She's Juicy, Sweet & Loves to Eat!

We celebrated Nora's 1st birthday today with a watermelon-themed party! Here we are - all decked out in watermelon colors (bet you can guess whose idea that was!)

Here's Nora with Evie and her friends Reece and Ellie, enjoying a picnic in our completely empty "formal living room." I'm pretty sure our girls love the fact we haven't bought furniture yet - it's a perfect party space!

I attempted my first cake ever - finally using that lovely Kitchen-aid Mixer we received for our wedding nearly SIX years ago! I know, I know! Back to the baking - the cake, decorated to look like a watermelon (you can tell, right?!) turned out a bit lumpy but tasted good. The cake on the left is Nora's "smash" cake, another "creation by Cowie!" Send your orders in soon - my baking business is taking off!

Nora and I posed before the real "smashing" of the cake began ...

She's starting to dig in ...

Now she's really starting to like it ...

Evie and Great Yiayia are joining the fun too ...

Icing is flying ... little girls are laughing ...

And we're done - into our suits for fun in the pool and sprinkler before opening a few presents and then collapsing for a long nap! Not just Nora, all of us!

But not without a parting shot of Evie the dress-up diva who now sings "happy birthday - cha, cha, cha"  -  "really, really loud." Her words, not mine, but this is one time we definitely agree! Happy birthday Nora - we love you!

The Crazy Hair is Back!

Remember all that crazy hair Nora had when she was born?

IT'S BACK!!!

It's a lot lighter, but the "faux-hawk" is definitely making an encore appearance these days!

And I promise no hair gel was used to create the looks in either photo. My girl just has natural style!

Happy Father's Day

As we all know, being a parent isn't always the most glamorous or appreciated job in the world ... as evidenced by this lovely Father's Day photo of Mark and the girls. Nora is obviously pissed (she was in my arms just moments before) and Evie is simply annoyed we interrupted her kangaroo-watching.

The key is to catch them off-guard, truly enjoying themselves as seen here when Evie is riding on Mark's shoulders on our way to see the elephants.                                                                

Despite the everyday drama of two girls 2 and under, we had a wonderful Father's Day. Mark slept in past 9, woke up to blueberry pancakes, checked out Australia and parts of Africa at the zoo and ended the day with the pool and ... of course ... hot wings! We hope you enjoyed your day, Daddy! All your girls love you!

Evie's Big Girl Room!

Evie is a big girl now! We moved her to a real bed last week after she threatened to climb out of her crib on numerous occasions. Now she's loving her big girl bed - including the headboard Mark and I made ourselves and the pillow her Yiayias made.

Here she is before bed on her first night.

And here's the final addition to her big girl room - an antique vanity Mom and I found at a flea market for an awesome price. Isn't it adorable? Evie loves all the mirrors - a perfect place for dress up! Our girl is growing up! Right now she's wondering around without a diaper on so better go ... she's not that grown up!

This and That ...

Random photos from a random Mommy ...

Here are my two favorite "booties" at the pool last week. I took the girls BY MYSELF for the first time last Friday, and it was a success! I panicked only once when Evie said she had to poop. Knowing those stupid swim diapers, I worried about grossing out all the other swimmers, but we were in luck when she just had to toot. Don't you love my grown-up vocabulary?!

Now here's a cute one of Evie and her cousin Savanna. Surprisingly, she's actually smiling for the camera ... dare we say she's growing up?! Eeek! We're actually working on her big girl bed this week and should have photos of my very first DIY project - an upholstered headboard! Can you stand the anticipation?!

Funny story while I'm on these random topics - I got a speeding ticket yesterday. Bummer, I know, but why I'm sharing is after I received my ticket, Evie said: "Mommy in trouble. That's funny!" Hello? Whose side is she on?!!

On a happier note, last weekend we helped our good friend Maggie celebrate her graduation from grad school! Here's Nora on Maggie's lap, muching on something gooey and sweet - no surprise there!

Nora pretty much eats anything and everything these days, including dirt, flowers, etc.

Nora is also dancing quite a bit - following her big sister's lead - and chasing Evie around as fast as she can while Evie calls out: "Come on Nora, come on!" Nora is 11 months now - only a few more weeks till the big birthday!

