Some "Astounding" Video

Wow!! Mama is really on a roll! Now she figured out how to put a video on the blog! The extent of her intelligence is astounding!!

This video was taken at Noni's farewell recital. Nonie is the second violin teacher we have lost to "graduate school." Goldie was playing this piece just for her!

Then the video jumps to a scene at Grammy's house! ENJOY!

Goldie's Baptism

It took Mama a bit of time, but she finally figured out how to make a slide show on the blog!! Cool, huh? She felt it was about time to blog about Goldie's Baptism Day. It was on March 29, and what a beautiful day it was! It is evident by the georgious pictures in the slide show. After her baptism, Mama asked Goldie how she felt, and she said that she felt empty inside. Mama tried not to panic as feeling "empty" was not what she expected hear. So, she asked Goldie just what she meant by that and she said, "I feel empty of sins!" Whew! All is not lost! Mama and Papa are so proud of their little Goldie and the decision she made to be baptized!

The BIG 40!

Well, Mama hoped that the day would never come, but on September 26, 2008 she turned the BIG 40!! Here are some of the comments she heard from her 4th graders:

"Wow! You don't look that old!"

"At least you're not 50!"

"Yea, my grandma is 50 and she has lots of wrinkles, but you don't have any!"

When Mama arrived at school that morning, she found that her classroom had been invaded by some very overly excited decorators who just could not help but rub in the fact that Mama is now "Over the Hill!!" Never mind the message on the wreath that says, "Bee kind, feelings are everywhere!" The night before Mama's birthday, she should have realized that Papa was acting a little bit strange. But since strange is sort of normal for Papa, Mama was totally blindsided! Around 9:30 Papa declaired that he had to go out and water something in the yard. That is not so out of the ordinary for Papa, but Mama insisted on feeding him first. It was a little strange when someone honked outside, and Papa hopped right up and just HAD to get out and water right then and there! He did not even finish eating! Now THAT was weird, but Mama didn't think anything of it! Little did she know that Papa and her neighbor friend had taken her keys and escaped to the school! It was not until the next morning when she saw what they had done to her classroom that she put two and two together. She was amazed that Papa had kept his little secret for so long! He did tell Goldie, though! He just could not keep it from her! That evening, they met up with Grammy and Grandpy at Red Lobster. What a feast! Grammy and Grampy insisted that Mama wear a black ribbon declaring her age. Once it was on, Goldie would not let her take it off! The nice crew at RL gave Mama a lovely roll with a candle in it for her Birthday treat. Yipee! While reflecting on her BIG 40 Mama thought it was interesing that MOST of the people who made such a BIG deal over all of this were actually OLDER than Mama.... hmmmm... Something to ponder.

What a Kick!!

Well, it has been a while since we updated our little blog, and a lot has happened since we did!! Here is the latest on the new adventure!

The school with grass, trees and a finished Kindergarten playground.

The PTA made these cool name tags for the teacher's doors. What a lot of work!

Who knew that starting a new school could be so much fun!?!? Mama and Goldie have been having a blast in their new environment. And our little city seems to be having a great time as well! Scouts came out of the woodwork to help put together tables and others used their muscles to move teachers from their former schools to the new one. Mama was amazed at how much help she had. (TF decided to go to Alaska and missed all the fun!) The morning of the BIG move, Mama was met by two of her good buddies, and they helped take 6 carloads of Mama's stuff over to the new school. Then in the evening, the scouts brought three huge trailors to Wellsville to move three teachers over, and only one was filled. Then, on arrival to the new school more scouts showed up and all Mama had to do was stand in the hall and direct traffic while all the stuff was placed in the appropriate rooms. It was amazing!! The staff was so impressed with the help that came from this great community.

As the teachers unloaded boxes and threw them into the hallways, Goldie and her buddy would gather them together and add them to their "Fort" that they were building. They also had a blast loading up the boxes in big wagons and riding around the long hallways of the school. Sometimes they even helped the teachers get their classrooms ready. The fun was never ending! Until, of course, the fort had to be cleaned up for Back to School Night.

