Bee Calm and Carry On!

I've mentioned many times how much I love bees!  When Sophie and I went out to check the mail yesterday, we passed by the Bee Balm to check out any visitors.  WOAH!  I saw bees unlike any that I've seen before (and I studied bees so I've seen a lot!).  They are MASSIVE in size.  I RAN to get the camera.

We have Carpenter bees around our home but these are definitely larger. Substantially larger.

Someone suggested they might be drones.  Not a chance!  I got really close and they have pointy abdomens, a sure sign of females.

They are not even remotely aggressive.  Thank goodness.

Their heads and abdomens are very black.....

......with a lot of dense yellow "fur" near the wings.

I had to do some research and find out what they were.

My best guess is the Giant Resin Bee.  A bee not native to this area but one that was likely introduced from somewhere in Asia in the mid 90's.  North Carolina was the first state to notice their presence.  Fascinating!  I discovered a brand new bee in our yard.  I feel like such a scientist!!!!  

(Someone named that plant Bee Balm for a reason!!!  It's a bee fest at all times of the day.  I love it!)

In other stinging insect news.....

Alain ran in the house this morning and asked me to grab my camera.  He'd found a hornet (?) with a massive green glob in its mouth.  This was the best picture I could get because I only had my small lens with me.  I wish I knew what that green glob was....

I always have a ton of bees on my basil plant so I snapped a quick shot while I was there.  I think this might be that Giant Resin Bee again!

If by chance there's anyone still reading.....thanks for indulging my love of bees!

New Favorite Photo / Instagram

In case you don't follow my Instagram feed, I wanted to post my new favorite photo.  I love everything about it.....



I am an Instagram addict and I post there a lot.  Alain wanted me to mention it because he says noone knows about it (even though the icon has been here in the right column for AGES!).  I don't have much time to blog but posting a photo to Instagram only takes a few seconds.  If you don't use it already, you should!!!

Capturing Motherhood In a Photo

 You never know what you'll find in our laundry/dryer.

One thing is for sure.

Attempting to do laundry with Clara around never gets boring!

Summer Project ~ New Crayons!

  One of my Summer Bucket List items was to make new crayons from all of our old, broken ones.  I'd been saving the broken crayon pieces for at least a year.  I also used the cheap waxy crayons that you get for free at restaurants (see photo of red crayons below).  I found the hardest part of this project to be taking the paper off the old crayons.  Luckily I had Sophie's help.  NOT.  She peeled one or two crayons and I peeled about 300.  It took a while. Whew.  

Putting down some plastic or paper is a very good idea ~ this was also messy.

I purchased a silicone mold from Michael's (about $6 with a 40% off coupon) and we filled them up.  There are tons of tutorials for this project online and, while I like the mixed, rainbow crayons, the Type A in me HAD to separate the colors.  Thank goodness Sophie agreed!!

We put them in a 230 degree oven for about 30 minutes and WALA....

Melted wax.  We let them cool on the counter for an hour or two (who can keep track of time when you're losing your mind having so much fun!).

The girls love the new crayons.  Clara has been asking to use them every day.  The star shape is actually ideal for her baby chub hands and it's pretty clear she prefers these over the regular crayons.

I've been wanting to do this project for a long time ~ I'm happy it turned out so well!

Music To My Eyes....

The past few weeks have been insanely busy (which included a week with Alain away).  Not all of the past few weeks has been happiness, chilled white wine and roses but I don't feel like typing about that today.  Instead, I'll share some of my favorite photos I've taken when I was inspired to pick up my camera.....

Do you remember the SuperMoon?  Wow, it was bright and insanely beautiful.

We made our very first trip to Overlook Park at the Charlotte Airport.  That was kind of fun! 

While my parents were here visiting, I also invited my cousin and her boyfriend over for dinner.  Since Alain was gone, I actually cooked.

I'd checked out Meatless, the vegetarian cookbook from Martha Stewart and decided to try out a few recipes.  I had tons of zucchini and eggplant from the garden so my choices included those.

The dishes just looked pretty and I wanted to take some photos to prove that I really do cook sometimes!

My Bee Balm plant is such a show-off.  I can't stop taking pictures of it!!!

My homegrown cucumbers always make me happy!

This year I bought a flower plant called WhirlyBird.  I love the flowers but, even more so, I love the leaves.

We took this photo to show just how large our zucchini leaves are!  Massive.  We call them elephant ears!

One night Alain and Sophie played Quirkle.  While it's a fun game, I just really love the game tiles!

The first blueberries from my garden.  One of my happiest gardening moments, for sure!

Alain made stuffed peppers/zucchini one night for dinner.  Who wouldn't be inspired to take a photo with all of these gorgeous colors???

More "Whirly" flowers.

These Marigolds are HUGE!

Sungold Tomatoes.  One of my favorite things to grow, for sure!

Turn baby, turn!!!

I took this one a recent nature walk.  Mother Nature's perseverance is always an inspiration to me!

One day's harvest.  There is nothing quite like summer gardening, is there?

Scooter Girl

On Friday, I decided to surprise Sophie with a new experience.  I only told her we were going to the playground and not to wear flip flops. I packed a snack for the girls and we were off....

As soon as we left home, Sophie knew we were going someplace new because we turned in a different direction from all of our usual playgrounds.  

She stayed glued to the window.  (She'd asked to wear my hat and it was so adorable on her!)

I'd stored Soph's scooter and helmet in the back of the car without her knowing.  When we pulled up to the Waxhaw Skate Park, her eyes got so big.  Of course she didn't really know what it was yet.....just a bunch of cement hills and valleys.

Once she saw me pull the scooter and helmet out of the back, she realized pretty quickly what she was supposed to do with them.  And she was off....

The smile on her face was so big. It made my heart swell.  I could almost feel a surge in her self confidence.

She was so happy.  And so was I!

  

Sophie scooted around for about 45 minutes while Clara enjoyed some snacks and practiced her balance and jumping on various small ramps.

 Afterwards, we headed over to the playground where Soph decided to make some sidewalk chalk drawings....

Just what does a Scooter Girl draw after some fun at the Skate Park?

Of course.

What does Mom draw?

Yes, my heart felt SO FULL.

I LOVE my Scooter Girl!!! 

What I Love About Clara at 22 Months

Everything. Everything. Everything.

When I put her to bed tonight, I was closing the door and she called out, "Mama".  I peeked back over the end of the crib.  She glanced up at me, gave me a huge smile and said, "I love you, stinky face".

Alain is still scraping pieces of melted Audrey off the bedroom floor.

My heart literally exploded with love and happiness.  Clara's been practicing her charm for weeks now and I'd say she's been doing a fine job.  I melt several times a day now.

(The inspiration for this charming moment came from this book, a Tier One book among our most loved!)