OK, here we go with the most random photo of them all - my shining moment of the week - the playdoh version of Evie! We seriously spent 30 minutes working on this masterpiece so I had to take a picture. Can you see the resemblance?

Here's Evie adding a few accessories to her look. Typical - and not that we don't encourage her! Also part of the big girl bedroom reno is a vanity Mom and I found at a flea market last weekend. It is so perfect, and Evie loves it. I'll post photos as soon as we're finished - did you know foam was so expensive? Don't tell Mark, but my DIY headboard has turned out to be a tad more expensive than planned!


Have a great week! Love from the Cowies!

My Sister the Mrs!!

Hooray! Melina and Matthew said "I do" on Saturday! I have so many pictures from the incredible week of wedding festivities; I don't even know where to start. These may be a little haphazard, but here we go ...

First up - the stunning bride! Seriously, Melina was breathtaking! Here she is on the trolley while we were taking pictures. It was a gorgeous day - bright and sunny, pretty hot but worth every moment!

Here's the happy couple! Can I tell you how cute Matthew was - how nervous, happy and very handsome!

Then there's my adorable daughter - the one and only flower girl - Miss Evelyn Kate! Evie who surprised us all with her lovely walk down the aisle - no tears, no tantrums, just smiles and licks on her lollipop! She even threw a few petals!!

Here Melina and I are with the girls. Poor Nora was cutting teeth and had to leave after the ceremony - thank you Loretta! But she still managed to look beautiful in her dress!

Besides the groom, the most handsome man there had to be my hubby! Look at those dimples! And you should have seen his dance moves toward the end of the night!!!

Once again the happy couple after seeing each other for the first time! Radiant!

OK, so on to the funny parts of the night - Evie not only made her way down the aisle in style - she also dominated the dance floor and even the toasts by stealing my microphone and babbling in front of 150 wedding guests! Seriously, this girl is made for the spotlight ... or, in this case, the stage!

Here, Evie and my Mom are dancing and singing right before the reception. Notice - Evie still has her shoes on - and she's yet to discover the blue and yellow jelly beans at the reception!

Another performance pic - this time, the bride joined in on the action.

Evie also spent lots of time loving on her cousins ...

and her Yiayia and Papou!

Her night finally ended like this ...! All of us danced ourselves silly - including Miss Evie and the bride and groom. It was such a happy, wonderful night (and weekend). Truly, I can't express how amazing it is to be dancing to all my favorite songs (Diddy, Shoop!) with all my favorite people by my side. To look around and know that everyone there loves my sister and her new husband, my girls, Mark (he has some serious groupies from the Bland side of the family!) and even me too. What a perfect wedding! Congratulations Melina and Matthew - we love you!

I may post more pictures later but for now - off to bed! Have a great week!

Week before the wedding ...

Melina's wedding is less than a week away (eek - hurray!), so I wanted to post a few pictures before the blog is taken over by wedding photos, which I'm sure will be gorgeous Miss Melina!

In addition to all the wedding planning, we've also had a May full of graduations (Laura and Connor, Maggie, Jen!) Last weekend, we attended a high school graduation party for our cousins Laura and Connor, who are soon off to college - Laura to KU and Connor to design school in Chicago. Congrats cousins! Here are Evie and Nora at their open house, still relatively clean before their lunch of mini cupcakes! Such sweet sisters! (I didn't post the one right after this which shows a quite different side to their relationship!)

Today the girls and I went to "The Farm" - Deanna Rose - with Ellie and her Mommy Lynn. Here the girls were petting the baby cows. Did you know I love baby cows? Well, I do now! Notice Evie is holding her baby doll - named "Baby Kara." Crazy - and kind of scary - when your 2-year-old calls you by your real name.

And finally, better late than never, a cute picture of Nora and her buddy Reece at his 1st birthday party two weeks ago. Poor Reece had to field open-mouth kisses and lots of intense hugging from our girl Nora, who doesn't seem to grasp the whole "personal space" issue. Notice the bread stuck to her chin - yes, she stole my sandwich and possibly someone else's too? Who knows!

OK, our next photos will undeniably be of Melina and Matthew's big wedding weekend - we can't wait!! Wish us luck - Evie is the flower girl! Oh boy!