The Rat Pack

Calling CPS?

2012-02-10T07:28:00.000-08:00

About a month ago we had to move Journey into her own bed. You see, as soon as we potty trained her, she came up with a ploy to try to get out of bed at night. When we would put her down she would start yelling to us, "Mom, (or Dad) I need to poop!" When this did not work she decided that she would get naked and yell to us. This still did not work so she decided that she needed to do more. At this point, she started yelling at us, getting naked, and climbing out of bed and bringing her clothes to us letting us know she needed to poop! Just for the record she did not need to go. We decided that this was pretty unsafe and converted her crib to a bed. She is actually staying in it better, but she rolled out the other night which left the huge bruised goose egg on her noggin. The next night she decided she would put herself in the bathtub and slipped and hit her eye on the tile on the side of the tub. I swear we do not beat her, she takes care of that all by herself!

Puddle Jumpers

2012-02-10T07:22:00.000-08:00

We have FINALLY been getting some much needed rain, and who can resist jumping in the puddles! However, with these storms, I will admit that I knew we were moving into Hurricane terriory coming to Texas. I had no idea we would also be getting so many Tornado warnings, with some of them touching down fairly close to us. SCARY!

Random Shots

2012-01-26T06:03:00.000-08:00

A little group shot taken Sunday afternoon at the park.

They love to pile into the sleeping bag and hop around. They really don't like Journey in there. She is too short and makes them fall or stands there crying because she can't get it quite right.

Missing tooth

2012-01-25T06:46:00.000-08:00

No, she is not missing any teeth, she just needed a picture.

We had the blog open the other day and McKade looked at this picture and said, "McKinna and Bodin." I laughed and said that is you not McKinna. I looked again and realized that with just this portion of his face showing he does look a bit like McKinna, with the darker skin, and the droopy eyes of their dad. I never noticed this before.

Bodin really wanted me to put this picture up so Landon could see his missing tooth. Of course, McKade needed his picture too, and without fail Journey HAD to have one.

Putt-Putt

2012-01-25T06:30:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to take the kids miniature golfing FOREVER! We finally went over Christmas break. The weather was perfect so off we went.

I grabbed an extra golf ball for Journey. She went around and put it in every hole she could find.

McKinna had some trouble with the stance you should take to hit the ball. Very awkward for her.

Bodin and Mckade had a great time.

Ben really wanted to "teach" McKade. He had plans of his own and of course needed NO HELP.

Davy Crockett

2012-01-25T06:10:00.000-08:00

Bodin had a school assignment to choose a historical figure and do an oral report in character. We will be going to San Antonio soon, so it seemed appropriate to choose Davy Crockett. He got his report all ready and learned some interesting facts, like he ran away from home as a child because he went to school and got picked on by a bully. He decided to skip school and not go back. When his dad found out he was mad, he had traded to be able to send him to school. To avoid the beating that Davy would get, he ran away from home. Of course, he is known as a frontiersman, but he is also know for the Battle of the Alamo.

December 2011 Family Pictures

2012-01-06T12:10:00.000-08:00

Isn't she cute!

And my handsome little boy!

I may be biased but, GORGEOUS!

My other handsome little charmer!

Grandma was right, she does have the cutest great-grandkids!

I had to include this one. McKade's face makes me crack-up everytime!

Christmas 2011

2012-01-06T09:19:00.000-08:00

What a Christmas! The kids woke up about 5 and we yelled for them to "Go Back To Bed" and they did. They woke up again about 7, when we read the story of Christ's birth and discussed the true meaning of Christmas. Then, the festivities began.
McKinna was so excited that she got her hamster. Bodin got legos along with many other toys, but he was most excited with the family gift, a new PS3.
McKade got some cars, and a huge Lightning McQueen racetrack. Journey got some play-do toys, clothes, and some other fun toys.

How did she turn 2 ALREADY?!?

2012-01-06T08:56:00.000-08:00

She really enjoyed throwing the tissue paper out and watching it float to the floor.

She love her new puppy and her stroller to push him in. She also got a gorgeous new dress from Grandma and new jammies from me.

It seems like just yesterday we had this tiny baby in the NICU. Here she is already sassy and two! Her Dr. appt. went well. She is 30.5 inches and she is 19.4 lbs. While those stats do not make the charts, her head is at the 50% mark. That is great, except it makes it difficult to put her shirts on. The 12 month clothes fit great everywhere except on that noggin.

Everyone is instantly Journey's best friend. She loves all, however she is a little instigator. She loves to put her fingers over on McKades car seat to get his screaming reaction. It does not stop there, she also does it to McKinna and Bodin as well as her little buddies. She GETS what she WANTS.

She loves to stay up late and sleep in (my kind of girl). She also is a singer. She sings her ABC's, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star very well. She goes to Nursery and loves every minute of it. She hates loud noises, and always has. She cringes when gum is popped, is terrified if Ben pulls out a gun, and will cry and run away screaming, "I am scared" if there is a gun on TV. She potty trained early at 23 months as does very well with it. We love having her in our family.

Breakfast with Santa 2011

2012-01-06T08:29:00.000-08:00

The kids had a great visit with Santa this year. McKade let him know that he wanted a car, Bodin wanted legos, McKinna wanted a hamster, and Journey refused to make eye contact of any kind. She sat and pretended that Santa did not exist.

Grandpa Teen

2012-01-06T08:19:00.000-08:00

I sure will miss Grandpa. I will always remember him for the great, hardworking man that he was. He loved fixing up his old cars, he loved his dogs, he loved his horse, and he loved his family. His Donald Duck noises were the absolute best. He will be missed greatly!

Leading Up to Christmas...

2011-12-19T17:55:00.000-08:00

We have been trying to do some fun family activities leading up to Christmas.

We made our Gingerbread house.

We played in the "fake" snow and they loved it!

We also went to the Christmas parade. The kids had sooo much candy they decided that this was better than Halloween. It was a slight overload, and we even made them leave early. We now know where to sit to get the goods!

Choir Concert

2011-12-19T17:44:00.000-08:00

McKinna had a Christmas choir concert with the Middle and High school. The auditorium was packed and I should have known better than to take McKade and Journey. McKade was actually very well behaved and loved it, so I guess I should say I should not have taken Bodin and Journey. Journey was horrific, and so was Bodin. The concert was very well done and McKinna looked beautiful. Towards the end of it, I ran my fingers through my hair and they got STUCK! LOVELY, my sweet innocent daughter decided to spit her gum out IN MY HAIR! I ducked out of the concert as inconspicuously as possible. HUMILIATING!

WTH

2011-12-19T17:40:00.000-08:00

I guess this is what happens when your sister and her friends dress you up. Poor Guy!

14 years...Wow

2011-11-22T07:06:00.000-08:00

Baseball

2011-11-22T07:00:00.000-08:00

Another season of baseball has come and gone. Bodin did great as usual.

They rotate positions, but I must say he did an awesome job as catcher and he looked mighty cute while doing it.

Moody Gardens...The Rainforest

2011-11-22T06:32:00.000-08:00

We went down to Moody Gardens, Rainforest Exhibit. It has recently been re-opened after being flooded during Hurricane Ike. We loved this place!

Oh how this reminds me of my favorite place on Earth...HAWAII!

We could not believe the monkey sitting right there.

There were tons of beautiful birds of all different colors.

That night they were opening the Festival of Lights for Christmas. We watched Santa and his elves parachute in. Very Cool! We then went home because I think everyone in Houston came out for the Festival of Lights. Way too many people when I have 4 kids to keep track of. We will have to come back some other time.

Spending some time with Grandma and Grandpa Cobb

2011-11-22T06:25:00.001-08:00

Jim and Danielle took the kids to stay at their hotel while they were here. The kids loved it!

The Childrens Museum of Houston

2011-11-22T06:05:00.001-08:00

We took a trip to the Childrens Museum in Houston while Jim and Danielle were here. There was a ton for the kids to do.

Journey loved this big red chair.

The optical illusions. I walk right on passed these. My brain does not work this way so why frustrate myself.

The boys were trying to build a bridge across this.

The only reason Ben is higher than me is because I have a ten pound weighted purse on my shoulder.

The face painting was my favorite part of the whole trip. Journey loves to get into make-up so she was totally into this. Bodin is a little obsessed with being a black ninja lately. He was making this dream come to life. I can only imagine what everyone was thinking as they saw my little black ninja throughout the day.

