A special Mother's Day

Aaron and the girls brought me home some beautiful flowers for Mother's Day this year. They also took me shopping to get some new clothes! Thank you for showing your love to me, family. I do feel like a special mom. I thank God for all of you!! I love you!
These came via Fed Ex shortly after I recieved the other ones from the family. This being the case, I couldn't even guess who they would be from. Well, I opened the box and found the card inside signed by my brother, Brian! I was definitely surprised and thankful for the sweetness of my dear brother. Thanks, Brian! I love you!

Been gone...

Hey, all! I was gone last week, so I didn't have a chance to post some things. Here we go.

Keaton is learning to walk!

He is taking 4 or 5 steps at a time now. What a big boy!

He sure loves playing with daddy... :)

Something new

Yea! I'm so excited. Next week, we are getting part of our kitchen remodeled! Aaron's brother, Darin, is coming to add some cabinets and a pantry and all new windows! I have a vision of a new color scheme in here, too, that I can't wait to try. Thanks to my neighbor's garage sale, I got inspiration to paint it a mustard-y yellow and accent with red. Can't wait!

Aaron is finishing up the upstairs bathroom, too. He put in some new flooring (grouted vinyl tiles) and finished painting it a very light purple. I'm going to accent it with darker purple, green (probably plants) and browns. I'm having so much fun re-decorating here. I'll post some pictures when we are done. :)

Ballet Princesses

Today for ballet class, Miss Karin (teacher) had all the girls wear a dress that made them feel pretty to dance in instead of their ballet leotards. The girls were completely excited about this! Mommy was too. I had fun dressing them up in a little makeup and doing up-dos for them. :) I knew I wanted girls! :) I'm sure Bethany is thankful that I don't live at home with her anymore so I can't make her let me do her hair... Right, Beeth? :)

Here they are in their beautiful dresses. They told me that they are standing in first position.
My beautiful dolls.

They are loving ballet class. Only 2 more classes and then the recital! They can't wait. We are praying that the costumes come in time!!

God has blessed us with beautiful girls that want to learn how to glorify God. Even in dance!

Diggin' In

I came in the kitchen a couple nights ago as I was clearing up the dinner table and found this. Keaton, as he often likes to do, had started digging in the trash.

He loves cottage cheese and he still must've been hungry.

"Look, Mom! I found some more cottage cheese!"

Boy, this sure is fun!

Uh-oh. Am I going to get in trouble?

Well, they're still taking pictures of me... I'm going to spread it all over my face and clothes now.

Yummy!

Got to get the last bit!!
Like my new makeup?

Mommy couldn't help cracking up over this!!

So, we went and took a bath after having our fun.

I like bathtime just as much!

Cutie pie!

Look who turned ONE!

Keaton James Aaron Cottrell has turned ONE (well, on Wednesday)! Already! We can't believe our baby is getting so big. We are so thankful for the year we have had with him!

Uncle Mike, Aunt Gina, and Nick made it to celebrate his big day. Thanks for making the long trip for Keaton!! We love you!
Uncle Darin, Aunt Carrie, and Ryan made it, too. We are so thankful! We love you, too!
He got so many big boy toys!
A fire truck to ride around on. He loved it! He started dancing to the music right away! :) Thanks, Gettlers!
He got really cute brown leather sandals, too. So cute! Thanks, Cottrells!
From Mommy and Daddy. :) He already wants to be like Daddy!
Oh, boy! He really wanted the cake! Grandma wanted to help him see the cake. Thanks for coming, Grandma and Grandpa! We love you!
Happy Birthday, Keats!
I'm ONE! :)
Mommy and me. :)

The Buckingham's came, too. Just had to leave early for a wedding, so we didn't get pics of them. Thanks for coming and for the cute little cars! We are thankful for such great neighbors. (Whom we hope don't move!) :)

We are so grateful to God for you, Keaton. You are truly a gift from Him. You are a blessing to us everyday. Our prayer is that God will open your eyes to Him and His Son, Jesus soon! This is our biggest hope for you! Thank you, God for letting us have Keaton in our family!

BIG BOY!

Keaton just took his first steps!!! First, it was one and then he took 2 at a time! We are so proud of the way he is growing up. :) It won't be long now and he'll be walking. What a big boy!