Just a little update...

I apologize for not having the time I used to have to keep this thing updated. At my old job, I had endless moments of NOTHING to do. Now I have absolutely NO spare time to do anything. Not to mention that when I get home or come by the parent's house to use their computer, Kambren needs my undivided attention!! :)

Well, to keep you all updated on everything in our lives:

Aaron is as busy as ever with a million different projects. One of the big ones right now is the living room. For those that don't know already, he started this project exactly one year ago this month. He started in my bedroom with the closets and doorway into our living room. "ADD Boy" as he is affectionately referred to by many, started fixing the area around the new door between our room and the living room, moved on to the wall next to it (in the living room), progressed to a spot above the kitchen doorway, slid over to another spot on the wall beside the TV and finished with another little section on the south wall. Keep in mind that HE NEVER FINISHED ONE WALL!!!! Well, my super father-in-law is on the job now!! They tore out my living room drop ceiling a few weeks back and made a totally new design for it. He will finish the walls that Aaron started soon. Before long, the whole living room will be brand spanking new!!! I'll post pictures when I can of their progress...but since you know my track record with updating my blog, I'm sure you'll be holding your breath!!!

Rose has passed her Kindergarten reading AND math. She was very proud of herself!! We have her parent teacher conferences later this week and I'm sure we'll hear all about it! She is very quiet and studious in school - nothing like she acts around those of us who know her! Last conference I was sure the teacher was speaking of someone else!!! Rose QUIET??? YEAH RIGHT!!! Her greatest accomplishment right now though (if you ask her) is her ability to go across the monkey bars and back at recesses MULTIPLE times. She's getting pretty quick too!! She is growing like a weed. Her pants are lasting about 2 months - length wise. She's still a size 5/6 around the waist. She has lost her 2nd tooth already and is waiting for more to fall out!

Kambren is now 10 months old!!! Her first birthday is already planned...question now is cake flavor??? Do we get her carrot cake since she seems to enjoy that the most, or do I have Grandma Patrick make her famous "wedding" cake because EVERYONE loves it?! I still have a few weeks to decide though...Now for the crazy news with the baby: Sunday morning Kambren had a febrile seizure due to a fever of 105. It had been hovering around 100-102 throughout the night and I had been dosing her up on Tylenol (we were out of motrin or that would have been used too!). However, about 30 minutes after her morning dose of Tylenol, she started shaking and wouldn't make eye contact with anyone. When Aaron tried to get her to look at him, she wouldn't and closed her eyes. When he pried her eyelids open, her eyes were rolling back in her head. It was the SCARIEST thing this new mom has ever had to go through in her life!!! Aaron called the ambulance and they rushed us to Salina because Minneapolis doesn't take babies as they aren't equipped to handle them. Since Kambren wasn't suffering from a cold, pneumonia, an ear ache or anything else that they could see, the doctor on duty ordered a spinal tap - a phrase that probably strikes fear in the hearts of all mothers and fathers! However, I had my mother-in-law there to assure me that this was a necessary procedure to help us find where the infection was at. I was able (and I mean physically as I wasn't completely freaked yet) to be in there while they tried to find a vein (TWICE!!!) for an IV - unsuccessfully, - and while they bent my poor baby so her head was on her chest and her knees in her face and poked her in the back twice for the spinal tap - also unsuccessfully. The doctor was frustrated because this was only the 2nd one he couldn't do in over 30+ years of medicine (the other one was sent to Wichita and was also unsuccessful). He (and we agreed) believes that if you have to put a baby through that much, you should get something useful out of it. Anyway, they were unable to find anything conclusive, but judging by her low white cell count are figuring it's a viral infection. In the future we'll have to aggressively treat any fevers right from the start as she could have another seizure. For all those who knew about our scare, WE GREATLY APPRECIATE ALL YOUR PRAYERS!!! It's very humbling and overwhelming to see the power of prayer. We take for granted what a wonderful community we live in and the great friends we have until something like this happens.

As for me...there is nothing new but my hair...I've got bangs and I'm back to blonde...FOR NOW!!! Well, I need to go get my baby from the sitters...Drop a line or two sometime so that I can hear all about your lives!!!

Love you all ~ The Koellings

My New Job...

