Cotten Clan

Destin Photos

2011-03-06T19:30:00.001-08:00

Recent Family pics Video

2010-11-10T07:57:00.000-08:00

2010-08-01T21:25:00.000-07:00

My first try with this video software: Our trip to Florida.

Memorial Day 2010

2010-06-03T21:27:00.000-07:00

Time to go to the beach! We couldn't have asked for better weather! Thanks to the Calls for inviting us. Aside from the kiddos needing adults to push them on the surf board because the surf was kind of lacking, the kids kept each other occupied with playing in the sand, dodging the jellyfish, and splashing in the water. Kelsey took some great pics!

No, Kelsey didn't take this one, but it was still a cute one of Candy on the board.

Kassidy getting caught having some fun in the sun!

Chloe could go to the beach EVERY DAY!

Return to the Farm

2010-05-29T19:45:00.000-07:00

Wow, that title sounds like a creepy Wes Craven Horror movie title...I digress. Kassidy's wanted her5th Birthday Party at her local favorite petting zoo stomping grounds, Old MacDonald's Farm. It was a mild 100 million degrees and plenty of sunshine...but the kiddos found many spots of shade among the animals, ponies, and hay barns. Thanks to all that made this a happy day!

A sweet smile on a sweet princess.

Great looking group of kids!

Cute cousins!

A Princess kissing a Frog...although I won't be letting her near any princes any time soon.

Chloe loves the horse rides.

So sweet Grand Daddy loves his girls.

Yay super fun rope swing in the hay.

Kass with Mom and Dad.

Princess on a horse.

All About Kassidy

2010-05-29T19:34:00.000-07:00

Kassidy turned 5 this week. She has been doing a lot of shopping. She has really found her inner shopaholic early in life. She has been ready to model her new wardrobe at even a hint of the camera coming out...the latest looks:

Western Wear...boots, handkerchief, and all!

New dress, with a bunch of accessorization...yes I just made that word up.

Chloe was jealous to be in the photo shoot.

Princess and the Frog dress for the Princess and the Frog party!

Our Little Fishies

2010-05-15T21:40:00.000-07:00

YAY! Swim season started today. Candyce is a seasoned veteran, but Kassidy raced her first races of her career! She did amazingly well and even shaved 20 seconds off of her stroke times. She is really into it and we don't have to "motivate" her to go to practice and meets. She is always excited to go. Definitely she was meant for the pool! We were kind of worried going into it because one of the requirements for the "newbie" swimmers was to be able to swim the length of the pool in less than 3 minutes...well we didn't know if Kass could do it, but now she can do the freestyle and backstroke in less than a minute each!

Candyce had some extra motivation today. She was not able to be timed at the team's practice meet and had to get timed after a tiring day of practice. Her times were not her fastest so she was not placed in any relay teams. Well that gave her the motivation to turn up the speed as she bested all of her strokes and placed her in the top 6 of each event. She qualified for an invitation only meet and will definitely be helping her team out in future relays! GO FLYERS:

Getting jazzed up with best friend Marley at the Pre Meet Pep Rally!

Swim Cap. Check. Goggles. Check. Flyer Power. Check. To the Ready Bench!

Kassidy taking her mark...

Thar she goes!

Focusing her Jedi Swimming skills.

Ready for the launch...

Taking flight!

For Time and All Eternity

2010-05-15T21:26:00.000-07:00

Recently Krissy's Grandparents, Ed & Dorothy Smith were sealed in the Houston, TX, temple. It was an amazing experience for us to be a part of. How special it was when Ed took Dorothy, his bride of 61 years to bind their marriage for all eternity. It was a great day and one long awaited after much fasting and prayer. Many generations were connected that day.

Grandparents and Grandkids

Looking forward to many more years of marriage!

Easter Egg Hunt

2010-05-15T20:54:00.000-07:00

Finally getting the Easter Pics up. The cousins had a grand ol' time getting the Easter Egg Loot. Especially Chloe, she thought it was Christmas all over again, except in tinier round shaped packages.

Beautiful Sisters!

Chloe so excited!

Oh my....I am in serious trouble.

Bedtime Kisses

2010-04-12T20:50:00.000-07:00

Bedtime has been a struggle for the past few months to say the least. It has been coupled with my taking on new job that also requires me to do notes late many nights. Sometimes I am able to put aside the call of my notes to enjoy the hour or more that it takes to get the girls settled down, often I get irritated by the request to read the same book again for the 10th time. Tonight I had plenty of notes calling me, but I really enjoyed my time with the girls this evening. Ryan went to the store for groceries, and I volunteered to put the kids down. Chloe and Kassidy both wanted back rubs at the same time, but Chloe got upset that I would not lay down while doing this. She did not seem to understand that although I am flexible, my arms are not made of rubber, and it is almost impossible to rub two backs at a time while laying down. Finally I distracted her by smothering her with kisses. Chloe and Kassidy then decided to have a battle to see who could give mom more kisses. I could play that game all night. I can never get enough of their sweet kisses. Finally we had to settle down, but both my girls held on to me tightly as they fell asleep in my arms. What precious moments that I hope to remember forever!

Kassidy's First Sleepover

2010-04-12T20:37:00.001-07:00

Kassidy got invited to her best friend Marley's sleepover. She was so excited, and she asked us about it everyday after we got the invite. Aren't the girls cute in their cowgirl hats! They are all cute rodeo princesses!

Saved by....YouTube?

2010-01-25T05:09:00.000-08:00

I am on Little Mermaid overload. Kudos to the Disney marketing department for getting young girls addicted to Disney princesses. The flavor of recent weeks has been Aerial. Aerial this, Little Mermaid that. PJ's have to have Aerial. Pillow cases, blankets, sippy cups....even pull ups have to have Aerial on them. Unfortunately Huggies doesn't make "Aerial Only" pull ups. Only multiple princesses and Cinderalla only. So if anyone has any multiple princesses pull ups that they want to trade for Cinderella only one's let me know. I digress.

