MAD LIB!

Today for school, I decided it would be fun to Mad Lib. I really liked doing those in school, and I thought William and Marissa would too. I got a 'How to Train Your Dragon' themed Mad Libs at Borders recently, so I was already to go today. I thought you would enjoy the results.

Welcome to Berk

Looking for the perfect vacation destination for your entire smart family? Interested in fighting tall dragons and living the rough-and-sharp life of a viking? Then come to the sticky island of Berk. Our mountainous home is located just ten miles north of America on the scenic Bathtub Sea. Stay at the quaint Dragon's Nose Inn. Relax and have all the roast puppies you can eat at Cross-eyed Mead Hall. Learn hand-to-unicorn combat to help you fight giraffe-skin, puppy-breathing dragons by studying with Gobber, our famous ear trainer. If this sounds like the ultimate adventure to you, write long letter to our chieftain, Stoick, and book your stay in our pokey village. Make sure to pack your sword and Mommy; the only thing dragons love more than chewing on a char-grilled puppy is terrifying a smooshy tourist!

Hiccup's Ode to Astrid

Roses are red, vikings are blue. Astrid's tough as a puppy and she's sharp too. When we first met, I knew it was love. She was like a baby bottle sent from above! So smart, so strong, a pokey source of power. When she goes into battle, all the babies cower. She smells like milk, did I mention that? When fighting dragons, she's fat as a cat. Her hair, her eyes, her baby-weilding ways- I could watch her fight vicious books for days. Unfortunately, she thinks I'm mad, and I guess that is so. But I'm smart and smooshy and I'll let it show. Astrid is more of a Viking than I, and she makes me feel fluffy when she is nearby. Deep in my head I know this is real. But I fear what she'd say if she knew how I feel. So I watch from Europe and that's where I'll stay. Maybe she'll notice how ugly I am... someday.

Okay, last one.

Gobber's Gossip

Psst...Gobber here. Lend me your ears- because I've got some slow gossip for you! You see, working as a blacksmith, I know all the pointed dirt on everyone in Berk. For example, rumor has it that William the Rotten traded his house's saving for a rare puppy! I also heard that Ruddybum the Smooshy has fallen hopelessly in love with a cat. Can you believe it? I can. Then, just yesterday, a little pony told me that Hagar the Fluffy and Erik the Spiky got into a fight over which Viking was more soft. Hagar got so mad, she elbowed Erik in the eyeball, and he called her a ladybug! It seems like the only person I can't put my feet on is Hiccup. That boy is up to something spiky. But how much trouble could a little baby bottle like that get into anyway? Right?

Mad Libs was a great hit with everyone and we had some big laughs reading them (over and over and over). It was definitely something different from our usual book reading we do in school!

Our 4th of July

Well, I was really wanting to be in Blanding this year, but since I couldn't make it, I thought I would try to re-enact the whole day from last year the best I could.

We (Nana, William, Marissa, and I) started the day with our own "Fairbanks Family Fun Run!" I think it will totally catch on! So we all ran the mile run that was terrible on Saturday, but we ran it much earlier and it was a great success. I even got first place!!

After our nice run, we (William, Marissa, and I) went to the church for our ward breakfast. We got to sit with the Ludlows, who are loads of fun. We ate a nice breakfast and then had a flag raising. Last year, this would have been the parade part of the day. So, not the same, but as close as we could come to it in Rolla.

After the 'parade', it was time for swimming and lunch. We went over to the Picken's house for swimming and BBQ. We had an awesome time. William and Marissa discovered that they are very good at going off the diving board, so they did for about two and a half hours. During that time, I got very sunburned, just like last year! We also ate lunch.

Then we went home and had resting time since we were really all tired from all the swimming. We also watched some of "A More Perfect Union" since it is rather patriotic. After we were done resting, it was time for more swimming and dinner at the Ludlows'!

We had a great time over there as well. There was another almost three hours of swimming, more BBQ, and more friends. It was a little late for more sunburns though. After a great night, we headed home, where, instead of shooting off fireworks, I put my kids to bed because they have swam for almost six hours today. Just like last year, but for different reasons! And then I stay up too late despite my sunburn and watch fireworks laying down because of the pain.

