Like My Father Can, Harmony 5

The Bees Go To Bible School

Bumble loved every minute of Vacation Bible School this week at our church.  It made her a little tired though...

It was from 7-9pm and some nights she didn't get to bed until 10:00pm.  Bumble NEVER naps but this week I found her napping several times in the middle of the day!

     Bumble was part of the 4 and 5 year old class and they sat in the very front of the church.  She told me on the car ride home one evening that sitting on the front bench was fun and that we should all sit there on Sunday!  Wow!  I will have to think about that one, Bumble!

 

     But my favorite memory of this week was what Bumble did for her little brother.  Bumble was picked for the "quiet seat" on Monday night and because of that she could choose a prize.  She picked out a ball from a large treasure chest filled with all sorts of prizes.  The next evening while we were driving home Bumble was upset that they didn't call her name again for the quiet seat.  She said she was quiet the entire time and she wanted to pick another prize.  She told me she really wanted a notebook she saw in the treasure chest that had a smiley face on it.  I explained to her that she would probably not get picked to get anymore prizes because she already received one.  She seemed disappointed and said, "But mommy, I didn't really want the ball."   I asked her why she picked the ball if she really didn't want it.  Her reply was that she thought Stinger would like it!  How sweet is that!?!? I think I will take her to the store the next time we get out of the house and let her pick out a notebook with a smiley face on it!

Bumble's Easy Bake Oven

Recently, Bumble was given an Easy Bake Oven.  As soon as Honey brought it home she could not wait to make something. 

 

 

She decided to make cookies like the ones shown on the package in the picture above.

 

 

After a little supervision from mama, she finally was able to get the mix to resemble cookies...

  

Then we had to preheat the Easy Bake Oven...

 

and twelve minutes later Bumble baked one cookie.

 

It took an hour to bake all four cookies she made!!! This oven sure does teach patience!  Then she sampled them...

I think she liked them.  She wanted to make more after we were finished. However, after an hour of baking one cookie at a time mama was done.  I prefer to bake them in larger batches!  

The Bee's Backyard

Our backyard has been nothing but dirt piles for a awhile.   This past week a man came and flattened out our yard as much as possible and put topsoil down.  Here are some before photos...

Here are the after photos...

I think he did a great job.  Now, does anybody enjoy picking up roots and rocks? We have a bunch of them!

The Bees New Dining Room Table: The Final Update

 

The Bee's dining room table arrived on Saturday as scheduled.

 

Here is another view.  Notice the adventurous, but dangerous stools just for Stinger.

 

I am thankful he has yet to learn how to get up on these.  I have to lift him in order for him to be able to sit on them.  I also have to get him down as he has not figured out how to do so.  He still loves them because he gets to be up high.

 

 

Here is the final edition of how I imagine the conversation in the Amish workshop on delivery day...

 

Mr. Byler:  Today ve deliver thee table to the Bees.  Is it done?

Mr. Stolzfus:  Yah, I vorked into thee night last night to git it done.  It looks pretty gut.  Wunst it got to be past midnight my vife finally made me oughtened the candle and said to git thee to bed. 

Mr. Byler: Dank ye for all yer hard vork.

Mr. Stolzfus:  How many horses shuld I hitch to thee vagon?  Will it take vone horsepower or two?

Mr. Byler:  The Bees live way over yonder. I'll jist load it up in thee truck.

Mr. Stolzfus: Ve have a motor powered vehicle?

Diaper Deal At CVS

There is an amazing diaper deal at CVS this week.  When you buy $30.00 of certain baby items you will get $12.00 in extra bucks at checkout.  To make this deal even you can go to http://wm6.walmart.com/the-mommy-center.aspx#pov1  and print out a $3.00 off of 1 Huggies diapers coupon. 

 

 

Here is the deal I did:

 

3 Jumbo packs of Huggies diapers $9.49x3= $28.47

1 pack of baby wipes =$3.00

Total $31.47

-$8.00 in coupons

(I used 2- $3.00 coupons from the link above and 1-$2.00 coupon from a Sunday newspaper.)

-$12.00 extra bucks

= $11.47!

 

You can check out more great deals at www.forthemommas.com!

 

 

 

Bumble and Stinger's Playhouse

     Bumble found a piece of cardboard in our basement.  It came from a package that a window screen had been delivered in.  She asked me if she could use it and I told her yes.  I could tell by the way her face lit up that she had big plans for this huge piece of cardboard.  Later on I went to check on her and she was in her room with all of her recently organized art supplies, decorating the piece of cardboard.  I told her if she wanted to she could continue decorating it on the deck. This was my way of saying that I didn't want marker all over your new room! Moving it outside sounded fun to her.  Even Stinger joined in...

