The power just went out. Good thing i remembered to zip up my jacket.

Before you read this, you should probably go get yourself a corn dog and some lemonade. Its a long one folks.

Since we last talked, we each gained 50 lbs. and Scott Avett had a baby. Guess what else Scott Avett did? He waved at us, and blew a kiss. And so begins the story of the 2011 Concertathon Part 4. After a long and grueling day at school, Becky and I were heading out of the school, minding our own bees wax, when suddenly we see the sign that held our future: Free Pizza at 1PM. We screamed, we laughed, we cried, and then we got in line. We were very excited for our slice of free pizza but little did we know, we were not the most excited people in line. There was a maniac old woman standing in line in front of us who loved free pizza more than anyone could ever imagine. So anyway, we got free pizza our free slice of pizza, well becky took two pieces even though the scary lady in charge was watching her. She was hungry and needed that extra slice of pizza. We also got free pop. We drove back to our houses really fast in our excitement. Even faster than the time we had to drive really fast because we had chicken nuggets in the car. they smelled really good and we just couldn't stand to wait to eat them. Anywho, after we ate our pizza at home and finished loading the car, we hit the road, or the interstate toward st louis to meet emily and matt. We listened to mumford and sons karaoke and anything Avett related playlist the whole way there. We even drove through a couple tornadoes. And Becky's mom called us to tell us not to drive through any big puddles because people were getting in big wrecks. So we avoided all puddles. Emily and Matt were stuck in traffic so Becky and I went to my sisters house to await their arrival. We went ahead and took a nap in the car and sang more karaoke while we waited for slow pokes emily and matt. After they finally showed up we went to Penn Station and got extra honey mustard on our sandwiches. It was really good. But then we needed some frozen awesomness from Ted Drewes. They made us some chocolate butter and we paid them in hugs and magic beans. If you have never been to Ted Drewes, you should probably stop reading this and drive to st louis to try it. Then you will understand what we mean when we say chocolate butter. After dessert it was finally time for our first stop in the concertathon. The Decemberists were callling our name. We went to the pageant and the decemberists were very exciting. Like computers. But the opening act was even more exciting. Well sort of. It was Justin Townes Earle. He played guitar and made sounds come out of it that we didnt even know guitars could make. He was pretty cool, but we will talk about him more later(foreshadowing!). At the concert there were people wearing lots of strange things to get the bands attention. There was even a girl in the front row with a glow in the dark mohawk. It kind of looks like a chicken in all of the pictures. After the show we jumped in Matt's car, we called it the toaster, and went to the great bell of tacos. Whatever that means. We also saw a billboard for someone's lost dog. We were amazed that someone loved their dog that much. It was a long drive down to memphis and we didnt get there until around 4am. Yet once we got there we were wide awake and decided to go to Graceland Too in Holly Springs Mississippi. That was the biggest mistake we ever made. Paul pulled out a gun and then showed us scary pictures. Paul, the man from graceland too is the worlds biggest elvis fan. He eats, sleeps, and drinks elvis. Well actually he only drinks coca cola. 36 cans a day to be exact. We took pictures behind his back the whole time and than ran out of there as fast as we could. By that time we had not slept in over 24 hours and were very tired. So we went back to memphis to sleep the day away in preparation for the next concert. I bet you cant guess who was next in line. Ill give you a hint. My red hair set the arcade on fire. If you still cant guess, i will go ahead and tell you it was Arcade Fire!!! After the concert we couldnt help but dance like Regine all night. She should teach the dancey dance on Yo Gabba Gabba.

