More photos of Andrew

Andrew Brady Cottle is doing great! Brooke is over the scare and has a slow recovery ahead of her. The bleeding has stopped and she is getting color back in her face. She may get to come home later tonight if all goes well. The kids got to visit last night and were very excited. Liam got to hold him and said, "Aren't you the cutest thing?"

New baby!

Our cute little guy!

Grammie giving the first bath.

Aunt Elisa and Grammie came to visit.





We have a new nameless baby! He is doing great. Brooke is still being watched because of her complications and bleeding. I will have to give the guessing game shout out later when we actually pick a name. Here are the stats:

8 lbs 6 oz - good size for 10 days early - not quite our biggest (actually our third biggest)
19 in. long

He is a cute little boy!

Guessing time!

With the babies birth quickly approaching I thought I would have everyone put down their bets on the new baby boy. The doctor told Brooke this week that the baby has dropped and is getting ready to come, which means any time in the next few weeks. If it doesn't come he will probably start her in a couple of weeks. It was a true awakening - the baby is really coming.

We really have no idea on the name. Brooke and I keep throwing out names, but nothing seems to stick. Last night we came up with our own list of a few names, but can't agree on any. So if you would like to write down your guess on the following we can see who is the closest.

1. Name
2. Birth date
3. Size

A big shout out will go to the winner! Good luck in the guessing.

"I didn't do it"

I asked Liam, "Did you write on Avery's school book?"

"No, it wasn't me!"

Hmmmm.

My little future missionaries

My future missionaries. We went to Fred Meyer yesterday to get a prescription for Brooke and walked by the kids isle. Liam saw the shirt and tie and wanted to look like dad with a white shirt and tie. They look like future missionaries, except Ethan needs a hair cut.


For Christmas my mom made all the grandkids a jacket and hat. It was a lot of work for her to do. Liam wears his every time he goes outside. Avery loves hers and wore it to church today. Thanks Grandma!

Additional Winter Updates

Here are some more photos from the Marcheschi visit.

Winter Fun '09

Winter is always a busy season, these are some of the things we have been doing to keep ourselves occupied. Unfortunately, we didn't get our Christmas cards out this year. We will next year. I promise. We have had a good time enjoying the time as a family. Here are some of the highlights.

Our family was able to go to the Tolman's for the annual ginger bread making Family Home Evening. I do believe our candy is completely gone now!

Liam had his preschool Christmas production. We were a little nervous because Liam does not like to get up in front of people. But he did great.

While I had some time off of work I decided to clean the carpets. Ethan liked to help by playing with the fan.


The kids had a great Christmas opening present, playing with them, and wrestling Ben and Sam. Every night they went to bed exhausted from playing so much.

Sam, Grammy Marcheschi, Grandpa Marcheschi, and Elisa

Brooke's family came to visit us for Christmas. It was nice to have family here to enjoy the holidays with.

Ben

Brooke is pregnant as ever and enjoying her final month of being pregnant.

1st try

So we had our first attempt at a Christmas card. We are late trying to get it together, but thought we would give it a go. Pretty funny trying to get 3 kids to sit still and "smile" at the same time. Liam, who normally never smiles, was acting like quite the clown, causing Ethan to continually laugh and look at him. These are the best of the bunch. We will try again another time - maybe.

No more artificial tree

Brooke and Ethan walking along in the mud.

Liam was pretty interested in the chainsaw. Elisa was having a flashback to her teen years and going to the old haunted houses. She let out quite a scream when he started it up.


Poor candy cane will be fossilized in the mud of Campbell's tree farm.

Ethan decided to venture off a bit on his own. No I am not a bad parent, I could see him the whole time, and it was only maybe 20 feet. As he was wondering around he turned and supposing it to be his dad was shocked to see that it was a complete stranger. He let out a quick cry and came running back to his daddy.


12 years ago Brooke and I went to SLC to get a fake tree with her Aunt Linda. The tree has served our family well these last few years. But for the second year in a row we didn't use the artificial tree. Since this was the second year in a row without putting it up, I decide we were going to give it away. As hard as it was we gave away a piece of our family, and gained a lot more storage space in the garage.

