Birdy treats, apple painting... any takers??

The joys of fall in our home are making apple paintings and of course birdy treats. That is what 2 1/2 year old sweet pea and little sprout call them. I have to admit I had alot of fun making these yummy treats and master paintings. I know I have you wondering now, what exactly is a birdy treat or apple painting especially with toddlers? For fall? Never heard of the like!
Well here goes. When you have two toddlers who are not potty trained, whose birthdays come in January, and therefore cannot attend preschool you come up with some creative ways to spend your time and thiers.

Lets start with some fresh apples, yum! We take the apples, halve them and get ready to dip them in washable paint. First of course we don our adorable paint smocks (courtesy of Ruby Red Slippers!) Next we dip our apples in our fave paint and stamp it on our paper bags. or have Ms. Busy bee do it if you don't like to get your hands messy as is the case with little sprout.

Then draw some butterfly anteneas and a beautiful painting awaits scarecrow when he arrives home! Oh yes, of course lastly, you eat some apples!

Birdie treats are the next item of fun for fall.

Ingredients:a bagel, assorted chopped nuts, peanut butter, dried fruit and a few happy helpers - we had our nana, sweet pea, &little sprout.

Spread on some gooey PB, roll or sprinkle on your nuts and berries, string each side and hang for the birdies to have a special treat!!

So much fun to be had in this season of thanksgiving. I truly am thankful to be home with my little helpers and enjoy each day making memories!! Until next time, Ms. Busy Bee

A new member of the family

I swore I would not take longer than a six month blog break. Well, I stand corrected it has been nearly 12 months. Where has the time gone you wonder? Did the garden go dormant for the year. Ohhhh NO!! Far from it, the garden is quite bountiful.

Let me fill you in on some of the going ons in our garden:

We have been tending to new life!!!

First let me introduce you to the newest member of our family. She is four weeks old and as beautiful as a garden butterfly. We did not expect to be able to have any more addittions to our garden. God saw we needed an extra special blessing and granted us a beautiful baby girl on August 16th!! She is very content, sweetnatured, and happy. She is even letting Mrs. Busy Bee get 4-5 hour strtches of sleep at night. YEAH!!!

Sweet pea and little sprout are taking to her very well. They are kind and gentle. Perhaps causing a little more mischief but helping tend to our little butterfly as well.

We have finally finished up remodeling. One month shy of two years, yes that is not a typo. Our builder took 2 years to complete the project. We are glad it is finished. Scarecrow just has a few projects left on the interior like tiling the master bathtub and guest shower, refinishing the stair treads in wood (getting rid of the carpet, yehaw!) and putting up some trim.

We celebrated eleven years of tending our garden just five days ago. My that time has gone quickly!

Overall we are continuing to tend our growing garden, feel overwhelmingly blessed, thankful, and joyful. We will aim to keep you updated on our garden happenings weekly not yearly.

6, yes SIX MONTH BLOG BREAK

Six month blog break, that has to be in the running for the longest blog break EVER!!

Why oh why you may be thinking, what has been happening with the twins, with you?

Oh just let me dish, there is ample reason

1. Home remodel, need I say more?

o.k. I will, it has been 11mo and21 days of remodeling. I am without a washer, dryer, pantry, and some of my marbles. Yeah, yeah, in the end it will be worth it, well guess the freakin' what.... I am soooo ready for the end. I will likely need to endure another few mo. I will keep you posted

2. POOP EMERGENCY

Yes, having two little bumpkins is a joy, most of the time. Not so much when you stay in a hotel, come back from the pool, take diapers off, for 2 min. (literally) sit down to read a book while hubby brushes his teeth in the bathroom before you plop the kids in the bath and look up to see your little angel Little Sprout in this case, whining trying to shake a glob of POOP off his foot. Oh, yeah, lots of poop. It was a true POOP EMERGENCY!!!! Not only the little fellow but sweet pea as well. Yep, they had both pooped while playing in the room and tracked poop all over the room,bed, couch, toys, themselves, it was one smelly mess. That is all I will say on the subject, one I never want to relive!!!!

3. Marker, Marker on the wall

Well not just on the wall, on the walls of the office, on sweet pea, on little sprout, and not just any marker, no, oh no the ones that make you crazy, sharpie pens, BLACK! I never heard the plastic box filled with colored pencils and two sharpies fall. How do two toddlers pick out two black sharpie markers, get the caps off and write all over everyting in site??? Why oh why not the colored pencils???? Well it came off with a magic ereaser, mostly off the walls, completely off them.

4. One not so happy note

Unfortunately, we suffered a miscarriage in April. At ten weeks we thought we were nearly in the clear (we had had one early miscarriage before the twins were born). It was not to be. The exciting thing was the baby was due the day after my sisters birthday. It was a sad spring and takes time to recover physically, emotionally. God does know best is the conclusion I have come to.

