Karen's Big Adventure

I received a wonderful Christmas gift from Jon. Sailing lessons. Well actually a sailing lesson. A five day sailing lesson in the British Virgin Islands! I went in January and had an absolutely wonderful time! AND, I learned to sail! I still have lots to learn, but I'm on my way.

I flew to Tortola and spent the next five days on a 47 foot Hylas monohull called the Blue Planet (I think) captained by a woman named Lousie.

Cap-i-tan Louise

There were four other women on board (girl power) including a mother/daughter team. We all got along great! Pictured are from the left, Teri, from Minnesota, Linda from Maryland, Ashley (Teri's daughter) and Luanne from Dallas!

Dinner at Pussers!

The scenery was incredible! We visited many of the spots we saw as a family just over a year before.

LOVE this place.

We spent quite a bit of time each day learning "the ropes" (pun intended) and practicing our skills. There was plenty of time for relaxing and fun, too!

I was usually found somewhere out on deck,

reading, and sunbathing.

I really had so much fun and would do it again in a heartbeat. In the meantime, we are getting ready to put our little boat out on the lake and see what Mom can do.

For Mom - You asked for it!

Recently my sweet Mother wrote on my Facebook wall, "Your mother is waiting for an update on your blog!!!" Okay, so it's been a while... but I've been busy! So, just for you, Mom (since you are my only reader) I'll provide you with an update of the goings on at the Scholl house since last I posted. If (as PW says) it makes your skirt fly up!

Here we go:

Parker has been to visit a couple times. One of my favorite things in the whole world is when Parker comes to visit. The kid makes me smile.

Cutest kid EVER

The new Prosper High School opened in August. It's amazing. Truly. And to think there are just under 1,000 students attending this incredible facility.

This is the "arena" - Check out the Jumbotron!

Football season in Prosper - GO EAGLES!!

Lucy rocks as a "flyer"

The traditional "After Game Breakfasts" are fun. Karen decorated donuts for the Sophomore Breakfast one week.

Pep Rallies every week. The BLACK OUT Pep Rally was super fun!

The Prosper Pirates had a great season, too! Molly is a natural!

Karen's High School friend, Bonnie came for a visit! We even made the evening news!

Bonnie is as cute and sweet as ever!

Homecoming festivities include All The Single Ladies going to the dance together. Pictures beforehand at our house!

I guess short dresses are "the thing" now. My Gunny Sax dress wouldn't cut it today.

Lucy and Sarah - the beauties!

Karen catered the Sci-Tech Discovery Center Opening Sponsor Preview Party!

It was a morning event, and the opening exhibit is Grossology! It made for some fun food!

Eyeball Bagels were a hit!

Fruit kabobs were perfect with the color scheme!

A Rube Goldberg machine was built for the ribbon cutting ceremony!

Lucy participates in Dress Up Days almost weekly!

Twins Day with Sarah!

Decade Day - guess which decade.

Molly gets in on the Dress Up Days, too! Will - not so much.

Cute as a button for the school Sock Hop!

Ashley's college roommate, Kristin, got married and Ashley and her other roommate Bridget hosted a brunch at our house the day before the wedding. They did a wonderful job!

Ashley made darling little quiches! Yum.

As always, we have a lot of fun with the kids - when they're around.

Ashley visited THREE times this fall!!

Drew makes an occasional appearance. Sometimes he even brings Rachel along! He's always good for a laugh.

This is the view we usually see of Will. He's always running around.

We were blessed with an additional member of our family for a short time. This little guy hung around in a basket for a couple weeks while Lucy pretended to be a mother. I'm worried about her parenting skills. She left him at school once, and in the car a few times.

Karen and Lucy had a fun girls night out at the "So You Think You Can Dance" show.

We had so-so seats, but a GREAT time!

Karen has had a great time with gable boxes lately. She's easily entertained.

She packaged these S'more Brownies in gable boxes for her friends at Thanksgiving.

And got her Christmas gifts packaged and mailed to the cousins in these cute ones.

Just a few more to go....

