Summertime!!

What will we ever do when these 3 day weekends are over?  We are becoming quite spoiled.

The first day of summer was celebrated by having friends over, making popsicles, and....picking up the new swimming pool that Nana and Grandpa bought the kids!  They are crazy excited over this!!  Only we didn't have time to set it up because we were due for dinner at the other grandparents.  Gotta love that! New pool, popsicles, AND no cooking dinner...bliss.

Only we couldn't pick up the pool until we emptied the trailer.  The trailer was full of last year's broken pool pieces, various broken bikes, and an old dishwasher that's been here for almost 2 years.   This required the dreaded trip to the dump which we had successfully avoided for the past...well, many many years.  My man HATES the dump and claims he gets a flat tire every time he goes.  Not to mention the $30+ dumping fee.

But this time it couldn't be avoided.  We racked our brains trying to think of a place with a big enough dumpster and then spent the 30 mile trip looking all along the way.  But no.  We finally got to the dump, held our noses, dumped our stuff, and went to pay.

$3.45.

It cost THREE DOLLARS AND FORTY FIVE CENTS!!  Why did we think $30?  Why did we wait so long and deal with that stupid dishwasher for years when for three dollars and forty five cents we would've been done with it a long time ago?  Sheeeesh.

Dinner was delicious as always when my mother-in-law cooks.  Steaks, world cup soccer, Sponge Bob, and getting some Meg time.

Now the pool is up and the Lord is helping us fill it with so much rain.  We already have our first cases of sunburn for the season and the water wasn't even deep enough to get completely wet!  They are LOVING it.

Baseball is chugging right along.  Our games keep getting rained out so the season has been looong.  But fun.  Unless your last game starts at 10pm.  Then it's not quite as much fun.  And afterward there's a lot of this.....

This guy is taking FULL advantage of the summer and squeezing in every fun thing he can do before school starts and busy life begins.  He's out of town AGAIN this week and we are missing him already.  But he's also using the time that he is home to be super helpful by doing things around the house, running errands, and running his little siblings here and there and everywhere. 

Our garden is growing and we are needing to pick cucumbers every day.  This week I tried fermenting them but I think I used the wrong kind of salt because they just aren't looking like they should.  The good thing is that I have plenty to play with until I get it right.  

This dog. 

She is the sweetest little love of a thing except she's also a ferocious killer that can't be trusted around anything with feathers.  

She also likes to torment the cat.   

Happy Summer!! 

T-Ball Fun!

Can you tell this guy had a fun t-ball season?

Ready to bat. 

My favorite!  So excited to get the out! 

First time across home plate! 

Adam Boy!!

Coach Rachuy was super fun and encouraging.  I hope Zboy had as much fun playing as we did watching!!

Some Big News and Other Stuff That's Not So Big

I love this life I have.  Seriously.

Last week I got to see a whole bunch of cutie pies at our church's VBS.   I helped with snacks while Christian and Josh ran games and Lane helped with the preK.   Fun stuff.

But.  My other church's VBS is going on right now and it's SOOOO hard to stay away!  There are old friends that have come back plus my own Awana peeps.  I miss them....a LOT.

Look at my garden goodness!  We also have lettuce, basil, kale, and some green tomatoes.  I don't have high hopes for my tomatoes this year.  After we had them all planted, I read that the variety we picked is a stingy producer.  Grrrrrr.......  And sure enough they are slow going.

We added some guinea chicks to the mix.  We have already lost 1/2 the population because KORRIE.
This farm life is expensive.

We've been spending a good deal of time at the ball fields.  The baseball season is nearly over but it's been a blast.  We bring snacks and water and lawn chairs and take pictures and visit and yell and clap.  My kids bring a soccer ball and play with anyone else who has to be there because their brother has a game.  Jess had a great time with this baby girl last night.  Isn't she the sweetest?

Date night this week and we tried a new pizza place, looked in the window at the pawn shop that was closed, and came home and watched Carol Burnett.

So you are all caught up now and are you ready for some big news?

BIG NEWS!!!

