Babies!

Jerry and Ben have been spotting lots of little baby animals all over the city this weekend. Can you see the baby animals in each photo?

While walking along the lakes, Jerry spied some baby Canadian geese with their mommy this morning. Jerry wonders if Canadian geese honk with a Canadian accent? Maybe our new pal Canadian Bear can tell us...

Ben saw a mommy duck and her little ducklings. "Thoz little duks sure are gud swimmers" said Ben.

Yesterday, we saw a mommy turkey and her five babies looking for food in the neighbor's yard! Yes, there is a small group of wild turkeys living in the city! They walk through the yards and say "gobble, gobble" to all the neighbors. Ben wanted to go play with the baby turkeys, but Papa said it was better to stay back, because the mommy would not like little bears to get to close to her children.

Finally, we saw some cute piglets at the farmer's market yesterday and had to take a photo for our pal Sullivan; we think he would like them. The pigs are made out of recycled metal, and the noses are bottlecaps! Aren't they clever? Were you able to spot all the babies in the photos?

Jerry and Ben Go to School

Jerry and Ben are in the beary big city of Minneapolis today, and are visiting the University of Minnesota. "This iz a beary big skool!" said Jerry. "I want go skool here won day and learn French" added Ben.

There were lots of beautiful buildings on campus. "And pretty flowers" said Jerry; Jerry loves to do gardening during the summer, because nice gardens are good for bees, and bees make honey!

The campus had nice green spaces too...

Nice comfy grass where two little bears can sit down and relax.

Ben noticed "Theez bildings have beary big kolums!"

 

"BEARY, BEARY big kolums!" giggled Jerry.

There weren't many students around, since most had gone home for the summer, but it was fun walking around the campus. "Jerry and me come to skool here one day" said Ben. Jerry responded "Yeah, me studee gardening" and Ben added "oui, an French for me." Do you go to school?

A Little Help in the Kitchen

"Papa have go dinner wuth freends" said Ben, "me help make kake in kichen, cuz me like help bake." While it's true that we have to make a cake to take to a picnic later today, it's not true that we're making the cake entirely from scratch; we're getting a little help making our pistachio cake from Betty Crocker and Jello, but the recipe is easy, and, Papa says "especially easy when you have two little bears trying their best to help out in the kitchen."

"Furst we pur the dry stuff in the bowl and mix it all arund good" explains Ben.

Another kitchen helper has arrived, he's making sure that Ben and Papa are doing every thing correctly.

Jerry volunteered to crack the eggs and add the yolks and whites to the bowl. Ben inspected the work and concluded "Jerry deed a beary gud job!" Next Papa mixes the batter and carefully pours it into the baking ban.

Jerry says he'd better inspect Papa's work, so he looks the pan over slowly and makes sure the batter is even and smooth. "It look gud" he says. "We eat now?" "Well, not yet Jerry" says Papa, "the cake has to bake for 40 minutes, and then we have to add some yummy frosting." "Frusteen!!" explains Jerry, "Ben and me luv frusteen!"

After the cake is done baking and has cooled for at least 30 minutes, Papa mixes up the frosting and lets both Jerry and Ben try spreading the pistachio frosting on the cake. "Ben do gud job" laughs Jerry, "he kan frust, and me lick the frusteen bowl and spoon!"

"Here is the reeseepee if yu want try our kake" Ben says, but Papa corrects him, and says that little bears shouldn't talk with their mouths full of cake!

Easy Pistachio Cake

Ingredients:

1 pkg. plain white cake mix

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup 7-up

2 oz. chopped walnuts or pecans

1 package pistachio instant pudding mix, 4-serving size

Frosting:

1 pkg. instant pistachio pudding, 4-serving size

1 cup milk

9 oz Cool Whip

Preparation:

Beat cake mix with eggs, 7-up, nuts, and 1 package pudding together. Bake in bundt pan or 9 x 13 inch pan at 350 degrees (farenheit) for 40 to 45 minutes, don't over bake. Cool cake and remove from pan. Mix second package of instant pistachio pudding mix with milk. Beat well for several minutes until the mixture is thick.  Fold in Cool Whip. Frost cake and share with your blog pals!

Hello Little Guy!

