The Flame

SO, Wednesday I pull into a parking lot at Staples thinking I was going to go in and check out their laptops. I put the car in park, turned off the engine, and took my foot off the brake. I started rolling backwards! I slammed on the brakes thinking I accidentally had it in neutral or reverse instead of park but when I looked down, nope, it was truly in park. I thought I must have dreamed that I rolled backward so I took my foot off the brake again. More rolling. A moment of panic. I then put the key back in the ignition and tried to start it to see if that would help. It no starty. So I grabbed the cell and called Big C. In the meantime I started playing around with the various sticks and shifty things and discovered that I could move the gear shift up and down and up and down even though the car was in park and no starty. Back to the rolling...I am now about 1/4 of the way out of a parking spot next to the building in front of Staples with no way of correcting my awkward parking job. After a call to the car-gods, they would have to tow it. No problem, the guy at Elliott's, a guy I have known most of my life, said he would give me a loaner until they could figure out what went wrong. And boy was I in for a treat!

Meet "The Flame", a white PT Cruiser with over 113, 000 miles on it that was dirty and smelled like old vacuum cleaner bags. The best part was how cool it looked. I mean...it has FLAMES!

Don't I look AWESOME???

I had to drive it to the PTO meeting that night (insert pause here for you to stop smirking), and when I returned home, little c left me a post-it with the following note:

"I fell offull for you haveing to drive that car that has the flames on the side." I think it embarrassed the 5-year-old!

As of this post, we are back in the Pacifica and feeling extra grateful for her!

ACE

This past Saturday The Cowan Three attended our first cheer competiton...yes, it is official, we are Cheer Parents! We attended the Spirit Celebration Fall Championship on the campus of UNT in Denton. Little C started cheer and tumbling this year and this was her first time to compete with her tiny cheer team, the ACE Flurries!

Beauty is Pain...here we are all dressed with our rollers and ready to go!

We made it all the way to Greenville before she started complaining that the rollers were heavy and hurting her head, so we had to take them out.

We finally made it to Denton. While this is a pretty good shot of me and my little princess, I would like to take this opportunity to ask Big C not to ever photograph my behind again!

In full uniform and make up ready to go!

I love those glittery eyes and lips!

little c with one of her teachers, Martha, who also happens to be one of my students at the high school!

little c with her teacher, Ms. Misty

little c with long-time pal, Brooke

Brooke, Katie, and little c

The Flurries

All of the ACE teams waiting in the team area before going to the warm-up gym

And here we go!

Ok, the girl on the left is doing a great cartwheel. Little c is in the middle on the floor and we are still working on it people!

Here she comes running forward for her forward roll.

Her toe touch!

And her tuck jump.

Her stunt group

the dance

All smiles with her trophy!

We all had a great time and can't wait to do it again in January!

Overheard on our trip to Tulsa

little c was on a roll during the trip to Tulsa. Here are a few of my favorite funny moments...

We stopped and ate at a wonderful restaurant in McAlister Oklahoma that serves italian food family style. Let's just say, you leave there more than a little satisfied. While carrying little c out of the restaurant...
Mommy " I am so full my tummy is going to explode!"
little c "Mommy are you going to explode?"
Mommy "I might..."
little c "then put me down!"

Upon leaving the restaurant, Monna was giving little c a tour out the window of some of the places we were passing.
Monna "Over here is the state prison."
little c "what's a prison?"
Monna "It's where you have to go if you have done something really bad, like jail"
little c "Then let's not go there!"

Describing the hotel to little c before we got there...
Monna " This place has a continental breakfast"
Big C "Good, then there will be coffee and chocolate milk!"
little c "well then this hotel is better than the last one. I can get a real breakfast, like chocolate milk and a cereal bar!"
***we ate at IHOP on the last trip so I guess pancakes, eggs, and bacon are not nearly as divine as a cereal bar!***

Pulling in to Tulsa we spotted a house with a big OU and an upside down longhorn on a rooftop in lights. I pointed it out to little c and said that we should go over there and turn the longhorn right side up and the OU upside down.
Big C "C***** what does OU upside down spell?"
little c "(pause pause pause) NO!!"
That's right baby girl, just say NO to OU!

And on the way home, while leaving a gas station parking lot, I asked Big C to pull over so I could dump out some of my drink.
Big C "Hurry up there is a car behind me!"
little c from the backseat "Daddy, don't tell mommy how to live her life!"

What are we going to do with her????

Next stop, Tulsa!

Yes...another road trip! The Cowan Three have been burning up the roads and going going going here lately. This past weekend we went to Tulsa to visit some of Big C's family members that we have not seen in quite awhile. We left Friday afternoon and arrived late that night. We all gathered at the home of Monna's oldest brother and his wife and had a great time visiting and catching up.

Our hosts, Carroll and Jean Doyle

Big C's cousin Dana, her husband Mike and their children

Another cousin Macie and her family

I had to include this photo...is it not priceless?

Yet another cousin Jared and his girlfriend who had run like 18 miles that morning...pretty sure I wouldn't look like that if I had run...wait, never mind, I would be hospitalized, you're right.

the princess

Monna and her sister Sue

Macie and Jared

Monna talks it over with her brother-in-law and sister-in-law Bob and Donna

peek-a-boo...love this picture. The kids were playing hide-and-go-seek.

Lucky...isn't he so cute??? But don't let him fool you, he was pretty badly behaved!

Big C and Bob

Donna and Abigail

little c entertained herself by washing off the leaves on the ground in the water in the bird bath...I know, I know.

Donna and the sweet blue-eyed doll!

little c just loves babies...

We had a great time and hope to see everyone again sometime soon!

Happy Halloween!

This past Saturday The Cowan Three ventured out for Halloween in royal fashion! This year little c wanted to be Cinderella so naturally Big C had to be Prince Charming.

And since Big C's costume came as a set with an adult Cinderella costume, Mommy got in on the act too!

The Royal couple

The Royal family

The glass slipper fit!
After visiting grandparents and much ooohing and aahhhing, we proceeded to the FBC Fall Family Festival...yes, we actually appeared in public as The Charming's.

the ring toss

the duck pond

the ball toss

little c and our friend Callaway

Plinko

the giant dolphin slide

and a Halloween hug from Cal

Hope you had a Royal Halloween! Ironically enough as we were leaving to go home, the bell tower in downtown MP chimed. little c said "is that the clock striking midnight???" It was a perfect end to the ball!

The puppet show

Last Sunday Big C showed little c how to make puppets out of paper sacks. Well, that of course meant they had to put on a puppet show for Mommy from behind the couch...priceless!

The first show was titled "C***** goes to the father/daughter dance with Daddy" Note that "Big C" has on a suit.

They then did an encore showing but changed to "C******** and Daddy go on a long walk"

Finally, they had a new show which requireed new puppets...

"C******** and Daddy go for a swim" Note the swim suits...

Ta-da!!!!!!!!

Red Ribbon Week

Little c celebrated Red Ribbon week this week at her school by participating each day in the campus dress up days:

Monday--crazy sock day

Tuesday--pajama day

Wednesday--crazy hair day

Thursday--Hero day (sidenote: little c cried the night before because she has a Mom shirt and a Dad shirt and she didn't want to hurt anyone's feeling :( . She went with the obvious choice here...it was such a no-brainer!)

Friday--favorite team jersey day (again, a no-brainer choice!)