In need of prayer...

Please take a moment to checkout this blog. Leslie and her family are really in need of our prayers!!!

Showings

I never knew that showing your house with 3 little kids could be so stressful!!! I'm somewhat of a cluttery person, so this has been such a challenge. The worst part of it all is that I feel like I'm constantly yelling at my kids to help me keep it clean by picking up their toys, clothes, papers, shoes, etc. Then, not only am I stressed about showing the house, I feel like a horrible mom for yelling at them for doing regular kid things.

I shouldn't really complain too much, at least we are having a good amount of showings during this hard time to sell a house.

We'll just keep praying! :)

Fun Birthday Weekend

I was horrible about taking pictures this weekend! Aunt Michelle, Uncle John, & Anna (along with Grandma that went home early sick) stayed with us Saturday-Monday morning. It was so much fun hanging out with them!!! And, Anna is at a fun age to watch her explore! Here's all the kids together.
We also finally had Christmas with them! They got Sam Legos, which were the biggest hit of the weekend for all the boys. Sam also got some for his birthday, so we have enough Legos to build a house...or so it seems. Not sure who like playing with the Legos more - Eric, John, Sam, or Ethan!!!!! Wish I would've gotten a picture of this! :)

Michelle is taking a cake decorating class and made Sam a birthday cake. He loved his John Deere cake!!!! And, this is what she can do just after 1 class!
Before taking the class, Michelle made Anna's birthday cake last October. Although she would say otherwise, I thought it looked amazing!! It was like a HUGE cupcake. Very fun!

Happy 5th Birthday Sam!!!

I can't believe that Sam is already 5!!!! Wow! We had a really fun day celebrating his big day. It started with him getting his presents from us - the big one being a betta fish that he has named Rocco.

Then, we were off to the BounceZone for an all boy party. Very fun!!! Now I just need to find places for all the new toys....I'm sure some old ones will go into storage until we move. (My kids are going to think they it's Christmas when we finally do move and get out all their "old" toys!!)

Last night we went to Sapporo's (a Japenese restaurant) for dinner. The kids loved watching their meal cooked in front of them, Sam smiled and laughed a lot while Ethan & Eliza sat with their jaws dropped most of the time.
We then finished the day swimming at Grandma's hotel. I didn't get any pictures of this, but I assure you this was another highlight of their day! They'll swim some more in the morning.

Happy Birthday Sam!!!!!!!

Cowan mini reunion

Last night we had a little get together with the 5 of us that were close friends my senior year of high school - Sam, Kara, me, Julie, & Brandon (order of how we are pictured here). It's so fun to see all of them, and especially have our kids play together! Almost 16 years has passed since we graduated, and we've still remained close!! I get the see Sam, Kara, & Julie on a semi-regular basis. It had been a long time since I had seen Brandon, so I was excited to see him. Sam & Brandon were without their spouses last night, hopefully Julie & Amy can join us next time.

Here are all the kids sitting on the couch....for just a few seconds! :) The 8 kids range from almost 5 to 18 months! (2 kids are missing.)

They all sat down to eat, and it was a relatively peaceful meal!

Adrian's Baby Shower

Today we had a baby shower for my friend Adrian. It's a HUGE miracle that she is even pregnant, so we wanted to be sure and celebrate. Stories like her make you realize that God has a plan far greater than our's, and that He really is in control.

And, my friend Karen made her amazing sugar cookies. Not only are they very tasty, but they are so cute we decided to make them a centerpiece! :)