Nana and Pappy took Finley to the farm by herself for the first time.  She tried on Pappy's hat to make sure she looked good in a straw hat.

We were on the road when I realized we had not brought along her blanket.  THE BLANKET.  The blanket that she drags around the house morning, noon and night.  The blanket she's never slept without. OMG!  I somehow forgot the blanket!  I tried adult reasoning and explained that we were going to have to buy a new blanket at the next Walmart we found.  I took her in to the baby section and we looked at all the blankets and she calmly chose a Dora fleece blanket.  Then I distracted her from concentrating on the new blanket, by getting 3 new outfits and a new pair of shoes.  A girl can't resist shopping!

 

It worked! She sat in the backseat with a box of honey bees buzzing on the floor and didn't fuss about it.  We had been in the truck for 3 hours and she hadn't stopped talking, singing, crying, laughing, talking some more and 30 minutes outside of Corrigan, she fell asleep - with her new blankie!    There is nothing to compare to the power of a Nana.

Here's one of her dresses.  Doesn't she look cute- but I think she knows it.

 Saturday night we all had spaghetti at Stella and Ben's house next door.  Here Finley's eating dinner with Grandmother.

Here she is eating with PaPa.

She thought the chocolate cake was the best and wanted a second piece.  However, I, being the possessor of Nana power, knew that a second helping of sugar meant I wasn't going to bed early. Oh come on- she only cried for a few minutes....

See, I knew what I was talking about.  Sleeping like an Angel.

Mike and I snuck outside early Sunday morning to enjoy a cup of hot tea and listen to the birds while Finley slept in.  We must have been too loud because she didn't sleep long.  But she was willing to sit in my lap for a while.

Pappy made us breakfast which was a big hit.  She insists on wearing a bandana on her head as soon as I put one on.  Look at that face!!

 

I brought along a plastic fish watering can for her to help water the plants.  She put on her rubber boots, her hat, sunscreen and we watered the muscadines, the sunflowers, the pecan trees and the grape vines. She got a little tired and had to sit a while.

Very independent.  She didn't want me to help at all.  She wanted to hold the water hose all by herself.

After she soaked herself with the water hose, we changed into another pair of pajamas!  Then we walked next door to see cousin Stella.

 Finley is such a good worker!  She walked and watered and walked and watered.  I gave her the Ipad to look at on the way home and she was asleep within 5 minutes and slept almost the whole trip.  YESSSS!

Finley's trip to the farm is over - we had such a good time!

We finally did it!  We picked up our honey bees from R. Weaver Apiaries on Saturday morning.  They came in their own little wooden screen box for transport.   We put them in the backseat of the truck with our 2 year old granddaughter, Finley and headed to the farm.  Caution:  hold the box by the wooden ends and not the screen side!

The queen is hanging in the middle of the box in her own tiny little cage giving off pheromones so the other bees will start to accept her.

Here’s the bottom box of the hive getting ready for the bees.  We removed 4 to 5 of the frames to make room for the bees.  There’s the bee brush to move the bees around without crushing them.  There’s my gloves that protects my hands and arms.  And there’s the bottle of sugar water to feed the little guys until they start collecting pollen.

Here’s the last picture I took for a few minutes.  Did you know you cannot use the iphone camera with leather gloves on? I know! It surprised me too!  However, when Mike took the lid off the bee box to remove the queen – they were really ticked off.  They came zooming out of that box flying around and I was SO GLAD I had on a bee hat, veil, leather gloves, and Velcro around my ankles so they did not fly up my pants legs!   I promise, every possible bee available opening was covered up!

After we hung the queen in her little cage in the bottom box, we sprayed the bees with sugar water to make them sticky – it makes shaking them out of the little box into their new home a little easier.  That’s right, you turn the small box upside down and SHAKE them into the big box on top of the queen.    They love her and groom her and feed her until they can get her out of her little tiny cage.  It has a candy plug at the bottom that they have to eat through to get to her.

Whatever bees don’t come out of the box when you shake it, they get to climb out on their own.  So you put the box on the ground and somehow they figure out how to escape out that great big hole in the top and get in the big box.

This is the entrance for the bees for the first couple of weeks.  It’s right there.  See it?  Ok, it’s “bee” hind that clump of bees.  Oh come on – it’s the first pun today!

Here’s the final picture of the hive.  The top honey super also has frames and there’s a lid on top of that which makes it really heavy.  However, a couple of weeks ago something knocked the top lid off a couple of inches and several red wasps decided it was the perfect place to live.  Mike had the honor of getting rid of them – without wasp spray.  You can’t spray poison into a bee hive!

OK, one last picture.  I’m happy, happy, happy that this experience is over.  This is the happy face of a new “bee-keeper.” 

Maybe I shouldn’t be allowed to take my own picture anymore….

You know what?  I’ve been holding back showing family pictures and outings because of Facebook.  I’m not sure I want everyone knowing my business.  So from now on – you two people who actually read my blog will have to go find it on the blogsite.

So….strawberries are in season!!  Mike and I took all four grandchildren to the strawberry farm in Magnolia to pick strawberries.  Ok, we let Amy and Kyle go with us.  J We got there about 10:00 in the morning.  We heard they were short on containers, so we took our pink Easter buckets.  Not only did the girls look so cute carrying them, but Mike looked awesome!

Amy and I took turns carrying Levi around – that boy is getting heavy.

 

We also took both of the red wagons – what a life saver – those girls are getting heavy too!

There were strawberries everywhere – and so sweet.  I’ve only had strawberries from the store.  Absolutely no comparison.  I knew right away I had to add a section to my garden for strawberries.

The girls got the hang of it – OK – not really.  Sophia wanted to ride in the wagon and eat strawberries.  Ryllee wanted someone to pick strawberries and put them in her bucket while she stood there.  And Finley wanted to run back and forth over the rows stomping on strawberries.  Wow, did we have a good time!

We took drinks and sandwiches in a cooler and ate lunch in the back of the truck afterwards.

Mike and I actually got a picture of us with all the kids.

I brought home a bucket and intended to making strawberry jam.  But you know what?  I actually had to work this week and didn’t have time.  

So, I reverted to the old standby – the dehydrator.  I sliced the strawberries and added lemon juice and Splenda.  Then put them on the dehydrator trays for 24 hours.

Five trays of strawberries filled two thirds of a quart jar.  

Can you say FLAT berries?  Well, maybe Mike and I ate a few.

Mike!  Can you build me a strawberry garden? Right now?