Months- April PPOW

January

The snow will blow,

And the grass won’t grow.

We pray for no more snow,

but it continues to fall below.

February

The second month,

And also the shortest of the year.

Valentines Day is here,

And love starts to appear.

Groundhog Day lies on the second;

We will see when spring begins.

Every third Monday of February

Presidents Day takes place.

March

The month of March

Has just blown in

To say that spring

Will soon begin.

St. Patricks day arrives

And is filled with luck.

Wear green on this day

or it will suck.                                                                                                                            

April

Rain falls from the sky,

And I hold my umbrella up high.

When the Sun starts to glow,

The flowers start to grow.

Out comes the Easter Bunny;

He’s here to hide your eggs.

When Earth Day comes around,

people pick up around their town.

May

May is the month

Of sunshine and flowers.

Birds in their nests.

And one or two showers.

The Sun is warm,

And the wind is chill.

Spring is so beautiful,

it gives us thrill.

June

Long green weeks

that never end.

School is out,

And time is ours to spend.

We go to baseball games,

and watch them swing.

The pool is open

And the birds sing.

July

The fourth of July,

Red, white, and blue.

A memory of independance,

With fireworks and flags too.

August

School begins,

And days get longer.

Leaves start to fall,

And trees stand tall.

August brings sheaves of corn,

And farmers start to harvest crops.

September

Warm September brings the fruit,

And hunters begin to shoot.

Shadows start to appear,

And days become more clear.

October

Out come the pheasants,

And animals go into hibernation;

Hiding in a dark location.

Finally Halloween arrives,

Children flood the streets in costumes,

And teens stay in their rooms,

November

Nights come early,

And the sunrise comes late.

Snow falls by the gate,

And winter comes fairly.

Thanksgiving takes place.

Family and friends give thanks,

With effortless grace.

December

The snow drifts down from the sky;

It sparkles and shines.

It keeps snowing through the night,

All bright and white.

Christmas is here,

But soon it will disappear.

People get presents,

And here comes a new year.

Ian Somerhalder - March PPOW

Ian Joseph Somerhalder was born on December 8, 1978 and raised in a small southern town, Covington, Lousiana. He is known for being a model and an American actor. His most famous role is playing Damon in The Vampire Diaries. His mother Edna, is a massage therapist and his father, Robert Somerhalder, is a building contstructor. When he was growing up he went boating, swimming, fishing, and trained horses. He was in a school drama club and performed with the local theater group. At age ten he began a modeling career with the help of his mother. He modeled for Calvin Klein, Dolce & Gabanna, Gucci, Versace and Guess. Ian has icy blue eyes, sharp jaw line, and thick eyebrows.

Finally when he got to junior high, he decided to put modeling behind and focus more on sports and school; he played varsity baseball and basketball. A couple years later when the oppurtunity to model in Europe came, he grabbed it. Now, Ian doesn’t like to talk about when he modeled because he doesn’t like to be seen as just another pretty face.

When he was 17 he began studying acting in New York and, by the time he was 19, he committed himself to it, working with preeminent acting coach William Esper. In the summer of 2000, he starred in the short-lived WB series Young Americans. Ian also played in the novel,  The Rules of Attraction.

In 2004 Ian got a breakthrough role when he played Boone Carlyle in the hit TV show Lost. Besides his characters death in the 20th episode of the first season, he went back to the role of Boone for seven more episodes in 2005 to 2010; this included the series finale. Ian was the first one to be cast in a role for this series and to have their first character die. He said in a interview that he is planning to buy a house in Hawaii when filming in the first season, but couldn’t because after his character was killed off the show.

In 2005, Ian got all bulked up, adding about 20 to 30 pounds of muscle, so he would be considered for more man-leading-type roles.

In June of 2009, Ian was cast in the role of  Vampire Damon Salvatore as a series in The CW television drama The Vampie Diaries. This series premiere attracted The CW’s highest premiere ratings of any season premiere since the network began in 2006. This TV show series continues to be one of the highest rated series on its channel with Ian’s perfomance and show receiving a positive response from critics. The Vampire Diaries is about two brothers, Damon and Stefan Salvatore, have been leading “normal” lives; hiding the fact that they’re both vampires. They come back to the Virginia town, Mystic Falls, only for both of them to fall in love with the same girl, Elena Gilbert.

