Dana's 4th Birthday

Okay, I knew this would happen. Start a blog, get excited about it, then ignore it for a while. I do have a pretty good excuse though. Here is a quick description of what has been going on with the Cowleys the last month or so.

Kimmy - Sweetest, funniest little baby ever. BIG DRAMA QUEEN. Up till now, all of our kids have been pretty healthy, regular kids. Not Kim, she needs attention! In March she started having feveral seizures (seizures resulting from a rapid spike in her fever), and to date has had a total of 3, resulting in 3 trips to the ER, 2 rides in the ambulance, and 1 very flashy, loud, and dramatic exit from church. If you thought the seizures would be enough to keep me on high alert, she has also in the past 2 weeks developed an intense lactose intolerance coupled with a double ear infection. Needless to say, Mom and Dad aren't getting too much sleep!

Here she is getting some help from Grandpa Noble on the pinata! Grandpa Noble was SMITTEN with her during this trip. If anyone thought I had him wrapped around my finger, you have got to see what Kimmy can get him to do!

We brought her exersaucer to the party so that we wouldn't have to be holding her the whole time. It actually worked pretty well.

Dana - Not wanting to be left out, has taken to being VERY sensitive! The silliest thing can send her running up the stairs to the solitude of her room for a loud crying session. But I will blame it on her just having her birthday and turning 4, she never went through any type of terrible twos, so maybe this is how I am paying for it. We had an outdoor BBQ for her big birthday bash. Both sets of Grandparents were able to make it, and we had about 35 guests! It was great! Dana was so excited. After we ate and had cake, all the kids got a chance to smash the pinata! It was hilarious. All the kids got so worked up over it. All in all, it turned out great, and I have another 4 years before I have to worry about doing it again!

Here she is showing everyone that she is now 4 with her birthday candle!

I totally ripped off Tiana's Barbie cake idea. I don't think I did it as well, but Dana thought it was amazing, and that's all I could ask for, especially since it was my first foray into fancy cake making!

The pinata was a hit! (pun intended)

We also had a backup cake, in case the Barbie cake didn't make it through the cutting...Here are some of the kids chowing down



Nate - Is getting ready to finish up the last 4 days of kindergarten this week and next week. He is an AMAZING reader, he is currently reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban all by himself after finishing the first 2 books in the series. He reads so fast, that we were worrying if he was actually retaining anything. So Dad set a new rule, before Nate can start a new chapter, he has to take a multiple choice quiz, written by dad, on the previous chapter and get at least 4 out of 5 right. And guess what, it's no sweat for him. He hasn't missed a question yet!

I had to add this picture. I wanted to put more pictures of Nate in this post, but I couldn't find many close-ups of his face. However, I love this picture, because if you look closely, you will be able to see Kimmy through curtain of my hair. So funny!

Jared and I are currently existing on Red Bull and Diet Coke. Sleep deprivation has become a way of life. Maybe when we are 50 we will get a good night's sleep...Work is great for Jared and I am happily trying to figure out what color I want to paint the living room, and what kind of plants to line the front walkway with. We have been incredibly blessed! We may not have much money, but our family is rich in love! We are looking forward to this weekend, when Kimberly will turn 1, and Dad has 5 days off for us to have a mini-vacation! I'll post pictures of that later!

Oh, one last note: My awesome older brother Nathan has become a father! His daughter Emilina Sofia Noble was born on May 18, 2008. I think she was about 7 pounds 11 ounces, and 20 inches long. She has tons of hair, and is just beautiful! Here is a picture of her.
If you know my brother, congratulate him. He is on cloud nine! I love you Nate, and welcome to the family Lina!