This climbing contraption had some tight spaces throughout. I am a bit surprised Jim made it. What a trooper!

Journey is going to be a vet. Here favorite station. Boy was she mad when she had to put the animals back in their kennels.

And onto the boat races...

McKinna was at a birthday party. We did not forget to bring her with us:)

Letters

2011-11-15T06:10:00.000-08:00

Ben had been practicing baseball with Bodin on a Saturday afternoon. After he came in I inquired how it went. Ben said that he did well, but he was a little lazy going after the ball. A few days later I was picking up his room and found this. Bodin is tenderhearted and we have to be really careful what we say to him. I think the end is funny, 10+10...=110 airheads. Where did that come from?

McKinna wrote this letter from school last week. Unfortunately, she will not drop the subject of hamsters. "Mom, I want to do my science fair project using a hamster. I am going to see how fast it runs on its' ball in different situations. I need it soon!" "Mom, can I pleeeease have a hamster for Christmas?" We have gone through so many hamsters and they all end in demise. Our last one was evil with red eyes and all.

McKade is Three!

2011-11-08T17:00:00.000-08:00

Of course the Dr. Appt. details first:

Height 3 Ft

Weight 27 lbs.

Percentages on the chart: We don't discuss:) But you can guess...at the bottom

He was lucky to have Brandon, Erin, Gracen, and Ava here for his big day. We had cake and ice cream and he opened his presents. He loved all of them, but his favorite is his new Spiderman bike. He thinks he is a big boy and rides it all over. He begs to ride it in the street, which he rarely gets to do.

In other news: he has started his speech therapy classes and is doing well. He loves to go and he adores his teacher. He is always saying teacher this and teacher that. It is super cute. He has a killer personality and is not shy at all. We were in the grocery store the other day and he was getting the groceries out of the cart and putting them on the conveyer belt. He yells to the checker and bagger, "Hey people, watch out we have a ton on food!" He is pounding his fists in his palm while he says this. They laugh and I chuckle a bit to myself and so he now has made it a tradition to do it everytime we check out. Can the kid just be quiet?

He loves his brother and sisters. He waits impatiently for Bodin to get home everyday so they can play Beyblades together. Journey and McKade play all day, and he defends her if he ever thinks that she is getting pushed around. McKade loves to be included with McKinna and her group of friends, although the acceptance is getting rarer these days. We sure LOVE him and the spunk he adds to our family. One of my favorite things he does is that many times a day he will tell me I am the best mom ever. "Thanks for making cookies mom. You are the best mom ever." Then his little Journey echo follows up with, "ever ever ever." I LOVE it!

What is that?

2011-10-25T05:46:00.000-07:00

Um, alien children, it must be!

Actually, crazy hair day 2011 is what you see!

Making Use of Every Drop

2011-10-18T19:32:00.000-07:00

We are in a huge drought this year. We have been on very strict watering rationing. One thing that we can not do is wash our own cars. So when we finally got a good storm the other day, my savvy husband took advantage of the situation. It was so cute and Bodin was out there "helping" and loving every minute of it. One of the many reasons I love my hubby!

McKinna is The Winnah!

2011-10-18T13:20:00.000-07:00

" McKinna Cobb can Do The Job!" was the slogan as the student council elections came up this year.

The speeches were to be given when we were out of town for the funeral so I worked with the school and we decided that she could submit a video of her speech.

I let her know that she probably would not get elected since she would not be there for the voting, (and I secretly did not want to have to figure out a way to get her to the meetings at 7:30 in the morning.) However, this did not happen. She was elected as a class representative. She was out of town when they put in their nominations for President, Vice President, etc. so she will have to save that lobbying for next year. WAY TO GO MCKINNA!

We will Miss You Grandma Grace

2011-10-18T07:03:00.000-07:00

This post is very hard for me to write because I don't want to deal with the reality that I won't see Grandma for a very long time and I already miss her. I loved the fact that I could tell me friends how awesome my grandma was. She had the cutest outfits on with her hair and nails always done. She spent her time walking (very fast), dancing, and hanging out with friends. Family was always the most important thing to her and it was truly amazing that she LOVED each and every one of us. One of her famous sayings was, "Can you believe I started all of this?" And she was so dang proud when she said this.

I loved that as a child I was able to go and stay at her house in Holbrook. I have so many memories from there. I loved sitting in her built in bench seat and choosing the best cereals from her cupboard. I loved always waking up knowing that Grandma had been up for hours with her cup of coffee. I loved playing with her little perfume bottles. I loved that every Christmas we got a new Christmas dress and we knew that with it came the fact that we would later be modeling it for her.

As I got older I loved the EARLY morning phone calls that came to our house from Grandma. I loved that with the birth of each child came an adorable outfit and a visit from her at the hospital. I loved that she always told us how she had been to the salon, hospital, anywhere really...and showed everyone there the pictures of the cutest greatgrandkids she had. I love that in the end she let us know that she was ready to go, she needed to go be with grandpa. She will sure be missed, but she was ready to go and visit with grandpa.

Our own PETRIFIED forest!

2011-10-08T18:12:00.000-07:00

So, as the story always goes...Ben was at work and I was home with my kids, Bodin's friends, and McKinna's friends as well as one of McKinna's friends moms. The kids were all out in my front yard playing kickball in the cul-de-sac. The ball got kicked up in the tree and got stuck. As they were getting ready to throw another ball at the first ball to try to get it out one of the neighbor kids spots the oppossum. She points it out and we all take a look. It is hanging there straddling the branch with its' front and back legs just hanging there...AND IT IS DEAD AS DEAD CAN BE! The neighbor child is insistant on getting her father to get it down. I demand that is not necessary, but she beckons to him anyway. Great, more people in my front yard looking at my dead oppossum.
The father comes over with a shovel to tap it out of the tree. This is not working as it has petrified around the tree limb and has become one with the tree so he goes and gathers up his ladder and gloves. He climbs up the tree and gives it a slight tug, and to the horror of all the little children the leg pops off and falls to the ground. Actually, the kiddos think it may be the coolest thing since sliced bread. He then gently pulls it off the branch and shows its petrified body to everyone. As this is happening, wouldn't you know it, the pizza man shows up with the fathers' pizza. Holding the dead oppossum, he lets him know that he should probably go to the door and have his wife pay. I guarantee that every one of those kids went home and told of their great adventures to their parents.
Later that night, Ben comes home and I relay the days events to him. I comment that I can't believe we never smelled him. That is when he reminds me that a few months back we kept finding oppossum hair in our yard, beneath that tree, and it did smell a bit. I figured a cat had killed it and left its hair for me. Geez, why did I not think to look up in the tree. Why do these things always happen when Ben is at work?

Beach bums!

2011-09-11T19:19:00.000-07:00

On Labor Day we decided it was time to take a trip to the Beach. It has been so stinkin 'hot all summer we were not able to go, and this was one of the last things left on our "Summer To Do List" so we headed down to San Luis Pass where you drive right up onto the beach. It was wonderful! No hauling all the crap out of the car. When McKade got too hot he would go sit in the car with the air on. What a spoiled bum:). The only downside was there were a bunch of flys that would bite our legs making McKade and Journey cry. Except for the flys, we had a lot of fun.

A little bit of Aloha!

2011-09-10T16:19:00.000-07:00

We will take a little "Aloha" anywhere we can get it. The Houston Aloha Festival was pretty fun, but I must admit this was the best part. We love our authentic shaved ice!

It was a super crazy windy day so we made the best of it, we pieced together some kites and flew them. McKade is an awesome kite flyer.

All I want for before school starts is my 2 front teeth OUT

2011-08-25T06:46:00.000-07:00

So the day before school begins, Bodin is determined to pull one of his front teeth out. He comes up to me in Singing Time to let me know I need to pull it. It is not really ready so I get him a paper towel and tell him to wait until we get home. He gets home and has Ben pull it. It has a pretty good root on it so it took some pulling. Bodin took it though. He wanted the tooth out (or maybe it was the drive to get money from the tooth fairy).
He then comes home from school on Monday once again ready to get the other front tooth out. Same story, not really ready. I again tell him to wait until Ben gets home so he can pull it for him. It again took some pulling as this root was even bigger. It is out and he has already been shopping for a new green lantern.

