Happy Birthday Jerry

A few weeks ago, we celebrated Jerry's 17th Birthday.

He had a few friends over, Rob barbecued and I made a Tres Leches cake.

 His sisters wrapped and decorated a special gift for Him.

Yes, that would be a box of 50 bags of Fire Hot Cheetos...the boy's addicted. I remind myself that he could be addicted to far worse things than pain inflicting snack food.

Jerry has been part of our family for almost 8 months now.  Life with a teenage boy has taken some getting used to.  A lot of the time, I feel like I am on a crazy roller coaster.  But, when I am not feeling worried, scared or sick, it's a pretty great ride!  I don't know what the future holds or how this whole thing will work out, but right now, I'm glad he's in the next room (texting his little heart out). 

Happy Birthday Jerry.  We love you!

Murals for Papa's Shop

 A few weeks ago, we paid Papa Mike and Grandma Kris a visit.  They had a very special project planned for us.  We got to help Papa Mike decorate the walls of his newly completed shop/man cave.  Nothing on this earth could make the Cobb girls happier than the chance to paint whatever they wanted on clean white walls.  It felt so naughty!

Needless to say, Papa's man cave has some really pretty rainbows, hearts, butterflies and pink thingamablobs on the walls now.  No doubt his buddies will be impressed.

 Grandma and Daddy even got in on the action.

 Daddy painted his dream house...

really more of a hut, but who cares when you have the perfect wave out your front door.

 We also got to meet Daddy's long lost twin brother.....

Oh, I mean Papa and Grandma's new dog, Mugs.  



Fair Time

It's that time of year again.  The time when everyone starts coughing and sneezing...the dust in the air is so thick you can see it, you wonder if the weather is ever going to cool off, and the smell of cow poo hangs in the air.  Around here, that means it's Fair time.  Time to go eat some overpriced, seriously disappointing fried food and step in some animal excrement.  Oh yeah and see your kid's artwork (the highlight of course)...

Here's H posing in front of her artwork.  She won an honorable mention this year.  Way to go girl!
Here's a close up of her old lady (no...that is not a portrait of me...very funny!).

In case you couldn't tell, we are not really farm folks.  This was evidenced this year at the fair as we walked up to the cows and Sarah exclaimed, "Daddy that one is a girl because she is wearing earrings".  If they had an animal decorating contest at the fair, that girl could compete. 

Hey...Take a Hike Man!

OK...Don't mind if we do.

Last Sunday we went on a hike with the Outdoor Adventure Club from the High School. 

We hiked to the top of the Needles Fire Lookout.  You can't see it in this photo because it's hidden behind the tree on the left at the very top of that rock.

Here the girls are at the top waiting to go up the last few steps for a breathtaking 360 degree view.

There were about 40 high school students who went including this guy...

Being the chivalrous dude he is, he was sure to help all the single girls scramble down from rocks...hey, this hiking thing is kind of fun!

These little studettes and the big one in the background made it the whole way...about 5 miles in all.

Well...almost the whole way.  Daddy pitched in with a couple brief shoulder rides towards the very end.

It was a beautiful day!

Birthday Celebration

For their 6th Birthday, we took these two ladies to Hume Lake for a weekend celebration complete with fishing (they got poles for their birthday), row boating, swimming and cake and ice cream eating!

Daddy taught Grace how to cast her Disney Princess fishing pole.

Sarah was a pro with her Barbie pole.  Nobody caught anything, but the fun was in trying anyway.

This great looking bunch of kids joined us for the celebration!

Row, row, row your boat...but first put on some sunscreen!

It was a fun birthday weekend!

6 Years Ago Today...

Six years ago today, my babies looked like this...

A year later, they looked like this...

And a year after that...

And a year later...

And the year after that...

And one year later...

Happy Birthday my sweet, silly, special girls.  Stay tuned for this year's birthday picture.

This Reminded me of You

Two different family members have now sent this video to me because it "reminded me of you guys". I think for my ego's sake I'll go ahead and take it as a compliment...enjoy!