Going, going......

And almost gone! Sunday morning at 10:14Am we will find out what kind of travelers we have in Grace, Ella and Lily. It is my sincere hope we don't end up in the cargo hold of the plane because of misbehavior but as excited as the girls are, I really don't think they would care.
Ella has had a countdown going for two weeks now, Grace has been busy making sure we have everything we could possibly need while we are gone (because apparently there are no stores in Florida and one needs at least six pairs of shoes to go on vacation properly) and Lily just wanders around talking about how "awesome" Disney is going to be. I checked the Orlando forecast yesterday and it doesn't look great (thunderstorms every day) but we are going to cross our fingers for sun and have a good time no matter what happens.

We've had a pretty terrific first week of no school (minus the one event that put me in the running for the World's Worst Mom award but more on that in a moment). While I have been preoccupied with packing and vacation preparation, the girls have been hard at work creating a new "Girls Only" club in the garage. I haven't yet figured out all the details something about signing in and handing out Kolb Construction pens. Reminds me of a information booth at the fair but what do I know?

Ella began thinking about her future as a mother while out driving this week. She asked me when she is going to be a mom. After taking a few moments formulating an age appropriate response, I replied, "Well, first you need to meet your husband and get married." Considering that she proceeded to give us her own personal guide to meeting your mate and it went something like this, "One day when you are walking down the street, you see a hot guy or girl and say 'Hey babe, you're pretty cute.' Then a couple days later, you get married." I hope for her sake it is that easy to meet her soulmate!

Mom was lucky enough to be selected as a chaperone for the St. James 3rd Graders field trip to the Washington Pavilion Science Center so we decided to tag along. The girls had a fantastic time exploring the exhibits and observing how St. James students behave (as if they are an alternate species~of course based on the St. James-ites they know, it probably seems that way!). It was a lot of fun and are sorry we won't be here to experience the Great Plains Zoo with the 2nd Grade next week.

Now on to my World's Worst Mom award....it was Grace's last soccer game on Wednesday night. Our day was planned down to the minute to ensure we would be there on time and possibly even early. After a hurried supper, we loaded up the soccer balls, water bottles and blankets and we were en route to Yankton Trails Park. As we drove around the park to the correct field, it became clear there were no other blue jerseyed young girls anywhere in sight. Filled with dread, I realized I had been sure the game was at 715PM, so sure that I overlooked the time in the email that the coach had sent, the time that said 6PM. Yep, because of my arrogance, poor Grace missed her final game of the Spring season and Kristin and Amanda had even come to watch. It makes me wonder at what point Kristin and Amanda are going to give up on us. Kristin had the unfortunate timing to have been at the hospital on Tornado Tuesday when Ella was born and was subjected to sitting out in the hallway for hours and hours. Last year Kristin and Amanda came to watch Ella at gymnastics and before one cartwheel was even turned, the tornado sirens went off and we had to clear out of the building. I thank them very much for coming and promise we will not disappoint should they decide to ever attend a Kolb function again!

Thursday night was a more successful final night of soccer for Ella. No goals but three assists which is just as good! She was lucky enough to be on a team with two of her favorite K03 classmates and last night she got to play for two quarters with both of them. I like to refer to them as "The Wall". As you can see, they are very intimidating....

Following the game, it was off to the Dairy Queen for treats and the all important medal presentation. You can probably tell by the proud look on Ella's face, this may have been the driving force behind her desire to play. A lifelong dream of Ella's had been fulfilled at the ripe old age of 5 years old. Now that earning a medal is crossed off the list, she can move on to working on her goal of becoming an archaeologist or a jewelry designer.

While Ella was reveling her last minutes as a Hot Tamale

Grace was participating her in favorite activity of observation....

As good as Grace, aka Radar, is at watching other people I believe her true calling may be a private investigator, a sociologist, a reporter or maybe a peeping Tom. It truly is one of her most favorite pastimes! Bless her heart!

So, right now I should be finishing the packing, organizing and cleaning that are on my list, so we will be all set to go bright and early tomorrow morning. Jason and I have a wedding to attend tonight so all preparations must be complete by 5PM tonight. You can expect the blog entry to end all blog entries when we get back from "The Happiest Place on Earth"!

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Birthday Moocher!

Happy 3rd Birthday Lily (slightly belated but what do you expect from me?)!

As you can see from the video, Lily loved being the center of attention and was very anxious to get those candles blown out. I am not sure what she wished for but I know I wished for another year with her just like this last year. Lily is a very easy going, funny, sweet, loving and special little girl. I am blessed to be able to spend every day with her. Her little smiley face, her ankles that she always crosses when she sits down, her eyebrow lifts while she is talking and her sweet voice when she says things like "This is ridiculous!" never fail to bring a smile to my face.

I love you so very much, Moocher!

Keeping up with the Kolb's.....

After three busy days in a row, I am finally enjoying a few minutes of solitude. Jason and Lily are out tree shopping. We planted trees two years ago and it appears one of them did not like life on Orchid Avenue so they are out finding a replacement that will better appreciate our hospitality. As I am sitting here, I am watching Grace teaching Ella the finer points of rollerblading. Apparently Grace became a professional roller blader sometime between last Saturday which was the first day Grace has ever strapped a pair of rollerblades onto her feet and today. She was extremely patient, calm and helpful with Ella's lesson and it was pretty adorable watching them together.

