Happy 2nd Birthday Malachi!!!

Today is Malachi's birthday!!!! Two years ago, God blessed us with the most perfect gift. Malachi Joseph Cowan!!! Everyday we are amazed at the things he is learning and the way he is changing. He is talking more and you can understand him. ;) He's making short sentences and knows what he wants. He loves to sing his ABC's, Tinkle Tinkle ittle star, and Happy Birthday to you......I love to hear him sing. He likes reading 5 Little Monkeys....He knows exactly what's coming and it's fun to hear him say it. He LOVES watching Toy Story 2. We recently bought Toy Story 3 so hopefully he will soon love that one just as much. One of his favorite shows is The Fresh Beat Band. He can say and sing his ABC's, count to 10 forward and backward, knows most of his colors, and is learning his shapes. We are so proud of him and are just lovin' watching him grow.
Tonight we let him open his gifts from me and daddy and Papa and Gigi. Then we took him to Chick-fil-A for family night cause he wanted "chicken fries." When he got through eating we let him play in the playland for awhile. He thought he was so big climbing up and down with the "big" kids.
Mommy and daddy love you so much Malachi. We are thankful for your happy spirit and your healthy little body. We know God has his hand on you and we pray for you everyday. From the time you were born (and before) we have prayed over you and we still pray this prayer for you:
The Lord Bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26.

Crazy Thankful!

I have sooo much to be thankful for. I could make a list that would go on and on for days. A few of the things that I am most thankful for: 1. My family of course, immediate and extended. Without my family what would I do. My husband and son mean the most to me. I love them so much!
2. A job. I realize that even in the midst of me hating my job as much as I do, I still have a job. And that, I am thankful for.
3. Friends....I truly have some of the best friends anyone could ask for both far and near.
Like I said, I could start naming things like: sweet tea, kisses from Malachi, etc....but that list would go on and on. We have had a wonderful Thanksgiving break thus far. Nick's mom and dad flew in on Thanksgiving Day. We were so blessed to have them. So my big surprise??? I cooked Thanksgiving dinner for us all! My first turkey was a success. Turkey, green bean casserole, corn, rolls, yams, and mashed potatoes. And I topped it off with a pound cake made from scratch. I'm not a big pound cake eater, but they keep eating it so I guess it's alright. lol Thursday night, Nick and I got to Walmart at 10:30. We had never been Black Friday shopping before and therefore, could not believe people were already in line! Good grief. I have never seen anything like this in my life. However, it was sooo funny to me, I plan on doing it for years to come. I even almost missed one of my deals because I was so focused on watching the crazy people. We got what we wanted and were checked out by 12:15. Thank goodness cause that was INSANITY at its finest. I started at 9a.m. Saturday morning. Trying to find some more good deals and I did. I picked up the fam around 11 and we shopped until we dropped. We all had fun!
We didn't get the present for Malachi we had wanted, on sale that is, so we just had to pay full price and be done with it. I can't wait though. He is going to love it. He already loves it. Everytime we go in the store he goes crazy over it.
I am extremely blessed to have such wonderful people in my life. This Thanksgiving was our first Thanksgiving in our house and hopefully many more to come.
Time for the fam to watch Toy Story 3.
Waiting on Papa and Grammie aka GiGi at the airport.

One....Day til Thanksgiving, Two....Days til Black Friday!

We are only ONE DAY away from Thanksgiving. Nick's parents are coming in to town. We are so excited that they are going to be able to spend Thanksgivng with us. I wish all of our family could be here but we know that's just not possible. We have a little surprise for Papa and Gigi when they come. I can't tell you yet just in case she reads this tonight. ;) Don't worry, I'm not pregnant. I have so been enjoying spending time at home with just Nick and Malachi. I love having the whole day to just sit and play, sleep in, eat when we want, etc. We also started painting our living room again. Hopefully it won't be too much longer until we finish. I HATE painting. It's so not as fun as I thought it would be. I'm a little more calmer than I was in March when we first started. That's right, we haven't painted since March because we almost killed each other! It's coming along, slowly but surely.

