Quick 5

Ah, summer.

1.  Cow Appreciation Day was a success.  It truly is one of our favorite days of the year.  I like to sit in the Chick-fil-a and shake my head at the people who walk in dressed in normal clothes.  Don't they know how easy it is to get a full free meal?  Sure, you feel dumb for about 5 minutes the first year, but after that it's no big deal.  And it's FREE CHICK-FIL-A.  Our local Chick-fil-a also does a photo contest on their Facebook page.  They take pictures of all the groups that come in, and the one with the most likes gets seven free meals per person in the photo.  I'm not gonna lie...we're really hoping to win.  And so far, unless something crazy happens, it looks like we just might.  The contest ends tomorrow, so we're still trying to keep our hopes at reasonable levels.  But it would be awesome.
**Shameless Plug**  There's still time to vote!  Just go to my Facebook page, scroll down and click on the picture of us dressed as cows.  :)  Make sure you like the actual picture, and not just the picture posted on my page!

2.  The biggest thing of the week has been swimming lessons.  This is Alaina's second year and she loves it, of course.  Joya had a rough couple of days at the beginning of the week, as she was overcome with jealousy.  But swimming lessons start at age 3, so she had to sit this year out.  Hopefully next year I can find a Tiny Tunas class at the same time that Alaina will have class, because there will be war in the camp if Joya can't go swimming next year too.

Bria just chills for the lesson

Waiting for her teacher

Doing bobs

Joya is Phase One of the lesson - eating snack

Joya in Phase Two - playing with toys

Joya in Phase Three - wandering.  She found a friend the other day

 Alaina's teacher is great.  It makes me wish I had taught swimming lessons when I was younger.  I could do what she does...except I'm not always that great with 3 to 5 year olds that aren't my own.  And I would just like to say that I love taking swimming pictures.  They turn out awesome.

3.  We've had a bunny problem in our yard.  I suppose it's not a big deal; they're not really hurting anything.  We've been worried that they'll get in our garden, but that hasn't really been the case yet.  they just annoy us with their brazen usage of our yard.  So Lee borrowed a live trap from his co-workers and set it out.  So far we've caught two bunnies, which Lee has taken away from our house and set free.  I'm not sure how humane it is, since he is setting them free in a place where they will probably get eaten by coyotes or something.  But at least we don't have to deal with dead bunnies.  Because one dead bunny per summer is enough for me.

4.  The Great Potty Training Tribulation is almost over, I think.  Joya is now wearing real underwear during the day, and has only had one accident this week.  I am always surprised when I remember that it's only been three weeks since we started this.  Joya is now at the phase where if she is bored or wants to be out of her room she tells me she has to go potty.  It happens often during room time, and once at swimming lessons.  I get her to the bathroom and she says she does NOT have to go, but can she please be done in her room, or can we go home. 

5.  We're on Baby Watch this next week or so.  No, not for Kate Middleton's baby.  Who cares about that.  My sister is about to pop with her third.  I love this phase of our lives, where I'm excited to hear my phone ring because one of my sisters is having a baby.  Hopefully Baby Watch will only last through the weekend.  I predicted she will be born on the 21st.  Make it happen, baby girl!

:)

Cow Appreciation Day 2011

This might be one of my favorite traditions for our little family.  Dressing up head to hoof like a cow for a free meal from Chick-fil-a is totally worth it.  It was much much less humiliating this year.  I don't know if it is because we knew what we were doing, or if we saw how many people did it last year, so we knew we weren't alone or what.  For any of you skeptics out there, just go next year on Cow Appreciation day.  Once you see how many people dress up, and what their costumes look like, you'll realize it's no big deal.

Of course Alaina was hilarious.  All week she talked about me being the "mudder cow," Daddy being the "daddy cow," Joya being the "baby cow," and herself being the "sister cow."  Just as we sat down to eat, the big Chick-fil-a cow came up to our table.  Alaina waved hello and then asked, "Are you a real cow?"  The cow gestured to himself, saying to look and see that he was.  Then she asked, "Do you have a tail?"  He turned around...and did not have a tail!  We told her that he had a bell and that was just as good.

Then after I managed to get a few bites into her, we went and got her face painted.  And then after dinner we went outside to pet the baby cows they had brought in for the event. 

It was so fun.  And yummy.  I love Chick-fil-a.

Sister Cow

A very rare Daddy Cow sighting

Baby Cow and Mommy Cow

Joya dressed up too, but decided to pass up chicken in favor of baby snacks

Trying a sample of the delicious peach milkshake

Alaina's first face painting ever

It took Alaina  few minutes to warm up to the idea of petting the cows

A one-week old baby goat

The girl cows

Cow Appreciation Day 2010

Moo!

We don't go out to eat much. In fact, we usually don't go out to eat unless we have a gift card. And even then, we'll hold onto it until we find a coupon to use WITH the gift card. I know, I know...our frugality goes to depths that you probably didn't even know about. Hopefully it's not unhealthy.

In the spirit of not paying for food when we go out to eat, we dressed up as cows on July 9, 2010 to participate in Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a. Chick-fil-a had been advertising that if you came dressed as a cow, head to toe, on July 9 you would get a free meal. At first I didn't want to because free food usually equals BIG crowds. I have a strong dislike for big crowds. It's why I don't make more of an effort to go to things like Rockies games, even though I really enjoy them. But Lee and I decided that we should dress up and go for an early dinner, around 4:30 or so, and maybe we'd beat the dinner rush.

So I came up with cow costumes for all of us, using a combination of the cow kit provided on Chick-fil-a's website and stuff I had at home. And we did it. We decked ourselves out. I felt silly getting in and out of the car, but as soon as we stepped foot in the Chick-fil-a, I felt at home. There were cows EVERYWHERE. It was busy, but not line-out-the-door-around-the-building-down-the-block busy. (We've participated in something like that once, just to get free burritos from Chipotle. Still not sure it was worth it.) In fact, we only had to wait in line like you normally would when you go to Chick-fil-a. We stepped up to the counter and the kid smiled at us. I asked "What do we get?" because if you weren't dressed up enough you'd just get a free sandwich. But all three of us were wearing black and white only, with contrasting spots. We had on ears and Lee and I sported the noses found on the website. The kid said "Anything you want." So we had full meals, all for free.

Chick-fil-a is amazing. Free Chick-fil-a is MORE amazing. We're already looking forward to Cow Appreciation Day 2011.

*This post is dedicated to my old, dear, long-lost friend, Erin (Green) Bradley, who was the founding member of the Heiferette Club. Every moo in my heart belongs to her.