Well for those that don't know...I started my new job yesterday. I'm now the Office Manager for the Good Samaritan Society at home. First of all, let me tell you how awesome it is to be able to sleep later than 4:00am!! Not to mention that I get time with the girls in the morning!!! It's also really handy to be able to drive 5 blocks rather than 30 miles!!! YEAH!! Oh, and did I mention that I get to spend the lunch hour with my husband?? He doesn't know it yet, but he's going to LOVE having me home to make sure the little jobs get done! :) This job will be great - I'm going to be SUPER busy (which is a big MUST for me...idle hands and all that!). All the people that I've met so far are great. I'll be working with mainly women again (hello, res halls of FHSU!), but all of them seem really great to work with. I've only worked 2 full days over there, but I already have NO REGRETS on this change!

The rest of the family is doing wonderfully! Aaron is about to become BUSY with home projects that he hasn't completed yet. Thanks to my father-in-law, my living room (which was started in MARCH!!!!) will be complete by the end of the month! We love Grumpy!!! If it wasn't for him, my house would worse than it is!

Kambren will be 8.5 months tomorrow. She's crawling around EVERYWHERE!! She's pulling herself up now and it won't be long before she starts walking! I keep telling her to park it on her bum, but she just smiles and shakes her head NO at me! I'm not ready for this yet!!!

Rose just went back to school yesterday. The most exciting news in her life right now is the lost tooth. She's now working on the rest of them even though she knows that the tooth fairy won't be nearly as generous as she was last time. She's going to use her tooth $$$ to buy a "hair salon." She's referring to this contraption that will automatically braid her hair. Yeah, that's just what she needs!

We hope that the New Year is off to a great start for everyone! Hope to hear from you soon! Take care ~ The Koellings!

Rosie's tooth

Yesterday was a big day for little Rose!!! She lost her first tooth!!!! It's been loose FOREVER, but when she went to her mom's yesterday, David pulled it out for her. She assured us that it didn't hurt though! She was so excited about losing her tooth that she wanted to show EVERYONE! She wanted Grammy and Grumpy to come up, but settled for showing them this morning since the girls are with Grammy. However, we did have to call my parents to come over and check out the missing tooth that's making it impossible for her to whistle! She even had to go over to Tara's house and show her too!

She was quite proud of her missing tooth and held it for a long time with such reverence. She has had a little organza bag that she's been waiting to put a tooth in to put under her pillow. When we were finally able to get her to go to bed last night, she slept with her feet up by her pillow, so that it would "be easier for the tooth fairy" to get to her tooth. She woke up this morning with $5 for her first tooth. However, she left it under her pillow in her little tooth bag and explained that she was going to save the money there until the bag was full and she had no teeth left!

Christmas 2008

We hope that everyone had a safe and VERY merry Christmas!

We had a great time with all the family!! Our first Christmas was the Sunday before and we spent the afternoon with Grumpy's family. I got to hang out with some of Aaron's cousin's that I hadn't met before and some that are constants in our lives...but we love Eddie anyway! ;) We spent Christmas Eve in Lindsborg celebrating with Aaron's family. All of Grammy's family was there as were Aaron's brother and sister and their families. David was able to spend the holiday with us as well and got lots of cool gifts too!

Christmas morning was at our house. Santa of course visited the kids during the night and left David a spin art toy and movie. Rose was given a hair crimper/waver - which has been used SEVERAL times since she opened it! Kambren got clothes and a bee book/activity. David and Rose went to their mom's for a couple of hours and got Nintendo DS's from her - which I'm sure made their day! That night we went to my parents house. Rose has been wanting an Easy Bake Oven for months and my mom has been teasing her constantly about getting one. Anytime Rose wouldn't do what she asked or was being mean to her, my mom would just look at her and say, "Easy Bake Oven." After weeks of hearing that, I told my mom that she would have to give her the oven if she was going to tease her about it. Mom got her one, but the funny part was that Kim had found an Easy Bake Oven at Goodwill for $0.75, and Rose wrapped it up for my mom for Christmas. The look on my mom's face when she opened it was hilarious! However, seeing Rose open hers was even better! ;)

Rose was thrilled for the day after Christmas because I promised her we would see "Marley and Me." She had been counting down the days until it opened. She woke up on Friday and said, "It's Marley and Me day!!!" The movie was really cute, but because it was about Marley's life it ended sadly. I was crying, but Rose was SOBBING!!! She cried on my shoulder during the credits. However, she seemed to take it better after we talked about dogs suffering. She still talks about loving that movie!!

