Bookworm

We've got a reader here.

Viggo reads. All the time. I took this picture of him tonight after he read to me out of a book from school. His "sticker marker book". In his class when the kids read a story out loud to a family member or friend, they write it down on their "sticker marker" and then get a sticker from the teacher. The books are about 300 pages each. The goal is for the kids to be able to read out loud with confidence and clarity, reading about one or two stories or poems a night, and re-reading them if necessary.

Viggo has blasted through three 300-page books now. He just finished his latest one tonight.

He reads to me while I'm cooking and baking and cleaning up the kitchen.

He reads to me while I'm folding laundry and changing diapers.

He reads to Nate in the garage.

He read to Nate and Jim two weeks ago for about 5 hours one day while they painted. They got live entertainment while painting. Lucky ducks!

Yesterday his teacher sent him to the entrance of the school where a greeter sits and welcomes all incoming people. He read to the greeter. (She couldn't believe his name was Viggo. He thought that was so funny!)

He visits the library at school every day, sometimes twice. And then he returns the book the next day and checks out another one. His has special permission to check out books that are above the reading level that his grade permits. Whoo-hoo!

He wants to be the kid who checks out the most chapter books in school. He might well be on his way to that goal.

If he finishes up his work in the classroom he gets to go out into the hallway where there is a special cart of books to read. So he reads those books too.

And today at lunch, the principal tracked him down and told him he's looked at Viggo's reading accomplishments and wanted to let him know he is doing a really great job! Wow!

We are so proud of you, Viggo!

I am starting to teach Svea how to read, and today she successfully read the word "am". I don't know if she'll read as much as Viggo, but literacy is the key to success in life, and we want our kids to have a good start. I didn't think Svea was ready to read yet but she kept hounding me and I have to admit I was pretty skeptical. Surely my baby couldn't figure out phonics. I sort of let a couple weeks pass to see if she would keep asking me about it (she did, I gave in, and now having a reading lesson is her highlight of the day). I guess tomorrow we'll progress from "am" to "Sam".

I don't even want to think about Elin reading. All we ask from her right now is a little less sloppiness at mealtimes :)

A short pictorial history of us.

Nate has been very busy tonight, opening up boxes and boxes of pictures.

Here's some.

And a few more. Nate surprised me with that sketch of the duck and dragonfly when we were expecting Viggo. He bought it at a local art gallery in St. Cloud and then we had it framed. It looked perfect in Viggo's room when he was just a little one.

More pictures. This really doesn't come close to showing you all there was, but you get the idea.

Okay, here comes the fun part.

Here we are before we started fostering our relationship.

I couldn't resist using that term.

When Nate and I DTR'd (Defined The Relationship) he suggested we foster our relationship. I had never heard anyone use that kind of terminology but I was okay with whatever he said. As long as we could get married he could call dating whatever he wanted to call it.

That photo was taken a day or two pre-fostering; I have no idea why I had the guts to ask my friend Sarah L. to take this picture of us because I was actually quite terrified of Nate (he was very tall), and I didn't just go around having my picture taken with boys I didn't really know, but in a moment of insanity I said, "Take a picture of Nate and I!" And she did, and I put it in this frame and it sat in my dorm room and then my apartment at North Park. :)

Then we got engaged.

Please note my perm.

I thought it was awesome. (It was.)

Then I graduated from college.

Then one week (and one hour) later we got married.

Then we went on our honeymoon. I did not plan for the chilly Alaskan temps (well, I had to some degree, but since the part of Alaska where we went our cruise was considered a rain forest, I had not planned for the extremely damp, bone-chilling cold) so that is why I am wearing a deck blanket.

Then we had a baby.

Then we put the baby in the dog cage.

There weren't any pictures of baby girls in these boxes. Sorry, sweeties.

Here is a picture of Nate on the crew team.

What a hunk.

Here is a portrait of Nate's dad that was drawn when he was 11 years old. That was a fun find; we quizzed Viggo on who it was (Viggo initially thought that was himself).

I unearthed this picture of my Grandma with Maren and I. (I am the one with the squishy face.)

And then I found this wonderful picture of one of Nate's grandpas.

