We Have A Name!

Ellie it is!  After much indecisiveness we have agreed upon a name for our baby girl (due in November).  I have always loved the name Ellie (Erick does too).  I liked it so much that 16 years ago I named my cat "Ellie"!  And yes we still have Ellie the cat.  This might be a bit confusing for a while.  So any suggestions on a new name for the cat?  I guess this is kind of a Cobb family tradition.  Erick was named after his dad's Irish Setter :-)  We still need a middle name for our daughter.  But don't worry, we will not use our other cat's name (Queso) or our dog's name (Hula). 

Chuck E. Cheese

Miles and Wesley

My niece, Lucy.  She looks exactly like I did at one year.

Beans are back!

I was at Trader Joe's today.  Their "Refried Pinto Beans" are back on the self!  This just made my day!  I never was really a refried bean kind of gal until Carmine introduced me to TJ's  beans about 5 years ago. I love them because they are so smooth and have a bit of salsa in them.  About 2 years ago the store stopped carrying them.  I was so disappointed.  But after living without the beans for 2 years they are back!!  I bought a bunch of cans and I am planning on making something every night this week that I can have my beans with :-)  That is unfortunate for my family because I am the only one that likes refried beans!

I don't know why Trader Joe's pulls items off their selves for an extended period of time and then put them

back.  It drives me crazy, but I am very glad that they usually do put them back.  They did this to my favorite salad dressing a while ago.  I love their Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing.  A great combination of a little sweetness and spice.  I love to put extra on my salad and then dip my pizza in it.  Yummy!

Determined to lead and a heart to serve

Miles (4 years) bumped his head on the kitchen counter, again.  Miles then sat down with a cold pack on top of his head and watched Mason (6 years) play Pac-Man.  But when it was Miles' turn to play he found it very difficult to play the game while holding the cold pack on his head.  So Miles told Mason to hold the cold pack on his head while he played!   Mason of course consented happily.  Mason held that cold pack on Miles head for 5-10 minutes!  I even had time to grab the camera and shoot a picture of this. 

The Fruitful Life

I am reading through The Fruitful Life:  The Overflow of God's Love Through You by Jerry Bridges.  If you have not read anything by Jerry Bridges you are missing out!  I have been blessed by everything that I have read by him.  Bridges is such a clear writer and digs into important heart issues.  He is one of my favorite authors.  To get you interested, here is the table of contents.  Taking on God's character.  Devotion to God.  Humility.  Love.  Joy.  Peace.  Patience.  Kindness and Goodness.  Faithfulness.  Gentleness.  Self-Control. Seeking deeper devotion.

Today's Randomness...

This morning when I took Mason to school he gave me a hug and I kissed him goodbye.  He then told me that I didn't need to wait around and that I could go!!!!  I felt my heart get crushed!  My little guy is growing up, oh no I don't think I am ready.  I am trying to be thankful that he loves to go to school and he is not crying when I drop him off (that would be really hard for me).  Well, I didn't leave, but I did move further away and a bit more out of view.  When the morning bell rang and his teacher arrived, Mason ran back to me to give me another hug goodbye :-)  That made me feel a bit better.  He really is a sweet kid.

Baby update.  There is nothing exciting to report.  Everything seems to be going normal.  I feel like there is a 10 pound bag of flour sitting in my pelvis!  I am having lower back pain.  It feels like my pelvic bones are stretching.  Ouch...  But our little baby girl is moving around a lot.  It is amazing to watch my belly and see her kicking and flipping around!  We are still trying to decide on a name.  Stuck between two names.  Is it okay to name our daughter the same name as our cat?  Erick was named after his dad's dog....

Our Boston Terrier caught a rat today (2nd one this month)!  The first one she caught I was seriously screaming as I was bagging up it's body.  It was horrible!  They are not in our house just outside.  Our neighbor says they are eating our grapes and apples.  YUCK!!!

Miles is loving being an "only child" for the 6 hours that Mason is at school.  Miles is so delightful and easy when it is just him, but he constantly says he misses Mason.  We met Erick for lunch at BJ's today.  Yummy!!!!

Courtney

Our beloved Courtney is moving away to go to college!  Courtney has be such a wonderful blessing to our family.  She has watched the boys almost every Friday so Erick and I can have date night.  We have loved getting to know her and build a relationship with her.  She is so precious.  We are really going to miss her.  Mason and Miles are going to miss her too.  They really love Courtney!  Thankfully she won't be too far away.  Courtney, have a great time at college.  We love you!

Lauren's Baby Shower

This was by far the biggest shower I have ever been to!  We are so excited for Jake and Lauren!  They are going to be wonderful parents.  I can't wait to see baby Avary!