The following day was Christmas on my mom's side and we got to go to Munden and see most of the family up there. It was great to let Rose play with her cousin Lydia - even though they fought like sisters most of the time! Kambren enjoyed playing with Wesley who is a month older than her - and WALKING everywhere!! I'm not ready for that yet - and I'm always telling Kambren to quit pulling herself up!

We hope that everyone enjoyed their holiday and we wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

A little update

I'm sorry that I've been so slow in getting things posted! Hopefully, I'll be able to update this thing later this week/weekend with some Thanksgiving pictures as we all had a great time in Springfield with Granny!


This past weekend was the big hunt for Aaron. He and the guys spent A LOT of time out in the wilds of Ottawa County. Aaron brought no bounty home for our tables. However, I'm currently pressuring him into going hunting with my dad part of this weekend since it's the big pheasant hunt with lots of out-of-staters. I need my pheasant meat - it's the best!!! (Hint, hint Daddy! If Aaron doesn't go, you'll have to supply my need!)


Since Aaron was out most of the weekend, the girls and I had lots of time on our hands. Saturday we went to the park where several people were having an open house. After doing some shopping, where Rose bought Christmas gifts for Great Grandma Patrick and my mom, she talked me into buying her some honey. The guy who was selling it also had those honey sticks that come in different flavors. Rose bought 10 of them and they were gone in 30 minutes!


The best part about the park this time of year is the gingerbread men that surround the park. Several years ago, Dad bought all of us our own gingerbread men and the city painted our names on them. I've been meaning to get the kids' pictures with them for years, but haven't ever made it. Since it was in the 50s, the weather was perfect for us girls to be out. We walked all over the park and looked at hundreds of gingerbread men to find ours. About 1/2 way through the park, we found Rose's. However, as Koelling luck would have it, Kambren's was the very last gingerbread man in the park. It's on the pole heading out of the park. Rose had so much fun finding all of her friends' little gingerbread men. It seemed to take forever to walk through our little park so she could sound out names and see if she knew them.


Sunday afternoon the girls and I made the long trek down to Lindsborg so that Grammy could see her girls. It had been awhile and Grammy was delighted to see Kambren crawling around and standing up! We all had a hoot watching Rose run around the kitchen while Kambren tried to keep up. I'm fairly confident that Kambren will be walking within the next few months. Scary, huh?


Rose and I finally talked Aaron into getting all the Christmas stuff out of the garage on Monday. Last year we bought a white tree...it's very ROSE! You won't believe the complaining that took place Monday afternoon...it seems that I'm well on my way to becoming Grammy with the amount of Christmas decorations that I have. I have 8 tubs - which is pretty bad given the size of my house! 8 TUBS!!! Aaron must have screamed that at me over the phone 15 times! I told Kim that and she didn't know what he was complaining about since she has 36 tubs! ;) Rose decorated the tree for us - at least the parts she could reach. She ended up having to redo almost 1/2 of what she had done since we now have little fingers to pull them off. Kambren loves the white tree with the lights and bright decoratiosn on it. She managed to pull several ornaments off before Rose figured out that she had to decorate higher!

We really don't have a lot going on these days...trying to stay on top of the housework. It was so much simpler for us (meaning Rose and I) while Aaron was out of the house. He had class on Monday night too, so he wasn't around to mess up our hard work. He was home last night though, so when I got up this morning, I noticed that I can no longer see my kitchen table. Boys are SLOBS, I tell you!!

Tonight, Santa is coming back to Minneapolis. Rose is excited to have her picture taken with him. Santa came to church on Sunday and she told him she wanted a pony. Yeah - that's just what we need! She told me later that she wasn't happy with Santa for telling me what she told him because that was supposed to be a secret. Apparently the pony she wants is a "Get up and go Pony." Those cost about $200!!! Last week it was a Nintendo DS, which cost about $160. Is she insane???

