Bailey is now... TWO!

Bailey celebrated her second birthday on 18 May 2013. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the past two years...

Sure am grateful that she's a part of my life! She brings an incredible amount of joy to our home.

Excitement on the farm!

Chicks. We have 2 of them. We used to have three, but the third chick didn't live up to his name of Rocky Balboa, and gave up. Savannah was pretty sad. I'm not surprised. He was a pretty cute little chick.

The other two, Pip and Squeak, are running around after their Mom, and thriving. They're pretty cute, too. Bailey calls them "ninnens." She's pretty cute, too.

Mama Hen with Pip and Squeak

This is Rocky. He didn't survive, but he was cute while he lasted!

We also have kittens. 4 of them. We had five, but I gave one away. The children haven't touched them, so they stand a fighting chance at survival.

Here are the five... the striped one has become part of someone else's family.

 As soon as Mama Cat brings the kittens out, I'll get pictures... of the children mauling holding them, too.

We also have more loads of wood coming in to replenish the woodpile, we're getting ready to plant our gardens, and life is great.

Andrew and LeGrand - tilling the squash garden.  One of their favorite things to do.

Bee-coming a Beekeeper

I am proud to announce that I am a beekeeper. I built my first hive on May 3, after having a tornado of bees take up residency in our woodpile that Andrew brought home from Portland. There is something fascinating about having Honey Bees take up residency on your property. When we first saw them, the children had been sent outside to do some school work (beautiful day, they weren't doing anything in the house, why not?). Savannah shortly thereafter came running down the hill to tell me that we had something swirling in the air, and it must be a "hibernating thing". Not a hibernating thing. A SWARMING, Triangulating thing. Basically, the bees were lost and trying to find themselves.

So, they decided to make their home in the woodpile. Not so o.k. with Andrew. Or me, for that matter. Needless to say, I did some quick research and found a beekeeper who was willing to sell me materials for a bee box, found a friend with a bee suit I could borrow so that I could move my bees without getting stung, and VOILA! I am now, keeper of the bees.

Bees are fascinating. They clean their frames out meticulously. And they are surprisingly gentle. LeGrand was amazed that he could "pet a bee" without getting stung, and has sat with me for many long minutes watching as the bees push old dirt and old hive from other bees out of their new home. Not only is it rewarding to know that we will have our own honey, it's surprisingly calming to watch the bees doing their work.

the box with all 10 frames inside

the box, waiting for bees

getting ready to move the bees

SUCCESS! Bees are moved! NO stings...

carefully petting a bee - under mom's shadow...

cleaning house. The pile of dirt in the lower right hand corner is what they have taken out. They're very efficient.

I would like to say that I haven't been stung, but that wouldn't be true. I was stung last Friday when I couldn't leave them be. (every pun intended). I was checking on their progress, and Andrew needed me to see something. In my haste to put the lid back on the bees, I angered two of them and one stung me on the knee - the other on the side of my hand. The knee hurt. The hand, not so much. And two of my bees died. I probably squished a lot more after the two stung me, too - trying to get the lid down without being stung more. Bees can, after all, smell fear... and after being stung, I was afraid. Very afraid. For now, I am leaving them be. And watching from a safe distance as they clean and bring in pollen and do their work. In the fall, we plunder and eat honey. But they don't need to know that...yet.

Grandma Ruth

I just love this picture. And my Grandma. She's a wonderful lady.

The Sunroom... An update.

 

This isn't part of the sunroom. I just think it's cute that Bailey was obsessed with playing in this grocery bag for 20 - 30 minutes. She's hilarious.

Now. The sunroom.

It has electricity. It has walls. It has a FLOOR! It's a LOT warmer than it used to be. And, we're in the process of picking paint.

Andrew. Caulking the walls. Already it's warmer.

The floor. I'm in love with it. Andrew finished sanding it today, he puts the finishing touches on it tomorrow! 

Andrew is taking the remainder of the month off so that he can finish this room completely. I'm looking forward to having my kitchen put back together, and being able to eat in the sunroom again. It has stairs leading up to the door now. Savannah helped Andrew with them.

We haven't picked paint colors yet, but we have lots of sample colors on the walls! The positive is that we know what color the laundry room is going to be...

More updates later!

This just makes me laugh

I post this photo of Margaret because it makes me laugh. I asked her to smile with some teeth. She did.

Easter Events with "Gram"

Easter events with Gram (Margaret has decided that "Grandma" is too long a word, so shortened it...) are anticipated for the entire month before Easter. The children like looking for eggs, but more than that, they LOVE decorating eggs with Gram. So... here's the photo essay (with some narration) of this year's events.

Aunt Rachel and her boyfriend, Jamie, scattered all the eggs. Some of them were well hidden so that the older children would have a harder time finding them, but all in all, it looked like the Easter Bunny exploded all over the yard.

All the colored dots are eggs. There were A LOT. and ever so fun to pick up!

Bailey. Intent on gathering eggs. Nothing was breaking her focus.

Not to be outdone, Caroline is seen here taking a break from her hunting.

That basket of LeGrand's was filled to the top!

Still more, but there's time to cheese it.

Here. I'll give you this one, and I'll have the next one. Or two. Or three...

Savannah's eggs were a little harder for her to find, but she found them all!

Margaret was a fast gatherer. She had a well laden basket.

Checking out the loot...

Savannah found the Golden Egg! And Jamie switched  the contents so it was $10!!!

Mom, this is too hot. It's WAY too warm. Can I be done?

A successful hunt! (L-R: Bailey, Caroline, Kyle, LeGrand, Margaret, Kennedy, Savannah)

And then, after all the other festivities, it was time to decorate eggs. Each child has their own dozen to decorate. Some are a little faster than others. (One year, LeGrand took maybe 2 minutes to dye all of his eggs... and they were all the same color.)

  

Waiting for the egg to turn just the right shade of purple...

Really learning from Grandma.

See! They're turning blue!

Some are faster dunkers than others - LeGrand has his two colors, Caroline her little rainbow, Savannah her creative eggs, and Margaret - still waiting for that perfect purple! They ended up making a different purple dye - the other didn't work.

Grandma. Helping with the egg dying process.

Gram did a fantastic job teaching Caroline the finer arts of getting the PERFECT color!

And here's the speed dunking champion! This year, he was still intent on one color... thankfully, Gram sits by him and switches colors.

Bailey didn't participate in the egg dying this year. She was taking a nap. Much love and thanks to Grandma Stahr for putting on a fantastic egg hunt and some wonderful egg dying! The egg salad leftovers are fantastic!