Cow Day 2014

Our little herd:

(She was so excited this year!)

"I want the one with eyelashes."

My parents arrived in time for the festivities.  We cowed out a hat for my dad - since caps are part of his usual apparel anyway!

Where did that cow go?

Annual Family Portrait

You know some families all dress is crisp white shirts and take those nice family portraits on the beach. Us? We dress up like cows and have someone take our picture at Chic-fil-a.

We made new masks this year.  I really wanted to do something 3-D.  The first one I made was the boxy one I'm wearing.  I wasn't 100% happy with it when I was finished, but I put so much into it I figured I ought to wear it.  I made Rob's 2nd, it had structural issues too, but it did the job.  I was happiest with the ones C & A are wearing.  The eye part is flat and the nose is 3-D.

Cowed out from horn to hoof.  Caleb wanted to add actual hooves too, but we ran out of time.

Natalie acted petrified of the cow costumes at home and was in such a panic over wearing a spotted shirt that I decided not to push it.  When we got there she was happy to wear the mask and sign.

So anyway, there is a contest and there are prizes involved (probably more chicken, but that's ok).  So click here to...

VOTE FOR US!

Cow Day 2011

This was our 4th Dress Like a Cow Day. You can even look back on my blog and see the progression :) (it's always in early July) Getting ready this year was pretty easy because I had 3 years worth of masks, tails, and painted shirts already on hand. I like that our kids are happy to participate - of course they're little and dressing up is still fun - but I just wonder, my parents wouldn't have done this when I was a kid (dress like a cow for a chicken sandwich) and I turned out like this, what on earth are they going to be like! *sigh* probably horribly embarrassed by their strange parents.

But weren't the girls cute!

Annalise wanted a new mask, so I helped her make it and let her paint on the spots - nice job I think :)

Natalie isn't a big hat wearer, but didn't seem too bothered by her little cow coif I made (a 3 minute project - thanks to all the Renaissance research!)

Annalise from behind:

Caleb and Rob were in Cape Canaveral on Friday, but there is Chick-fil-a there too and they completed their bargain outing (the launch tickets were free) by eating at Chick-fil-a too. Caleb had probably the easiest costume. I found a Dalmatian puppy costume at a yard sale and he wore that. Buuuuuuuut he thought he looked silly and since he is getting almost old enough to read my blog for himself, I will omit that (very cute!!!) picture. He asked me to take this one though:

Here is the ketchup that came with our meal - I think this idea has been too long in coming!

4th and 9th

Our 4th of July:

Natalie's first Sunday in church and my first non-medical outing since she was born:

Our church also had a cookout, Annalise displays a very patriotic icing face:

And they shot off some unregulated fireworks in the church playground, too LOUD says Annalise!

Natalie and I opted out of the fireworks, this year the City of Homestead held their display at the Nascar track and the kids got to check out the pits and see some cars.

Annalise's Miss American wave:

Usually Homestead has the fireworks at the baseball stadium and Rob said that it is much better there. Hopefully enough other people thought the same and they will go back there next year.

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AND a special "heads-up" to anyone who likes dressing up in costumes and free chicken - THIS FRIDAY, July 9th is Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a.basically, if you dress up like a cow, you can get free food at Chick-fil-a. If it sounds a little awkward, just know that so long as you are going to a free-standing Chick-fil-a and not one in a mall, you will be in good company...and they don't require you to wear your costume while you eat. Fortunately for us, I saved the more difficult to produce parts of our costumes from last year and they held up well. The kids are super excited and we are going to cow-up a onesie for Natalie so she can join in the fun :)

Cowpokes

Cow Appreciation Day 2009 has come and gone! But even if you missed it, you can live vicariously through our photos :)

A family portrait:


Pre-cow day preparation.

Annalise didn't wear her mask for long, but she did "moo" a lot :)

What did the bored cow say when she got up in the morning?
"It's just an udder day"

Why don't cows have any money?
Because farmers milk them dry.

What do call a cow that has just had a calf?
Decalfenated

Annalise enjoying her free chicken and her kid's meal toy.

We got to spin a wheel to win prizes; this is Caleb's prize - actually his very first encounter with a Pez dispenser.

Caleb modeling the tail - I forgot to get a picture of them when we were all dressed up. He actually painted all the spots on our tails and cut out all the spots for his shirt and shorts. He is really good at following directions! :)

EAT MOR CHIKIN

One of my favorite 'sayings' is that I like to pick activities in the "Cheap to Free Range".

I'm sure you see where this is going :)

The requirements of the deal were to either dress like a cow or wear some cow related clothing (a tie, a t-shirt, etc.). Dressing like a cow got more free food. The cow related clothes only gained the sandwich. I wasn't sure how much of a cow outfit it was going to take to qualify for the whole meal, but it turned out they weren't terribly picky!

Caleb was VERY excited about this! He helped me make his costume. His headgear is made out of a rice crispy box. We downloaded the placard from the Chick-fil-a website. He has rice crispy box hooves on his hands and feet. And of course his udder is a kitchen glove.
On the back he has some spots and a tail made out of Publix bags. Now that's recycling!

The people working at Chick-fil-a were very excited to see us! It's hard to tell in the picture, but Rob has cow ears on his hat. We weren't the only cows there, but the place was packed and most of the other patrons were not dressed as bovine.

Annalise kicked back with her sippy. I opted not to dress her up since she's pretty notorious for eating paper.

I was a little more cowed out than Rob. In addition to my ears (taped to sunglasses) and placard, I had a tail and hooves on my hands. All three of us got our entire meal free.

Annalise says, "Hey! Where's my chicken?!?"