First Time In A Bounce House

At first, he wasn't so sure. Then he was sort of digging it. 30 seconds later, he was over it. My boy is getting so big! 7 months old now. And still the best, most sweet-natured baby in the world.
He's discovered a whole new world with crawling. True to form, he just goes about his business. Cruises around. Finds a toy. Chews on it. Moves on. His signature move is from his back to his belly to a good "down dog" position, then to sitting up. He's got his top teeth in...well, one IN and the other one oh-so close. And hardly made a peep about it. He's a goodie, a real goodie, that one.

Woah, Granny!

Add "learn to crochet Granny Squares" to my to-do list. So gorgeous. Check out this amazing blanket here.

Lamp Shades Are Not Cheap

{1,2}

Oh no, they are not. I've got my eye on these for the mini-redo I'm in the midst of. {New paint! Pics to come.} I'm looking for a benefactor if you're interested in sponsoring me. Har har. :)

Half Price

The amazing sofa that I've been eyeballing since forever has, I just noticed, been marked down to half price. Still not something I need or an afford, but still. Half. Price! And so pretty.

My First Sewing Project?

I've had my eye on these curtains for a while, but they're rather out of my price range. I'm wondering if I should track down some of this gorgeous Bellbottoms fabric from Sis Boom and make some myself? Seems like a good remedial sewing project, right?

My Favorite Place To Be...

Another For The List...

I'm definitely on a feminine kick lately. I want it!

Soliciting Thomas Advice

Mason is starting to get into Thomas. And I have another little boy who, I'm sure, will be way too old in no time, and also into Thomas. And I hope to have more babies, perhaps, who might also get into Thomas. In other words, I potentially have years of Thomas ahead of me. So if we're going to do this, I'd like to do it right. We've picked up a few plastic Thomas sets here and there, and we have tons of tracks from a Costco set we bought a few years back. But I've started to eyeball the wooden Thomas trains. Because I looove wooden toys. But they're sure not cheap. So, seasoned Thomas experts, how do I do this? I found this awesome set on Craigslist, but I'm not necessarily looking to just go out and buy the whole she-bang in one fell swoop. On the other hand, picking 'em up one at a time sounds costly and will take forever. Is a good, solid Thomas set something we should have here? Which items are must haves? What's a waste of money? Advice, anyone?

Thank you in advance! :)

Dreaming.

Someday, I'd love to own this amazing piece of furniture. Someday, someday.

Memorial Day Fun

We decorated Maya's bike and the wagon for our church Memorial Day breakfast and parade! It was lots of fun! May alooked pretty epic with those flags on her bike!

Mason's wagon was decked out, too! Lookin' good!

Chris put flags all over the yard. We love these patriotic holidays! Hope everybody had a great weekend!

Memorial Day

I was having trouble explaining Memorial Day to my kiddos, but then came across a link to these amazing photos in Dan's Tumblr. Perfect. And wow.

Thank you to all those whose loved ones lost their lives defending our freedoms.

Anna Maria Horner

Apologies to those of you who subscribe to my Tumblr feed. I may have gone off the deep end upon discovering Anna Maria Horner's blog today. Ho.Ly.Cow! Where have you been all my life?! That is the sound of my head exploding, in case you're wondering. Wow. Gorgeous stuff.

Preschool Graduation

We could not have asked for a better preschool year for Maya! Best teacher ever, sweetest little friends ever, fantastic school and wonderful Mamas that I hope to stay friends with way beyond preschool year!

Ms. Maria and her little class! They are a really unique group. They all get along so well and play so great together. Maya is especially fond of her girls, Addie and Corrine. And she has big plans to marry Carson some day. Notice how she's halfway into his chair in the bottom right photo?! Poor kid.

Party time! We all hung out in the classroom for a while they partied it up. Maya was excited to show off "her" baby!

Afterward they took it outside for a water balloon fight.

Seriously, great year! I can't believe those 9 months are over. I was super pregnant with Simon when Maya started school, waddling in and out of there to drop her off. Back then, Maya was taking her blanket to school every day, and tearing up every time I left. She has come so far! I'm thinking we'll never be able to top Ms. Maria and Bethany Lutheran Preschool, but here's hoping Kindergarten is half this good!

That Was Then, This Is Now

What a long way my girl has come in a year! She had such a wonderful year, learned so much, grew so much. It hardly looks like the same little girl...

C-c-c-Crazy!

