DQ Visit

For some reason the picture here of AIP and Jimmy didn't post for the last blog I did so I thought I would post it by itself. 

Summer Days

We had a fairly good Memorial Day weekend. We started with the bake sale Saturday. Aand then Sunday a trip to Lowes and then a DQ visit for lunch, AIP showed some pictures of our visit with them, but I am showing one of AIP and Jimmy enjoying an ice cream at the Dairy Queen because it seems AIP never gets to get her picture taken. Wish I was that lucky. *VBS*
Also we got to see Brother Bear and his girlfriend Jessica which was a treat for us since we hardly ever see him anymore.

Monday was a day of Baby Bear and I washing the car and then Baby Bear picked up rocks. While we were washing the car Papa Bear was mowing on the other side of the pond, picture above. After telling the story of the Lawnmower racer I couldn't believe that he had gotten himself into another mess. He came over and asked us if we heard him and we said no. Well, it turns out the brakes went out again on the riding mower and down the hill he headed but lucky for him that little bitty tree shown in the picture just below the picnic table caught him! You will probably have to enlarge the picture just to see the tree that saved him!!!! I think the mower is posessed or something! We all three went across the pond and had to help Papa Bear rescue the mower from falling down the hill which was a task. Needless to say I try to watch him closer now!!!!
We had a cookout last night with homemade potato salad, baked beans and hamburgers. I bought some ice cream and cones for dessert. Today after supper I made Papa Bear this banana split for dessert. Doesn't it look yummy? He sure did enjoy it. I hope he doesn't expect this very often. *VBS* I just had the ice cream, cool whip and fruit so he asked me to make him one. Baby Bear opted for a ice cream cone. 

THE LAWNMOWER RACER

After I wrote the last post today it reminded me of this poem AIP had written for Papa Bear last year. I wanted to tell you the story about it. Last year Papa Bear had an eventful day while mowing the grass along side the road. I wish he would tell it because he tells it so well. I knew he was outside mowing and didn't think much about it until I couldn't hear the mower anymore. So.. I went out to check it out thinking maybe it broke down or something, which usually happens to poor Papa Bear a lot. It seems there is always something he has to fix. And I thought maybe he could have tipped it over since we live down in a hollar and it is steep just about everywhere here with hills and all. Well ... I couldn't find him no where. I hollered for him but no answer so I began to worry. I was about ready to go out to search for him when I could hear him at the road talking to the neighbor and heard her laughing. He came walking down the drive and I waited for him at the house. When he came to the house he was so excited and out of breath he could hardly tell me the story.

It seems that he was at the top of a hill (BIG, BIG hill!) mowing the grass by the road, which is quite a ways from the house, when all of a sudden the brakes went out and he lost control of the lawnmower. He tried to coast it into our drive but it kept on going past our house and him yelling for me to help him the whole time. He said he didn't know that a riding mower could go that fast and that it scared him to death. He said he was going so fast his hair was blowing back by the wind. Which made me laugh so hard I could hardly stand it! He took a very long ride coasting all the way down the BIG hill and around a corner which he said the riding mower went up on two wheels as he went around the curve and down the road until the mower could go no more. He said when it slowed down enough he ran it into a ditch to stop it completely.

In the meantime, AIP had called before that and told me she was coming down, I can't remember what for, and she would be there shortly. That was before all of this happened. So... when she got there he told her the story and we all began to laugh at the thought of him on this mower going out of control down the hill. We really got a laugh when we got in the truck to go pick up the mower and found it about a mile down the road thinking it took that long before it came to a halt. He said the whole time he was yelling so loud and first he was yelling for me to help and then I don't know what he was yelling. I laugh everytime I think of this and just the thought of him going down the hill with his hair blown back yelling at the top of his lungs. It reminds me of a cartoon or something you would see.

So... Here is a poem that AIP wrote for Papa Bear when she got home that day and we all still get a laugh out of this. The poem goes like this......


The Lawnmower Racer

Will you be riding

Your lawnmower today?

Or is it in

Much disarray?

Did your brakes fail you

And eventually,

Land you

In a muck?

A speedy ride

You did not plan,

When you ran out of gas

You got in a jam.

You tried to coast it

All the way home

And when Reva looked out

You were gone.

You were like a kid

With a new go-cart,

The farther it went

The faster it got.

If you could not have planned it

If you had tried,

The scariest ride

Of your life.

Of course you know

What you have done,

You have found the hill

For the perfect run.

Poem written by AIP (Sandy)



We had a good laugh out of this and I still laugh to this day when I think about this. I am greatful however he wasn't hurt.

Get Your Cookies, Cakes, and Candy Bars Here!