We all packed into the family van and headed out to get the Christmas tree at a u-pick, they cut tree farm. It had been wet during the past week so the ground was a mud hole, and it wasn't even raining. The boys were completely covered. Ethan tripped and his candy cane that he had just got was plastered in the mud. While carrying the tree back to the car we kept slipping and sliding. We finally got home and began to put up the tree.

After many hours of fighting the crooked cut on the bottom of the tree, a curved tree trunk at the base of the tree, and a broken tree stand I finally managed to take the tree back outside, re-cut the tree base, and put it into a new stand. It was a long afternoon. But we made it! By the time I got it up I had some serious doubts and thought maybe I should have just kept the fake tree. Once the tree was up the kids had fun putting on the ornaments and we have a beautiful tree to show for it, so maybe it was worth it.

Thanksgiving to Christmas all in one day

The day after Thanksgiving Liam was up bright and early wanting to put away the Thanksgiving decorations and get out the Christmas stuff. We did have a nice Thanksgiving though. Elisa came over and we had a nice relaxing dinner. Avery had been working on the design for her fruit turkey for the passed month. She got really into it. Elisa made us a pear tart dessert, it was suprisingly good. I was a little skeptical, but it turned out great. Brooke cooked the turkey and I did the only thing I know how to do - mashed potatoes. It was nice to be here with our immediate family. We were thinking of everyone.

Once Thanksgiving was over, Christmas had begun in our house.

The things you do for love

There are many things that you do for love, such as, dishes, changing messy diapers, sending flowers, or staying up late to talk. But nothing says I love you more than what I had to endure.

Brooke and I decided to go see New Moon! We went early so that we could actually sit by each other in the movie theater. So we got to the mall and the line was already pretty long. Brooke decided she wanted to go look around for a little bit at some of the stores. That was fine with me because I had planned ahead and brought my book along. I pulled out my book and started reading away. I was reading one of the OBOB books that is required for our middle school competition. I didn't think much of it. After a few minutes of reading I look up and realize that I was a lone man standing in line to watch New Moon, surrounded by all these excited girl "tweeners", all while reading a book titled, Wild Girls!

The things we do for love.

Sunday Mornings

Sunday mornings are probably my favorite day of the week. We have the late church, 1-4, so the boys and I get to hang out all morning together. It starts by us making Ethan's favorite breakfast, "pahcakes!" Liam will eat his "pahcakes" with no syrup, no butter, or without a fork. He likes them plain. He does like them a little doughie, like his old man.

After breakfast the real fun begins. Sunday morning is the only day of the week where the boys are allowed to take the cushions off the couch. Every week we create a new fanatasy world, ranging from Star Wars #7 (I know there is no 7, but we like to make our own up), Thomas the Tank Engine, or our new favorite one Dinosaur Train. This morning Liam made the train, while I cleaned up. Then we pretended to stop at different times along the dinosaur train route to see different dinosaurs. Liam can tell you all about herbavours and carnivours. Ethan is just along for the ride, occassionally knocking down the cushions and causing Liam to have a mild meltdown. All and all it is a good time with my boys.

Return of the Halloween

We had a great Halloween this year. It went by really quick, mostly because everyone got sick, except Liam and I. We are still hoping we won't get the "pig" flu. Brooke had it first, followed by Ethan, and finally Avery. Poor Avery didn't get to go trick or treating because she was too sick. It was nice for me because I got to stay home, pass out candy, and watch the Ducks beat the Trojans. I wasn't complaining.

Brooke has the pre-Halloween tradition of making sugar cookies. Ethan always loves to help in the kitchen. And always makes a mess, but that is the fun right? He is just too cute to be mad at for too long. We also got to carve some "scary" faced pumpkins. Liam got a little scared of the one face.

I do have to say I have two of the cutest Jedi's around. Ethan was Yoda and Liam was Obi-wan Konobi. AFter Halloween Brooke found some great Star Wars costumes for pretty darn cheap. They have been a big hit with the boys. Now we have little storm troopers running around.

Avery having fun watching the Ducks while everyone else was out trick or treating.

Ethan making a mess.

The cute Jedi's!