1st Grade!

Mason started the 1st grade today!  He said he had a great day. 

We celebrated the first day of school with some tasty Golden Spoon.

Mom's Birthday

Happy Birthday Mom!  We love you!

Carlsbad Beach

 

The boys had a great time playing in the waves today! 

Swim Lessons... Continued

Today was Mason's last day of swim lessons.  He had a blast!  He did fantastic!  He passed the class!  Yeah!!   When he started the class he was afraid to go in the pool with out a life jacket on.  He made great progress each day.  I was amazed at what his teacher was able to get him to do.  Mason loved every bit of the class. 

Oh Miles, you will love swimming.  It is so much fun!

The $20 Wii

Okay it is nothing like the Wii that I have been coveting.  From the little exposure that I have had with the Wii I think it is amazing and a ton of fun!  But I think we will wait a while before getting a Wii.  So instead of the magnificent Wii I ended up buying the boys a $20 Pac-Man Plug 'n Play TV game.  I seriously think they were just as excited about this $20 game!  Because our boys have hardly any experience with video games I don't think they could tell the difference between the $20 Pac-Man and the $200 Wii. This game is actually pretty cool.  You get 8 different games.  It has some of the classics that I remember playing as a kid at Round Table Pizza or Square Pan Pizza (I miss that place).  So I guess we will just have to get our "Wii fix" at the Wood's or Miller's house :-)

Just Two More Bites!

It is no surprise that this problem has come and bit me in the butt.  I remember when I was a kid I was the most stubborn and picky eater!  Well meal time has become a bit of a circus and a frustration at the Cobb house.  My kids are now 6 and 4 years old, you would think I would have a handle on areas such as eating by now.  Unfortunately I don't.  I admit that I have failed miserably in this area!  Miles has always been picky (remember he is my mini me) and now his big brother has decided to follow in that path.  We were about to call the professionals and then I remembered I had this book. 

I like to collect books, but not as extreme as Erick.  A lot of them I read but some are just sitting there waiting for that perfect time.  When I was pregnant with Mason (my first child) I was scared because I had no idea what I was doing!  What was I supposed to do with an infant or toddler!  So my solution was to buy as many good books on the subject of parenting.  I remembered I had this book on getting your kids to eat but I could not find it on my book self.  I finally found it in the garage sale bin in the garage (thankfully no one bought it at our last sale)!   We have been ripping our hair out the past few weeks or more likely months about this eating thing.  Meal time has been one of our hardest parenting areas... from eating to manners at the table.  We have tried every extreme.  From not caring (our most common), to demanding "you must finish everything" approach, to bribery, and the worst was just cooking whatever they wanted.  I know that those of you that don't have kids are thinking this is ridiculous.  Well it is, but it is also harder than you would think! 

Last night I started reading Just Two More Bites  and I am so excited!  This book is going to be so helpful!  There are some really practical and straight forward solutions.The author is a registered dietitian with 25 years of experience in pediatric nutrition. 

Today I explained to the boys the new rules for eating dinner and what we expected.  I think tonight was the most pleasant meal time we had in a long time.  They ate great without complaining.  They wanted seconds and were even willing to try new things!  This was unbelievable.  I sure hope this continues!  We are looking forward to more peaceful meals.

River... again!

We went to the Colorado River this weekend. 

Mason loves the River!

Mason knee boarding (kind of).  He was practicing for the first time but he was being pulled by Pops not the boat :-)

We drove to the River after Mason's birthday party in San Diego so we had all his presents in the car with us.  He couldn't wait to open them up!  This is what Mason was doing most of the the way to the River.

Mason's 6th Birthday

I can't believe Mason is 6!  He has grown up so much this year.  We celebrated his birthday on Thursday at Peter Piper Pizza in San Diego.  My family, Erick's family, Mason's cousins, and the Wood family all live in San Diego so we decided to make it convenient for all of them (and for us too because we we were leaving for the River the following morning).  The kids had a blast playing the games, winning tickets, eating very greasy pizza, licking the frosting off the yummy cupcakes, and of coarse...  Mason loved opening his presents!  Here are some pictures from the party. To see more go to Mason's 6th Birthday on my Flickr site  or to see more Cobb family pictures go to Natasha's Flickr site.

Mason's cousin, Wesley

Miles' favorite game

Mason's great-grandparents

Rocco Wood enjoying greasy pizza.

Dustin and Scarlet

Mason's uncle Paco with his new daughter, Charlie

Mason and Aidan, "Best Buddies"

Happy 6th Birthday Mason!  We love you so much!  We thank God for giving you to us.  You are such a blessing and a joy!