This summer we are starting foster parent training!!  I am beyond excited.  I've been wanting to do this FOREVER!!  My mind is swirling thinking of a million things.

My first priority right now is getting our school plans in place for the fall.  I'm using some new stuff, learning different curriculum, and working on a schedule.

In the meantime, I'm reading books, thinking about what I need to do to my house, and hoping to start paperwork next week.  I'm also praying now for whoever will come and stay with us for awhile.  EXCITED!!

Some Of My Favorites This Week

Here's some things I'm loving this week...

~While we were in Colorado, Rommel had a fan kinda like this.  When we got home, I bought one right away.  My goal for this summer is for our electric bill to stay under the $300 mark.  I know when canning season hits, that'll be HARD!  But still.  This fan is FANtastic!!  I wish I had 4 more.  But at $60 a pop, we will have one for awhile.

~My next door neighbor had a garage sale.  And I love garage sales of my friends because they usually have stuff I like.  We scored some new Tiger shirts and hats and several brand new candles.   I've been needing some new candles, so this was a gift just for me!  It inspired me to clean the whole house since everyone knows you can't light a candle unless the house is clean.  Then Jess surprised me with these roses from the front yard.  The smell is heavenly!!

See that bud vase?  I never remember not having it.  It was my mom's when I was a kid and now it's mine.

~So for all sports teams I like my boys to have the number of their birth.  Christian has always been #3 on every team unless he just had absolutely no choice.  And here's our caboose, #9 , looking fierce in his t-ball shirt.  LOVE.

~Me and my boy watching Nate's game together.  I have to admit, baseball is funner than I thought.   I'm enjoying the parents/grandparents too.  Way less intense than soccer and football, and that's kinda nice.

~Farm News:

Garden goodness!  The Lord has graciously given us so much rain with the perfect balance of sunshine and we haven't had to water a single time yet.  Our lettuce, basil, and kale are growing beautifully.   We have a few green tomatoes and peppers and we picked one zucchini.  Slowly we are adding tomato cages.  Last year we just staked them, but cages are far better.  Aldi has them for $1.49 each.  We have lots of tomato plants but I keep telling myself we will have these cages for years to come so the investment is worth it.

The bees are doing great.  I've decided to run double brood chambers this year.  That means more bees and a stronger hive but possibly less honey.  A stronger hive means less chance of pests and more ability to over winter.  We added vented covers to both hives since it's getting warmer and the bees are hanging out on their porch more.

We lost 2 more chickens this week.  One was because of Milo, the other was Korrie.  Grrrrr......
But we also added 4 Guinea chicks!  We are hoping to let them free range and deal with all the bugs, but with Korrie's killer instinct I'm not sure that's even possible.

Every Knee Every Tongue

One of my goals for 2014 was to memorize the whole book of Philippians.

I am nowhere close!  And here the year is half over already!  But I do read and re-read those 4 chapters all the time.  Sometimes in my Bible, sometimes on my phone, and sometimes I listen to it as I'm getting dressed in the bathroom.

This week I've been stopped by Philippians 2:10-11... "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

It will happen.  Someday.  Every single person.  But the question is, will it be too late?  Will Jesus look into the face of someone I love and say, "Depart from me, I never knew you"?

I've been praying for my family, my friends, my church, my Awana kids, anybody at all....even people at the grocery store that God will bring them to the place of bowing and confessing.

And if you are questioning, if you are struggling, if you are doubting this whole Christian thing...know that I am fighting for you on this side of heaven.  I don't want anybody I love to be lost.

An Unexpected Getaway

While life was chugging along for us in AR, exciting things were happening for some of our friends in Colorado.  Graduations and a surprise birthday party!  

I thought it would be fun to take LB since she hasn't been anywhere neat in a long time.   But it's no easy thing to travel so far with so many responsibilities at home.  I decided to go.  Then changed my mind.  Then Meg said she and Ethan were driving it and we could ride down with them.  I said yes.  Then I changed my mind.  

