Packer Fall

I have been way MIA! Here are mostly pictures...

Luke started Kindergarten and Sophie started a little neighborhood preschool. Both are absolutely loving it!

Luke started soccer. His team name was the Rhinos. It was very entertaining watching these little guys run around like crazy people for an hour every Saturday. Luke scored several goals this season.

Sophie caught a little green inch worm and named it "Cinda-le-la." She was heartbroken when I made her let the little worm go home to find her family. She cried, "But I berry much love her!"

Luke celebrated his 6th birthday. He requested a superhero birthday, which was fun to put together. He is so into batman these days, so we gave him this batman play set. All 3 kids are obsessed with it!

We took our 4th annual Park City stay-cation. The leaves hadn't changed yet, so that was disappointing, but it was so fun to have Scott fly out to spend the week with us! A nice lady got out of the hot tub next to us and offered to take a  picture of us. haha, she missed most of the group!

We had our conference eve slumber party and Luke and Sophie decorated the basement with all of our gospel art. This has been a fun tradition. 

During Fall break, we ate lunch with Rob at his office and then spent the afternoon up Provo Canyon. 

Ella enjoying her first chocolate chip cookie! It was epic!

Rob and I were able to go to his company's year end party. They brought in Imagine Dragons for a private concert at Energy Solutions arena. We got to watch it in a suite with friends. Lots of fun.

Ella has 7 teeth now. Here she is giving me a jack-o-lantern face.

Like I said, Batman is an obsession around here.

Southern CA

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Van Natter November 2013

We are sure slacking as far as the family blog goes! I am just as guilty. Here's October's entry and it's 10 days into November already...

October absolutely flew by. We marked it with some fun days. Little Mermaid was released from 'the vault' early in the month, so Emily got it for Addie. I got her a little playset of figurines. Auntie Heidi came up and we watched the movie together. Addie played with her figurines the whole time, and only occasionally watched the movie. Very few movies hold her attention for long.

Addie's half-birthday fell on October 4th so Emily picked up a cake and cut it in half. Addie was delirious with joy about this event, although she assumed she was now 4! It was a nice break from routine.

General Conference was fabulous as always. It was a bit more challenging this time with little ones around. During the Sunday afternoon session, per tradition, John and I took a drive to look at the leaves and listen to Conference. The colors were okay, not as spectacular as many years. Last year wasn't great either.We got out another day as well. That time the reds and oranges had faded but the yellows (mostly Quaking Aspens) were bright. I love fall!

John is excited about his new Roamio which allows us to tape up to SIX shows at a time, and replay them either on the living room TV or up in the family room. Who knew we needed to tape 6 shows at a time?? Although I must admit, there are times when we do want to tape more than the 2 we could catch before.

John won another award at 3M which came with a cash prize. He's started looking at new cameras, so his prize money will come in handy!

Lucky Jacob got to speak in Sacrament Meeting! They only asked him, not Emily, so she was thrilled. He did a great job with his topic: Serving in the Church. Which was kind of ironic (is that the correct word??) since he's hardly had any callings since he started Medical School! In New York, he worked with the Scouts. Henderson and Fresno just ignored him!

Annette had a Halloween party for the little ones, and it was such fun! The 3-3 year old girls didn't have a clue about games, etc., but were willing to play, even if they made their own rules. Poor Luke had to put up with them! Since she got to make her own little pizza, with cheese ghosts!, Addie even ate a little of it. Not much else because there is always so much fun to be had at Aunt Nette's. We practically had to drag her out kicking and screaming when it was time to go. She keeps asking if it's time to go back!

Addie got to wear her pirate costume for her Preschool party at Auntie Heidi's, the party at Aunt Nette's, and then on Halloween. Neil was a Parrot, though he didn't enjoy the stroller and Emily brought him home after just a few houses. Jacob took Addie around. She got right into the whole doorbell-ringing-trick-or-treating. She gets to have one of her treats after Quiet Time each day. She's not very adventurous though. If it's not M&Ms or a Kitkat, she's not very likely to try it. She held up a Starburst and said, "I can't like this."

Things continue well with our Sunday School class. We love these kids and hate the idea of losing them at the first of the year. The new curriculum is so inspired and has been a privilege to teach.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Kathi & John

Heidi October

Happy fall!

I'm getting used to my new "normal."  It's awesome!  Preschool is M-Th from 9-11:30.  I have a group of 5 on Mon. & Wed. and a group of 6 on Tues/Thurs.  They're all (mostly) cute kids.  There was a settling in process, but I'm in love with preschool now.  It's so easy and so fun!  I'm having a blast planning all the preschool work trays.

 A few weeks ago I was driving home about 5:30 or 6:00 after running some errands.  I was just enjoying the beautiful fall evening and I was really struck by the contrast of that moment with my life a year ago.  By 5:30 or 6:00 after a day of dealing with 2nd graders, I was just counting the hours till bedtime.  There was very little enjoying of anything.  Don't get me wrong, I loved my job, but that was my life.  There was no time or energy for anything else.  I'm so, so blessed to have these new opportunities!

Early in October, my roommate Adrienne moved out.  She's going to live at home for a while and save money to buy a place.  I understand why she left but I'm really sad she did!  She was such an enjoyable roommate!  On the plus side, I have a lot more storage.  This is important since preschool requires SO MUCH STUFF!!  I'm really grateful our Second Story Window business is doing well enough to support my preschool spending.  Especially because my hands are too damaged to do many DIY projects.  Sewing is a no-go.  Anything that requires much cutting is out.  Etsy get a lot of my money these days!