One of the reasons we loved Maya's preschool teacher Ms. Maria so much was that she was all about FUN! She was the only preschool teacher to hold a "Crazy Hair Day", and it was one of Maya's most exciting days so far. She was excited to have her hair colored - aside from that, she didn't care what we did. I'm not great with hair-dos, but I did waht I could, and she was happy with the results...

Shreddin' Buddy

I'm *trying* to do the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred workout video. I've been doing it for 2 weeks now, and it's HARD! I'm shooting for 6 days per week, but so far I've only managed 5 days - 10 total, so 1/3 through the program. I haven't seen the weight dropping off like I might have dreamed, but I definitely feel like it's WORKING, and I'm definitely going to keep it up, for at least the 30 days, and just see...

Maya likes to "do JU-liann" with me. I had her take some "before" pics of me, so of course she wanted in on the action. You'll never see my before pics! :) They're just for me. But she's darn cute, right?

See that big ol' mess behind her? That mess is no more. I spent all of last week in purge mode. There are probably a dozen big ol' black trash bags of stuff to get rid of in the garage. I'm feeling much better about life after clearing a bit o' the clutter...

At The Park

We met up with a couple of Maya's best girls at the park last week for lots o' monkey-ing around:

Maya just loves Addie & Corrine!

Mase was in all the action, of course!

Simey came along for the ride - and conked out for a little while. True to form, best baby EVER!

Park tootsies! :)

In Stitches

It's surprising that I've been a Mama for 5 years without ever taking anyone in for stitches. It's even more amazing that this crazy kids has lasted 3 years without them. But today was his big day. He was running around outside at Maya's school, tripped, and cracked his forehead wide open.

His words, through sobbing, as we ran to the car were "I need my cupcake!". Since he was with it enough to be requesting his cupcake, I figured he'd be okay. So it's frosting around his lips, not blood...

There's a good look at it before they cleaned it up. Yowza.

All cleaned up and ready for some "glue stitches". So glad we got to go that route instead of sewing it up!

And he came thru like a champ, of course. All smiles in the car. He got to pick three stickers, so he was thrilled.

He was a brave little boy during all of this. I was holding him while he sniffled and I said "Mason, you're such a brave boy." "Thanks, Mom", he replied "You're a great Mom." He's such a good kid.

Red White + Blue Cuties

I had just been thinking that I'd love some matchy-match red white & blue outfits for my cutie pies this summer - but ONLY if I found something adorable. I think this fits the bill. So cute.

{Dress, Shorts, Overalls}

Must. Buy. Now.

Do you hear that? That's the sound of that shirt calling my name. It will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine. I'm headed to Target in the morning, baby!

11 Is My Lucky Number

11 years ago we were 20 and 22 year old babies, getting married! 11 years later we are blessed in every way, but especially with our 3 fabulous children. As the years go on, I grow to appreciate my good husband more and more. He really is an amazing husband and father. He takes the best care of us. And he really, really makes me laugh. Love you, Chris! Happy 11th anniversary. {I'm sure 11 will have to be the best year yet - which, wow! It's really going to be good!}

To Steal: Color Scheme

The Blair's family photos have made the rounds in the blog o' sphere, so I'm sure you've seen them. (If not, click here and here...) But I like them so much that I just want them up here, too! And I have definite plans to steal this color scheme for our next family photos. Sooo cool!

Perfect

Abbey's nursery is perfection. That rug! I want it.

Downloadables

I have big plans for putting this gorgeous free download to use! Thanks, Creature Comforts!

Rice, Rice, Baby

Rice has pretty much the most beautiful products EVER. I want them all. Especially this blanket. Go browse and drool!

{Okay, so I'm still loving Tumblr, but having that pretty stuff up over there is making me want to have it up over here, in a more permanent home. So I guess I'll do a little of both. And if you're subscribing to both, you'll get doubles. Sorry to be so annoying and indecisive. Story of my life.}

He's Huge...

...and slightly out of focus. And so, so cute. And incredibly sweet.

My Mom Seriously Dressed Me Awesome

I mean, how classic is that dress? I only wish she'd saved it for me. And that "they" made a similar top in my current size.

Thanks, Mom. You were/are very cool.

Baby Blues

Yep, he's definitely got the blond hair, blue eyed thing going on. And he's albino. Like the rest of us. Only time will tell if he'll glow in the dark like his older brother...

