Owen Raymond Cowles

Here are the NEW PROUD PARENTS of Mr. Owen Cowles!!

Mr. Owen Raymond Cowles arrived on Tuedsay January 13 at 2:55pm. Weighing in at 7lbs 14oz and 20 inches long. We are so excited that his very much anticipated arrival has come. Brookie and KC are doing fantastic and are loving little Owen up. You can truly hear the joy of a little baby in their voices, it's so cool.
We are so anxious to meet this little guy and very excited to have a little cousin/nephew. Our sweet Hollie has been keeping Owen in her prayers and it's too cute!!

Congrats KC and Brookie we love you!!! Welcome to the world of being a mommy and daddy and ALL the wonderful joys that come with it. "Hold on tight it's a wild ride" as Mr. Toad puts it. Lots and Lots of Love sent to you from Arizona.

WELCOME Baby OWEN!! We love you and can't wait to meet you. See you soon!!!

The month of December

Wow, I am so bad at keeping my blog up to date. Here are a few things that occured in the month of December.

PUTTING UP THE TREE

It was the Sunday after Thanksgiving and we decided it was time to put up the tree. Hollie and daddy did a great job at putting our "artificial pre-lit" tree up. While they were busy putting the tree up Ethan decided that he was going to lay on the floor and take a nap. It was so cute. He was laying there playing and next thing we know he is sound asleep. We had Hollie lay next to him, very carefully, and wanted to see the difference between the both of them. All we could say was, we have 2 VERY cute kids.

Later that evening we decorated the tree and Hollie was a great helper and did a great job at decorating her half of the tree. Only half of our tree could be decorated this year because of a busy little boy whose name is Ethan LOVES to get into and touch EVERYTHING!!! It was very much a kid proof tree and it still was pretty and cute.SANTA

Our ward had a ward Christmas breakfast with Santa and it was so much fun. The food was VERY YUMMY with all our favorites for Breakfast. After breakfast Santa came and the kids went crazy. Hollie was excited to look at him, but didn't know what to actually think of him. She sat on his lap and did a great job. She may not look happy, but, Hey, she is NOT screaming...Hooray!!!

While kids were busy saying "hi" to Santa and telling him what they want Bishop had a big suprise for them when they were finished. At the other end of the cultural hall were two huge jump houses!!! One for the big kids and one for the little ones. Everyone had a blast and big "thanks" to Bishop.
HOLLIE

Oh, my sweet Hollie. She is one funny girl. She was given a moses basket when she was just a baby and she would take naps in it. Well, lately we have used it as a bed for her dolls and stuffed animals. One afternoon she was taking a nap and I went to check on her and I found her sleeping in her moses basket. I started laughing so hard and ran to get my camera. I asked myself, How does this big little body curl up and fit in here? Well, she did and covered herself with LOTS of blankets.

The next morning we woke up and like always I go check on the kids and here I find her curled up in her moses basket again!! I don't know how long she slept in there, but she must have been pretty comfortable. My cute girl, I just LOVE her to pieces.

COWLES FAMILY CHRISTMAS PARTY

This has been a tradition that my mom started many many years ago. And the coolest part is is when she passed away the tradition still continued. It used to be my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins it has always been a big deal. Now it is our family, my cousins here in Arizona and my aunt and uncle. One of the traditions is that my dad plays the guitar. I don't hear him play very often and when I do it is such a treat. He LOVES playing and played lots when my mom was here and it brings back many memories when I hear him play. Thanks dad. It is still lots of fun and the tradition of singing the 12 days of Christmas still goes on. My grandpa Cowles always had the "5 golden rings" and it was "His Part" the best part of the song. Sometimes he would say 5 roast beef sandwiches, just to be funny. There are always cazoos present and bells and lots and lots of loud voices. It was fun to be able to have it at my house this year, it was the first year we got to host it. My kids loved it and we all had so much fun. We can't wait for next year.

And I don't even know what to say here except for, oh my goodness gracious!!

He's on the WAY!!!!!!

As some may know my brother, KC, and his wife, Brookie, are expecting their first little baby, a boy!! Let me first say I am SOOOO excited!!! Well, it is looking like this little guy is going to make his grand presence a little bit earlier than expected. He is only going to be 2 1/2 weeks early if he comes by tomorrow. I just talked to my brother and he said that there are a few signs and that Brookie's contractions are about 11 minutes apart...WAHOO!!!! Oh my goodness, I cannot believe that they are in Utah and I am here in Arizona. I wish I could be there so bad, but I know that I have a family I need to be with and two adorable little kiddos that need their mom. Thank goodness we have a trip planned to Utah for the end of the month and we will get to meet our new nephew/cousin.
I cannot believe my little brother is going to be a daddy. Wow. I couldn't be more excited for him and Brookie. It seems like yesterday that he was this cute little and may I add CHUBBY boy and now he is this grown man and becoming a daddy. Where does time go? They both are going to be wonderful parents. This little guy is one lucky boy to be coming into such a great family. I know how excited Brookie's family is because this is the first grandbaby for them and I know they are all bursting with joy and excitement too. Many happy moments ahead and as soon as he is born I will post some pictures. Oh, I just can't wait.

