Our future quaterback!

So you all know that Lil Ed has decided to play football which was a BIG DEAL in the Cota house, ok maybe it was just a big deal for me! With all his energy and all his might he managed to survive "hell week" as I was weeping from the sidelines seeing what he had to go through. He has enjoyed all he has learned thus far and has been picked to be the "quarterback"! So I don't know a thing about football except I like the RAMS but as for rules or positions I know nothing! However I have heard from many that the "quarterback" is a big deal. In learning about this position I have learned that his role is that of a leader and that the players rely on his plays and calls. For those of you that know Lil Ed and how quite he is this is a big deal! We are very proud of him and his positive attitude and can't wait for the first game which is this Saturday, Sept. 5th! Game details to follow! Below are pictures of him in his practice uniform. As for the rest of the family we have been very busy with football practice which means mommy has Diego till 7:30 or so and can't wait for brother and daddy to come home. Diego is doing well and has manged to be healthy for 15 days. This is exciting considering he had an antibiotic for an earache on August 4th and then in the ER on the 16th with a 105 temperature and another antibiotic for Tonsillitis, so to me he is doing well.

Ok were back and this time I promise!

Our 4th of July parade

My "All Star" boys!

My ALL STAR!!

In evening of fun-bath time!

It's been awhile yes I know and I apologize! It's funny, I think nobody is reading our blog and then come to find out people really are so I am going to try once again! It's been a few months so I thought I would catch you up on what's been happening in the "Cota" house! Lil Ed had a great 4th grade year and ended with once again making "honor roll". We are very excited for him to enter the 5th grade and hope he will continue on with his "honor roll" year again!

As for sports Eddie finished baseball with dad being the assistant coach. It was a great season and it ended with Lil Ed making "All Stars"! This was very exciting for us all but was alot of work keeping up with the practices and the games but our team ended up in 1st place-YUP 1st place BABY!

As for Diego he passed his one year anniversary of his Mastoditius scare and he was cleared in early July from his ENT that he can now take a shower and swim with no ear plugs because his holes have closed in both ears. This was very exciting for us all. He is a very busy bee and we enjoy his constant character and the new words he is learning each and everyday! We are all amazed how different each sibling can be because him and lil Ed are definitely day and night!As for Big Ed, he has been working and working hard! In what little spare time he has he is working in the yard or coaching but definitely keeping busy. A couple of weeks ago the boys got to go on their annual camping trip with a few good man to "Jack Ass Meadows" they had a great time and can't wait till next year. As for me just the same old thing holding on for the ride and working! One very fun thing for us all except Diego was we got to go see Journey at the Mid State Fair! It was a great day and an amazing concert! Can't ask for much more!

Please come back and check in as we have a new sport in our family. Lil Ed has decided to do football and this is the beginning of his first week. It has only been 3 days and he loves every minute of practice ( he doesn't get this from me). Actually, I don't think it's practice it's more like in extreme heavy duty workout for 2 hours! The things these boys have to do amazes me and and it's not even "hell week" - YIKES! Big Ed is has been asked to assistant coach so I'm excited to see what the season holds! Check back soon!

One more thing-for those of you that didn't know my sister was off duty for almost 2 years from a back injury that she got while on the job (it was a fight between her and a crazy woman). I am so proud to say she is back on the road and making up for lost time. I am so proud that she overcame her injury and never gave up. It makes me so happy to know she is doing what she does best, but for those of you in SLO watch out!

Easter 2009

Our Easter was amazing this year! My parent's decided to host another family BBQ and all of Big Ed's family joined us from the valley along with all of my family as well. The family started arriving on Thursday night and we definitely enjoyed their company. On Friday the kids were able to play and relax all day prepping for our crazy weekend ahead. On Saturday we all woke up early and went to Arroyo Grande's Easter egg hunt with the thousands of other families from five cities. It was complete chaos but the kids all enjoyed the age specific Easter egg hunts. Later in the day we went to downtown Pismo and decided to be true tourists (all Adriana's idea) and we rented tandem bikes, wow what a workout but definitely worth the sweat. We had some close calls especially on Big Ed's tandem bike but we all survived! On Saturday evening we were able to dye plenty of eggs and roast sticky marshmellows in our wood burning stove outside. On Easter Sunday we all woke up very early to attend our church service and enjoy a yummy pancake breakfast and then enjoyed another Easter egg hunt. Diego managed to find the"winning" egg and won a huge Easter basket. Later in the afternoon ended with a yummy BBQ with lots of family, friends and good food, oh yah and another Easter egg hunt! So sad we were to see our family leave but enjoyed our Easter weekend 2009!

Lil Ed's mission project complete!

We are very proud of Lil Ed because he got on Principal's Honor Roll which means he had over a 3.5 GPA. Below is him receiving his award. In my past posts I mentioned that the boys were working on Ed's mission project and below are the pictures to prove just how hard they worked. This project went on for weeks and the boys worked on it every night and day and it came out beautiful! I enjoyed watching the two Ed's bond and work as a team!
Notice the texture of the mission. When Lil Ed first started textured he told his dad he could do this for a living but that quickly changed at the end!