Tumblr

I started messing around with Tumblr today and I think I'm rather addicted. SO fun, so easy! And it's the perfect solution to my blogging conundrum. This blog here has sort of evolved. It's not what it once was. I just don't have/make the time for it I used to. So it's mostly family photos. Which is great - it was always intended to be a tool for me to journal, keep family and friends updated and to bookmark my favorite finds. I haven't been doing much of the bookmarking my favorite finds lately, and that's where Tumblr comes in. It's such a quick way to bookmark your favorite stuff. Anyway, if you're interested in peeking at what I'm interested in, feel free to follow along - just add me to your Google Reader (or whatever): 100percentcottam.tumblr.com.

And if you're on Tumblr, let me know! I'd love to see what you're up to.

And if you're not...you should be! Lots of fun, I'm telling ya!

{And when I have the time and inclination, I will be posting things other than family photos here, so don't be a stranger!}

Baby Love

This boy sure loves his Daddy. Of course he does! He's a smart kid! He knows how good we all have it!

Maya Girl

This girl is something else. Here's her latest:

• She's getting freckles! (As is Mason.) In the 2nd picture on the left, you can really see them.
• Her reading has just exploded lately! It's absolutely amazing. She can read pretty much any of the kids books we have around, with just a little help here and there, and she's even able to read some of her Junie B. Jones' books to herself. Which is awesome, because I hate reading Junie B. out loud! :) I'm just amazed at how well she's doing.
• Now that Simon's starting to get around more (still not crawling, but he lurches and scoots enough to get up in everyone's business), he's finally starting to bug her, even just a tiny bit. I never thought I'd see her annoyed with that baby, but don't mess with her stuff!
• Yep, those are all her underpants on her head. Of course. She will not be outdone. If you put a pair of underpants on your head, she'll put all her underpants on her head. If you jump off a cliff, she'll jump of 5 cliffs.
• Speaking of which, everything is a competition for her. She races to the car, buckles her seat belt and then yells "Maya won the big piston cup! Sorry, Mason. There's only one big piston cup, and Maya won it."
• Speaking of, she refers to herself in the third person quite often. If it's not "Maya", then it's "Sister". "Sister won the big piston cup for brushing teeth! Sorry Mason, there's only one big piston cup for brushing teeth, and Maya won it." Oooh, that girl.
• She's great at turning things around to go her way. If Mason is crying because she stole his toy, she'll come running to find me first. "Mason isn't sharing with me!" Then she'll burst tears. Or she'll come bawling to me that "Well, I was trying to play baseball and Mason got in my way.". A few minutes later Mason will stagger in with a bloody lip or whatever. It's pretty classic, I have to say. If she accidentally hurts you in any way, she will definitely cry louder than you will.
• She is my very best helper, and I can count on her for pretty much anything. She's awesome. I'm very lucky to have that girl. She provides us with endless amusement, that is for sure.
  

So Bad, So Bad, So Good

This kid has quite the personality these days. He's definitely a Cottam boy! Silly and sweet and just a little tiny bit naughty. And CRAZY! Here are a few Mason tidbits:

• He's earned the nickname "Frenchie" because he loves to give super sloppy kisses. In fact, he came at me the other day with his mouth wide open, tongue sticking out: "I need to french you!". Aye aye aye!
  
• He comes by it naturally, I suppose. I do love to do the blowfish on his (and Maya's...and Simon's) neck, sometimes too aggressively, apparently - I left my mark the other day. I had to teach him to say "A hickey from Kinicky is like a Hallmark card...he cares enough to send the very best.". Name that movie quote. Anybody? Anybody? Okay, that's an easy one. It's Grease. Baby's first hickey, and from his mother, no less! How sweet.
• He learned about underpants on the head from looking at old pics of Maya. Of course, she had to do him one better and put EVERY SINGLE PAIR of her underpants on her head. She got THAT idea from watching videos of herself as a 3-year-old. She'd done the "all the underpants at once trick", but on her bottom, not on her head. So she was mixing it up, combing a few old favorites. Good times.
• He's still not allowed to nap. But every now and then he sneaks one in when I'm distracted. I'm always impressed at how quickly he can fall asleep. On this particular day, I'd tried to pacify his afternoon exhaustion with a granola bar, but as you can see, it didn't help. He fell asleep holding it and Hulked it all over my bed. Nice.
• My latest and greatest favorite Mason-ism is "I need to go potty so bad, so bad, so good!". He'll let you know loud and proud wherever we are. I find it rather hilarious and cute. He's more like "so good, so good, so bad", himself. He's mostly sugar but he throws in that spice for us. Keeps us on our toes.
  

