Black Bear

What an exciting morning we had! Right after breakfast Todd spotted a Black Bear in the yard, we are not sure what he wanted but he stuck around to visit for about an hour! Todd even yelled at it and he just turned to look at him and then just kept walking.

We have never seen a bear in 17 years that we have lived here, and to be honest it can be another 17 years before he comes back!

FINALLY

Well I can finally say Spring is here! We have a Mama Robin nesting on our front porch so I had Todd take a picture of her baby that hatched on Mother's Day! Looks like she has one more egg to hatch. Mama Robin was a little ticked at us for taking pictures of her baby but I wanted to show the day care kids what was in the nest. We watched the Robin build this nest for 2 weeks, the wind kept knocking it down on her but she never gave up. Now we watch her feed the baby worms and water it, we are all learning how a Robin takes care of her young.



The next picture is of my new bird feeder out my kitchen window, the kids love to watch the birds eat. I do love Spring!

Warning!

Here is a recipe I received from my mother in law that I just LOVE.... I am warning you now so don't blame me if you eat the whole darn batch when you make them. They call for cocktail peanuts but I didn't have any so I put cashews in this batch and OMG is it yummy....
It is a fun recipe to make with kids. Enjoy


Caramel Pretzel Mix:

1 box crispex cereal
1 bag stick pretzels
1 can cocktail peanuts (with out skins) or cashews or both:-)
dump in a brown grocery bag set aside,

On low heat in saucepan
melt 2 sticks of butter (I told you not to eat the whole batch)
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cups lite Karo syrup, stirring constant bring to boil remove from heat
add 1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda (mixture will foam up)
stir until well blended
pour over mix in brown bag and shake well (stir if you have to)
roll bag closed and put into the microwave for 1 minute on high, take out and shake well
return to microwave heat on high for 1 minute, remove and shake repeat this 2 more times for a total of 4 minutes in microwave.

spread mixture out on wax paper and let cool.

ENJOY!!

SPRING BREAK

Here you will see the life of a 21 year old on Spring Break that didnt go to Florida! Cell phone and Remote in hand flipping channels to find a basketball game on ONE of the 300 channels we receive. He warned me right away that March Madness was starting and he planned to watch most of the games. I didnt mind because Todd, Zach and I were leaving for the Dells on Thursday night when the basketball frenzy started! Shawn didnt want to go and to be honest I didnt blame him.

Most of the time he was either sleeping, on the cell phone, on the computer, or flipping channels. He would go out to meet up with friends when we were heading to bed. To be 21 again!

He demanded one thing while he was home and that was a meatloaf supper with all the fixings. I could handle that demand!!

Face Book

Here he is chilling out on the computer, checking out Face Book! This is a big deal right now for all ages! They post pictures and events of their life so other people can view them, hey doesnt that sound like a Blog?

He checks for car parts and also is on his Car forum.... Doing what I dont know I just know he spent time on the computer.

Life Line

Here is my sons Life Line to the world! Yes cell phones have come a long way! He can type faster on this thing then I can on my computer key board. It is amazing how the kids stay in touch with one another, no one even talks on their phones anymore, they communicate by texting one another. He even tries to break records on how many text messages he sends and receives each month.

Here he is trying to get a little nap in while the 7 day care kids are running around the livingroom in hopes that lunch will be done soon. He is real good with my day care kids and never seems to mind that they loud. He is a night owl just like me so mornings are not our best part of the day to say the least.

I enjoyed having him home for a whole week!! Even the day care kids asked where he was on Tuesday morning. Back to College!

Thanks for spending your spring break at home Shawn, it wasn't Florida but look at the money you saved. We enjoyed having you home.

PS It wont be long and he will be back for the summer!

Retreat

I went to a scrap booking retreat at the Big Bird Chicken Ranch (right here in Medford) over the weekend and had such a wonderful time! I was there from Friday morning at 9:30 am until 4:30pm on Sunday . What a beautiful place to relax!

I created 30 12 x 12 scrap book pages while I was there, I had such a great time doing our Florida Disney Album (I know it's been 2 years since we were there, I'm behind a bit ok?) I can tell you from experience it truly is the happiest place on earth!

There were 17 girls in this room chatting and laughing not to mention SINGING! We had great meals and wonderful company and can not wait for the next one. The Chicken Ranch is beautiful, it sleeps 24 comfortably with two kitchens and three bathrooms. We even had chair massages on Saturday afternoon that were wonderful, thanks Shannon....

I hope my boys will appreciate the time and money that goes into creating one of these albums! I plan to give them their album on their wedding day!

Scrap booking is a great way to express yourself and to get pictures out of shoe boxes.

Fiona if you are reading this thanks for sharing, not just your supplies either:-) You Rock!

PS I bought a Cricut Expression and cant wait to share!

My Little Hunter

It's inevitable both my boys are hunters!

Zach started hunters safety last night and is thrilled to death about hunting this year, I on the other hand am NOT! This year he wants to turkey hunt, bow hunt and the terrifying RIFFLE hunt! Along with all the hunting he can not wait to do A LOT of fishing while we camp. A true outdoors men don't you think?

He has dressed up in Todd's boots and hunting clothes since he was 2 years old so I should have known he would be a hunter and that means he would carry a gun. I know I should be use to the idea because Shawn went through all this but this is my baby (gosh don't tell him I said that) and he is no longer needing "ME". Maybe that is being selfish but I will blink and I will be blogging him driving out the driveway with his license in hand. It truly feels like yesterday I watched Shawn drive out the driveway smiling ear to ear with his new found freedom called
"Dodge Dakota".

We are all doing great and can not wait for this weather to turn for the WARMER.
(8 days until spring)
Hang in there we are about done with this long cold winter