But I woke up Thursday morning and it was the first thing on my mind.  And I knew it was now or never.  So I texted my man to ask if we could fly standby on his dad's AA passes.  He hates standby and I figured he'd rather not since it was just the two of us going.  BUT SURPRISE!  He thought it was a good idea!  

That was 7am and by 10:30 we were sitting on a plane.  

My girl was soooo happy!!  

It was 4 days of love and bliss.  Our friends were so flexible and provided everything we needed and way more.  It was like a red carpet was rolled out for us!

4 days of awesome food, comfy beds, games, good talks, Bible study, church, parties, laughs, and pure sweetness. 

I love those people. 

Isn't Ms Gertrude beautiful?  We got to surprise her at her 90th birthday party!  She is just precious.  And it was special to be there since we also got to be at her 85th party before we moved back home. 

Rommel and Pam were the perfect spur-of-the-moment hosts!  I wish I had gotten pictures of more people.  WHY didn't I take more pictures??

LB got her Ella fix.  Aren't they adorable?  And Ella's momma is an amazing cook that fed us multiple times like it was the easiest thing in the world. 

This was a big graduation year for our homeschool CO peeps.  And one of the reasons that this was the perfect time to visit is because W's family had just moved to Arizona but came back for graduation.  So many friends in the same place at the same time! 

Congratulations graduates!

I was so grateful the Lord worked it all out.   But back at home I was getting bad news about my sweet Joey's condition.  And I prayed for him.  And for us.  And that we could get seats on the planes home (standby ya know) so I could be with my kiddos and help them process the whole thing.  

On the last flight there were 2 seats and 4 standby passengers ahead of us.  They never showed!  And we got right on and flew home.  God is so good. 

As Pam says, "I feel like God's favorite."  He is so incredibly good to us.  

A Piece Of My Heart Is Gone

And there are just no more words... 

A Little Bit Of Lately

Guess who comes home tonight?  MY BOY!!  Christian has been gone 10 days forever camping with friends and tonight he comes back!  We've been waiting all day, cleaning his room, cooking his favorite dinner, and making welcome home signs.  We've missed him.

Here's some things that have been going on this week...

Look how he sits at the piano!  Hilarious!  3 kids had a piano recital and did a great job.  Afterward, we had friends over for ice cream.

A big homeschool book sale!  Nevermind ZBoy's cheesy pose.  We sold some stuff and bought some stuff and the kids had a great time shopping.  I still came home with WAY more than I hoped.  So now it's all priced and ready for the graduate's garage sale next month.

Army guys, tanks, Christmas blocks, and a reader in the corner.  I love these people!

2 beautiful quarts of HONEY!!  This was left over from last year and needed to be pulled to make room for clean frames.  We already have some new honey that they've made this year so hopefully this summer we will have a great harvest.  Our bee club bought 2 new extractors and one of them gets to be stored at our house!

We have 24 eggs ready to hatch in the incubator.  But here's the thing.  We don't need 24 more chickens!!
My son was a bit ambitious this year and I'm hoping he can sell some of these.  Anybody need a baby chick?  I can hook ya up.

Joey is not good at all.  When we started slowing down on the prednisone, he went right back to horrible.  The vet upped the dose again but he's not bouncing back.  It's been up and down.  And as soon as we get our hopes up, he has a relapse.  I hate to see my sweet boy so sick.   Please keep praying for him.

Spiffy!!  These guys got to participate in a Vietnamese engagement party.  We had such a great time with June's family even though most of the time it was hard to understand each other.  I love how friendship and love can overcome all sorts of barriers!  June's family was very welcoming, hospitable, and so much fun to be with!  In the meantime, Honey and Eldest was shooting a friend's wedding.  Now he is sorting through over 1500 wedding photos!

Joey Update

Well I had hoped to jump right back on the blogging wagon this week but my dog has taken up every bit of emotional energy I've had. I have been so worried about my sweet Joey!

After dropping a load of money at the vet, he only continued to get worse. He was totally paralyzed in his back legs and was too weak to get up anyway. We had to move him to the patio because he could not take care of his doggie business. And then it turned cold!!