Now were going to go back in time to that few hours that us girls were sleeping. During that time frame, good ol' Matt was hard at work folding some t-shirts at Urban Outfitters when who should walk through the door but our new friend Justin Townes Earle. We arent entirely sure why he was there in memphis, but Matt didnt bother asking. Matt told him that we had seen him in St louis and they talked for a wee bit about absolutely nothing important. The next morning we headed out nice and early in order to make it to the New Orleans Jazz Festival in time. When we got there the First thing we needed to do was look at the map. Which told us where all of the food and bands were. So we set off to find some beignets and po boys. They were delicious and gave us the energy we needed to fight through the ginormous crowd that was before us at the Mumford and Sons concert. We started at the very back, but with our amazing ability to squeeze through tiny spaces, made our way to the second row only to be stopped by a metal gate. While we waited for mumford to come on we drank our 5 hundred strawberry lemonades and glued some googly eyes some peoples' shoes. Most people didnt notice, but two kids did. They really liked it and asked if we had feathers too. We asked them why on earth we would have feathers and then realized we did just glue googly eyes on their shoes, so the question was legitimate. So then came mumford and sons to blow our minds. But our minds had already been blown by arcade fire, so they just awoke our souls instead. After Mumford came the final event. We could hardly wait. The crowd started to slowly shrink and we got a really good spot. Then the next and final band came out on stage and before us stood the Avett Brothers!!!!!! There are no words to describe them but we will try. Think of the coolest word you know. For us, its Gazebo. Now try to think of a cooler word. Keep doing this until you cant find another word. And that lack of a word is what the Avett Brothers were. After the show we were walking around when some girl approached us and asked us if we had seen Marcus the lead singer of Mumford because he was with her sister and they needed to leave. Obviously we wanted to help this poor girl find her sister...and Marcus Mumford, so we set out full speed to find them. But, who should we find walking around the festival instead? Justin Townes Earl!! We ran up to him and told him how we had seen him in st louis, and then our friend saw him at Urban and now we were seeing him there. I dont think he understood any of this but took a picture with us anyway and thanked us for some reason.

Ok, we have to go now. We need to go outside to get some rocks. Becky has a million dollar idea. But have no fear. Part 5 will be coming soon. Until then, dont take any wooden nickels!! and keep your eye out for justin.

The City Museum

So first we met up at Wa Mart, because Becky's mom dropped her off. Then we had to get abby some hair dye, because she wanted to be a ginger. Then when we got back to the car we couldn't find keys, anywhere, ever.So long story short we retraced our steps only to find that they had been at customer service with the lady who killed our hopes and dreams. SOOOOO, we headed off to the city museum. Once we got there, we couldnt park our car so the parking garage king who had soluted us when we entered had to come park it for us. Grease was playing in the car and we were real embarrassed. Then it took us ten years to actually find the city museum. Once inside, the adventure began. We tried fitting into the smallest spaces we could find, and succeeded. Then we went to art city and made these AWESOME crowns for st. patties day. They were green with streamers. The lady told us to shamrock on. and we did. after that we noticed that everyone was wearing crowns. We are such trend setters. Then We found a tunnel inside the caves that was exactly like the sewer tunnel from the ninja turtles, so we wanted to eat our pizza there. instead we went and ate pizza inside a whale, like jonah. He probably ate pizza in there. Then while emily and becky were busy ignoring the world around them, i noticed some guys watching us eat. Then one of them came over and threw a piece of paper at the table. So i told emily to pick it up. and here is what it said:

LOOKING FOR A MAN?

Little to no experience required. My name is (we will just call him trevor) and my parents are divorced.

Who am I?

Nobody interesting. I play drums in a mediocre band, in want to be an artist and i take very average Photograph. My girlfriend just dumped me.

So text me

(then he had his number)

So that was weird enough. but then they just kept standing there. eventually one of them told us that trevor had a beard. almost. and they ran away. After lunch we decided to go to the skateless skate park. Underneath all the ramps and such there are underground tunnels. We met a little boy who was stressin over finding the yellow lights. So we had to direct him to the yellow lights. Then we found an area with a strobe light and obviously had to top there and sing songs. Then we grew an audience of 6 year olds. They all joined in singing hannah montana. we only knew the park where it says "mix it all together" but they didnt mind. Then we took them to art city so they could make crowns too and they became our best friends. When we returned back to the cave, this time our audience was toddlers. They knew the ABC's pretty well. and humpty dumpty. they didnt think we were weird at all! Then we met our favorite, Shamus who we think might actually be related to becky. He gave us very good advice and was good at clapping to our songs. Then we went outside and made smores with the parking king. Then it was about time to go. however we couldnt remember how to get to the car. The elevator kept trying to trick us. We ended up in alot of places we shouldnt have been. but eventually after switching elevators we found the car. and the best part is the parking king didnt have to un park the car for us. Then we ate chocolate butter. Boy was it good. even though we had to wait outside in the cold. Becky kept interrupting her stories about her dreams about the avett brothers with bites of ice cream. She said "I had a dream scott avett stole all the gummy worms at the ice cream shop and shoved them all in his banjo." Thats about it, after seeing decorative dentistry, the place you go if you want grillz. We also hold the future of cheez its in our hands. and thats that.

