Grammy Wins!

Sorry Duane! Grammy wins!! Rose decided to be a nurse today in celebration of Grandparent's Day for spirit week. I'm sure that if we would have let her chew on a toothpick all afternoon that Grumpy would have won! :)

Tuesday

Ok so I updated everyone on Rosie the Riveter yesterday, but when I picked Kamb up from Tara's, she had put a pony tail in her hair. It looked so adorable!! Before Grammy and Grumpy came up last night, I put pig tails in hair. So it looks a bit like horns...WHO CARES?! She looked so sweet. It sure made her face look even rounder - if you can possibly believe that!

Today is Grandparent's Day for Spirit Week. Kim brought up some nursing gear for Rose, but when we asked her who she wanted to be, she said she wanted to dress like Grandpa. When I left this morning, she still didn't know what she wanted to do. I asked Aaron to take pictures with his phone this afternoon before school of she's going to be...Stay tuned to find out!

YOU CAN DO IT!!! ~ Rosie the Riveter

Today is Celebrity Day for Spirit Week. After lots of debating between dressing as Emilee Fleming - Homecoming Queen 2008 or Rosie the Riveter...Rosie won. It all came down to recess. Rose (my Rose) couldn't wear her pretty dress and still play on the monkey bars at recess if she was dressed to the 9s with a tiara and all, so she decided to be a Riveter instead. Rosies (the Riveters) worked in factories so they were allowed to get dirty. It's the perfect choice for Miss Rose (Koelling).

Yesterday was hat day, but Daddy only took pictures with my camera and I won't be able to get those until later.

Oh, and for all those who aren't already counting down...You only have 2 days left until MY BIRTHDAY!!!! YEAH!!!

Weekend update

It was a quiet weekend at the Koelling house! Rose went and stayed with Grammy and Grumpy for the weekend and Kambren spent Saturday with my parents so that I could get some stuff done. I didn't get nearly as much cleaning done as I would have liked, but I made a small dent...very small when you consider the amount of STUFF we have in our mansion. Here's some pictures of the diaper changing fun that Rose had with Kambren before she left.

Kim tried to send pictures of Rose to me, but they wouldn't come through. However, she had a great time and attended a wedding, caught a snake and did some fishing. My house was way too quiet and I told her that she could never leave me again. She responded that sometimes quiet is good. HELLO?! HAS SHE MET ME???!!! Anyway, I'm pretty sure that she missed us too, but was pretty tired after all the fun this weekend, so she crashed!!!!

Kambren turned 5 months yesterday! CAN YOU BELIEVE HOW OLD SHE IS???? She's huge!! She is starting to scoot around...not much, but she's obviously trying to get somewhere. In the last week or so she has really started to enjoy the taste of those toes! You may not believe this, but this child is SMART! She can already tell you no. She's rubbing a bald spot on her head from shaking it all the time! She was fairly wound up last night after going all weekend without her Rosie! She absolutely lit up when she saw her. We laid around on the floor last night and just talked! She's getting so old!

Thursday

Rose and I tried walking again last night...I say tried because I took Sam while she tried to push Kambren in the stroller. It wasn't very pretty. We made it about 3 blocks and she was done. I don't think it was so much the effort as it was the trampoline she wanted to jump on. Since Kamb was sleeping, I took Rose over to Wade's trampoline and she jumped. Aaron cooked us an incredibly healthy meal just before he dashed off for his Thursday evening fun at the Gun Club. He was excited when he got home because he won a contest. Won a whole $5!!! I mean other than paying for the gas to get to Salina and back and I'm thinking of using the leftover cash to pay off my student loans! ;)

Tuesday

It was a fairly uneventful Tuesday...

We were visited by Grandma and Grandpa Koelling last night...well, Kambren and I were visited by Grammy and Grumpy was with Aaron doing the oh-so-fun oil change and tire rotation or alignment. Rose was at her mom's until 7. She had fun with Grandma though when she got home. Grammy gave her a bath and read her a book about doing cool tricks - like putting a rolled up piece of paper to one eye and then with both eyes open, holding one hand up to the paper. Makes it look like there is a hole in your hand. Cool, huh???

Kambren is still fighting her cold, but that didn't stop her from going outside with Grammy for awhile. She's starting to become a little too independent for her mommy! She's already trying to feed herself. :(

Oh, and I forgot to tell everyone - we have a LOOSE TOOTH!! Rose has been asking for weeks for me to feel various teeth in her mouth. She thinks just about every single one of them is loose. We joke around and tell her that if all her teeth are loose she's going to end up like Poppa (Marinda's dad) and have NO TEETH! However, this weekend, we found our first loose tooth. She must have messed with that tooth (front bottom left tooth) ALL day on Sunday. And if you know Rose, you know how UNCLEAN her hands are! ;) She's very proud of it though. She has her tooth fairy bag all ready to go. Never know when it's going to pop out. She swears that the more apples she eats, the looser her tooth will get. Stay tuned as I know there will be MAJOR updates in this area soon!

