mean old woman....

Yep that is the title I received tonight when I went to put Rori to bed at 8:00 pm. She informed me that I was a "mean old woman". I did not think that this day would come this soon, or that it would hurt so bad.

After I was done being mad, Rori and I talked about what had happened and she told me she just felt mad in her heart. I love Rori's ability to understand people and the way they feel along with how she feels. As she was apologizing she was crying, I asked her way she was crying she told me "i just feel sad about what I said".

I love you Rori even if I am a "mean old woman" at least I will always be YOUR mean old woman. Sleep well my little Roo.

my little lou

Lately Gracie has really been keeping me on my toes as she begins to discover her independence. I thought I knew a lot about parenting and child development but Gracie has taught me great humility.

After one of her potty accidents I took her to the tub to get cleaned off. As I was looking for some clean underwear (which is virtually impossible to find lately) she decided to take off and this is where I found her.

Yes this is the front yard and yes that is a pile of dirt. As I watched her fascination with the dirt I realized how fleeting these childhood moments are, I love her and her determination to figure out the world. Being a mother is the greatest job ever.

To Bee or not To BEE‏

When Nate was a teenager he would visit his great-grandmother Larue on her farm in south west Montana. His great-grandfather had passed away when he was around 10 or 11 years old. Each year as he visited his grandma (who he christened “Grandma-Far-Away” as a young child) they would have various projects to complete. More often than not, some of those projects would involve cleaning up or out some of his great grandfather’s belongings.



While cleaning out a storage room one summer Nate found his great-grandpa’s bee veil and smoker. Since that time he has been fascinated with the idea of keeping bees “just like grandpa did”.


So we bought a hive and a package of bees this year. It’s definitely a big change to not “freak” out when the bees land on you- but we have had an incredible time managing the hive to this point, as well as learning about the incredible lives of bees.

About five days after we placed the bees in the hive they swarmed and deserted the hive. No one is sure why- sometimes they just do that. We have a hard time keeping track of two little blond-headed girls- I guess 6,000 bees is even harder to keep tabs on.


Nate was pretty discouraged- but I wanted him to do it. I knew it was important to him. So I made some more connections and got help in catching another swarm. This time we have 30,000 bees.


We are in the process of getting it prepped to go into our own hive now.

We will keep you updated on our hive, our rogue bees, and try to stay away from anymore overly used and corny Shakespearean-referenced-blog-entry-titles.