 

 

I don't know if you can tell but she drew a picture of a singer on stage.

 

 

The next day it became their playhouse...

 

Then bumble added more stuffed animals.  I can tell Stinger loves having a creative big sister like Bumble. 

 

I wonder what other fun stuff can be found in our basement?

Paul Overstreet "Dig Another Well"

 

 

The Bees Have Bugs

     It happened at night.  Stinger was asleep and Honey was tucking Bumble in bed.  I suddenly remembered that I forgot to water the plant on the back deck.  I filled a large cup with water and turned on the outside light by the back deck.  I opened the door and bam! Something large came flying at me and flew directly into my forehead.  I was so startled I spilled the water all over the kitchen floor! I then proceeded to search the kitchen for the large creature that attacked me.  Honey then entered the kitchen while I was cleaning up the water and wondered what happened.  I told him that I was attacked by a bird!.  It felt like a bird anyway.  We could not find this "bird" anywhere so we sat quietly in the sofa and waited.... and waited... until we heard it.  Honey got his weapon of choice... the fly swatter... and proceeded to swat the flying thing.  He finally got it...

EWWWW....

 
Ok so it wasn't a bird.  It was a very large moth.  I am going to have to venture out and get some bug spray or some candles to keep all these moths and bugs away.  If we turn on our deck light or porch light at night even for a minute we have swarms of mosquitos and moths just ready to devour us.  Anybody else live near lots of trees and know what I can spray or do so we can enjoy our deck at night? 

Stinger Gets Dirty

Right now our yard is one big dirt pile.  Although I prefer grass, I am finding out that my little bees prefer it just how it is.  Everytime Stinger is let loose outside he goes right for the dirt piles and stones.  One evening right before his bath I let him have all the fun he wanted. 

 

 

He sat in the dirt, dug in the dirt, climbed in the dirt, and threw the dirt.

 

 

All while using Bumble's pink princess shovel.

The best part was this activity was "dirt" cheap and he loved it! He definitly earned his bath that night! 

Queen Bee Forgives

Dear Weis Markets,

     I forgive you.  At first I was grossed out and felt sick to my stomach, but I realize we are all human and we all make mistakes.  You see I returned to my old stompin' grounds the other day and shopped at your store.  Imagine my excitement to finally be able to shop at my favorite store once again where I know where everything is!  I spied your ever so delicious peanut butter filled doughnuts that I can't seem to get enough of recently.  I just had to buy them.  I even paid full price...

 

 

When I came home I opened the box and inhaled one of the doughnuts.  An hour later Honey came home and took a bite of one as well.  He immediately spit it out in disgust.  I asked him what was wrong.  Well, I think pictures are sometimes better than words... 

Every single one of them had mold on the inside.  Green mold.  I am still a little grossed out by the fact that I consumed one of them.  I guess if I would have eaten it like a lady I would have seen the mold.  My stomach still feels a little queasy and I "doughnut" believe I will be eating another doughnut for a while! 

                                                                                       Sincerely,
                                                                                       A Slightly Disgusted but Forgiving Queen Bee

Queen Bee Makes Parmesean Potatoes

The Bees attended a family reunion this past Saturday.  It was a Bee reunion.  I have never seen so many Bees in one place!  Anyway, I took Parmesan potatoes for my hot dish.  My sister gave me this recipe and it is a winner! I was asked at the reunion for the recipe, so I thought I would just post it on here for anyone else that may want to make these super easy potatoes.

 

Here are the ingredients...

 

 

6-7 medium potatoes (enough to cover the bottom of a 13x9 baking dish)

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

 

First wash the potatoes.  Peeling is an option, and for me it depends on the kind of potato I am using. This time I did peel the potatoes but sometimes if I am in a hurry I do not.  After you make this tough decision cut the potatoes into small squares. 

Next, melt the butter and pour it into a 13x9 baking dish.

 

Then add your cut up potatoes and stir them around in the butter until they are nicely coated.

 

Then mix the flour, Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper.

 

Spread this mixture over the potatoes and stir them around until they are evenly coated.

 

Then cover the dish with aluminum foil...

 

and bake them in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour.  Then remove the foil, stir them around, and then bake for another 15 minutes or longer if needed to get them nice and brown.

 

My Honey pours ketchup all over these, but if you are not a ketchup fan they are delicious just by themselves.  Have fun making this "spud"tacular recipe!

