House progress!

We are starting to get somewhere now!

The decking for the first floor went down at the end of last week


And today...







The first floor is basically done! There aren't many interior walls, there is a bathroom and a closet, otherwise it is completely open.

The garage floor hasn't been poured yet, so they have not framed the garage. I am not sure if we will see the second floor go up before we leave for a weeks vacation this weekend, but either way, we are so happy to see things moving along and really curious to see what it will look like when we get back into town!

A Success at Trying

Let me first preface this post by warning you that this is not a story of success. Not in the Hollywood sense of the word.

There are a several things that I won't do. They can pretty much be summed up to include:

1. Dancing, unless I am drunk
2. Singing in front of you if you aren't family
3. competing in any kind of competition that I don't think I have a chance of winning
4. Anything that might draw attention to myself and cause me to feel foolish
5. Anything that might result in me becoming the center of attention

Many of these things are really for the best. Particularly the singing and/or dancing. It isn't pretty.

Ever since I was a little kid, we have spent time on a boat during the summer. Sometimes it would just be a time or two out on a farm pond, but the last couple of years have resulted in lots of boat time, now that Dad has his own boat.

This past weekend I confronted what I had avoided for the last 29 summers. As much as I fear lake water, I try my best to put it aside for the sake of my family. I work very hard to give my girls every experience that they show interest in, and then some. They both love the lake, so I deal.

One of Leila's favorite things about the boat is watching Cory and Papa water ski. I love the look of amazement and admiration in her eyes when she watches them, but that is not enough to get me out of the boat.

Last weekend I watched my sister Cassie as she persistently attempted to water ski. I watched from the boat with the kids and I thought about a time, not too many summers ago when Cassie wouldn't wear shorts, let alone a swimming suit.

The Cassie is one special lady. I am amazed by her for a lot of reasons, but on this day, I was impressed with her ability to overcome her own mental road blocks to be able to really enjoy life, and try. Something that I am not good at.

I took a page out of Cassie's page, set my inhibitions and fears aside and sat back in the cool lake water, with my Dad behind me for support (Thanks again Dad:)). The skis felt more natural under my feet than I expected, and the pull of the boat was not as fast and intimidating as I had always perceived while watching this activity from the boat. I sat back in the water, arms straight, knees bent and I yelled to my mom, the boat drive, "Go!"

The force of the water was felt against my legs and arms as the boat took off. I put all of my concentration into trying not to do the splits. Unsuccessful. A nose full of water later I had done it! I had finally tried.

Yeah, that is the end. I didn't get up out of the water, and I may never, but I tried.

When I asked Leila what her favorite part of the boat trip was on the way home that night I would be lying if I didn't say that I had hoped she would bring up my failed attempted to impress her, but instead she belted out, "Watching Cassie Ski! She tried and tried and she almost got it!" I guess I wasn't the only one in the boat that Cassie impressed that day, Thanks Cassie, you rock!

House Update

Looks pretty familiar, huh? The lack of house updates is not due to lack of blogging time, but rather lack of progress. As disappointed as we are that things haven't been moving along, we are doing our best to not worry about it and to trust in our builder. The weather has not been favorable with the excessive amounts of rain that we have had during June and July, and it is making it impossible to backfill around the foundation. We are waiting and hoping that this won't hold us back from closing on time, and we have been assured that it isn't crisis time yet. The builder has built a house from nothing to complete in 70 days and we are currently 61 days from our proposed closing date. Rain Rain Go Away!

The good news is, once they get started, it should come together really quickly to stay on target, and we also built in a couple of extra weeks to the timeline so we won't be homeless if this continues for a bit longer.

There are lots of things going on in my life that are testing my ability to have patience in those things that I can not control, and this is no exception. Serenity now!

Jamboree!

Last week Andrea and I set out on a trip to Walcott to visit Papa Carey and take the kids to see the trucks at the Jamboree. Here are a few pictures from our fun day with Papa. Leila was so excited to go she started asking me as soon as she woke up, "when do we get to go to Papa's work?!"

Now Andrea and Sawyer can both say that they have sat in a racecar!





We all had a good time checking out the trucks...and ourselves!




And of course enjoyed a cool treat on a hot day!



Thanks Dad for slipping away to spend time with us last week!!!

America's Birthday

We had a great weekend, and I hope you all did too! Now that Leila is getting a little older, we are working at helping her understand things, like what it means to be an American. When we were at the Ski show last week the moment came when they played the national anthem and everyone stood quietly, except for Leila. We decided then that we needed to take the opportunity to teach our little lady a lesson.

On the way home we talked about what it means to be an American. I want Leila to feel pride in her country and appreciation for the sacrifices that others have made, and continue to make for our freedom. The problem is, I am generally not a patriotic person. That is not to say that I am not grateful to live in a free country where I have had many privileges, but I do my best to think of myself, and everyone else as equals. There is a fine line between pride and arrogance, and I want to be sure that my daughter appreciates the privileged life that she leads, without believing that she is better than anyone else, or more deserving.

As I tried to explain to her what makes America a special place to live, I was torn. I wanted to point out the nice houses we have lived in, the wide open spaces we have to play in, the abundance of food and the comforts of the western world that we experience every day. But I can't help but think of all of the Americans who don't have those luxuries that we have come to expect.