Notice the water fountain and the water! That was Lil Ed's idea and it came out great! Also notice the roof and it's texture! Well yah that was fun trying to tear away from boxes!

The final day it was turned in at last!

Our past weekend

As many of you can remember it's Mission time in Ed's 4th grade class. It seems as though we have been working on this entire project for months and it's almost to an end. First off he had to do a PowerPoint presentation then it was a three page paper and now is the final project. Luckily, Daddy enjoys this kind of thing because every night they are outside working on this work of art! Lil Ed's mission is San Antonio de Padua and we were able to drive and see it this past weekend. I will post the final project hopefully soon considering it's due April 8th.

Big Ed and Lil Ed have also been very busy with baseball! Lil Ed is once a star player and pitcher. They had their first game this past Saturday and won 11-3. I took great pictures but am stumped as to where they went.

This past weekend daddy was in charge & mommy was at her womens retreat!

This past weekend I was very blessed to be able to attend New Hope's Women Retreat at Camp Ocean Pines in Cambria, Ca. For many weeks I was nervous and for the last week I was thinking of anything and everything of why I wasn't going to be able to go but thank GOD I went. I was able to attend with a good friend of mine that I just met in January and we both needed and enjoyed what we learned. The women of our church worked so hard in making our "dreams" come true and the impact it had on my life was amazing.

I was very sad and emotional to leave my boys/Big Ed but I asked Big Ed to take some photos which you'll see below so I can see what they did. Thanks to grandma and grandpas help with Diego the weekend was great and the boys enjoyed their man time together. The house was a bit lived in but oh well boys will be boys! Enjoy the pic's below!

We took a break from the retreat and met our friend the "squirrel"
Friday night at the retreat we had a pajama contest and here is me strutting my stuff in my PJ's.

And here is Kristi................ for those of you that don't know Kristi just moved here from the valley and we met because she now lives in our old home. It's a long story but a very intresting one on how we met!


Before the PJ contest we were going to dinner and this was the sunset we got to see.

Here is where we went for our break and this is where we met our "squirrel" friend.

Lil Ed at the park............
Diego playing with water and no pants and it's freezing cold?
Swinging away.........as he misses his mommy?
More water play but at least there is sun shining.

Big boy down the slide.
Diego pooped from a long day-dreaming for his mommy to come home soon!

It's been along time but we're back!

Ok so it's been three months and I apologize! I was surprised when several individuals mentioned to me that I needed to update our blog, here I thought my mother-in-law was the only one keeping up with our family blog but I am excited that their are more of you out there, so here we go!

In the middle of January we were so blessed to move in next door to my parents! What a blessing it has been for all of us! It's nice that Diego has an enclosed yard and we live at the end of a flag lot so were away from the street. The move was alot of work and we were so sad to leave our wonderful neighbors/landlords and especially the beautiful house and surroundings but being next door to grandma and grandpa has been great! We miss you Gardner family!

Below you will find pictures of this years basketball team (Gray Ballers) and once again Big Ed coached and lil Ed kicked butt and really enjoyed the season. We had an awesome season and enjoyed not only seeing the boys grow but meeting new families who are now good friends.

The boys just started baseball season and we are blessed to have made it on the same team once again-GO GIANTS! Darren Avrit is the coach who we have had for three years and Big Ed is the assistant coach and is so far having a blast! I am a little nervous about the season because I am not sure what I am going to do with Diego for 2 hours while I try and watch his games but will figure that out soon.

As you will see Diego is doing great! Everyday we realize how different he is from Lil Ed and how the boy has no fear. Each day he manages to do something to make us all laugh and as Big Ed says he is just like his nephew Stephen.

Enjoy and God Bless!

Diego is enjoying the Hayashi's yummy strawberries and raviolis!

Diego is in love with skateboarding and has even tried standing up to skateboard!

Here you can see he uses his leg to push him everywhere!

Here is daddy and Diego after one of their rides.

Diego loves riding with Daddy as he pushes them down the flag lot!

Here we are again with his leg pushing away.

Grandma and Grandpa noticed that Diego loves his slide at Kamber's so we found a deal on craiglist and this is his new indoor slide.

Lil Ed is in Awana's and enjoying and learning so much! One of the projects was a Lego contest and you all know Ed he loves his Lego's and is so creative.

Here is Diego at our good friends swim party.

Look at me!

My boys my love!

Lil Ed is not so little anymore!

Coach Ed.

See the kid in the gray on the floor? Yup that is Ed fighting for the ball.

Shoot and he makes it!

Diego's first push pop from the ice cream truck! YUM YUM!

Before we left our old house we were cleaning the windows. I happened to leave the room and this is what I found, Diego escaping through the window!

Here are my boys during in intense time of the game...............