The vet prescribed another medicine while we tried to keep him warm by covering him with a sleeping bag. Maybe he wasn't cold anyway...but I was cold for him!

He's drinking!  (We were thrilled with ANY improvement.)

The next day I went out to see that he had moved from the patio to the driveway (about 3 steps) by getting up and dragging his backside. So sad to watch but at least he had a little energy and he was also holding his head up, drinking, and was more interested in food. We used towels to support his weight and worked with him at getting him to stand. No luck. He could put no weight on those legs.

The next day (oh happy day!!) was a great improvement and he stood alone!! I love how Lane is encouraging him in the front while Josh is ready to catch him in the back. Even buzz looks happy for him!

Later in the day he was able to hobble around and even made it to the grass to take care of business. YESSSS!!!

Every day has gotten better. He still walks like a drunk man and trips over his legs but he's up and walking, eating, and taking care of business. Now when we come home from being gone, he even does his classic moan and howl to welcome us back.  He hasn't been happy enough to do that in awhile.  And when we headed off for a walk and bike ride, he got up expecting to come along!  (I knew he'd never make it, so we put him in the house.)

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for him and asking about him.  He's definitely on the mend!  So grateful!!

Catching Up

And I'm back.  I had to take a longer than ever blog break to plan, prepare, enjoy, and clean up a lot of exciting life.  And while I can't go back and do it all justice in one blog post, I do want to try to hit the highlights of the fun.  

First of all these awesome friends came all the way from Colorado just to see US!  

We talked, ate, played some games, talked, walked, sang songs, talked, went to church, and talked some more.  Oh I love them!

And they came, along with some of our family, to help us celebrate THIS GUY!! 

Christian graduated high school!  So many long years of work are over and he/we are starting a new chapter in his life.  We are so proud of him.  

These kids are pretty much my favorites. 

~Once we said goodbye to our Colorado friends, we packed up the van and headed to Branson to see MORE Colorado friends that we haven't seen in a long time.  We got to participate in a leadership conference and catch up with our church family that we hadn't seen in years.  And while I have no pictures to prove it, it was wonderful. 

It was a big graduation year for us.  2 weeks later we got to celebrate THESE GUYS! 

Meg graduated (with honors) and her grandmothers came to watch.  Ethan also graduated but chose not to walk.  This turned out to be a gift in itself because they were assigned different times and it was standing room only for 2 looooong hours.  4 years.  DONE!! 

My sweet girl and my sweet moms. 

And just to make it better, my family cooked ALL the food for the party afterwards!  As in I didn't have to do a thing!  AND they cleaned it up.  AND decorated.  AND brought food for my freezer.  

I know! 

We have ventured into a new sport. Jes, Nate, Mally, and ZBoy are playing baseball. Never ever in their lives have they even watched a baseball game let alone play it. Because we aren't really baseball fans.

And now I know why.

We've only played one real game and sat through several practices. And y'all. It takes a SWEET FOREVER to get through! I've been sitting here for an hour and 26 minutes and my boy has touched the ball twice. Oh my goodness already!

Mally made it to one softball practice all pretty-ed up in her sparkly hat. She visited in the dugout the entire time and coaches sized her up right away. After a scary encounter where the ball almost touched her, she decided softball wasn't for her.

The boys, however, are all in.

Interestingly, t-ball has a ton more action. When I take ZBoy to practice I have to actually watch the whole entire time because it's almost always his turn again. And that's more like it.

But after being a soccer/football/TaeKwonDo mom for the past 15 years, I'm afraid I'm going to have to take up a new hobby just to make it through a baseball practice without dying of boredom.

On the up side, it does make for different type of pictures that we didn't have. 

This is my new favorite. 

~And some farm news.... this is what happens when you get a bee sting between the eyes.  You also get a trip to the doctor, a shot in the butt, a steroid pack, and an epi pen of your very own.

His grandpa bought him the greatest bee suit ever so maybe this won't happen again.  Thank you Grandpa!!

