Chubby Bee Babies.

This weekend….

…

…The girls are all a squeal with stage make-up…

So while peacefully making a strawberry rhubarb crisp I had to stop and paint my girls up.

Even the fresh strawberries looked on in disdain at the brightness of  the red lipstick.

If it wasn’t for their over the top joy when I put the lipstick on I would not be able to push myself to put makeup on their perfect skin.  Their big performance is coming up and although they are dancing I feel like it is making me jump through hoops.  They love the makeup and fuss… but I feel like I am getting the girls ready to work at the T-shirt shop at the Jersey Shore… it is all so over the top.

…

…The bees are in full swing and we are adding another super (level).

I love this picture because it shows you the growth of bee~babies.  The lower you look in the cells you can see tiny babies (See how they don’t fill up the cell)…and as you go up the frame you can see chubbier babies.  I like much better, to think of them as chubby babies and not bee larva…can we all agree on that? (smile)… tiny babies and chubby babies.  Either way it is all a sign of health and happiness in the bee kingdoms.

So I think we will leave them alone for a few weeks….err… or at least till someone wants to see them up close.  They are fascinating.

I am so glad we acquired two hives…our Copper Kingdom is just as healthy as can be…and the Silver Kingdom is a comedy of errors.  I am pretty sure every time we open up the Silver hive they all give me the mini bee middle finger… First we miscounted and didn’t put in 10 frames and they built  a huge comb on the ceiling… and then the hive was lopsided….plus that is the one we are going foundationless in and I think the bees are just over us at this point.  Either way they are going about their way cleaning up after my mistakes…and chubby bee babies were seen.

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… the pea patch is flowering.

I love babies in my pea patch.  So much so that during our adoption home study interview, way back when, I mentioned how it is one of my favorite images.  So this year as “my baby” is helping me twirl the peas shoots around the trellis…I got a bit nostalgic…remembering times like this post.

With the mild winter and warm spring we are already harvesting:

2lbs rhubarb

2 colanders of spinach

2.5lbs of radishes (don’t ask me what I am doing with all of them…I have no idea…want some?)

3 bunches/gallons of mint for tea.

This week I have planted:

multiple varieties of tomatos

a bed of spaghetti squash

a bed of butternut squash (and a new-to-me heirloom variety which is supposed to be extra sweet)

two rows of spring onions

2 tomatillos (a first for me)

6 false alarm jalepenos (my only hybrid… but they are worth it. All jalepeno flavor and no heat.  They are my favorite pepper in the whole world.  Nothing like them!)

6 zuchinnis

2 cucumbers (I know my grandmother will give me buckets…so we only plant for salads at our place)

countless rows of green beans in every color.

~Phew!  Now it is all preparing for PFW, tonight.  We are babysitterless again…sigh.  I know it is awesome for our kids to see what we do, and don’t get me wrong our kids are not fidgety… If I tell them to sit and color they just will.  They know there are times when you must just act older then you are…and that is fine by them.  They get it. They don’t make a peep for the entire three hours…they just sit, color and read.  It’s not them…it’s me.  It’s hard for me not to be distracted by them just being  there…so I hope I am just building a spiritual muscle.  OR maybe I just need to rest in the fact that I am raising well behaved kids who can handle being told to sit for three hours. Because in the end I do want to do this type of thing with them…and it has only been recently (like 2 months ag0) that  I even have ever had a babysitter.~T

sharing this at ginny’s.