Hopefully tomorrow I can get those pictures posted. Hope that everyone is doing well!

Koelling update

It's been crazy the last few days at our house...But I have to say that Aaron and I are surviving!! Who knew what a great guy I married a year and a half ago? I never would have thought that Aaron would be so helpful with the kids - especially in the middle of the night!! This picture was taken yesterday by our babysitter. She's trying hard to crawl...but also trying to skip that step and tries to walk!!! She managed to get herself into this position all by herself yesterday!

Sunday we discovered that Kambren had her first tooth!!! We were in the middle of church and she grabbed my hands to gnaw on my fingers. I couldn't believe it!!!! We've suspected for sometime that a tooth was coming, but OUCH!! It was sharp!! Once the tooth was found, the day went downhill quickly!! Fevers, crying and NO SLEEPING!!! She was waking up every hour and I thought I was going to have a breakdown. I didn't think it would hurt to ask Aaron to feed her and rock her when she woke up for the 5th time at 1am on Monday morning. He graciously agreed to give it a go. It only took him about 20 minutes to get her back to sleep and she slept for 3 straight hours. What bliss!! I usually take the first several shifts, but Aaron is always quick to get of bed and take a shift. What a huge blessing he's turning out to be! Please remind me of this when I get upset about that gun club! ;) Yesterday was the first day that she's actually felt better...I don't think I can do this no sleep for another 1.5 years!!! Oh well...nothing can be done about it!

Another first for Kambren - she's eating more foods. Of course she LOVES her fruit - what kid doesn't?! Veggies have been interesting. Carrots, squash and sweet potatoes have been a hit. The green veggies though aren't going so well. I never would have thought that she would actually gag on peas, but she does!! My father finds it extremely hilarious that she hates them as much as he does. He's been known to flick peas at my mom if he finds them in his food! ;) We've been trying chicken the last few nights. The first night got mixed reviews. The 2nd night went alright, but last night...WAS SO FUNNY! She was gagging again!! ;) The first picture is of the fruit - very exciting! The 2nd is her reaction to the chicken...not so good!

Rose is still Rose! She's a true gem in our lives - always saying something funny! She's a brilliant child who is LOVING school! She's just about done with preschool "reading" and math. Her teacher said that she has no doubt that she'll be at the Kindergarten level in both by Christmas. Tonight we have plans to "ruin our supper" by going and getting ice cream right after I pick her up. Just a fun little treat we have once in awhile. Otherwise, she's asking to ruin her supper by eating an apple before hand. Yeah, what can I say...if she thinks that's ruining her dinner...RUIN AWAY!

Kambren's first finger food

Last night for some reason just seemed busier than most...was it the pile of dishes in the sink? The mountain of laundry? A chicken pot pie that needed to be fixed? A dirty 5 year old in need of a bath? Or maybe it was the screaming 6.5 month old that was demanding to be fed?

Well, Oprah doesn't "call it multi-tasking" for nothing! I managed to cook super, do the dishes, start the laundry, bathe Rose and feed Kambren - all at the same time and without any coffee to energize me or beer to keep me from pulling my hair out!

However, because I had what seemed like 5 million fires going at once, I decided to let Kambren try the Gerber Puffs again. A week and half ago, she almost choked - it was obviously too soon. We tried again last night and other than making a few faces at her new food, she seemed to seriously like them. While I gave her several (not all at once of course) to keep her occupied while doing all my mommy/wife duties, I noticed when she got out of her highchair that most didn't make it into her mouth. Oh well...she liked the few that she got! She was even kind enough to share with her sister who seems to have developed a new taste for all of Kambren's foods! But it now looks like the Koelling kids are both going to eat us out of home!

I tried to get a video of her eating them so I could put that on here, but my wonderful husband who helped buy me a new camera for my birthday, took my memory card out and didn't put it back...STUPID DEER PICTURES!!! (He's obsessed with looking at the deer that he's feeding just so he can shoot them. Don't worry...he'll pay!!) Thus without my camera, I was forced to use the camera on the phone.

(Bonus points: Anyone know where I got the "Oprah calls it multi-taskin'" line from?)

Just a little update on the Koelling clan...

