Giving Thanks

We celebrated Thanksgiving this year with 23 family members - 5 under the age of 6 - at my parents' house in Nixa. While it was at times chaotic, it was a truly incredible weekend, and we took advantage, taking lots of great pictures! Here are a few of my favorites.

First, we have the "great-grandchildren" - from 5 months to 5 years-old. Love the girls' matching jammies!

Evie donned her "cookie taster" apron to help Aunt Melina finish off the green-bean casserole, a job she took very seriously.

And here's Evie eating Thanksgiving dinner with Daddy and Nora. Check our her Indian hat and feathers - we all made and wore either Indian (Native American for the PC) or Pilgrim hats to mark the occasion!

Even Nora had a hat!

Also part of the family fun - hanging out in Yiayia and Papou's bed for movie time! Evie decided to borrow Yiayia's reading glasses to see the movie better.

And here are the girl cousins all watching a movie and sharing popcorn. Nora only made it a few minutes before someone shoved her aside to reach the popcorn!!

Finally, to end the weekend, we threw a surprise party for Yiayia's (my mom's) 50th birthday. Here's everyone at Lola's.

And here's an adorable picture of Nora and her Great Yiayia at the party! Happy birthday Mom, and happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Thanks for all the great memories made last weekend. Until next year ...

Sisters, smooches and (for once) smiles!

Nothing too exciting going on around here, just trying to work with Evie on expressing her emotions in positive ways (i.e: no hitting!) working with Nora on her own issues - hair loss! But here's a cute picture of Evie and Nora in their matching Christmas pj's - morning kisses (typically followed by a morning meltdown on Evie's part at least) are everyday occurrences these days.
Evie did cooperate for a new haircut though. Check out the before and after pics - what a big difference! Not only do we see a smile - we also see her beautiful blue eyes! And isn't that braid adorable ... now if I only I could replicate at home!

This week we'll be heading to Nixa for Thanksgiving and then coming home to decorate our own Christmas tree. I can't wait (or maybe I can!) to see Evie's reaction to all the Christmas decorations, lights, ornaments, etc. You can bet we'll have some drama - there are three girls in this family, after all : )

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween!

The Cowie Cowgirls (and boy!) hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween! We sure did!
Evie had fun playing in the leaves and meeting new friends at our neighbors' annual pumpkin carving party.

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No luck getting Evie to smile for pictures with Mommy and Nora ...

Or with Yiayia and Papou ...

But she sure loved those cupcakes!!

Dressing up is so much fun!

What is that I hear? Could it be? A delivery at the front door?!! Yippee!! Thanks to Reen and Scott, our cousins in California, Evie and Nora spent the afternoon as fierce jungle cats. OK, Evie was fierce and sassy as always. (I swear she has claws!) And Nora pretty much purred her way through the day. Typical! What a wonderful surprise - thank you again! We will be sure to wear these to one of our many Halloween parties this weekend. Tomorrow morning is Evie's Halloween costume parade at school. Bring on the boots and hat - this cowgirl is ready for the rodeo. Yee-haw!

One more thing - I counted the rolls on Nora's thighs today during her bath. 4 on each leg! Seriously! OK, I better delete this before she's old enough to read :)

Finally - sunshine!

The sun finally came out on Sunday, and Evie was feeling better so we headed to the pumpkin patch at Deanna Rose. Everyone close to me knows how much I look forward to these types of family outings, and my expectations were exceeded this year with a beautiful day and (mostly) happy babies. I love this picture of Evie and Nora on a hay barrel. Evie touching Nora's fingers, loving her little sister. What you don't see is how she pushed her away a mere second later. Ahh, sisterly love.
And check out Evie with her cowgirl hat and boots - totally worth the ridiculous amount of money I spent on them as she wears them every day if she can!

As I mentioned above, Evie has been sick, so we spent three extremely long, cold days stuck inside, cleaning up snot (me) and playing with whatever we could think of (Evie). Here's Evie (and Nora watching in awe) finger painting in what's supposed to be our "formal living room" - HA!

And love this - Evie playing dress up and checking herself out in the mirror. I love how she mixes her winter hat, 1st birthday tutu and cowboy boots. Aunt Melina would be proud!

MIZ!

We may live in Kansas now, but our girls are sure to be MU Tiger fans! Here they are last week in adorable gear courtesy of Miss Lauren Martin and family. Thanks again Lauren! I think the girls look alike in this picture ... and Nora is definitely gaining on Evie. Won't be long before they're sharing clothes!

As dress up is an obvious part of parenting two girls (and fun for Mommy too!), here are the girls in Halloween attire. It IS October after all - we want to get our money's worth :) Looking forward to posting pictures after the actual Halloween holiday, when our little cowgirls come riding into town!

Our Evie

While everyone else was quick to post photos of their smiling toddlers on the first day of school (mother's day out), I hesitated. Why you might ask? Well, now you know! Hello, no smiles here! Instead, Evie was crying - no, sobbing - as we left for school. Fortunately, the sobs subsided by the time we parked and she was waving and saying "hi" and "bye-bye" to everyone by the time we reached her classroom. But still, come on - can't you give your Mommy the photo op she was looking for? Guess not!

Here, though, Evie was much more obliging. I guess because she was in her element - covered in pudding and loving every minute. Nora couldn't even escape the pudding - I found traces on her jammies. Thanks big sister Evie!