Early 50th B-day wishes for Cory

Cory was going to be working on his Birthday, but his schedule got changed where he will be home, but I had already assembled everyone to be together on Easter Sunday. Since....it would have been hard to get everyone together again....we went ahead and celebrated Cory's Birthday a little early. We couldn't let this birthday just slip by without acknowledging it....we needed to give him a little extra something to help him remember that he turned the BIG 50 this year.
He was pleasantly pleased to get the majority of the family together. He really enjoyed his little book of Birthday cards and notes. He felt really loved and appreciated as a Husband, Father, Brother, Uncle and Nephew!

Thanks everyone for helping make Cory's 50th Birthday special.

The Peter's family! We were missing Rachelle and Carson. We wish you could have been here! We were also missing Poppy and Konan. Sigh.......

The whole crew....

Uncle Teddy Bob and I traded out in this picture. Okay....see everyone again on Mother's Day weekend when we go to Great Wolf. It's going to be fun!

Easter at Home

The little man is feeling a little sick and wants to cuddle on the sick couch.
Sissy...on the other hand wanted to color eggs. We got lucky because Robin still had all of her egg coloring stuff still out on the picnic table....so, we just brought our eggs over and used her stuff. Have I told you lately how awesome our neighbors are? Well.....should I say more?

Awesome.....a pink and blue egg make PURPLE. Cassandra is amazed.

Wow.....look at all the pretty colors.

Mommy made a camouflage egg.

Then, of course Mr. Cotton had to put his spin on the Eater activities at home....He brought home lobster for dinner. I would say how sweet.....but we are suppose to be on the Dave Ramsey plan....is this in our budget???? Rrrggghhhh......

Bad boy!!!!

How was the concert, guys?

Well, I'm not too sure what to write about this big event in our lives, except our money and our nephew went to this concert on our behalf. We were all set to take Lucas to this concert and bought the tickets and were ready to go until I discovered it was the same night as the "Last Supper" play that Cory was in, therefore, we came up with a plan B. We asked our wonderful neighbor boys to take Lucas for us. I'm pretty sure they had a good time. They came home about 10 p.m. but Lucas stayed next door until about 1 a.m. playing X-Box. I think ;-) He is still sleeping this morning, so I haven't gotten all the details but I know Lucas' Mom would enjoy these pictures right away........

Thanks Elias, Isaac, and his girlfriend Erin for taking Lucas for us.
Okay Rodriguez boys.........lets smile a little bit!!!!
How was Granger Smith? I hope it was fun for you guys!
And.....I hope you weren't too embarrassed to hang out with the dude with the funny hat.
Yes.....feel free to make fun of him......he is in Texas....NOT MONTANA. Just kidding Lucas, we love you, hat and all!

My Disciple

I am so proud of my husband! He was in a church play last night at Zion Church of Kurten and he did a great job. He really worked hard to memorize his two lines and was really stressing over it, but he pulled it off. Isn't this great.....13 men were in this play. I missed the pose picture, but it was really awesome. They had all the men pose like the "Last Supper" picture, with their hands in the air and it was really cool. I'm kicking myself for missing that shot!

Isn't he handsome? Well....you don't have to agree, but you have to admit, with his beard, he looked the part! He was Thaddaeus.
True actor.....listening to the words that Jesus spoke.
Again.....I wish I got the posing picture. Ugh.....
turn up the volume and you can hear him say his part!



Encore, encore.......Bravo, Bravo! You did it! Way to go Babe! I'm proud of you! Can't wait to see the next play that you are in. Haha

Lil' Patch of Bluebonnets

Yea....I was so glad to see that my bridal wreaths came into full bloom while Lucas was down visiting. Well...I was glad...I'm not too sure if Lucas was glad though. He was beginning to wonder exactly how many pictures was I going to take.
And one by yourself...
A few more with Cassandra and Jase.
Now....a few bluebonnet pictures. This is just a small patch in front of my neighbors yard.
Keep smiling....I'm not finished yet!
Nope....we are not finished....just keep smiling!
Yes! You have to! Now, a group photo!
Cassandra loves Lucas. He is her buddy!
And Lucas loves the kids....even enough to put on the kids bicycle helmet for them....ugh...a little small don't you think?
Now....let's throw rocks.
And I've been taking Cassandra's picture in this green chair ever since she was a little baby. She keeps growing and growing.
and every year....she gets cuter and cuter!
And of course...this is my favorite picture. Aren't they cute together?
Now....a picture of my little monster.
Yep....he is growing up way too fast too. No more little babies. Sigh....
Until next time..........The End

Keeping Lucas Entertained

We are having a great week this week, Lucas came down from Montana while he is on Spring Break. We are enjoying his company and he is keeping us busy!
I love this picture of him holding Cassandra's hand. She keeps going into his room and talking to him and playing with him. I bet he is thinking.....I wish she would leave me alone. Haha
Don't be too proud of him for catching this fish, Mom and Dad....I had to bait the hook for him because he thought the grub worms looked gross.
Elias was glad we finally caught something.
I love the tree in the background of this picture because it had moss hanging all over it, so I made Lucas pose for a lot of pictures in front of it. Needless to say...he was getting irritated with me.
Nope......I still need one more picture Lucas....keep smiling!
One more.....come on....PLEASE!
Okay....last one!
Oh......yea....I took Lucas to a refresher scuba diving course on Monday night. We enjoyed the class and picked up a few pointers. I got Cory on an April Fool's joke when I called home and told him that they had to rush Lucas to the hospital. It was so funny....Cory, kept saying..."calm down, just calm down, we'll call Sharon and have her fax a medical release to us, everything will be okay." Hehe......I guess that was a little mean.....but you have to remember....Cory got me good this past Christmas, when he let me go 8 hours thinking he got "let go" from his job. Ugh...pay back time!!!!
Smile Lucas.....last picture I promise ;-) Thanks Lucas for coming to visit us. We feel special that you wanted to come and we hope you will come back every year ;-)

RIP Little Bit

This was a rough day for the Cotton's. We had to say good-bye to Little Bit. Cory took him to the vet today and they put him to sleep.
Needless to say.....this was one day, that I wasn't in a big hurry to come home. I noticed Little Bit's absense as soon as I walked into the door because no one was there to wag his tail and greet me hello.

Long time ago..... Dave Brunson had Cory and I meet him one day, at Traders Village in Sept. 1998 and needless to say, we immediately fell in love with this little bundle of fur. He was as cute as ever. Even Cory couldn't tell me "No..we can't have him". So....$250 later, we brought him home and everyone loved him.

I could tell in Cory's voice, that he was having second thoughts about doing the deed, but we felt like it was necessary. He had a really bad rash that we treated several times, but he never did get over it. He couldn't get up and down the stairs without us helping him. And we were thinking he was beginning to loose his sight in his one eye. Ugh...poor feller....and he groaned when we picked him up, which made us think he was hurting all over.

Cassandra, said...no problem, we can always get another one and she said, that we could always play with Mema's dogs because she had plenty to share.

May you rest in peace Little Bit. We love you!