I was put in a pickle by this Aerial Obsession the other night. Chloe's only book that she wants to read for bedtime is of course, "The Little Mermaid." Krissy had read it to her before and she loved it. Now it was my turn. So we got to the end and I said, "The End." I began to close the book and Chloe freaked out. I tried to figure out what she wanted as she continued to point to the picture of Aerial on the last page. She finally squeaked out some sounds which I took as the famous "Ah - Ah - Ah" of Aerials voice. So in my highest pitch I tried to sing what words of "Part of Your World" I knew, which wasn't very much. Butchered it, but got through it and Chloe went to bed.

I talked to Krissy about it and she confirmed that she had been singing "Part of Your World" to Chloe after she reads. Uh oh. My turn again. So thanks to modern technology I googled Little Mermaid Lyrics on my iphone while rocking Chloe. I was SAVED...by YOUTUBE of all sites. The first link that came up was the Little Mermaid sing along found below. So now every night she wants the sing along video, and she tolerates my singing along with it.

My Funny Cutie Pies!

2009-12-17T20:20:00.000-08:00

All of my girls are so precious! I just love to listen to the funny things they come up with and do! They never cease to amuse me. Chloe's new amusing act is to constantly undress herself. Almost every day for the last week she has undressed herself no matter where we are. Her favorite place to undress is when we are shopping. One minute she has her clothes on and when I turn around to reach for the box of cake mix, or the juice or the eggs or the bag of chips, she is undressed down to her diaper again. It is very funny, although after the 10th time of wrestling with her to get her dressed, it starts to get a little frustrating. It is a good thing she is so cute, because as soon as she turns on that big mischievous grin, I have to laugh again. Almost every morning we have found her naked and as cold as an icicle, so tonight Ryan came up with a solution. We put one of those zipper p.j.s on and her safety pinned it so she could not get it down. She was pretty frustrated before going to bed because she could do her normal 10 strip downs before we put her into her bed, but she finally settled down. We are crossing our fingers that she doesn't figure out how to open the safety pin.

Kassidy is always so outspoken and she says some of the cutest things. That girl is like Jeckel and Hyde. One minute she is clowning around and flashing her dimpled grin and the next she is crying crocodile tears. Again thank goodness she is so cute and gives the best puppy dog eyes you ever saw to get her out of trouble. Tonight she mischievously got into Candy's room, which by the way is the ultimate tragedy as far as Candy is concerned. Kassidy stole her deodorant and put some on. Afterwards she cam into the bathroom, and lifted up her arm and told daddy to smell her ornament under her arm. Ryan and I died laughing and of course Candy was horrified that Kassidy had touched Candy's deodorant to her armpit. So it goes in the Cotten household! Poor daddy so outnumbered by all the girly drama.

Old McDonald's Farm

2009-10-21T14:07:00.000-07:00

I have been reprimanded by more than one person for not keeping up with my blog. I should be doing notes right now, but I just didn't quite feel like it. I decided to start trying to catch up with my blogging, so here it goes!

I was so excited to take the kids to Old McDonald Farm today. We had so much fun! Our fun was cut a little short by the rain, but while we were there we packed in the good times.

This was Chloe's favorite activity. I had to peel her away from the horses. She loved this white one in particular.

My mom and Landon also came with us. Here is my mom with the girls feeding the deer that walk right up to you in the park.

Kassidy loved feeding all the animals! She had been asking to go to Old McDonald Farm for weeks, so I am glad we were finally able to go.

I thought this shot of Landon and the girls was so funny. Landon loved to climb on the concrete weights that help keep the doors shut and hang on them. He was so cute doing it.

Hanging with the piggies!

Mrs. Personality up to no good! She loved to get the feed and then when she thought we weren't looking just throw it on the ground. I thought it was so cute!

The goats sometimes liked to eat the bags more than the feed.

Another favorite activity for Chloe was playing in the dirt! We all came home with tons of it everywhere!

Chloe's B-Day

2009-10-21T13:50:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe my baby is turning 2 years old. It seems like just yesterday we had everyone over to trick-or-treat from our house two days after she was born. She has really grown a lot over these two years of her little life. What a blessing she has been in our life. Her personality has really grown. When she was born, she was very sick a lot and had acid reflux. She was a very fussy baby, and never seemed to be consoled. We spent many a day and night bouncing her on an exercise ball just to keep her from screaming. Look at her now with her bright smile and all of her giggles. For the most part she is now a typical toddler with her ups and her downs, but now she has more ups than downs. Chloe really has come a long way! We all love her so!
These pictures are from a family b-day party for Chloe along with her Great Grandmother Dorothy, and David. She really loved the cupcakes and her new clothes. She is definitely a clothes girl! Her favorite part of the dinner was the pizza that her aunt Jenny brought, and of course the cupcakes!

First Day of Pre-school

2009-10-21T13:20:00.000-07:00

The girls had a pretty smooth transition to pre-school. Chloe did have a hard time taking a nap at school on her nap mat, and she still seems to struggle with it some days. Overall, she does very well in school, and she seems to love her teachers and going to school like big sissy Kass.

Kassidy's only issue has been with one of her classmates having a milk and peanut allergy. This has severely limited what we can pack for Kassidy in her lunch. The school is very strict about not allowing anything with any of those products in the class room. We have really been thinking outside the box for her lunches. We have been sending wish sandwiches, because Kassidy does not like meat in her sandwiches or the soy peanut butter that was approved. We send a lot of fruit and veggies, but she sometimes won't eat them. Sometimes she just eats when she gets home if she doesn't like her lunch.

