Family

At some point in time we became a family. It wasn't upon bringing home little CP in March of 08. It happened later, when we emerged as a unit, a brand, a team. We have a routine. We have a value system. We have things that Koehlers do and things that Koehlers don't do.

Every morning Dan makes us breakfast. Every morning is different in terms of what the rest of us are doing while breakfast is being made. But sometimes when Dan starts beating egg yolks and whites in a metal bowl the boys stop what they are doing and do - THE EGG DANCE! A frantic stomping dance with smiles and tongues wagging and arms flapping and sometimes even booties shaking.

When the breakfast is ready and being brought to the table, we yell, "Breakfast time" in the vein of Sid the Science Kid. We all dart to the table, sometimes fast sometimes with more coaxing. Julian joins the fray but toddling down the hallway - almost running but almost tipping over. He can't quite pronounce breakfast and so it sounds more like, "Rocky time!"

We pray, we spill, we yell, we sing, we shout, we spill, we spit, we burp, we almost say excuse me, we spill, we clean up and that's the Koehler meal to start the day.