Ian has won an award for Teen’s Choice Award for just his participation on the series of The Vampie Diaries. Currently on the series, they’re on the sixth season and still going. While he was working with his co-star Nina Dobrev, he formed a relationship with her until 2013 when they broke it off.

Ian isn’t just another pretty face model and actor, he actually is heavily involved with charity work was part of the cleanup after the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling disaster in April of 2010. He put effort into cleaning of oiled wildlife, and taping public service annoucements letting everyone know what they could do to help. The St. Tammany Humane Society is an organization for animal shelter and welfare; Ian also supports this. He hosted a Bash on the Bayou charity fundraiser for the Society on November 13, 2010. Ian was presented with $11,000, by The Vampire Diaries fandom from his birthday project during this event.

With his The Vampire Diaries co-stars Candince Accola and Michael Trevino, Ian supports the “It Gets Better Project.” Five years ago Ian announced via Twitter in many ways that he was creating or setting up The Ian Somerhalder Foundation. It was launched on his birthday of 2010, and he hopes that it will educate people on the importance of protecting the environment and animals.

The IS Foundation’s mission aims to empower, educate and collaborate with people and projects to positively impact the planet and its creatures. “The IS FOUNDATION will behave in full collaborative spirit by joining with other Non-Profit, For-Profit and governing bodies globally,” says Ian. The team plans on distributing funds and resources towards global conservation, green energy development/deployment, and educational tools. He also started creating awareness so that global deforestation can be seen as an international and global security risk. They are creating mobility by engaging and supporting of the most powerful, disrespected and overlooked population on the planet - our youth. Ian is still presently working on this project, and continues to help wildlife and animals.

Ian is now currently engaged to Nikki Reed and plans to have the wedding this year, 2015. The question is: Will Ian invite his ex, Nina? Sources say, “If it is a big wedding Ian feels that he has to ask Nina to go, but anticipates her to respectfully decline. That would be a win win.” Nikki revealed her gorgeous engagement ring and it is absolutely stunning. The ring has a flower-shaped diamond and is surrounded by many small diamonds. They say it goes along well with her personality. We wish them a great future ahead!

They're Coming- February PPOW

They’re Coming

Chamberlyn was an ordinary girl, so she thought. She had her everyday routine, wake up, go to school, and then she had piano lessons after school. Once she would get done with piano lessons she would ride her bicycle out to the tree on a hill. She would lie down on a blanket and watch the clouds slowly pass by. When she was out on that hill, looking up into the sky, she felt like the whole world was silent, no existing of it. She would get lost into the clouds, but she knew they would be coming very soon.

Chamberlyn finally rode her bicycle home. She has a little brother, Jack, and has two older siblings, Cece and Stefan, they’re twins. Chamberlyn is 16, Jack is 6, and Cece & Stefan are 18. She is the daughter of Damon and Elena Salvatore. They live in a small town, Mystic Falls. The town had always been mysterious, that’s where the name kind of get its. There was always random deaths, Chamberlyn knew it was a sign that they were coming, in fact there were many signs. Chamberlyn didn’t want to think they were coming, so she blocked out the world.

Everytime Chamberlyn would get home from the tree, she would go straight to her room and do her homework, if she had any. She would always stop doing her homework and just read. She loved reading, especially about the gods. She would try to talk to her friends about her book, but they just thought she was crazy.

Chamberlyn woke up bright and early; she got dressed and headed to the tree. She had to finally talk to them, she needed to tell them that they can’t come today, not yet. After she talked to them she rode her bike to school.

Once she got to school she ran to her friends screaming, “They’re coming, they’re coming!”

Caroline, Chamberlyn’s best friend yelled, “Calm down, who’s coming?”

“They’re coming, they’re coming!” she screamed again.

“Bonnie, Chamberlyn’s other friend says, “Come on Chamberlyn, stop being crazy. Nobody’s coming; enough with the games.”