Last summer, Ben saved some marigold seeds from his garden and stored them away for the winter. A few weeks ago, when the weather outside started to get warmer, he planted the seeds in a little pot. He carefully watered them, and every day, he turned the pot so that the growing green shoots pointed to the sun. Today, a tiny orange marigold flower blossomed, the first of many this year. Do you like to garden?

Easter Treats and Sunny Easter Walk

Jerry woke up early today and quickly put on his bunny costume, because today is Easter! He and Ben ran into the living room and discovered that the Easter bunny had visited and left them some yummy treats including some chocolates, jelly beans, and colorful eggs! The Easter bunny always hide the eggs, and Jerry and Ben have to hunt all over the living room for them.

Because it was such a beautiful sunny day, Ben and Jerry then decided to take a long walk (they took their human companions too, because neither Jerry nor Ben can drive the car to the lakes where they always walk, hehe).

Lots of spring flowers where in bloom: yellow, pink, and white flowers. Ben spotted some beautiful red tulips! He wanted to get his photo taken with them because they are red and Dutch, "Just like Hammie!' he giggled.

The walk took two hours, and Ben and Jerry were sure beary tired by the end, but a nice spring stroll in the sunshine is worth it (and, you can eat some more Easter candy when you get home since you walked so far! hehe). Happy Easter!

Mr. Cardinal Says Spring is Here!

Spring has arrived very early here. We sometimes have snow in March and April, but this year we've had nearly 80 degrees temperatures (26.6 cel.) already in late March! We were outside today, and heard lots of birds singing; they are all happy spring has arrived. One of our friends, a bright red cardinal, was sitting high in a tree, right over our heads, happily singing and announcing to the world that spring had arrived. The cardinals stay all year, and we feed them seeds in the winter. We included a close of photo of a male cardinal, in case you don't have any where you live. You might not be able to see the cardinal in our video, since the movie image is small. Jerry tried to hold the camera very steady so the movie wouldn't shake. Ben said he did a good job. Isn't the cardinal's song beary beautiful! Do you have a favorite kind of bird where you live.

March Mail!

We Papa got home from work today, he brought in the mail and there were two things for Jerry and Ben! "Who could have sent us mail?" asked Jerry.

Jerry read the back of the postcard; it said "Greetings from Utrecht" from our pal Sullivan McPig!

The postcard photo is beautiful; we hope someday to travel to Utrecht and see it for ourselves. Thank you Sullivan for the great card!

Ben next looked at the box, and the return address on the package said Hammie Hamster! Papa helped open the box, and Jerry and Ben noticed some beautiful blue and white Dutch stickers! "I can decorate my school folders" said Ben.

There were also some fun Dutch napkins that Jerry said we should save and use for our picnics this summer, and a really neat card from Gea and Hammie!

Underneath the card and stickers, Jerry discovered some Dutch chocolate!  

There were also some delicious looking candies, but Jerry couldn't wait any longer and tore open one of the boxes of chocolate...

 ...and took a big bite from one of the chocolate bars; the bar was shaped like a giant letter P! "Thess shoKolAH iz beary Goo!" Jerry explained with his mouth full, but Ben said he meant that the chocolate was really good!

While Jerry was tasting the chocolate, Ben opened the little round disk and carefully ran it under water, and a fun little towel with a dog on it opened up! The dog looks just like Boo! We'll save the towel and use it to have our picnics on this summer!  Thanks Hammie and Gea for the beary fun surprises!!!

"When will spring get here?"

Today is a cloudy and cold winter day, and Ben asked "When will spring get here?" We still have a little snow on the ground, and in March, we still could get snowstorms.

Jerry likes to garden, so he said that he thinks spring comes sometime in April, and that May is a "beary nize spreeng munth!" When does spring arrive where you live? Do you plant a little garden in spring?

Mail from Beanie!

We received a homemade postcard today from Beanie Mouse! Beanie and Andrea were in Brussels, Belgium! Ben sniffed the card to see if he could smell any Belgian chocolate, but Jerry said it must have rubbed off during the flight from Europe to the U.S. Jerry and Ben might be going to Brussels in 2013, and if they do they'll be sure to blog about it!  Thanks for the postcard Beanie!

Beary Happy Hearts Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to all our pals! Don't forget, if you get too many chocolates, we're happy to help you get rid of them, HAHA!