School Begins...4th and 2nd

2011-08-25T06:28:00.000-07:00

McKinna was secretly excited for her first day of school. She is getting into her appearance all of the sudden (Ben and I are getting worried). First, we had to decide what to do with her hair for the first day. She decided that she wanted it in a messy bun. I needed to practice to make sure I got it right. After my first try, she let me know it was hideous and she wished Brie was here to do her hair. I got it right on my second try. She also wanted it curly, so we put curlers in.

She then needed her nails done. Journey got in on this fun.

McKinna was up by 5 the next morning getting ready. I woke Bodin up at 6:30. He protested getting up, it was too early. I drove them to school for their first day. After they got out McKade cried and cried. I let him know numerous times that he was not going to school, but he was determined. He packed his own backpack with markers and notebooks. He had it on and was ready to go. When he could not join them as they exited the car, the tears came full force. We went to Target to let him pick out some toys to play with at home, Bey Blades of course. The next day he decided that since he could not go to school he would go at it a different route. He begged for Bodin to stay home and play with him. Ha, I do not think so.

Fish'n with da boys!

2011-08-24T19:14:00.000-07:00

Bodin has been jonesing to go fishing for a while now but it has just been too hot. It has been on his Summer to do list so we had to get it done before school started. I had it planned to go fishing near our house but that Friday night we had a problem at work and I needed to go in Saturday morning. Well that sucks! I knew Bodin would be disappointed and I feared telling him we wouldn't be able to go. I decided that wasn't an option so I decided I would fish while I worked.

Saturday morning came and I got the kids up at 0530 and off we went. We hit the bait shop, the donut shop and then the fishing hole. We arrived at my work, unloaded the car and started hooking up poles. I rigged up McKade's little Wal-mart pole, threw a minnow on the hook and dropped it in the water so I could hook up the next one. As soon as I was done rigging Bodins pole up I noticed McKades bobber was down. I helped McKade reel in his line and found a flounder on the other end, this was going to be a good day! A few hours later we had caught a total of 3 flounder and 2 rock fish. McKade caught the first but Bodin caught the biggest. We took the flounder home and had ourselves a good fish fry. IT was a hard day at work!

Journey

2011-08-24T19:11:00.001-07:00

I just thought these pictures were cute!

Summer baseball 2011

2011-08-12T14:25:00.001-07:00

Another season of baseball has come and gone, and once again Bodin did great. His team only lost 3 out of 11 games. He is getting really good at hitting the ball. It is going a lot further now. He is not scared of the ball anymore either. Good Job Bodin!

Summer Vacation

2011-08-12T13:37:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful summer vacation this year. We started off driving to the Cabin. We could not have asked for more perfect weather. It would warm up to about 90 during the day, and then an afternoon storm would come through and the temps would drop to the low 70's. PERFECT!! Brie and Jason met us up there as well as Damon and Rachel, and Whitney and Tommy. We stayed up one night playing games and had a great time. The kids had a great time exploring in the woods.
From the cabin we went to Holbrook for the 4th. We had an awesome time there (so much fun it has its own post.)
We then drove down to the Valley. We did some playing at the Bounce House. We swam at Hamilton Pool, but we mostly just hung out with cousins. Bodin had a great time with Landon, Van, and Sutton. McKinna, Jaiden, and Gracen played and played. McKade and Tanner, and Journey, Gunner, and Roman had a lot of fun together. We even got to help celebrate Brie and Landons birthday.Next summer cannot come soon enough. (I am so mad at myself for the lack of pictures taken, but here are a few.)

4th of July 2011

2011-08-07T18:08:00.000-07:00

This year for the 4th we got to spend it in Holbrook. We had to go down to Bucket of Blood Street and watch the train go by. It was a little worrisome being that close to a train. It was cruisin'. Honestly, the wind coming from the train was amazing. We took some pictures with the Holbrook sign. We also ate the delicious Holbrook firefighters barbecue. Grandma and Grandpa had the barbecue at their house this year and the kids loved exploring. It was fun to see them hike around the same rocks that we loved as a kid. Aunt Marlene then took out her motor home and set it up for the fireworks that night. Holbrook may be a small town, but they have the most spectacular fireworks show! We love going to it, and are hoping to make it a yearly tradition. Thanks for the BLAST of a time to all that joined us this year.

This one is for Landon

2011-08-07T17:46:00.000-07:00

Putting Ben to Work

2011-08-07T17:33:00.000-07:00

Ben has been busy since we got back from AZ. We brought a desk back from AZ for McKinna and it needed a new chair to go with it. Ben whipped one up for her. Of course this got Bodin jealous so we made him a magnet board for his bedroom. He quickly filled it with pictures of his cousins. I also had gotten a headboard that I had been bugging Ben to make into a bench for me. DONE!! He is very talented. I got to do the fun part, the painting. Thanks hun, I will be thinking of what I would like done next:).

The 2 Hour Optometry Visit

2011-07-23T14:38:00.000-07:00

Since the day McKade was born I have noticed that something is "different" with his right eye. I always thought it to be a little lazy. I mentioned it to my mom not long ago and she said that she had not noticed, but they usually give patches for lazy eyes to make them stronger. I made him an appointment with the optometrist completely expecting to come home with an eye patch.
After explaining to the optometrist what I have noticed about his eye, he cannot look right with his right eye and he contracts it a bit (Like Popeye), she takes a quick look, and says, "Was he premature?"
"No".
"Were there any complications?"
"Nothing other than the cord wrapped around his neck".
"Okay, well you should not feel bad because this is nothing you did wrong or could have prevented."
Of course this prepares me for the worst and I immediately start to feel the guilt setting in.
She goes on to tell me he has Duane Syndrome and there is nothing that can be done about it. After doing some research on it I found out that it can either be environmental or genetic and actually happens during the 3rd to 8th week of pregnancy. The eye muscle does not form correctly. This is a rare condition, but she had someone in her optometry classes in college with it so she knows about it. She then went and got her optometry student to show it to him.
McKade will quickly turn his head if he looks right and his eye will contract. Being that he was born with it, they cannot fix it because his brain has compensated for it since birth. If they were to try to fix it now it would probably make things worse.
Anyway, they go on with the rest of the appointment to check his eyesight. He was so cute as they put different pictures on the wall and he was to name them. The first one was a wagon. He called it a tractor, but no one could understand him. I got to decipher his language. The next picture was the palm of a hand. He says hi pie. The assistant was so confused as I explained he said, High five". I thought that was so cute. He did very well and his eyesight is fine.
They then used some strong drops to dilate his eyes. He did great, but definitely did not like this. He kept telling me he couldn't see. When we left they gave him his cool glasses. I commented that he was not going to wear these, and I made a big deal out of them when I gave them to him. "These are so cool McKade. They are giving them to you for doing such a good job." The girls at the desk all got the cue and joined in about how awesome they are. I must say he proudfully wore them all the way home, including stopping at Kroger for a snack. He did take them off once we were in the house, but the lights hurt his eyes so he put them back on for another hour or so.
The optometrist did suggest getting his hearing checked as a precaution. I am going to wait as he has a speech evaluation in 1.5 weeks. I will decide after discussing some concerns with them to see if they think an audiologist visit is in order.

Journey made it to 18 months

2011-07-20T13:34:00.000-07:00

Journey is 28 inches tall and weights in at a whopping 17 pounds. She is a very happy, active girl. She has recently discovered the toilet, as I found her and her accomplice, McKade, dipping their heads in and laughing hysterically the other day. DISGUSTING! She loves to sit on it and "try" to potty. Hopefully this is a sign that she will be easy. She loves to climb. She is constantly on top of the tables, and she recently found out that she can climb up the slide to get onto the trampoline. She is an absolute sweetheart. She is a cuddler and loves attention. Her hair is finally filling in, which we are VERY excited about. We have been more than a little worried about this.

Embarrasing...BUT Humurous

2011-05-28T13:00:00.000-07:00

We were checking out at Target today when Bodin and his buddy Roman got very excited. They loudly started proclaiming that they spotted black Ninjas. They continue saying that these people have to be Ninjas because all you can see is their eyes just like Ninjas. I am sure the ladies heard us as they turned around and looked at us. I wish I could have seen their mouths to see if they thought it was funny or if they were scowling at us. It seems Shani has forgotten part of the story. After they had spied us spying them, Shani wanted me to take a picture of them with my phone. So against my better judgement I get my camera phone ready and bravely headed back to where the Nijas were located. I lift my phone up and get ready to take a pick when I noticed one of them was watching me like a hawk, guess Shani was talking too loud when she told me to take a picture of them. So then I had to walk around a little to act like I wasn't going to take a picture of them.....Sooooo lame!! As if that wasn't bad enough, we took a little longer loading and starting the car to see if they were on their way out! Thanks Shani!!

