December 31st, 2009

Since it is New Year’s Eve, I thought I would write a little retrospective post. I’m going to admit that as a bear, I don’t really spend a lot of time pondering about what I could have done different. It’s impossible to go back in time and redo anything, so why worry about it!

I wish that we had some New Years traditions. Sullivan had a special kind of pastry called ‘oliebol.’ They look pretty good. Here we could go partying, but Mom’s not a big partying person. If we can stay awake long enough, we are going to watch the fireworks that are going to happen over our local park. But this is the first year that is going to happen, so that’s only a possible tradition. Our friend Hammie has made a nice New Year sign—which I like! :-) (Those flowers are as artistic as my mom gets! She’s much more into books and playing on the computer!)

I did make a lot of new friends through my blog, and found the Bear Club and the Bear Place. I’ve met many new friends via those websites. I am turning out to be quite the cyber bear!

December 30th, 2009

I am really glad that Mom found Caleb. I was really worried that something had happened to him. Compared to the other plushies that I know, he’s so small. Robinson has Stegner, but he keeps him tied to him with a bright red ribbon. I asked Mom if I should have a bright red ribbon of my own to tie Caleb to me. She said that Caleb is quite a bit bigger then Stegner and therefore quite a bit heavier.

In celebration of Caleb’s return to me, Mom took some new pictures of us together. Mom is still trying to figure out the new camera. She says that some of the photos she has been taking aren’t very good, but I don’t think it matters much.

I’ve been reading the blogs of different plushies that have been on grand travels over this holiday season. Mabel Bearingsley went to San Diego and met some of her relatives.  (My relatives come from China. Besides Foster, I don’t think I will meet as many of them as Mabel did!) Teddy and Nibs are spending a wonderful time in San Francisco! It led me to think about where I would want to travel. Mom wants to go to England to visit some of the places that her favorite authors lived. I don’t know where I would want to go. I’d go wherever Mom wants to go, of course.

I found another place for plushies to hang out on the internet. I found it through Bernard and Sleepy Hippo’s blog. It is much like the Bear Club. It is called the BearPlace. It’s sort of like a Facebook or other social networking site but it is made especially for plushies. I don’t know how it is going to go—I made my profile, posted a few pictures, and introduced myself on the forum. I added some kind of application that posts my blog posts from here. I would upload more pictures, but Mom says that adding them one by one is too time consuming right now. So I added more pictures to my Picasa album instead. Mom found a program through her Firefox browser that uploads pictures to various photo sharing websites. It’s called FireUploader and she showed me how to use it. It’s very easy and I can do it without much typing—since it mostly uses the mouse! I’m afraid I might go through some of our really old photos and upload them since it’s so much easier now! It goes really fast, even with our old dial-up connection!

December 28th, 2009

Mom found Caleb! Caleb is my teddy bear, and for the past week or so, he went missing! He is almost always near me or one of my friends, so we were very worried. Did the dog get him? Did someone take him? He’s Mom’s travel bear—did he get left behind? Even when I’m doing things with Mom—like helping her with homework, one of my friends keeps track of him—not to mention that he’s certainly able to keep track of himself.

It turns out that he decided to go and explore the other side of the bed. He couldn’t get back up! He admits that it was not the best decision he ever made, but is very glad that Mom found him and returned him to the group. Mom says that maybe he needs to be put on a leash like a little child in large crowds so he doesn’t get lost again! I think she was teasing. He didn’t find it too funny. If he goes exploring again, I may have to agree with her!

December 27th, 2009

It has been a few days since I’ve had time to post. Mom has been very busy with work and Christmas. Her little sister has come home for the holidays, so it has been pretty busy that way too. She did go up north today to be by her extended family, but I couldn’t go with. She had to go to work afterwards and did not want to make me stay in her backpack for that entire time.  I told her that I wouldn’t mind, but she decided that I should stay home anyways. Instead, she said that if it is not snowing on Monday, she will take me outside and we can take some pictures with the snow.

I didn’t get as cool presents for Christmas as some of my blogging friends did, but I am still happy. Besides the costumes I got from Build-a-Bear, I also got lots of candy and chocolate. I like my mom’s new camera. This is a photo of the Christmas tree that is in the parlor. My mom’s mom really likes Christmas trees. We have two big ones and two small ones in the house now. They sparkle with all the pretty lights, so that makes me very happy. Sometimes we sit in the dark and look at the pretty lights on the Christmas trees before we go to sleep. Of all the things that could last all year long, Christmas lights would be the best. Maybe Christmas cookies would be the second best thing to last all year long! Yum!