We're really lucky to have family living nearby.

It was wonderful for Molly to have someone to invite to "Special Person Day" at her school!

Thanks for coming Aunt Carollyn!

And for coming to Lucy's Pep Rally, too!

That brings us through last Friday! And, that's probably all you can handle right now anyway. This was a good exercise for me (Karen) as I've realized I really need to take some photos of Will. And maybe Jon, too.

This week was very eventful, too, so I will do my best to find some time to post those happenings before Valentines Day. If you've managed to stick around long enough to get to this point, and you've done more that just look at the pictures, and are actually reading this, leave us a note and let us know you've been here. Don't be a stalker - make yourself known! It makes us feel like we have friends - or at least family members, and gives our blogging purpose. Thanks.

So I Had a Good Day

Forgive me whilst I speak of myself for a moment. 

Lately I've felt as though I'm spinning my proverbial wheels.  I'm loaded down with "to-dos" and though I do a fairly good job of appearing to be calm and keeping my head above water, under the surface, my legs are kicking as fast as they possibly can!  Most days end with me feeling like I've accomplished almost nothing - even though I've been busy.

Today, I seemed to be more productive than I have recently been.  Not sure why.  I'm pretty happy about it and thought I should make a list of what I did, so I can celebrate my success.  So, I'll do it here.  

1. Got Lucy to and from Seminary on time (this is not unusual, but I did it - therefore, it makes the list.

2. Got Molly and Will to school with their jerseys for Spirit Day - after a quick trip to Wal-mart on the way home from Seminary to get Will a jersey.  The only one they had in his size was an OU jersey.  

3. Unloaded the car from yesterday's very successful trip to Market Hall for artwork and accessories.  Now mind you, this was quite difficult since the little hydraulic lifts are broken on the big door of the Suburban and the huge-o mongo mirror I got (for $119) was freaking back breakingly heavy and Lucy is not known for her super-human strength!

4.  Took Lucy to school, even though there's a bus.  Just because that's the kind of mom I am - right Lucy??

5. Straightened the house, made my bed, etc.

6. Tied more ribbons on cards - almost done.

7. Brought in three Christmas trees and set up one.  I would have set up two, but the second one is missing a whole section!  I'm hoping that shows up soon.  Don't freak out - I didn't decorate them.

8. Met with the fence guy.  He's going to move a big section of our fence so we can open up the big side yard to the rest of the yard.  We figured out how to do it without needing to buy more fence - woohoo!

9. Brought in all the ornament boxes and positioned them in the appropriate rooms.

10. Unpacked 20 - yes 20 boxes in the garage, two in the gameroom and one in the office and broke down the boxes.  My purpose in this was to locate the big green extension cords for the guy who is putting the Christmas lights up for us.  I found some, but not all.  But I think he has enough now.

11. Ran to Lowe's to buy stakes to put lights along the driveway and sidewalk and Sam's to buy a ginormous wreath for our gate.

12. Hung some of the artwork I purchased yesterday.

13. Visited with a friend who is feeling blue.

13. Watched my friend's cute little grand-daughter, Claire for about 40 minutes and made ridiculous noises to make her laugh - so she wouldn't cry.

14. Put away MOST of the stuff I unpacked in the garage.

13. Made a yummy dinner of pot roast and baked potatoes for six children (we had a few extra tonight).

14. Ran the kiddos to a friend's house who is taking them to the church for their activities. 

It's 8:00 and even though I feel like I got alot done, here's what I'm faced with....

A huge mess in the garage, unfinished laundry, dishes to be washed, newly unpacked kitchen items that now need a home, a pile of boxes and two huge bags of newsprint to dispose of, Christmas decor EVERYWHERE and messes here and there that appeared because Mom was busy doing other stuff!!

Maybe I like the days where I'm not quite so productive better....

What did you do today??

How Many People are Named Karen Scholl???

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 28 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

How about Jonathan Scholl?

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 13 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

So that begs the question.....are any of those 13 Jonathan Scholls married to one of the 28 Karen Scholls???  (Besides us.) Figure that one out.