Family Fun Day

2011-05-28T12:38:00.000-07:00

We had our Family Fun Day right here in Kemah this year. There was a ton of activities for the kids to do and some good food to eat. A great time was had by all!

Bodin's is 7

2011-05-28T12:27:00.000-07:00

So Bodin's "real" birthday was the end of our birthday celebrations. He chose some macaroni for dinner. He also wanted chocolate cake and chocolate icing on that cake. That is my kind of boy. He got some Bey Blades for his birthday, money, clothes, and legos. He took some of his money out and bought himself a skateboard. He has been dying to get one for a while now. I told him that his Uncle Brandon needs to teach him some tricks. It was a great day!

The Party

2011-05-22T07:38:00.000-07:00

This year for the birthday party we decided to do a combined swimming party. McKinna's birthday was on Friday and Bodin's was on Sunday so Saturday would be perfect. I called about reserving the pool and they told me I could only reserve before pool hours (8-10am) or after hours (9-11pm). I decided we would have it from 8-10am with donuts and juice instead of cake and ice cream. Texas has been in a severe drought, but of course we ended up with a 40% chance of rain that day. I watched and worried about the weather all week. We woke up on Saturday morning with a light drizzle, but then it just kind of teased us the rest of the day. The sun was behind the clouds and since it was so humid it was about 80 first thing that morning. We really could not have asked for better party weather. The kids swam and swam, did the slides, and opened up their gifts. They had a great time.

Happy Birthday McKinna!! The big 9

2011-05-21T21:04:00.000-07:00

McKinna has been so excited for her birthday, I mean it was the perfect day for her. She started off by having a field trip to the Houston Art Musuem (which she came home and told me that there was some very inappropriate artwork of naked boys there). I then met her at school with some cookies for her class. They loved that. She played with a couple friends that afternoon and then had a little girl named Madison come over to stay the night. She chose to have ravioli for her birthday dinner this year and then strawberry shortcake for dessert. YUM! We love McKinna so much! She has really started to mature this year. She has started to become more responsible and she has even chilled with some of her crazy drama. For instance, she fell down the other night while roller blading, it was a fall that you could tell hurt. Ben and I waited for the crazy scream to come that she does...I mean you can hear this scream for miles around and people will run out of their houses expecting to see blood gushing from every pore of her body. We waited some more and NOTHING came. Amazing! This was a first and you better believe I let her know how impressed we were. She adores her siblings. One of her favorite things to do with her friends is to take Journey into her room and play house with her. Of course, McKade loves to go in and play with them too, but they only want Journey in there. She got some good gifts this year. Ben and I got her an MP3 player which she let me know was her favorite gift. She told me we knew to get it for her because she loves to sing. She had that thing in her ears all day today while she belted out her songs. We love you McKinna. Happy 9th birthday

Lunch

2011-05-16T13:56:00.001-07:00

Before Ben's parents had to leave, they were able to go down to Galveston and have lunch and check out his work site. They have now seen more of it than I have.

Butterfly Garden

2011-05-16T13:33:00.000-07:00

We went own to the butterfly garden with Jim and Danielle. I think this place is super cool. Anyway, I showed McKinna how to hold real still and get butterflies to land on her (and I am such a rule follower I would never break a rule and show her how to maneuver her finger real close to them so they step on her finger). She was able to get lots to land on her. Bodin so desperately wanted one to land on him, but as soon as they would come close he would flinch and off they would go. After about half an hour of trying to help him with this, it was time to go. As we left he was so sad that one never landed on him Ben took him back in for one last try. (Otherwise we would never of heard the end of it). We had SUCCESS! What he never was told was that one was on it's last leg and was probably a gonner by the time we left. Success nevertheless!

Kemah, We Finally Did the Rides!

2011-05-16T12:54:00.000-07:00

We have been to Kemah Boardwalk many times, but have only done a few of the rides. This time when Ben's parents came we actually did just about all of the rides. We had a blast! McKinna and Bodin did many of the rides that I did not think that they would do, and they loved them. There is a big wooden roller coaster there that Ben, McKinna, and I did. Bodin is not quite big enough and he cried because he really wanted to do it. Maybe in a year or two he will be big enough. I do have to say that it is so rough that it is really not very enjoyable (and I love roller coasters). I felt like I had to work to keep my head attached to my body.

It was super nice that Ben and I actually got to go on some of the adult rides.

McKinna and Bodin went on this crazy spinning ride. I could not believe they wanted to do it over and over again. It made me sick just watching them.

It is always so nice to have Jim there because he will do the rides with all the kids, and they love him for it.

Look closely at Bodin's face in some of these pictures...they crack me up.

We rode the carousel mostly for Journey, but I must state what a wussy baby Journey is. She is scared to death to swing at the park, she is terrified if I have gum in my mouth that I may blow a bubble, and she cried to the point that I got off the carousel with her. She better outgrow this soon or she may be sitting on a park bench at Disneyland just like Brandon did when we were kids while the rest of us have a grand old time on the roller coasters.

We did the rides early in the day so the facepainting was not open. Bodin was devastated. He cried, and whined and complained to the point that we went back later that evening so he could do the facepainting. It was fun, and McKade even decided he wanted one as well.

Fish on... Well, not really!

2011-04-30T16:21:00.000-07:00

I was invited to go fishing on a boat in the Gulf and was able to bring Bodin along with. We got up at o dark thirty and met up with my friends. When Boding saw the boat he was supper excited!

On the way out we stopped and net cast for bait to use. Bodin had a great time picking the fish off of the deck and putting them into the live well.

After we got enough bait we were off. Once we got out into the open water my buddy went full throtal! We were sitting in the front and bodin was hanging onto my leg with this scared look on his face. As we were skipping over the water we hit a wave that about knocked us out of the boat. Our butts left our seat and Bodin's clamp on my leg got even tighter. Poor Bodin started begging for us to turn around and almost had tears in his eyes becuse he was soo terrified. We kept going and he eventually calmed down. We got to the spot we were going to fish and threw our lines in. I would like to say that I caught the first, the most, and the biggest but I didn't catch one dang fish!! Bodin was one of the only people on the boat to catch a fish, it was small but atleast he didn't get skunked!

After half a day of fishing and no fish we called it a day and headed in. By this time Bodin loved the boat and was screaming to go faster.

Well, you know how the saying goes, "A bad day of fishing is better that a good day at work!"

Easter

2011-04-28T15:38:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Easter. First we dyed the eggs.

Then we hunted for our hidden baskets of goodies...

Following that we hunted outside for our eggs...(they hunted them in the cheap plastic bags because it was soooo humid outside all the dye was sweating off of the eggs)

And lastly, we got all dressed-up and went to church...

Bodin Finally Loses a Tooth

2011-04-14T19:54:00.000-07:00

Bodin has been heartbroken for years as everyone seems to be losing teeth before him. He got very excited about a 1 1/2 months ago declaring that his first tooth was loose. Then, as seems to be Cobb tradition, his permanent tooth popped up right behind it. Then he got his 2nd loose tooth. After about a month of telling him to wiggle his teeth, I got frustrated and let him know that his dad would be wiggling his teeth for him. It only took about 3 nights of this before we decided that his tooth was loose enough to pull. Bodin was terrified and fought letting Ben do it, but in the end Ben prevailed. After the tooth was out, Bodin had to call someone with the good news. He decided to call Grandma Tana. Well, Aunt Brie answered the phone. He excitedly told her that he lost his first tooth and she in turn let him know that for the first tooth the tooth fairy brings like 10 bucks. Well, being that it was so late at night when he lost that tooth, she brought him 6 bucks. He lost his 2nd tooth 3 days later and the tooth fairy again brought 6 bucks. I think that after the first two teeth the price goes down a bit.

Girls and Flowers

2011-04-02T17:29:00.000-07:00

I had to have pictures of my beauties with the Bluebonnets this year. Aren't they gorgeous!

Screaming!