Another successful 4th of July celebration! It wasn't what it was last year, as much as I tried. I realized towards the end of the day that I was missing the most important part and that part was irreplaceable- my totally awesome family. Really it wasn't the 5k, or the parade, the sunburn, the food, or the fireworks that made last 4th of July the best ever, it was being with my incredible family and enjoying all those things together. I hope that we will be able to have another day like that soon.

Marissa's funny things she says and what William reads

I have to write something else tonight because my other blog is a little sad. Have you seen the commercial for pajama jeans? Marissa watched the commercial today while I was watching the news. Afterwards, she asked me if I wanted to buy some pajama jeans because "they are so soft, you can even fall asleep in them!" It made me laugh to see her try to sell me pajama jeans using the commercial's own words.

Tonight was an open house for a friend of mine who was recently married. Marissa really very much likes fancy things; weddings, parties, dresses, whatever. So she was really excited about going tonight. Unfortunately, we had a very long day, hours in the sun, very early morning for her, and she just couldn't handle sitting still by 6:00 tonight. When it was time to get ready, she was all over the place, running, jumping, generally not holding still or listening. So I had to listen to her cry for a bit about it when I told her she wasn't going. Then she settled down a little and asked me in a sad little sobby voice to "call or email Allison and ask her if she can have another fancy party tomorrow night too?" It was just too cute. But after a nice bath and working on a puzzle, she forgot all about the fancy party she missed and went right to sleep.

William is much less dramatic than Marissa. This week William has been reading a third grade American History textbook. He has really enjoyed reading it, two or three times, and I love that he picked it out himself. He has been drilling me this week about the early presidents. We also just got the first level of Rosetta Stone for Spanish and several times this week I have been awakened to William on my computer speaking Spanish words into the headset (he is a very early riser). I am constantly amazed at the things he does!

Worst 'Fun' Run ever!

There was a 5k and a mile 'Fun Run' hosted by the city fitness center this morning. William has been looking forward to this morning's race for weeks now because he did so well at the 5k on Memorial Day. So last night, I put both my kids to bed early so they would be well rested for this morning. We also had to squeeze in one more morning of blueberry picking because it was the last day of the season for the blueberry picking farm near our house. We woke up bright and early at 6:30 and ate a quick breakfast and headed out to the blueberry farm. We didn't get to pick very long, but ended up with a bucket or so. These are such great blueberries, huge and juicy and sweet. It is a fun time if you haven't ever picked blueberries yourself.

About 8:15 we left so we could make it back for the 8:45 start time. We got there just after 8:30 and saw a lot of people finishing the 5k that had started at 8:00. I realized, though, that people I have run with before would not be finishing a 5k in 30+ minutes and that the 5k had started about 15 minutes later than 8:00. No big deal I thought. It wasn't until 8:45 had come and gone and it was getting to be after 9:00 that I suspected a problem. Then I heard rumors at the registration desk that the kid's race would start after all the adults were done with the 5k. So I waited, I walked, I took a child to the bathroom, I walked some more, I found some shade, I found a friend, and this went on for another 30 minutes. All the while, they were watching people finish the 5k and the one lady in charge was frantically at the registration desk hand writing all the times of 5k next to the person's name. Every single one apparently. They couldn't do the awards ceremony until all the times were written on this paper, and they wouldn't start the kid's race until after the award's ceremony was ended. So at almost 10:00am, the award's ceremony was finished, most of the adults were gone, and we are sitting at the place that is shown on the map to be the starting line when all of a sudden, down the hill, the rest of the kids are lined up and ready to start running! So then we run down the hill and I get Marissa and William in line to start running.

All this time, the hour and a half we have been waiting to run this one mile race, these poor little kids have been in the sun, had little to drink, and had nothing to do but annoy the parents about being hot and not having enough to drink and asking when the race will start. So, finally the race is starting, seriously. Oh no, wait, the lady in charge has to stop and make sure of all this other stuff before she will let them run. Other parents by me are complaining to each other as well. So finally they say go and William and Marissa start running. William takes off in his non competitive kind of running, just enjoying the scenery, checking on Marissa, stopping to walk for a few steps, etc. I realize that Marissa is bringing up the rear and run a straight line to head her off at a turn to help her out. There are only about 20 or so kids, and she would've been very much alone if I hadn't gone to help her out. So I run in my flip flops and capris and we start chasing down the little boy in front of us, since we are dead last. William is ahead of us and I'm yelling to him to run, but he thinks I'm waving at him. So he stops to wave back, but I eventually get to him run faster. Marissa just wants to walk and I don't blame her because I also want to walk. Did I mention that we had been out in the sun since 7:30 and that there was a heat advisory today? Yeah, I think I forgot that part earlier. Anyway, it was hot! So hot! So I encouraged her with things like water at the end, shade at the end, food at the end, and going home at the end. I got her to run almost the whole way and even sprint at the end, I think that is her favorite part. I can tell she really gets serious about getting through those cones at the end. So, William was done and cheering us to the end. We were all glad to be done, me especially.