And....We are TWO DAYS away from Black Friday. I have never done the whole black Friday shopping extravaganza but this year I have decided to tackle it. Things just happen when you have a baby and you suddenly realize you will do anything to get them that special "thing." Even if it means, screaming and scratching through the crowds. I'm not sure how I will do or even if we will get what we are looking for but at least we will have tried, right? I mean honestly, I flipped out in Walmart the other day because this lady was taking her time pushing her cart and I couldn't get around her because there was either someone or some display on either side of her. So.....watch out people!!!! Plans are this: 12:00a.m. Walmart, 4a.m. Target. I'll let you know if the plan goes accordingly. Check back for a Thanksgiving Day post and Black Friday update. Until then...Happy Thanksgiving. Be thankful for everything...in the good times and in the bad.

Just Call Me Aunt Jess!!!!

About a month and a half ago, Nick's brother, Nathan and his wife Callie, called us one Sunday morning to tell us that they were having a baby! We were both sooooo excited and happy for them. Well, we have had to keep quiet so they could get throught the first trimester and now that the first trimester is over........I can finally scream it from the roof tops!!! I'm an aunt again!Here's the the new mommy and daddy. Congratualtions Nathan and Callie!! We are soooo excited to have a niece or nephew on the way. What a wonderful thanksgiving gift. We have so much to be thankful for.

Since having a baby (who is now a toddler)......

1. Sleeping in is a thing of the past.
2. Nice clothes don't stay nice for long....a stain on my shirt is so minor now. (I'm just happy to be dressed in something other than my pajamas)
3. Even if my toddler does sleep through the night doesn't mean that I do. I still get up and check to make sure he's still breathing.
4. Nick Jr.....well, it's just a part of our lives now.
5. I may not know the name or words to the most popular song these days, but ask me to sing a Nick Jr. song and I can nail it!
6. I often find myself humming children's songs all through out the day.
7. Catching throw up in my hand....no big deal cause I don't want to have to clean the carpet.
8. I don't mind watching the same cartoon (TS) over and over.....If you saw the excitement on his face you would understand why. :)
9. I notice EVERYTHING that remotely has to do with Toy Story these days.
10. Butt dialing? Nope. BABY dialing. Sorry about that...mom...dad...Karla...911!

The list could go on and on. And no matter how long this list becomes, I wouldn't trade my life for anything!! Being a mom is the BEST reward I've ever been given.

Malachi's 1st tree!!

This is Malachi's 3rd Christmas but this year he is bigger and more aware of what's going on. Since I can remember, there was one thing at Christmas time that me and my brother always looked forward too (he lost interest way before I did).............putting up the Christmas tree with my mom!!! I can remember the anticipation of her going and getting the tree and all of the ornaments out of the shed. I was always so excited to see her walk through the door with the big box that contained everything. There were a couple of years that we had a real tree (which I love) but for the most part, we had the same ole tree for as long as I can remember. And the ornaments, I can remember scurrying through the box to find my favorite ones. Again, we had these ornaments forever. It's been a long time since I was able to put up a tree with my mom but now I can do it with my kids and she can do it with my niece and nephews now.
So last night I put up our tree!!! I've never done this before Thanksgiving because I do love Thanksgiving and spending all day eating, sleeping, and watching football on that day. But, we are gone so much during Decemeber it seems that we never really get to enjoy our tree. So I decided to go ahead and put it up. And I had my little helper to hang some ornaments. I still have a lot more ornaments to put on it but here's a sneak peak. Malachi also got to decorate his own tree. Every year since he was born he has picked out a new ornament. Well, I guess we picked it out the first year. :) Last year he picked out a basketball goal with sneakers on it. This year, can you guess what he picked out? That's right......Toy Story. It's such a cute little tree. Perfect size for him. So here's to the beginning of a wonderful Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday!!
The day he got his ornament. He was so excited. lol

Coach......Cowan

Last night was Nick's first game of the season. Lady Lions vs. Peak Prep. It's always a little interesting watching them. In my head I'm thinking, stop walking!, shoot the ball!, look down the floor! Then I come back to reality and remember , oh yeah, they are only 8th graders. He actually has a pretty good 8th grade team this year. They won last night 46-4. That's right, they killed them!! Good job Lady Lions and good job Coach Cowan!
As much as basketball season pains me because the mornings come so early, (Nick now gets up at 4:45 to be at practice at 6, yuck!) I still love it. Half of me loves it because that's the sport I played growing up. I loved basketball and I loved my teammates. The other half of me loves it because Nick loves it so much. He LOVES coaching basketball. I love watching him because I can see how much he is truly enjoying himself. Who knows, maybe one day he will move up and coach high school. I fully believe he can if he ever wanted too. But for now, he's happy with the 8th grade girls. This is his 3rd year coaching and when he first began he would always come home saying...."Why do girls cry so much?" "Why do girls laugh at every thing?" I just laughed and said, "You better get use too it cause that's just what we do." LOL Here are a few pictures from last nights game.