“We have to go, let’s get out of here!” Chamberlyn exclaimed.

Bonnie questioned, “Where are we going?”

“I don’t know, but we just need to leave this town. We’ll all go home and pack our stuff, then we’ll meet at the bank,” Chamberlyn explained.

They all left their separate ways and headed to their houses. Chamberlyn rode her bicycle home and rushed into the house. She grabbed clothes, her laptop and phone. She was running out of the house until she figured she would leave a note for her family. On the note she wrote “I’m so sorry, my friends and I left, we don’t know where we’re going yet. I took the car keys, and a bunch of food. I’ll call you when I can. All I can say is that they’re coming, leave soon.”

Chamberlyn hopped in their family van and drove as fast as she could to the bank. She got to the bank and went inside. She went to the ATM and took $1,000 out of their family account; she would explain to her family later. She waited, and waited, and then finally Bonnie and Caroline showed up. They all hopped in the car and Bonnie asks again, “So now what do we do, where are we going?”

“Where do you want to go?” questioned Chamberlyn.

“New Orleans!” shouted Caroline.

“Why New Orleans?” Bonnie asked Caroline.

“Because Niklaus is there, he can help us,” answered Caroline.

“Great, lets get to going then!” clapped Chamberlyn.

They all hopped in the car and headed to New Orleans. It took seven hours to get there; they got there around 5 o’ clock in the evening. They had no idea where Klaus would be, so they went around looking for clues. All of a sudden Chamberlyn’s phone started to buzz; She was getting a call from her parents, Damon and Elena Salvatore. She hurried up and answered it.

“Where in the world are you!” Damon shouted through the phone.

“Don’t worry, we’re here in New Orleans with Klaus. We’re trying to find him and his witch friend so they can help us,” answered Chamberlyn.

“What the heck is happening, who’s coming? And Klaus is very dangerous, don’t go near him!” Damon said angerly.

“We found Klaus, got to go. Talk to you later.” quickly said Chamberlyn as she hung up the phone.

Damon thought to himself, I need to go find her. So Damon listened to his mind and left for New Orleans as soon as possible without letting anybody know. On the way there he ran into Rebekah, Klaus’s evil sister, an original vampire.  

“Hello there Damon. Haven’t seen you in a while, what’s the hurry?” asked Rebekah.

“My daughter is with your brother, he’s going to hurt her! Now can I go save her?” Damon said eagerly.

“I already knew that silly. Why do you think he called me and told me to make sure you don’t come to save her?” Caroline said like a genius.

Before Damon got to say anything, Caroline twisted his neck and down he went. “You’ll be just fine here with me while Klaus does his business,” she said to herself, knowing that he wasn’t concious to hear.

TO BE CONTINUED

My Trip to Texas- January PPOW

My Trip to Texas

I woke up bright and early on a Saturday morning feeling as happy as ever. Today was the day that my family and I would leave for Texas. We all loaded the car and started our road trip. We finally left our house which seemed like it took forever! We drove, got breakfast, and then started to head towards Texas, I knew that this week was going to be fun.

On the way to Texas it started pouring down rain. My dad always likes to take the scenic route, so he was dissapointed cause he couldn’t even see what it looked like in the nature. When we hit Missouri, we kind of got lost. I thought we were in the middle of nowhere! We were driving on a road that literally had no houses, towns, or even a rest stop. This road went on forever and we all thought we wouldn’t get to a town that night.

That day we got to Russellville, Arkansas, and absolutely could not find a hotel that wasn’t all booked up. We went searching forever and still could not find a hotel that wasn’t all booked up. We finally went downtown to see if there was any place to stay down there, and there was! We arrived at a motel that didn’t quite look like it was in a good neighborhood, but it was the only place left. So we tried to figure out what in the world was going on because we saw boats everywhere. Turns out there was a fishing tournament going on. Just our luck on the first day of vacation.

The next day we woke up bright and early and headed our way to Texas again. Most of the time in the car, I would be sleeping or reading. It took the whole day to get to Texas, but it was worth it. We we’re going to Texas to see some close friends which are pretty much family. I couldn’t wait to arrive at their house.