Weekend update

What a weekend...as far as things getting done NOTHING happened!

Friday evening was pretty laid back. Kambren had a really bad cold so she went to see Dr. Yoxall. He prescribed some Amoxicilian and an antihistamine for her. Rose went and sold trash bags with my dad. By the time she got home - after jumping off the Schmidt's porch next door and hurting her ankle AGAIN - she crashed! Kambren was awake when I got home from coffee, so I was up with her until after 3am. Where was daddy during all this??? Where else - SLEEPING! ;)

Saturday Kambren and I tried to recover from Friday night, so Mom and Taylor took Rose. Dad took her trash bag selling again for awhile and Rose got an education in farming. "Farmer Ed" was at a wedding in KC so Dad was keeping an eye on things for him at home. Rose got to collect eggs from the chickens - SHE WAS PUMPED!!! Mom called me at about 4 and told me to bring some clothes by for Rose before we all went to the block party. Rose and Taylor made mud pies - all that was missing was "vodka and underpants." (That's a line from "Drop Dead Fred.") I have pictures of that, but they are on Taylor's camera...so I'll add the pictures another time.

The block party was fun. Rose and Aaron had a GREAT time. I wasn't feeling 100% and neither was Kambren so we just kind of hung out for awhile. Rose probably played on that Jumping thing for about 3 straight hours. If she wasn't on that then she was running back and forth across the street since it was blocked off. It was 11pm before we left. However, everyone was tired enough that we all slept until almost 9 on Sunday.

Rose called my dad on Sunday morning to come and get her so they could go back to Farmer Ed's. Her goal was to get enough eggs from the chickens to fill the egg carton. She got 6 on Saturday, but those pesky hens only laid 2 more on Sunday. It was still great fun for her! Someone took her to pick pears and apples by the high school. Their bounty was HUGE!!!! She and Taylor made an apple pie - from scratch - for supper. It was AWESOME!!! Way to go Tiki! When I got there for supper, the side walk was once again caked with mud pies. Rose had mud everywhere, but she didn't care - she was just munching away on her pear. I think mom said that was her 3rd for the afternoon. ;)

Last night was pretty good. Rose and I walked for almost an hour with Kambren. Rose did a great job pushing Kambren "to give [my] arms a rest." I let Rose pick where we would walk and she picked the long way to Mom and Dad's. We walked all the way up to 9th St on Concord over to Argyle down to 2nd Street then up to Rothsay. By then my alarm was going off so we had to head home. Rose jumped it the shower while I cooked supper. My little helper fed Kambren so I could do some dishes and put supper on the table. They looked so cute...I know the picture doesn't show it, but Kambren was a mess!!! She ended up with more on her than in her I think...Oh well, at least the girls had fun!!

Wednesday

It's the week of colds in my house! Rose has been battling hers for over a week now. Dr. Yoxall put her on some Singular which didn't work...That was great too since it cost over $120!!!! They finally put her on something else (Azithromycin) on Monday and that seems to be doing the trick. Aaron, bless him, is trying to fight it himself with some Sudifed and Robitussin. It's doing nothing for him so he just coughs all over me at night! Yeah!! That means I'm getting it too! Oh the joy! Kambren started to sound bad last night so I'll be calling Yoxall on her today. Those people at the clinic must LOVE me!!! I've called every week for about the last 5 between the colds and the heart murmur.

Funny story for Aunt Taylor (since I know she reads this blog RELIGIOUSLY!!). I called Kim this morning to ask her about OTC meds for Kambren and the message that I left her said, "Kim, Taylor is coming down with a cold and it's been along time since Rose was an infant, so I'm not too sure what to give her..." Kim got the message and BUSTED up laughing! Guess you could say I have the "mom bug." All names are now jumbled in my head. I think I'm just going to start calling people "Hey YOU!"

Nothing big happened last night. Kambren woke up 4 times last night - Thanks Christie (when you read this!) for cursing me when we talked yesterday about Wesley waking up 3-4 times a night. I'll pay you back one of these days! Aaron says that he woke up everytime too, but I GUARANTEE that I'm the tired one of the bunch. Oh well, he's going to the gun club tonight, so that means that Rose and I could potentially hit the hay EARLY!

