Thankful whatever day it is~

I wasn't quite up to it yesterday and don't know if I will be today BUT I'm so very thankful for my cousin Eloise.

Eloise is having some tummy trouble and is going to have to go in for a little slice and dice and I'm worried about her and so I called her yesterday and we had a good talk and I feel better now and so does she :)

There was never a time in my life that Eloise has not been a part of it...( ok 3 months ;) )

This picture is with our Mom's with us and big sister Lea. I know how much fun it is to have a baby the same time as your sister in law and share the ups and downs.. I read a lot in to these pictures, I think they were having a fun day.

Eloise was my Grandma Kepharts shining star:) But Grandma had to help raise her when her own mother was ill. Eloise was always all fixed up with ruffles and frills and bows in her hair and she was just plain adorable.. as she still is.

When I think back to my childhood Eloise is always in the picture.. Either her or my other cousin Jerry, besides my immediate family of course. Sometimes we were dressed alike but mostly we just loved being together. I don't think big sister Lea quite got it and we probably annoyed her, but that's ok, that's what little sisters do best!

I love this picture because there sits my faithful dog Peggy with her head close to my knee and I have dirty shoes but freshly scrubbed faces have we all! and our hair is done just right. I wish I could remember what we did immediately after that.. I'm SURE it was something to irritate big sister cuz she's sitting just as far away from us as possible!

When we got in to our teenage years, Eloise and I shared everything. Every single thing I think and we never tattled on each other. We will probably go to our graves with each other's secrets!

I was already taking pictures!!!!!!! Love our "Peddle Pushers"

Eloise always listens to me :)

After I got married I had to move away and I didn't get to come 'home' and visit often. We were busy raising our children and just getting by. Trips were out of the question and even the occasional phone calls were terribly expensive and not on our budgets..... soooooooo we just didn't have a lot of contact for a lot of years. When I went there to visit I saw her, and she came down here with my sister one time and we had so much fun. We went to Lynchburg and didn't even need Jack Daniels to laugh ourselves silly.

Now we see each other more often. When I was going out west fairly regularly I always saw her and she wings in to see me some time. Even if we've been a part she's an integral part of my life and I love her very much.

About 5 or 6 years ago, she and I made plans to travel together. My husband is not fond of going out of the country, and Eloise needed a traveling partner so we made plans.. Our plans changed on a regular basis but we knew we were going to England! Most of the planning time, I was working and my brain was mush from a house full of preschoolers so Eloise did our research.

3 years ago we made our big move! We got our passports, our wardrobes our shoes, our every detail and away we flew to the UK!

Do we look like we know what were doing????

Our first night in London on the River Thames.... Doesn't she just look like a local :)??

She said I took a picture of every sheep in the UK and I say she brought home all the sand!

I did NOT push her in to the "Bath" at "Bath" :) When Caroline was a little girl, I use to tell her stories about the country girl and the city girl and one of the stories is, when Eloise FELL into the pig pen and I got punished. It was terribly unfair! I DID NOT PUSH HER!

Ice Cream and sacks of "stuff" were the norm~

We laughed more then was legal I think!

The video is at Windsor Castle and I still crack up!

I'm sure we were very close to being put away in this position!
While we were being entertained by our sweet hosts in Wales. See sometimes we can acted proper :)

Oh Mercy, she's lost again! ITS CHESHIRE ELOISE IT"S RIGHT ABOVE YOU ON THE SIGN :)

Anyway, from one end of England to the next and up to Wales and back we had a blast. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world and had the best traveling partner ever!

Eloise came to visit me a couple of months ago. She wasn't feeling great but I am not able to get around a lot so we had a good visit. I miss her all the time.

Now she lives in a little house behind our Uncle George. He's almost 93 years old and they sort of look out after each other. It's good for both of them. I want her to be well and healthy and to be able to travel all over the world.!

On Thankful Tuesday or any day, I'm thankful for Eloise! XOX

Fireman Lumberjack!

