Disney and Homecomings

I'm tired, so this is going to be brief. We had a wonderful trip to Disneyworld. Paige was thoroughly surprised and ecstatic to be there. I was just as enthralled with the princesses as she was... I included a couple of pictures.

Also, I'm happy to say that my brother is home from Iraq. I know he's happy to be home and catching up on lots of hugs and kisses. Thanks to everyone who has kept him in their prayers and thoughts.

Love to all!

Turkey, Croup and Santa

Well, we had quite an eventful four days. My parents came up for Thanksgiving and we had a great time. However, Paige started running a 104 degree fever Thanksgiving night. She didn't eat dinner and asked to go to bed at 6:15pm. I was up with her pretty much all night. I felt so bad for the kid. She couldn't stop coughing and her fever just would NOT break. Finally, things seemed to get better around 5:30am. So Friday my mom and dad laid around with her watching movies. They also took both girls so Doug and I could have some time alone. We were going to see a movie, but couldn't even get into the mall - so we went shopping instead. It was fun to walk leisurely around without children! Mom and I also took advantage of some sales on Friday...shopped for about four hours and I'm done with the girls Christmas shopping! yippee!! All in all, it was a nice family weekend and I'm sad they had to leave this afternoon! Paige is doing better...I'm hoping we have a smooth night and no fever in the morning!!

Oh, I almost forgot the Santa trip. Paige was excited to visit Santa with Grammy and Poppy. We went to Tysons Galleria (only a 10 minute wait!) because I love how authentic their Santa looks. Anyway. I think the picture speaks for itself. Paige didn't talk to Santa, but he kept her on his lap chatting about things for awhile. Sloane couldn't get away fast enough. Oh well, maybe next year! It reminded me so much of Paige's Santa picture in December 2004, that I attached that one, as well!

Hope everyone had a great turkey day. Love to all.

Trick or Treat!

Here are some pics of our Minnie Mouse and panda bear. Sloane didn't quite make it to the trick-or-treating, but she attended Paige's preschool party. Paige was bouncing off the walls all day and had a great time tonight. She's now in a sugar coma :) Hope everyone had a great day! The other pictures are from our trip to Cox Farm and some other random ones from the month.

Weekend weddings and picnics

Doug's mom got married on Saturday. All four grand-daughters wore matching dresses...it was ADORABLE.

In the Cowan household the last two Sundays we've had picnics for dinner. This entails laying out the "Neat Sheet" and everyone eating on the family room floor while watching football. It's fun! Although, I think I'll steer clear of orzo next time...what a mess.

Belated First Day of School...

Yes, this is what my child picked out to wear to school. I'm trying not to quelch her creativity at the moment. Sloane was very excited to drive her to school :)

A picture with Mommy in it... *gasp*

Denise was kind enough to take a picture of me with the girls. I'll post more pictures of her visit, but couldn't pass up posting this picture. I just cut off 4 inches of my hair, so it was an especially traumatic day :) Hope everyone is well.

I now feel sworn in as a mom...

So, today started like any normal day. Sloane wakes up at 5:30am, I get her up, bring her downstairs, give her a bottle (I know, I know - we're working on that) and doze until she's done. We play for awhile, and Paige makes an appearance around 6:30am. This is usually when my day starts to get "dramatic". Anyway. Around 7:15am Sloane decides to try and poke her sister's eye out and almost succeeds. Paige starts crying - I reprimand Sloane and comfort Paige. 30 minutes later she is STILL sobbing. Oh, and Sloane has decided to join in. Around 8am I called the eye doctor because she is still crying and says she can't open her eye. They tell me to put a cold compress on it and wait until 11am. They probably figured she might be doing an attention-getting scheme (I honestly thought that, as well). She asks to go back to bed (!) and sleeps for almost an hour. She wakes up around 9am screaming her bloody head off. Evidently, her eye was not feeling better. So I call the eye doc and tell them I'm bringing her in. Of course, they don't have an appointment until 10. So I show up at 9:30. :) Paige was sobbing and I felt horrible for her.