The past few weeks have been fairly mundane, but we've managed to stay pretty busy. Although I don't have any pictures here, Halloween was great for us...and we didn't even collect too much candy! THANK GOODNESS!! Rose was a fairy princess and Kambren was a lady bug. Rose wore one of my old ballet costumes that was about 4 sizes too big. I made both of their wings and they turned out so well! After we got candy from the downtown businesses, we went back to my mom's house and Rose handed out candy over there. She had a GREAT time doing that. Of course, if someone came to the house in a scary costume, she would go to the door and just stand there, making the trick-or-treater have to open the door to get his piece of candy. There was a haunted house about 2 blocks away, and Rose made my sister and her BFF Emilee take her over there. She got there and some kid was excited about the fact that it was so scary he wet himself, so she had some 2nd thoughts about going in. She asked Emilee to go first and make sure that it was ok. Emilee came back out and told her that it was pretty gory, so Rose decided that she would try again next year.

Aaron spent the weekend working on the Aurora that he bought to "flip." Since I rarely blog anything that goes on his life, I thought I would attach a couple of pictures from his project. The on the left is the motor that he had to put in. On the right is looking up at where the motor goes. He was really excited about this project. I was just glad it was DONE!!

This past weekend was Friends and Family weekend at FHSU, so my family (minus the traveling Jacob) traveled to my alma mater to see my sister. We started out the day at Applebee's where we ate lunch with the Hindman family who lives in and around Hays. It was great to see everyone! Christie and I both have kids that are about the same age. Lydia is about 9 months older than Rose and Wesley is just short of a month older than Kambren. The kids all had a great time together. I didn't get any pictures of the rambunctious girls as they weren't ever still long enough for me to take a picture. However, I got a couple shots of Wesley and Kamb. Although there really wasn't any room for them to get down and play, they had a great time with each other - if only because us moms demand it!

After lunch, we hung out in Taylor's room for awhile so that Rose could get a feel for dorm life. I mean, Taylor loved it so much that she's living in good ol' McMindes Hall. And for those of you who lived there or visited - IT SMELLS THE SAME!!! She lives on 3E and there was always a weird smell on that floor...10 years after I started there, the smell remains! :)

After my dad's nap, I talked everyone into going to CS Post and Company. The store is still so cool...I spent plenty of money in there when I was going to Hays, but this was the first time for my family. I have a feeling Taylor will be back! Rose managed to talk my dad into buying her a jingle bell ring. The only thing I left with was a brochure on their flowers - just some ideas for Megan's wedding!! Wedding planning is SOOOOO much fun when it's not your own! ;)

We couldn't visit Hays for Friends and Family weekend without making the trek over to the Sternberg Museum. I haven't been out there since I took Tarin my senior year of college. And I have to say nothing has changed. Kambren loved her first historical experience. Rose was facinated by the dinosour bones and models, but she said, "It's starting to freak me out a little!" She gave wide berth to the T-Rex model. They have some moving models and a T-Rex that actually roars. That spooked her a little. However, Rose being Rose loved the discovery center where they had live snakes, rats and spiders. She could have spent all day in there!!! But we still had to visit the gift shop. The last picture on the left is of Rose, Taylor and Emilee on safari. Come on now - me being the history dork that I am couldn't pass up an opportunity to humilate those I love! :)

Yesterday we went to Lindsborg so Aaron could get our new carpet, tub and some countertop. While he and Duane worked, us girls hung out with Grandma. Aaron was going to try to sneak out of town without us, but I told him that Grandma wouldn't be happy if he didn't bring her girls. Once again, I was right! :) Too bad Megan wasn't there - Kim and I got lots of ideas hashed out for her wedding!!

Oh, and before I forget - Kambren's went to the pediatric cardiologist on November 4th. Everything went really well. The doctor - who's name was NEVER mentioned - said that unless we think that she's developing a problem, he never needs to see her again. YEA!! The appointment was unlike anything that Aaron have been through before. We waited with several other patients in a conference room for almost 2 hours waiting for our turn. Kambren was BORED out of her mind!!! The only thing that helped was sucking her thumb - oh yeah...we get to do that all over again! Anyway, Kambren's murmur was not as pronounced as it was in the echo, which Dr. Yoxall had mentioned at her 6 month check up a few weeks back. So other than dealing with a little cold, she's perfect!!

