You ask and you shall receive mamasita! I have created an album of Cecilia's scanned school work, grade cards, etc. I plan to make an album for each year of school! Her progress will be posted online for all to see! Soon Finnie can join in on the fun! Check out the link below:
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| Cecilia's 2009 - 2010 School Work [Kindergarten] |
Thought I'd share some of Cecilia's recent stuff. Man, I do not remember bringing home this much paper when I was in Kindergarten. Our mixed paper recycling box is overflowing with the stuff. (easy Grandma's...I do keep some of it!) Cecilia busted me once and totally reamed me for throwing away her work..jpg)
Cecilia has be BEGGING me to allow her to take a sack lunch. Apparently there are a few in her class who do not like school lunches and regularly bring their own. Nuts, right? I loved school lunch and can remember running to the lunchroom with my English classmates our Senior year. Yes, Senior year. If it was Crispito day, look out. You could loss a limb if you got in our way.
Okay, back to Cecilia... so, the last thing I want to add to my mornings is making her lunch *ugh* but she was insistent. I told her if she reminded me after dinner one night, we would prepare her lunch for the next day. This way we wouldn't have to do it in the morning. She reminded me THAT night of course. Crap. What do we pack it in? She gave me a "duh" and ran to her arts-n-crafts drawer in our kitchen and pulled out my old tin Strawberry Shortcake lunch box (which we had been using to house markers).
"This of course!" said Cecilia.
"Perfect," I said, "but we need to add your name to the top."
[Can you see Megan Herring in faded red writing?]
Finnegan snuck back into our sssllloooooowwww draining bathtub AFTER I dressed him for bed. Gross Finnie. Gross.
My favorite place to be on crisp Fall Saturday afternoon is an alley. Not just any alley will do; it must be filled with BBQ smoke, the constant sound of aluminium cans being opened, 1000s of friends and every where one looks the most beautiful colors in the world wave about - crimson and blue of course.
Last Saturday Wade and I returned to our alley for another season of Jayhawk tailgating. We hang in the alley next to 11th St. between Alabama St. and Illinois St. - within steps of Memorial Stadium. Several season ticket holders from our town park here. The parking fee at this location (an apartment complex) is steep so Wade and I choose to hoof it; we park 3-4 blocks away. It is a haul, but it is so worth it!
Because of our Williams Fund donation, Wade and I were invited to attend KU's Select-a-Seat at Memorial Stadium in June. Our good friends Amanda and Andrew are also donors and have about the same number of Williams Fund priority points as we do. Because of this we were able to pick our seats on the same day. We coordinated via a couple text messages and got our season ticket seats right next to each other - something I hope to continue until we are old and gray.
Amanda, Andrew and Wade - three of the four coolest fans in Section 9, Row 38.
Can't wait until next Saturday! Rock Chalk Jayhawk!
After battling Strep throat and missing her first day of Kindergarten last Friday, Cecilia finally experienced first day school excitement this morning. She woke up via her new alarm clock at 6:15 am, got dressed by herself and brushed her teeth. She wasn't happy about her hair so she had me flat iron it. This was new. She's NEVER cared about her hair before. I am taking this as a good sign. I have been dying to doll up her hair with bows and such ever since she grew it! Maybe now I'll get my chance. After she was all ready, we had the classic first day of school photo session. Here are the results:
CLICK HERE to enlarge this collage
It was bound to happen...a team full of preschoolers never had a chance against teams full of 1st graders. Ah well, at least we had fun!
Cecilia's softball team had their last regular season game against Lecompton last night. It began to sprinkle as soon as the game started. No lighting, so the game continued much to the girls delight! By the top of the second inning it was raining buckets so the umpire had the teams head to their dugouts to wait it out. After about twenty minutes, the rain slowed down and several of the coaches pushed the water off of the field. It was sooo like being at a Royals game. While the rain was a fallin' I took out my camera and started snapping photos.
(Haylee Gonzales and Finnie are usually attached at the hip. Finn is into older women.)
(One of my favorite shots. Gracie Gonzales, who is 5, is used to being the shortest in a pack. She's taking advantage of her height and teases Finn with the ball...so he kicks her.)
