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.

.

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

Or with Yiayia and Papou ...

But she sure loved those cupcakes!!