The girls go to a Creative Learning Center at the Atascocita Presbyterian Church. They both go on Tues. and Thurs. It has been hard for me this year, because I never get to see them at school, because Ryan drops them off and my mom or sister Kelly picks them up. I work on the days they go to school, but at least it seems from what everyone says they are enjoying it.

Chloe takes to her new teacher easily!

Kassidy already playing with her best friend from the previous year Marley.

Chloe loves to carry her own gear everywhere. She is now very attached to her nap mat.

Aren't they they so cute in their matching shirts? What would we do without Children's Place?

Garner State Park

2009-10-21T13:11:00.000-07:00

So we went on a family vacation to Garner State Park for the weekend back in July this year. I have never posted the pictures, so here they are. Its been a while since our trip, so I don't remember much, but we did have a great time! The water was low this year, so we ended up walking much of the way down the Frio River instead of floating. The kids didn't seem to care too much though. This was the first year we had gone since Candy was a baby. It was fun to hang out with all of the family. My mom always organizes a trip every year for her and any of her kids that want to come. We were all there this year for part of the trip. I remember my mom getting teary eyed that we were all there. Here is a picture of us hanging out in our inner-tubes waiting to go float and walk the river.

Concert with Candy

2009-10-21T12:50:00.000-07:00

Candy and I went on a mother daughter date to a Demi Lovato and David Archuleta concert! We had a great time together, although at times Candy thought she might die of embarrassment when mommy decided to get up and dance with the rest of the kids in the stands. She immediately ordered me to sit down and hid her face for while until she got too excited about the concert to care anymore. Candy is not used to staying up so late, so when it was all over I had to practically drag her on the long walk back to the car.

All in all we had a pretty fun time, at least I did anyways!

Quirky Chloe!

2009-08-19T19:17:00.000-07:00

Chloe is not a baby any more! She is getting so particular about everything she does! She seems to enjoy life so much more now that she can communicate exactly what she wants. Sometimes it takes us a few guesses to get her exactly what she wants, but she is learning new words and phrases every day.

I really get a kick out of all the different things that she gets attached to. She does not have any one thing that she likes all of the time, but she almost always has something that she is attached to for the moment. For nap time today Chloe was attached to a towel that was laying around the house after being used at the pool and a particular sippy cup that leaked everywhere. Needless to say I let her go down for her nap with the semi-damp towel, but I took away the leaky sippy cup. She of course took extra time to get her to nap, because I took it away. This evening Chloe threw a tantrum to wear Kassidy's size 5 pants as her PJ's, so we rolled them at the top 3 times and put her nightgown over the pants. Then she insisted on wearing the new sandals that dad bought her today to bed too. Oh and last but not least the singing barbie doll that she clutched to with all her might also accompanied her to bed. I'm sure by tomorrow morning she will be attached to some other random thing.

I love how my children always help keep life interesting!

Kassidy and Bedtime Stories

2009-07-08T19:42:00.000-07:00

I had a crazy day today! It was one of those days where everything seemed to go wrong at the same time! I won't bore anyone with those details. Needless to say, I was dragging by the time to put the kids to bed. Of course in line with the rest of the day, Kassidy had an extra hard time tonight choosing her bed time story. She finally settled on a book about a bear who had bees stuck in his ears, and the bear couldn't hear anyone speak because of the bees buzzing so loudly. Anyways, Kassidy made up a cute song about the bees go buzz, buzz, buzz, and the bear can't hear. It was so cute! We both started singing it and laughing with each other at our silliness. There is nothing like the cutest 4 year old alive to help melt away the stress of the day! Thank goodness for little children! What a blessing they are. I love my kiddos for all the smiles and happiness they bring into my life!

Matching Cuties

2009-07-07T18:36:00.000-07:00

Thank goodness for Childrens Place! Such cute outfits. We rarely were able to find matching outfits for Candy and Kassidy because there is 5 years between them. Luckily with Kassidy and Chloe we can get them matching outfits! Plus it gives an excuse for Krissy to make the awesomest matching hair bows.

I just grabbed the camera and started shooting. They did the rest!

Daddy Daughter Carnival

2009-07-07T18:19:00.000-07:00

Sooooo, I thought I had officially handed the reigns of the family blog over to Krissy, but not so fast my friend. I guess if Krissy doesn't go to an event, she doesn't really know what to write as captions for the pictures......ha ha ha.

On July 3rd, Krissy and Candy took off to a David Archuletta/Demi Lovato concert....whew, got out of that one....so my date was with Kassidy and Chloe out in the 100 degree evening at our community's July 4th event.

The main event was a movie out on the soccer fields, but there was no way I was keeping the little girls out that late.

So we took in the "booths" and other "rides:"

For some reason Kassidy was FREAKED out by the little carousel on a trailer...this is the two seconds that Chloe lasted.

The one thing that they did enjoy was the trackless train, because it was moving, and air was flowing.

I am usually the photographer, but since I was by myself I made do with the self snapshot. At least I got the girls to smile. They were so sad because the Culvers Custard I got them literally melted in the 20 seconds it took to get from the Culvers booth to the picnic bench.....sheesh!

Overall good times with the little girls. They are my sweet angels and love to be with me! And I guess I like them too! HA HA HA

Zoo June 09

2009-07-07T11:38:00.000-07:00

I went to the zoo with all of my kids, my mom, her husband David, and David's daughter Emily and her two daughters. We also met up with Rachel Turner and her kids. We left early to try to beat the heat, but by 11 am we were already dying in the Texas summer heat. We saw what animals we could and then retreated to the splash pad. We were out of there by 1:30 pm and everyone slept on the way home from being exhausted by the heat!

Chloe and big sissy Candy at one of the Ape exhibits!

Here is Kassidy sitting with our friends Rachel and two of her kids Aubrey and Nathan.

Chloe is crouching tiger hidden water baby! She had so much fun at the zoo splash pad!