The playground was not finished by the first day of school, but the principal made sure that there were things for the students to do outside. They literally have watched their playground be built before them. Another cool thing to watch was the laying of the sod for the HUGE soccer field. It came in gigantic rolls that were put onto a little tractor thing and then unrolled slowly while workers raked it in close to the last piece. Now all we have to do is wait for a few weeks, and then the kids can use the fields. Everyone has learned to adapt and soon we will have a great place to play.

Mama turned her classroom into her hive and has had a great time doing so! It was fun to see it filled with worker bees for the first time.

Here is a view of one side of the room:................. Here is the window side:

Front view:..............................................................................Back View:

This is some of the first student artwork to be hung in Mama's new classroom. She plans to keep these up all year!

This in Mama's new desk. It is huge! She thinks it is at least 5 feet long and 3 feet wide... maybe even more! There is room for Goldie to sit next to her and do her homework. The desk came about 3 weeks after school started, but it was worth the wait!

Wow! Check out the cool floor in the music room! Our music teacher thinks she has died and gone to heaven! The Orchestra people like it too!Just this last Friday, the workers were forsting the glass on the Library, and Saturday when Mama went over to take pictures she noticed that the frost was in the shape of the mountains! So cool! And in the carpet just in front of the library they just put in that cool globe with our school marked on it. So so so so fancy!!

Safety is a HUGE issue for this little town! We had Green Ribbon Week all last week to help the kids at our school learn the new safety rules that they need to follow. We have kids riding a bus for the first time, and kids walking and riding bikes for the first time. Everyone is learning something new. Our little town is not really set up for a school, and kids have to learn that they cannot just walk down the center of the road. Hopefully in the not too distant future, there will be more sidewalks around here. We will be working on this for a while yet to come.

The PTA kicked off the year as a "Round-up". They took pictures of all the teachers and made them into Wanted posters. These are displayed in the front hallway with other cowboy paraphanalia. Many of the kids have tried to take Mama in for the $1,000 reward. But, alas! Mama just will not be caught!

Here is Goldie on her first day of school. She is in the third grade and she loves her teacher! She wrote that the very best part of her summer was helping her mom move into the new school.

Whew! It has been overwhleming and fun all at once! It feels good to be on our way now! Hip Hip hooray for our new school!!

New School Updates

Well, Mama and Goldie went over to the new school
yesterday and took some updated pictures of Mama's classroom and other parts of this beautiful new school. Mama never thought in a million years that she would get a new classroom, and this is like a dream (or nightmare depending on our mood) come true!!
These pictures show a couple of the walls in Mama's room. Notice the white strips between the panels on the walls. They have holes in them where you can hang shelving or other things. Mama thinks they are really cool! She can't wait to get in on Tuesday and start making it her own!

Here is a picture of the soon-to-be playground. Mama thought that it was going to be delivered this week, but she has not seen it yet! She hopes the kids will have a place to play come August 21! A class without recess is like having monkeys trapped in a cage!!

And here is a view down one of the two identical hallways. Mama's room is the third one on the left side. There is also a mini workroom for teachers down each hallway, complete with a faculty bathroom inside. WOW! The principal came around with his little notepad and assigned rooms a couple of weeks ago. Mama thought she would be in a different room on the other side of the hallway, but is fine with this one, too. They are all identical anyway..... except for the view out the window. TF (Mama's Teacher Friend that came with her from Wellsville) is sad that she does not get the view of the cows out her window. :(

Here are some pictures of the gym. The floor needs to be stained and finished, but everyone is thankful that it is at least installed! They thought for a while that the school might open without a cafeteria, but it is about finished as well.

The stage is really cool! Behind it is a really big music room and a ramp into the hallway. It seems very user-friendly... if one could say that about a stage. It almost makes Mama want to do another Opera with her class.....ALMOST.

