Elvis LIVES!!

Molly found this chip tonight while eating Tortilla Soup. It's ELVIS, she exclaimed!

He's ALIVE!!

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.

Two Super Cute Cheerleaders!

Lucy is a Varsity Cheerleader for the Eagles of Prosper High!

Molly is a cheerleader for the Prosper Pirates, a third grade football team!

We have lots of spirit at our house these days! Someone is always doing a high kick, clapping, or chanting. There are uniforms, pom poms, hairbows, megaphones and cheer shoes everywhere you look! They are both having fun and are absolutely the cutest cheerleaders anywhere!

What to do when you're stuck home sick??

Molly got it. Type A flu. So she stayed home from school. For six days. So she got to hang with Mom (and Dad, since he got it, too) for a while. She got to watch some TV, which was a super rare treat since we NEVER watch TV during the week. She drew some great pictures, slept, read some books, slept, watched Mom bake and run around, and slept.

On one day, when Molly was feeling a little better, we went to lunch together. We had hoped to go to Lucy's Grille in Celina (a favorite for fried pickles), but when we got there it was CLOSED!!! Oh no! The sign said they will re-open - they are under new management. They better have fried pickles! So, instead we drove down the road to Sonic and sat outside to eat our lunch.

This is what we did when we got home:

Built a pirate ship!

The Sonic kids meals (Whacky Packs) have pirate gear right now and Molly got the ship. So she was dying to put it together. Now this cute little pirate ship kit came in a KIDS meal, right? Well, let me tell you - this was no task for a KID! But, Mom managed to git 'er done, and a mighty fine pirate ship she is!

I'm happy to report that Molly has returned to school, Jon has almost completely recovered and we are enjoying some fall weather!

Continuing Education

"Back to school" is sooo overused. But alas, it's true. They're baaa-aaack. Parting is such sweet sorrow.

We had our "back to school" breakfast.

Name pancakes! Just in case you forgot how to spell your name over the summer.

No Seminary on the first day! But Lucy is still tired.

Will and Molly are excited and ready!

The traditional first day photo. Picking out what to wear the first day is always a fun challenge! Everyone looked so cute!

Molly picked out her skinny jeans with a little bling on the pockets and a super cute plaid shirt with a little sparkle in it! Her new pink and white backpack is fun and sporty!

Will was looking like a middle school hottie with his MEK jeans and embroidered shirt. He has his locker supplies ready to go, too. This is his first year with a locker!

Lucy tried on several outfits before deciding on this ensemble. She looked beautiful and just like a sophomore!

After breakfast, we loaded up the car and were off to THREE, yes three different schools! First stop was the elementary school! We all walked in with Molly. It was a little sad to see her going to school all by herself. William was always so good to walk with her and make sure she got inside safely over the past three years. But she's a big girl and is doing GREAT!

Molly and Mrs. Bainbridge!

Next stop - Prosper High School. The NEW Prosper High School. It's an amazing campus. First of all it's HUGE. It's also state of the art everything. Lucy was excited to go to school to just be inside this wonderful facility. Lucy's friend, Emily, joined us on day 1 and they were all too kind to pose for the photo in front of the school. NO, I did not walk them inside.

Lucy and Emily

The Middle School starts last, so Will and I made our way through the traffic to his school. The Middle school is only one year old and is really a beautiful campus, too! Will was excited, but nervous, too about all the things that come along with sixth grade! Lockers, combinations, changing classrooms, getting lost, etc. I have all the confidence that he will do great!

Looking so cute with the new haircut, too!

After leaving them off one by one and breathing a sigh of sadness and relief I went straight to the gym. The school day was over before I knew it and I ran around town collecting my favorite people in the world. I missed them!

Eight is GREAT!

Hard to believe, but our beautiful little Molly Kate is eight! What a wonderful eight years it has been! She has made us laugh, wow-ed us with her wisdom and spelling ability, taught us by her example, and brought such joy to our family each and every day!

She was such a gorgeous baby and she is as beautiful as ever today! Thank you Miss Molly for being such and important part of our family. We love you to infinity and beyond!! Happy Birthday.

Along with turning eight comes the extra special blessing of being baptized! Molly was so lucky to have her Dad baptize her and have lots of men who mean so much to us be part of her confirmation. The day was really fantastic because Ashley, Sam, Parker, and Drew all were there! There were lots of friends and family there, too!

Molly and Jon just before the baptism!

It was a wonderful day! Thanks to everyone who came to share the special day with us!

More than just swimming....

The two little kids joined a swim team this summer.  Actually, I signed them up without their permission. All four of my readers know that Jon was a swimmer - a really good swimmer - and none of our children have ever even tried swimming as a sport.  So I decided we needed a swimmer or two.  It turned out to be a really great thing for both of them.

They learned to swim better than before.  That was the initial goal.  How could they not improve with practices five days a week?  Little Molly, who was sure at the beginning of the summer that she needed a swim belt to get in the pool (which she quickly learned she didn't) is swimming all four strokes and improving her time with each meet. Will has beautiful strokes and is also improving his times in each event.

But that's not all!  There were other great things happening. Will learned the valuable lesson of pressing forward even when it was tough or he really didn't want to do it. They both got great exercise almost every day!! (I actually got exercise, too! Cooper Fitness Center is a great place to be on swim team - nice gym right inside the door!  I got an afternoon workout in most days.)

One of the best things about swim team was the friendships strengthened. Both Will and Molly made new friends and they spent lots of times with friends they already had.  And I was blessed to enjoy the company of three great women for three hours a day.  Tori is my email exercise buddy. She always has a fresh perspective on things and was so fun to have around.  I'm sad she had to move away.  We missed her at those 102 degree swim meets! Shahna is a great friend. We are very much alike in many ways.  It was fun to visit with her (and Brent) every day.  My kids appreciated the food she was always willing to share.  And Diane joined me in the gym, shared her gardening knowledge (and the fruits of that knowledge!), and shared many a laugh with me.  

Will and his buddy Brady cooling off at a meet.

The whole gang (except for Harris, who was at camp)

Buds. 

How lucky am I??