MmmBop Mama's Day Off..

Note: This is from a really long time ago...we just forgot to post it. (November 3rd 2009 to be exact.) Consider it a lost episode post if you will.

We realized one day in Consumer Education class that our life was less like a Disney Movie and more like a lifetime movie, we needed to change this. So we devised a scheme to skip school one day, don't tell anyone.

First we had to come up with of codes and code names, which Becky excelled at. Beckys name was Wabash Fiscal, Emily was Shiloh Peppin and Abby was Falcon.

Our Codes were:

The eagle has landed: Called into school
The beans have harvested: Eat
Brinner is Burnt: mission failed
We survived the projects: Mission Accomplished
Our credit history is on the line: Someoene is suspicious
Riding the ghetto cruiser: I'm on the way
Mary gets her way: They're buying it
Baby in the backseat: Emily's dad's at home
Blanket pull hatch: Becky's mom is at home
Call insurance agent ASAP: emergency!

Who's got the nomad - someone stole my left sock
The swine dine at nine oh nine! - someone's actually sick

The turtle eats its shell - the blanket is covered in orange lifesavers (what???)

Then we knew we needed walkie talkies. After calling several little boys, we found the Craigs had some, and they were camouflage, even better. We met Becky secretly that night at a disclosed location, and handed of the walkie talkies, over and out. The next morning, we ALL woke up sick...what a coincedence. After our parents called us into school, our plan unfolded. Abby and Emily snuck out to Peoria, the land of neverending happiness, where you can always see the sun, day or night. Meanwhile Becky watched prison break and ate cake all day, while avoiding taking medicine. Emily and Abby had to sneak Becky applebees, so we parked in another culd-e-sac, and took the secret route to becky's, through a forest. We had to hide behind trees, because Becky's mom was in the yard. Becky used the walkie talkie to tell us when to run and when to hunker down. She also told emily that she needed to find a new tree or lose weight, because she could see her. We finally made it up the hill after the signal on the walkie talkie. Then we watched lots of prison break all day long. What a success.

Professor Milton Bernard Abraham...Noel!

Friday the 13th was a night we will never forget, the night we became parents, the night we set off on a journey that formed the rest of out lives. We decided we weren't very rebellious kids and once again our lives were not like disney movies. The solution to this problem: Get a Hamster...a secret hamster, and so our journey begins. That day after school we drove to every Petco around in search for the perfect buddy. Rowdy helped us. Then we met a little girl who told her mom that we were her new friends. Her name was Scout. Her mom looked concerned for us. Then finally in east Peoria we found him...or her. It was a Winter White Russian Dwarf Hamster. He was fat. We asked for the fattest one she had. the lady thought we were going to eat him. then she asked if we were 18. we said "sure are" and she said she would let it slide as long as our parents didnt care. we said "of course they dont mind." Little did she know that our parents were just as clueless as her. So Professor Milton Bernard Abraham has been living in our closets for 4 months now. In that time he has developed a tumor (dont worry it went away), survived malnutrition(hes a lover and a fighter), and suffered a gender crisis. We thought it was a boy. then korey looked up hamster anatomy and found that he was a she. Koreys mom was the first to find out. he screamed when she opened the bathroom door with a vacuum cleaner running. then emily's dad was the next to find him. he threw him in a shoe and laughed. Its a wonder he didnt find out sooner seeing as we talked about him all the time in front of him. he even layed down next to him and watched tv with him and didnt even notice. we have planned his funeral . when he dies were all gonna meet out in the country and korey will bring a shovel. he is a man.

Rainy days and Mondays always get us down.

The other day we realized that during 4th hour "A" day NONE of the seniors are in class. They are all mosyin' through the hallways, just like us! We're going to plan a huge game of hide and seek. Miss Nieuwkoop is in, as long as she doesn't have to be the seeker. This will be fun. We are excited.
Also, we found Narnia. It's in the little box above the drinking fountain, between the boys and girls bathrooms, in the spare room. don't tell anyone. We are making decorations for it in Art class. We didn't tell our art substitute. She lets us do anything. One day Nick asked her if we could go to the site of our new installation piece. She said "ok"! What if it was going to be on the MOON?! We could have gone anywhere. She isn't so smart. The weather today is cloudy, 2 inches of snow and its sleeting turtles. don't trust the weatherman

Old People.

