buzzzz!!!!

Hubs and I made this mason bee post about a month ago, and the bees have finally started moving in! We drilled holes into an old fence post - they're about 1/4" wide and go almost all the way to the back of the post.

We stuck the post in our backyard facing east. And now, a month later, mason bees have visited and laid their eggs. How exciting is that? (Unless Hubs is playing a trick on me and filling in the holes with mud himself.)

I think this project would be fun to do with children! Mason bees DON'T sting, and I can't wait to start watching them pollinate my flower beds. I've heard that watching bees is more fun that watching television. I almost believe it because it's been pretty darn fun just staring at the post!

This video showed us how to make our bee post. We didn't do the roof part, and it seems like it's still going to work. Beware, the mason bee song on this video is almost too catchy...

a spoonful of sugar GIVE-A-WAY!!!

In celebration of itty bitty love's new duds AND the fact that I'm back to blogging, I'm hosting my first ever give-a-way.
Hip hip hooray!
I really want to express my love for all you fellow bloggers! :)
So, for your give-a-way pleasure, I present to you
6 spectacular spoons:

I'm not sure if spoons give anyone else a thrill (maybe it's just me), but an unusual spoon is often a major point of interest to a child. Honestly! Plus, it's possible that I might throw in a few other itty bitty treats...

Here's how you can enter the spoonful of sugar give-a-way:
Leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite thing to eat with a spoon.

The contest will end Sunday (6/28/09) at 9:00pm mountain standard time. Oh! And I'm choosing the winner with a random number generator! How cool is that?!


If spoons aren't quite your thing, hang in there - I'm enjoying this give-a-way so much, I plan on doing another one soon!

new look!

Itty bitty love is getting a makeover! Yay!

Bannack!

If you ever find yourself in Montana, you have to visit Bannack. It's pretty much the best ghost town ever - in my opinion. Virginia City (the Hollywood of ghost towns) is okay, but Bannack is the real deal.

You can pretty much poke around wherever you want.

Some of the houses look like this inside...


and some are a little less funky.


Can't you just imagine the gold miners and the outlaws and the soiled doves???

OH!!! I LOVE ghost towns!

If only I was born in 1882 instead of 1982...

sigh...

cure for spring fever part 2

When life gives you lemons... make lemonade!
Life had given us inclement weather those last few days of school, so making lemonade seemed like the perfect plan. As you can probably imagine, it was a HUGE hit!

Materials:
*1-2 lemons
*cuttingboard
*pumpkin carver (for cutting lemon)
*juicer
*bowl for waste
*pitcher
*tiny spoon for removing seeds
*large spoon for stirring
*sugar (1/4 cupish)
*cups for serving
*cloth and sponge (for clean-up)

First, the child cuts the lemon in half. Eeek! Is that a knife?!?! No, it's a pumpkin carver! It's probably still semi-dangerous, but the child was shown how to use the carver correctly and safely. If you could see the concentration on his face, you would know he took the responsibility quite seriously. :)

Squeeze! Squeeze! Squeeze!

The child spoons out the seeds.

He pours the juice into the pitcher. Then, he adds the sugar, and tops it off with water. The line on the side of the pitcher (made from tape) shows him where to stop.

Finally, he stirs it up. Tiny feet begin to appear in the background. Everyone wants a taste!

This child is an obliging chef (bartender?).

He pours a glass for everyone, and they swarm in like bees to honey!

*If you're getting tired of looking at my dark, unfocused, grainy, sad photos - fear not! A new camera is on its way! I can't even begin to express how excited I am! Yay! Good pictures! Finally!