A million hours later, we finally arrived at San Antonio. San Antonio was so unbelievably big, seems even more big during rush hour traffic. It literally took another hour just to find their house and to get to it that night. When we finally got to their house, we took all of our stuff inside and Beth, my aunt, gave us a tour. Beth has two kids, Jackson, who is four, and Shamai, that is nine. Jackson is a little crazy when there is company over, same with Shamai. But it was late when we got there, so we ate supper, hung out a little bit and then went to sleep.

The next day we tried to go tubing, but by time we all got ready and left the house, it was all busy. It was alright though, because the next day we were leaving for Port Aransas, an island on the Gulf of Mexico. I couldn’t wait till the next day!

I woke up early again and packed all my stuff again for the road trip to the Gulf of Mexico. We took two suburbans, in our car we had Shamai, Jackson, my two sister’s and my dad. You could say Jackson was a little too excited. On the way there was very boring, but it was only a four hour long car ride, definitely not as long as others I’ve had. When we finally got to the border of Texas, there was a ferry boat waiting for people to board. It was so cool because you literally drove your car on the boat and then you could get out of your car and go look out the edge and watch the dolphins.

We soon got to the island and it was absolutely beautiful out there. We drove around and went to our condo. The condo was humungous, it had 11 floors, and it was very fancy. It was on the beach, so we could literally walk to the beach whenever we wanted. It was always so cloudy outside and never sunny, but still very hot outside. My sisters and I still went swimming anyways even though I knew that there was a shark caucus by the beach trash can, knowing that made me 10x more scared. When we went into the water, we didn’t really swim, we just jumped the waves. While we were jumping the waves, Beth comes around with a golf cart, so we hop in it and took it for a spin.

Once we got done riding the golf cart around the beach, we went out to eat. We ate at a place called Fins Restaurant and Grill, it was delicious. We were there for a couple of hours chatting and eating, but I wanted to get back to the condo so I could go swimming in the pool before it closed.

We finally left the restaurant and headed for the condo, I couldn’t wait to swim in water that wasn’t salty. We arrived at the condo and my sisters and I went straight to our room to hop in our swimsuits. We ran to the elevator and then went right to the hot tub at first.  After we would get tired of the hot tub, we would hop in the pool. It finally got too late that we had to go back to our room and shower.

The morning came very fast and I was ready to see what we were up to that day. Well lets say that this day was very interesting… We started off the day by going to the beach and driving the golf cart around. We all took turns driving, even Shamai, a nine year old. While Shamai was driving, we happened to pass a cop on the beach, from there it went downhill. We were very lucky that my dad was driving behind us with my sisters license in it. The cop was very nice and just told us that we shouldn’t have a nine year old driving a golf cart.

The rest of the week was a blast. We went swimming, road a pirate ship, and even went shopping! It was one of the most memorable vacations I will ever have.

Taken- November PPOW

Taken

There once was a perfect girl with the perfect life, the perfect family, and perfect friends. One day, she made the mistake of going to school. Megan, first got up that morning to her annoying, ringing alarm clock. She got dressed, did her makeup and headed downstairs to eat her breakfast. She banged on her little brother’s door, trying to wake him up. When she got to the kitchen she saw her mother cooking them breakfast. That’s odd, Megan thought to herself, her mother never makes breakfast.

“Good morning, mom.”

“Good morning.” her mother said back.

Megan sat down at the table and ate her breakfast. Once she got done, she headed out the door and said good bye to her family. She looked at the time and the clock read 8:25. Megan knew she was going to be late, so she decided to speed. Right when she pulled out of her driveway, a black car started following her. She kept turning, trying to mislead them, but he still caught on to her. She finally arrived at the school and parked her car. The car parked right beside her, and someone got out of it. She saw a man in black, and then locked her doors. He started banging on her window yelling at her, trying to make her unlock the door. She got her phone out and tried to call someone but all of a sudden glass shattered, she was taken…

She screamed, trying to call for help. All she could see was black. Right then she knew she would never see her friends and family again.  Megan felt the car go to a stop, then the door slid open and there stood the man that changed her life forever.