Re-cap of the last month

Wow, where has time gone? Christmas has come and gone and it's now 2009, oh my goodness!!
Let me give a quick re-cap of the last month.

• Ethan turned 9 months and needed to get an MRI because his head measures above the 100 percentile! Thank goodness the MRI came back normal. Our pediatrician said, he just has a Charlie Brown head. As you can see he continues to keep us on our toes.
• Christmas Shopping and more Christmas Shopping.
• Christmas Party's
• Hollie enjoyed sitting on Santa Clause' lap. Hooray....last year was quite the experience.
• Papa Cowles and Janene's "sleigh" arrived 2 weeks before Christmas and that was LOTS of fun.
• The Cowles Family Christmas Party!!! Always fun and loud due to all the singing and kazoos!! (thanks Janene for a GREAT Turkey!)
• Packed the car and brought Christmas to Utah this year for 2 weeks and it was a BLAST!! Pictures to come soon. We just got a new computer and are in the middle of transfering stuff.
• Ethan starting to WALK the day before Christmas... oh goodness, I don't think I am ready for this.
• Ethan keeping us on our toes once again with a week of diahrea diapers (about 10 a day). Yes, can you say HOLY COW!! This started 2 days before we left for Utah and it just got worse as time went on. His poor bottom just made me cry every time I changed his diaper. The doctors said it was a virus and to let it run its course. Are you kidding me, I said. So, we decided to give him a blessing and switched his formula to Soy. He is doing much better now and is still on Soy.
• Our Birthmom went through the Temple and was married on December 27. We are so excited for her and the new chapter she is opening in her life. She has made great decisions and found a young man who loves her unconditionally and that is all we can ask for.
• Christmas Day was fantastic!! Santa brought Hollie a Princess Kitchen and Ethan a Leap Frog ride on train. Santa spoiled me too, I might add. And Mrs. Clause was very nice to Santa. It was a great Christmas and we were so lucky to be with all our family and the Skousen Family (my sister-in-law's family). It was great and SOOO much fun. Pictures soon.
• Ryan turned 33 and now calls himself "an old fart". He doesn't look a day over 25.
• Well, I think that sums up our December. Now here we are into a new year with LOTS of New Years Resolutions, goals and many more fun memories ahead. Lets GO!!!!

Party in My Crib 1:45AM!!!

I couldn't believe it when Ryan and I were awoken at 1:45AM to laughing and playing. I turned over to Ryan and said, "do you hear what I hear?", we both started laughing and he said, "yep". I got up and went into Ethan's room to find Hollie jumping in his crib and him standing and laughing. I couldn't believe my eyes!!! Ofcourse, I started to laugh and I picked Hollie up and said, Girlie what are you doing in Ethan's crib, it is sleepy time, not play time? Her response was, Ethan awake mommy. I said, yes he is and it's now time for both of you to go back to bed.
I never knew that the saying "party in my crib 3am" really came true, but I guess it did here. These kids crack me up and I love every bit of it.

2 Years

November 18, 2006 Hollie's adoption was finalized and we became an eternal family, it was one of the best days of my life. After going through all that we have been through with infertility and trying to adopt, having our first child's adoption finalized and having her sealed to us was such a blessing. We were fortunate enough to have her adoption finalized on "Adoption Day". It was on a Saturday down at the Juvenile court in Phoenix. It was a big celebration and there were numerous adoptions finalized that day. It was great to be able to see how adoption has touched the lives of so many others just in our state of Arizona. Adoption is a blessing to so many and I am grateful that I was able to experience and have it be a part of my life.

This day will always hold a special place in my heart because it's the day that Hollie was officially, legally ours.

I cannot believe that was 2 years ago, it feels like it was just yesterday. To celebrate we went to the mall and did a little bit of shopping. It was fun watching Hollie pick out a couple shirts all by herself, then later that evening we went out and got some ice cream. It was a great day and we told Hollie many times that today was her "special day" and how grateful we are that she came to our family.

I couldn't help but take a few pictures of our beautiful princess on her special day.