I know we'll find more treasures. It is fun unpacking all this stuff and seeing all these photos makes me so thankful for so many blessing in our lives.

A box of old stuff from 1986 or so

When Maren came up here last weekend, she brought a few boxes of stuff from my folks' basement.

It had been sitting there for quite some time. I keep telling them to just throw stuff away but that hasn't been working. So Maren hauled it up here.

Thanks, Maren.

That brown hairy thing had to be thrown away; it smelled. (A monkey puppet.) Please take note of the paperback copy of "My Girl" in the left-hand corner.

This generated a lot of excitment when we pulled it out of the box.

Nate was very impressed.

Old copies of Runner's World from when I ran cross-country and track in high school.

I read these cover to cover.

But I never won a race.

Maybe that's why I cancelled my subscription.

Then I found a book I had started to write. The title is, "The Day The Dollhouse Came To LIFE". Illustrated with stickers!

Did you ever have a Kit-N-Kaboodle doll? Please note my Brownie Girl Scout beanie I'm wearing.

This cute little box looked pretty innocent.

Then we opened it up and found this thing.

It's a keychain.

So I put it on my keys just for fun. Elin find it fascinating.

We opened up this ancient Osco Drug bag.

Treasures! Wait . . is that . . . a My Little Pony space suit?

Yep.

I used to pretend to make movies with this.

I can't think of any reasonable explanation why I had this in my possession.

A box of Peanuts books. Yay!

An assignment from fifth grade. I didn't know making Kool-aid was such a process.

Earrings made out of stickers and Friendly Plastic. You don't need to tell me; I know I was cool.

I remember having this little purse when I was about six.

Inside was a super-secret Detective Poc[k]et.

Whoa!

Inside the Detective Pocket were some cases I was working on.

I particularly loved Case #2:

"I can't find Maren's diray. What am I going to do?" I may or may not have snuck into Maren's diary, hoping to find thrilling information about Maren, namely true love, confessions, or possibly crime.

I never found any of that.

Not that I ever picked the lock and read it, of course.

Here's a little tidbit: if you need me, call and say "421 action".

If you call and say that, use your best secret spy voice and I'll know it's official business.

Now you know how to get a hold of me in a pinch.

Maren decoded this. It read, "I am tough". Hence the giant bicep illustration.

I guess I had this in case I ran out of codes to make up on my own.

Tons of paper dolls were found, but the Jem ones were perhaps the most exciting.

I used to think Jem was a wild rock-n-roll gal who lived life on the wild side. Just check out the pink hair and the dude standing there staring at her. Clearly a bad influence; I don't really remember these but Maren told me we used to play with them at Aunt Connie's house before we went to church . . . and we turned out just fine, and I never dyed my hair pink.

Let's not overlook my autograph from Kristi Yamiguchi.

I pitched most of it but kept the really good stuff.

421 action!

Little Falls Craft Fair 2010

Maren and I woke up bright and early (within reason, of course) to go to the Little Falls annual amazing not-to-be-missed craft fair.

Viggo made us a nutritious breakfast of microwaved oatmeal. He has become quite the breakfast helper and can make frozen waffles, oatmeal, cereal, etc.

While Viggo was making breakfast, I cut up chocolate caramel bars and tannies to give to our friends Garrett and Holly. Garrett and Holly live only a few blocks from the craft fair, so in exchange for baked goods, we get to park on their lawn, but really the best thing is getting to see them!

That's right. You are entering the craft fair ZONE.

First of all, we were surprised to see this booth: "Legends of Africa." Maren and I didn't stop to see what it was. In the land of crocheted Kleenex covers and handmade soap and candles, this struck us both as unexpectedly exotic. And that's why we love the craft fair - just when you think you've seen it all . . .

Lots of lots of people in the bustling city of Little Falls, Minnesota.

Maren and I both agree this was definitely the best craft fair ever. First of all, it was about 20 degrees cooler than the other times we've been, so we didn't have to pack an extra backpack of water bottles to stay hydrated. There were also less vendors - approximately 600 (we hear the Rice Craft Fair is probably taking some; that's okay with us, we're loyal to Little Falls no matter what). That meant less people to manuver through (sort of).

