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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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 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!
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.
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.
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!
A sweet smile on a sweet princess.
Great looking group of kids!
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.
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.
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!
