Playing catch up...

Wow... Well over a month since my last post... Guess you could say Ive been busy... So, here's to catching up now that its August! After our trip to KC, we returned home and straight back to the grind. Just 2 weeks later, we ventured to the lake for the 4th and had a blast. The boys favorite thing to do right now is kayak, so we spent lots of time exploring and looking for gators.... Yikes!! My Mom makes her flag cake every year and its always delicious. How cute is she???
We watched fireworks off the water and it was HOT!!!

The boys hit the dance floor and wowed a crowd of on lookers with their moves....

This is "Precious" the frog who resides in a birdhouse on my Moms patio. Isn't she just ... um... precious??? She has blessed their pond with many babies that my boys love to try and catch. Nana scolds them because shes sure they will squish them... Says they have to be a bit bigger... Ahem..
On another note- Mason received his first set of stitches... 12 to be exact- over his brow bone.... 3 little Monkeys jumping on the bed is all I will say abut that one. AND...... (drum roll please!)- my twins are potty trained!!! Over 2 weeks now in full time undies and doing GREAT!!! Yes, it was a beating, yes I wanted to turn back after day 3 and yes I drank lots of wine!! BUT- its LIFE CHANGING here!!!Logan & Brady kiss diapers goodbye! Whoo-hoo!

Later Gator!

Last weekend we took the kids to the lake for a quick family get-a-way. My Mom had taken Mason to the East Texas Gator Farm before and we knew we had to go back with all of the boys. This place is truly a little boys haven! There is tons to see here including snakes, endangered birds, raccoons, bunnies, wild hogs and of course- GATORS! The man that runs the wildlife park lives on the property and his passion is to rescue gators and other animals that have made their way to the local lakes and neighborhoods. I called him Crocodile Dundee and think hes a bit crazy. Did I mention hes missing his thumb and wears a gator tooth necklace? You get the point. He's actually amazing with the animals and was so patient with the kids (aka- the other animals).

Mason was FEARLESS at every exhibit- reaching right in and grabbing this baby gator out of the tank. He held him tightly while his brothers took their turns touching him. We learned that gators breed like crazy- hence the growing population in the lakes of East Texas. The tank must have had at least 20 babies about this size in it. They don't let them into the area with the large ones until they are much bigger as they tend to eat their young- nice...

We all took a turn holding "Lemondrop" the python. All except my hubby that is- he hates snakes and would not take part in this!

Here's Dundee during the Gators feeding time. He comes out with buckets of raw meat, rings his cow bell and they all come swimming toward him. Did I mention he is craaaaaaazzzy???

We stood above only about 10 feet away during feeding time to watch. The twins were mesmerized- as long as Nana was holding them.

The kids also enjoyed the petting zoo and just in time for Easter, a basket of fuzzy newborn bunnies!

Brady
Bounce houses, tree swings and boat rides made this the perfect day!

Logan

What a wonderful day with my lovies!

Fun at the Firestation!

My boys are infatuated with fire trucks, police cars, guns, pirates, cowboys and trains (just to name a few). On a recent trip to the grocery store (with all 3 kids in tow...), a group of firefighters were doing their shopping. My boys were in awe. We ended up chatting with them for a bit and after Mason checked out all of their "gear", they invited the boys to climb aboard the firetruck. They loved it and Mason has talked about them for the last week. So, while I couldn't promise them this experience on our next grocery outing, I knew I had to come up with something fun! A plan ensued and I made a call to our local Fire Dept and asked if I could bring the boys by. They gladly obliged and I am so thankful for the time the Melissa Fire Dept. dedicated to Team Cobbs. My boys were given a grand tour thru the entire facility, inside and out.

They got to see where the firefighters ride and pushed every button they could get to.

Of course, everyone got a turn in the drivers seat! Mason was so patient and let his baby brothers go first.

Logan was happy to just sit and pretend to drive.

Brady followed his big brother everywhere, copying every move he made.

Mason and Brady, getting a hands on lesson from "the coolest guy ever."

Logan trying to decide where to go next.

This was pretty much my angle from the entire afternoon!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to the Melissa Fire Dept for an absolutely wonderful day! We appreciate your time and all you do for our wonderful community!

Life at the Lake

My amazing Mom (we call her Saint Nana) complied a few videos of the boys while they spent some time with her at the lake last week. She took Mas by himself for a few days and then traded him in for the twins. GREAT break for me and as you can see- they had a blast and LOVE life at the lake- it's truly a little boy haven! You really need to watch all of the videos in succession to see how they spend their days. (They are all only a few seconds each but so precious and my Mom is just such a RIOT!)

My boys adore "their 2nd home" and I am so thankful to have this blessing in our chaotic lives!

P.S.- Could my Mother be any cuter??? I think not...

Had to include this pic from their latest trip with Pirate Mason to Louisiana during Mardi Gras.

Arctic Blast!

As you may have heard, North Texas had a serious winter blast this week. Monday night the sleet started and it didn't stop for days. Frozen roads, rolling blackouts and frozen pipes galore. Cabin fever set in seriously around here but we made the best of it. After a long week with no school and not being able to leave the neighborhood- we woke to this! A beautiful blanket of snow! About 6 inches in the morning and it didn't stop ALL day! This is really rare here and made up for all the crappy weather. The boys and I ventured out for a snowball fight (Team kids vs. Team Mom.... -I won) and had a BLAST! After all our play, we decided to take a "snow walk" and explore the neighborhood. Here are a few pics from our great, chilly day!

Big Boy and his snowball (he really loved getting the twins)

The twins who I swear had gloves on...

Team Kids

Logan

Brady- his favorite was eating the snow... Geez...

Mason & Brady making snow angels- Logan could NOT be bothered to do this... (shocker)

(And these 3 pics just make me SMILE!)

**On an unrelated note, last weekend Allen and Mas had their "special night" and went to the Mavs game. Just a pic because they look so cute and Mason was so excited to go again.

Looking forward to catching up with friends at a Birthday Party tomorrow and a warm, sunny, precipitation free week!

Whoa, what a week!

Its been a crazy week here! First I want to congratulate my darling cousin Kaylan who graduated from SMU last week. She is a music major with the voice of an angel- so proud of her! My Dad came from KC and Erin & Dave came from Colorado to also celebrate with her. Here is a pic of me and the Graduate below.

We had an amazing family dinner at Perry's in downtown Dallas. My gorgeous cousins- Meghan, Kaylan (the Graduate), Erin and myself.

Dad & I

The Sikkel's all met for lunch at my hubby's place one day. The kids completely missed nap and were crazy. Luckily we had the whole patio to ourselves. They danced, ate ice cream and loved all the attention from their cousins! (and Mommy loved the help!)

The elusive "good" picture with the kids and cousin Erin!

While my Dad was here, he blew up our massive Slip N Slide and Mason went crazy for it.

This is what the babes had the most fun doing..... Typical....

Papa Doug (Papa Dug-a-hole as Mason calls him) got to bond with the kids tons this week. They made cookies, took trips to the gazebo, pond, pool and park. We even managed to squeeze in a trip to the Pedi. (Everything is fine, I'm just paranoid...) I think we wore him out plenty and he was ready to head back to his peaceful life in Kansas but we had a great visit with him and the rest of the Sikkel's!