Please pray for our sweet dog, Joey.  He's had a reaction to a bad tick bite and isn't recovering very well. 

We keep telling each other that he's getting better....but I don't think so.  The meds aren't kicking in and he's very weak and sick.  

It's been a hard spring on the farm.  We've lost some chickens, have some chickens sick, and another hive of bees have left us.  Really disappointing.  

But I will leave you with a bit of cuteness..... 

Farm News

Did you have a blessed Resurrection Sunday? Well if you are a believer in Jesus Christ then you are automatically blessed by Resurrection Sunday because of well, the awesome RESURRECTION and all! I love it.

This year I wanted to do a special lunch that had a feature presentation.  Most people I know do hams or roasts.  We don't like ham, and b/c of the unfortunate roast incident a decade past that dish will never happen.  What I had in mind was something like brisket.  But brisket is expensive and I never cook it right.  I love the pre-cooked brisket at Sams....but again, money.  So I decided to do creamy chicken and meatloaf.  If we couldn't do brisket, at least people would have choices.  But when it was time to eat I still had brisket in mind and no matter how you slice it, meatloaf and chicken will never be brisket and it's still only meatloaf and chicken.  Next year I hope to plan better.

We had the greatest weekend.  70 degree temps, sunshine, and hard work.  Friday we had 9 dentist appts with NO cavities.  Honey took off 1/2 the day and we went shopping for plants for the front yard.  Then they spent the rest of the afternoon re-landscaping and planting.

Saturday was even better.  We headed to the farmers market and bought some garden plants.  Mr. Hardin was there as well as another friend from bee club who offered to sell me some of the bee equipment I need for cheap.  Yay!!!

From there we headed to the farmers coop to buy the rest of what we needed to plant the garden.  And I promise I saw my Aunt Dot there.  But Honey said it wasn't her.  But I don't think he even knows what she looks like.  Anyway, she slipped away before I could say anything  stare harder and make the whole thing awkward.  But guess what?  Remember all those cucumbers we sold last year?  I kept all that money in an envelope to save it for this year's garden fund.  And except for about $4 it paid for all this year's plants!

The rest of the day was tilling, weeding, planting, watering, bee feeding, cooking, cleaning, sweating, and a big bonfire with hotdogs and s'mores.  It was pretty perfect.

At this point, we are crazy busy getting ready for graduation, company, and vacation so getting all that yard work done is a huge relief.

Did I tell you that Josh hatched 10 baby chicks in the incubator?  CUTE!  But then the 4H lady called and said they had extra chicks and we could pick up 25.  So our chicken population went from 9 to 44 in 2 weeks' time.

While I was picking up chickens I also saw that we MISSED the rain barrel class that included a rain barrel!!  And that is such a disappointment since I've wanted a rain barrel for at least 2 years practically forever.  Though I can't imagine what anybody would actually learn in a class about rain barrel usage.  Anyhow, I'm still rain barrel-less.

The bees.  Well everybody is still home and that is good.  Today my man went shopping at Lowes to grab a few more cinder blocks to make some stands for the new hives.  And tomorrow is the big moving day.  I'll move the nucs into real hives and move those across the yard.  I might also split the big hive.  I have a million things going through my mind about all this.  But today I get new cinder blocks and that makes me happy!!

The Last Spring Birthday

Seven years of ZBOY!!  

And he could not be happier.  He is a joy and his momma's sunshine.  I'm so thankful he's mine. 

We had a great day of playing, having lunch with Daddy, eating yummy foods, and seeing 2 (TWO!) grandmas and Meg.  What more could a 7 year old ask for?  

Happy Birthday Zekey!  WE LOVE YOU!!

When One Turned Into Four - Part 2

The next morning Josh went out to see the swarm that we had left overnight.  And sure enough, there were no bees.  Everyone was right back up in the tree....only higher this time!  This time they were not as spread out and sort of clumped into a triangle shape.

The unfortunate thing about all of this was..

