GO COWBOYS!!!

Adam is a huge Cowboys fan. To show our love and support we all wore Cowboys gear to a fantasy football draft. Thanks to Aunt Lindsay and Aunt Kari, the girls were a huge hit in their cheerleading outfits. Although you can not see me I am sporting a Cowboys sweatshirt too. Thanksgiving is a big deal in the Cotton house, the Cowboys are just as important as the turkey. I think it is fun to be so devoted...Adam is a proud fan.

GO COWBOYS!!!

The masterpiece...

you see here is a "Kaci original". Well sort of. I did paint it but it was not my design. My friend Kylie invited a bunch of girls out for a kid free night of creativity. We all gathered in Cherry Creek North to paint "aspens". There was an instructor that took us through step by step telling us what paintbrush and colors to use.

We all started with simple dots of different colors layering them one by one. Everyone mixed there own colors and put them wherever they wanted. The instructor gave us simple guidelines turned up the music and left us to create. This was such a fun night. It was so exciting to see how different everyone paintings were. There were over 50 people in the class and no two were alike.

It was a great time and I recommend everyone taking a weekend to be creative. Does not matter if you can paint or not. Everyone walked away with a masterpiece.

Fall is here...

and I LOVE it. Fall is my favorite time of year. The pumpkins, Colorado weather, and changing trees put me in the holiday mood. We went to a little pumpkin festival this weekend, Lillian and Keely had a blast. Cousin Kinsey, Gram and Pap-Pap went with us. Daddy stayed home he was not feeling good.





Keely loved the petting zoo and the guy singing kids songs. Was not so sure about the balloon artist but jumped with excitement the rest of the time.

Lillian got her face painted, planted flowers, painted a pumpkin, ran the obstacle course and closed her eyes through the haunted cemetery. (not a fan of any dressed -up moving things)

This is Lillian's pet bird "bird". Not big on naming anything creative yet. She loved that he made it sit on her shoulder and that it was red (her favorite color this week). She held her elbow up in the air as she walked around like it was going to break if she moved. She is sooooo cute. What a blessing.



They had side walk chalk everywhere. She has been working on her shapes (big on spirals right now) and loves to draw anywhere anytime.

WELCOME FALL!!!

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Cake

I did this cake a few weeks ago for Austin Edwards 2nd birthday. His theme was Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Austin is one of Lillian's best friends. She asks for him to come and play daily, calls him on every phone (both play and real) and hugs him every chance she gets. They are such great buddies.

This is the back side of the cake. If you have seen the show, Mickey has a gate around the clubhouse with little round stones in the grass that lead to different things. I used a square platter, that was bigger than the cake, so that I could make it look like the stones are leading somewhere. I did not have a grass tip so I used a star tip and did it sloppy. It was a great fix to make the cake 360 degrees. The next two pictures show the sides of the cake. The topper was part of the gift Lillian bought Austin. I tried to find a good topper but I started looking later than the order time allowed.

A lot of times I make a smaller cake for the kids to blow there candles out on. It is easier to set a small cake in front of the kids rather than having the big cake take up the whole picture. Plus, fondant does not make a cute "cake mess" picture. This little cake has store bought icing using a star tip design.

Lillian helped Austin eat his cake. I think she made more of mess than he did. Red icing was everywhere!

Cakes...

My little cake hobby started about three and a half years ago when I was asked to make a wedding cake by a lady at work. Her daughter was getting married and they were having a small wedding and wanted a cake that was too big. She is such a dear friend of mine so I couldn't tell her no. She liked some other cakes I had done and she knows I like a challenge. I agreed to give it a try which started my little hobby. Her daughter Becka found a picture of a cake she loved. She sent me the picture...I opened it to find that I was in way over my head.

I started to do some research and found that Michaels craft stores offer three different levels of cake classes. Each class teaches techniques that build up to your final class project...a wedding cake. I went in and asked the teacher (Johnny) if she would let me take class three and give me some basic tips to get this cake done. She laughed and agreed to help me but I had to take class one, and then three. So away I went...the rest is history.

This was my first wedding cake. This one took so many hours. I made every little flower and my family all helped me place every little pearl. I was up all night the night before but it is still one of my favorite cakes to date. I set out to do it and I was proud of it when it was over.

The cake bug bit!!!

I started doing all kinds of cakes...from weddings to birthdays to shower cakes. I like the challenge of looking at a picture or having an idea and making the cake happen. I have learned a lot of lessons and plenty of do's and don'ts through this journey. I would like to show the good and tell of the ugly and maybe it can encourage others to try.

The next wedding cake was a few months later and it did not go as great as I would have liked. I was given a few ideas and a picture of a grooms cake. We came up with a beautiful design and I started making flowers and practiced the new techniques. Feeling pretty good I started putting everything together the day of the wedding but nothing was going as planned. I was doing a poured icing over the grooms cake which gives a shinny smooth texture that looks amazing. The practice cake was beautiful, but the actual cake was a mess. The icing melted and fell off! Every time I tried to fix it it just got worse. I covered it up with fruit and little chocolate molds I had done and just put it out there. I hoped that the lighting was dark and it would be cut fast.

