Update

It's been busy, obviously.  I can't believe I haven't posted since April! Here's a run-down of events in our household:

I launched my beekeeping business, complete with designer labels (by my sister) and accounting tracker spreadsheets (by my husband).  The bees are doing well now despite some early chalkbrood (fungal disease) issues.  I had to kill the queen on one hive, replace her with a new queen, remove diseased frames and do some other technical things to keep them going.  This first season of beekeeping has been more challenging than I anticipated, but I've learned a lot and am looking forward to more adventures.  The kids have been involved and very helpful at times.  To answer the most FAQ's - I've been stung three times now.  No, we will not have any honey to harvest this first year.

There's more than just the bees to keep us busy outdoors.  The garden has been a great success this year too.

April

May

June

We began harvesting peas, beans, and cucumbers by early June.

 

Early July brought us our first corn and tomato harvest:

And the brussel sprouts are well on their way to producing.  Pumpkins and gourds are in and leafing nicely for a fall harvest.

We finished up the school year with a frenzy of parties and academic/sports award ceremonies.

 Both girls had great seasons on their softball teams and look forward to playing on the Fall Ball teams.  Amy earned recognition for straight A's every term the whole school year.  She especially enjoys science, in which she earned a grade of perfect 100 for the entire school year.

The girls joined the F.A.S.T. (Franklin Area Swim Team) Frogs this summer.  They had early morning practices each day and one meet each week.  The Championships were this past weekend and both girls earned several ribbons, medals, etc.  The FAST Frogs went undefeated this summer and even won the overall Championship for Williamson County.  The girls competed against over 100 swimmers in each event and came in anywhere from 1st to 43rd but improved their personal time each meet. 

 

Summertime also brings camps and this year Amy participated in her school's Encore program again.  She got to choose 4 classes: Cake Decorating, Super Science, Cooking, and Gross-ology (study of all the gross things about the human body).  She came home with all sorts of interesting hand-made contraptions from her science class, some beautifully decorated cakes, and even made calzones for dinner one night.

This week the fun continues as our niece/cousin Karen is visiting with us.  Tomorrow we start my very own summer piano camp and some sewing projects.  Not to mention touring some of the local sites.

Posts on our summer vacations are coming soon!