It seems like we haven't had a minute to breathe over the past few days so now that I am sitting down, it's going to be hard to get back up. Thursday was spent in Year End Party planning mode. After school the girls and I decorated, set up games, blew up way more balloons that I care to even think about and tested out the games for ratings of fun-ness and workability. Actually, I decorated, set up and blew up balloons while the girls ate cookies, played with their friends and ran screaming in the gym and halls of the school revelling in the fact that no one was telling them to knock it off. Directly from party headquarters, we went to the Pizza Ranch in Brandon for Grace's soccer party. We chowed down, Grace received her medal and then it was off to the "County Fair" to play games. Once the balances on the game cards hit $0.00, we spent many laborious minutes making the all important prize selections and it was time to hit the road, with key chains and Tootsie for all three girls and pink plastic monster teeth for Lily.

We were up early on Friday morning. Grace and Ella was super excited for the last day of school and the all day party. Lily was quite a bit less excited at the prospect of spending the whole day away from her mama. Although I knew she was going to have a terrific time at the Whalers' house, it still broke my heart when Jason hauled her out of the house, face covered in snot and tears (mine and hers). Of course, by the time Jason dropped her off, she was looking forward to a fun day with her friends. Here is a short video with Lily's play by play of her day...

The fancy lady sponsored "Groovin to the 70's" party was a major hit with the ankle biters. Of course, there were a few snags that needed to be worked out early on in the day which caused one student to comment "This fun day sure isn't very much fun." He's lucky I was feeling so groovy and far out otherwise he would have been on the receiving end of my "playground" voice. Other than that, the kids shoe kicked, sack raced, disco danced, pet rock painted, relay raced and 50 yard dashed the day away. Before I knew it my back, feet and legs were killing me and the clock had struck 2:45PM.

With Kindergarten and 3rd Grade already a distant memory, the summer had officially begun.

Grace went home with a friend for yet another party (who does she think she is with all these parties anyway, me at 15 years old?) On our final carpool transport of the 2008-2009 school year, it was unanimously decided a slushie stop was in order. Loaded up with slushies, we dropped our boys off and rushed over to the Whaler's to pick up Moocher. As you probably were able to surmise from the above video, Lily had an absolutely fabulous day filled with playing at the park, grilled cheese sandwiches and a trip to the zoo. Thanks so much to Theresa, Dawn and the rest of the Whaler crew for showing Lily such a great time!

Another party was on the docket for Friday night with the Goulds, Denevans and part of the Zimmer clan to celebrate the last day of school. Lots of fun chatting and hanging out. When Emily lost her baby, Lily offered to help find it informing Emily, "I will find it. I have super powers." Emily explained to Lily she could find it herself to which Lily quickly replied, "Oh, do you have super powers?" What a dandy!

Today was another big day for us! We woke Lily by dumping a whole bunch of balloons on her which was received quite as well as I was envisioning.....

She declared "It is not my birthday. I do not want it to be my birthday." (I can't even imagine how she is going to handle turning 30 if she is balking at turning 3!) As adamant as she was, even telling Grandma during her birthday phone call "I decided not to have a birthday.", we opted to just have "Lily's special day" instead of "Lily's birthday". She quickly changed her tune though when the doorbell rang and there stood they Hy-Vee delivery man with a beautiful vase filled with flowers, three festive balloons and a bag of Reese's Peanut Butter cups.

Maybe this birthday thing isn't so bad after all!

It was a early and extremely cold but very successful morning of soccer. Ella hammered home two goals just as she had during her last game. And just like her last game, one of those goals came during her kick off. She had set her sights high last Tuesday when she played, telling me "Mom, I want to score 100 goals today." I thought maybe it was better just to worry about one at a time and she compromised with four. Between last game and today's she hit her goal so I guess she was on to something! Grace's game was a little warmer at 12PM and lots of fun. Although she didn't score any goals, she played awesome and has really come along way in her skills over the past six weeks.

Very proud following one of her goals!

(These soccer pictures were taken on Tuesday when the weather wasn't hovering around freezing like it was today!)

A piping hot birthday lunch at Casa Del Rey was just what the doctor ordered and the doctor was right on the money! Lily made short work of her cheese enchilada.....

That's my girl!

And quickly moved on to her birthday sundae complete with a cherry and a candle.

What more could a girl ask for? I know, maybe two wonderful big sisters who are willing to help eat it?

Following Lily's glowing comments about her time spent at the Japanese Gardens yesterday, we figured we better check out what all the fuss was about. We spent about an hour walking through the gardens and it was beautiful afternoon.

Playing at the park was cut slightly short by Lily's extremely averse reaction to the automatic flushing toilets. She needed to use the bathroom in the worst way but was completely freaked out by the bionic toilets and once her pee-pee dance became constant, it was time to depart. A quick potty break at Nanny and Grandpa's, a run through HyVee and home was like an oasis to us all.

Gifts have been opened.....

A tree has been planted..... And the relaxing can begin for tomorrow is a new day and the packing and trip preparations will be in full swing. Good night all!