After a hit to my confidence I hesitated to take on the next cake, but you have to keep going (that is the only way to get better). Skipping a few years of cake, here are some of the most recent cakes I have done.

This cake was a baby shower cake for our minister and his wife. Blue and brown were the colors of the nursery. This is a 16in round with a baby buggy cake on top. This cake was huge!!! The cake was half chocolate and half white cake. I baked the cakes and the chocolate was perfect but the white cake was not being nice. It had a huge crack down the middle and I was not sure what I was going to do. I started gluing it together with icing and put it in the fridge. After two rounds of this process it was firm enough to ice. I stressed and stressed but you cannot even tell and it turned out great.

This cake was for twin girls first birthday party. It was fun to do. Her only guidelines were 3 layers, stripes, pokadots in pink green and yellow. I played around with a few ideas and this design won. It was the best icing and fondant job I have done to date. Green fondant is sort of my enemy (for some reason it always cracks and stretches). Which brings me to the cake below. This is the worst fondant cover I have ever done. Under the black cutouts are huge cracks and holes. That is why the zebra print is so large. It had to be big enough to cover my problems.

This cake was a baby shower cake. Her theme was transportation. So I made a little boat, helicopter and a hot air balloon then filled in with poke-a-dots. All three shapes were in her baby bedding so it was easy to just blow up the images and make the cutouts out of fondant.

This cake has my favorite bow that I have done. Since this baby shower cake I have used this technique on lots of other cakes. The box cake and the flamingo-3 tiered (both above) cake has this same bow style. It is two-toned and has indention around the outside edges. It gives the bow much more character. You can see the difference below.

This bow is on top of Lillian's 1st birthday cake (with store bought icing). Although it is easy to get from the store you can get a cleaner look on a cake if you make the icing from scratch. You can get the consistency you want and it is easier to smooth.

This is a wedding cake for a couple that got married in Hawaii. I learned from this one to go with your gut and make the size of cake you think is best and not always follow the cutting guidelines. I went back and forth with this one and went with the smaller size and the couple ran out of cake. The size was suppose to feed just about five over the number of people they said would be in attendance, but I should have made it larger to have extra.

This was for one of my cake classes. We had to use all of the flowers we made throughout the class and the poured icing birds. However...I was not a huge fan of my birds so I made a butterfly (which was better) and added it to the cake. I thought this one was fun and I was happy with it.

This was Lillian's 2nd birthday cake. We did a My Little Pony theme, we had cupcakes also so the cake was little. It was her special cake and she loved it. So simple and I used store bought icing but did not do a smooth texture so it worked out great.

All for now...I will post more cakes photos later.

Quick review...

Adam and I were married in July of 2000. Almost 10 years ago. It is crazy to think that it has been that long. We met when we were about 3 and have been friends since. Our families met when we lived in Farmington, NM. After moving away and going our separate ways we met up again the summer or 1997. We hit it off from the start. We were just good friends. I think God was still working on our hearts and was not ready for us to start dating. Then the summer of 1999 we were doing a trip to Farmington to see Ben graduate and we realized it was meant to be...CHEESY I know. I say all of this because it is a great example of how God works in our lives. There were many factors in our journey that could have taken us in other directions but God knew the right time to open our hearts and show us the way. (Adam was way to hard-headed before) Just Adam!!! HA.

We lived in Oklahoma for a few years and then moved to Colorado Springs on a whim. We were only there for a year and half before moving to Denver and we are still here. Oklahoma was our simple time and we often think back how we took that time for granted. We had no money, no kids and wonderful friends. It was a time to get to know each other and really enjoy being married. Colorado Springs was our first journey as a married couple out of our comfort zone. We knew nobody, were not connected with a church and had no jobs but it was beautiful, the weather was wonderful and we LOVED our brand new house. Soon we found jobs and made new friends "the Thompson's". A Christian couple with so much in common with us. Well...it was not like college were you meet someone new everyday but they were exactly what we needed. Plus we lived in Colorado so all of our out of state friends came to visit. We started commuting to Denver every weekend (almost) and Adam started going daily for work so we made the decision to move. We moved to Denver almost 5 and a half years ago. It is the longest we have stayed in one place and in one house. We love living in Denver and have enjoyed starting our family here. We have made some great friends and are connected at Church. (Which makes a huge difference in our lives) Although it seems easier to not get involved, God can really challenge you and strengthen your relationship when you put yourself out there a bit. I took a job working at the Littleton Church of Christ and have been there this whole time. I am really...really...really part time now but I still enjoy getting out of the house and working every Monday. Adam started working for Wiley Consulting doing finance. We are very blessed and are thankful everyday that we have these blessings.