Here is a shot of all three of my bathing beauties! Kassidy about scared my mother and I to death when she took off with a little friend that she made at the splash pad to play hide and seek over at a different part of the children's zoo. Luckily I noticed her absence quickly, and was able to locate her with in a few minutes of her escape. When I asked her what she was thinking, she said that she just wanted to play hide and seek with her friend. As I returned with Kassidy and her friend back to the splash pad the friends mother had just discovered the girls absence and had started to look around frantically for her. She and I were both relieved together at them being found.

Candy's GS Day Camp 2009

2009-07-07T11:23:00.000-07:00

So we have had a very busy summer with lots of activities. Our first part of the summer seemed to be dominated with swim team. Next was this GS Day camp that was for a week up in Conroe. These are some pictures that I took the day I went to volunteer. Kassidy got to come with me, because she was old enough to join the youngest girls there.

This is a picture of the girls when they first arrived at the camp for the day. It was crazy hat day, so Candy is sporting two hats.

Here is a picture of Candy and her friend Emily and the potato pig planters that they made.

Here is Kassidy ready to get going at the beginning of the day! You can see that she has already discarded her hat! Mommy knew that would happen. She does not like to wear hats!

Cowgirl Boots!

2009-07-07T11:07:00.000-07:00

Kassidy and Chloe both have a common love, and that is shoes! They love to dress up in different pairs of shoes! Here they sporting their favorite pairs of cowgirl boots of course raided from big sis' closet! They are partners in crime! I can't wait to see how much mischief they will make together the older Chloe gets!

Candy's GS Bridging Cerimony 2009

2009-07-07T10:48:00.000-07:00

This was Candy's 2nd year doing girl scouts! They have had so much fun! I took over as the Troop leader half way through the year, because our leader at the time was feeling a little overwhelmed. Needless to say it has definitely been a learning experience! I think this next year will hopefully be a lot smoother, because I will actually know what I am doing as the leader. These pictures are taken from our troop bridging ceremony/end of the year party! Our little girls are moving from Brownies to Juniors! We had a lot of fun at this party held once again, you guessed it at Jumpin Joey's! The girls jumped for an hour, and then we all ate pizza and had this really cute cake that Wal-mart came up with. The girls did great with all of their parts, and had a lot of fun crossing over our make-shift bridge. The bridge was made out of an overturned card table that we attached streamers running from the legs down to the floor to make it look more like a bridge. It was the best we could do for a portable bridge. The girls earned 9 patches this year. We were pretty excited about that considering that we only really started meeting at Christmas Time.

From left to right: Brooke, Madilyn, JaNay, Candy, Reese, and Emily. In the back are me and Jamie Kieffer who is now the co-leader. Aren't they a good looking group of girls?

This is all of the girls participating in our ending ceremony of the friendship circle.

Close-up of our own GS cutest ever Candy Cotten!

Kassidy's 4th B-Day

2009-07-06T21:27:00.000-07:00

So I am definitely behind in my blogging! I am going to try to catch up before I go back to work! Here are some cute pictures of Kassidy's 4th B-day party at Jumpin Joey's! Ya we did Jumpin Joey's again. We loved it for Candy's party we thought we would do it over again!

I'm not sure we really needed to go to all of the trouble of having a B-Day party for Kassidy, because we couldn't peel her away from one of her friend Marley's baby sister Camryn! We should have just borrowed Camryn for the day. Kassidy refused to jump for the majority of the party, because she wanted to sit and play with Camryn. Who could blame her with a cutie pie like that! Kassidy is such a baby magnet she tells me everyday, that she wishes we had lots of babies at our home. I always tell her that we will have to borrow other people's babies for now, because we have our hands full already!

Jumpin Joey himself was a huge hit with all of the kids except for Kassidy of course. She was still content to sit and play with Camryn. Here is a picture of Chloe and Kade admiring him from a distance.

When we got to the party room Kassidy finally started enjoying her party and hanging out with her friends! Here she is chowing on some pizza!

Kassidy loved her Fairytopia Cake!

Mommy photoshopped an invitation to match the theme!

Looks like Kassidy is getting brain freeze from her ice cream and cake!

Of course Chloe always enjoys her cake too!

Kassidy got lots of presents that she liked, but this pink, princess, pillow pig was her favorite. Try saying that 10 times fast!

My Surprise 30th B-Day Party

2009-07-02T19:09:00.000-07:00

I had a fabulous 30th B-Day! The weekend before my B-day we had a family party for both mine and Ryan's birthday that was outstanding! My family made Ryan and I fajitas! On the actual weekend of my B-day Ryan and I were away by ourselves for our anniversary. We got a room at the Hilton down by the Galleria. While away for the weekend Ryan scheduled a surprise B-day lunch at a Brazilian steakhouse named the Angus Grill where we had the most amazing food. My favorite was the pineapple that was coated in a cinnamon glaze and then roasted over an open flame.

Now to top all of that off my sisters schemed and surprised me with a surprise B-day party with all of my girlfriends and of course the other wonderful women in my family. I knew that we were having a girls night out, but I thought I was just going to meet a few of my friends up at my favorite Mexican food place. My sisters planned a full out celebration at my sister Jenny's house! They got it catered from Los Vega Mexican Restaurant.

I could not believe how many family and friends came to my party. It was really quite amazing. One of my longtime friends from high school (Kate Zollinger) even drove all the way from Katy to be there. My other friend Ruth who makes the most amazing cakes, made me my favorite cake! Just the devine smell of the cake would have been enough to last me a year, but actually getting to eat it is amazing! Everyone made fun of me for how excited I was to taste the cake. I think they were actually worried that I might lick it before they cut me a piece. After dinner those of us who are night owls went to see the movie My Sisters Keeper. Everyone cried their eyes out! Definitely a chick flick!

I really appreciated my sisters being willing to go to the extra effort to make turning 30 so special! I feel so blessed to have so many great friends in this area now! Of course I have always had great family! I love y'all!