December 23rd, 2009

We’re going to have an even whiter Christmas then anyone wants this year. I live in Wisconsin, which is the little mitten shaped state near the middle of the country. The Weather Channel website says that we’re going to get anywhere from one to  six inches of snow. My Mom’s sister is already on her way home from Minnesota, so the weather shouldn’t make much of a difference. However, any travel plans for the next couple of days might be messed up. It turns out that my mom’s family is going to gather for Christmas on Saturday—and she unfortunately has to work.  Since she wasn’t exactly looking forward to going, she doesn’t mind—however it will stop my car ride up north! I’ve been traveling with her when she goes up there. I enjoy it—so I’m kind of disappointed. However, I’m sure she’ll go up there again soon!

December 18th, 2009

This is our new friend, Sarina! Mom found her at Goodwill yesterday. She is an unicorn from Build-a-Bear. She joins our four-legged horse family of Zelda, Strawberry, Pirouette, Harrison, and Washington. They came downstairs to greet her and we had a lot of fun.

We watched some television. Since it was our little party, Mom let us chose what we watched. It was hard to agree when there were so many of us. We all like Mom’s Food Network shows, but we thought that since we finally got to chose that we should chose something different. Do you argue with your friends? Our argument never got too angry. We ended up deciding to watch the Discovery Channel. It is hard to decide what to watch when there are both boys and girls—and no cartoons to watch! Sometimes, it’s better when Mom makes the decision for us! 

These pictures are taken with Mom’s new camera. It is a Christmas present from her parents. She says that you can only see the difference between her old camera, which she bought nearly four years ago, and the new one on pictures that are closer up. I like the noises it makes—and the fact that it makes Mom very happy to have a new camera. It also encourages her to take more pictures, and that might mean more adventures!

December 16th, 2009

My mom bought my friends and I a present yesterday. It is a brand new book! It is called Teddy Helps! and it is by a lady named Alison Reynolds and illustrated by Lee Krutop. Robinson, Stegner, Caleb and I read it last night. It is about a little bear named Teddy who does not want to help his friends make a tree house. I won’t tell you the rest of it so you will read it for yourselves. 

Mom lets us read all sorts of books. Do you have a favorite book? I’ve got lots of favorite books! I find it hard to chose just one. My favorites include the Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Juster, Zen Shorts by Jon Muth, and Toot and Puddle: Wish You Were Here by Holly Hobbie. 

Mom has a lot of books from when she was a little girl that she lets us read. We’ve got a pretty extensive library around here—well, at least for bears it seems extensive. I want to go to the library someday. It is probably my dream trip. Granted, Mom would have to go to the library as well—and she hasn’t gone to a library that has children’s books in it for a long time. (Her school library does not.) Mom says that she does not go to the library because she can never remember to return the books she rented. In fact, she has some books that she must return from the school’s library. I think that is going to be Monday’s must do!

Mom is done with her chemistry class. Her final was tonight, so my job as the chemistry homework bear is done. I must have been a pretty good homework bear, because she is getting a good grade and finished all of her homework.  I am glad for her—while she seemed to understand the homework, it caused her much grief. Now it is done and she can spend more time with us! I know I am looking forward to more time with Mom now that she is almost done with school.  We will get to watch a little more TV. (We can’t operate the remote when she’s gone—too big fingers for too little buttons.) And she’ll buy us more books to read. It will be great fun!

 

December 12th, 2009

I wrote in my notebook journal today. I keep on forgetting that I am trying to write in a paper journal. Obviously, I remember to write here on my blog well enough! Mom says that maybe we have to put the journal out where we see it so we remember better.  I think it is fun to write in the real journal, even if no one really reads it like this blog. I guess that’s the point to writing in  your own private journal.

Mom found Foster some pajamas, so now he’s all decked out like Milton, Robinson and I. We’re all snuggled up and protected against the chilly Wisconsin winter air. Foster was kind of worried about losing his comfortable overalls and shirt that he has been wearing for a while. Mom reassured him that he could wear them whenever he wanted to. It’s just much more comfy to lounge around in pajamas! I am a fan of fancy clothes on occasion, but I admit I am much more happy wearing my pajamas!

We are still enjoying the snow here. Technically, it’s going to get to above freezing later in the weekend, so the snow may not last. Granted, the weather forecasters are sometimes wrong, so who knows what is going to happen. I like the snow! It’s very Christmas-y and makes the cold seem more tolerable! Much more festive! Mom tells me that people don’t like the snow because of what it does to the roads when they drive—so I’m happy that I don’t drive so I don’t have to worry about those things!

Milton, Robinson, and I spend a lot of time sitting on the couch waiting for Mom to come home from work. We talk about different things—and yesterday we spent quite a bit of time talking about something that I mentioned in a previous post—cookies! My favorite cookies—mostly because they’re Mom’s favorite cookies—are double chocolate cookies. Robinson says that he likes molasses cookies, but he admits that it has a lot to do with the fact that he’s a horse—but a horse plushie and rarely gets molasses like most horses do. Milton likes plain chocolate chip cookies. Milton says that he is a simple bear and likes simple things. Do you like a certain kind of cookie?