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOO PEEPS! It's me your favorite Emmett Stone Lane protector!

Brother in law Lindsey? Pay no attention to the dirt on my nose.. I did not dig up Jesus and the 7 dwarfs.. I did not I did not :-/

This was one of the all time most exciting days that me and Little Bitty have EVER experienced!

Dear ole Dad's Friend "Fireman Lumberjack" came! and boy oh boy did Lumber mean business! I must admit some of it was just ever so slightly scary, but Mom has me so you know that no one was injured in the making of this blog :)

As soon as Little Bitty got home from school here came "Lumber" and he drives a white truck just like Dad's, so me and little Bitty and Annoying, and Lil Bro were all slightly confused!

Now the first thing that Lumber did was whip out his giant VERY noisy chain saw and then Dad whipped his not so giant but very noisy chain saw and they started attacking one very dead tree.

Me, Mom and Little Bitty had our chair set up to watch and take pictures but Lumber told us to move cuz it might come that way(errrrrr it did too). So we moved way far away and there was a whole lot of sawing and buzzing and hollering and all of a sudden.....TIIIIIIIIIMMMMMMMMMBBBBBBBBBEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.. I almost jumped out of my beautiful brown coat and Little bitty was SO excited he was jumping up and down and mom didn't get a movie of the tree! it happened too fast.

Little Bitty was AMAZED!

This is Fireman Lumberjack, after the T I M B E R.......... part :)


You will notice that I am in charge of the gas can and scanning the horizon for any danger!

No matter how much excitement is going on.. THIS is what Lil Bro Spike was doing.. His most favorite thing.. Rolling in the driveway! ya got an itch LIL BRO!

I am directing Little Bitty to the action. We don't want him to get hurt! Mom was just sure two old fireman were going to be bleeding before the day ended! Lumber got knocked in the head and Dad got a pulled muscle but besides that they survived!


I felt a little bad for Annoying Little Sister...She was scared and came and climbed in Mom's lap then sat on the picnic table with her.

Isn't that just about the most ANNOYING FACE!!!!!!!!! well, kinda pitiful when I think about it.

Whewww-~~~~~~~~~~~ been a long day.. Dad's exhausted, Mom is wasted, Bitty's little legs were walked of and sister and lil bro are all sound asleep!

An Absolutely picture perfect beautiful day. Even Mr. Bumble Bee thought so:)

Grandma and the Bear

Still going thru my computer and cd's to organize.. I ran in to this.. I know this story well, of course because I wrote it :) but can't remember the reason. Obviously for a niece or nephew.

Grandma Foreman loved to pick blackberries and bake with them. Grandma was about 4 foot 10 inches tall and probably didn’t weigh 90 pounds but she was very feisty and energetic! On one particular summer afternoon Grandma got her little pail and took her two trusted companions with her. One was named Flicka and one was named Bonnie. They were two little dogs that did not know they were little.

Grandma hiked to the very back of the 80 acres where the enormous blackberry patch was located. She was just picking away in her own little world with the dogs close at her heals, when all of a sudden she heard a grunting sound. Then she heard the rustling of the berry patch from the other side. Not knowing what it was and being the curious little woman she was, she parted the berry patch with her hands and arms and looked directly into the face of a Black Bear!!!!!

Grandma threw up her hands dropping her little pail of blackberries, bent over and scooped up the two little dogs under each armpit and high tailed it home. I would say that on that day my Grandmother easily broke the 2-minute mile!

When she arrived home she was huffing and puffing and white as a sheet and could not stop telling us what had happened. She sat down with a cup of tea to collect herself and then she got angry!! I mean really angry! Before any of us could stop her Grandma was hiking back across the 80 acres through the deep woods until she came upon the Blackberry Bush.

The Blackberry Bush was completely torn apart but what made grandma the maddest was that the bear had even eaten the berries from her pail and hand thrown it down!

