Cow Appreciation Day

Some of my favorite things include eating Chick-Fil-A, dressing up in silly outfits, spending time with my family, and receiving free things. That's why I look forward to Cow Appreciation Day so much! I know it's silly and crowded but I love it. It's been marked on our calendar for two weeks. Jesse got really into it this year, too!

To make our cow attire, I purchased two white onesies for the girls and two white t-shirts from the boys at Goodwill. I also bought black fabric paint on sale at A.C. Moore. The total cost was $12. Jesse and I already had white clothes (an apron and button up shirt) that would work. Jackson and I painted random blobs on the kids shirts last night. Jesse and I cut out black construction paper and safety pinned them onto our white clothes.

The six of us went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch as soon as speech therapy ended. Here's our semi-successful family selfie, taken with a selfie stick.

As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by the Chick-Fil-A cow. Jackson was so excited and eager to take a picture.

The girls had the opposite reaction. Maddie cried in Jesse's arms. Amelia cried, backed away, and whimpered, "Bye. Bye. Bye, cow."

There were long lines but they moved surprisingly quickly. It was fun to look at all the different cow costumes people created. Here's all the free food we received.

We sat at a table adjacent to the play area. Jackson played as soon as he finished eating. James and Maddie scarfed down their food. Amelia and I made crazy faces. (Sidenote: I used to love making different expressions in the mirror as a child. Amelia does the same thing, but with a phone camera. Love her!)

We asked a stranger to take a better family photo on our way back to the van.

You might expect this post to be over, but we made Cow Appreciation Day an all day event by having Chick-Fil-A for dinner. (We opted for fruit and grilled chicken the second time around. One can only handle so much grease.) Jackson's cousins were spending the evening with us, so I thought it would be fun for Jack and Levi to go together. I had an extra white shirt that I had planned on tie-dying last week. At lunch I saw a family that used black duct tape for their cow print. I didn't have time for paint to dry, but Jesse found duct tape in the garage. Another cow win!

I liked the duct tape so much that I redid my apron. Jackson told me to "moo" in this picture.

The boys and I drove to two different CFA's so we would have enough food for the seven of us. It wasn't as time consuming as you might think since we have three different locations all within 10 minutes of our house.

After spending $12 and 30 minutes on costumes, we were able to eat 13 meals that would have cost $60. Dressing up and having fun was an added bonus. Thanks, Chick-Fil-A!