Weekend update

It was a mainly uneventful weekend in West Minneapolis this weekend! Gee is anyone surprised???

Kambren turned 6 months this past Tuesday, and her check up on Friday was great. She weighed in at 16 lbs 2 oz and is 26.5 inches long. I think her teeth are really bothering her right now and that caused her appetite to be off this weekend. This picture was taken by my sister on Saturday. According to my mom, she never had us in hats when we were babies and her mom, my Babi (That's the shortened Czech word for Grandma), would always put a "shothic" on us - for those non-speaking Czechs that means scarf. Does she just look so cute??? I'm fairly certain that her daddy doesn't think she's very cute right now...I got 3 phone calls from him this morning and one of them was just because she wouldn't let him put her down AT ALL!! He threatened to start going to work early just so that I would have to listen to her scream because I let her do everything this morning so that when he left she was tired of it all. Poor guy! :)

Rose had a great weekend - she did a lot of bonding with her dad. They scoped out some possible goose hunting places and went and checked the camera at the deer spot. This will be the first year that she gets to go hunting with her daddy and I can tell she's already super excited about it!! She came back from feeding the deer and checking the deer camera and told me all about the 15 deer she spotted across the field.

David turned 9 yesterday so we all went to his party at the YMCA. Rose was excited to play with her brother and some of their mutual friends, but we were all excited that the kids got to play with both sets of grandparents. If Megan can send some pictures of the party, I can download those onto the blog.

We hope that everyone is doing well and that you all have a great week!

My favorite sister!!

What a horrible person Taylor has for a sister!!! While I on the other hand have the greatest sister EVER!!!

I forgot to mention in my last blog that Taylor graciously took the day off from school and got up SUPER early in the morning, went and got my kids, brought them into Salina, wandered around Blue Beacon with us while I showed them off, had lunch with me, drove the kids over to Stanion so Grumpy could show them off and then delivered the safely back home.

Other than someone (old guy) asking her if she was now legal, I think she had a great time with her nieces and big sister! Isn't she ABSOLUTELY wonderful??!!! Sorry everyone, I would loan her out, but she's just too priceless! You'll have to find your own Taylor!!! I love you little sister!!

And so it begins...our lives will never be the same again!

Kambren is crawling!!! She doesn't even turn 6 months until tomorrow!!! Don't we have the smartest most advanced baby EVER?! (Even if you do, I don't want to hear about it!!! First time mom - my baby is the best at everything!) She was scooting around last week, but really started to army crawl yesterday! She's still pretty wobbly - crawls about an inch, falls over, just to start all over again! It's hard to see in the picture, but she's trying!

Rose is loving kindergarten! She's doing book-it right now like most kids and is OBSESSED with reading. I know - you're wondering where she gets it, right??? I guess her seeing me read a different book just about everyday is rubbing off - I swear at least 1/2 her personality is all environmental! She is such a great help to me with the baby - she loves being a big sister and plays the role well.

Aaron and I are well - nothing new to report for us. He still has his gun club and won a whopping $4 a week ago. Yeah, I was so proud. Of course, the deal was if he won $5 he would take me out on a date...Do you think he did that on purpose???

Exciting news: Megan (my sister-in-law) got engaged on Saturday!!!!! We are so happy for her! Chris, her fiance (how awesome does that sound, Gina??), gave her a rock - and I do mean a ROCK!!! Rose is already planning on the cupcakes that she'll make to help Meg celebrate her wedding. Sorry, Meg, but she knows you enjoy baking cakes/cupcakes, so she thinks that's what you want for gifts! Anyway, your brother and I are very EXCITED for you!!!! And to Chris - let me just say - IT'S ABOUT FREAKING TIME!!!!!

Today our dog Sam got into Aaron's mouse poison. She ate almost an entire bar of Tomcat Mouse Poison. Luckily, Aaron got home from dropping Rose off at school just about the same time she finished, so he spent about 2.5 hours at the vets office while they fed her about 3/4 of a gallon of peroxide. She's VERY lethargic, but seems to be on the mend. Poor puppy! Since she made a mess all over the living room floor - right where Kambren plays - Aaron and I spent the evening cleaning the carpets. I know he thinks I'm a freak, but I didn't want to take any chances and just assume that the vacuum would clean it all up. I'm glad he gave in and helped with the clean up!