So I mentioned above that we started our family here in Denver. We were blessed with a beautiful baby girl May 15th, 2007...Lillian Mae. She was named after her great grandma Mae Maxine and her great aunt Jenna May. She was a huge shock to our way of life. We are so amazed how boring our lives were before we had her. She is funny, adorable, loving and challenging all wrapped up in one perfect little package. She got her first teeth at 4 months, started crawling at 7 months and walked at 9 months. Her first word was dad-dad followed by da-da-da-dora. She loves to sing and pray. Her favorite friends are John, Julie, and Austin. The Edwards family. She loves her family especially her Gram and cousins Brett and Kinsey. She met the Hensal cousins for the first time this summer and asks for them daily. She thinks Nanny needs to come over to play and no one is allowed to sleep in Pops bed (the guest room). She is aware of everything...you can not say much that she will not repeat. Lillian is such a funny little thing. I really shouldn't say "Little" she towers over everyone her age and some that are older.

She watched fire works this summer for the first time and every time as it gets dark she looks up at the sky sees a star and says "Star light..star bright...I wish I may I wish I might watch fireworks tonight." She is a wonderful blessing and I am thankful everyday that God choose me to be her Mom. Well it took us a little bit of time to get pregnant with Lillian and we knew we wanted more kids so we thought we would start earlier rather than later and to our surprise we were pregnant again. 20 months after having Lillian we were blessed with another beautiful baby girl.

Keely Annmarie, named after her Gram Kathleen Ann and her Nanny Cynthia Marie, born January 30th, 2009, quickly showed us how easy it was to have just one kid. We did not realize how much work multiple kids are...they do not sleep, eat, drink, poop or play at the same time. Keely is seven months old now and we are just getting to that "function in society" stage. She has two teeth and is crawling. Keely loves to climb the stairs and growl. Her first word was dad-dad but I promise she said "Hi" the other day. Keely is on track to beat her sister in the walking stage. She is already standing up on everything and scoots along the furniture. She is my little cuddle bear and I LOVE IT!!!! She gives kisses all the time and loves to grind her face into you like she just can't get close enough. She is smiley and so so happy. I could not imagine life without her. Each Girl is unique in there own special way and have so much to offer this world. I am so very excited to see how God uses them and the ways they will bless others. Children are so amazing and I can't wait to have more. (well maybe I can wait a little bit) HA!

Would you look at that HAIR...Lillian has the curliest hair to everyones surprise. When brushed she has little ringlets. The jury is out on Keely but it is starting to grow.

Here I go...

Well....Adam started this and then got too busy so I am going to take a crack at it. If you all know me...this does not have much of a chance but we will see.

This is a picture of me and all my girls. Carli Hensal, Kinsey Curo and Lillian and Keely Cotton. Kimberly and her family were able to come to Denver as part of their furlough for three weeks. We all had a lot of fun but we sure wore our selves out. As soon as they left we all got sick. Nothing but head colds, runny noses, and a hint of physical and mental fatigue but we have all recovered and are back to our "normal" routines.

Keely is seven months now(Aug. 30th) and is crawling like a pro and stands up on anything she comes close to. Lillian is a few months into being two and she is my biggest test and blessing at the same time. I have not figured this parenting thing out just yet.

Well this is just a test to see how this blogging thing works. Be patient and I hope to show off the life of the COTTONS!!! Not too exciting I promise.

First Crack of the Bat

These pictures are of the two biggest blessings in our lives.  Lillian (who turns 2 on May 15th) and her little sister Keely (3 months) taken back at the end of February by our sister-in-law Lindsey Cotton (www.cottonphotography.com).  I'm happy to say the "adjustment period" after having Keely was not nearly what we had prepared ourselves for.  Luckily, Keely has proven to be a fairly easy baby who likes to eat and sleep, and as long as she is getting both of these she is perfectly content.  

Big sister, Lillian, has the sweetest heart any older sibling could have.  She loves her little sister.  If Keely cries, it's "Oh no! Keeyee's crying!" If Keely is just talking, it's "Hi Keeyee.  She's cute!"  Needless to say, it makes life much more interesting.

As for Keely, everyday is something new.  She is moving out of the obvious newborn stage and has aspirations of rolling over, sitting up, and carrying on full length conversations with anyone interested in listening!  

And Mom?  She is amazing!  She had to remember how to operate from a constant state of sleep deprivation, but she is hitting her stride.  She/we decided that life as a mother of two girls under the age of 2 requires a sanity check every now and then.  So recently Kaci has been taking a cake decorating class once a week in order for her to be able to feel like Kaci (in addition to Wife, Mom, Daughter, Sister, Employee, House Cleaner, Chef, etc.).  She has been doing cakes on the side for about 3 years now and really enjoys the process of creating something and then being able to hand it off to the client and being done with it.

As for Dad, I have never felt more blessed in my life!  It never crossed my mind that I would end up living in house full of females.   But I know that God has a plan for me, and it has become clear to me that God has a sense of humor.  Truthfully, I am thankful for the sweetness and tenderness that all the girls in my life provide (and drama...and pink...!!!).