This was also the first year we used a map and actually kept track of where we had been. After years of wandering around in circles, we finally had a plan and covered a lot of ground efficiently. Who knew using a map could be so advantageous! I considered bringing the Garmin and walking with it, but we thought that might be overdoing the map thing by just a touch.

It was cool and lovely. The weather was perfect. And we knew where we were going. We couldn't ask for more.

There's something for everybody - even the dog. If you needed a Vikings or Twins fleece jacket for your dog, well, they were here.

These weren't the only ones for sale. In case you missed out and changed your mind later, you could probably find one at another booth pretty easily.

Maren and I were fascinated by the sand art, but in the end, we walked away empty-handed.

Need a sign? We found these really classy ones.

RUGS. We stopped at a booth where there were dozens of gorgeous rag rugs. After some serious consideration we both found the perfect ones. And we couldn't believe how reasonably priced they were. There were a lot of rug booths; this is good to know, next year I'm going prepared with measurements for certain spots. Right now I'm perfectly happy with my new kitchen rug. Come over and sink your toes into it; it's perfect!

Johnny-on-the-spots in front of Little Falls' finest. I guess they had to put them somewhere.

This was kind of neat: peony bulbs.

Groups of women (I can say this safely; NEVER have I seen a group of men at the craft fair) sometimes wear matching t-shirts or wear items to help them locate one another quickly. Here, a group is wearing headbands with black-eyed Susan antenna. In case you can't find them I added that red arrow to help.

They were, without a doubt, the coolest women there.

This little ceramic bowl is designed to cook a delicious chicken with only a can of beer (recipe included).

We take a break to organize purchases.

Maren and I decided to eat at Pete & Joy's for lunch. We always get lunch at Pete & Joy's. Just for kicks, we went inside the bakery to buy our lunch instead of buying it from their booth outside the restaurant. And then something amazing happened.

As we were standing in line inside we noticed that Pete & Joy's has a sit-down area that is adjacent to the bakery! So we got our veggie-pita-pizzas and then we sat down at a table and had a nice, relaxing lunch!

This might not strike you as a big deal, but when you've spent a few hours wading through hundreds of booths and thousands of people, you're tired. Maren and I have always bought our food outside, and then sat on the curb, on a bench, or by the police station. NEVER in our wildest dreams did we realize we could EAT INSIDE IN PEACE.

So quiet. So lovely. Hardly anybody knew about this little haven, it seemed! While right outside the door there's hundreds of people trying to find a place to sit!

So amazing! See that woman at the other table? I think she's saying a prayer of thanks.
I know I said a prayer of thanks.

Thanks for refuge. The peace and quiet.

Maren and I were excited to tell Nate about this when we came home. And can you believe this, he said, "What, didn't you know about that?"

No. How on earth were we supposed to know? Nate knew. He grew up in Little Falls. Did he inform us of this? Nope. He is so lucky I bought him a custard-filled long john from Pete & Joy's.

There are so many wonderful things at the craft fair - blown glass orbs, amazing paintings, beautiful woodworking, and pottery to die for.

But unfortunately, we saw some crafting atrocities. Like these poor heart wreaths. Oh dear. And Maren and I saw another wreath that was even uglier - by a long shot. It was a styrofoam wreath with black and purple ribbons and pom-poms. At the top was a white pumpkin face with a big, creepy grin and it was wearing a black top hat. It probably jingled. Anyway, as we were standing there pondering why anyone would make such a thing, a group of ladies (with matching t-shirts, no less) saw it, got excited and one of them actually bought it.

I am not making this up. But you know what, I'm sure it brought great delight to the person that made it and we saw how happy the lady was that purchased it. Outside of some design that some (like us) may find questionable, everybody was happy, and that is what is the most important thing.

This photographer, John Caughlan from St Cloud, was a refreshing change of pace. He had gorgeous photos from all over Minnesota. Maren and I each bought a photo from him. The print I bought was of Wally, the six-toed barn cat from Sartell. It was such a fun, bright photo and Svea loves it (and she loves Wally, and wants to own him).

We didn't go crazy; just bought a few nice things (and maybe some gifts) and mostly enjoyed the experience after missing out on it the past four years. Maren and I are already looking forward to next year's craft fair. So much fun; you just can't beat it!