The picture attached to this post is from yesterday. The electricity in the air must have really gotten to Kambren's hair. I did the mom-spit thing and tried to make it lay down, but it just popped right back up. Tara said it had been doing that all day and nothing would make it stay down. I realize we were outside when the picture was taken, but even indoors it wouldn't lay down! Poor kid!

Update for Tuesday

The past couple of days have been fairly uneventful. We are all still trying to recover from lack of sleep this weekend. We are all surviving...

Monday we tried desparately to get the house cleaned up, but there was WAY TOO much to do and nowhere near enough time to do it. After my sister's party, my house was just destroyed! Just kidding - the mess was there long before she was! Kambren was perfectly content to just sit in her bouncy seat while Aaron cooked BLTs and I did dishes and cleaned the kitchen. Rose, on the hand...She looked so cute when I picked her up from mom's house. (Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures though...) She wanted to play outside as soon as we got home but started whining when I told her she would have to change her clothes. She just kept whining so I put her to work doing laundry. At first she balked at the job, but then because of all the buttons on the new washer and dryer she jumped at the chance. However, she refused to fold the clothes (and they were hers, mind you). She ended up falling asleep when she went to fold them. She just crawled beneath the covers with the clothes still on top and crashed.

Tuesday night was fairly quiet with Rose being with her mom until 7 and Kambren crashing for about an hour. Jacob came by and I buzzed his hair off. He doesn't like it much, but I like the clean cut look! Rose got home and the night got chaotic to say the least. Aaron took her mowing while I gave Kambren a bath and got her down for the night. Aaron was driven insane by Rose who wouldn't listen to ANYTHING. He finally came in and stuck her in the shower, but my girl did all the work all by herself! She went to bed without any fuss!

Aaron and I got some much needed work done. He mowed and I cleaned the living room. We were in bed by 9:30. OMG!! We are my parents!!!

Council Grove Camping

We spent the weekend camping at Council Grove. Despite the weather, a good time was had by all. We went with a group this time - Blakes, Colemans and the Rushes. David was truly in his element - outdoors and fishing the whole time!!! Of course, Rose was having a great time as well - following David around and getting completely messy!

How is that I can bring 4 outfits and she can go through all of them in less than 24 hours??? She was a mess! David wasn't any better, but at least he wasn't soaked! That's her getting wet from the water dripping off the awning. Grayson is on the right - but at least he's wearing a rain coat...but then again Tara is the world's GREATEST mom - she's so TOGETHER!!! She would of course bring a rain coat when the weather is supposed to be nasty. Not me...Oh well. Live and learn, right? But I digress...Let's go back to the start of the trip.

We left Friday afternoon at 5. After listening to the "Are we there yet?" question for about 1/2 the trip, Rose finally fell asleep. David was busy watching "A Christmas Story." Kambren - THANK GOD - fell asleep as soon as we left. She does not travel well. She whimpered everytime Aaron slowed down. The funny part was that when we got closer to the lake, everytime she cried, Rose would cry in her sleep too. When we finally go there, Kambren was laughing at David and Rose started laughing in her sleep too. David and I could not stop laughing!!

It was our first night in the new camper - and of course, I have no pictures of that yet...I'll get there! Aaron went to the bonfire with the other campers while I stayed with the sleeping kids. Yes, I'm a paranoid mother and I refused to leave the area around my camper if I couldn't see the front door. However, Tara came to my rescue and we sat and drank some wine until 12:30am. Aaron was having so much fun with Keith "The Colemanator"/Sheriff Coleman, Barry and the Clydesdale that I finally had to go retrieve him at 2am. I would have left him to have his fun all night, but the kids were in our bed and I didn't know how to set the camper up yet - first night...but I'm all set now!!!

Rose woke Aaron up at 7am on Saturday by punching him in the nose. Not the thing to do ever, but really not smart when it's first thing in the morning after having "fun." However, after a shower and a cup of coffee, Aaron was good to go. He and Barry cooked us breakfast - yeah, Tara and I are thinking of living out of campers since they did all the cooking and even some of the cleaning! David refused to eat the scrambled eggs Aaron fixed. He just knows that Aaron doesn't know how to cook them because they taste funny. Aaron and are trying to eat healthier so we use Egg Beaters. They taste fine, but the consistency is a little different. When David complained, Rose refused to eat hers too...until she saw all the kids fishing. Didn't take her long to finish her meal! Took David a little while longer, but he choked the eggs down!

Kambren took everything in stride. She loves the outdoors, so she was bundled up and outside with the rest of us! And yes that is me and yes I am wearing the Goonies' Sloth T-shirt. It's a hit with kids! I love my Goonies!!!