(Cecilia told Coach Speedy that she was tired of playing first base and wanted to try catching. I was shocked! She was VERY proud of her "costume".)
Finnegan Thomas turned two today! He had a great day, but has actually been celebrating his transition into the Terrific Twos since Sunday. We had a small get together at our home and just kicked back and relaxed. Everyone enjoyed watching Mr. Finn as we sang Happy Birthday to him. It was the cutest thing - he suddenly got super shy and ducked his chin down, closed his eyes and grinned. Since it caused a laugh from his audience he continued to make this silly face as he ate his cake. I began snapping photos of him doing the scrunched up face but as you can see, he got a bit perturbed with me and started yelling "STOPPPP!"
(Cute as a button.)
(Mommy's getting THE look.)
("STOOPPPP!" Doesn't he look like a little Vampire Baby here?)
One of Finnie's favorite birthday gifts is the race car track that Nana Debbie and Papa Tom gave him. We are already on the second set of AA batteries in each car. He makes Wade lay on the floor next to him to watch the cars. My heart melts each time.
His other favorite gift was this GIGANTIC gummy bear. His daycare provider, Rita thought it was a perfect gift for Finnie. I just about pee'd myself when Finn took a bite of the bear's bootie and then said, "Bite Butt!" He even shared the gummy beast with his sister and Daddy. I passed.
This morning he got a visit from the Birthday Fairy who left him balloons in his favorite hues (crimson and blue) as well as a super yummy cookie cake for breakfast. He was elated to eat such a fine breakfast. So was I...cookie cakes are my favorite. Good thing I am in good with the Birthday Fairy.
I just have to brag on my big brother. He was recently named Leavenworth's 2009 Officer of the Year. He is the very first officer to hold this distinction. This has been a busy year for my Stevie!... A few months ago he was also promoted to Sargent. Such an over achiever.
I should also brag on his wife, Danielle. She was recently promoted to Detective. It is so fun to hear them "talk shop." It is like I am on an episode of Dexter or something. Well, without the serial killer part.
Sorry for the crappy photo quality...
I took this photo from the body of an email.
Cecilia is playing coach pitch again this summer. Yipee! I cannot wait for the season to begin...and of course there's the sunflower seed spitting - always an added bonus.
**UPDATE: All Games are at 6:30 pm**
The schedule is as follows:
Cecilia has been working hard on her batting skills and is doing quite well. Now if we could just get her to RUN!
April is about to pass me by. Crap. I better start updating you people on what the Cottrell family has been doing. It was a semi sick free month - Mr. Finn's head cold from March rolled over into April. After 16 days of snot we finally decided to try antibiotics. He was much better the day after we started meds so I'm confident he did have a nasty bacterial bug up in there. I am a big advocate for letting a cold run its course and not throwing anti's at children when they might not need them. Our doctor is on the same page, which is great. Finnie's only had them twice and Cecilia's still an antibiotic virgin. Finn got better just in time to contract the April snotty nose. Daycare kids get 10 colds a year, blah, blah, blah...I know, I know.
Cecilia and I missed Jayden Weissenbach's 6th birthday party so we decided to take Jayden and her Mommy [Jenny - my BFF and Boss. Sweet combo, right?] to get pedicures! It was Jayden and Ceci's first time and the salon treated them like princesses...even got little white flowers on each big toe. We had a blast.
After the pedi's we hooked up the the rest of our family members for lunch and then headed to Allen Fieldhouse for the Women's NIT Championship game. It was almost a sellout game with 16,113 in attendance; a record for the lady Jayhawks and a Big 12 Women's record. They Hawks didn't bring in a win, but they put on a hell of a run in the last few minutes. The entire joint was on its feet jumping around. I believe I sweat off 3 lbs of water weight. Fun time!
Post game activities: Finn passes out and Cecilia gives Daddy a pedicure.
