Cobb Christmas 2007

We had a wonderful and whirlwind Christmas this year. We began with "A Walk Through Bethlehem" at a church in Bakersfield the Saturday before Christmas. It was a great re-enactment of what Bethlehem may have been like at the time of Jesus' birth. Most importantly, we got to spend some time reflecting on the true meaning of Christmas. The girls are anxious to go back to Bethlehem and are thouroughly convinced that Bethlehem is in the parking lot of the 7th Day Adventist church in Bakersfield. Sunday we traveled to Fresno where we enjoyed Christmas with Keri's brother and sister and their families. Christmas Eve day, we made a very fun and very cold trip to the zoo with Gitty, Auntie Kelly and Cameron. We went to a Christmas Eve service with Keri's mom and brother and spent the evening enjoying dinner at Keri's brother's house and watching the cousin's play together. Christmas morning there was a knock at the door and low and behold, it was Santa! Grace and Sarah thought this was very cool, Hannah wasn't too sure and Cameron hid in his bedroom the whole time. We had a fun morning opening gifts and took the kids to the park in the afternoon for sack races, soccer and baseball. We are home now and have spent the last couple days catching up on laundry and sleep.

A Kiddie Kollege Christmas

Monday, December 17 marked Hannah's first ever Christmas program. She was supposed to be a bell ringer, but in the overwhelming excitement of her first stage appearance, she sat motionless with her back to the audience the entire time. I did manage a picture of her beautiful smiling face on stage with her sisters and a buddy after the performance. All in all, it was a fun evening complete with cookies and punch for all.

Going to the "Nut-tractor"

Last night Hannah and I went to see the Nutcracker with a good friend. It was a great show and we had a great time. At the ripe old age of 5, Hannah has seen the show three times and has loved it every time. This morning when she woke up, she was telling Daddy all about seeing the "Nut-tractor". We both laughed and agreed we have officially lived here too long!

Fun with Cameron

Cousin Cameron visited us this week and we had a great time playing at the park and enjoying the lights at Lightasmic!

It's Delicious Mom!

For some reason "Delicious" is Grace's word for the week. Every time we sit down to eat, she exclaims, "it's delicious Mom". She usually starts a trend and everyone else starts saying it too. I love it! I know it won't last, but I am enjoying the praise and the cute way she says it for now.

Ornament Placement Tips from the Cobb Kids

Here are a few tips for decorating your Christmas Tree compliments of Hannah, Sarah and Grace:

1. Be sure to select only the most colorful ornaments from the box (not the boring old silver balls Mom is so fond of.)
2. Ornament clustering is preferable (see photos below). Challenge your sisters to see how many balls they can fit on one branch at the bottom of the tree.
3. The old saying "less is more", does not apply here. More is definately more!
4. If you run out of room on the bottom branches, just start piling the ornaments around the base of the tree.
5. If necessary, remind Mom to relax. Her years of a perfectly balanced designer tree are over.
6. Make sure Dad sleeps through the entire process (see photos below).
7. Remove ornaments and relocate them several times a day.
8. Have fun with your family!!!

Decorating for Christmas and a Letter to Santa

The girls are now at an age where everything about Christmas inspires wonder and awe (as it should in all of us). I have been putting our Christmas things out a little at a time, and everytime one of them spots something new, they gasp and exclaim "Mommy lookit!!". We often drive out of our way to see the sparkly lights and blow-up snowmen that are starting to fill our neighborhood. Each time they see lights on someone's house, they make sure to tell me that they want sparkly lights on our house too. I think Daddy has his work cut out for him this weekend.

Feeling in the Christmas shopping spirit, I took the girls to the dollar store the other day where Hannah spotted a reideer headband. When we got home that night, she told me, "Mom, I want him to bring me a deer headband". Who I asked? "Santa of course", she replied. I told her I thought Santa could manage a dollar store headband, but just to be sure, we better send him a letter. So, last night she carefully drew a picture of what she wanted and wrote "love, Hannah" at the bottom. It will be fun to have a collection of these special letters someday.

Girl's Weekend

What a blessing it was to spend this past weekend with my two closest friends from as far back as the 6th grade. We make a habit of getting together for a girl's weekend once a year to catch up on each other's lives and enjoy some time away from the daily grind. We haven't missed a year since we graduated from college. I look forward to our time together every year and always come home feeling refreshed and encouraged. "I thank my God in all my rememberance of you..." Phil. 1:3

Girly Girls

We recently went to a friend's birthday party where the girls got to get all dressed up, have their hair and nails done and eat heart shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on hot pink bread. It was a big hit with everyone.

Happy 5th Birthday Hannah!

We celebrated Hannah's 5th Birthday with friends and family on two different weekends in November. She had a great time both weekends. It was fun to spread out the celebration.

I Love You all the Way to 20

Tonight as I was giving Hannah her final bedtime kiss, she told me "I love you all the way to 20, so I am going to give you 20 kisses". God knew I could use 20 kisses tonight and just because he is a God of abundant Grace, when she got to 20, she gave me five more. I love that God can love me through my sweet little girl.