Sweet Chloe

2009-06-14T19:46:00.000-07:00

I just got finished rocking my sweet Chloe to sleep, and I couldn't help but be so thankful to Heavenly Father for allowing me to be a mother. I feel like so often life seems out of control, and I am always running to catch up. Tonight as I rocked her and she patted my arm with her soft as velvet hands, all I could think about was how grateful I was for her and all my kids. We had an especially hard morning trying to keep the kids occupied before church. All of the kids were in rare form. Chloe has been very cranky the last few days, which is nothing new for her, but it is so nice to have a moment like tonight were she hugged my neck and patted my arm as she fell asleep. I feel like she was telling me how much she loved me, and an overwhelming feeling of love came over me for her and my other children. All too soon these days of rocking her will be over and life will move on. It is so important that we all cherish these precious years even though they are crazy and busy!

Disney World May 2009

2009-06-01T12:33:00.000-07:00

We have had a very busy May! I'm excited to finally have time to post our Disney World Pictures. We got to go to Disney World for 6 days. We did all of the main parks once, and we went back to the Epcot and Magic Kingdom twice. We stayed off Disney World at a Resort called the Regal Palms. It was a 4 bedroom 3.5 bath town home with a full kitchen. It also had an awesome swimming pool with a water slide and lazy river. We took full advantage of the Kitchen. Our fridge was broken the first day we got there, but they soon fixed it, and we kept if fully stocked. It really helped save on costs to eat breakfast at home everyday, and most days we also packed a lunch and snacks to take with us. We had a really great time at the different parks. They exceeded our expectations. Chloe especially enjoyed Disney World more than we thought. We were worried that she would be scared of all the characters and the loud parades, but she loved all of it. Her favorite part about Disney seemed to be the parades. She loved to dance with all of the Characters! Candy loved all of the fast rides! Her favorite ride was the Rockin Roller Coaster! Kassidy said that her favorite part of Disney was the merry-go-round even though she was too scared to ride the horses that went up and down. She just wanted to sit on the bench that was still. She was scared of the horses on the Merry-Go-Round, but she laughed when she was riding the tower of terror. She was so brave for most of the rides, but she would always surprise us and be scared of something unexpected. Poor tenderhearted Candy was scared of most things except for the fast rides. She did not like anything animatronic. It was nice that my mother and her husband David were also able to come with us. There were times where we were all able to split up and take turns riding with the younger and older kids. Disney makes it pretty convenient with things like the fast pass and a switch pass. The switch pass is for when someone has to stay behind with younger children. After 6 fun filled days we were spent, but then we still had the 17 hr. drive back. It felt like an eternity, but it was well worth the sacrifice to have these life long memories!

The traditional family shot in front of Cinderella Castle.

Minnie's house was just the right size for the girls!

The girls could not quite warm up to Mickey and Minnie!

Ride 'em Cowgirls! (Cinderella's Carousel)

One of the coolest parades...the characters came off the floats and danced in the street.

Chloe became part of an "interactive" experience...she was tickled!

The character that resembles Candy's personality the most....LOL.

The traditional Small World Ride: Chloe thought all the dancing "people" were funny, Kassidy slept through it, and Candy thought it was full of, well, cheese.

Something new to us this time: Spectromagic! One of the most unique parades we have ever seen. All floats and characters lit up with lights!

Can't get enough photos of that icon!

True Disney marketing at its finest...attending this fireworks show really does make you think Dreams can come true! (Chills felt by all)

Kassidy is a great speeder driver, especially with her custom hair ornaments by Krissy that came about due to her destruction of her headband...Candy is trying for a new character on Star Wars...

The girls could have stayed all day at the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" playground...we need one of those around here.

This was Beauty and The Beast show...obviously the girl's favorite.

Hard to tell that this is one of the coolest shows...we waited out a drizzle under panchos to see it...what a great story to tell!

If you strain your eyes very carefully you can see the sorcerer's hat in the background at Hollywood Studios. Chloe was beat. This was the way most days ended with mommy carrying a very tired Chloe in my life saver the blessed sling!

Can you tell how hot it was? We were melting the first couple of days...we conveniently chose days of record heat...pbbbbbtttt! Last time we were here this time of year it was in the 70's!

Um, a little disappointed at the petting zoo...c'mon Disney you can do better than a goat?!

This awesome tree at Animal Kingdom is a great pic site...o.k., o.k., it's not real.

The girls loved Animal Kingdom with all the animal rides.

Chloe and her first Safari!

Just hangin' out with the pack-e-derms!

Despite not being in the REAL safari, Disney made it seem like were really there! The girls thought so anyway...;-)

Some creative greenery at Epcot...I dare someone to take a picture in front of every character bush at Disney World....

Another Disney icon...It seemed a lot bigger in my mind...although there is a ride that takes you winding your way all the way to the top!

We wore the exact same clothing on our return trip to Epcot...just kidding...got Ryan out from behind the camera for this one.

Disney does a great job in keeping kids occupied while waiting for shows/rides. This is a fully functional sting ray tank outside a Nemo Show that mesmerized the girls.

Mommy and the Cutest Kassidy Mouse in all the world!

"We got the whole world, in our hands...."

This is our picture from the ride Tesst Track. This was one of Kassidy's favorite rides. This was one of the only rides that almost all of our family got to ride together. It was funny, because the lady in orange sitting next to Kassidy was deathly afraid of the ride, and Kassidy kept telling the lady that it was not scary, because she had ridden before. The whole ride Kassidy pestered the poor lady saying "see it's not scary." I just thought the whole thing was comical that a 4 year old was telling a 50 something year old not to be scared on the ride! She was definitely brave when it came to fast rides!

Kick'n It With My Girls

2009-05-06T13:13:00.000-07:00

I thought I would post a few pics of me and the girls since it's mother's day.