Now none of us ever saw another bear in those woods, but Grandma’s story has lived with me for over 50 years! And I have no doubt that it happened exactly as she said it did.

Aunt Sharon

PICTURE DAY~~~~~~

HELLOOOOOOOOOO EVERBODEEEEEEEEE It's Me.. Man oh Man Oh Man has it rained all week, I've barely been able to leave my igloo, let alone perform my Emmett Stone Lane duties!

This morning Mom and Dad were up early.. Now THAT's amazing cuz they never get up early on Sat, UNLESS they are going somewhere or someone is coming here. Well just my luck, no one is coming and you would NOT believe who got to climb in the truck and go with them!!!!!

Yes.. you may all say it with me " I COULD JUST SPIT!"

Now I wasn't there OF COURSE..because me and LIL Bro always get left, but I hear that this was FAIR ENTRY DAY!!!!!! So Mom and Good Ole Dad took their photo's and off they went in the pouring down rain. Here is Dad entering his :)

and you just would NOT believe which picture they oooooooood and awwwwwwwwwed over!

I think Mom was about to cry! and just think about ME.. Here is my most favorite favorite :) If I do say so myself.. and I can say so cuz it's my blog!

And Mom has this one fixed as an Oil Painting with her photo program so I am super super cool looking:) if that little brat wins over me, I may just have to step on her!

So in the meantime, here we sit on our island.......waiting for the sun to shine!

Mom's poor pathetic Palm tree!

Grandma's "Stories"

One of my earliest memories is of Grandma and her "Stories". Soaps we call them today. Grandma listen to four 15 minute stories. The order I'm not sure but they were:

Edge of Night

Search for Tomorrow

Guiding Light

As the World Turns

Now when I say listen I mean listen! It was radio. We didn't even own a tv when I started listening with Grandma. Then they went to TV shows. They lasted for 15 minutes and if I recall, were all done in one hour for our watching pleasure.

I faithfully continued to watch all the time my children were growing up until I had to work and then only caught them now and then. BUT if you only catch them now and then you get the point:)

Search for Tomorrow was one of the first to bite the dust in 1982. That was probably my favorite, but I guess it got old fashioned for the age group they were aimed at.

Then "The Edge of Night" was cancelled in 1984. That one was kind of exciting cuz it always had some sort of court drama or murder or dark side going on :) But it too I think was replaced by more "relevant" drama's.

I still watched Guiding Light and As the World Turns faithfully. When I had my home day care I was able to keep up pretty good in the afternoon. Then Guiding Light got weird! They started having these story lines that were beyond unbelievable, they were stupid and silly. When Reva got cloned, I turned in my Guiding Light papers:(

Well today I watched the final episode of Guiding Light and there was an aging Reva, Josh, Billy etc. They even brought back Mindy, who was such a BAD girl! It was sort of bitter sweet. I really hate to see these ending, even if I didn't watch it any more. It was sad to remember me and Grandma listening to that so long ago and now it's gone.

BUT I still have As The World Turns, and that was Grandma's favorite! It use to be the most popular soap on the air, but it has slipped in the past decade also. They do a lot of scenes in basically two places and lots of out door stuff now. I still love to watch it and hope it continues on for the rest of my life. Some of the things that are on that show now, make me fear that they are really trying to reach the young young crowd and really I suspect it's the over 50 crowd that mostly watch. Anyway, I feel like I'm watching for Grandma, and I'll catch her up some day!

Good Luck "Baurs & Spauldings" I'll miss you!

Conversations with Super Fireman!

Hi Papa.. The Firetruck is coming to my school today so I have on my Super fireman clothes!


(continual jibber jabber all the way to school about the firetruck!)

