Honey Day!

Sept. 25th was Honey Day! We had to wait for a warm, non-windy day to go in and take out the honey frames from our hive. It was a perfect day, plus my Pops, Grandma and Grandpa and the Schocks were able to come over and witness the whole process.

Peter and I worked together to take the frames out, I shook the bees off and then Peter brushed off the rest with the bee brush. Then I ran each frame over to my Pops who guarded the box of honey filled frames with towel so the bees wouldn't fly back in.

Our bee hive totaled 4 boxes, the top two are the honey boxes (supers), which is honey for us, the 3rd one down is honey for the bees food supply in winter and some brood (baby bees), and the bottom box is mostly brood.

Then we brought the 2 boxes of honey frames into the kitchen and frame by frame cut off the top layer of wax that seals in the honey.

We hand spun the frames, 2 at a time, in the extractor for 5 minutes per side. Here are the Grandpas extracting honey. Most of the time we had the kids sit on the lid of the extractor so it wouldn't shake so much. It was like a ride. The kids also took turns spinning it so it was a pretty long process. After that the honey went through a series of strainers and into the big valve bucket.

Beautiful honey!

A couple of days later we filled the honey jars.

Our little bees made us around 50 pounds of honey! Our bees have definitely been way more of a success than our chickens (who have still laid zero eggs), less messy (except for this very sticky honey day) and way more tasty!

A Fair Day

I love going to the fair and this year I got to go twice! Once with the whole family and once with just my Pops - cause I had to go back and see the quilts and art. Peter could care less about those exhibits so he sacrificially stayed home with the kids.

We saw the animals, pet the piglets, ate elephant ears, got faces painted and the most exciting thing we've done so far - mutton bustin'!

Here we all are right before we saw all the big horses.

Eben and Kivi were so brave! They really wanted to try the mutton bustin' - riding a sheep like it's a bull. So we sign them up, got their gear on, and let them be part of the show. It costs $10 a kid, so that was their ride for the day, but it was a hoot and so memorable! Eben's sheep ran out of the gate for 20 feet and then stopped, so he fell right off. Kivi's sheep ran hard and fast but she hung on like a champ and then after 2.5 seconds landed in the mud. They both got up smiling and got ribbons.

Opal and Dada petting a goat.

The girls with their faces painted.

Our traditional fair picture - minus the cotton candy. I don't know what was wrong with me - I didn't feel like eating cotton candy.

September Stuff

On Sept 17th we decided to go to the Seattle Science Center with all the kiddos, but alas, it was closed! This makes two trips to the closed museum this year. Maybe one day we'll learn and find out online, before we leave the house, if it's open. We still had a fun day, walking around the Space Needle, fountains and climbing on stuff.

Then we went to visit my sister at her work and walk a little of Green Lake before hanging at her place.

Sept 19th

Since Kivi is now 5 she got to take her first ride on the motorcycle with Dada!

This is why I love having our kids all close in age! They turned Berg's seat upside-down and into a spaceship.

Sept. 20th

And this is why having the older kids around all day is a great thing! This is Kivi's first poopy diaper. She's so great with Berg and loves to take care of him.

Jasper's Jetski Party!

Our Baby Thumbkin turned 4! He's been asking for a jet ski party for years and we'd put it off. September gets cold for swimming. But we gave in, knowing it's his favorite thing ever and our great friends actually showed up (with swim suits) to celebrate in the rain! He loved it!

Here's Bubba riding with Mr. Jon, Alyssa and Eben.

Tarp City:

We roasted hot dogs, had some yummy beans Miss Marie made, fruit from Grandma and drank hot cocoa to keep warm. The bon fire was almost too hot so stand next to. Dada's roasting a hot dog and his face off.

The Nevil family making their dinner.

Jasper blowing out the candles on "the dock" of his jetski cake:

We love you so much Jasper! You're such a bundle of fun, energy and rough cuddling. You love to share with your brothers and sisters and we always see you thinking of others and what they would want. We pray that you would live your life with this much enthusiasm every day, and show others God's love through your joy and care for them.

Sand In The City '10

This year we saw some cool sand sculptures in Olympia at Sand In The City. I love this event. It's free, there's tons of crafts for the kids to do, it's right on the waterfront and you can go through the farmer's market too. And a bonus - Peter got to come with us this year!

I had to take a picture of Bubba and the sand gnomes. This one was my favorite.

Our family shot with the Children's Museum sculpture.

The Mama, Dada and Berg sculpture.

The kid statue.

Playing in the cool sand they haul in. It's so soft and fun to feel. We made an awesome tunnel, lake town.

Good Summer Things

Kivi is always drawing, writing, coloring, creating. This was one of her super cute notes for Berg:

Cock-a-doodle-duped again! Another rooster! Eben's chicken, and everyone's favorite, Tiny, is definitely a roo. So we'll have to say goodbye to him too. But we might as well wait and see if any others are pretending to be hens, because we suspect more of them will come clean and start crowing. We have as of yet... no eggs.

Jasper "playing" with Berg:

The twins at Round Table pizza where we cashed in Eben and Kivi's library summer reading reward before heading to Sand in the City.

LMNOP Progressive Dinner

On August 25 our small group loaded up in the bus for a fun evening of food and driving. The back of the bus looked like this:

Everyone took turns going to the back to get a plate of fruit, nuts, bread, crackers, and of course, cheese and wine. Actually, most of us had sparkling cider.

Here's our cool small group next to the bus:

Our first stop was salad and bread in Puyallup at the Metcalfes:

Then we went to Dupont where the Norquists and Nevils served us the main course of potatoes and ham:

And then back to Lakewood for chocolate dump cake and berry cobbler at the Schocks:

It was a great summer fun day with our small group. We love these fun people. And now our cool mixed church small group has divided and one family moved away. Growing and birthing seems to be the way of small groups. But we'll never forget all the wonderful times we've shared with these families and how God has blessed us with these great friends.

Jr. Police Academy

One thing I tackled with all five kiddos, a rarity now-a-days, was going to the Jr. Police Academy, which Peter worked... so I guess I wasn't all by myself, but, he couldn't really help me while he was manning his post.

There were tons of stations for the kids to visit and they loved it. There was actually a little too much to do. And we had to do all of it to get our "passports" stamped so each kid could get a backpack at the end filled with goodies.

Here are Eben and Kivi in the SWAT gear with Mr. Wiley and Berg

Kivi doing a part of an obstacle course where she had to drag her wounded, heavy victim 10 feet.

At the Bike Rodeo with Dada teaching them the proper way to ride and learning hand signals. Dada's station was the best. He gave out candy. And they got to ride their bikes.

Jasper at the Tai Kwon Do station. Amazingly enough the board snapped open by itself after Bubba tried to break it 5 times. We think he used his mind powers.