Em and I kept up our tradition of seeing Josh Groban when he comes to town.  Our 4th concert, I think.  We had really good seats and he's always just so fun and goofy!

We had card night and book club right in a row.  I haven't made cards in months(!), but they still let me come hang out with them.  :)  Maybe after the new year my life and house will be in some sort of order and I'll be able to make cards again. 

That's right, my house is still a disaster.  It needs so much work, but I can't give it that time until the 3rd Grade Morning Work book is done.  And I can't seem to find enough time to get that done!!  I'm kind of losing my mind.  Hopefully this week nothing will come up (fingers crossed) and I can give it a big chunk of time.

We had a preschool Halloween party on the 25th.  Emily came to help since I had all 11 at the same time--in costumes!  They were very uninterested in most of the Halloween stuff we planned.  They just wanted to play with the trains.  Oh well!  They did enjoy putting stickers on their popcorn cups, though.  It was dead silent for a whole minute and a half.

We ended the party with a concert.  I don't even think it lasted 2 minutes, since preschool songs are so short.  Oh, and none of the kids actually sing.  So, solo by Heidi!  Thankfully I knew to expect that so I just didn't look at the parents and sang away!  "I'm a mean old witch with a hat!"  Then we had a parade which was very funny.  They could barely walk in those costumes! 

On actual Halloween, I met Em in Salt Lake to help pick out fixtures and stuff for her new house.  That was lots of fun and slightly dangerous.  Now I want a whole new kitchen!!  Then I came home to pass out candy, well I did glow sticks this year.  It was the first Halloween in a LONG time that I wasn't completely worn out.

So, October is out.  November is in.  Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Oct. 2013- Greg Cottrell

Adam finished up his fall flag football season.

I got to go with Sarah on a Field Trip to Vala’s Pumpkin patch. I love her Corn Angel.

 

We went back to the pumpkin patch as a family.

Greg loves baking with kids on the weekends.

Isaac lost his two middle bottom teeth.

We made a quick visit to Jeff’s form Brayden’s birthday and craving jack o lanterns.

Lindsey took Isaac lunch at school for his birthday the day before his actually birthday, since she was having surgery on his actually birthday.

Mom Cottrell came over to help on surgery day. She had the kids make scary gingerbread houses and made Isaac’s birthday cake. It was great to have her here to celebrate. She was a big help!!!

The snow cone truck came to our Ward Trunk or Treat.

Halloween was fun. Adam was  a pirate, Sarah was a princess, Isaac was a cowboy. Mom and Dad Cottrell came back over to trick or treat. Mom stayed over another night to help again after Lindsey second stay in the hospital. Mom brought dinner, did three loads of laundry and cleaned the bathrooms. Again a HUGE help!

Lindsey surgery intentional went well. She was able to come home that day and was able to sleep and begin to to recover thanks to Mom Cottrell. Friday after she felt sick and we thought it was just from surgery and part of the recover. Over the weekend it became worse and she couldn’t keep anything down and by Sunday was becoming dehydrated. Monday we finally went into the doctor (yes we should have gone in sooner) and they decided she needed to be hospitalized for an IV. Monday evening at the hospital they tired 4 times to get the IV in, but she was so dehydrated. They finally decide to do a picc line in her upper arm. After about 43 hours she was able to come home. We learned that she had a kidney/bladder infection, and e-coli in the bladder caused by the surgery.  We are so grateful for friends that were able to help with kids, getting them to and from school, the Relief Society for bringing in dinner for the week, all the prayers, visitors, and help. She is still not feeling 100% but is almost there. We have been definitely counting our blessings the last couple of weeks.

October with Uncle mark and Aunt Linda

Hi everyone,
What happened to October? It zipped by so fast that i never did get one halloween decoration put up! We were busy...and i was sick most of the month...but here is a recap:

Brayden turned 2. Greg and fam and Ju and fam and
 grammy and Mark and I all attended.

Jeff, Austin, Tahni and birthday boy.
Brayden is SUCH a CUTIE!

This boy is pretty cute too!
The kids carved pumpkins.

Grammy played soccer with Brayden!

I babysat Greg's kids when Lindsey was in the hospital.
This was our after-school activity. It was also Isaac's
birthday this day.

The birthday boy with the spider cake i made him.
Issac turned 6!!!

This is dolled-up Keira at Kaitlyn's birthday party. It was held at
"Clara's Closet": where the girls got to choose outfits from
a room-ful of dresses and accessories. Then they went "next door"
to the Glamour room where they had their nails painted and make-up done.
Keira was "accessorized " to the hilt!!!! rings on every finger etc!

Birthday Girl Kaitlyn turned 6 in October!
Little Doll.

Sarah was also at the party. Gorgeous Girl!

Baby Mark is a little cutie....so sweet and adorable.
The kind of baby you just want to nuzzle!!!

The Primary Sacrament Meeting Program was the day after
KK's party so we stayed over so we could see the kids.

Back to Omaha for the 3rd time in a week for Halloween.
Darling little spooks.

This cracked me up when i discovered it in
Greg and Lindsey's main floor bathroom,
Bella WAS Sarah's fish....
see the close-up below:

Ta ta to Bella...and to the Fam
Signing out for October 2013
Linda and mark