1. Mr. Hardin was selling at the farmer's market

2. My man had to go to work

Mr. H and I both agreed it would probably be best to let this one go.  We still had plenty of bees and the previous catch was complicated.   We had no help and it wasn't worth someone getting hurt.  

BUT Josh would have none of it.  He went out and studied them and decided HE could do it.  

The girls wanted to suit up and help and he already had a plan in his head.  So I told them we would give it a shot only if they would listen to every word I said and nobody would freak out. 

Well the 6ft ladder was not enough and we had to get the extension ladder.  It was high!  And this kid is scared of heights anyway.  His plan was to spray them with water, use the hand broom, and brush them down into a 5 gallon bucket.  

I was skeptical.  The swarm looked too big to brush into that kind of opening but it was the best thing we could come up with.  

So we doubled checked his gear and he headed up the ladder with his sisters holding it, smoker ready, and praying Psalm 91.  

He did not miss a beat!  He brushed them down with some landing in the bucket, some flying, and some falling on his head.  Again they were everywhere!  After about 15 seconds, he started saying over and over, "I'm so scared! I'm so scared!"  And there were bees IN HIS VEIL that were totally freaking him out.  

We coached him down, took the bucket, and started unhooking his veil.   His sisters were saying, "It's ok.  There's only a couple"  But actually there were more like 6.  And as I've thought it over, I can't even imagine that fear of 6 bees trapped around your head.  As secure as his gear was, I still don't know how this happened.  But swarmed bees are docile...they have nothing to defend.  They only wanted out and there were no stings.  

Well we dumped the bees and took a look.  They were going down into the hive nicely.  But Josh took a look at the tree and saw that he only got about 1/2.  But who cares?  If we got the queen, the other bees would follow.  If not, they can go make another hive in the woods.  (I was done.) 

He hated that idea and said if he just went one more time he thinks he could get them all.  Whose crazy kid is this anyway??  His sisters and I were telling him it was probably enough and we should just give it a rest and wait.  But he was already suited up and wanted to finish the job.  

Soooo, back up the tree he went.  As he was brushing, we kept asking ..... Are you ok?  Are there bees in your veil?  Are you scared?  Are you ok?  Talk to us!!!    Finally he answered down, "I'm too scared to talk right now!"  

Oh my goodness.  

He came down and dumped the bees again.  This time he didn't get nearly as many but when we looked up in the tree, there were NO bees!  In about 5 minutes time, they all left and were following the queen down into the hive.  HE DID IT!!!  

Now I have no idea how this will turn out.  And as it looks right now, they have gone back to the original hive.  Either way, they are home.   But I can't even tell you how proud my boy is!  He is so happy with this accomplishment.  He came to me a day later asking about career opportunities in the honey business and asking for his own hive to be responsible for.   He wants to be another Mr. Hardin.

Bee club is still 3 weeks away but the president has said that he will give him mic time to tell his story.  And let me tell you...he LOVES telling this story!!  

When One Turned Into Four

I have a big story.  BIG STORY!!

And it goes like this...

Friday I came home and peeked at the nuc box of bees and gave them some more feed.  Looking nice.  Then I thought I'd walk back and look at the big hive.  There's been a lot of swarm activity this month and I wanted to check them at least a couple of times a day to look for signs of swarm.  Not like I know what that is...but just in case I saw something.

And y'all.  It was the Lord's goodness, it was.  Because well before I got close, I could see bees everywhere.  Like a tornado of bees!  And while our bees have been stirred up before, this was nothing like I had ever seen.  I was super thankful there were no neighbors out to see this.  Meanwhile, the hive looked more peaceful than it had in weeks.  When a swarm occurs, the hive rears up a new queen.  When the queen hatches she takes 1/2 the bees with her to start a new colony.  This means there are still 1/2 the bees left in the hive with the original queen.  If I had not been there at that exact time, I don't think I would've ever known they had swarmed.  The remaining bees were working peacefully as though nothing had happened and it looked business as usual.

I went back into the house to figure out the next step and less than a minute later Jess ran in to tell me they swarmed into a tree on the property behind us.  