Today we had a bake sale for the Boy Scouts. Here is Papa Bear and Baby Bear at our booth trying to sell all the goodies. Yesterday I made over 80 cookies to take. It was hard to keep Papa Bear and Baby Bear out of them. I had to get firm about it. *VBS*

We went early this mornig and helped set up and stayed until lunch time and then another parent and boy came in and took our place. It got very hot setting there and I was very glad to see someone come in and releive us.

We didn't get much customers while we were there because it had just started and there wasn't many people... but I am anxious to find out Thursday at our meeting how we did the rest of the day. Hopefully they made some money, and it will be used for camp this summer.

After that we came home and Papa Bear worked on the riding mower, which reminds me of a little poem AIP wrote for him because of an incident that happened last year. I need to find the poem and tell the story because it is so funny! I will look for that and post later.

So, all in all we had a fairly decent day. Hope all of you had a good day too. 

Boy Scouts Spring Camporee

I just love to use these collages... the reason I like them so much is I can never decide which pictures to post that I have taken. This past weekend we went on a camping trip with Baby Bear's Boy Scout Troop. I have pictures here which I will tell you about from top left is boys gathered around campsite, Leader instructing Baby Bear and friend on hiking, Baby Bear waiting to shoot 22 rifle which he did excellent on, Baby Bear shooting rifle, Baby Bear canoeing, another of him canoeing, Baby Bear being silly, isn't that a sweet face!, Baby Bear instructed on how to make a foil wrap for his hamburger, playing corn hole with friends, campfire, troop singing their song, Baby Bear and Matthew at campfire, and the bottom ones are the same as the top I believe. So there you have it, some of my pictures of our trip.
Like I said we all went camping. We went to a big Lake in Kentucky not far from us and camped at a Sportsman's Club there. They were kind enough to let all of us Boy Scout troops use their facilities and let us set up camp on the property. They had all sorts of things to do.

There were 7 boys in our troop that went on this trip and then there were us parents. Our friend's Randy and Donna went also since their son, Brandon's best friend, Matthew is in Scouts too. Papa Bear, Baby Bear and I were the first one's to get there so we got pick of the field to set up our tents. So we set up camp with our tents close together and enjoyed a weekend with our kids and families. We had late night campfires and stayed up and talked and laughed and got up early in the morning and Papa Bear cooked breakfast. He is a great cook and this is one of his favorite things to do when we camp and one of my favorites! *VBS* I don't have to cook for a change, so I love it! Papa Bear cooks things like sausage and buscuits with gravy, scrambled eggs, and they had pancakes. Also one night the boys made their own meals and made foil packets with hamburgers and vegetables in them. They got to choose what they wanted to put in their foil packets that they made. We also had roasted marshmallows, hot dogs, smoked sausages, baked beans, potato salad, and one thing I had never heard of hibernating bananas. They were actually good too.

One day in the future the boys will have to set up camp and cook and every thing and we get to sit back and watch, it should be interesting. We laugh about it now when we talk about it. Papa Bear said he is bringing back up food until the boy's have learned how to cook. Tee Hee!

One thing I like about these camping events is on one night all of the troops get together with a big campfire and put on skits and sing songs. It is great fun and entertaining. Our boys sang a song and it was a hit. The skits are so funny too. It is great fun.

We spent the first night setting up camp and then woke early that morning and they ate breakfast, had a flag ceremony, then went hiking, shot rifles, canoeing, tomahawk throwing, fishing and more. By the time the day ended they were exhausted but had so much fun.

We really enjoy the boy scouts and have plans to stay in it for a long time. Our only regret is that we didn't do this with Brother Bear because he would have loved it. The thing is that we had never heard of Boy Scouts when Brother Bear was growing up. But we used to take him camping every weekend ourselves along with a friend or cousin. I beleive we have been to every state park in Kentucky camping. Even though Brother Bear wasn't in Boy Scouts we still hve a lot of good memories with him too, it just would have been nice to have been involved in Boy Scouts with him because he loved the outdoors so much. He did get to go on a 4-H camping trip for a week one time. I will never forget when I went to pick him up how excited he was that I had come to pick him up and he just hugged and hugged me. His friend on the other hand was at the age where he didn't want mom around it was embarrasing, you know how they get, but Brother Bear didn't care and I will never forget that he made me feel so good.

Well, I love the fact that I got to spend this time with Baby Bear and the fact that I have good memories with Brother Bear and I hope that they will always remember these times too. We love them so much and enjoy these times so much because they grow up so fast. So we will be keeping busy this year in Boy Scouts and enjoying camping and all the other things Boy Scouts do. 

