FINALLY - The video!

Here's the video taken with our still camera. We missed the first couple lines of the monolouge, but for now it will do! Be sure to go to the URL so you can make it a favorite, comment on it and rate it!

Back to School, Back to School

I can hardly believe it, but summer is over! The kids went back to school yesterday. No more staying up late and sleeping in. No more cake for breakfast. It's time to get serious.

Little Miss Molly is in FIRST grade. She was so excited to go back to school. Her teacher is Mrs. Macaulay and is very nice. Molly was really happy to get her own desk. In Kindergarten you only get a table. Today, she took a whole bunch of extra supplies to school, "you know, just in case a crayon breaks or something...." She had scotch tape, a stapler, a calculator (she's really advanced in math), markers, colored pencils, a pencil sharpener, two extra boxes of crayons (they break REALLY easily) a HUGE eraser (thanks, Ashley) and probably some other things. I noticed them in her desk while at the First Grade Parents Night tonight and asked the teacher if she should have them. I brought them all home. So my child likes to be prepared - that's a good thing. I also learned at Parent Night that she's only allowed to wear footwear appropriate for PE except for on Friday. This could be a problem. Molly is pretty much the six year old version of Emelda Marcos. She has quite a variety of shoes, but very few are "appropriate for PE." Guess we're going shopping for tennis shoes.

Anyway, she's so stinkin' cute. She has this really big, ROLLING backpack with matching lunch box. It's bigger than she is. She's getting the hang of it though. It doesn't flip over nearly as often on the second day. Molly has her clothes picked out for the rest of the week, knows when she's buying school lunch and taking home lunch and finished the whole week's homework on Monday. She's totally into it.

Will is now in fourth grade and has Ms. Young (fitting name) for his teacher. I haven't been to Fourth Grade Parent Night (it's on Thursday), so I don't have many personal observations yet. He, too knows what days he's buying school lunch but would be pretty happy wearing the same thing every day. He's getting right on the homework, which is great. Hopefully it's not a "first two days of school excitement" thing. He only has one person in his class from last year, but told me today there was a new kid (already?) who was very polite. He said things like, "May I take the rest of my lunch home?" Sounds like he moved in from another planet. Ms. Young, can Will sit next to him?

Lucy started her last year of middle school - eighth grade. She's had her schedule changed several times. Mostly to accomodate her desire to have as many classes as possible with Megan. Now she has at least four with her. She's taking as many honors classes as possible, so she has a pretty rigorous schedule. Today was the second day of school and I've already been there twice. Nice. So far all her teachers are really nice. She's anxiously awaiting the arrival of her new Vera Bradley messenger bag which she saw in Pittsburg, but we didn't get there, and they don't have anywhere in Dallas, so we ordered from the store in Pittsburg, to match her lunchbox. In the meantime, as embarrassing as it may be, she's using last years backpack. Horrors.

I am surviving the loneliness and sense of loss I feel with the kids gone all day. I manage to fill my time with little, mundane tasks. Actually things are so busy, the day flies by. But so far I haven't forgotten to pick them up. Two days in a row, YESSSSS!

Lucy Steals the Show

Lucy performed at Plano West Senior High School Friday night in her voice teacher's show, "Voices." She sang a musical theater piece from the show, "A Chorus Line." As usual, Lucy was outstanding and received lots of praise for her performance. She had a great cheering section with her family, Aunt Carollyn, Megan, Katie, a friend from her Cheerleading Squad, Madeline with her Mom and sister, Aubrianne and Rusty Bishop, their friends the Klingers with their three kids and Michele Eagar! After the show we went to Paciugo for gelato - yum! Stay tuned for a video of Lucy's performance. I'm still working on getting the file uploaded! In the meantime, here's a really bad quality photo - a frame from a video taken with a digital (still) camera!

Number 2 Child

Drew is almost finished serving a two year mission for our church. He started out in Vina del Mar, Chile and is now in Long Beach, California. He will be finished on October 23rd! We are excited to see him and looking forward to hearing all about his mission. His plans are to attend school in January, so he'll be with us until then. This, of course, is all speculation. Here's the most current picture we have. If you'd like to write to Drew, I know he'd love to hear from you, but hurry - October will be here before we know it!

Elder Drew Scholl
California Long Beach Mission
2501 Cherry Ave. Suite 255
Signal Hill, CA 90755

We are hoping to take a trip with the kids to California in October to pick up Drew and visit with Jon's mother in Rancho Cucamonga. Our little kids haven't been to California! Some of Ashley and Drew's fondest memories are of Grandma Scholl's house, playing dress-up and picking lemons! Of course Disneyland would be fun, too!

Lucy, Molly and Will's Excellent Adventure

In July, Lucy, Will and Molly visited Sam and Ashley in PA. Ashley and Sam kept them continually entertained. They went to a baseball game, Hershey Park, Bowling, Swimming, Mini Golfing, Del Grosso's (sp?) an amusement park, had a visit with Sam's family in Philadelpia, saw the Liberty Bell, and all the sights there, celebrated Molly's birthday and had an all around great time! Sam has decided that maybe they won't have kids after all, but Ashley reminded them they don't arrive 13, or 9, or 6 and normally they come one at a time. He agreed that would make things easier. Secretly he's really missing Molly. Jon and I were grateful for the opportunity to take a trip sans children to St. Barth. Ashley will be a great mom someday. The kids came home happy, healthy and with suitcases full of CLEAN clothes! Woohooo.

Fun in Philly

Do you think he misses that??

Beauties!

The Birthday Girl

S'mores in Ashley and Sam's kitchen

Thanks, Ashley and Sam for a great time for the kiddos and a break for us!

I'm really glad I married a geek

I got an iPhone. It's awesome. Tonight, Jon figured out a problem I was having with it (first one for all you iCritics out there) and promptly found out how to fix it. I'm back in business, so call me. I can't even begin to say how many times my wonderful, geeky husband has saved the day with his acumen and studliness. Thanks, dude.

I really have no idea what I'm doing.....

I know, I know....what else is new! Since we're really, really, ridiculously bad at keeping in touch with practically everyone we've ever known, we've (actually, I've) decided that we should start a blog. I have absolutely no experience with blogging, so don't expect too much. But here it goes....