Creation Celebration

Here are three of God's cutest creations. Instead of traditional Halloween activities, we went to church for a Creation Celebration. The kids did a different activity related to each day of God's creation. On day 7 they rested and had a cookie and hot chocolate. It doesn't get much better than that. My Mom made Hannah's wings for me when I was a kid. All these years later, they still get lots of compliments. Thanks Mom!

New York in the Fall

Last week was our long awaited trip to New York City. Rob had a College Board meeting on Wednesday and a few conference sessions on Thursday, so we made a week of it, just the two of us. We had a fantastic time. Since I have been to this wonderful City before, it was Rob's turn to select our sight-seeing destinations. We began our trip with a visit to the Iridium Jazz Club where we listened to none other than legendary inventor of the electric guitar, Les Paul jam with his trio. Not bad for a 92 year old. The following day we took a ride on the Staten Island Ferry for views of the New York skyline and Statue of Liberty. Then it was on to a walking tour of the financial district including Wall Street and the Trade Center site. The Trade Center site is buzzing with activity as the City works to rebuild. Native New Yorkers seem somewhat irritated that tourists want to see the site, but we felt like we wanted to see the place where our world changed on that September day, and honor those who lost their lives. There is no official memorial yet, but New York has done an excellent job of keeping the site a somber place in spite of all the construction and tourism. From the Financial District in downtown Manhattan, we decided to walk as far uptown as our legs would carry us. We made it a fair distance, but finally broke down and caught the subway back to our hotel at the southwest corner of Central Park. Our legs were sore the rest of the week. I spent Wednesday while Rob was in his meeting walking in Central Park, window shopping on 5th Ave., and buying treats for the girls at FAO Shwarz. Wednesday night we had a lovely dinner with Rob's brother Joe and his girlfriend Sarah who live in Brooklyn. Thursday we took the subway to Little Italy for some New York Pizza and spent some time walking around SoHo. We walked so much. It was almost addicting. Every time I thought about catching the subway instead, I would think, just one more block, I don't want to miss anything. Once we finally decided to catch the subway on Thursday, we took it all the way to the Museum of Natural History. We got there about an hour before closing when admission is free. So, we made a speed trip through the dinosaurs and a few other exhibits. This is where the movie "Night at the Museum" was filmed, and they have a program for families with 8-12 year olds where you can actually spend a night at the museum. Too fun. We'll have to go back when the girls are old enough. We ended our time in the City with left over pizza in Central Park and some really great gelato. Click the play button below to see some of our pictures from the trip.

Kiddie Kollege Open House

Last night was Hannah's pre-school open house. We enjoyed a gourmet dinner of hot dogs, chips, cookies and punch, (what else) and were treated to a stirring rendition of "The Wheels on the Bus". I thought for sure I would have to join the class for singing since Hannah had a little trouble letting go of my hand after I escorted her to the front. But once she settled in, she did great. She even smiled at us when she spotted us in the back of the room. Not surprisingly, she stands about a head taller than most of her class.

After our dinner and entertainment, we got to take a tour of the classrooms and enjoy the kid's artwork.

Hannah proudly showing us her pumpkin.

This is our family represented by our hands. Hannah did everything except trace the hands.

"Girl Cheese Sandwiches"

We had grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch today. They are usually a big hit with the girls and mom too. Halfway through lunch, Hannah leans over and whispers in my ear, "Mom, can they have them too?" Not having the slightest idea what she was talking about, I asked, "Can who have what too?" "Can Daddy and boys have them too?", she asked. "Can Daddy and boys have what honey?" "Girl Cheese Sandwiches!"

I assured her in between chuckles that boys could have "girl cheese sandwiches" too. I never explained to her why I was laughing. I just couldn't bring myself to correct her. It was too cute.

High Tech Potty Talk

The Cobbs, (well at least Rob), have officially gone high tech. I came home from an exercise class at 7:00 this morning to find him perched on the throne checking the days weather from his new Blackberry. I only wish I had a photo to go with this post. I bet you do too.

Monday Mayhem

Mondays are our day to have my friend Jen's two daughters with us and she takes care of our girls on Fridays. This arrangement works out great and the girls really seem to look forward to Mondays and Fridays with their buddies.

Five pre-school aged girls can occasionally (ok, quite often), get very noisy. But, this past Monday as I was getting ready to load everyone in the van to take the oldest two to pre-school, all of them were playing outside and I noticed that things were unusually quiet. I peaked out the back door to find all five sitting quietly on this bench. I had to grab the camera for a quick picture because this sort of thing is so rare. I couldn't get a photo this good if I tried. They are so cute!

Ice Cream Cones the Size of our Heads!

We recently took Amtrak to Hanford with some friends for an evening of merry-go-round riding, face painting and ice cream cones the size of our heads at their Thursday night farmers market. The girls have been wanting to ride the train for some time and the 1 hour train ride was perfect. We had a great time together and will plan a trip again next year.