The Bees Crawl Behind the New Couch

You may have noticed in some of the recent photos I have posted that the Bee family bought a new couch recently. 

 Stinger was worried that it wouldn't be as fun to crawl behind as our old one was.

 

 But then he tried it...

 

and loved it!

 

 Bumble still thought crawling behind it was fun as well.

 

I am glad the new sofa got their approval.  Our hive still has its own crawlspace, but when we move this sofa will probably be in the basement! 

"Daddy Will You Be There For Me" The Esh Family

 

A Bee Gets A Haircut

The following pictures prove that Stinger needed a haircut. 

 

 

If he wouldn't have such a boyish face, I think people would have thought he was a girl.  It hung in his eyes all the time.

The back was getting really long as well.

 

I put off giving him a haircut as long as I possibly could.  I was scared to get scissors anywhere near him.  If you know how active Stinger is you would understand.  I had to come up with a way he would sit still.  I decided to bribe him with Quilting Bee's chocolate chip cookies!

 

 

 It worked. Here is a picture of the back after I cut off about an inch.

Sorry I don't have more pictures of the actual haircut.  Taking pictures was not one of my top priorities.  Stingers safety was!  Here is the new and improved Stinger...

No hair in the eyes!

 

Stinger, this was a really hairy situation but you did extremely well.  You are a cut above the rest!

Queen Bee Like Cheese and Crackers

This week is a great week to use the Townhouse Flatbread Crisps cracker coupons at Weis Markets.  As I let you know in an earlier post you can print them at www.kelloggsfamilyrewards.com.  They are on sale for $1.99 each.  You must buy 3 boxes to get the sale price.  The coupons will double to $1.40 making each box $0.59.   

 

 

Notice I bought roasted garlic crackers.  These should accent my garlic garlic dip pretty well!  I am sure Honey can't wait!

 

How about some cheese to go with the crackers?    

 

Cracker Barrel cheeses are on sale this week for $2.00 for an 8 oz. block. Again you must buy three to get the sale price. There is a coupon at www.coupons.com for $1.00 off of 2. Your final price for each one will be $1.67.

You have reached the part in my post where I usually insert a creative pun.  However, I thought in this post I would leave that part out.  I think it would just be too cheesy!

Happy Birthday, Bumble!

Today is Bumble's 4th birthday!  It hardly seems possible that she could be turning four already!  It seems like yesterday I was holding baby Bumble in my arms.  She was a cutie and still is!

 

 

I thought it would be fun to go back and find pictures from all her birthdays.  Here is Bumble at her 1st birthday...

 

 

her 2nd...

 

and her 3rd.

 

Here is Bumble with her cake for her fourth birthday.  We celebrated during our Christmas get together the other night.   

 

My how you have grown!  I enjoy watching you learn new things and love your imagination!  You make our hive interesting! Honey and I love you Bumble.  Even though you are four you will always be our little baby girl! Happy Birthday!  

The Bees Play in the Snow

It snowed the day before Christmas.  Honey promised Bumble that if it snowed enough he would take her outside to play in it.   Later I saw Bumble looking out the window.  I heard her say, "Dear God, Please make the snow fall quickly so I can play."  God answered her prayer!

 Here Bumble is making a snow angel...

 

and here is Honey making one too!  I am sure the neighbors got a good laugh!  Bumble took this picture.  You can tell it is taken from her point of view. 

 

 

Here are the results.  I love these snow angels!

Then Honey decided to try to help Bumble make a snowman. Pretty good for an inch if snow on the ground!

 

Bumble loved it.  She would have played all night long if I would have left her!   

Bumble, I love your snowman.  Honey and I are "snow" proud of you!. 

The Bees Wish You A Merry Christmas!

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord." -Luke 2:11

Merry Christmas from the Bee family!

The Bees Christmas Card Photo; Behind the Scenes

Here are the pictures used on the Bees Christmas card this year...

Yes, I took these photos.  I told Honey that I was going to buy Christmas cards at the store this year, and he announced that he would like a photo card done this year.  I think I will insert here that this was the first week of December when he announced this.  How was I going to find decent photos to even put on a card?  So the next day I found some outfits that matched and started snapping pictures.  Most of them looked like this...

and this...

But I finally took two pictures I thought would work.  I ordered my prints through www.snapfish.com on a Tuesday evening,  By Thursday morning they were on my front porch in plenty of time before Christmas.  So I guess Honey's idea wasn't so bad after all. I have lots of goofy photos to remember this Christmas by...

 

I guess neither of them knew what I meant when I said look at the camera and smile!

"Love Changes Everything" Naomi Judd & Alison Pill

When I was younger, my sisters and I used to record some of the Christmas movies that were always on TV around the holidays.  I love a good Hallmark movie! I was trying to think of this song and movie for about a week now and finally emailed my younger sister to see if she could help me remember.  She knew exactly what song I was talking about and thanks to her you get to hear it today!  This is a song from the movie A Song For The Season.  Ths song is called "Love Changes Everything," and is sung by actresses Alison Pill and Naomi Judd.  Enjoy!  

 

In the dark of winter, I still can sing.

'Cause God has sent The Baby King.

Whatever trouble this old world may bring,

Christmas reminds me that Love changes everything.

The Bees Love Christmas Vacation

Ever wonder what teachers get for gifts from their students and other fellow teachers? Well here is just a sample of what Honey received this year... 