So, the eye doctor puts those numbing drop in (tease) and Paige feels fine for the exam. Turns out the surface is scratched (ugh) and the doc turns to me and says "hmm, looks like you're in for a long day". Gee, thanks. The drops are wearing off and Paige starts sobbing again. Thankfully, Sloane is being an angel in her stroller. Right now, anyway. We walk out with a hug and a prescription from the doc.

I drive to Safeway to get the med filled...and of course they don't have it. They call next door, and thankfully, they do have it in stock. So, we walk next door. I couldn't get to the pharmacy down the first aisle I walked down because it was blocked at the end. This is when I start to get stressed out. I make it to the pharmacy. I've never filled anything there, so of course it takes forever to do the insurance crap. Paige and Sloane are now both screaming. It's 10:40am. The lady tells me it will be about 30 minutes. OK, so I lose it a little. I won't quote myself. So we walk around Rite Aid for a minute, but Sloane just wants to grab everything. So, I decided we'd just sit in the waiting chairs and they could listen to my children wail. So we did. And they did. Surprisingly, I had her medicine within 10 minutes :)

We somehow make it back to the car - Paige still screaming. We make it home, she goes straight to bed. I somehow get the eye drops in her eye and give her Tylenol Cold to get her to sleep. Oh come on, you've done it at least once. Then, I cheated and gave Sloane another bottle and made her go to bed, too. *sigh* Today has royally sucked, and it's not even lunchtime.

Oh, and I was supposed to be "kidless" today - Sheena was going to watch them for about 4 hours.

But you know what, I still wonder what I'd ever do without my kids.

Sloane's 1st 4th :)

We had a great 4th of July. It wasn't too hot, and the thunderstorms came and went quickly. We joined our friends for a tailgating, "fair" type celebration in The Plains, Virginia. Sloane was a trooper...slept for maybe an hour all day and still stayed up until 8pm or so. I don't have pictures of Paige at the moment, but my friend took some and I'll post those when I can.

Belated Fair Pictures

The whole family went to the Fairfax Fair a couple of weekends ago. We figured we go for a couple of hours...ended up staying 5! Only got to stay that long because Sloane is a little trooper. She even took a nap! Paige had a great time. She went on a "roaster-coaster" all by herself. Since this, Paige spent several days at Busch Gardens with Poppy and Grammy. She ran them ragged...and had a blast. Thank goodness we have a roller-coaster girl! :)

New pics

Sloane's getting quite the personality... and ADORES Paige.

Paige's new "do"

Her summer cut :) It's just like Katie's...so it's ok.

Cute Sloane Video

Hopefully this shows up... at dinner last night, Paige had Sloane cracking up. I had a cute video of that, too, but thought this one of her talking and shaking her head was cuter. She's getting quite the personality! Hope everyone is well!

New pics...

Just posting some pics from April. Sloane and Paige are doing very well. Sloane is growing like a weed...she may catch up to Paige yet! She prefers any table food over baby food. Last night she had pork chops, black beans, corn and potatoes for dinner! Paige is doing well in school and enjoying her gymnastics class. Keep your eyes peeled for a possible ending to the Cowan Housing Journey. :)
Oh - a brief explanation of pictures. Doug & Paige going to the store for breakfast in pajamas; Paige wearing a hat on our Claude Moore Colonial Farm day; Paige in her new dress going to school; Paige mauling Sloane...again

Toofs and stuff :)

Just some new pics...mostly of Sloane. I think I feel guilty for not taking pictures of her, that now I ONLY take pictures of her! Poor Paige :) Yea, right.

Sloane is crawling!

The child started crawling just before 5 months. She's now EVERYWHERE and climbing EVERYTHING. It's hilarious to watch her. Here are some pics...I also threw in some cute ones from this month.

PAIGE

Thought I'd devote an entry to our eldest. This is Paige and Daddy playing in our first snow! The other picture is of Katie and Paige...evidently during playdates they like to pretend they live an entire day. Which includes dressing in pajamas and going to sleep. Whatever :)