holy schmoly

I can't believe it's been 5 months since I last posted. This season has been madness at our house. . . as it always is. Let's see, where did we leave off?

September
It is 190 degrees outside (ok. I might be exaggerating)
School is in full swing
Tyler started up guitar lessons and Paige has jumped right into Let's Play Music for the 3rd year.
Morgan has been potty trained. . . well, mostly . . she's a stubborn little whip.
Ferb spends most of his days laying on the tile to cool off.
Legoland is graced by the Theobald family presence
A ward party at the local pool is a huge success with our family, especially Shane who, at one point, exclaims that "he feels like a kid again!"
Photo season has begun. . . sweat and all

October
Brainstorming Halloween costumes
Mom and Dad visit during Fall break (Morgan may have peed on Dad while they were taking a cat nap in the chair)
Tyler's flag football team starts up again.  Ty plays quarterback
Shane takes me to dinner and shoe shopping for my birthday!
Halloween costume making begins
Shane decides to be Buddy the Elf for Halloween and is the hit of every party
Ferb revisits his puppy phase by digging up our backyard and being generally naughty
(the change in weather apparantly gave him a renewed sense of destruction)

November
A trip to visit my peeps out in Memphis yields
1.  my first visit to Charming Charlies. . . hello, what has taken me so long!
2.  5 shoots in 6 days of some of the most well behaved families ever
3.  a full week of sleep deprivation
4.  one LONG conversation on a plane to a very kind lady obsessed with tatting.  I now know a LOT about tatting
5.  Some great Estate sale treasures. . . one large vintage suitcase full to be exact
6.  more great memories

We sneak in our annual visit to Sedona for Continuing Education conference
My Memphis baby turns 8 years old!  (That's Paige)
Paige's birthday party doesn't go quite as planned, but she is happy with the end result anyway.
Thanksgiving is spent at home with a 15 pound turkey and a whole lot of sides. . . that my kids tell me they don't really care for AFTER they have been cooked. . . wow.
Black Friday is rainy and cold, but shopping is pleasant, people are friendly and 3/4 of the Christmas shopping is done.  24 hours without sleep is killer on my body.  (Note to self. . . a nursing career is not for you.)
The Christmas decor goes up the day after Thanksgiving.  The living room console is perfect for the nativity!
Our family Christmas pictures go great.  The kids are cooperative and the timer works so well.  I love that we can pull that off.

December
family Christmas photo shoots are officially over. . . PHEW!
Har and Barb come for a visit.

My little Paige is baptized!
Tyler dominates his last football game with multiple assists as quarterback, 2 interceptions and 1 touchdown!
We get to go to an MC6 show at a retirement community in Mesa
The kids sit on Santa's lap at Bass Pro Shop. . . Santa is not so jolly.
We celebrate Tyler's last flag football game at Peter Piper Pizza. . . now on to tackle
Tyler's spring tackle coach wins the Biggest Loser

Memoirs of a geisha/mime

The girls were in the bathroom putting on their play makeup from Morgan's party. Next thing I know Mulan is all up in my face pretending like she's in a box. I laughed so hard. She's actually pretty good at it. *****note to self {don't take Paige to San Franciso pier 39 until this phase has passed. We need to encourage loftier goals}

Shark week

Last Sunday it down poured. It was great. We were desperate to cool off, and cool of we did. It's a strange feeling to be chilly in July in AZ. Playing in the rain is one thing. Taking full advantage of the moisture given to us is another. 

Tyler felt the need to put his whole face in.  We're in the desert folks, this kind of manna just doesn't come around often.  Dirt flowing freely down the gutter. Whatev.  We're chill like that.

At some point Morgan felt the need to shed most of her clothing.  I swear she was clothed when we first ventured out.

Here's where it starts to effect their brain function.

The neighborhood joined in.  Maybe it's because it was shark week  {We LOVE shark week.}  that they felt the need to swim in the gutter like marine life.

And now they've all gone mad.  Faces in. 

Completely soaked to the bone.

Completely happy.

Gotta love a good Sunday afternoon downpour in the sweltering desert.

I say they. . . but really I mean we.   I like a good downpour too.  Shane also succumbed.

Mo turns 3

We had a great little party for Morgan on Saturday. Her birthday was actually on Sunday. On Sunday she was so confused when people said "happy birthday" or called to sing to her.

Saturday morning she got to go to Mabel's birthday party. They were born 4 days apart. Then in the afternoon, Mabel came to Mo's party. Pretty good trade off I'd say. She loved her water party. . . especially the crab cupcakes. tutorial found here. The other kids loved the watermelon shark. Tutorial found here. Mo was afraid of the picture of the shark online, so I tried to make mine smile. Let's just say that things could have gone better. Overall, it turned out really cute though.

watermelon sharkcrabby cupcakes - I was wishing that Marilyn could come help me save my runny butter cream. Apparently 110 degrees and butter cream don't really get along.

Mo, Mabel and Halle in the kiddie pool.

Sweet ninja moves.loving every minute of the happy birthday song.blowing out the candledevouring those yummy cupcakesHonestly, I have no idea what is going on here.Kylee and Halle.
There actually were adults at the party too, but who wants to see that when you can see endless photos of cute kiddies with blue frosting faces!