After School




Bye Ms Laura, I'm going to the Pizza Hut! hmmmmm papa says, I don't think Grandma is dressed, she might say no. WELL I SAY YES!

on the way to Papa's house= Oh PAPA, I got to touch the AIR TANK! you did????? Yes, I was very brave~ It was cold.. and Ms Marcy tried on the Fire Suit! It was really really big!. Did you get to ride in the truck? Oh yes I drove it!


arriving at Papa's house= I'll just sit in the car and wait on Grandmommy! uhhh what if she doesn't want to go? I SAID YES!.........oooooooooookay~~~ I think you better come in, Grandmommy has to dry her hair. ~~long suffering sigh~~~ RUNNING DOWN THE HALL..........Grandmommy, we are ready to go to Pizza Hut!

back in the truck... Liam did you have fun with the firetruck visiting? Yes, I'm the Super Fireman and I drove the truck.. Just like this..(demonstration)




Do you know where the Pizza Hut is? Yes! you go this way and that way and down the road.. and it's not there, that's a burger place and not there it's a chicken place!

Finding a seat in the Pizza hut.. You need to move Grandmommy, I'm sitting by you! OOOOOOOkay~~ I don't like this pizza it's cold.. Mine's cold too, I'll get more.. I'll help :)




(Jumping up and down on the seat in the booth) Liam you need to stop, your going to get hurt!. ( he hit his hand on the way down) HUGE SOBS.. YOU MADE ME CRY!!!!!!!



I NEED MORE LEMONADE! ok, we will ask the nice lady... Thank you nice lady:)

When we leave I want a BONZ! What is that??????? A BONZ!!!! a dog BONZZZZ.. oh in the machine.. Papa pulls out the money and he has a handful of "bonz".. Grandmommy got a blue one Papa got a yellow one!








(on the way to Walmart) Be thinking of what you'd like for Papa to get you.. hmmmmmm ok, I want a flower.. A FLOWER?????? no I want a Skateboard.....hmmmmm nah I don't think so.


OH LOOK THERE IS DIEGO!!!!!!!!!! Yes! that's a good present! (he puts the flower back that he was carrying)




(Grandmommy is phoning his DaDa cuz her and Papa have stuff to do) LET ME TALK LET ME TALK!!!!!! ok.................... Daniel, he's coming home.. be prepared he's wired:)


Love this boy!!

Closing the pool~ Summer is ending :(

Helloooooooooo People.. It's me PENNY from "The Lane" :) I know you miss me ~Oh boy look who arrived!!!!!!!!! LITTLE BITTY!!!!

He came with his Mama, who is brother Daniel's "Kat".. Kat is very special, she comes when Mom and Dad calls for help... and of course she bring Little Bitty. And that makes ALL of us happy:)

Kat love "Annoying".. why???? WHY??? sigh........

They came for a reason.. It's time to close the pool! Bitty is helping his Papa get the "new" cover out of the box. He was VERY excited!

He's so excited he could just almost explode! I said HEY BITTY IT"S A GIANT PILLOW!

He's just so darn cute! never mind he's doing something he shouldn't!

Kat, Dad, Bitty and Annoying are deciding what to do next!

Kat is tying one side of the giant pillow!

Dad is typing the other side of the pillow!

Oh yes and here comes Bitty to ORGANIZE!

Come on now people... just get in line and get this in order.. I DO know how to do it, can't you just step back?????

OH OH Bitty....... He's looking for HORNETS!!!!!!!

No need to worry Bitty, I won't let them past this line!




This is the knot that Bitty tied~ Isn't he talented!

This is the face of Bitty when he tells Mom NO PICTURES!

Mom agreed to let him take her picture so she could take his! she's not sure she got the good end of this!

OOOOOOOOOO Now the exciting part.. THE NEW COVER!

Well Never mind......... it didn't fit.. back to the old cover.

This would probably be the first nail :)

He's trying to pick out JUST the right nail~

OK Papa, you can have the hammer back!

It was a good day~ I got to have Little Bitty and Kat all afternoon.. The pool is covered..Summer is almost ended..........mom's sad about that.