Here is the view of the library with the glass windows. This is one thing that might not be finished when school starts, and it will take years to build up a collection like the one at Wellsville. Hopefully the little city library will help us out.
This is the front office.... or part of it. This office has a conference room, a principals suite (At least it looks like it compared to the one in Wellsville), a very large faculty room and a work room. There are also some other little rooms attached that Mama is not sure what they are for... maybe a sick room? Who knows! AND there is a bathroom in the office. Wow the secretary could probably even answer the phone from there! (Let's hope she doesn't!) This school has so much more than Mama is used to, that it will be fun for her to just learn what everything is for!

Goldie looks a little perplexed about the mess. August 21 is coming right up!

Here is a view of the front of the school. Mama and Goldie are so happy to see that the blacktop is finally being poured! It makes it look a little less like a construction zone. Oh, and they put up the outside lights yesterday! Cool!

What memories are being made here in our little town! Nobody will forget the first year of the new school! Mama and Goldie are so excited to get to be involved!

Remember, fellow bloggers, and even you lurkers, please leave us your favorite Back-to-School memories! Or, if you have a school memory that involves us in some way, we'd love to hear about it! Have a happy Back-to School everyone!!

A New Adventure

After 15 years at Wellsville Elementary, Mama Bear is moving to a brand new school just through the field from their cottage. Goldie is going with her, and they know that they are in for quite an adventure! Mama gets teary now and then thinking of the sweet friends and familiar surrounding of Wellsville Elementary. She never thought that she could leave that wonderful old school. Luckily, it is only 10 minuts away (if you drive the speed limit), and she plans to visit once in a while to keep up those familiar friendships!



As heartbreaking as leaving the old school is, mama and Goldie have really enjoyed watching the new school go up. They have gone over at least once a week to see how things are moving along... and sometimes they are even brave enough to tell the workers to "Hurry UP!!" School starts on the 21st of August, and everyone keeps saying that we will start on time. In May Mama took some pictures, and Goldie tried to star in every one of them! Mama plans to put some updated photos on the blog soon! But here is how far along it was last May:

This is one of the two identical hallways. It is pretty dark without electricity!

This will be the library. It is between the two hallways. Goldie is sitting where a big glass window will be.
Inside one of the "more finished" rooms. Mama loves the cubbies, but does not have as much storage area as her big old classroom at Wellsville.

A view from the tracks. Many of the neighbor children want to walk to school on the tracks, but the school and railroad are strongly discouraging this!!

This is going to be such a memorable experience for all that are involved. Our little town has fought for this for a very long time, and now it is finally here! It will change this little town in ways that nobody expected. We hope that it will only add to the wonderful community that we already have!

Hey, friends! In honor of our new school, and it being back to school time, leave us your comments about your most memorable school experiences... you know, the ones that you will never, ever forget! Mama, Papa, and Goldie will never forget the building of this new school!

Like Father Like Son?

When Papa Bear comes home from a long day of weeding, tree trimming, mowing, planting and sprinkler repairs and instalation, he is very, very tired! He usually sleeps whereever he lands! As for Fudgie.... nobody quite knows what his excuse is! Sleep tight boys!

Toothless Goldie

Well, it finally happened! At eight years, four months, and five days old, Goldilocks finally lost her first tooth! She tried to hang on to that tooth for as long as she could, but today that tooth just could not hang in there for one more minute.Then it just sort of fell out all by itself. Goldie had many offers from people who wanted to help her get it out, but alas, Goldie opted for the "wait and let it fall out method" and it seemed to work out very nicely for her. The tooth fairy has been waiting and waiting to visit Goldie's house, and now will finally have the chance! Mama and Papa are so proud of their little Goldie!

Mama Bear's Retreat

It is pretty sad when a "retreat" is really a science class that is helpful for your job, but that's the only kind of retreat that Mama Bear gets!!

While Goldilocks was vacationing at her cousin's mansion, Mama took off and headed up the mountains with Teacher Friend and Jilly Bean. (TF and JB for short.)