Now I've been following some swarm activity lately and asking questions about how to catch them, but I never thought I would need to know this so soon.  So I PANICKED!!  And I called Honey home from work, and told my kids to suit up.

For the life of me I couldn't think out the practical workings of how to do this.  I've installed 2 packages, split a hive, and watched a swarm install.  But this was nothing like any of that.  So I called  Mr. Hardin.  THE Mr. Hardin!  The Honey Man who has been doing this for 40+ years.  And the sweetest thing...he acted like it was his joy to come right over.

He was the picture of calm.  He took one look and started asking for a ladder, saw, loppers, the smoker, and his little buddy.  Little Buddy is his pet name for Josh.  Mr. Hardin didn't seem to want my help near as much as Little Buddy's.  He coached him through cutting the vines and limbs and trees

After a good deal of cutting and calculating, we he shook the whole thing into an empty hive body on the ground and brushed off what he could.   At this point there was no way to know if we got the queen.  Without her, the bees would just fly back into the tree.  So now we wait......

After typing this all out, it sounds like no big deal.  But I assure you it was a very big deal with lots of excitement and hearts pounding in our chests.  Well, except for Mr. H.  It was no big deal to him! 

And this is where I got the "talking to" about not attaching my bottom board.  I had NO idea.  And we contemplated how to move them.  He decided to leave them there for the night.  

That done, he dug into the hive to see what was going on.  And we got us an education!!

See the queen cell where his hive tool is pointing?  It looks like a peanut hanging down.  There are 6 of them on this one frame!  He said he has never seen so many queen cells in one hive and we should be in the queen rearing business!  He went to work cutting them out and saving some good ones to graft into his own splits.  (I wish I could see how he will do it!) 

He declared everything beautiful....over and over again.  A fantastic brood pattern.  Very docile bees. And some of the best he's ever seen.  

However, it's still too big.  And he's afraid they'll swarm again in a couple of days if we didn't do another split. 

This is where we were starting to run into trouble because we were out of equipment.  I had another nuc that my kids were assembling in the house, but we were out of frames.  He worked with what we had and unfortunately we have some empty space in our hives right now.   Even after that split, he thought it could use another one.  So he had an idea to help us both.  On Monday, he'd bring over all the frames we need to complete everything we've started AND he would take a split home for himself.  PERFECT!! 

He checked our older nuc while he was there.  He's a little more concerned about this one because it needs more bees.  But the queen cells are pretty so hopefully she will hatch, mate, and start laying in the next few days.  

So now with our big hive, our swarm catch, our older nuc, and the new split, we are up to four hives if they all do well.  

But WAIT!  The story isn't over and it gets even MORE exciting!  

Stay tuned for part 2.  

Another Happy Birthday

Once upon a time something wasn't right. And I don't know if it was a stomach virus, the flu, or a bad roast from Sams. But let's just say it was a BAD day for Honey and me. And for the toilet.  You might also want to know that we have not eaten another roast since.

It lasted all day. Well into the night. With 6 kids and 2 in diapers. Praise The Lord in heaven for my mother-in-law who came over, ran the house, bought sprite and crackers, and changed a whole bunch of diapers.

And just when we thought the worst was behind us, labor started.
Baby #7 was not only a week overdue, but when he finally did decide to make his appearance the timing couldn't have been worse.

We were exhausted, dehydrated, and just willing to pretend that we could go to sleep and try again tomorrow. But no. Or I should say... NOOOOOO!!!!!!

Jodie came and labored with me because
1. She's awesome
2. We like going to each other's births
3. My man wasn't quite up to the task

I remember the nurses thinking he was a nervous new daddy since he was in the bathroom more than he was out. Hilarious! So let's just say it was a bad day for the hospital bathroom too.

But we made it through and ended up with the sweetest little baby boy that was perfect in every way. Oh how I love this kid of mine!
My "only child" in a family of 8 siblings who is a little more like me than most of them.

I'm so happy to be his momma.
Happy 10th birthday Nate!!! I love you!!