Kassidy and I had a great time at her preschool for the Mother's Day Luncheon. We ate a minuscule amount of food, but had a lot of fun looking at some of her art work, singing songs, and reading books together.

This was a questionnaire that Kassidy's teacher's asked her about me. They read aloud the questions and answers and had the mom's guess which one was their child's answers. Kassidy had some really funny answers. It was so hilarious!

Here is Chloe and I having fun making hats out of the mixing bowls. This kept her occupied while I put up groceries. Isn't she a cutie!

Kassidy's Preschool Class Picture

2009-04-20T13:48:00.000-07:00

Kelsey took this awesome class picture of Kassidy's preschool class. Aren't all of her classmate's too cute! Mrs. Lyles and Mrs. Ashcraft have been really great with Kassidy this year! She has loved every minute of preschool! She always can't wait to go on her school days. Thanks again Kelsey for your great pictures!

Easter 09!

2009-04-13T13:44:00.000-07:00

We had an awesome Easter this year! We got visited by the Easter bunny in the morning, and then we had a great church service! Later that evening we went over to my sister Jen's house for Easter dinner, egg hunt and B-day party for Kade and my mom. In-between all of this we took some time to capture the day on film. I want to give major props to Susie Stewart for teaching me how to make bows recently. It has been great to make bows to match all of the girl's outfits! The girls are sporting some of my new found bow making skills in these pictures and in our Bluebonnet pics as well! Thanks again Susie!

Chloe was in such a good mood on Easter. What a great Easter present!

The girls goofing off as usual.

Poor Ryan so outnumbered by all of his sweet girls! Doesn't he look handsome in his Easter colors to match the girls?

Kassidy always too cute for words.

Chloe is such a daddy's girl. It is so sweet how her face lights up when he comes home!

The girls all smiled so great in this picture!

It was raining hard before we left for church and we had a hard time getting Candy to smile for any of these pictures. She has a fear of bad whether ever since we lived in the mobile home in Austin. She did smile well here though.

It is hard to get everyone to look forward at the camera, when no one is there to get their attention. It is a sweet picture anyways.

SPARK Easter Egg Hunt

2009-04-09T15:01:00.000-07:00

Jenny, Gabe and I took the kids to an Easter Egg Hunt for the SPARK program. Aren't Kade, Landon, Kassidy and Chloe the cutest cousin's ever?

Candy's GS Troop

2009-04-09T14:35:00.000-07:00

We have been really busy this month with Candy's GS Troop! I have taken on the role of being the GS Troop leader! It has been a lot of work, but it has been fun to get to hang out a lot with Candy and her friends! Luckily my Mom has been generous to help out with our troop! She has been a big support. Thanks Mom!

This is part of our troop that participate in the Trash Bash Service Project! It was great, because the girls learned that working to help the enviornment can be a lot of fun!

Recently we took the girls in our troop to our first overnight campout! Here we all are standing in front of one of the tents we slept in! The girls kept busy with activities like archery, canoeing, different crafts, camping skills, and participating in a talent show.

Candy and I had a lot of fun quality time together! It was nice to hang out at all of the activities. This picture was taken at the archery range!

This was taken after the girls had exchanged pins they had made with different troops. They are sitting behind our Madagascar centerpiece that we put together.

This is my Mom helping the girls with volleyball at the makeshift volleyball court!

We can't wait to take the girls camping again!

Candy's Teacher's Baby Shower

2009-04-09T14:17:00.000-07:00

We have had a crazy busy month! I organized a baby shower for Candy's elementary teacher. We had 42 students and 15 parents attend! They had a fun time doing shower games, eating cake and punch and watching Mrs. Johnson open her presents for her baby Caroline! As usual Ruth Palmer did an amazing shower cake. Everyone couldn't say enough great things about her yummy and beautiful cake!

Yee Haw!

2009-03-18T13:52:00.001-07:00

It is Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Time! They claim it is Mardi Gras, Superbowl and the Zoo all rolled up into One! Well, we got the zoo part down anyway: the Kids loved the Animals!

Kassidy wishes she got to take some animals home!

Chloe showin' some love for the llama!

Poor animals, watch out, here comes Chloe!

Plenty o' steers and kids!

The green monster here was a pseudo hill for kids to get their energy out by rolling down.....

didn't work.

Kassidy and Kade really look like they are having a good conversation! Doesn't Candy look cute in her cowgirl hat?

I wanna ride a roller coaster baby yah! The girls already love the big rides! Too bad Astroworld is gone. Chloe was also a dare devil. She was begging to get on all the rides she could.

Chloe loved the carousel! I had to peel her off the pole.

Thanks to Gabe, Jenny, Kade and Landon Clark, as well as Caleb, Diana and Addie Jones for hanging out with us at Cowtown!

Laudry Time!

2009-03-11T12:57:00.000-07:00

Things have really slowed down for us this month! It has been great! There haven't been any big events to post about, but I couldn't help but put these cute pictures of Chloe helping Candy with her laundry. This is one of Chloe's favorite things to do! Now if I could just get Candy to be excited about too it would be a miracle!

My sister Kelly's Wedding

2009-02-18T20:13:00.000-08:00

My sister Kelly got married to her best friend Ryan Oaks (Yes my sister married a guy with the same name as my husband. It gets a little confusing at times.) this past Sat. in the Houston LDS Temple. She then had a ring ceremony followed by reception at an LDS Church building in Kingwood. My two older girls were the flower girls, and their cousin Kade was the ring bearer. I was also a brides maid. Her colors were red and black if you can't tell from the pictures. It was a lot of fun, but a lot of hard work too. We are happy that they are married and also happy it is over.

Kelly and Ryan Oaks at the rehearsal dinner. Kelly looks excited!

This is one of the best photo's we have ever gotten of us in front of the temple.