2011-03-31T19:31:00.000-07:00

McKinna's class is doing a science project studying soil samples. McKinna, of course, waits until it is 8:30 at night to go out to get her sample from the backyard. She never wants to go alone. We were all busy so I told her to put on Ben's headlamp and get out there. Off she went, hesitantly. After about 30 seconds we hear a bloodcurdling scream. It continues for about 30 seconds while she unsuccessfully tries to open the back door. With the scream she let out Ben and I were both thinking a snake must be out there. No, it was just a baby opossum. It cracks me up the different reactions we have. I would rather stand quiet as can be and hope whatever creature it is does not see me. McKinna just lets loose and wants the world to come and rescue her. I am surprised the neighbors did not run over to see if we were killing her. It really was that bad!

SanFillippo's (Sorry, probably spelled wrong)

2011-03-26T07:59:00.000-07:00

Whitney and Tommy came to visit with us for a few days during spring break 2011. We were soooooo excited to finally get to meet Roman. He is the cutest thing I have ever seen. I wish we could steal him. He is quite easy going and what can I say...WE ARE HAVING MAJOR ROMAN WITHDRAWLS. While they were here we went to Froberg farm.

We also spent a day in Galveston. While we were there Ben did a little photo shoot.

We also spent a day at the space center and a morning at Kemah Boardwalk. The boys also spent a few evenings out fishing. We are so glad we got to visit with them. We miss you Roman.

Journey

2011-03-26T07:40:00.000-07:00

My baby has grown like a weed lately. She had a growth spurt and put on some height. She has also come out of her shell lately. She has become very friendly with everyone. The bad part is she wanders around and visits with everyone everywhere (at the store, at restaurants, at church). It was so much easier when she was shy and would stay with me. Her are some updated pictures of her. My neighbor Nancy loves her and made her a summer wardrobe (these outfits are a small sampling of what she made for her). I made her some hair accessories to go with the outfits.

Slippers

2011-03-07T04:22:00.001-08:00

I am lucky to have a super cool grandma who can crotchet anything. My dolls always had cute crotched clothes and I had my super warm slippers. Now my own kids get to have these same experiences. They love their slippers. We have tons of tile in our house so they get to slip and slide throughout. McKade has me put his on over his footed jammies to sleep at night. I LOVE IT! Thanks for making these grandma.

Pull "Em up Boy!

2011-03-06T17:47:00.000-08:00

The DeSpains are here!

2011-02-28T19:28:00.000-08:00

We have been so lucky to have some visitors here lately. We got to have Aunt Erin here for a couple of hours (she was here on a work trip). We had to show her a little bit of our world, so we hurried on down to the Kemah Boardwalk for a quick walk around. We enjoyed our quick visit with her.

We then got to have Aunt Rachel, Uncle Damon, and adorable little Tanner here for a week. It was fun for my kids to get to know Tanner. McKade and Tanner played and played and played some more.
We went to the Bayou Wildlife Park again. We love it there. It will never get old.

We also spent some time playing at the park. Even Rachel got in on the fun!

We went down and toured an oil rig in Galveston. It was very interesting. I did not know that the crews have a "miniature city" there on the rig. I also did not know how much they get paid. HOLY COW! Not a job that I would want though. The kids got to try on some clothes. McKinna was the only one who would play along.

Of course we also had to play down in Galveston.

A photo shoot had to be done before they left. Look at this stud muffin.

Journey had to sneak into the shoot as well. Little poser. (She actually has quite an evil little look in this shot and I am too lazy to change it out for a better one.)

We then had my parents come and visit with us for a few days. I did not even take any pictures. We had a great time with them and love their visits. We went down to Seawolf Park and toured the submarine and the Naval ship. It was interesting. We also went to the Moody Gardens Aquarium. We can't wait for our next visitors to get here.

Taking the kids on a BAIT!!

2011-02-27T18:14:00.000-08:00

It seems Bodin has caught the fishing bug since our last outing at my work (I know, it was a while ago). He had been buggin me to go fishing for a while at our local "lake" here in the subdivision. So we grabbed the only hotdog we had in the fridge along with our poles and tackle and headed out. We hit the lake hard and Bodin caught the first fish again!!

Not long after Bodin's fish McKinna reeled in another bluegill.

I decided to put on a bigger hook and try for a bigger fish. Hooked my pole up with a bobber and a hunk of hotdog sent it flying with the perfect cast. Bodin and McKinna reeled in a couple more fish when I noticed my bobber was nowhere in sight. I was in the middle of rebaiting McKinna's hook so I had Bodin pick up the pole and give it a good jerk to set the hook and reel'er in. Bodin and the fish had a good fight but in the end Bodin prevailed and pulled in a monsterous catfish!!

Seven fish in one hour seemed to be a good time to stop, especially since McKade was starting to get ornery. It was a good time with the kids and we caught a good amount of fish. The kids want to go again next weekend so I would say it was a successfull BAIT!

La Brisa

2011-02-01T23:33:00.000-08:00

Little did we know that when we went to dinner with some friends to La Brisa we would be coming home with swords, helmets, and puppy dogs.

Why Oh Why?

2011-02-01T23:16:00.000-08:00

Can we not eat a meal without seeing how much food we can put on top of our head?

Poor Torture

2011-02-01T23:05:00.001-08:00

I am sitting here at 1:05 am going crazy because Ben has Bodin down at the emergency room. He has been sick for the past two days with sore throat, coghing, stomach ache, and a low grade fever. It got higher last night and I figured it would break and he would get better... so about 9:00 pm I gave him some medicine and put him to sleep on the couch. I woke up to some weird whimperings about midnight and brought him to my bed. He felt super hot and started talking to me about him chasing the dog around. I had Ben run and grab the thermometer and it was repeatedly reading between 106 and 107. He was not focusing well on me and Ben would ask him simple questions such as 3+1 which he responded was 11. Okay, off to the emergency room. Ben wanted to take him so here I sit with the other kids coughing in their sleep in the background behind me while I wait impatiently calling Ben every few minutes waiting for him to see the doc. (On the way to the emergency room he was telling Ben that he was chasing McKade... no, my dear you are in the car on the way to the hospital and McKade is at home in bed). They have taken him right back so hopefully it will not be too long.
It is now 1:46 which has seemed like an eternity and they have done blood work and x-rays so hopefully they can figure out what is going on. And the time is still ticking away painfully slow. Ben says that he is acting normally now.

SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY!! disclaimer: not about church

2011-01-14T19:28:00.001-08:00

Last Saturday (I know the title says Sunday) Bodin and I went to MONSTER JAM to cheer on our favorite monster truck Grave Digger!! We had really good seats and could feel the Monster Truck engines rattle our bones! Bodin kept pointing out that people were wearing Grave Digger shirts and he wanted one really bad. I told Bodin he couldn't have one because they were pretty expensive and I could buy him the same shirt at Walmart for half that price. Bodin was having none of that! He put on his best pouty face and puppy dog eyes and.... well you see the picture. It was a great time with Grave Digger winning both the race and free style events! Thanks for the fun bonding time Bodin!

Happy New Year 2011

2011-01-14T19:04:00.000-08:00

We were invited to a New Years Party with some friends. We had some good fun playing games until midnight and then heading outside for a countdown and some sparkling cider. We welcome you 2011, let's make it a great one with lots more memories.

Dear Brie

2011-01-14T18:54:00.000-08:00

This is a letter I just found in McKinna's writing folder. This starts way too early. I am scared for what is to come...

Dear Aunt Brie, I just want you to know how much I want to see you, Landon, Gunner, and Van. (Jason is mysteriously missing here:0).You need to know that you are the best aunt I will ever have. You have always been the best aunt and I want to talk to you. But can you please get me a phone. What if I got lost while visiting you? How would you ever find me? Yes, you can call me, but there is one problem. I don't have a phone. What if I was coming to visit and my moms phone was dead? (Not mine, that never happens. She knows me too well.) How would we tell you that we were coming? So can you please get me a phone?
Sincerely, McKinna

Well, at least she knew not to write this letter to me. I am sure that when her favorite Aunt Brie tells her no, she will move on to her favorite Aunt Sarah, then Whitney, Sonia, etc. until she thinks she can guilt one of those favorite aunts into buying her a phone. Oh, here we go...

