Dreams...

Just like Martin Luther King Jr., I also had a dream. Albeit, my dream was more of the home improvement, materialistic variety vs. the inspirational, humanitarian, world improvement variety but I had a dream nonetheless. Since Lily graduated from her crib, I have longed for a lovely, matching bedroom set to grace her room. Obviously she didn't express this as a dream of her own but as her mother, I know for sure she wanted this as well. Jason, of course, didn't know how badly he wanted this dream to come true either but come true it did, this Saturday. Kolb Construction was temporarily turned into Kolb Furniture Delivery and Assembly. Upon seeing the trailer loaded with furniture in our driveway, our wonderful neighbor hollered over an offer of help which we declined and started the hard work. Bed, dressers, bookshelf and nightstands~the things my dreams are made of. Lily was thrilled and immediately offered her assistance with the assembly....

See, clearly she wanted this...Her most exciting discovery came when the bed was in place and she realized it was much higher than her previous bed and she could easily crawl under it and utilize it as another hiding spot... After hours of carrying, assembling, arranging and rearranging, Lily was feeling right at home and told us over and over, "Thank you for my new room. I love it." which made my aching back completely worth it.

Grace and Ella also benefited from the furniture fairy as Grace became the proud new owner of the nightstand she has been desiring and a mirror. Ella inherited the dresser that had been in Lily's room. These new items necessitated rearranging their rooms as well. I recall as a little girl, loving to rearrange my room and how excited and novel it all seemed and hoped for positive reactions. And, my girls didn't disappoint. They were so stoked and are in love with their new environments. However, they would not sign the waiver to allow me to publish photos because they want real life reveals rather than technological reveals and so you will all just have to come over if you want to see the finished products.

Following our oh so successful Saturday, it seemed impossible to top the happiness level at our humble abode but we are a home filled with overachievers and knew we could do it. Following church and a thrilling Vikings win, it was time for the eagerly anticipated annual Kolb Aquatic Extravaganza. We arrived, the girls hopped in the pool and that was that. Ella and Lily swam like fishes and enjoyed themselves immensely but threw in the towel long before Grace. Good old Stoneface got out of the pool for about 15 minutes for a quick pizza break and didn't resurface until we were forced to drag her out of the depths, fingers shriveled and palms blistered from the rope that spans the pool. Such a terrific event that the girls (and all the Kolb kids and grandkids alike, for that matter) look forward to all year long. Thank you to John and Connie for your thoughtfulness and generosity. You are responsible for the following smiles and memories....

Today the girls and I tossed around the idea of going to a movie but opted to wait until our head honcho could join us and decided on a couple of activities he is less inclined to enjoy~shopping and a visit to the pet store. Our first stop was lunch at the food court in the mall and the wishing well....Although I didn't inquire, my best guess is their wishes had something to do with the final stop of the day, the pet store.

Sadly, the "Buy Me A Puppy At The Pet Store" dream didn't come to fruition, but we did bring home our very own brand new mini-critter, a lovely beta fish who has been dubbed Lloyd (because what else would you name a fish?).

And so, after another fantastic weekend, it's back to the real world tomorrow. School, volleyball, cleaning and sweet dreams....