Baby Bear's last days at his elementary school in the 5th grade

The past few weeks have been busy for us and Friday was Baby Bear's last day of school. And last day at elementary school. There was a lot going on for us during those last few weeks of school with DARE graduation, Movin to the Middle Night, 5th Grade Night among other things. Here isa picture collage of some of the pictures that were taken during those nights. Moving to the Middle Night, which I already told about before in another post was a releif to know what is expected of them as they move to another school. I was much more at ease with this. Bottom Right picture is a picture of Brandon exploring his new school.

DARE Graduation was a special time and very important to me for Baby Bear to be involved in and learn about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. I hope he got a lot of use out of this class and will follow it in his future. It was a very touching day for me to listen to the speakers and watch the kids walk across the floor to get their certificate. Bottom left photo is Baby Bear and his friend holding up their DARE certificates and stuff.

Then there was 5th Grade Night which was a memorable night. It was kind of sad to see them go and they all displayed their boards with all their school memories. We had fun looking at all the pictures of Baby Bear through the years and it is hard to beleive he is already at this stage! He has grown so much, I wish he could stay little forever! I forgot to charge my batteries for my camera so thanks to Sandy we got some great pictures. My friend also took some for me. Sandy also wrote a very nice post on her blog about Brandon's 5th Grade Night, I told her she said about all of it and I wasn't sure I could top that. That was hard to hold back the tears that night and I am sure it is not over for me yet because I am not looking forward to the first day of Middle School. I just hate to see him grow up, and so fast! We are so proud of Baby Bear and his accomplishments over the school years and are sure he will make us more proud as the years go by. Top left and top right were some of the 5th Grade Night photos that Sandy took for us. Thank You Grandma for sharing your pictures and for sharing this night with us. 

MADE IN THE SHADE

As you can see we have been pretty busy. Baby Bear is learning how to weed eat so it makes it easier for Papa Bear to rest his back. We are so proud of Baby Bear because he has really been helping us out this week. He actually likes weed eating and we are VERY GLAD. Here is a picture of Papa Bear and our dog Rusty relaxing while Baby Bear weed eats. And below is a picture of Baby Bear weed eating.

We have been pretty busy over the past month or so and that is why I haven't had time to blog. I have lots of pictures and memories to write as soon as I get the chance. I just wanted to share these photos of what we did the past few days. We also had some visitors yesterday who were a BIG HELP and very much APPRECIATED! Abandoned in Pasadena and Jimmy stopped by to get some tomato plants we had for them and stayed long enough to help us get our bamboo wall back up. We were so glad they helped us get that done. It looks so much nicer now that it is up.

Today we worked in the garden in between long breaks to get our tomato plants out. Baby Bear was weed eating when the neighbors asked him to go hiking.. so off he went with them to hike and then returned to go to football practice. We finally got our tomato plants out and hopefully they will do good. We had great success growing these in our little greenhouse and gave Jimmy and Sandy several plants as well as our friends Randy and Donna... and we had plenty left over for our garden. I can't wait to taste them!!! This is probably all we will have growing in our garden this year. With mine and Papa Bear's health that is about all we can do for now. But we will enjoy them very much.

So.. that is what we have been doing the past couple of days.

I must add we saw a pretty butterfly while Sandy and Jimmy was here but Sandy couldn't capture a picture it wouldn't stay still long enough. Oh well, maybe next time. 

Movin to the Middle Night

Before I start my post I wanted to tell you about this picture at the top. This is a picture of Baby Bear and his VERY BEST FRIEND. They are almost inseperable. They are at the Middle School waiting anxiously to see what group (the 6th grade kids are divided into two seperate groups the Enterprisers and the Voyagers) they will be in and what is expected of them.

Now, moving on to my post. Baby Bear is getting ready to make one of those big steps in his life he is getting ready to move out of Elementary School into Middle School. Wednesday night was "Movin to the Middle Night" where the parents and kids got to go to the Middle School to tour the school and meet the teachers and see what is expected of us and to find out more about the school and what the kids will be doing. I and my friend have been dreading this time for a long time and we stayed on the phone for 2 hours that morning worrying about this change in our child's life. Baby Bear had already went on a field trip to the Middle School and he really liked it and thought it was cool. Well, I was so glad of that but wanted the opportunity to ease my fears as a mother. I was pleased with the results so far. *VBS* The staff were all nice, so far, and I liked their way of thinking. I also liked the fact that the kids would be separated from the older kids in the school, what was one of my biggest fears because to me they are still just babies and aren't old enough to be learning certain things from the "big kids". They had some very positive things to say and I liked the school overall, so far. *VBS* It is going to be so hard to let him take this step but it is something I will have to deal with. I sometimes think this is harder for me than the first day of kindergarden, I don't know though all of them are very tough!

