London's Run

2nd time around. Technically this is now the 3rd 10k i have run. Of course it wouldn't have happened without Shelby their to talk me through it and pump me up. This one felt tougher. I was REALLY nervous. I got a really weird leg cramp at about mile marker 3 and figured this was NOT gonna end well. But at about mile marker 5 it was GONE (which should be a learning experience for ALL of us, that if you persevere through something, it will be WORTH it.)

At the end of it all i did what i came to do---run the whole thing without stopping. Whew! I guess i SHOULD start making goals to quicken my pace, but their is time for that, right???

Thank you Shelby for 'making' me run with you. And for always letting me cross the line first...

373 1159 JULIE FISCHBECK F 33 1:05:54 10:37 F3034 MESA, AZ

Biosphere 2

I couldn't make it on this field trip with Laetner, but LUCKILY for me my 'personal' event photographer WAS able to make it while I watched her little one! Ü

Waverly Goes to School

Well we already established that Waverly was working with a speech therapist. So it was NO surprise that JUST like all my other kiddies, she 'passed' all the tests to make it into the amanacer preschool through Gilbert Public Schools as a speech qualifier. But there weren't any openings at Meridian, so Wavee got assigned to Miss Kami's class at Augusta Ranch. LOVE her!!!! The first couple of days I actually drove her to school, but then the day came. TIME FOR THE BUS! The waiting was apparently excruciating!



But then it finally came!



And miracle of miracles it brought her back at the end of the day!



These were her first day efforts at preschool...



Now i jsut have to decide how to spend my 'alone' time from 8:15-12:15!!!! Ü

Shrek: The Musical

When I went to New York last time, I went and saw Shrek The Musical all by myself. When I came home I promptly bought the cd and started letting the kiddies listen to the music. It is a fun cd for ANY car ride, especially the giggle wrenching dual of the burches and belps in I Think I Got You Beat!!! Everytime Wavee would squeal, "again, again" was simply too precious. Anyhoo, I swore that when it came to town I HAD to take Delainee. Then I forGAWT about it! Ü

At bookclub on Thursday night I overheard Kylie talking about Shrek and how it is playing at Gammage and that it is ONLY there until Saturday night--HORROR!!!! I went online to buy tickets and everything said it was sold out--DOUBLE HORROR! What to do, we HAVE to see it!! So on Saturday I tell Delainee to get in the car, we are just gonna go to Gammage and take our chances.

I walked up to the window to purchase tickets only to be told what i already knew--the show is sold out.
"Is there a chance that ANYTHING will open up??"

"Maybe," he says. "If you want to wait over there I will let you know if SOMETHING comes available."

Then we wait, and we wait and we wait. I start to get nervous, cuz the start time is fast approaching.

And wouldn't you know it he DOES call us up.

"Two seats opened up. Row 11 RIGHT in the middle!" he says

"Great, I will take em," says I.

"That will be $69 a PIECE," says he.

"Gulp!" says I. Ü

I am SURE the sick feeling I had in my stomach was showing across my face, as I considered actually spending that amount on the tickets, and trying to figure out how much Court was gonna kill me when he found out!

I shook my head, "I just can't spend that much.. :(" (and you better beLIEVE I gave him a poopy face)

"You know what? How about I ring em BOTH up for $75?" he says

"Let's DO it!" The seats were a-MAYzing. The show was so stinking cute. And it was fun to see the lights going off for Delainee as everything she had been listening to was LITERALLY coming to life on stage. That??? Priceless!



Afterwards me and my 8 year old hit Yogurtland at like 11:00 at night. I am sure all the hip college kiddies thought I was a freak for keeping my kid up. But it was a night to remember for us BOTH!

Living with a Pterodactyl

It has taking me two full days in my jammies, but about 15 posts later I think I am finally caught up on this blog.

This particular post requires a few segments:

My dear Waverly (like all my children) is a little slow in the speech department. When Delainee was born 3 months premature, we expected speech delays, but when Laetner followed suit, my MIL fessed up that not only did Courtney not speak til he was 3 years old or so, but that she didn't as well. Delainee and Laetner responded very well to sign language, Waverly not so much. She is a different breed altogether. We have been working with a speech therapist who comes to the house every Friday, and we have DEFINITELY made quite a bit of progess on Waverly being able to at least label items, but when it comes to actually communicating she mostly does alot of pointing, pouting and grunting. The grunting has actually gotten worse as of late and she CONSTANTLY makes this screeching sound that I can only describe as what I think a pterodactyl would sound like. She KNOWS that is bugs Court to death, and I swear does it more often when he is around just to spite him. So at lunch today I figured I should try and document it. Pretty much you if you say anything directly to her, she will do it.

