Hayden

Hayden Alexander CottrellHayden is the hardest thing ever to take pictures of!! He turns all goofy and does a crazy chesser smile that I end up laughing to hard to hold my camera still. If he is not giving me his pirate face, then it is his tongue hanging out and him saying "BLAHHH"... such a character this one is. I love his big dark brown eyes and his own little smirks he gives often!

Clayton photos

While Jessa was visiting us she wanted to get her son Ryder's one year pictures taken. I have a membership at JC Penney and took her there so we could get some of her son and my boys. Needless to say it didn't turn out like we wanted, AT ALL! I think the overly dyed blond and scary black underneath hair tech scared all the kids and placed everyone in weird position, that naturally any kid would want to get up from it. After being so frustrated with it all we decided to have our own photo shoot right in my kitchen when we got back home. Both Jessa and I had our cameras and were shooting away at Clayton, Hayden, Justin and Ryder. We pulled out different backgrounds (mostly my fabric, blankets, or towels) to make our own custom wall art, lined the floor with a fake base board, and used the natural light in my kitchen to make these pictures. I hope you like them.

Clayton Nathaniel Cottrell

Clayton thinks he is such a stud. Seriously what 6 year old tries to pose like this!! He cracks me up. He really liked it when Jessa said he looked like he was seventeen. I might be in trouble with this one!

Downtown with Jessa

There is always something to do in Downtown CHICAGO!! We hit some good spots. Buckingham Fountain

The Adler Planetarium

Took the Chicago Water Taxi to China Town.

Enjoyed the abundance of Architect scenery along the Chicago River.

Pretended to be Astronauts

Cooled off at Crown Fountain

and took some pictures along the Chicago skyline. Such a fun filled day with Jessa lou and little Ryder!

Brookfield Zoo

I absolutely LOVE zoos!! Jessa and I, along with our crew of boys, arrived at the Brookfield Zoo at 10 AM and didn't leave until after 6PM and mainly because that was their closing time. We were one of the last out of the park!
I was able to get us all in for free by using 2 free tickets from my library, and 2 tickets given to me when I purchased over $15 worth of Coca-Cola products during a promotion at Meijer. How easy is that, by pop and get zoo tickets, NICE!! We also saved a bundle by packing our own lunches, snacks, and drinks. I love that we were able to bring food into the zoo, usually it's not allowed in most zoos, but having that option made us enjoy the day even more by not stressing over what small, totally overpriced food item we would have had to purchase and share.
The only sad part of the day is that we missed the penguins and other sea creatures in the "Living Coast" exhibit that had closed before we got the chance to go in. But Justin loved his new friends he found close by.

The animals here are just amazing!! The zoo has separate exhibits for many animals and you are able to get such a good look at all of them!! "The Great Bear Exhibit" was just that GREAT!



I love Elephants, Justin does too. He makes his own elephant trumpet sound and raised his arm like it's his trunk!! SO CUTE!

MY own little monkey!


The money we did spend on seeing the optional Dolphin Show was SO WORTH IT!! It cost only $4 for adults and $2 for kids. Each trick the dolphins did everyone in our group would say "WHOA AAAHHHH" We had a real treat seeing the dolphins swim right by us over, and over, again, in the underwater viewing location as well.

Another bargain steal I found were these disposable cameras I bought for $1 each in the "Big Tent Sale". We saw the same cameras at another store in the zoo and they wanted $15 for 1!!!! Both Clayton Hayden had such a good time with these that I went back and bought them another, so each boy went through 2 cameras each. I still need to get them developed and I can't wait to see what crazy, unfocused, random pictures they took. Clayton is really into taking pictures lately and has asked for a camera for his birthday, which isn't until December. Although, I have to say he has taken some good pictures of me and Jessa with my camera, so we will see.

The monkey exhibit was huge and the best I have seen.

Such a good spot for everyone to take a photo at.

Another fun thing that Jessa and I did while at the zoo was trying to find random objects that look like letters. We wanted letters that could spell out our last name, and our kids names too. I am sure there were plenty of people thinking we were crazy when we would stop and take a picture of the carousel animals, a park bench, or fence post, but it was so much fun. Even after we left I kept finding letter shapes in objects the whole drive home.These letters were found for my last name C O T T R E L L . I would like to print them out separately and put them in a nice frame with a white matte to bring out all the contrast in each photo.

I really like how J U S T I N 's turned out. They all need to be in a row, but you get the picture.

It was fun going there with Jessa and seeing Ryder and the other boys react to all the animals. Anyone else want to come visit so I have an excuse to go to the zoo again?? FUN FUN FUN

Jessa Lou to Chicago

Jessa Lou came to Chicago for a whole 10 day visit!! And not only did she bring my adorable nephew Ryder she came bearing gifts from family members for my birthday!! And some gifts for my boys from their Grandma Mindy and Grandpa Ron.
I really enjoyed my birthday. Not so much of the actual day of it because it was filled running errands and going to an important mutual activity for the night, but that whole week. Nate gave me some extra fun money to go play with Jessa and surprised me with a dozen roses when he came home from work on that July 27th. My great taste in everything Mom supplied me with new shirts for the WEEK, with matching shoes and head bands. Jessa, Emily, and my Grandma Barbara with their thoughtful and very useful gifts. My great mother-in-law Diana sent me a new cookbook I can't wait to try "The Pioneer Woman Cooks" and a few days later had shipped a box filled with a blanket I had my eye on for sometime waiting for it to go on clearance, but she must know me to have sent the exact one I was wanting all along with "lunch" money that I was able to use with Jessa to get both Diana and I's favorite chicken chopped salad at Portillo's and a slice of chocolate cake.To be able to party with my sister all week was just a blast. We kept ourselves busy everyday that Jessa was here. Even on days where we didn't have something big scheduled like the Brookfield Zoo (more to come on that later) we filled our days visiting the Volo bog, having our own photo shoot, and the streets of Long Grove.

I made sure that Jessa had a taste of the Chocolate Covered Strawberries made daily at the Long Grove Confectionery store. yummmmy

It is always so good to be with family in person and have outings together. I miss them. I miss daily interactions with all my family, so when we can get together I savor every minute of it. A Big thanks to Trent Jessa's hubby for holding down the fort back home so Jessa could come. He must have missed her because he put in a new tub and did custom tile work for their master bathroom to surprise her with! To Cool Trent. Now you can come to Chicago yourself and do my bathrooms! he he he

Updates

My Lil Sister is in town!!! Jessa and her son Ryder are staying with us for a whole 10 days, and I have the time jam packed with fun!! More on all our adventures to come but for now a few updates.

Justin is doing much better. The pediatrician at his last appointment said 6 more days of breathing treatments every six hours at first and then every eight hours toward the end on the week and he will be good to go!!! He has tons more energy and is back to my Justin again.

Last Friday Clayton was able to get his cast off!! He was a little nervous about the saw but the nurse showed him that it doesn't cut your skin at all by placing the saw right on her arm and turned it on. Clay thought that was pretty cool and had no problems after that, except for a few suprised faces when a cut went all the way through the cast.

Once the cast was completely off, I watched Clay's face as he tested out his arm and he had the look of complete alarm! He thought it would be exactly the same with no side effects of a cast and I had to explain to him how his arm would be weak and still tender at first but that it will become stronger the more he uses it. After the explanation he was still a bit worried and was glad they had a brace for him to put on for a while. The doctor was very happy with Clay's arm and the amount of strength he actually did have in it. Clay will wear the brace until he is more comfortable with no pain in the arm and he gains more strength and then he is good to go!