Miss Nieuwkoop has an unhealthy infactuation with the elderly. We discovered this the first day of meeting her, when she confessed that instead of a baby she rather have an old person. Her sickness has worsened when she told us that she follows old people around at Wal Mart, trying to "help them", she's like Becky's mom in thinking all Old People walking are lost. She followed an old couple the other day that were holding hands, but still had to shout to hear eachother. We asked her if she's ever heard of Nursing Homes explaining to her they were large buildings filled with Old people out the wazoo. She then told us she first fell in Love in grade school, when her teacher took her to a nusing home. Then she started brining this old woman with a mustache and a mole flowers and those weird sticky pictures for her window, and she would get so excited that she would pee her pants (the old lady not Nieuwkoop). Later, her roomate in college used to live across the street from a nursing home and she used to watch the elderly in their windows. So we asked why she didn't work at a nursing home, she sadly explained that stalking was not OK there. SO, She was at Wal Mart again following another little old lady, when the lady finally turned around and told her "She was kind of a creep", and Miss Nieuwkoop answered, "I just wanted to play with you.." We are going to Wal Mart with her next time.

She also told us that Nursing homes have the highest STD rate...

The story of the Greedy Little Hippo

By Becky Wood

there was a greedy hippo. He ate everything insight. from cheese to peas chips and cake, he always ate a bite.

now hippo he was selfish. he ate everybodys food

he ate the cats the dogs the cows. he was very very rude

One morning after breakfast he jumped into a lake

one big splash and he was stuck

that was a big mistake. mister hippo was angry

the hippo sank real deep he began to shout

"help.please im sinking. Wont anyone help me?"

the animals pulled and pulled as had as they could and he popped out he then ran past all of them and then ate everything on their table. "suckers " he shouted in their faces

then the animals thought to themselves no your the sucker. we made that pie out of mud and soap so you get sick

then hippo felt on inside

^strange

those cotton headed scootin tootins poisoned my food he thought

he then got so mad that we went up to each of the animals looked them in the eye and swallowed each of them whole.

that was the end of hippos problems.

the end

Reading Response Questions and Answers.

yeah think about that for a while. deep meanings hidden in there

do you need the after reading reveiw questions? well here they are!

1. in what ways was hippo similar to Hitler? what were their differneces.

1 answer) hippo and hitler had blue eyes and were a tad chubby around the middle. not to mention their eating habits

2. what made hippo jump in the lake? (ex. depression, severe anger, he just wanted to swim, he slipped ect.) explain your answer

2) he wasnt depressed otherwise he wouldnt have gotten help from his friends. obviously he just wanted a swim but didnt realize he was raised by wolves and never learned to swim like all the other hippos

3. on page four hippo eats several of his peers. have you ever considered eating your peers? how do you think this would feel/taste. explain in detail

3) i can honestly say i have never considered eating any of my peers. have however considered eating my sister. she ate my cocoa puffs. big mistake. i imagine she would taste gross the same way she looks!

4. hippo never had a real name. does this effect the book? is this why hippo was sad did he feel he didnt have a true identity

4) i dont think hippo was too bothered by the fact he had no real name. especially when u consider that none of the other animals he ate had real names. or perhaps we never learn the names of the animals including hippo to protect his identity.

5. If you were hippo how would you have resolved his problem. would you have done things the same or differently?

5) i would have done the exact same thing

6. If you were one of the animals that got ate. how would you have gone about getting back at hippo.

6) i would have previously eaten some type of poison so that when he ate me it would be inside him too and he would inevitably gotten sick and probably died jsut like the rest of us. or i would have called up my uncle lion and had him attack him

7.. If the moon was made of ribs would ye eat it?

7) i would and then id wash it down with a nice tall glass of bud weiser

8. How has this story changed your outlook on life? has your outlook on nameless hippos changed or remained the same?

8) completely changed my outlook on life. i will never again judge a hippo for being nameless.

next year ill come out with a squeekuel!!!