This ones for you....Korey! Ode to the BEE MAN!

Korey has taken on the love of Honey Bees! Yes, he is one with the bees! Earlier this year, for his birthday to be exact, our friend Paul DeGraff gave Korey for his birthday bee box parts...for he knew he passed his love of bees onto Korey. I guess it was now time for Korey to learn more of the ropes of caring for bees in every way! Well, Korey embraced this gift! They built, he painted and now has filled a box with his very own swarm of bees!

(That is a swarm of bees in that hole in the tree....ewwwwww)

And they are thriving, he says!

While the DeGraff's were on vacation, it was Korey's job to tend to all of the bees! For the first time he was going to pull a tray out (not sure of lingo!) with the honeycomb, and he would get the honey out of the comb....filter it and then bottle the honey!

Now, I know what a mess this can be! For Bro. DeGraff has brought over the honeycomb before for Korey to extract some honey, but it was just a small one....small in size but large in sticky mess! Not to mention that when you melt that honeycomb it causes a BIG MESS! Does not come off cookie sheets very well. Dare I say that it actually ruined it, because I can't use that one any more to make cream puffs on! Any way...back to Korey's story....I will let the pictures tell the story!

Korey heating the honey to just the right temperature!

Straining it through the first filter....

Now through the second filter....

Jacob helping daddy hold the bottle steady, and having the confidence in his holding it steady to make a funny face!

Jordan and Korey having filled the first bottle of Honey!

All the boys got in on the action of helping Korey bottle the honey!

And....the best part of this story....there were no pots and pans ruined in the making of this honey!

**DISCLAIMER, if you made it all the way through this post, you must really love us, or be REALLY, REALLY bored!!

Fall update -Family First!....(It's a seasonal thing now I guess!)

Well, summer is over and school has started. Lil Korey is in 9th grade! He is in HIGH SCHOOL! It is hard for me to believe! He is such a good kid. He certainly drives me nuts at times. And I am sooo glad that he worked full time over the summer, because he LOVES, LOVES, LOVES to cause trouble with his lil brothers! Now that he is 14 he is old enough to attend Seminary. Which here in NY it is EARLY MORNING seminary! This means he has to be at the church at 5:55 AM every school day! YES, 5:55 AM! He does it, and he doesn't complain. (Well he might tomorrow, because he is allowed to stay up late tonight to watch the Dolphins game, so he may be hurting for sleep tomorrow!) He is also on the freshman football team. This year he is playing more in one game than in the whole season last year! He has a good heart, and he puts it into all he does! (school work aside...unfortunately!) I still have to be on him about all his assignments, but I think I have 4 more years of this, and really....4 more years isn't that long...the first 14 years went by so fast!

Lil Korey's first day of High School! He was not thrilled with me taking pictures when he was now in HIGH SCHOOL!

The next in line is Jordan. Jordan is now in 5th grade! One more year and he will be in the middle school. He is so short that I can't believe that he is actually going to be in middle school so soon! Jordan is in the Hill Top group (selected singing group) and he has tried out for "Ralphie" in Geva Theater's production of "A Christmas Story". His fist audition ever! He actually got a call back! Then to the next reading...we were nervous and thinking more and more that this was possible, he could actually get this part! We were sent home to play the waiting game some more. Then we got the FINAL CALL BACK! We were nervous, but Jordan as time went on, gained more and more confidence! By the time he went in, he was pretty confident and socializing with the others who were trying out for the various rolls. Then, sent home to wait some more.....oh the drama of waiting! Well, I checked my e-mail one afternoon and saw a message from the director in my in box! I was excited and nervous at the same time for Jordan! I opened it up scanned down the page so I could just see if I could see Jordan's name. I did! It wasn't for the lead Ralphie, but the 2nd Ralphie. I had to scroll back up to see if I could read what this all meant! So, Jordan will preform in 25% of the shows, with the lead preforming in 75%. This is OK tho, Jordan made it! And he will not have to do all the shows and stress out about having more than one a day....he can ease into this I thought. Jordan was fitted for some of his costumes and then a parent meeting....there was a lot of information for us. And lots of work for us to do! It all added to the excitement! We don't know what shows are his yet, we will hopefully find this out soon, so that everyone can stop asking and be able to get their tickets...Very proud of Jordan and his accomplishment!

Jordan will kill me for putting this pic on, but it is his dads favorite part of the play he will be preforming in "A CHRISTMAS STORY"!

So far two very different boys with very different interrests....right....and then came Jacob!
Well Jacob is my mix of lil Korey and of Jordan! He loves the sports and he loves to perform! It is cute as him and Jordan work on a "show" for his mom and dad! Jacob is so into his roll! Jacob is in pre-school again, as his dad really wanted him home one more year. I feel like Jacob is REALLY ready for kindergarten, but I have to say, I am happy to have him for one more year! Jacob loves his class and his teachers! He has a best friend there, he is always talking about Carson! Carson loves superheros too, so they are well matched! Jacob will soon be 5 and he is excited about this. He is still trying to make his decision as to what he wants and it changes as he sees something new!

Jacob's first day of pre school!

Life is full of surprises for sure! While it doesn't always go as planned, and sometimes there is heartache and heartbreak....but what gets us all through is the love of your family and the love of our Lord! I know this first hand. I am grateful for my family, even if I don't always communicate this. And as much as I tell them they are driving me nuts (which they DO!) I still love them more than words can express. I try to provide them my time, and involvement with each of the different interests. Their father provides me this opportunity, and I know he is proud to be able to do this.

Family first!