Two Bees and A Field Trip

Two Bees went on a field trip last week...

Honey went with Bumble and her Kindergarten class to Lake Tobias.  Someone else wanted to go to...

  Sorry Stinger.  You are staying home with mom and Honeycomb!

  I was glad Honey was able to go on the trip with her.  I would have worried all day if she would had went without one of us!  I mean, she is only six!  Who would have been there to warn her of all the danger?!  Just look at these horns...

Bumble, stand back or he will get you!

And here someone needed to warn her that the ostrich could eat her alive...

Seriously, Bumble!  Watch out!  

Never trust a hungry goat, Bumble...

Ok, so maybe Honey teases me that I warn my Bees way to much when we are out and about.  I am sure Honey didn't give her any of these warnings, but just knowing he was along with her on this trip made me feel a lot better.  Thanks Honey for being a chaperone on Bumble's field trip, and sorry you came home so exhausted!   I WARNED you they would be full of energy!!

Bumble Loves To Spell

Bumble is in kindergarten but joins a first grade class for reading, spelling, and writing.  She has had spelling tests ever since January.   She has learned to spell words like triumphed, announcement, and my favorite, amphitheater!!   Bumble LOVES spelling tests!  So much so, that she was a little distraught when she saw what was written on her list last week...

The LAST test of the year?!  She was so upset about this that she took out her third grade reading workbook and began highlighting all the words she wanted to learn how to spell. 

She then instructed me to make her a spelling list each week with all the words she highlighted so she could still learn to spell during summer vacation!
Bumble, vacation is supposed to be relaxing.  How about lets rest a "spell"?

Catching Up With the Bees: Stinger

     Stinger!...Stinger!...Stinger!  Where do I even begin with an update?!  Stinger is my three year old and let's just say he lives up to his name!!

      I am happy to report that he is FINALLY potty trained, most of the time.  Every now and then he will have an accident, but he has come such a long way since my first attempt to train him.  I hope this success in potty training continues because I enrolled him in preschool starting in August.  I am pretty sure I cannot send him in a diaper!
     I am anxious to see how Stinger will do in a classroom setting.  I am not worried academically for Stinger.  God gave Stinger an incredible brain!  Here is an example of what he can do if he concentrates...







He did this all on his own with no help from me!  Stinger is reading and is an excellent speller.  He loves to work with numbers and likes to do addition problems.  I enrolled him in preschool so he becomes used to following routines and transitions.  I also want to make sure he interacts and plays with the other children.   Sensory issues have been an issue for him and I want to see if any occur in a classroom setting.
      Stinger still has a speech therapist and has been doing extremely well.  He still has no J sound and some blends are hard for him, but he is making progress.  His last speech session will be at the end of July.  Then the plan is to dismiss him, and if he needs more help he will get that when he starts school. 

     Stinger is still full of energy and keeps me busy!  He enjoys riding his bike and playing with cars. This boy also knows how to get dirty from head to toe and makes lots of messes for his mama to clean up!!! He still has his unique sense of humor. He has a need to make people laugh and loves a good laugh!  Here Stinger is displaying this unique humor...

 Stinger, very funny!  I think it is safe to say if you are to ever enter a comedy contest you would be a "shoe"in for sure!
      We love our little Stinger and can't wait to see what awaits him in the future!
   

The Bees Are Hot on the Trail

Now who could say no to a note like that from six year old Bumble! 

So the Bees took off.  Some on their bikes...

and some in their strollers...

 and enjoyed the Rails to Trails.  I love that we live only minutes away from the trail.  

Happy Birthday, Honey!  I hope you enjoyed your relaxing day!  The kids and I sure did.  May you blaze many trails this coming year!!

Queen Bee Makes Glazed Meatloaf

     The other day I started to make my meatloaf recipe and I couldn't remember all the ingredients.  Having three little Bees is hard on my memory.  I have been forgetting a lot lately.  I even forgot to take Honeycomb's formula to church one Sunday!  Anyway, I went to my blog to look up my meatloaf recipe and it wasn't there!!!  I couldn't believe I have never posted my go-to meatloaf recipe.   This recipe was shared with me by my sister-in-law many years ago from a blog that she read.  I forget the name of the blog or I would share it!

Here are the ingredients for Glazed Meat Loaf...

2 eggs beaten

2/3 cup milk

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup crushed saltine crackers

1/2 cup onion

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. pepper

2 lbs. ground beef

Glaze:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup ketchup

2 Tbsp Dijon mustard or regular mustard

Since everyone knows how to make meatloaf, I will just show you the meatloaf all mixed up and in the dish. (Or maybe I just forgot to take pictures!!)  The glaze ingredients are mixed together beside it.  According to the recipe, put the glaze in a sauce pan and let it come to a boil.  Pour it on the meatloaf after the meatloaf has cooked for about 50 minutes.  Then put the meatloaf back in the oven to finish cooking.  (If you forget to boil it and just dump it on the meatloaf, that is ok too!)

Bake the meatloaf at 350 degrees for about... well that all depends.  I have found that different pans that I put this in take different amounts of time. The glass dish that is shown takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes.  Here is what the meatloaf looks like when finished...

Sorry, I forgot to crop the picture so you could see it better. This really is an excellent recipe.  Don't forget to make this tonight for dinner.  I know I won't!

The Bees Fly Kites

Yesterday was the perfect day to fly a kite.  Bumble, Stinger, and Honey all headed to the backyard for some high flyin' fun...

I like your professional kite flying clothes, Honey!  (Actually, he just arrived home from a school meeting and was headed out next to a church meeting.)

Bumble worked on flying her Frozen kite...

Her kite got a little out of control and it went into a tree...

I was singing at the tree from the back deck, "Let it go! Let it go!"  Eventually the tree listened and freed her kite!  

Stinger was trying to fly Miss Ladybug with Honey's help...

Some help Honey was....

Not even his professional kite flying clothes could help him!

Miss Ladybug is stuck up in the highest tree and will not come down! 

Any ideas on what to do now? 

Bumble Loves "Rock"ing

Bumble finds rocks and stones fascinating. After digging in the driveway and in the dirt, she brings them inside and shows us why each one is special.

These are the lovely white stones she has collected.  These are special because they are white! They somehow made their way to the drawer in the laundry room...

The special black ones have been piling up in the foyer area...

I am not sure what this one is doing here or why it is so special to her.  I think her intention is to clean it...

After cleaning them she likes to polish them.  She takes my clear nail polish and paints them with it so they shine!

If you come and visit please don't fall on these as you go down our basement stairs...

"

As you can see her "rockin'" hobby is taking over the entire hive.  I feel like I live in a quarry. So if anyone needs any white stones, black stones, cute little stones, stone with stripes, stones that resemble animals, shiny stones, and well, STONES, you know where to come!!  With quantities like these they are guaranteed to go at rock bottom prices!!

Catching Up With the Bees: Honeycomb

Honeycomb is almost five months now!  She is still my smallest Bee weighing in at only 14 pounds, unlike her siblings who were tipping the scales at 20 lbs by now!  One of the benefits of being my smallest baby is that she actually gets to sit in the Bumbo seat that I have.  None of my other children could fit.  I remember trying to stuff their legs in but their thighs were too pudgy!
Let's peek in on Honeycomb sitting in her Bumbo seat, waiting for her first tastes of rice cereal...

   Here comes the rice cereal.  How do you like it?...

Not so much?!  Well, I am sure you will be loving it soon. I will stop for now and try again later...




Glad to see you are happy about that!  Now let's go enjoy this "Bee"utiful spring day!