They all had such a great time.

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!