I spent a lot of time pondering this, and my own feelings about America in the days leading up to the 4th of July, and on that day I was reminded of my patriotism as I watched the 4th of July parade and later as I sat at home with Leila, playing patriotic songs on youtube. Lee Greenwood singing God Bless the USA brings tears to my eyes every time.

The National Anthem now nearly always reminds me of the first football game I attended at Kinnick Stadium after the September 11th attacks. I had stood in that stadium for the anthem countless times before, without giving it much thought. That day I know I had tears in eyes as the 70,000 fans in Kinnick stood in stoic silence during the singing of the national anthem, all of our hearts and minds were in the same place. Independence day takes me back to that place, that feeling of pride. I am so thankful for the privilege to call myself an American. Having lived in a time when our country was attacked has changed the way that I feel about a lot of things, but most notably: I am so proud of the American's who put their country first, and grateful for their sacrifices. 2. I hope that as I age I continue to see American moving towards respect and understanding of those that are different than us.

God Bless America!

America's Birthday, Take 2

On to the fun stuff!

We had a great time at the parade. Leila picked up more candy then she could ever eat on her own. (I personally am very happy that tootsie rolls are such a popular parade treat...my favorite!)
We made a birthday cake for America, and we shared it with our dear friends the Weber's.
I have a couple of pictures from the parade that I stole from Cory's Facebook page...I have been so exhausted I haven't uploaded any pictures myself...not to mention that it is very difficult to take pictures with my new fancy camera while also keeping at least 1 child under control. I have much higher hopes for my photography ability than I probably should. I think I am going to see about signing up for a class somewhere...I could use the help.




After the birthday cake we were able to check out Coralville's fireworks show. I had been looking forward to taking some fireworks pictures but with the view of the fireworks slightly obstructed by hyvee's parking lot lights, I decided to just sit and enjoy the show with our kids. Thea slept through the whole thing, and Leila, Bryce and Eli went back and forth between enjoying the show, and terrorizing each other. I think there were some tired kids out that night!

Sisters

The older they get, the better the playing gets.  Even though Leila is so often guilty of making her sister cry, that this evening when Thea fell and hit her face on the floor, a whole room away from Leila, Leila yelled out, "I didn't mean for her to fall!"  Thea loves her big sister, and is always quick to follow her lead, and Leila is happy to oblige!

And totally unrelated but so cute, and so Leila...She was dancing along to the music at the ski show, loving her new dress from Aunt Cassie! :)

Daddy

I try not to gush (really!) Because nobody likes a sap, but Daddy Coobs is a true gem.  This man is adored by the ladies in his life, as you can probably tell.  Love you Daddy!

And of course there are some other special Daddies that get lots of love from the Coobs' girls....

Even though Uncle Steve is helping Sawyer squirt Leila in this picture, he is still on the good list! :)

And a couple other favorites of mine! : )

Summer Fun!

This will be my last summer of part-time employment, and I am trying to make the best of it.  Starting in October it will be back to the grind full time, and in the mean time I am working on finding as much fun, cheap or free activities that I can enjoy with the girls as possible.  My goal is to load up on memories (though I am probably the only one who will remember them) and tire my kids out so I can manage to get them to sleep even though Leila says, "I don't want to go to sleep when the sun is still awake!"

So far we have made a couple of trips to a splash pad, we are working on earning a T-shirt through the library summer reading program and we have explored several area parks (Free!).  I am on the look out for out of the ordinary and so I was excited to see that after seeing the Richmond's post about the ski show in Cedar Rapids, that there was another performance that we could hit.  My kids love to boat, and watching Daddy ski is always a high light.  Hopefully after seeing the barefoot skiers, and the skiing pyramids, they will still be impressed by Cory!

Here are some pictures of the Coobs' (And Smith! :) Family summer so far!

Splash pad!!

Sawyer the gunner!

Dinner Wars

Leila is a picky eater. If I am being totally honest, she comes by it naturally. Last night as I listened to her cry and whine like I had taken her birthday away at the prospect of having to eat *one* bite of dinner before she would be allowed to go for ice cream, I realized that my mother's wish had come true. All of those times she told me that some day I would have a kid just like me...yep.

I made Zucchini cakes. They were tasty, and not to be confused with anything healthy that I may have tried to make my kids eat. Picture cheese, breadcrumbs, eggs and shredded zucchini fried in a skillet. Like I said, not health food. Leila went on and on before finally, in a last second effort to earn a trip to DQ she choked down a single bite. As she stood there chewing as fast as she could, with one hand plugging her nose to avoid the taste, I was thrown back in time. Sitting at our kitchen table in the farm house in Tabor at the table all alone after everyone else had finished dinner, with a plate full of corn that I did not want to eat, or a plate of spaghetti with "gravy" on it.

This evening I was tempted to take a picture, but then I thought better of it when I imagined my own mother posting a picture of my dinnertime drama-fest from a couple of decades ago.

Tonight it was meatloaf. A dish that I have been making for Cory for several years, and he has always raved about. As Leila whined and cried and choked down her one bite, I had to remind myself that most of the time she thinks I am awesome, so I shouldn't take it too personally that at dinner time she looks at me like I am the evil lunch lady with a ladle full of slop. My daughters are beginning to shake the confidence that I had built up about my cooking abilities.

Motherhood, one day you are on the top of the world from the chants of "Mommy! You are the best!I Love you!" And the next, you are greeted at the dinner table after preparing a thoughtful, wholesome meal with whining, tears and the occasional gag from across the table.