Oh, and Taylor came home. She wants me to make sure that all readers know that. She's always leaving comments for me that I didn't mention it in my blog. Are you happy now? ;)

TGIF!!

I'm so glad today is Friday!!! This week felt very rushed and it seemed I had no time with the kids or to just hang out and relax. Now that the weekend is FINALLY here, maybe I can.

Rose delivered the rest of her trash bags that she sold for the school. Afterwards, my mom and dad took her Farmer Ed's house where she got some hands-on experience. Her favorite part was going in the chicken coop to help gather eggs. She filled one carton and part of another and patiently explained that it's not too hard, but you have to be careful and check for cracked eggs. I would love to see her in action.

Kambren is doing well - growing like a weed. She's trying to crawl - pulls her legs up underneath of herself and slides along the side of her face. She tried garden veggies last night and couldn't seem to get enough. I thought to myself this is going to be a piece of cake...then I picked her up this morning from her crib and she had puked up all her food. It was not a pleasant way to start out the morning. She wasn't very happy that I had to rewash her hair, but I thought I was going to gag having to smell it.

We just left Dad's house where he fixed us our traditional Friday morning breakfast. I know he loves having us there, but is excited to have the Carver Inn open back up so that he doesn't have to cook anymore. It will be fun to see all the guys over there again!

Not much planned for the weekend - Aaron is going with his parents to Washington, KS on Saturday to see a friend. Rose, Kamb and I will help my mom make some baked goods for the 2 new sets of neighbors. Oh and I guess I better clean the house! ;) Sunday Aaron is getting us some new carpet for our house from Lindsborg, so we'll probably all go down there to see the Grumpy and Grammy Koelling.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Weekend update

Sorry I don't have any pictures to add yet...Will try to get that done SOMETIME! :)

We had a great weekend! We celebrated Dad's 60th birthday on Wednesday (the actual b-day) with dinner and the traditional cake - which for some reason had finger swipes in the frosting...hmm...Rosie?? ;) However, since we have a college student at Hays, we celebrated again on Friday by going out to dinner at Trappers in Simpson. Of course with all of us gathered to honor the head honcho of the Ketron Clan on Friday, we also did some gift giving...60 gifts to be exact. We were all supposed to get some gifts for dad so that he had a total of 60 gifts to open. He was a bit overwhelmed and probably can't even tell you what he got! Rose picked her gifts all by herself - some plastic frogs and snakes, some dog treats and toys for his boys and some candy. We both had a blast shopping!

While Daddy stayed home with his girls after supper, mommy took off to Concordia with Tarin to see "Nights in Rodanthe." (Ever the movie critic: I give it a 1/2 a thumb! Rent it if you want, but I wouldn't waste my $$ on it. If you are a Nicholas Sparks fan ("Message in a Bottle" and the wonderful "Notebook"), you will be disappointed as you don't have an emotional connection to the characters. T and I wanted a good cry and this didn't give it to us...we squeaked out a few tears, but not the full-fledged floods that came with the Notebook and Message!) Daddy didn't have near as much fun as I did...poor guy. Kamb didn't want to cooperate for him. ;)

She was all fun and games for me on Saturday! Rose went with her mom for the day and Aaron worked in the shop on the Aurora (soon-to-be sold!!! YEA!) I have found a new favorite show to add to my Gilmore's collection - One Tree Hill! It's SOOO good!!! So other than doing laundry and starting the rest of the house, Kamb and I spent ALL day watching about 10 episodes of Tree Hill. Sad and pathetic, yes - but you all are either related to me or are friends with me...so what does that say about you??? ;)

It was an early night for the Koelling girls on Saturday since we had church yesterday morning. But that was fine because we had a busy day ahead of us Sunday. Our very own WORLD TRAVELER - Miss Megan Koelling - was back from London!!! HOW COOL IS THAT?! I love my kiddos but I would have loved to have been able to go to Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and even Harrods! She has some great pictures! We had dinner in Lindsborg with the Koelling family and sampled the chocolates Meg brought back. Those weird Londoners have some funky tastes - let me tell you!!! I swear I ate a piece of chocolate covered soap from Harrod's. YUCK! However, my Cadbury Creme Egg Twisted more than made up for it! SCRUMDELIUMPTIOUS!