 

Fruit, ornaments, candy and lots of cookies! The rest of the gifts never made it home.  Honey consumed them at school.  The kids and I get to partake of this bounty all Christmas break. I love Christmas break! I think I love it more than Honey! It gives me a break too.  He is off ten days this year for Christmas.  I am looking forward to spending family time together, and maybe even getting to sleep in a couple of mornings!  Let our vacation "bee"gin!

Queen Bee's Couponing Odds and Ends

Here are some coupons and sites you may want to check out this week.

My post this past Saturday explained how you can get free Reach floss at Target.  I found another website that has a Reach floss coupon for those of you interested.  The website is www.commonkindness.com.  When you redeem coupons printed from this website they donate money to a non-profit of your choice. 

If you are signed up to receive emails from Kellogg's Family Rewards you already know that the coupons were reset on this site.  These are some of the same cracker and cookie coupons I used the week of Thanksgiving to get cheap snacks.  There are some high value cereal coupons that will probably make for some great deals in the upcoming weeks. If you need to sign up go to www.kelloggsfamilyrewards.com.

Also make sure to check out the Weis Markets customer service desk for this coupon book.

Some of the coupons inside include $1.00 off of 3 Prego Italian Sauces, $0.50 off of 1 French's Fried Onions, and $1.00 off of 4 Campbell's "Great for Cooking" soups. 

Meanwhile, Betty Crocker seems to be too busy to address her website issues. I still cannot print coupons from her site.  She also did not respond to my urgent letter.  I may need to take this matter up with General Mills.  I wonder if he is back home after serving in our armed forces!

Stinger Wears Many Hats

Stinger likes to put things on his head. Here he is wearing a fireman's hat...

 

 

and an ambulance hat. Ummm Stinger, you might want to look where you are going or I may have to call an ambulance!

hmmm.... a Dominoes game container?  At least he has his head in the game!

Stinger, I don't think Honey would like you wearing this princess hat!

 

Hats off to you Stinger! You truely wear many hats in our household and I enjoy every

one of them!!

Queen Bee Goes To CVS Again

At my last trip to CVS, I received $5.00 extra bucks to spend at a later time.   This week I decided was the perfect week to go shopping there again and trade in my extra bucks for more diapers! 

 

When you buy $30.00 worth of  Huggies or Pampers jumbo pack diapers this week, you will receive $10.00 extra bucks to use on your next shopping trip. They are on sale for $10.00 a pack so I had to buy three packs. 

 

I also had three coupons for $2.00 off one pack of pampers that I had printed from www.coupons.com.  This is how my transaction broke down:
3 packs of diapers $10.00x3= $30.00
                                               -$6.00 in coupons
                                               -$5.00 extra bucks from my last shopping trip
                                              =$ 19.00
Plus a $10.00 extra bucks coupon to use on my next shopping trip printed at the register.  I may use this $10.00 to get free milk for the week or may save it and use it on diapers again.  I haven't decided yet. 

Also I received this in the mail last week...

 

Try a Schick Hydro Silk Razor for FREE.  Well, thank you I think I will!  I wonder if this will ever be on sale at CVS with some extra bucks attached to it.  Would I be able to get the razor for free and still get the extra bucks?  If I am able to do that I could walk out of the store and say, "Wow, that was a close shave. I pulled that deal off just by a whisker!"

The Bees Make Soft Pretzels, Part 2

Yesterday you learned how to make the dough for our soft pretzels.  Now we are going to make shapes with the dough.  Your child can help with this part as well.  Here Bumble is rolling the dough with her hands..

 

You can make a standard boring pretzel shape...

or something interesting! Can you tell what it is?

A bee. You are correct. Here is something to go with the bee.  A hive made by Bumble...

Bumble also made this snake with no help from mommy.  I was amazed at how real it looked!

Now that we have all our shapes on a cookie sheet, we need to beat one egg and brush it on the dough.  Then sprinkle the pretzels with coarse salt.

Bake your pretzels at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. As tempting as they are, please wait 3-4 hours after they have finished baking until you eat your pretzels.  They need a while to sit and cool to get that yummy soft pretzel flavor.  If you eat these right away you will be missing out on a great pretzel.   Lets see how our pretzels turned out.  Here is the Bee family buzzing around the hive...

and here is Bumble's snake. Yikes!

I will definitely do this recipe again with Bumble.  We had fun creating these as well as eating them.  Honey also wants us to make these again.  He loved them! 



The Bees Make Soft Pretzels, Part 1

Are you a fan of soft pretzels?  I am.  This is a great soft pretzel recipe.  The best part is your child can help make these.  Let's start with the ingredients...

 

1 package yeast

4 cups flour

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 Tablespoon salt

1 egg

Coarse salt to sprinkle on pretzels 

To begin mix together the yeast, water, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.  Bumble helped stir this...

Then, let it sit for a few minutes to see if the yeast are alive and kickin'!  You'll be able to tell! Next, stir in one cup of flour.  By the way, this recipe is much more fun to make wearing a princess crown and pajamas!

After that, stir in the remaining cups of flour. 

 

 The last cup may need kneaded in if it gets too hard to stir.  Bumble thought kneading was fun!

After the last cup of flour is kneaded in continue kneading until a ball is formed...

Now comes another fun part. Turning this lump of dough into shapes!  You can make any shapes you want, but you will have to wait until tomorrow to see what shapes Bumble and I made. I know, I know. Princess Bumble is not happy about this either!