We got some water, because there was none left at the end of the race. But I did have some bananas in the car. But they both got medals and they both had a great time and I got to go home and have a shower and make bacon and eggs for a very late breakfast. Besides almost getting heat stroke and having to wait soooo long to run, it was really turned out to be a lot of fun and worth doing. I'm getting ready to write an email to the center with my suggestions for improvement though, so if you have any thoughts, you who run 5ks all the time, it would be definitely appreciated! I was thinking that they need to run the kids first, I mean, it was only 15 minutes! And earlier, 8:00 is too late in the July to be running, it is already really hot by then! Well, I hope this blog wasn't too painful to read! I do have pictures, which I will post later. If you want to see some now though, you can check out my facebook page!

The latest happenings

It has been awhile since I blogged. The last year has been kind of a blur for me. I have been doing a graduate certificate program at the university here and so everything else has seemed to slip through the cracks. This summer I am teaching swimming lessons and also starting a research project up at school, as well as studying to take the GMAT (Graduate Management Assessment Test). In between all that stuff, I am busy taking care of my kids. We are doing our own summer reading program and it has been really fun. They are also helping to take care of the garden and the yard. So here are some pictures of what we have been up to lately!

We had a piano recital! William and Marissa both take piano lessons and they are really doing well at it. Marissa plays all day long and she picks up songs very easily. She is hard for me to keep up with! William plays beautifully and he really enjoys sight reading from his book.

Here is their teacher, Sue Knutson. I think she is a great teacher!
Some reading time with our cat. I will often walk in and find the three of them together reading. Though, Owen is not reading so much as listening.

This is from last month when we went to the park to shoot off a rocket. It was a great success!

Marissa has been busy losing teeth the last couple of months. I told her to stop, but she said she can't help it.

We have been attacked, well sort of, by cicadas this summer! They are harmless, except for the tremendous noise they make. Apparently they are one of the loudest insects on the planet and when you combine their noise with thousands of others, it is really very loud. They covered the trees for a couple weeks. For several days they were even more packed on to the trees then they are in this picture. It was crazy! Marissa has been picking up their wings all the over the place and she gives me each one to put in her journal. I might have lost a few of them. She actually asked me if I would go pull the wings off the ones that were already dead, but I had to decline.

We also went fishing for the first time ever! William was so excited. He caught so many fish, it was a very successful fishing trip!

We have also had sports camps this summer. William went to a baseball camp. He had fun, but it was really very hot that week. It was a long morning for him.

William and Marissa were both really excited to do soccer camp. Here is Marissa dueling with this kid. It was a great camp and they both learned a lot. The first night they had their shin guards, they slept with them on. And William had his soccer ball with him in bed also. He hasn't stopped kicking it since the camp ended. He loved it.

It was really hot this week also, they had to take water breaks every 20 minutes. We went home everyday and ate a popsicle or two. This is the last day when they got their shirts!

William was really into this one on one scrimmage thing they did. He won this one.

Also this month, I entered two of my paintings into an art show! It sounds way cooler then it really is, but I am still proud of me for doing it. It isn't juried or anything, it is just for show. In the picture, my paintings are the two on the right.

Well, I do have pictures with a baby snapping turtle and us waiting for the International Space Station to pass over our town, but the pictures aren't loading and I have run out of time. Hopefully I will get those ones up soon. Thanks for reading!

Has it really been 8 months?

I haven't blogged for eight months! I really can't believe it has been that long. I guess I need to update cyber space with the happenings in my life over the last long while. Unfortunately, I don't really have time right this minute. Hopefully it won't take another eight months to make a decent blog posting. I hope my friends and family that see this are doing well.