5. Two Toddlers

Now the little tikes are walking, running, jumping, talking. I feel like I do not have as much time for me, I am pooped by 8pm! I must say so myself, they are awful cute, it is a tremendous joy living on planet mom. They are keeping me on my toes!!

I intend to become a rehabbed blogger, I promise not to let my garden go for 6 months again :)

POQIITA BANDITA

Oh the joys of remodeling your home. We are expanding our garage and redoing the upstairs master bedroom and bath. We have thus far had a smooth ride in the remodeling proscess which started in the fall.
Smooth that is until we had an UNEXPECTED house guest. It was the perfect timing really, Scarecrow was to head out of town on business the next morning when our house guest arrived. Lets just say we named her POQUITA BANDITA which translates little bandit, the clue for LIVE RACOON, yes in my house!!!!!!!!!! Actually in MY CLOSET.

That morning scarecrow found excrement in our upstairs hallway, strange especially because we don't have any animals. He clued in quickly and began an upstairs search. The door to the nursery is ALWAYS shut at night , thank the good lord, the bath and guest room turned up no visitors. Scarecrows closet, nothing amiss. Busy bees closet held the culprit, a female racoon, curled up in the corner. YIKES, FREAKY, how in the world did a coon end up in my closet??
I only saw pictures too. I would not enter the room and moved out to my mom's house for 5 days.

The animal control specialist put it all together. Poquita Bandita entered through a hole the builder made (grapefuit size will do!), climbed up to the attic, down a wall and through a plumbing access panel for the bathroom, located in the guest bedroom. The builder set a live trap (canned cat food fishy smelling is the best bait) and she took it. She was hauled out and let free at a distant golf course. If you don't take them 10 miles or more they find their way back to your cozy abode by their incredible sense of smell!!



Our home is now sealed and free of Coon Guests, I only lost a pair of slippers and black shoes to the house guest, she ate them:( I have already gone shopping, there are benefits to house guests I suppose!!

JAVA JIVE!

I Love Coffee!! It is that rich aroma when you grind the beans that is so very enticing and the rich smooth taste with a hint of Sweet Italian Cream, ohhhhh it is the best creamer ever invented. The creamer was introduced to us by Tin Man and Ruby Red slippers. KUDOS

Now we have a new way to drink coffee in the am, his and hers mugs.

A v- day gift from my lovable scarecrow. Ohhh how very sweet you must be thinking he is not scary at all.. I want them too. Yes you can get them, he ordered them online at http://www.familychristian.com/ Get this... they even have a black heart in the bottom of the mug. Sweet pea and little sprout would love to get their hands on them. We just let them know they are reserved for the Mr. and MRS :)

For any coffee connoisseurs out there may I suggest a new coffee? Not one you can find around here..... It is FAIR WAGE COFFEE!! This provides farmers in third world countries a fair wage for the beans they grow. It helps them afford the necessities- clean water, food, and health care. The 963 Coffee project was created to care for the poor, orphans, and provide meds for people living with HIV/ AIDS. The coffee is GOOD by the way, we have 10 bags to get through!! Check it out http://www.963missions.com/

Here is a belated happy Valentines from Sweet pea and little sprout!!

I FEEL GOOD !!!! I KNEW THAT I WOULD NOW....

OH, yes we all feel good. The CRUD as my mom and one blogger termed it lasted for five long days.
Now we are back to bathing once a week, not 3-4 x per day. Life is good!!
Sweet pea and little sprout are hollering for more food (we are working on the sign language communication thing) crawling after one another, giggling, and not screaming with diaper changes :)))))))
They were a little serious for a day or so after the ordeal.



I am happy to report we are all singing along to "I FEEL GOOD" We hope you are FEELIN'GOOD as well.

Feelin' Not So Good

OHH we were not feelin' so good superbowl sunday and beyond, but are slowly bouncing back.

Here is the short version.....

Sweet pea and little sprout picked something up from a sick baby at a moms group I attended

Why do moms take their sick kids anywhere?!!!

Lo and behold vomiting and diarrhea ensued. Now do remember I am in the medical field and have been around the above mentioned. This is my first experience as a mom.

Oh my, who can prepare you for the smell of baby vomit, I mean TWO babies vomit!!!!!!

I was covered in it one night in particular and my clothes still smell after washing them.

Not to leave out the diarrhea. I 've became quite expert at bathing two infants side by side in the sink. Multiple times a day. Oh those poor baby bottoms, thank God for neosporin, antifungal cream and butt paste!!

Did I mention scarecrow and I were sick at the same time. MY, my it is hard taking care of sick kidlets while you feel like you are on deaths door. It is times like this (sleeping right by the toilet, cleaning up your own barf bucket....) that you just want your own mom. I banned mine from coming over , I sure don't want nana to get this!!

The good news. Scarecrow and I are better, the babies are coming along, they LOVE peialyte, whew!! A special bonus today: NO runny diapers, yet! I hope this finds you well and did not leave you sick to your stomach:0 Off to do more laundry!!!!