Although I haven't got much journaling done in the past few weeks, I have enjoyed my kids more than usual :) Thankfully, the marriage retreat that Matt and I went on at the beginning of the month, continues to energize me and I think the atmosphere of our home has DRASTICALLY changed. So, that is what I'm most thankful for this Thanksgiving...the feeling of being refreshed and energized, when clearly, I should feel like I've hit a brick wall!
Here are a few pictures and notes featuring my AWESOME family!
This little girl LOVES her Daddy!
Everyone wears their jewelry in the bathtub, right?
Nate said that he wanted tortilla chips for lunch and I agreed that it was a great idea (There isn't any food that I love better than tortilla chips...especially with a margarita). "We have to have something with them, boys, we can't just have chips for lunch," I said. Nate added, "How about chicken noodle soup?" "That sounds awful! Chicken noodle soup doesn't go with chips," Gabe said. "Gabe, apparently your not a REAL tortilla chip lover like Mom and me. If you were, you'd know that EVERYTHING goes with tortilla chips!" He couldn't be any more correct!
We've been talking a lot about the holidays and what the REAL meaning of Thanksgiving and Christmas are all about. A few weeks ago, I got out a nativity set that I bought last winter on clearance. I'd never had one before and I couldn't wait to get it out. It seems pretty durable, so I sat it down low on the fireplace hearth so that the kids could easily see it. Adrianna is VERY interested in it and wants to play with and talk to the figurines often. She refers to them as Mommy Mary, God Joseph, and Baby Jeez.
We were happy to host Thanksgiving dinner for approximately 60 family members, all branches of the Cowan family tree. Somehow we all fit in our house and the event was a success! We followed up dinner with a Bluegrass jam fest at Matt's mom and dad's house. Thank you to Andrea, who took most of these pictures! I failed to get many shots!
I think the kids had an amazing time playing together! Great memories!
My neck is long and skinny, isn't it? Ha! And how is it fair that Denna and Matt don't age? I realize I don't have that trait, but I sure hope that my kids get it! Promise me that no one will make fun of me when I look 80 and my darling husband still looks 33!
We had the privilege of hosting Matt's cousin Kelly, her husband, Bryan, and their two sweeties, Raegan and Rachel, for 5 days! Words cannot describe how well Raegan and Nate played together. On Friday morning, Nate woke up, and entered our room, very early. He asked, "Is it okay if I wear my church clothes today?" I said yes in my 'it's too early to think,' voice. After actually getting out of bed, I discovered that Nate had is 'church clothes' on (meaning they didn't have holes, rips, or stains on them), and he'd already eaten breakfast and brushed his teeth, too. When I found him, he was sitting quietly on the couch without even the TV on! I was curious why he had shown such initiative that morning and the only thing he said to me was, "Is Raegan up, yet?"
Adrianna and Rachel made quite the pair of playmates, as well. With the exception of a little whining, which is to be expected when a pair of two years olds play together, they were great company!
This little cherub had me giggling from Wednesday, all the way until they got in their car to head home. There isn't anything sweeter than hearing her little voice say, "Can I have a peanutbutternjelly please?" And she only asked for a PB&J about 30 times a day! She also stole my heart when she said, "I like your earring. And I like your other earring, too. And I like your pony tail." I miss her already!
Ring around the rosey!
Thank you to my Sister in law Andrea, nieces Kali, Brianna and Lacey, and cousin Kelly, I didn't have to wait to see Breaking Dawn until it came out on DVD! They accompanied me to see it on Friday night and we left Bryan and Matt home with 6 kids, ages 8 and under! This is what we came home to! Apparently, it's some pretty serious video game playing when you have to move the couch to be directly centered and in front of the TV! Thanks boys, for letting us have some girl time! I hope you enjoyed your boy time, too!
On Saturday evening, we attended, as we always do, an event hosted by a family from church. They invite you to their home to have a one on one visit with Santa. He tells you about Christmas and of course, the kids get a chance to tell them what gifts they would like. And then he sends you on your way, with a bag of candy in tow. While waiting for our turn to visit with Santa, Nate fell asleep. Initially, I though it was because of 4 days of nonstop playing with his cousins. He even chose to skip the Santa visit and wait in the car. Although he now knows that Santa doesn't really come down the chimney of every boy and girl each Christmas, he was excited to see him, nonetheless. So, Daddy sat with Nate in the car and I took Gabe and Adri to see Santa and Mrs. Claus. Of course, Adri wouldn't come any closer to Santa than necessary to acquire her treat bag, but Gabe eagerly sat on his lap. The only gift he requested was a Pez dispenser.
After getting home, we discovered that Nate had a 104 temp and he held on to that until Monday morning. Gabe and Adri followed up with a fever on Monday and Adri is still holding on to a yucky cough and a double ear infection. Tis the Season!
This is what I got to do on Sunday...I think it had been weeks since I had done laundry, but then realized it had only been 5 days! This was the second time I had filled up the island with clean clothes. While I cleaned up the remnants of an awesome holiday weekend spent with family and the kids lounged around watching movies, recuperating, and trying to fight their bugs, Matt began the project of replacing all of the lights on our pre-lit Christmas tree. See, this is where we are VERY different. I would have just bought a new tree! 4 days later and he only has 2 more levels to go!
Monday night while Daddy slaved away on the tree, the kids and I finished up all of the other Christmas decorations and even worked on a craft. This is our Christmas wreath!
Since Adri's stocking didn't match all of ours and I have a small case of obsessive compulsive disorder, I spent about 4 hours on Monday night, while the rest of my crew slept, making us new stockings. I must say, I'm quite proud of my workmanship! What's especially exciting about our fireplace is that for the past 5 or so years, every time we decorated for Christmas, Matt and I would say to each other, "When we get our house built, won't it be exciting to decorate the fireplace?" Yeah, I'm pretty excited (and I realize this makes me a bit corny, too).
Merry Christmas!
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