We took a trip into Council Grove for some supplies and because the weather was oh-so-fun! Council Grove is truly a haven for the historical buff! I so badly wanted to send the kids back with Aaron and take a real "tour" of the town at my pace. For those of you who don't know, Council Grove was a last chance stop along the Santa Fe Trail. When we go back next summer I'm taking a WHOLE day to have my fun. If I time it right, you can even see the old wagon ruts from the trail days. See, getting excited already! They also have some stores that look really interesting and unique.

After we all got back, we took the kids to Grammy and Grumpy's new camper to check things out. The kids were so good while we were there (imagine that said with sarcasm!) that we couldn't talk them into keeping the kids. They were staying in a pretty quiet area of the lake and it was totally shattered when we showed up with the little monsters!! Ask Grumpy...

Saturday night we ate a quick meal and then had smores over at the Blake's bonfire. Aaron got the kids to bed and we hung out until midnight, but things were apparently much quieter than they were on Friday night as the park rangers didn't show up to quiet things down.

Sunday finally got better and we had SUN!!! The guys all got together and cooked everyone breakfast. Grammy and Grumpy came too. Some kids wanted pancakes and sausage, others wanted bacon and eggs (or turkey bacon and Egg Beaters). It was a feast! Pretty sure most of the dishes fell to Barry - what a man!!! Even though Grammy and Grumpy were the guests, Grumpy was still put to work. I don't know for sure how many turtles Council Grove has, but they were all out our campsite. Those kids had every hook, sinker and lure snapped by those pesky turtles. I think David said that at least 40 had gotten his! Grandpa had to restring Rose's Nemo pole and his work didn't end. Once the other's caught on that Grandpa was getting Rose's pole ready, others were brought to him to be fixed. He definitely earned his breakfast!

After breakfast, we relaxed for a little while and then the kids talked us into going swimming. The water was FREEZING, but none of them seemed to mind. Rose and David got their first ride on the jet ski. David was a pro and Rose just had a blast! There are no pictures of this yet as Tara and I both bought the good Dollar General batteries and our cameras only took about 3 pictures before pooping out!

It seemed to be really late when we got home last night, but it was only 6pm. We saved the cleaning for tonight...guess that means I need to go. With the wonderful wet weather, we have LOTS of fun cleaning ahead of us!

Tuesday & Wednesday

Tuesday was fairly uneventful as Rose spent the afternoon/early evening with her mom, David and sisters. When she got home, it was straight to the tub and then to bed so she would be well rested for her 2nd day of school! I thought that I would try to kill 1.5 birds with one stone by letting the girls bathe together - Rose has been wanting to since the day Kambren lost her "extension cord." In my mind I saw it working out well...Kambren was perfectly content long enough for me to snap a few shots and then it was a SCREAMFEST! Rose wanted to move Kambren around too much and, let's face it, the baby only likes to bathe with her mommy! Once Kambren started screaming, Rose started screaming too just to help drown out the noise!! Jeez...my nerves were SHOT!!!

Yesterday was Rose's 2nd day of Kindergarten and things went well! She had a great time and already had show-in-tell. Can you believe that she has that every Wednesday??!! I don't think I have enough crap in my house for her to take. They have to bring something for social studies or science that goes with the letter they are studying for the week. This week was "A." I told her she could bring an apple from Mr. & Mrs. Schmidt's tree or her dad - Aaron. She went with the apple! She got to visit the library at school yesterday and brought home a book about a frog. She made it through day 2 without any trouble!!! Off to a great start!

Kambren had to get her 4 month shots yesterday. I told Aaron that he had to be the one to take her because Mommy was a big chicken! Aaron and Rose took Kambren back with the nurses and I stayed in the lobby to be the good guy when she came out. She took it all pretty well. She was pretty relaxed last night and not at all fussy. She and Rose were telling each other some pretty big secrets last night. Rose just kept whispering in her ears and she would just sit there and smile.

Aaron went and got our new camper from his parents last night. He got home early, but too late for me as I was already in bed and asleep. I'll get some pictures of that for tomorrow.

1st Day of Kindergarten!

Yesterday was the BIG day for Rosie!!!

New pink outfit: $15 from K-Mart.
Hannah Montana messenger bag: $12 from Wal-Mart
1st Day of Kindergarten: PRICELESS

She's been so excited to start school! Her outfit has been ready for weeks and we got her bag ready this weekend. We added some iron-on appliques (THANKS AGAIN TAYLOR!) to the back of her Hannah Montana bag to make it unique for Rose. Since she's in the afternoon class, I sent her to Tara's in regular clothes as I was taking off early to take her to school. She was not happy with her Daddy because she knew she was supposed to wear that pink dress to school. In the end, Daddy won that argument but lost the battle of the bag. She took it to Tara's anyway.

