We have been celebrating our squadron change of command this week and with that comes lots of tradition, parties, ceremony, and acronyms. COW (Commanding Officers Wife) is one of the most lovingly used yet greatly confused acronyms of all. Our new COW has been posting pictures on Facebook with her black and white gifts and decorated lawn. The comments of course ranging from happy congratulations to "why on earth are you celebrating being called a cow?!?" We realize that in the civilian world, calling your husband's boss' wife a COW would be not-such-a-good idea. In the Navy, it is invited and lovingly received.

I love the COW tradition and think it is a fitting and fun way to celebrate new command families. Our new COW works hard to make sure our squadron functions like a family. This is especially important right now as we are staring a deployment square in the eye.

On Saturday we had Kim's COW party. Our Officers Spouses Group (OSC) put a ton of time, thought, creativity and love into the ideas and gifts. We decided on a Moo-au - a Hawaiian themed COW party. A fun mixture of island colors and food, with black and white cow décor mixed in. It may sound like a hot mess, but our secret OSC Pinterest board quickly grew with amazing ideas and the party came together moooo-velously. There wasn't one person  that did everything; each person in our group contributed their skills, time, money, and creativity.

Welcome to the Moo-Au