A Beautiful Girl

Janene picked Hollie out this matching outfit and we think it's just adorable? She has the dress, shirt, jacket and the shoes. What more could a 2 year old ask for than to have a complete matching outfit? I never thought I would ever get her to wear the jacket, but she picked it all out and wanted to wear it. I was so excited and thought that she just looked so cute and so grow up. I had to show her off.

Hollie has always been a girl who has had quite the wardrobe. When she was first born her closet was filled from the left to the right and her dresser was PACKED with clothes. She never got a chance to even wear some of them because she grew way to fast. She had matching shoes to most her outfits and had 2 baskets full of shoes. She even had a basket full of matching hats to outfits. You name it she had it! Ofcourse, as a first time mom I loved every bit of it. She still to this day has more shoes that I do. She has more jackets then anyone I know and they are all pink! We joke around that Hollie may have to have a whole room to herself just for her clothes and shoes. I have to say, this shopping isn't all me. Yes, I do do my fair share, but she has grandparents that just LOVE to dress her up and buy way cute clothes.. Who doesn't? Shopping for girls is SOOOO much fun and there are SOOOO many adorable clothes. Hollie LOVES all her clothes and LOVES to pick out her outfits. I have little say in what she wears now unless I want to put up a fight. I am learning to pick my battles, lol. Thank goodness she has cute clothes to wear because then I don't worry so much, unless she tries to put something together that doesn't match, but then again, Oh Well. I am learning to LOVE it and I always express to her how pretty she looks no matter what she is wearing.

I thought it would be fun to show some pictures of Hollie's closet when she was just a MONTH old!!! I have never bought so many baby hangers in my entire life. My mother-in-law and I just laughed as we were trying (key word) to put all this stuff in drawers and fit it in her closet. We had it all organized by months, it was crazy!!

A juice container???

After buying toys, toys, teethers and more toys all I really needed to do was spend $2.50 on a juice container. This container brought hours of entertainment and lots of joy. Who would have ever known that a large juice container, or water bottle would create lots of entertainment? Not me. I even found that if I put something beans or rice in it that it created even more entertainment, but LOTS of noise. I guess it's always the simple things in life that make us happy.

My growing Boy

Goodness, gracious where is the time going? I cannot believe that Ethan is now 8 1/2 months old. He is doing so good and is just the cutest boy ever!! He is VERY busy and has already taught us lots of things that his big sister Hollie never taught us. I have to say there is definetly a difference between boys and girls. I never really thought how they both could be so different, but they are.
Ethan has the cutest little personality. He LOVES to smile and has become quite the flirt. He is definetly a momma's boy and I enjoy every moment. He is one handsome little boy and Hollie and I have lots of fun boy shopping. He is very photogenic and loves his picture to be taken, therefore; I take advantage of those moments. I love him lots and he is my busy, cute, adorable, fun, busy boy.

Gotta Love those CHEEKS!!!!!

Halloween

Yes, this is very late, I know. Hey, better late than never, right? Halloween was great! The best part about it was that my dad and Janene SUPRISED me and the kids (yes, ryan knew all about it and didn't say a word) and came for Halloween. They both have VERY busy schedules right now and they came out for a quick 24 hour trip to be with me and the kids! It was GREAT and SO much fun to have them here with us. The kids LOVED being with Papa and Janene and I know they both enjoyed the grandkids.

Thank goodness for Papa because we may not have ever carved our pumpkin. We had it planned to do it Thursday but the day just got away from us. Ryan and I could have carved it by ourselves, but what fun is that when you have little kids. So, papa took the place of dadda and carved the pumkin and he did a great job. Hollie didn't want much to do with it, but Ethan sat and watched papa the whole time. After papa was finished Hollie wanted to name it and our pumpkin received the name of Jack. Sorry, I just realized I don't have any pictures of finished Jack.

Halloween night was fun, but I sure did miss my husband. Ryan was at a high school football game that night.

We went over to the Skousen's for trick or treating because KC and Brookie were in town for a funeral(my brother and sister-in-law). It was fun being together with family and visiting.

Trick or treating was interesting. Our sweet little Snow White just didn't want much to do with it. We went to about 5 houses and called it quits. She didn't want her costume on, didn't want to wear the shoes or the adorable headband, but she was still cute. We atleast got the costume on and were grateful for that. I just love this picture of papa consoling his girl

Once we got back to the house she took off running and wouldn't stop. I followed behind and was just laughing, this girl is simply hilarious!! She ran for about 3 minutes turned around and that was it. Then she sat in the chair with uncle KC and enjoyed watching the trick or treaters. Ethan was great and just loved watching all the action going on. He is so busy and watching LOTS of kids was very entertaining for him. Overall, it was a great night and I continued to tell myself, there is always next year and the year after that and the year after that.........
And She's off!!