Magic

I've been a Ben Folds fan for a million years now. I had his first album on tape. I saw him on tour when he had little more than those 10 songs to play and there were about 50 of us there, total. Sure, he's crass. He's also hilarious. And loaded with talent. {And for a few albums there, he seemed to be growing up right along with me - getting married, having kids - lately, he seems like he's back in junior high, unfortunately...}

But his latest project, Ben Folds Presents: University A Capella is a super fun album (with a parental warning on the front, although there is only 1 song with language in it)! Lots of cool arrangements of some of my old favorites. Good stuff. Some great stuff. And then there is that one really excellent song. Magic. That's the name of the song. And the song itself is a little bit magic. Goosebump worthy. So super cool.

Sorry for the cheesy You Tube video, but I just had to share the song. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do...

Splish Splash

Just yesterday I finally felt confident enough in Simon's ability to sit up on his own to give him his very first "sitting up" bath. And he really had a fun time. Usually I'll just stick him in really quickly, or let one of the kids go in with him to "help" him. (And they proceed to maul him.) So he had a nice, long solo bath. He played and splashed...but never did suck on a washcloth. Both Maya and Mason were avid washcloth suckers, so I keep waiting for him to do that, but he's not digging it. Anyway, my boy's getting big!

Superstar!

Maya was the superstar of the week at preschool this past week, and she was SO excited! All it really meant was bringing in a poster of some favorite photos and being the center of attention for a few minutes - wait, so I see why she liked it so much after all - that girl LOVES to be the center of attention.

Anyway, I don't know if the creation of the poster is what set me off on a major sentimental streak or if it was just a contributing factor. But between Miss Maya flashbacks, Kindergarten round-up, and the best we could have hoped for year of preschool coming to a close, I've been a rather nostalgic sap lately. I just can't stand the fact that preschool will be over in 2 more weeks. I love good ol' Miss Maria. And I love the sweet Mamas I've met there. And I love watching my daughter interact with a group of kids that she truly enjoys. Kindergarten just won't be the same!

Kindergarten round-up was this past week, as well. It was just paper work and a little self-guided peek into the kindergarten wing. But more than once I found myself welling up as we sat there. Filling out "real" school paperwork for the first time. Scoping out the kids that will (hopefully!) become friends with Maya next year. Wondering which Mamas I'll be buddies with soon. Thinking about 7:30am arrival times (what the what?!) and bullies and new best friends and the fact that not everyone is going to love my daughter. And not everyone is going to treat her nicely. And that soon we'll be in the school groove from now on. And I don't wanna!

But I know it will be good. I know it will. In fact, I'm a little surprised at the way I've been reacting to it all. It's exciting, not devastating! It's fun, not scary! I'm going to have a hard time of it with motherhood if I'm going to take everything so hard. So I'll buck up. I'm sure I will.

I just can't believe my little Superstar is already so grown up. Wow. Time really does fly when you're having fun!

CHOP!

After looking at photos of herself as a baby, Maya was suddenly willing to get her hair cut! I jumped on that opportunity and took her right that moment. And I love the way it looks! So cute. And no more hair-brushing drama, thank goodness!

"I'm Just Not Feeling So Wellie" - Kid Update

That Mason is such a turkey these days! He seriously makes me laugh. He loves to play. And make a huge mess. And he hates to clean it up. He doesn't want to wear clothes (ever!). Or wash his hands after he goes to the bathroom. Or come to the table when he's called. Or finish (or even start, actually) his food. He always has his own agenda, and whatever it is you want him to do...is not on it. His response to pretty much any request you make of him is "But I'm just not feeling so wellie." Never mind that seconds before he was feeling just perfectly fine. Ask him to do anything, and suddenly he's not feeling so wellie. It makes us all laugh.

This girl, on the other hand, is feeling very wellie, thank you very much, and is just...so...good! She listens, she obeys, she cooperates, she's sweet, she's loving. Okay, every once in a while she takes a swing at her little brother (never the baby brother, of course!) or flips the switch into Mommy mode ("Mason's not obeying me!"), which is amusing and scary, too (that's how I sound?!). She's quite a delight and I'm grateful for her.

She is the "Superstar" this week at school, and I have no doubt that she'll live up to that title! And she has kindergarten round-up this week, as well! Is that really possible? Growing up so fast!

Simon is on the fast track himself! Almost nearly just about crawling. He's so much fun. I think Chris is enjoying him just as much as I am. I just about have him convinced that we should have a "big" family. Hey, why not?! These kids are way more fun than anything else I've done so far...