I'm Back...

So how good am I at New Year resolutions??? In January I was determined to keep this blog current and here it is the middle of May and my first post in 4 months. Who knows where to even begin??!?!

Things here are good. Russ and I had a fantastic time in Cabo and a month later found out we are expecting #3!!! Since then, it's been a whirlwind. I'll try and recap some of the bigger events in the next couple of posts but bear with me. We have a crazy week ahead of us - J's last week of school, a small gathering of friends planned for Friday and come Sunday morning at 6:00 am we are headed for Va-Ca!!! A full week of Disney with Russ' whole family. 10 adults and 5 kids should be a rip roaring good time :)

Are we there yet?

So I know I am behind in my updates and still need to talk about J's 3rd birthday but I just needed a moment to ponder...it is Tuesday afternoon and I am sitting at work thinking about everything that needs to get finished. You see, Russ and I are leaving for Cabo San Lucas in approximately 36 hours!

• The house is mess
• There's no food to eat
• No juice, milk or Canadian Club (for Grandma Sandy),
• Laundry is still getting finished
• Let's not even think about ironing (let's pray the hotel has a nice iron I will be able to make use of)
• E has a Dr. appointment
• J has school orientation
• Packing? Is that supposed to happen before midnight tomorrow?
• Would love to get a pedicure...I mean winter feet in flip flops is not a pretty sight
• Notes on the girls schedule and medical release forms
• Who knows what else will be forgotten about until the last minute?!?

It will all be worth it when I feel the sun on my face and the sand between my toes...right?!?!?

Christmas Pics...

Here are some pics of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning...lots of fun!!

This is actually from our Christmas celebration with the Schwab's. Russ got the girls baseball gloves. Amazingly, Jknew exactly what to do with it. You can see what E thought the glove was for :) The best part...they light up when you catch!


Christmas Eve at Liz's parents...the girls got a kitchen and were well entertained for the evening. It's a blast to see a one year old know exactly how to cook!



Christmas morning at Russ' parents. J loved everything she got...expecially her Barbie Diamond Castle. Once E woke up from her 5:15 crash she was ready to go. All in all a great day for everyone!

It's been forever..

I can't believe it's been two months since I logged on...one (of many) resolutions for the new 2009 is to be more diligent on posting our updates. I've finally come to the conclusion that I am horrible with baby books, scrapbooking, etc. but am committed in making this our way of gathering memories to share with the girls some day...at least that is what I am hoping for!

So in the past two months we have been busy! We have filled our days with preschool, Mizzou football games, Thanksgiving, Christmas parties, birthday parties, work, running after little rugrats, you name it! We had a nice Thanksgiving with my family followed by the Barrett's and Grandma/Poppy coming over for yummy Pumpkin Pie.

Christmas was "Christmas" in all it's glory. We tried something new this year and visited my parents Christmas Eve and then drove down to Russ' parents so the girls could wake up Christmas morning at Grandma and Poppy's...it was, well, interesting to say the least! By the time everyone settled down and we were able to finish "Santa" our little E was up with what we discovered to be an ear infection for the rest of the night. Literally, that child was up from 12:30-5:15...it was insane. I think the ear discomfort initially woke her and then add in a different environment and she was rearing to go! There just wasn't a good place to settle her down since we couldn't risk waking up 4 other kids! Bless Russ' heart, he took the worst shift and we traded off around 4:30...I was tricky and turned on a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse around 5 and that seemed to zone her out enough to crash. So yes, I was desperate, but our "Me Mo" did the trick.

So while E missed most of opening presents, our sweet J loved every minute of the magic of Christmas morning. This is really the first year that she "got it"...it was too sweet.

I, of course, have not had a chance to download our Christmas pictures off the camera yet. But will hope to do so in the day or so and load some up. On top of Christmas, we also had J's birthday the same week...I will save that for another post...

What's Been Going On???

Haven't logged on in awhile but we've been busy at the Cottle household...a trip to visit the cousins in Atlanta, fun with cousins in St. Louis, Pumpkin Patches, etc. Here are a couple of pictures to capture the moment...

The whole family was in Atlanta but somehow we left town with only pictures of J and Ansley. Probably because they are such hams for the camera. I promise E and Bennett had a great visit also!

I also have some pictures of the pumpkin patch. We all had a great time on the hayride and picking out our pumpkins. We have a daddy and mommy pumpkin and of course two baby pumpkins named J and E :) J has figured out a way to turn anything into "playing house".

We carved the pumpkins tonight. This is the first year J had any interest at all...E, she couldn't have cared less!

Funny Weekend Story...

So long story short, we ended up taking all the kids (J, E, and the three cousins) to Joey's soccer game Saturday morning and while Russ was at the concession stand buying 5 suckers a couple soccer moms told Russ how great we looked even though we had so many kids...quick correction that they are not all ours!!! I think she was relieved that not all of them belonged to us :) Can you only imagine?!?!

What's New?

Honestly...not too much :) The girls are good. Both have colds but I am hoping we can overcome the coughs and runny noses before our trip to Atlanta next week. It is never fun to travel under the weather - although it seems to be habit when we head south to visit Aunt Katie, Uncle Jeff, Ansley and Bennett!


The Barrett boys are coming over tomorrow for a slumber party and our plans for the weekend plans are to play play play in this beautiful weather. I am teaching J's sunday school class so we will be heading to church Sunday, but otherwise...well, I guess no news is good news!