Hope everyone has a great week!!

Weekend update

What a great weekend!!!

Friday was homecoming so we went to the high school to watch Emilee in the festivities. Even though she wasn't the "crowned queen" as Rose puts it, she was AWESOME!! We were very proud to have her in our extended family! She looked wonderful!

After the crowning, we went to Lindsborg and stayed Mom and Pop Koelling. The Blakes went down too and stayed in their camper. Rose crashed on the way down there, so she didn't get to hang out with anyone. Kambren was happy to be there and was delighted with all the attention! I think David was thrilled to have a boy to FINALLY hang out with. I'm pretty sure that he and Grayson were together the majority of the time!

Saturday Tara, Kim and I took ALL the kids (the Blake kids, Hodges' kids and mine) to the Scottish Festival in McPherson. We forgot to tell Hanna (age 6) and Rose (age 5) that the Scottish men sometimes wear kilts - so you can just imagine their reaction when the saw guys walking around in skirts! It was really hot, but the kids all managed to survive and have a great time! We had a picnic lunch and watched Scottish dancers, listened to the bagpipe bands play and took in a sheepherding show. I think that was my favorite part. If only we could make our Sammy dog listen and obey like those border collies! WOW!!! The kids all had blast in the activity tent and creating spin art. Kambren's favorite was the shaved ice stand - she got her first taste of margaritas (without alcohol, of course). Kim got a great shot of her first bite!

We came home and took the kids to the park in Lindsborg. After being eaten alive by mosquitos, we had a weiny roast. Of course, Kambren had had too much outdoor activity for the day, so she was done!!! We stayed in the house while everyone else had their fun, but I did go outside for my smore. Would have been great fun, but I got in trouble for getting my marshmallow on the ground... Grumpy wasn't too happy with me!! ;)

As if this wasn't enough fun... We took all the kids (sans Kambren) to a Corn Maze! Tara and I take the kids every year at this time to the one in Ada, but we went to one about 3 miles from Kim and Duane's house this year and it was WAY better! We even talked the guys into coming with us. Poor boys didn't know what they were getting themselves into! It was hilarious watching them try to follow the map to get us out of the maze! This pumpkin patch was so much fun for the kids! They had a bunch of activities for them to do! I think the favorite was the gourd shot. They would have played forever if they had the gourds to do it!

It was a fun but tiring weekend - and we are all excited to do it again next year!! :)

It's MY party...

Wow! What a great day!!! Yesterday I turned 29 and I couldn't have been more blessed! I had more people remember my birthday and wish me a happy one than EVER before!

It pretty much started out as a normal day, but when I got to my parent's house after work, Rose and my mom (and I think Emilee helped too!) had decorated the living room with balloons and some "Happy Birthday" flags. Taylor was already home to help celebrate and gave me a beautiful picture collage of Kamb and I. Jake got home shortly thereafter and gave me some money to get anything I wanted...do I want clothes or a book or maybe a movie??? ;)

Rose was really excited to give me the cake that she frosted and decorated, but we had to wait for Aaron to get off work first. However, that didn't stop her from sticking her fingers into the frosting and telling me, "It's really good, KK. I already had some." This was just seconds before she stuck her frosting covered fingers into my mouth! :)

Aaron, my parents and my in-laws all went in together and got me a new digital camera - EXACTLY what I wanted and needed!!! Megan got me a photo card for it that will hold about 1000 pictures...Yeah that should about do it for me. ;)

When I got home last night, I saw that Rose and my mom had decorated my house too. I had streamers EVERYWHERE - in all the doorways, on my curtain rods, on my bed, on the ceiling fan, in the kitchen and in the bathroom. They even made a "Happy Birthday" sign for the front porch. Tarin and Koyer came by around 9 and brought me a beautiful pink sweater, some Victoria's Secret perfume (since I'm a perfume junkie!) and One Tree Hill - Season 2. Yes, I have found a new show to watch, but I'm still a true Gilmore Addict!

All in all, my birthday was AWESOME!!! It was truly a great day and I'm have more blessings than I can name!