Trying to live more Charitably

I have been told that if you want more happiness and love in your life, you should spend more time serving others. I have been trying to do that lately. I am working towards being a better visiting teacher, a better friend, and a better mother. Since my hair has been annoying me lately, I decided to be more charitable with it and donate it to Locks of Love, a non-profit organization that uses the hair donations to manufacture wigs/hair pieces for underprivledged kids who have lost their hair due to any type of medical illness/diagnosis. It's pretty cool what they do if you think about it. You can visit their website at http://www.locksoflove.org, to get information on what they do or how to donate your own hair. I forgot to take the camera with me, but here is a picture of me before I cut my hair from a couple of days ago:

And then here is a picture of me today, after the haircut, with the new glasses.What do you think? (I just took these pictures with the web cam because it is easier than trying to hold a camera in the right place.) I have never had my hair this short before in my life. The hair on the back of my neck is actually shaved in places. I think it might take me a couple of days to get used to it, but I kind of like it. It should also keep me cool for the summer, and even though it's not much, I am glad that I could help out some less fortunate children. Well, I better go, it's movie night and we have friends coming over!

This is it...at least for today

I just have a few more pictures that are so cute, I can't help but put them up. Enjoy!

This is Nate "modeling" for Dad. Every so often, Jared gets the kids to do the funniest poses!



This is Nate fighting the dark side of the force, did I mention he loves STAR WARS?

This is my sweet Kimmy-bear. We stopped at Dad's work, and since the two big kids got to go in and we had to wait in the car, we decided to take some cute pictures!

Seriously, how could anyone resist this sweet thing? She melts my heart and totally manipulates me on a daily basis, just with her smile!

These are the results of Dana's modeling session with Dad. She is just getting so pretty! I just love this girl!

This last one is my favorite. It's taken from across the room, so it's not as clear, but I love her hair in this. She could be a Pantene model!

Dana's birthday is in 9 days!!!!

Dana, my sweet baby girl that loves to sing, is turning 4 next Friday. I personally can't believe it, but when I look at all the amazing things she is doing, I realize that she really is that big! She has been taking a ballet class with her best friend Sydney:

She also got to go on a big date with Mom and her friend Felicia and her daughters Makenna and Sydney down to Oakland to see Disney Princesses on Ice, Princess Wishes. It was a great day! We went as a family a few years ago to Monsters, Inc. and loved it, so when we heard this one was coming, we were so excited. It doesn't have to be as expensive as you might think, I think we paid $60 for both of our tickets, and we were about halfway up and could see great! Here are some of the highlights!

This is from the front back: Dana, Makenna, Sydney and Felicia.

This is Aladdin and the Genie, and the next one is the dishes from Beauty and the Beast, where they sing "Be Our Guest"

Here is Ariel from The Little Mermaid and all the fishes singing "Under The Sea" and Dana and I watching the show: I have to add one more, even though the picture quality is not great. It is from Sleeping Beauty where Malificent turns into the dragon and fights with Prince Phillip. The Dragon actually came out on the ice and spit real fire! It was so cool!

Nate's front teeth debacle

Okay, this happened a couple of weeks ago, but I thought it merited a post. Nate has lost 3 teeth on the bottom, but didn't start losing the teeth on top until a few weeks ago. His grown up teeth are coming in so fast, that they had pushed his two front teeth on the top together. Here's what he looked like in December, before the new ones started growing in:

And here is what he looked like after the first one on the left came out, the one on the right got totally pushed into the middle, and was hurting him when he ate. So....we busted out the dental floss and tied one end to his tooth and the other to the door, and for a small fee of $5 on top of what the tooth fairy was going to give him, we popped it out. It was crazy to see, I was never able to do it to my own teeth, I always chickened out.

Isn't he brave?!?!?! (the extra $5 sure buys a lot of bravery!) I can't believe that I am old enough to have a kid who has already lost 6 teeth!

My first try!

Okay, after many requests, I am joining the blogging revolution. This is harder work than I thought, but Tiana assures me it will become addicting. I just want to figure out how to get the pictures into the middle of the post, instead of at the top. Oh well...

So, the past few weeks seem like they have been crammed full of stuff, none of which include cleaning up my house...First something funny that happened today...Nate and Dana were outside playing with a friend, and I was in the front room folding laundry. Kimmy was "helping" me, and then she crawled into the kitchen. She was in there for a suspiciously long time, and she didn't crawl out when I called her, so I went in to find her. This is what I saw:

Busted!

Note how she is almost armpit deep into a double tub of cake frosting!!!! Of course I had to laugh because she is just like her Daddy and Mommy, and loves treats!