It was pouring rain when I took her to class, but she had her CareBears umbrella so she didn't care! Marinda met us at the school to videotape Rose walking in on her first day. I took Rose in and helped her find her cubby and her seat. She wanted to write on the boards while she waited for the other kids to get there, but Mrs. Noon said that she wanted them to read quietly at their desks. Rose wasn't very happy, but readily complied. She gave me a BIG squeeze and started reading. I checked back just as I left the classroom and she was just staring around in wide-eyed amazement! It was obviously much harder on me as I didn't want to leave her! Can you believe that she's started Kindergarten????? WOW!

I went and got her from school even though she thinks she's big enough to walk by herself the block and half to my parents! However, at 5 years old and with all that traffic, I think she's just too young! She didn't care that I was there to pick her - just handed me her bag and took off! She knew she was getting a snack - hot fudge sundaes to celebrate her 1st day! She said that she had a great first day, but didn't learn anything. She said she was really good, but the boys that sit at her table got in trouble for "dilly-dallying." That must have been what the teacher called it because I don't use that word! ;) It must have been successful since she didn't complain about having to go back! Hurrah for Mrs. Noon!

On a side note: Kambren's echo came back yesterday and it was abnormal. Mick said that it's not unusual for that to happen, but Dr. Yoxall wanted to err on the side of caution and have her see a pediatric cardiologist especially with my history. KU med center sends a doctor to Salina, but they can't see her until November. As of right now, we aren't sure if Dr. Yoxall will be ok with her waiting until then or if he wants us to make the trek to Kansas City. We're ok doing whatever needs to be done. Maybe Aunt Megan will be getting a visit! :) Will update you all when I know something more!

Will add the pictures when I get them off my camera - we are behind the times at my house. No computer...makes getting downloading HARD!!

Taylor comes home!!!

Yea! Taylor came home on Friday. I didn't get out of work until SUPER late, but she was waiting in my driveway when I got home! I think both girls were excited to see her! I know I was. Her first week went really well and she's making friends in her hall. She only has one class on T-T and her Thursday class was already cancelled. Gee...ain't college grand???

Baptisms & Vow Renewal

What a full day for us! Aaron and I had the kids baptized on Saturday afternoon. Afterwards, we had our marriage validated by the Catholic church - much to Aaron's delight!

Uncle Kevin and Aunt Lana came down from Columbia, MO so Kevin could be Rose's godfather. Taylor made the arduous trip back from Hays to be her godmother. Kambren had my brother Jake for her godfather and Aaron's sister Megan as her godmother. It was great to have everyone there! Rose's mom, Marinda, and her Grandpa Gene were also able to come.


I felt like a pampered queen in my new dress! For the life of me I couldn't find any red shoes so a girl from work loaned me hers. Not sure how appropriate red shoes are in a Catholic church - or what it makes me look like when I have my vows renewed in them - but I thought they went well with my outfit!! Taylor's bff loaned me some jewelry and my ensamble was complete! Of course, my curling iron broke at the last minute so Taylor and Emilee ended up doing my hair for me at the church just before everyone showed up to eat lunch with us! I told Emilee that I'm going to expect her at my house every morning at 5:30am to do my hair - she is a master!!!
Great-Grandma Patrick was able to attend the festivities as well as my bff Tarin and her son Koyer. It was a small service, but long as is wont to happen at that church. Since our wedding was a "civil service" the Catholic church didn't recognize it. We finally got it taken care of and had to stand in front of everyone and renew our vows. Those that weren't Catholic and aren't familiar with Fr. Ken couldn't figure out why he was "now pronouncing us husband and wife" when we got married on St. Patrick's Day '07. Sometimes you just have to be Catholic to get it! :) Anyway, Aaron wasn't too sure he wanted to do it again now that he was getting a "do-over." We did laugh our way through the "for richer or poorer" part.

Megan supplied the cupcakes afterwards while we all visited. She's getting Great-Grandma's cake figured out!!!! I'm so glad my family took care of eating most of the leftovers because my diet won't allow for too many!!!

The girls were EXHAUSTED and crashed at about 5:30pm so I missed being able to go to church and have communion again for the first time since last March! Oh well...Always next Sunday right??

Here are some pictures from the BIG day! Sorry that there aren't any of the girls...Maybe Em has some of those...(Hint, hint Taylor when you read this!! Some pictures of Kevin and Lana too if she has them! Thanks!!)