KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS....

SO, as you know scarecrow and I have two 2 1/2 year olds. It is like he says "imagine having a toddler who has a friend over every single day!!!" That sums it up.

Some days it is mayhem and fighting. Other days they are the best of friends. I sometimes have to separate them at nap time into different rooms so that they will sleep and not play. More recently since the addition of our baby butterfly I have had to separate them in the morning, errr shall we say middle of the night. See, the little butterfly cries and wakes one of the twins, they then turn on their bedroom light whether it is 2 am or 5am. Lo and behold I find them awake jumping off the nightstands or wrestling on the floor. I brought sweet pea into our bedroom and had her sleep on the floor at the foot of our bed until the "sun came up". As soon as she saw little sprout it was "hi" and hugs, like they had not seen one another in days rather only 1 1/2 hours. Oh we need a noise machine in a bad way!

Now mind you I do not understand all that they say. Yes, they have conversations with each other at times and I am just left in the dark. They however prattle on, understanding one another completely!! It is nice once in a while when I cannot get what one is saying, just ask the other one and they will help interpret.

One rule in our house is no gum until you are three years old. Nana brought a sucker with gum in the middle. I read the wrapper as she was eating her sucker. Nana quickly explained the gum was in the center of the sucker and sweet pea says "I cant see it" she chomped that sucker so fast it would make your head spin and shouted out "I see it" when she got to the gum! I did let her have this one, yep she swallowed the gum.

Little sprout is also obsessed with the gum he cannot have. He climbed up on his kid size chair and said "I bigger now, gum?" We were in hysterics. Sweat pea wondered if it would work, hey what the heck, if I can get some gum out of it.... so she did the same thing.

Oh let me not forget to mention, just 3 days ago at nana and papas house, the little dears raided nanas purse and went through a whole PACK of gum. I found them in the living room on the floor with her purse contents sprawled out, each had 4-6 pieces of gum in their mouths chewing frantically. I did gather a messy pink gob from each of their mouths, before anyone tried to swallow and choke, whew!

We have of course been enjoying fall. Little sprout has noticed the trees changing colors and declared "God painted those trees", yes He did indeed!!

We do enjoy meals at our house together, often it is scarecrow and I talking over the two little ones noise. But last week the two wee ones had a very cute conversation, keep in mind we have just ended a remodeling project (upcoming post) ongoing for two years and their daddy has been doing a lot of work on the house. Little sprout " This is mine house, this is sissys house" Sweet pea "yeah, it pretty" Little sprout "daddy fix it".

Other times the conversations that I over hear make me chuckle as one tries to get the other to do something. Another rule in our house is you do not get out of bed at bedtime. It seem sweet pea is not so sweet at times but quite crafty in getting things done. She routinely asks her brother when they are in bed, with the lights out, to get out of bed and open the shades, turn the light on, get her a book (which is out in the hall way!) or a toy ( in the toy box in their room with a lid so heavy they usually cannot lift it!). He often complies and then gets in trouble. Just the first lesson of many that girls can be trouble!

Cholate and carbs what could be better?

I have a family favorite recipe that my mom made

for my sister and I while growing up. It involves

chocolate and bread, two of my favorite things. It is

a recipe that my mom made every fall, chocolate

zucchini bread. I remember having a thick warm

slice for breakfast with a pat of butter on it.

A great way to use up the abundance of zucchini

we get from the garden at the end of the season

Perfect for those cool fall mornings, if it lasts in your house that long

MAKE THIS YUMMY BREAD, YOU AND YOURS WILL LOVE IT!!

CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI BREAD:






3 EGGS 3 TSP VANILLA 3 CUPS FLOUR 2 CUPS SUGAR




1/2 CUP NUTS 1 CUP OIL 2 CUPS GRATED ZUCCHINI (PEALED)




1 TSP SALT 3 TSP CINNAMON 1 TSP BAKING SODA




2-4 Tbsp COCOA POWDER 1 BAG OF CHOCOLATE CHIPS 1/2 CUP MARASCHINO CHERRIES

Mix all ingredients together, fill two loaf pans and bake at 325 for one hour. Enjoy!

Summer, no wait it's fall

Oh summer, it is now gone. We enjoyed our last day of summer at the pool.

Okay, the kiddie pool that is. Well it is not actually ours it is our cousins who generously lent it to us for the summer while they were up at the cottage on lake Huron.

It hit 89 sunny hot degrees. I just changed out summer clothes for fall/winter clothes so the hot fleece pajamas had to come off, down to the diapers, out to the pool, YEAH. My girlfriend and I turned on the sprinkler and everyone enjoyed the water and the pool!!

It gave fighting, screaming toddlers something to enjoy and us moms a chance to chat and chill.

Oh, of course, the very next day it was fall and the weather showed it. Brrrr, a cool evening. So cool in fact that we made a fire in our fire pit and sat outside for dessert bundled up in our coats and of course our beloved rain boots.

Mrs. Busy Bee had a much needed glass of merlot while scarecrow tended a toasty inviting fire.

With the cool weather kicking in we had a hankering for apples and cider. We took a trip to the cider mill. Sweet pea & little sprout were giddy about riding behind the tractor. They loved picking apples off of the tree and eating them. YUM! We saw farm animals and tried our best ot get our mugs in the cutouts, we'll do better next year when we are taller! Dinner that night was donuts hot off the press and cider!! OHHHH I can still taste them.

Baby butterfly slept the entire time in the carrier attached to scarecrow. We were able to pick four varities of apples and have enjoyed making applesauce together.

Mrs. busy bee will tackle making the apple pie when she is not so BUSY! We are enjoying eating our 17 pounds of apples in the meantime.

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!!