My three beauty queens outside the temple!

Kassidy and Kade partners in crime! But too darned cute for words!

Kassidy's mischievous look!

Cousin Landon ring bearer in training.

Chloe and Landon so sweet!

Chloe looks like a little lady and Landon looks like a tough guy!

Chloe had so much fun hanging out with all the kids that were there. She really was in a great mood most of the time! Ryan really captured a lot of great shots of her!

This captures Candy's mood for the beginning of the day! I felt so bad for Jenny and Tia who tried fixed her hair at the salon. She was giving everyone the evil eye! Luckily she was able to turn it around for most of the day.

Isn't she looking so old! I can't believe I have a 9yr old!

Candy's 9th B-Day

2009-02-10T13:42:00.001-08:00

Candy's B-Day at Jumpin Joey's was tons of fun! Candy had a great turn out! Almost all of her friends came! She got lots of nice presents, and they all had an amazing time jumping! Ryan and I were really impressed by the staff at Jumpin Joey's. It was the easiest party for us by far! Kassidy and Kade paled around the most of the time. They definitely have a love hate relationship! I would say more love than hate! Even Chloe got in on the jumping action!

Tantrums Help You Appricate the Sweet Moments!

2009-01-14T13:41:00.000-08:00

Lately Chloe has been having a lot more tantrums lately than ever before. I don't believe in terrible 2's, because I think that it starts as soon as they begin walking and lasts until they are about 3 1/2. Kassidy has had a few tantrums herself lately too. Candy has had her own tantrums in a pre-teen kind of way. It keeps things interesting!

When things are crazy most of the time it really stands out when there is a sweet moment. It was really cute yesterday when we went to McDonald's, there was a moment where every one was dancing together to the music they were playing in the play area. Chloe, Kassidy and Candy were cracking up. Ryan and I couldn't help laughing too. I remember thinking that life just doesn't get much better than this! It is those rare moments that everyone is getting along that makes life worth living! After a few minutes went by Candy and Kassidy went back to fighting and Chloe started whining again, but it was nice while it lasted.

New Year's Eve Sea World Trip

2009-01-01T08:28:00.000-08:00

New Year's Eve was the last day that we could use our season pass to Sea World, so we decided the day before to take a day trip. It was a lot of driving, but it was worth it! The kids had so much fun seeing all the shows! It was nice, because of the holidays they had some different shows than they usually do.

Here is Kassidy in the morning right before we left for Sea World. We had the kids sleep in their clothes to make it quicker to get out the door in the morning.

Ryan and the girls posed to take our first picture at Sea World in front of the beautiful Christmas Tree.

We decided to get the girls a stroller to share. Candy often wanted to ride too.

The kids had a lot of fun in a huge jungle gym while we were there!

Who would have thought walrus and Christmas go together? (Kids say the darndest things!)

Chloe really enjoyed the shows this time! It was the first time she really paid much attention to them. She loved to clap and dance to the songs!

Shamu Christmas was the last show that we went to before we went home. Candy and Kassidy really enjoyed it, but Chloe was spent. I spent the entire show letting her walk around up top.

Kassidy insisted that we stand in line and get our picture taken with Shamu Santa before we were about to leave Sea World!

Christmas Fun

2009-01-01T07:09:00.000-08:00

We had a very fun Chrismas! We had many partys to go to and lots of presents to open! We are truely blessed to have so much family around and so many good friends to share our lives with! We started the Christmas festivites with a Christmas Eve party at my dad's new house. We had traditional Syrian dishes for that party, because it was also my Syrian grandfather's B-day. It was a lot of fun! My favorite dish was the Kibbie!

Next we went on to my sister Jenny's house to have Cinnamon Rolls and Queche for Christmas breakfast. It was so delicious as usual! The kids had fun running around together and chasing the dogs around. It is so cute when we get them all together. The cousins love eachother so much.

Lastly we went to my mom's house for Christmas dinner! My favorite part was the ham and the sweet potatoes! The kids got to open lots more presents at moms. The adults all drew names this year for present exchange, and we exchanged gifts while at moms! I got a gift card to ROSS which I have already used!

Chloe is climbing the mountain of presents at Papa's house. She can hardly wait to rip into them!

Chloe did pretty well opening her own present!

Chloe was so excited to open presents that she even tried to help Kassidy open hers also.

Chloe and Kassidy hanging out at our house Christmas morning. Kassidy is carrying her new petshops she got.

Kassidy was nice enough to share her new Tinkerbell bike that she got from Santa with Chloe on Christmas morning.

Candy has played with her DS from Santa for most of Christmas Break. She now takes it almost everywhere she goes!

This is Chloe enjoying her Christmas dinner at mom's house. I couldn't help putting these pictures in. Is she not the cutest thing ever? She is sporting her new bow and headband given to her by her Aunt Jen and Aunt Kelly. Chloe has been been in a really good mood this holiday season. Her tooth finally came through and she has finally gotten over the congestion that she has had for about a month. It is nice to see her happy and smiling again!

Sugar Cookies at Grandma's

2008-12-22T13:17:00.000-08:00

We all got together over at mom's house to make sugar cookies. Ryan made chili for everyone, and Jenny and Kelly provided tamales! Yummy!

Chloe is enjoying a bowl of chili! She got it all over her and had to borrow Kassidy's p.j.'s to wear home! It was so cute!

Chloe also really enjoyed her sugar cookies!

So cute!

Everyone helped make the cookies!

Here is Aunt Kelly and her friend Katie having a good time!

Here is uncle Chad and his new girl Shana

Kassidy did a great job pounding out the cookie dough all by her self!

Kassidy had a lot of fun making cookies. She also enjoyed eating strait flower so funny!

Candy is making some gingerbread man shaped cookies. She also made her own icing concoction that turned a nice shade of purple!