This last picture is a VERY proud Baby Bear showing off his prize ribbon for coming in second in the 50 yard dash at his school field day. He was so proud and happy because he thinks he is not that good at physical things and I was so so proud of him which I am anyway.

So, I have been busy getting Baby Bear ready for the Middle School and trying to prepare myself for it.

ONE WEEK ANNIVERSARY

Well, it has been one week since I smoked my last cigarette. I will admit it has been touch at times. I want to thank you all for the encouragement it really helps. I wish you guys were here all the time to get me going and motivated. Motivation is something I lack. But so far so good as far as quitting cigarettes. Papa Bear is going to TRY to quit tomorrow. I hope he can do it this time. He doesn't last too long quitting, a week was the most he has quit. But I am just thankful he is trying. A couple of years ago you couldn't even get him to think about it. So this is a big step for him.

Well, school is coming to a close this month at Baby Bear's school. I am so sad because he will be moving on from Elementary to Middle School. I know there will be and has already been tears shed. I am sure many more will come before he is out and then this fall when he goes to the dreaded Middle School. He went today with his class to tour the Middle School. Actually I was glad that he came back with positive attitude. He said it was cool and he said it was HUGE and he expected to get lost for awhile. Tee Hee. He is so cute. I am hoping that next week which is called "Movin to the Middle" that the parents get to go tour the school and find out more about it. I wanted to go today but didn't get to. Then he is having a "5th Grade Night" I guess that is sort of like graduation from the 5th grade. This week he will be busy, they toured the school today then tomorrow they are taking a field trip to our state capital. Picnic day is Friday and then next week is a big week also with Movin to the Middle night, 5th Grade night, and the list goes on and on. He has a lot going on before school lets out on May 19th. Then that same weekend we are going camping again with Boy Scouts. My baby is growing up so fast. My older baby boy is 22 and it seems just yesterday that he was going to the Middle School for the first time. To me this time is sadder than the first day of kindergarden. So I will be shedding some tears these next few weeks. I intend to take some pictures to share also.

Thanks again for all the well wishing and encouragement on me kicking the habit.. it was much appreciated.

Mama Bear

Busy Week!

First of all I want to thank everyone who sent well wishes on my test and come to visit me. As far as my heart cath it showed some blockage but not bad enough that I needed a stint or anything.... just a change in cholesterol medication, adding another medication and to quit smoking. I am so proud of myself..... and I hope I continue..... but I KICKED THE HABIT, I HAVE QUIT SMOKING... on the insistance of Baby Bear and Papa Bear. I think what really done it was Baby Bear crying that night before my test because he was worried about me. That broke my heart and I decided I would do it so I could be around here for him and Brother Bear and all the other special people in my life. I have been wanting to quit for a long time and I have finally done it. I have quit several times before.. even for a year and then went back so I hope to have quit for good now. I am going to take it one day at a time. I am hoping Papa Bear will join me soon. He says when he runs out he will.. which will probably be today.. I HOPE. It is a very expensive and hard habit to break.

I haven't written because I have been sick since my heart cath. I am not sure what it was I spiked a fever of 103 the day I came home and couldn't get up I was so achy and chilling and nauseated. I was told by the cardiologist to take Tylenol and Benadryl and see my regular doctor the next day which when my husband called they were not in that day... so I just toughed it out. I got to feeling better and hadn't planned on it but Baby Bear had a camping trip for Cub Scouts that was originally planned for him and Papa Bear to go but Papa Bear begged me to go along with him. So... I went. Baby Bear had a ceremony where he and some other Cub Scouts crossed over to Boy Scouts. It was a very touching time for me because I realize he is growing up.. needless to say I had tears in my eyes as I walked him over the bridge to join his new Boy Scout leader. All in all we had a good time. Weather was nice and we are meeting a lot of nice people. Baby Bear just loves it and didn't want to come home. He has made a lot of nice friends and he scored well in the BB shooting and will receive a patch for that. They had archery, BB's, crafts, fishing, fishing pole making, and planting trees so they were pretty busy. Baby Bear was exhausted when we got home yesterday as were we all.

Well, I am going for now just wanted to say I haven't forgotten anyone although I haven't been posting or checking blogs.. I intend to catch up as soon as I can on everyone's blogs. And I wanted to thank you all for your kindness. It looks like a busy week for us this week as Baby Bear has several activities at school. Will get into detail later.

I plan on posting some pictures if they turned out good on our camping trip. I have to get them developed first.


Mama Bear