We also spent a weekend at my parents house in Branson. It was a whirlwind of activities as usual. My mother is a super planner and has our itinerary and menus set before we even arrive. She sends me emails weeks in advance reminding me of things I should be packing. [Now you know where I got my planning sickness from.] Friday was a rainy day so Cecilia dyed eggs while Finnie ate them. That night we had Dad's famous home made pizza. Cecilia got to help, kind of. Dad is a perfectionist and basically redid all of her work.
Saturday was beautiful so we took the kiddos down the street to Silver Dollar City. Finnie has been to SDC several times but this day he got to experience his very first amusement park ride. He loved it. Cecilia actually got in line for the Giant Swing, but ended up being about an inch too short. I was SO relieved. Now she keeps measuring herself and saying, "Big Swing?!" When she is tall enough I am going to make Wade ride it with her. I don't think I will be able to handle hearing her screams. Wade and Dad spent a good 20 minutes in the water gun section of the park pelting other kids with water. Cecilia and Finn got soaked. Cecilia plans to wear her swimsuit when we go back this summer. Good plan.
I am a blog slacker. This I know. Because of this I have received quite a bit of hate mail during my blog hiatus so I thought I'd better get my act together. Actually, I am just too anal. I got behind in my posting due to the March Sickness and because I hate to do anything out of order my post ideas have gotten severely backed up - kind of like our bathroom sink (more on that later). Hum, let us see where I left off...oh, yes - In March Cecilia completed 8 week Beginner Tumbling class with Lawrence Parks & Recreation. She enjoyed every minute of it but wants to take Dance next. Wade and I think this is a sound idea as we're pretty sure she will be too tall to be gymnast. Here she is getting her certificate of completion.
Since I last wrote, Finnegan can now read on a 10 grade level and is zipping through books like crazy. Here he is reading Memories of a Geisha in his favorite reading spot - the kitchen floor.
During March we thoroughly enjoyed the Madness (when we were not cursing our sickness) and were very impressed by our young Jayhawks and Coach Self. Finn has become a true fanatic and screams "HAWK!" anytime he spots our beloved bird. As usual, the kids were decked out in crimson and blue and Jayhawk tattoos all month. Cecilia sure comes up with unique places for her tats.
The kids also enjoyed hanging out at Nana Marla and Papa Tim's ranch last month as Spring time equals calf time around there. I love these photos I snapped. Cecilia is a master at climbing Papa's fence and Finnie's looking up at her like, "How is she doing that? She is amazing." I love her shoes in that photo too.
We hung out with Amandewucs and Mitcholleton one afternoon at Mitchell and Nicolle's new house. That place is freaking bizarre, but it is SO Mitchell. We tried to get a photo with all four of our kids together, but Leyton wasn't having it. Check out Lucas. This dude has more hair than Wade and he is only like 6 months old.
So ends our March adventures. This post is getting quite longish, so I shall quit here and begin a new with our April news.
We have had crazy internet connection issues for a while now. Thank goodness for our Blackberry's. I cannot go 12 hours without checking Facebook. Our nice cable company sent someone out this morning and he fixed us up. Ah, it's nice to type on a keyboard again.
Not much has happend since my last post, but we did go to a super fun birthday party last weekend for our pal, Zeke. It was the largest kid party I've even been to - over 50 children. No lie. Thank goddness it was at a community building in Lawrence. The theme was Carnival and each kiddo was given tickets in exchange for a can food item (no gifts = sweet). They could use their tickets to play carnival games like Ring Toss, Go Fish, Cupcake Walk, Face Painting, Fortune Teller, etc. Brillant idea. The family did such a good job on the whole sha-bang.
I promise to post photos of our kitchen, but only when it it completely finished! I have vowed to finish it before April 1st. We moved back into our house on April 1, 2008 after living at Big Granny and Gramps house for two and a half months. Has it seriously taken us a year to put up the backslash, trim, lights and door? Yes, yes it has. Seems crazy because it only took Wade two and a half months to completely demo the entire room, put in new plumbing, electrical, insulation, drywall and flooring. Insane.
Here are some shots of my men hard at work yesterday afternoon:
Finn likes to eat leftover waffles while using the circular saw.
How freaking cute is this? I mean seriously? How cute?!
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