While I was at it I tried to get her to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She has learned this song in nursery at church. I heard her singing it for the first time about a month ago---or at least I finally figured out what she was singing about a month ago. I recognized the rhythm and the melody was pretty spot on, but the words were abolsutely unintelligible. We have come a long way in a month. You can definitely hear almost all the words---bear in mind that she turns 3 next month. Not sure what the rap intro is all about, but it just gives another glimpse into the weirdness that is Waverly.

So without futher ado, here is Waverly singing Twinkle Twinkle

and Waverly screeching like a pterodactyl (the very last one is what I am talking about)


Now I have another story that I will call "Creepy Courtney" that is directly related to Waverly and her speech.

Creepy Courtney

As I mentioned above, Waverly spends time with a speech therapist every Friday morning for an hour. We work not only speech but behavior and transitioning as well (since she doesn't communicate too much, she tends to get pretty frustrated pretty quickly since we don't know what she wants) Mary (the speech therapist) has been coming at 9 am on Friday mornings for about six months now, and pretty much it is ALWAYS the same thing. Waverly is VERY much a creature of habit. Mary rings the doorbell, Wavee screeches at the window until you open the door, and then Waverly runs IMMEDIATELY back to her bedroom where we always play and work with Mary for an hour. Pretty much ALWAYS happens like this.

Well... on our last visit we had been a little off schedule so when Mary rang the doorbell as usual, Waverly did meet and greet but then she ran back to the kitchen and sat down at the counter to continue munching on her breakfast. Mary thought this was great so she could see Wavee in a bit of a different setting and we sat and chit chatted about schedule for the next year a little bit while Waverly ate.

This went on for about 10- 15 minutes. Wavee decided she was done and started running around the kitchen. She runs up to my pantry door that was closed, but wasn't completely shut. She throws her body against the door so that it does slam shut, and then it immediately bursts back open. I was freaked for just a split second when out walks Courtney from the pantry. Ummm... cuckoo! He walks out in his jammies (thank heavens this consisted of more than just his G's,) claimed he had been playing hide and go seek with Waverly and then acted like nothing happened and heads down to our bedroom and shuts the door.

It took everything in my power (and I am sure Mary's as well) to not say something. We hadn't moved from that spot for 15 minutes, which meant the psycho was just standing in there the WHOLE time.

At that point we did head down to Wavee's bedroom and I caught a peak of Court sneaking out the garage door and he left to run some errand or something. He didn't return until after Mary had left and I just started laughing at him when I saw him, asking "What in the world???"

He knew the drill, he knew that as soon as Mary comes that the party always goes straight to Wavee's bedroom. He was still in his jammies and didn't really want her to see him that way, so he figured he would duck into the pantry real fast and wait for the three of us to make our way down the hall and then pop out and get on with his morning. He says he was HORRIFIED with indecision the moment he realized that we did not follow the plan. He had just about decided to come out, for fear that we would conduct the entire session in the kitchen when Waverly knocked the door shut and he figured it was now or never.

I can still picture him coming out, and still feel the awkwardness, but boy howdy I wouldn't trade that memory for ANYTHING. Ü

The Great Wall O' Cheer

I love getting everyone's Holiday greeting cards each year! We got a Thanksgiving one, and just received a Happy New Years! Did you make it to my wall???


Shame on you if you didn't!

(this post is CLEARLY sponsored by Costco!)

Happy New Year

Fuller tradition is to have a HUGE crepe brunch on New Years day.  We happen to be crepe connoisseurs over here! Ü  Ooh, i SHOULD have taken a picture of the spread from the special crepe shmear, to the orange drizzle.  We mean bid-nezz!

After breakfast we all had fun taking a round at Just Dance.  But the BEST was when the 'big' boys took their turn!  Meaning my father and brothers!  A little less conversation a little more action, takes on a WHOLE  new meaning! Ü  (I think the view is BETTER from the back)