Christmas 2010

2011-01-14T18:11:00.000-08:00

First of all we had to get our Santa pics. We went to a very fun breakfast with Santa at the church. Surprisingly not one of the kids cried for Santa. Journey thought about it, but just ended up looking rather unsure of herself. McKade loves Santa, he is still talking about him constantly. Christmas itself came and went to fast. The kids actually slept in until about 7:00. We then opened presents, which of course the kids loved them all. McKade was sick on Christmas Day. Some virus had been traveling through our family and McKade was down and out for the day. He did not want to play at all. We ended up staying home all day because of this. Oh well, you win some and you lose some.

Happy Birthday Journey!!

2010-12-21T15:48:00.000-08:00

Wow, I cannot believe my baby is one. She finally started walking more yesterday. The Early Intervention Childhood lady was here and I had told her that Journey had started taking a few steps. She puts Journey up against the couch to see if she will walk to her and wouldn't you know it, she turns her little self and walks right over to me. She did this twice. Little Stinker! The good news is that she has been gaining weight nicely and will probably be released from the program next month. Yay!! She is 14 lbs at a year.
We are so blessed to have little Nurney (as McKade calls her). She is my little cuddler. She is super easy going, and I can tell you that she did not inherit that from her father. She is different in every way from my other kids. The others all just adore her as the baby. McKinna and her friends love to take her in McKinna's room and babysit her. Bodin loves to play with her. McKade is super protective of her, he will chase down and tackle any kid that messes with her. We love you Journey and cannot imagine our lives without you.

McKades version of Journey puking.

2010-12-21T07:44:00.000-08:00

McKade decided he was going to tell us the story of Journey puking on the way home from looking at lights. I think his story was better than the actual event!

Rule # 1, 547,698

2010-12-14T13:02:00.000-08:00

"No, McKade you cannot ride that reindeer!" (As he has it straddled walking around saying ride, ride, ride, ride, etc. )

"OTay, Mom!"

He then proceeds to ride it saying, "Walk, Walk, Walk, Walk, Walk"

Rule # 1,547,699. We do not walk the reindeer either.

Flu season is here

2010-12-12T08:45:00.000-08:00

BECAUSE IT'S ONE, TWO, THREE STRIKES YOU'RE OUT

2010-12-10T15:49:00.000-08:00

Since we missed Soccor sign-ups we enrolled Bodin into coach pitch baseball. Having never played baseball, we went to the store and bought a bat, glove, helmet, and some youth baseballs to whip Bodin into tip top shape for baseball. Ok, ok, I was just hoping we could at least make it so he was not scared of the ball.

It started off pretty bad as Bodin would move out of the way everytime a ball came his way. So to overcome his fear of the ball I made an offer he couldn't refuse. I told him everytime he "dodged" the ball I was going to beam him with another (I had six balls all together). Bodin learned real quick that I wasn't lying.

Bodin did really good and got better with every pratice and every game. Bodin only struck out once and got a couple of people out while playing the field. Every time Bodin was up to bat his teammates would chant his name "BODIN, BODIN, BODIN", you should have seen the smile on his face. In the end they only lost one game. After the first pratice I became the pitcher for our team. I actually did pretty good, only hit a couple of kids but no harm no foul right? This picture is not of the whole team as not all showed up for that particular game. And yes, that kid is grabbing his weiner! Good job Bodin!

Standing

2010-12-07T10:14:00.000-08:00

Yeah, Jouney is standing all by herself at 11 months. She could totally walk, as she pushes cars, and chairs all over the house, but she is too scared to let go and take off. That is okay, with her being the baby, I kind of like to carry her.

Hard day at work!

2010-12-05T11:20:00.000-08:00

After a year of living here I finally got around to getting my fishing license in time for the last two weeks of the Flounder season. Saturday morning we got up early, packed up the Armada and headed for the place I work at to fish off the dock. A quick stop for bait and another for donuts then straight for the fishing hole. I set Bodin's pole up with a mullet minnow and dropped it into the water. Before I could get my pole set up Bodin started yelling that his line was tight. I feel his pole and sure enough, he had a fish on the line. We reel him in and I am thinking "We are going to catch a lot of fish today." WRONG!! In three hours that was the only fish we caught. Bodin actually caught another fish but I messed up and if got off the hook. We had plenty of bites but they are a little harder to catch that the normal fish especially with light weight line and a walmart "kids" pole. Oh well, the fish was good and so was the time with the family.

Pure Joy!

2010-11-30T11:39:00.000-08:00

We went to a little pirate festival in Seabrook a few weeks ago. I love this pic. of McKade in the petting zoo. It is such a look of pure joy. It puts a smile on my face whenever I see it.

While we were there Bodin and Roman got to learn some fencing. They were pretty good.

Glasses

2010-11-25T10:16:00.000-08:00

McKinna came home from school ecstatic a couple of weeks ago with a note from the school nurse that she failed her eye exam and her eyes were 20/50. Pretty clueless about what this means I immediately called my mom who told me that was pretty bad and I definitely needed to take her in. I took her in a few days later and the prognosis was worse than I thought it would be. Her eyes were actually 20/100 and 20/150. They explained to me that she REALLY needed glasses ASAP. Okay, with all the kids in tow we worked on picking out a pair. McKade must have tried on every pair in the store and left fingerprints there as well. It was hard to give McKinna the attention she needed to pick out the pair she would be happy with. We finally came to a decision and got a cute little pair. So far she has been wearing them faithfully and I hope this will continue when she returns to school next week.

JRDF walk

2010-11-25T06:56:00.000-08:00

We packed up the family and walked downtown Houston for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation Walk. We took our time on the walk and had a great time with the kids. Their favorite thing was rolling down the hills. McKade got rolled over many of times by some big kids, but he did not care. He would just get up and roll again. Bodin decided at one point to protect him so they held onto each other and rolled over each other. Too cute!

The Door

2010-11-25T06:36:00.000-08:00

I must say one thing I secretely enjoy is coming up with the punishment that fits the crime. I get a feeling of satisfaction when I can. With that said....

I hear the bus coming and McKade, Journey and I book it outside to welcome the kids home. Bodin comes running up hugging us and telling us all about his day. Then here comes moody McKinna. She is instantly laying into me. Mom, you did not do this and that. Okay, McKinna sorry, but seriously we just came to welcome you home. She settles down and we walk inside. She starts up again. Mom, blah blah blah. (She is just looking for reasons to yell at me.) McKinna you better stop! Continues. Get to your room!

She goes off but the complaining continues. She is kicking her door now yelling in this super whiny voice. "I do not care about this door, I do not care about anything in this house. The only thing I care about is me. I do not need this door." On and on this goes so I calmly open the door and say, "You do not care about this door?"
"Yes I do"
"Really, because I heard you say you don't."
"No, I don't"
"And you don't care about anyone in this family?"
She smugly looks at me like she has succeeded in hurting my feelings.
I do not say anything, but just leave. I come back with my handy dandy screwdriver and start unscrewing from the hinges.
McKinna frantically, "Mom, what are you doing?"
"Well, you do not care about this door so I just thought that I would take it off."
Oh the begging and pleading begins and I must admit it felt great to calmly remove srew by screw and relocate that door to the hallway where it is a constant reminder of one thing that can happen to you in this house if you make bad choices.

13 years.......... Where has the time gone?

2010-11-21T10:41:00.000-08:00

It has been 13 years since Shani and I got married, and I couldn't imagine it with anyone else! We have lived many places and have done lots of things trying to live the American Dream. Through the good and the bad we have stuck together, but honestly is has been good 98% of the time! We get along like peas and carrots and she lets me be me which is asking a lot! Shani, I still love you today as I did the day we said "I DO". Here is to another good year in yet another location on our adventure around the globe!

Love ya!!

Finally

2010-11-10T13:25:00.000-08:00

I can finally post Journey is officially crawling. No more of the army crawling business, she is up and off! Unfortunately she quickly discovered to make that messes as she goes. Her and her partner in crime are quite great pals now.

Yes, all the clothes and objects all over the floor are done by Journey:).

Bad Day

2010-11-10T12:52:00.000-08:00

I feel like everyone always posts the best days on their blog (me included). I read other peoples blogs and feel like a failure, but I have to keep the perspective the the good days are usually the ones being shared so this one is in light of keeping it "real".
McKade has been perfectly potty trained for about a month. He decided for whatever reason, that he did not want to be potty trained anymore. He started peeing his pants constantly. I finally started to spank him, it did not even phase him. I put him in his room, he hated it, but it did not work either. I put him on my lap to talk to him about it only to feel a warm sensation on my lap as I talked to him, back to your room. I have found that he is a child that craves the positive attention given to him, if he does not get cheered on as he runs to the bathroom and applauded afterwards, then he will go for negative attention. So we are back to being his cheer squad and he is doing much better again. That was a frustrating couple of days.