 

 

The Bees Search For The Best Honey Mustard

As you can imagine the Bees love anything that contains honey.  I especially love honey mustard and I have bought and tried many brands over the years only to be let down.  Most brands are nothing to write home about and they end up sitting in the refrigerator door, patiently waiting their turn to finally get out.  How disappointing it must be for them because when I do get them out, it is because they have expired and need to be tossed!

I have been searching for the perfect honey mustard and I have finally found the absolute best...

 

 

Bell-View honey mustard.  I love it.  I devour it.  The container easily gets empty before the expiration date.  It is excellent on chicken.  Queen Bee's search is over, and since it has the name Honey in it, it has to be good! (Honey told me to write that!)

The Bee's New Dining Room Table: Update

  Since we moved we decided to let Stinger eat at the table instead of in his highchair.  You can see he is totally thrilled about this...



or maybe not.  He loved to climb out of his old highchair when I wasn't looking.  He loved to stand up in it, rock back and forth in it, and dangle from it.  He had fun scaring me.  He thought it was funny.  Unfortunately, Stinger is finding regular chairs boring. They are lacking the danger, height, and thrills that he seeks.  Maybe he will like the new dining room table I ordered better, because two stools for the kitchen counter are being delivered with it.  I made sure to order the ones that contain danger, height, and thrills just for him! This should cheer Stinger up a bit.  I called to check on the status of our new Amish dining room table and well, here is how I imagine the conversation going in their workshop after I hung up...

Mr. Byler: How is the Bees' table coming along?
Mr. Stolzfus: I gut thee oak tree cut down now that thee spritzing stopped. Now ve jist gut to put it together. Meppy I'll get it done this veek.
Mr. Byler: Ok, Queen Bee called and vas vondering.
Mr. Stolzfus:  Ve have a telephone?
Mr. Byler: Ya and ve dairsent make Queen Bee vait. She has a blog ya know. Ve vouldn't vant her to vrite anything bad aboat our business. There are a lot of English that read it!

 This just in...I found out that our dining room table and dangerous, tall, thrilling bar stools are to be delivered this Saturday. I can't wait and neither can Stinger!

"Daddy's Hands" Holly Dunn

Happy Father's Day to my dad! Also, Bumble and Stinger would like to say Happy Father's Day to Honey!

 

Bumble Organizes Her Art Supplies

I made the mistake of telling Bumble to organize her art supplies!

 

Good job, Bumble, although this is not quite what I had in mind!  Thou "art" creative, Bumble!

The Bees Settle In

Wow, what a week this has been! The Bees are enjoying getting used to their new hive.  I feel like I am on vacation and living at a hotel, except I brought my own bed with me! Our occupancy permit arrived in the mail today so I guess this really is our official hive now!  Needless to say, we have been busy going through things and trying to decide the best place to put them.  There are still boxes sitting everywhere...

 

  Bumble and Stinger are enjoying the extra space and loving it!  Stinger has been exploring everywhere and everything in our new hive.  He has been getting into lots of mischief.  He now knows that this is not a good idea...

 

(The getting into the refrigerator part. Not the pink crocs. Although, that is also not a good idea Stinger!)

 

He is also figuring out which wall switches control which lights and he likes to open and shut all the bedroom doors. 

 

Stinger and Bumble have been playing together a lot which makes it easier for me to get things done.

 

 

He thinks she is hilarious.

All in all we have had a fun but extremely busy and tiring week.  We love our new hive and all the work is worth it!  Now please excuse me while Honey and I sit and relax!

The Bees See A Baby Bird

Mrs. Robin finally had an egg hatch.  Congratulations to her!

 

I do believe this is a face that only a mother could love!

The Bees Go To Lowes

The Bees have been to Lowes more times in the last month than we have been in our entire lives!  Bumble and Stinger love the car shopping cart that they have there.  Whoever designed this cart is a genius.   

 

 

Honey and I were actually able to stand and discuss things while our children played.  We could have even stayed longer if we had wanted to.   Now if only the grocery stores would do this! 

The Bee's Say Goodbye

Saturday, the Bees packed up their belongings and said goodbye to the only hive they have ever known.

 

 

 After everything was gone, I took some pictures so we could always remember our first hive.

 

Everything seems so empty.

 

Then the Bees got ready to pose for one more final picture... 

 

Bumble looks so sad.

 Goodbye backyard...

 

Goodbye hive...

 

Hello to new and exciting adventures and memories in our new hive!