December 10th, 2009

It has finally snowed in Wisconsin. Well, it snowed yesterday mostly. Mom actually had a day off school. She already had the day off, but they did close the place that she works too!

This is a picture from last year, but it pretty much looked the same outside on Wednesday. Mom says that she is going to try to take more pictures tomorrow when she gets out of work. Wednesday was much too cold to go outside! Maybe I can convince her to let me go outside with her. I’ve got plenty of cold weather gear! I’ll even tolerate being wrapped up in a blanket if it means that I get to go outside for a while.  I love going outside and seeing new things!

We have two new friends here. Their names are Azalea and Heloise. Mom found them at Goodwill a few days ago. Azalea is an orange bear—Mom thinks that she is an autumn bear--- and Heloise is a ‘hip’ hippo. My Picasa folder about my friends says that we are up to 98 friends and family here in Greenville. I feel very lucky to be surrounded by such great friends—and to have my Mom find new ones all the time!

December 7th, 2009

Mom bought cookies yesterday, and today she shared them with us! Milton, Robinson, Caleb, Stegner, and I got to enjoy the cookies. They’re not as good as homemade Christmas cookies, but we’re pretty happy with them! We’ve decided that the thing that makes Christmas cookies better is the frosting and the sprinkles.  Almost anything cake or cookie related is made better with either sprinkles or frosting. We spent some time discussing what frosting we liked the most—and came up with chocolate. Milton likes ‘funfetti’ frosting a lot, while Robinson likes vanilla. But we all can agree on chocolate frosting.

Mom doesn’t think that I introduced Stegner. Stegner is Robinson’s bear. He came from the Mayville Company. He’s supposed to be a dollhouse bear. We’ve collectively decided that it must be a big dollhouse! Stegner is kind of shy, but so is Robinson. He spends a lot of his time quietly watching what happens around us. Caleb enjoys having a bear his size around all the time. They’re beginning to be friends much like Robinson and I are.

December 5th, 2009

When I checked my blogger dashboard today, I noticed that this will be my 100th post! It has taken me nearly four years and plenty of hiatuses to get here! I think it’s a cause for celebration! My first blog entry was on October 25, 2005.  It’s amazing how many things have changed since then. At that point, my plushie family was Chloe, Charlotte, and Robinson. Now I’ve got plenty more friends and Foster came home to be my brother! This is one of the first pictures that Mom took of me. It’s dated October 23rd, 2005. When I came to live with Mom, she didn’t have a camera. This picture was taken with her first digital camera—it was a clearance model she bought at her work. Her current one takes much better pictures! Maybe I can convince her to take a redo of this photo now, four years later!

At that point, I didn’t have any people reading my blog. It was just for me and my mom. Now all you guys read it. I also have made many more friends online. It is a much bigger world then I ever thought was possible! I would have never thought that so many plushies have blogs, Twitter pages, and Facebook pages! It’s amazing what else could be out there waiting for me to find it!

 

December 2nd, 2009

We had a package come to our house today. It was from Build-a-Bear! It contained many different things! The most important is our new friend, Grant. He is a lil chocolate cub—version 2, I guess. Stevenson, another of my friends here, is a lil’ chocolate cub as well and he doesn’t look anything like Grant. Grant is a smaller bear—compared to the 18 inch bears at least. He doesn’t fit the firefighter outfit that Mom found for him. She is going to get something smaller for him later so he doesn’t look like he is drowning in his clothes! He says that he does not mind being a firefighter bear, as long as there are not any fires to fight! As a whole, I don’t think many plushies actually to be anywhere near a fire.

The next things that were inside the box are for all of us, although Mom took my picture to model them. Mom ended up getting the Jedi Knight outfit and a English riding habit. I think they are both pretty cool. What amazed me is that both of them came with tights! I don’t think boys wear tights! Mom says that the riding pants are jodhpurs, not tights, but still!  Do you think that Obi-wan wore tights?! The pants that came with the Star Wars outfit were especially uncomfortable!

Mom told me that I shouldn’t actually ride any of our four footed horse friends in the English riding habit—although Washington has a saddle. At least right now—I shouldn’t go by myself. She says that I could possibly fall off and hurt myself! Sometimes I’m pretty clumsy, so I understand why she wants me to be safe. She said that perhaps—if Washington or one of the other horses doesn’t mind, we could work on a walk around the house or something like that. They’re my friends first, so I don’t want them to have to carry me around!

How is your Christmas preparations going? Our Grandma has been putting up Christmas trees. We’ve got three of them in our house, including one that is nearly bear sized. I do love the Christmas lights. We have been listening to Josh Groban’s Christmas album. It seems not to annoy Mom too much—but makes Robinson and the other plushies who like Christmas music happy. Mom has bought some Christmas presents for her family and friends, but hasn’t wrapped them yet. Some of my internet friends, Teddy and Nibs, have been shopping for Christmas presents. Christmas is getting closer and closer!