Clark is Finally Here!

I know all of you have probably seen all of the pictures of Clark on our blog, but just in case, here is one from this morning. Clark and I got to spend some daddy/baby bonding time while mommy slept in.

THE BIRDS and the bees

No this has nothing to do with Clark and I'm not teaching "health" on the blog. We just have two new creature stories. First, the birds. We've had 10 chickens for some time now but we just got 26 new chicks and thought you'd enjoy seeing them.

The Birds and THE BEES

Ana went out to find the cats and saw a big black thing in the middle of our plum tree. She went close to inspect what it was. Her head was in the branches when she realized it was a swarm of bees. She came running in the house and we all went to see....then we called for help. Here is the swarm in our tree out by the barn. The guy we buy honey from came and put the box up on the ladder and under the swarm then shook it hard. The goal was to get the queen into the box. It must have worked. You can see them swarming after he shook them and then settled on the entrance to the box. He suggested we spray the limb where they were originally with vanilla to overpower the smell of the queen so they wouldn't return to the branch. Joseph bravely sprayed the limb since a handful of bees were going back to the branch after the bee keeper left. It worked. The limb actually has bits of wax on it where the bees were beginning to make a honeycomb or hive. We'll look at that closer after he comes back this evening and takes the box. It was a small adventure.

Look what baby got!

This came in the mail and I posted it on the Ben and Alli blog...people must think we have a very strange family! (Click the text to see the post.)

Paparazzi catches famous mom at game!

This is Mom at her first Spring Training game - A's vs. Giants in Arizona. A's beat the Giants 10 to 2!

Austin & Family Come to Kona

Austin, his mother Trina, her fiance Tony and Austin's step-brother Chance all came to Kona this weekend so that Chance could participate in a basketball tournament held at one of the local high schools. Chance's team was excellent, winning all three of their qualifying games and playing in the championship game on Sunday evening. The local Kona team was the only one who even got close to beating this team but they did by a very close score. Chance and his teammates did a great job, though. The family stayed with other team families in a house just down the street from us so they've been neighbors for the weekend. (The picture at the top of the page is of Chance and his teammates and coaches doing goofy poses for the official team goofy picture. Chance is at the far right in the front row.)

Shower for Baby Cletus

NO! His name isn't Cletus but Alli says that's what Julia guessed and I kinda like it (in a silly sort of way) and decided to use it on the blog for all the world to see :>)Today the girls and I had the pleasure of showering Alli along with the women from Ben and Alli's community group from church. Stephanie opened her home to all of 10 of us. We ate, made Alli play a guessing game involving various baby paraphernalia and then Alli opened some great presents. Picture #1 is Joanna and Alli, #2 is Susan's gift to Alli of a "Parent Survival Kit" with all those neat little things you don't think to buy #3 is the darling elephant her friend Kristi made with the baby's initial "C" (hence Cletus), it came with a matching handmade blanket, #4 is Alli holding the hooded baby blanket I knit for Cletus, #5 #6 Alli's reading the Blessing/Encouragement book her friends wrote for her to read during those midnight feedings or times she may think, "What was I thinking, this parenting stuff is way harder than I thought?" #7 is the cousin shot. I think Alli got pics of her friends and maybe the food table. Stephanie's centerpiece was a three-tiered display of disposable baby diapers decorated with pretty ribbon, multiple binkies and baby tennis shoes on the top. Really cute, sorry I didn't get my lazy bottom up to take a pic!