He told me to get out of the car, so I did because I didn’t want him to hurt me. I noticed that I was covered in blood from the shards of glass.  He drug me to a door, but I kept resisting; I didn’t want to be locked in a dark room for the rest of my life. I noticed that I wasn’t just getting drug into a house, I was going inside a cellar. He pushed me down the stairs and then left. I looked around and saw two other girls. I lied on the ground, struggling to get back up. They ran over to me and helped me up. I asked them “Where am I, what is he going to do to me?” They told me that he’s going to hurt me and I won’t be able to escape. I cried, I won’t be able to see my family ever again. “When is he going to be back, when will he hurt me?” I asked them. They said he won’t be back till tomorrow to check on us. I began to cry, wishing that this was all just a dream.

I woke up, wondering where I was. It then came back to my mind again, that I wasn’t at home, I was trapped in a cellar with two strange girls I didn’t even know. I looked around for the girls so I could ask more questions. When will he be here to hurt me? I tried to think of an escape plan. I began to walk around the cellar for places I could escape, nothing. I looked around for something I could hurt him with, still nothing. I made up my plan for when he would come back, but I knew I shouldn’t try it today, I’m too weak. I sat down and started talking to the two other girls.

He started walking down the stairs, and I ran to the bathroom and locked the door. I could hear him talking to the other girls and then left the cellar. I unlocked the door and went out to where they were at. They told me that he’s going to be gone for awhile and he will be back soon. I thought to myself and thought that was great, but that’s just more time of me being missing with no food.

Days passed fast, as I stare at the clock. I become more and more weak with no food while he is gone. All I have been doing is sleeping and talking to the other girls. They told me that their names were Poppy and Rose and that my name is Lily now. I questioned them, “Why is my name Lily now?” Rose replied back saying, “He thinks of us as his perfect little flowers; If you do something bad, he’ll hurt you worse then the first time.” I screamed at them “I want to go home, I’m finding a way out of here!” They tried to calm me down “Shh Lily, you’ll be alright, he won’t be back in awhile.” “My names not Lily, it’s Megan!” I stomped off into the other room, pouting.

More and more days passed and finally the cellar door opens and there comes the man that I hate. I run up to him punching and kicking him with all I got. He falls down and I run to the door but something has got my leg, it’s him. I try and kick him off, but I fall down the stairs. I hurry up, try to get back up and run to the door. I make it, but the other girls stay down there. I looked around, I was in the middle of nowhere. There was the black car I got taken in, the keys were in it. I got in the car and drove till I got to a town. When I got into the town I tried to find the police station.

Once I got to the police station, I told them everything. They then took me to my house. I ran inside, but only my little brother was home. He ran to me and hugged me, I felt like never letting go. I asked him where mom and dad were at and he answered back saying “Mom is working at the police station and I have no idea where dad is.” I drove my brother and I to the police station to go see mom. When I entered her office, she got up and ran to me as fast as she could. We sat down and talked for what like seemed forever. I told her that they’re looking for him and that I’m alright. We finally went home, and mom made supper.

Once we got to our house, I went up to my room and just lied there. Boy, it felt so good to be home, I would’ve never thought I’d see my family again.

Something Unexpected- October PPOW

Something Unexpected

What’s your dream wedding day like? Do you imagine it traditional or different from the others? Your wedding day could be normal just like every other boring wedding day or it could be a divergent and outrageous wedding, but this particular wedding taking this September is going to be an odd wedding! The groom and men are wearing kilts and the bride is wearing her mother’s dress. Do you think it’s a little odd the men are wearing kilts? That’s why this wedding is going to be a bizarre one.

This bride has always dreamed of a cowboy and a big southern wedding. She got the total opposite of that, she got a long-haired video/card game nerd. The bride’s name is Valerie, but we call her Val and the grooms name is Stewart, or you could call him Stew. Would you like to know how these totally different people met and fell in love? Then you're going to want to keep on reading this adventure.

