Cowgar Family Adventures

Monday, July 20, 2009

A Quiet Weekend

Last Tuesday, my grandma drove up from West Virginia in preparation to take the girls down to her place in West Virginia over the weekend. She stayed Tuesday and Wednesday night, and took the girls to the park and cleaned things (she always has to clean something). On Wednesday my Aunt and Uncle came over with their boys, and we paid them to pull out the weeds in the front flower beds. They kept the girls entertained in the yard, and we ordered pizza and showed off a few pictures Luke had edited of the boys, (we did a photo shoot at their place on Sunday).

Thursday morning, grandma took of with the girls to pick up my brother and head down to her place. Lexi has stayed the night away from me once or twice with grandma, but it has been at my Uncle's place, 30 minutes away, not 4 hours into another state! To say I was scared/anxious/depressed would be an understatement. She called when they hit the border and stopped at the rest area, and at 2:26PM, I realized it was the first time I had ever been separated from my babies by a state border!

We had so much planned for when they were gone, but I physically and emotionally just felt ill by not having them. We caught the new Harry Potter movie, we hit some thrift shops and yardsales, and we finished adhering the shower tile (it still needs grout and sealant before the shower is usable again). We got our small fish tank set up on the fireplace, because we plan on transferring our fish out of the big tank. We are gonna sell the big tank, it just takes up too much space for Luke's "studio" in the dining room. I also set up my yardsale stuff and made about $20, not as good as last month when we made $50, but still...every little bit helps.

I truly believe that we actually get more accomplished when we have the kids. I function better when I know they are here and safe with me. It doesn't help that I am halfway through a pregnancy, so my emotions are wackey times 5,000!

Needless to say though, the kids are back safe. We picked them up Sunday in Marietta after hitting the local Kmart there and getting lots of toy deals :) We took them to a park before we came home, since Nana had said that we would, and Lexi never forgets! They had a blast in West Virginia, and missed us a bit, but wouldn't talk on the phone (a skill we need to work on) They played in a little pool, and sand, and the creek, and down the street at a neighbours.

I'm just happy to have them back. They may be exhausting at times, but they are my babies, and my responsibility, and it feels really weird to be without them!

Pictures to come soon...

My Best Friend!

On July 9th, we met up with my bestest bud Diane, and her son Miles at our local Applebee's. Chelsea and Kendra also came, seeing as we all went to school together, and had kids the same age and all.

I hadn't seen her since Lexi was little, and I had never seen her son...only in pictures, so it was fun to go out to eat, then we hit Cohan Park here in town, which is just the right size for little kids like ours to play on.

She is in the Air Force, and stationed out West (I won't disclose her location ;) ) I miss her lots, and can't wait until she moves closer!

Pictures to come soon...

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

The Fourth of July

Every year we spend the day of the fireworks hanging out with my dad at the fair in Orrville. This year, we headed up to my cousin Josh's house, which isn't too far from the high school where we normally sit each year. It was convenient, because being pregnant, I have to go potty every 1/2 hour or so, and a bathroom is better than walking half a mile to a port-a-potty.

We walked down to the park to take a look at the fair, and asked Lexi what she thought about the rides. Well she saw the helicopters and wanted to ride those. She is only 3! No one else can go on with her because it's for 56 inches and under. I of course, had a panic attack right there. Luke waited in line with her while Lilly, dad, and I stood by the gate. Luke strapped her in and I took pictures, and then when he left he took video. She did fine, but it took everything I had to not break down and cry that she was on a ride all by herself! She didn't seem thrilled with it, and she didn't pull her bar back to fly the helicopter, but she said she had fun. I took both of the girls on the carousel, and Lilly had a blast on it, and cried when we got off. We also played the Lucky Ducks game, and they each picked out a blow up SpongeBob as a prize. We also bought some incense sticks, cotton candy, fair fries, and a funnel cake...all of the usual fair needs.

We hung out at Josh's, playing with cars and sparklers, and when it was close to 10PM, Luke walked down to the high school so he was closer to the fireworks for pictures, and I sat back with dad and we each held one of the girls while the fireworks went off. The girls loved them, and they were just as great as every other year we've gone. Instead of throwing ourselves in traffic, we waited since Luke had to walk back up from the high school, and then we casually packed up and headed out of town. It only took us 20 minutes to get from Orrville to Burton City to pick up the dog, which is the shortest we've ever been stuck in traffic. I really think the girls were asleep before we left the parking lot as Josh's apartment!





















A Birthday for Kendra

Actually today (the 7th) is Kendra's birthday, but the party took place over the holiday weekend. On Saturday, we hooked up with Chelsea and Kendra, and another friend from high school (Angie) and her daughter Katy. We spent the afternoon at Chuck-E-Cheese in North Canton, and let the girls have some pizza and play some games. Lexi likes collecting tickets for prizes, and we had enough to get a lollipop and a spider for both Lexi and Lilly. We used a couple of the tokens to get some pictures of us together. I'm pretty sure they are probably the only family shots we have of all four of us together since Lilly was born!!

Kendra's party was on Sunday, and she had picked out SpongeBob invitations, so her party was themed for SpongeBob. It was basically just her family, and then us, so the girls had some fun swinging and blowing bubbles and eating cake. Kendra got lots of puzzles and colouring books, and we got her a shovel and some other sand/outside toys.











Sunday, July 5, 2009

Ultrasound Update!

Wednesday morning I was woken up by a call from the hospital asking if I could come in that day instead of Thursday for the ultrasound. Well yeah...I'll take a day early! I drank my 8,000 ounces of water before 1PM and did the potty dance while waiting to be called back. I had a student tech that did the ultrasound, so she had 2 other techs in the room with her, and a third that finished up at the end. They took all kinds of pictures of my insides...and of course the baby.

Gender wise...well, the baby wasn't nearly as stubborn as Lexi and Lilly. The glimpse we got suggests to all 4 techs in the room that we are having another girl!!! Oh boy! We are now accepting donations for weddings and shotguns.

I really cannot imagine 3 girls. Lexi and Lilly are so close in age that they can be in the same extracurricular activities. Same teams, same groups, etc... But throwing in another girl that is 2 1/2 years younger means I have a whole other set of activities to attend, and as of right now, she will be alone...which makes us contemplate one more baby. A girl would give us two groups of two, but if genetics failed in the Cowgar family and we ended up with a boy, then I would have 2 sets of girl activities, and then a set of boy activities, although they would be close enough in age that they could still be playing partners like Lexi and Lilly are now. I guess we will see how this pregnancy and delivery goes, and if we catch the baby fever shortly after like we did after Lexi was born!

Oh, by the way...the name we have for our new baby girl is Avery Sapphire!