TF had a fancy RV and drove it up the mountain to Hardware Ranch where the class was to be held. Mama followed behind in her van and was amazed as TF manuvered her truck and trailor up a tiny road, turned it 90 degrees, and drove through the gate! It was like threading a needle!(WOW! Thought Mama Bear!) The director was right out there with a panicked look on her face, but no worries, TF got it through that tight spot just FINE! (Thank you very much!) Mama bear was wondering why they did not make those gates bigger for trailors, but then later found out that just a few feet down the highway was a road that was actually built for trucks and trailors and that TF had driven up the walking path!

Well, we live and learn. AND Mama learned to be impressed with the driving skills of TF! TF earned them a title that very first day. From that moment on they were known as the crazy RV ladies.

Now, one would think that it would not be a lot of fun to have classes that lasted from 9:00am until 9:00pm, but with three crazy RV ladies, EVERYTHING IS FUN! The classes were great, but it was after class that the games began. JB has a way of bringing out the crazy side of Mama, and the giggly side of TF. So while JB and Mama bantered, TF laughed her guts out and this is how it went all night long! TF says that JB and Mama kept HER awake, but JB and Mama both agree that if she would have just stopped her insescent laughing, then they would not have had an audience, and may have gone right off to sleep!

One of the highlights of the trip was when the three crazy RV ladies took a long walk down the road. After about a mile and a half, they discovered a beautiful little water fall and were all taken back by the beauty of the world we live in..... Yes, there was a serious moment on this trip! They took pictures, but none of them seemed to do it justice.

Another exciting adventure was the canoe trip in the wetlands! Mama and TF were excited about his, but poor JB was frightened out of her mind! Of course TF and Mama had to tease her mercilessly about this. But, in spite of everything, JB strapped on her life jacket and put her life in the hands of TF and Mama and went on that canoe ride! What a brave little soldier! (White knuckles and all!)
All in all, the trip was a real blast, and they all came away with TONS of stuff to help them teach science to their students. All three crazy RV ladies tried to stay longer, but home was beckoning too loudly, and the Hardware Ranch people needed a break! (They could not imagine why!) So, they had to return back to earth. They all dream of the day that they might be able to escape to their mountain oasis once again!

ISSI is FUN!!

Goldilocks was very nervous for her first day of ISSI (Intermountain Suzuki String Institute) until she met up with her little Violin Buddy from home. Seeing a familiar face always calms the nerves a bit.

Mama and Goldie did not know what a treat they were in for when they signed up for a week of intense violin training. They attended some great classes with wonderful teachers who sparked a new enthusiasm for music. Some of the highlights of their week were seeing Jenny Oaks Baker in concert, hearing the Fry String Quartet, and witnessing some great student performances.

Goldie's repetoire teacher was from Japan and she loved dolphins. She encouraged all the students to think of their bow as a dolphin. Each time they played she would tell them to have their "dolphins" swim in the ocean to make the most beautiful sound that it could. Goldie just had to get a stuffed dolphin to help her remember this class! This teacher also made a little dolphin counter for all 80 of the kids she taught at this institute. What a treat!

The next class she attended every day was a technique class taught by a cool guy from Sweden! He had a neat accent and taught Goldie and the other kids many fun things to do with their violins. They played them upside down and backwards. They also played while sitting and clapping their feet together! He even taught them some great exercises for their bodies and brains.

They even marched around the room and in the hallways. What a Kick! The very best part of this class was the Sweedish song he taught them called, "Spatanoose" (a spitting song).

Goldie's Master class teacher was a lady from Illinois. She spent 12 minutes one on one time with her each day to help her with something unique to just Goldie. She would assign her homework every day and then Mama and Goldie would have to find some time to practice. One day they parcticed out on the lawn with Goldie's little violin buddy.

Goldie's favorite teachers were even there! Keenanonie and the Viola Diva herself posed for this picture. These are the teachers that have taught Goldie from the beginning. The Viola Diva gave her a great start and then had to move away for graduate school (Mama says "Graduate school" is a swear word!). Keenanone has continued on with her until this time, but will soon join the Viola Diva in that terrible place far far away! Mama and Goldie hope that they will be able to continue on without them! If there is a will, there is always a way! We appreciate all the hard work of these two ladies and will miss them very much!