Valerie Sievers (Black) is from Walnut, IA and graduated from Walnut Community School. She dreamed of being a teacher and didn’t want to go to a huge college in the city far away from home. She decided to go to Peru State College in Nebraska with a population of 848. She loves the color yellow and is obsessed with pigs. You could find her at her house with her two huge dogs or at work.

Stewart Black was born off the coast of Florida but has moved a lot and resided in Nebraska. He was wanting to be an English teacher and decided to go to Peru State College also. He likes to play pokemon and dragon type stuff. He and his friends always have gaming nights on Fridays; that’s when they come over and play games such as pokemon. Stew’s favorite color is a dark green and his favorite “animal” is a dragon.

They both met at college during a theater event. Stew thought she was way different than him and he would have no chance with her. Val thought he was the last guy she would have even thought about dating. He was a nerd and she was looking for a cowboy. Stew figured out that she was interested in sports and cheer and he definitely knew that she was not like him. But, Stew fought for her and he got her.

They officially started dating on December 31, 2011. Later on, they adopted a German shepard mix dog name Castiel (Cas). About a year later, they moved into an apartment together in Nebraska City, NE. They still went to college for some classes, but most of them were online. When they weren’t at college they were working. Valerie first started working at a theater and a Super 8. Stewart was working for a window washing company called Mikes Window Service.

Later on during 2013 they finally got their own house. The house had one bedroom, one bathroom, and an office that was even yellow! In November of 2013 they adopted another dog! His name is Thor, like the superhero, and is a husky. They fell in love with him at first sight! Finally on December 14th Stewart proposed to Valerie during a party at their own house. Stew started singing the song I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) with his friend Tristen playing the guitar. At the end, he finally knelt down and proposed. Valerie started screaming her head off while bawling. They had to start planning right away!

Valerie did all the work, she planned everything! While panicking about everything she still had a job and had to go to college. Finally, May came around and Val graduated with a Bachelor of Science Educational Studies. Ever since then, she has been working a lot of hours at her job. She was working at a place called Morton House. Elders live at the Morton House and Val’s job was to take care of them and clean their rooms. While having that job she also worked at Dollar General. She quit both of those jobs and just started a new job. She now works at a childcare place in Syracuse, NE.

August came around and Val had to get her dress altered since it was her mom’s dress. Her mom got married in the 90’s, so it looked ugly. Once it finally got altered, it was beautiful! We could all just imagine her walking down the aisle to her soon to be husband.

It was the month of the wedding and Val was definitely freaking out. She had to wedding showers, one where she lives and another one back in her home town.  Her wedding was finally the next weekend. Her and her bridesmaids had to go to the hairdresser to figure out what they were going to do for the wedding. Later on that night the bride had her bachelorette party.

The wedding was now tomorrow. I, the bride’s sister, didn’t have to go to school on Friday because I had to go all the way to Nebraska City to help set up. It was so fun because I didn’t have to go to school. Valerie kept on freaking out because she thought that everything was going to turn out terrible. Then came the next day and we had to set up the reception tables. Since the wedding was outside it was even more difficult. It was very windy so when we were setting up the tables the wind would knock stuff over.

After we got done setting up we had to get ready for the wedding. Valerie was doing my younger sister and I’s hair. Trista, my younger sister and I had to walk down her two dogs down the aisle. I was so scared because I knew her dogs wouldn’t cooperate. When it was finally time to go walk to the gazebo where the wedding was going to happen. I had on the tallest heels of all time, and I thought I was going to trip while walking down the aisle.

Once we got to the gazebo, there wasn’t a lot of people so I wasn’t as scared. The music started to play and disaster struck. The dog I had to walk slipped out of his collar. Val told me just to walk without him, so I did. I got up to the gazebo and stood without a dog but holding the leash and collar, looking very stupid since my other sister did have a dog. It was great though because I didn’t have to deal with the dog. Trista had the other dog and it started whining because the other one was loose and he wasn’t so we had to let him go. During the ceremony the dogs kept running through the bride and groom. It was definitely a fun one but a disastrous one.