Granddaddy helped a lot with the little ones while we made the cookies! Here he is with cousin Landon!

Candy's Christmas Party

2008-12-22T12:48:00.000-08:00

Candy had a lot of fun at her Christmas party! Here are a few pictures that I wanted to share!

Chloe and big sissy Candy enjoying the party together

Daddy trying to steal a kiss from Chloe

Candy is making reindeer feed!

Candy and her friend Kenzie Tate

Candy and her teacher Mrs. Johnson who is going to have a baby in April

Kassidy's Christmas Party

2008-12-17T11:16:00.000-08:00

We had a lot of fun at Kassidy's Christmas Party! Here are a few pictures from the party.

Here is Ryan reading Twas the night before Christmas in Texas That is. He is all dressed up for the part in a borrowed shirt, boots and hat!

Daddy with Chloe and Kassidy!

Kassidy's beautifully decorated Christmas Boot!

Isn't Ryan cute in a cowboy hat?

Chloe is not feeling too well, because she has her 6th tooth coming in.

Better Late than never!

2008-12-15T13:52:00.000-08:00

I just recently learned how to post on the blog myself, so I am a little late getting these Halloween pictures up on our blog. Better late than never! Here is a few pictures of our leopard family and Daddy the leopard hunter.

Candy looks so thrilled to be there doesn't she?

Santa's Farm

2008-12-15T10:35:00.000-08:00

We had so much fun at Santa's Farm! It was a little crowded and cold, but the kids didn't seem to mind. They had so much fun petting the animals!

Here is Candy sporting daddy's beanie to keep warm! What a fashion statement!

Cutie pie cousin Landon keeping warm bundled up in the sling with his mommy.

Chloe is having fun looking at the piggys!

Chloe and mommy having fun together with the piggys!

Candy, Kassidy, Chloe, and Kade all petting the sheep.

Cutest cousins of all time Kassidy, Kade, and Candy enjoying hot chocolate with the sheep!

First Header Creation

2008-12-03T22:36:00.000-08:00

I finally went for it and created my first Cotten Family Blog header! It is so fun to find new ways to use my photoshopping skills. I just want to thank Shanta Silver for opening up the world of digital scrapbooking for me. It really is so much fun! Also all of the pictures used in my header were taken by Kelsey Call. Isn't she amazing?

Santa Spoiler Alert

2008-12-02T18:42:00.000-08:00

If you still believe in Santa, do not continue reading this entry! It was a sad evening this evening as we felt we had to disclose to our oldest, Candyce (8 - nearly 9), that indeed, Santa is not real. Unlike her parents sad reaction in their youth, Candyce merely shouted, "I knew it!" LOL Candyce was receiving mixed messages from her peers at school, and was bringing her angst home. I think Candyce is too smart for her own good. Her follow up question was about the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy (she caught us pretty good on the Tooth Fairy when she placed her tooth under her pillow and Mom and Dad forgot....busted!). It was neat to see her get excited about being able to "help" Mommy and Daddy Santa. We tried to hype Santa as an "idea," or "excitement," about the thought of giving and going to bed with anticpation that there would be many more gifts under the tree and goodies in the stockings. Good luck to all those who face this challenge! This is yet another sign that we are aging and doing so at a much too rapid pace. Ryan

Early Thanksgiving

2008-11-24T07:34:00.000-08:00

Soooo...we made the 5 hour drive to Bonham, TX. For those of you geographically challenged, that is way north of Dallas almost to Oklahoma out in the country. My Dad lives there and the Cotten siblings all gathered for a pre-Thanksgiving event. Five hours with a fussy teething one year old isnot fun, but we made it. We had lots of food and fun. The cousins loved hanging out!

I wish we had better weather, but the girls still loved getting out and seeing the animals in the cold. My Dad has a few horses and mules (to keep the coyotes away). Poor Candyce didn't understand the danger a coyote brings to livestock, so when my Dad took his rifle out to rid his field of the pesky varment, Candy was so upset that the coyote would have to die. Luckily there was no coyote killing that day. I guess the coyote strapped on his acme rocket and got away.

This was Chloe's first experience with horses. She looks excited doesn't she? She actually didn't want to get off once she got on!

This was actually a talking donkey that my Dad has that went on and on about his big green friend? J/K...This guy really loved the kids!

They actually have seasons in North Texas. Thus leading to leaves!

Cousin Cohen Galloway

Cousin Kennedy Galloway

We will now look forward to Thanksgiving in town with Krissy's family. Hope everyone has a wonderful week! Ryan

Twilight Fever is Here!

2008-11-19T11:40:00.000-08:00

HELP! Krissy needs a support group entitled: "Crazed Twilight Fans that can't see Twilight on opening night." Bless her heart. She has just finished her umpteenth reading of all 4 books in the series. She was even invited to a watching party. But alas, she has sacrificed her Twilight Weekend to support a trip to Bonham, TX to the In-Laws for Thanksgiving Day celebration. But really, who wants to dish out the $9.50 to sit in an unclean theater with teens dressed in vampire garb? O.K., Krissy would. But lets do this enjoyably.....maybe wait a week or two. Get child care that will allow us to make the drive to The Woodlands to a nice theater to view a much anticipated movie, which at the end we will all say, "The book was so much better." or "Edward is not as hot as I envisioned him in the book." But no matter what your interest is, enjoy the upcoming Twilight frenzy!

Welcome to the World of the Cotten's!

2008-11-17T09:29:00.000-08:00

After intense pressure from friends and family, we have finally taken the step to inform the world of our family happenings. The COO of our family has tasked me (Ryan - VP of IT) to manage the family blog. Hopefully we can infuse some humor into the exciting (and sometimes not so exciting) events of our lives. I personally feel this could also double as my journal (two birds with one stone....he he he.). So I guess do what you do with blogs: follow, read, don't read, reply, etc.! So let the posting begin!