Coach Cowan in action...with his trusty side-kick Malachi getting ready for the game.

Malachi cheering daddy on.

Life in the Fast Lane...

It seems like we are always living LIFE IN THE FAST LANE! This weekend was definitely one of those times. Friday night we went to our friends little boy's birthday party. Tyler is a few weeks older than Malachi so they always have fun when the are together. His party was at a place called Jump for Fun and boy let me tell you......they jumped for fun! lol This place had 10 different bounce houses and Malachi loved everyone of them. I'm telling you....the boy is fearless. As proud of him as I am, it does scare me a little cause I think, what will he try next?! ha! Here is a picture of one of the slides he went down. If it seems a little steep, it is! That's how tall the slide was and Malachi LOVED it.

Not only was it at a fun place but it was also a pajama party. All the kiddos and adults wore their pajamas. We had such a blast celebrating such a fun, loving little boy. Here are a few more pictures from that night. Here's the birthday boy! (eating him a fine black icing cupcake) :)

Friday was great, now on to Saturday. Saturday morning I had a baby shower to attend. I love baby showers. It's so fun to see all the little clothes and watching the mom opening the gifts is awesome. You can see with every gift she unwraps, joy is all over her face, pondering, that soon, she will have someone to put in those little clothes. It was a great shower and we are so excited to meet baby Caleb! When I got home I took Malachi to the new PetSmart that just opened near our house. He loves dogs and fish so I thought it was a perfect way to get him out of the house and in to a nap before we headed to the football game. It was SAGU's homecoming so a few of us met up there to watch the game and reconnect. After the game, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings with two of best friends, Rev and Sabi. Always sure to have a good laugh with them two around. And imagine that, the day still isn't over. Life School Oak Cliff (where Nick coaches basketball), there volleyball girls were playing the 2nd game in the playoffs. They have never been to the playoffs so we wanted to make sure we showed our support. Unfortunately, they lost but we are all so proud of them anyway.

I think that about wraps up our weekend. Well, we did go to church today. Nick helped me in the nursery because we were short handed. That was fun. He did so good with the babies. But, I knew he would cause he's such a good dad. With all the busyness of this weekend, I didn't even really mind. Why? Because I was with the two people that I can't get enough of. I love spending everyday, all day with them. They can always put a smile on my face and we have fun where ever we are!

Pumpkins, Fall Fests, and A Night with Friends

We have had a wonderful busy weekend. As I did last year, I waited until the last minute to buy Malachi a halloween costume. First I bought him a ninja costume, it was too small. Then I bought a firefighter outfit. EEEEEhhhh, not really feeling it. So, I ended up with a football uniform and it was cheaper anyways. :) Our little sports star. Here's a preview of what he looked like. (morepictures when I can get them uploaded).



Friday, Malachi's sitter put on a little carnival for them. They had some games and wore their costumes. She said they were a little distracted by everything but all in all they had a good time.

Saturday morning, we took Malachi to Country Critter Farms. We all had a blast. It was a great little place to take a toddler. They had a pumpkin patch, hay ride, train ride, petting zoo, a storyteller, and of course his favorite......bounce houses! He wasn't too sure about the animals at first but when daddy started petting them, he warmed right up to them and loved him. He would just laugh and jump. It was so fun to watch him. We stayed there for about 2 1/2 hours and then came home to rest up for the fall festival that night.

Saturday night, I took Malachi to the Fall Festival at Trinity Church with my BF Jennifer. It was fun to spend time with just the two of them. Malachi played all sorts of games and of course got his favorite thing........SUCKERS! We went on another hay ride. There's just something about this time of year and hayrides that I love!

Sunday morning all the kids wore their costumes to church. I'm sure Malachi was probably wondering why he has been wearing the same outfit for the last three days. Sunday evening, we went to Karla and Dallas's parents house and had dinner with them. Karla and I took Malachi, along with her nieces, to a few houses around the block. He could have cared less! He was so not in to it so we just came back home. We ended up just hanging out at their house for the rest of the night. All in all it was a wonderful weekend. I will be getting more pictures on here just hold steady for a little bit. (I gott figure out how to get them off the camera).

Hope you all had a wonderful festive holiday and weekend. Did you do anything fun as a family for this weekend or have any traditions that you always do?