Welcome From Mama Bee

Thanks for dropping by The Hive!

We work to weave our homeschool days around our faith, our subtropical climate, and our coastal landscape.

Hopefully this will provide a small spot for our family and friends to follow along with our traveling, gardening, and homeschooling adventures!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Getting Settled in the New Hive

Well Dear Readers, it has been a long hot summer, but we are finally settled in our new hive. Have a look:




And here is the fabulous deck on which we plan to while away the afternoons...um...when the weather cools down below the 90s!


We're still unpacking and sorting and figuring out how we're going to 'live' here, but that is all 'details'! Our neighbor Hives are very lovely and friendly, and we think that we've picked a good spot.

For those who live here in the Southern regions with us...hope Autumn comes soon!

Mama Bee

Win a Vita Mix: For the Grand Finale…

For the Grand Finale…

For anyone feeling lucky this week...go check this give away for a Vita Mix!

Good Luck!

Mama Bee

Monday, June 22, 2009

Living in Limbo Land

Wow! I just noticed that my last post was in March!

Well, dear readers, the situation has changed alot, and in some ways, not at all!

We ultimately decided to buy a house instead of an RV; however, we're still living in the hotel while we conclude the negotiations on our El Paso house. The Worker Bees and I have carved out something of a routine during the course of our extended hotel stay, and Papa Bee has been buzzing all over the state on business related activity.

We're spending a ton of time at the beach, and I've been teaching the Worker Bees to body surf. I just discovered that there is a Summer Surf Camp, and that looks mighty tempting to Mama Bee who is tired of tending to her temporary hive in the hotel.

We're still without a camera, so unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to post of our beach adventures.

Hope that everyone is having a delightful summer!

Mama Bee

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

New Blog: One Stroke At A Time

My Aunt Ann has started a new blog to showcase her painting! Whoo-Hoo!

Stop by and check it out if you get a chance!
http://annseago-art.blogspot.com


Other news is that we are smack in the middle of moving. You know, that chaotic period of trying to buy a house in one city while selling a house in another!

And...I may have big news to report! If negotiations go sour on the house on which we're bidding (oops...should I have said 'hive'??), we are considering buying an RV and living in it until we find the perfect house. Or even, having the perfect house built while we live in the RV.

I'll keep ya posted!

Mama Bee

Friday, January 30, 2009

Bees Are Buzzing to the Beach!

Well Dear Readers, it is finally official...we're moving to the beach!

Papa Bee received a big, ol' promotion and we'll get the moving papers Very Soon now.

I'm glad. The desert climate hasn't been at all kind to me, and the air pollution here is crazy; additionally, I get altitude sickness and can't wait to get back to sea-level!

I may be in and out of the Hive while we get ready for this big move...15 hours away! But, I'll try to post some more photos of what the worker bees are doing!

Happy New Year to All!

Mama Bee

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Santa Lucia Morning


Dear Readers, how is this for 'same-day blogging'! The Worker Bees awoke in the pre-dawn light...oh excuse me...there was no pre-dawn light, that was later. The Worker Bees woke us up at freakin' 330AM...it was so hard to be reverent, but they were cute...and they brought coffee...that made it easier!

Yesterday, Papa Bee helped me measure the boys' dear little heads and we sat up and made Star Boy hats after tucking the Worker Bees into bed.


Knightly made Star Wands for both Sprocket and himself.


Here they are in their pre-dawn glory staring at the lovely Salmon and Goat Cheese Strata I made for breakfast! Did I mention how happy I was that I prepped all of the food and beverages the night before! Phew...and I didn't even know that the revelry would sound so early!


Here we go, with Horsie-Girl in all of her Lucia glory carrying the coffee for Papa Bee!


Hope that you had as lovely of a morning; albeit, hopefully starting a bit later!

Mama Bee

Friday, December 12, 2008

Watercoloring

So, Dear Readers, I decided that it was high time to clear off the counter and dig out our watercolors! A friend of mine has a honeypot of an ebook that gives 52 watercolor activities that I can do with the worker bees (Pssst...her name is Kristie, and you can buzz over to see her stuff at www.earthschooling.com!).

Best of all, for a 'Watercolor Traumatized' mama bee like me, her projects are simple and non-intimidating!

Traumatized you ask?! Absolutely!

When the Worker Bees were 1, 2, and 3 years old, some crazy, over-achiever, homeschool guru convinced me to set up my baby bees with watercolor activities! Well...the baby bees had a blast doing everything except watercoloring! They ate the paper, chewed on the brushes, and dumped the water, but no painting!

Deep Breath!

The baby bees have grown up into nice, polite worker bees now, and have the greatest respect for our materials! I haven't had to pull a brush out of anyone's mouth in years!

Anyway, here is some of what we did yesterday! No Messes, No Tears, It was a Good Day!

In honor of Santa Lucia's day on Saturday, we worked with Kristie's Lucia Watercolor activity that is prepared 'hidden picture' style. Which means, that you follow the story and don't know exactly what the picture will be until you finish...great fun!

Here is my painting.


Horsie-Girl didn't ~exactly~ follow along with what I was doing, but she always takes the most care and has the lightest colors of all of us.


Much to my surprise, Knightly followed along with me; although, as usual his is the boldest, drippiest painting of all!


I thought that Sprocket's was the most interesting. He followed Horsie-Girl and put his red lines (candles) all around the outside of the ring, then he looked up and saw how I had done mine. He took his wet sponge and 'erased' his lines. By the time he was ready to repaint them, everyone had figured out what the picture was of (Lucia's Crown), and he painted them from the perspective of looking down on Lucia's head. Sprocket even commented that it looked like her head was underneath. Confirming my suspicion that Sprocket views the world from about a 45 degree different perspective than the rest of us! :D



After we finished with the Lucia Crowns, we set them to the side to dry and everyone painted whatever they wanted.

Knightly painted a Sphinx (maybe a subtle hint for me to get the Egypt Block prepped??)



Horsie-Girl painted a red dolphin with a school of fish. She took great care painting the water around the little fishies.



Sprocket painted two shades of blue on his paper, and then he 'lifted out' a polar bear. The picture here really doesn't do it justice, it really looks like a polar bear in real life! (Pssst...the polar bear's nose is the upper-left part of the white area in the middle!).



Gotta go run check the gingerbread cookies that in are the oven for our Lucia Celebration tomorrow! If I'm not too dazed and confused getting up at the crack of dawn...I'll take some pictures to post here! Horsie-Girls crown is a thing of beauty, and...um...Oh Dear! We need to get going with the Star Boy hats!

Buzzing off!

Mama Bee