We were driving under a bridge by the ocean here the other day when Bodin says that he wants to go fishing here with all these people. Ben tells him that they will go fishing in our neighborhood because here under the bridge is where the homeless people live. I point out the shopping carts full of their clothes and other belongings and explain that they do not have jobs or homes so they are homeless. Bodin says that they just do not have jobs because it is a Saturday. Okay, no they do not have jobs any day of the week. McKinna ponders this for a while and comes to the conclusion that we are homeless because we do not "own" our home. Alright, I give-up!

I get a call from a family at church that has been trying to sell their house. They let me know they have just lowered the price on their home and McKinna has told them that we will have to be moving (remember we are homeless). I embarassingly let them know that we will not be moving nor have the credit to buy a home right now. Thanks McKinna!

Water Fun!

2010-11-10T12:41:00.000-08:00

I was trying to get some stuff done around the house and needed McKade to stay away for a minute. To accomplish this I put some bubbles in the sink to let him put his hands in and play. Apparently he had bigger and better ideas. I turn around to see this......

And he planned it out because as I got closer I see he thought he better keep his undies dry.

Really your undies, but not your shirt. Silly Boy!

Family Fun Day

2010-11-10T12:06:00.000-08:00

We went to a bed and breakfast in Cat Springs for a family fun day. There was a lot to do. First we went and saw the kangaroo.

Then we saw this pig AKA Taylor:)

Ben and Bodin spent some time fishing while McKinna took their pictures.

Then they wandered around and climbed trees.

They played around in some covered wagons.

They paraded around in bike helmets waiting for their turn to ride the horse.

They finally got their turn. Bodin was a bit leary of this, but did great. McKinna and McKade were all over it!

We also got to ride in some paddle boats. While doing this we saw many turtles in the water. The kids also got to brand a piece of wood with Ben's work logo on it. It was a fun day and a place I would definitely go to again!

Crazzzy Hairday

2010-11-10T11:29:00.001-08:00

Halloween 2010

2010-11-05T06:39:00.000-07:00

Journey the bumblebee. Her first Halloween!!

McKade the caterpillar.

McKinna was a witch. She should have been standing for her picture. She looked really cute!

Bodin was actually a red power ranger for Halloween, but when I asked him to put on his Halloween costume for a picture he put this on. I did not even realize it. Little Stinker!
We had a great Halloween. On Friday we went to our church Trunk or Treat. Then, on Sunday, we did the neighborhood. McKade really got into knocking on the doors and getting his candy. He did not like the scary people and would tell us they were scary. If a scary person opened a door, he would not want to trick or treat anymore and we would have to go with him and coax him back into it. Journey fell asleep as soon as we went trick or treating and slept until we got back home.
Bodin and McKinna were off and had a wonderful time. They would have gone all night if we let them.

The bike

2010-10-21T12:45:00.000-07:00

Bodin got a new bike from Grandma and Grandpa Cobb for Christmas last year and he absolutely loves his bike. Look at the smile on his face when he received it.
He rode it down the street to play the other day and left it laying in someones driveway. Well, the kids decided that they wanted to play basketball and asked the dad to move the car so they could play in the driveway. I am sure you can tell where this story is going....

The pictures do not do the devastation of the bike justice. It is much worse than it looks. The bike got completely run over. Ben went to get Bodin to tell him it was time for dinner and that is when Bodin discovered the bike was smashed. Ben had Bodin drag it home (the wheels won't even turn) with Bodin in tears the entire time. You see, we would have more sympathy, but we constantly tell the kids not to park in the driveway. Do they listen? NO! And this was not the first time his bike has been run over, Ben ran it over before, but luckily that was just the rim and it was still driveable after a little bit of bending the metal back in place. This time there is no way to fix it.
We let him cry for a while to teach him a lesson and then I told him we would probably go to Wal-Mart for a cheap bike (it gets smashed anyway) in about a week. Well, he came home from school yesterday with this...

Unless the child decides to wait until Chritmas and prays for Santa to give him some sympathy on top of a good sale, I am not seeing a Tony Hawk bike coming his way.

To finish the story, we went and got Bodin a bike at Wal-Mart. He was so excited, we came home, hooked up the babies in the bike trailer and decided to go for a ride. We got to the other end of the neighborhood when Bodin starts yelling. I look back to see his pedal has fallen off. Ben picks it up and screws it back on. It falls off again. This goes on for the next 10 minutes with Journey screaming wildy in the bike trailer. The decision is made that the bike will have to be pushed home. The screws on the pedal are totally stripped. We had to pack it up and take it back to Wal-Mart for another new bike. All is now well.

Happy Birthday McKade

2010-10-17T20:35:00.001-07:00

McKade, how fast these two years have gone, and how much we enjoy having you as part of our family! You are the cutest little guy ever. You always have a mischievous look about you. You are a climber and are always found on counters, the top of the couches, and moving chairs all about the house to get into anything and everything. You have a mind of your own, and you decide when and how you want to do things. When you have made up your mind, that is it! You have decided that you like to fall asleep on the couch with your favorite red pillow every night and that is what you do. You have your favorite helicopter book that you like to read, and we read it many times a day, but you also read anything I will read to you. You love storytime. You are 22 pounds now and still in the less than fifth percentile for weight (that is how the doctors put it). Your height is in the 16th percentile and your head is in the fortieth percentile. You are talking very well and you mimic everything. One of our favorites is when you sit at the dinner table and say.... Red Robin....Yum! And then laugh as McKinna and Bodin laugh with you.

For your birthday we had your cake with two candles. The first candle went out rather quickly but the second one would not go out no matter how hard you tried. You blew and blew (by looking at the pictures you can tell it was kind of spit and spit), but that candle would not go out. We were all cracking up. After a while of this we let McKinna and Bodin help you, I think you were relieved as you welcomed the help. You loved opening all of your gifts, even though I think that Bodin enjoyed it more than you did. I found out in the morning that he had snuck your Transformer car into bed with him and slept with it. You are doing very well riding your new scooter, you insist on bringing it into the house most days to practice. This house is set up pretty well for that. We love you McKade!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2010-10-17T20:29:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful birthday this year, my friend Jenny insisted on taking the kids so Ben and I could go out to dinner, and I am soooo glad she did. I always feel bad leaving my kids with anyone. Four kids is kind of overwhelming and on a school night, that is asking a lot. It was great to go out and actually enjoy dinner with Ben.
Brie always says that she lost her birthday when she had Landon on her birthday. It is always more about your child than yourself. I totally understand this now with McKade's birthday the day after mine. I spend my birthday getting ready for McKade's (making the cake, planning his day, wrapping his presents, etc.) I must say that I enjoy doing this too, but it sure was nice getting away from it all for a few hours.
Here's to another great year!

2010-10-17T20:23:00.001-07:00

We had a great time visiting with my parents. I swear, I felt like a neglegent mother as Journey decides to do all kinds of tricks for my mom. She babbled to her, got up on all four and did a little crawling, and she even pulled herself to a stand. I swear, I do work with her, but she decided that it was time to show off, I guess. McKade loves his grandparents and wants to be with them constantly. He cried and cried after we drove away from the airport. It broke my heart. It is really hard to live away from all of our family. We love and miss hanging out with the grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, cousins, nieces, and nephews. I hope to get closer to our family one day. We can't wait to come back for a visit.

Houston Museum of Natural Science

2010-10-17T20:01:00.000-07:00

We headed down to the Houston Museum of Natural Science for a day. Our first stop was at the Cockrell Butterfly Center. We got to see the butterflies going through the life cycle. We also got to go to their outside center and see tons of different types of butterflies. I really enjoyed this.

We then went on to the museum. It was very interesting. It had different types of dinosaur bones, gems and minerals, African artifacts, Indian artifacts, and we did not get to all of the museum. We got too hungry and ate at McDonald's before heading back home.

Visit with Grandma Tana and Grandpa Bill

2010-10-17T19:33:00.000-07:00

We had a great visit with my parent's last week. They were able to come for a few days. We, of course, had to spend a day at the beach (Landon, Van, and Gracen, if you look close there are messages for you in the sand).

My mom, McKade, and I also went down to Old Town Spring. I had to buy this hat, isn't it adorable!!

"I Did It!"

2010-09-29T19:48:00.000-07:00

McKade came up to me last Friday and told me he had to poop. He does this all the time, but he never really wants to sit on the potty. I am fine with that as he is not two until next month. My parents are also coming to visit in a few weeks, so I did not want to have to deal with a kid peeing all over the place as we are trying to go out and do stuff. I decided if he is telling me he has to go, I will take off his diaper to see what happens. Well, it took a while, but he peed all over the floor. OF COURSE, RIGHT?! Well, since he had not pooped, I decided not to put a diaper on him yet. The strangest thing happened he told me he had to pee, and he did it, over and over again. No accidents. He did take a couple of days to get the poop thing down, but he is done. Easiest kid ever. He even wears his underwear to bed. I did not want to do this post, afraid that it would backfire on me, but I figured if he is still into it and it has been almost a week, I guess he is done! I sure do love this kid. When he makes his mind up about something he does it! We just have to hope he makes his mind up to do good! GO McKade!!!

Journey's 9 month stats...

2010-09-29T19:35:00.000-07:00

Well, we have still not made it onto the charts, but she is still following her own curve. She is now 23.5 inches long and 10 lbs 9 oz. She is scooting all over on her tummy. She is now getting up on all fours and doing a push-up stand. The pediatrician is putting in for an early childhood referral. A person will come to the house and give us ideas on anything we could do to help her move along in her development. We will also be talking with a nutritionist to see if they have any ideas to help her to grow. She is now taking pediasure, which she loves, so we will see if this helps out. We are not concerned about her. She is starting to really interact and get around. She is just her own little person and does things at her own speed.

Bayou Wildlife Park

2010-09-23T09:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, we have been wanting to take a trip to the Wildlife Park. So we chose our day and even though there was a chance of rain, we were determined. As we pull up to gates the sky is dark with the clouds drizzling on us yet our determination still supassed our logic (that is not uncommon in our household). We pay and start driving down the road to park. We had no idea the animals would be blocking us from driving down the road and sticking their heads right in the window. As the llama comes up, Ben is frantically yelling, "hurry, put up the windows it is going to spit on us." Surprisingly the kids did not adhere to his commands. Following the llama comes the very friendly ostrich, once again head in the window. I am imagining it pecking the life out of my children. McKinna is feeding it, but Bodin is not crazy about the whole thing. We felt like we were in the Jurassic park movie with the dinosaurs coming right up to the car and checking us out.

Now, we finally get to our parking spot and walk over where the kids feed some of the deers while we wait for the tram to take us around the park. We did have to wait for the rain to let up before we could go. (Again, we perservere through the storm.)

We finally make it off on the tram. Now this is a metal cage that we are sitting in while there was lightning and thunder all around us and we were driving through all of these trees. At one point a branch off of one of the trees broke due to the weight of the water, but we kept going. It added to the ambience of the whole experience. I don't think my kids will ever forget this experience. And we did get to see and feed a lot of interesting animals.

After all the fun we went and ate at the BEST Mexican Food restaurant, La Brisa. Our waiter was great and made McKade this napkin hat.

Kemah Boardwalk

2010-09-23T06:04:00.000-07:00

The Kemah Boardwalk is about 5 minutes from our house. We went down and took the kids for a ride on the ferris wheel. Ben and Jim took the boys and played some arcade games and Danielle and I took the girls to a Christmas store, Thomas Kinkade store, and the candy shop. It was fun to go on a night when it was not too crowded. Of course, it was drizzling on us.

Playing at Galveston

2010-09-22T18:06:00.000-07:00

We headed to the beach in the rain. We went to Murdoch's shop. The store is split in two sides with a patio beach side. The wind was so strong going between the shops we literally felt like we were going to be blown away.

We them played under the pier for a bit.

Then we moved out into the weather. The kids had a good time, but were freezing by the time we got back into the car.

Moody Gardens

2010-09-22T16:27:00.000-07:00

We went to the Moody Gardens Aquarium with Jim and Danielle. It is in Galveston. We saw some interesting ocean creatures.

I need one of these at home for my kiddos...and husband

About this point McKade gave us the sign that he was getting bored.

As you leave the Aquarium they have this quote on the wall.

Galveston

2010-09-22T14:43:00.000-07:00

Jim and Danielle came to visit us and while they were here we spent some time in Galveston. I love Galveston. I enjoy the old-time feel of it, I like to be surrounded by the ocean, and you can always find something down there to do. Here is a little of what we did...

See what I mean by the houses. I could drive around all day just looking at these cool houses.
We toured one house. It is called the Bishop's House. It was amazing to see how advanced the building was when this house was built. Everything is more advanced if you are rich:) As we toured I could just imagine what it would have been like to have the servants catering to this family. Beautiful, beautiful house.

One thing that is hard to see is the destruction that Galveston suffered from Ike. You will find Ike water lines around Galveston. You can also see the damage done to this hotel. I find it interesting that I heard so much about Hurricane Katrina and Louisiana and so little about Ike here in Texas.

Dinner & a movie

2010-09-04T10:33:00.001-07:00

Our HOA hosted a dinner and a movie/pool swim night. As we loaded up the car I started freaking out thinking of how many people were gonna be there and how they were all going to annoy the heck out of me (Ben). To my surprise not too many people showed up leaving plenty of pizza and space to watch the movie. The pizza was really good and HUGE!! This is definitely a party pizza.

The movie shown was "Diary of a Wimpy Kid." If you haven't seen it, it is actually pretty funny and the kids enjoyed it. They spread out their blankets on the tennis court, laid down with their friend, and watched the entire movie which ended around 1030 pm.

All in all it was a good night, especially since it was free!! We were very surprised an HOA would provide the entertainment they did that night.

New outfit calls for a photo shoot!

2010-08-29T20:08:00.000-07:00

Well, Natalie has really outdone herself this time. She texted me to ask what size Journey now wears and if she needed bows or headbands. I told her headbands since she still has no hair and she is now in 3 month clothes. A couple hours later I get a text of a dress she whipped up with a hat. I got it this week and Journey wore it to church on Sunday. You cannot imagine the compliments I got on it (well, after seeing it, you can imagine the compliments). I keep telling Natalie she should open up her own shop. Everyone loves her stuff and is totally impressed! She also sent some adorable headbands that Journey has been wearing daily. Love it!!

It Begins...

2010-08-24T11:07:00.000-07:00

It marks the beginning of McKinna's 3rd grade year and Bodin's 1st grade year. We went to meet the teacher night and as I walked around Bodin's classroom I told Ben that he is either in a "special" class with very few students or they do not have to sit at desks with chairs (there are only 9 chairs in the classroom and one table). I proceeded to question the teacher, Ms. Raymond and she let me know the latter part of my thinking was accurate. They can sit whever they would like. I asked her to keep me informed of how this goes.
We head on over to McKinna's classroom and find the same situation. I know her teacher a little better as she has the same teacher as last year. Her class looped up to 3rd grade. Anyway, I asked her about it and she said that one classroom from each grade level were chosen as the guinea pig class to see how this method worked out. Both of my children are in the guinea pig class. I hope it works. McKinna was excited about it. On her first morning of school she could not wait to get to school and sit "wherever she wants".

There they are all decked out in their new attire head to toe.
McKade, Journey, and I anxiously awaited for them to exit the school bus at the end of the day. They came off with smiles on their face. All is Well! I question Bodin about his day and he responds, "it was not so good."
"What?"
"Well, some of the kids got in trouble."
"Did you?"
"No!"
"Then it was a great day. Pack up and let's go celebrate at IHOP!"

Don't Worry!

2010-08-18T21:04:00.000-07:00

Journey was not injured during this photo shoot. However, this is the reason she is not fully crawling yet. We can not safely put her on the ground. McKade thinks she is his personal horse and can give him rides. Seriously kid...go find someone your own size. Oh wait those kids don't want to play with him either as he beats them up. Bodin has the proof with a scratch under his eye, and a bite mark on his side.

>
And in other news, McKinna caught this baby gecko that ran into our house the other day. She played with it and begged and pleaded to keep it as our new pet. I finally convinced her that he needed to be outside with its family. Phew! That was a close call.