Happy Mother's Day!

Now, ain't that the truth!

Been gone from the blog for awhile.  

For a good reason.  

(Yes, I've been working on complete vs. incomplete sentences with my third graders and that last one was not a complete sentence, but I always think of us as talking casually and I always tell my students that conversational communication is quite different than written communication – and don't mention the run-on sentence I just wrote there too.  Don't worry, the English language is not going to h#*l in a hand basket  in my classroom!  Wait, where was I?)

So, 

I was wishing you all a Happy Mother's Day!

Me?  Why I spent the day reading The Fault in Our Stars.  Baby Bee has been nagging me and nagging me to read it.  She even put this note on the book.

And she was right.

Should have grabbed the box of tissues before I started crying (for the first time on page 111). 

Then she made me watch the movie trailer...

Really.  

Should a 13 year old girl make her mom cry so much on Mother's Day I ask you?

Well, she did.  

And we cried together.

What a perfect Mother's Day.

Buzzingly,

P.S.  Love the image at the top?  Why it's from my favorite artist dujour...
Katie Daisy!
You can find her oh so bright and colorful and delightful and inspiring (and another run-on sentence there) work on etsy
at
The Wheatfield.

More Junior Table Settings from the County Fair

Things have suddenly become quite a bit more busy here at Sweet Bee Cottage and I can't wait to tell you why, but in the meantime, I would love to show you some more table settings from the kids at the Big County Fair.

This is Reader Bee's, my niece's, table setting.  She whipped up a cute little beach theme.  Her napkin rings and menu board are super adorable.  She is another crafty bee!

 Here's another simple but pretty setting.  If I remember correctly this had a casual Christmas theme.

Love the dishes at this setting - such pretty colors. 

 Such a sweet little tea party setting - I love how elegant this setting is.

 A King's Medieval Feast was the theme for this table.  Love the fleur de lis.  Does it look a bit Game of Thrones to you?

 I have a confession.  I have a thing for turkey dishes.  They serve no other purpose but to be used at Thanksgiving, but they charm me.  

(Remember Sweet Bee, you live in a small house and do not have room for every possible dish collection you can think of starting.  Sober up girl!)

Another table setting was for a baby shower.  Such a cute centerpiece and menu here too. 

I always love the ones that look like Worker Bee would enjoy it too. 

 (Yeah, I don't think he would be too thrilled with the sweet tea table.) 

 And here is the Best of Show!  Didn't they do a great job combining all the elements?  Great menu board, great centerpiece, love that mug and all the dishes.  

This one was my personal favorite (except for Baby Bee's and Reader Bee's).  Such a cute and creative centerpiece.  Can you tell it's a Mad Tea Party theme?  

And I wish I could tell you that I can remember what this sunny table setting was for, but no matter, because it is so cute. 

I think the little bow on the menu frame (made from the tablecloth material) is so adorable on this picnic setting.  The jeans placemat is super cute too. 

And back to another beachy table to wrap it up.  Funny how similar it is to Reader Bee's.  We sure do love the beach here in Central California! 

And finally, my very favorite.....Baby Bee's!  You can read more about it here. 

Thanks for buzzing along with me!

I'll give you a hint about my big news......do you know who Imogene, Leroy, Gladys, Ralph, Claude, and Ollie are?

Joining the sharing
at
Between Naps on the Porch

Baby Bee's Table Setting for the Big County Fair

Well Baby Bee is 12 years old now and is not always wanting to do things with her mom (or dad for that matter), but she sure has gotten into the table setting contest at the Big County Fair.  So glad we enjoy this together.

For the Junior Division, they only need one place setting, but they still have to design the menu, have linens, create a center piece, and coordinate dishes and flatware.

Baby Bee wanted to do an Easter table this year, especially after we found the fabric at Hobby Lobby.

I love the vibrant colors and the pattern.  Not your typical Easter colors, but I think it works fabulously!

She used a plate from my wedding a china and a depression glass plate.  The glass she found at World Market and the flatware was her great-grandma's (well they're mine now) and the napkin is from the set my mom sewed for my fair table last year!  Love when we can reuse things!   

One of the things she lost points on last year was her menu, so she made sure to follow the USDA food pyramid and include lots of fruits and veggies.  She picked out the background picture and the menu and the font.  She glued it to a foam core board.  After she glued it she felt it needed a little trim along the edge and I happened to have some ribbon that went perfectly with her table.  

Her center piece was Easter grass and some glittered eggs I already had.  Again, I love all the colors together.

And she earned 1st place this year!  So proud of her!  

I'll have more Jr. Division table settings soon, including my niece's, Reader Bee!

Joining the sharing
at
Between Naps on the Porch

Getting Ready to Go Back to School

We are all a little sad here that our summer vacation is coming to an end.

But (shhh......don't tell anyone I told you this, okay) I'm also kind of glad we will be getting back into a routine.  I think we had way too loosey goosey a summer - no plans and consequently I did not get many of the projects done I wanted to get done.  But oh well, that's water under the bridge.  

So Baby Bee starts Middle School on Thursday and I go back next Monday for training and meetings.  My students coming the following Thursday.  (It's kind of weird this year with Baby Bee and I starting in totally different weeks.)  

Uh oh - I digressed.  

Well, we had a big old slumber party here Friday night and Baby Bee invited over her 6th grade buddies from elementary school.  We had pizza and popcorn and pop! (I'm not from the midwest, but some of my nieces and nephews from Minnesota say pop when they are talking about what we in California call soda and I love it.) 

Have you ever popped M & Ms in hot popcorn?  

(pop the M&Ms in AFTER you've popped the popcorn)

The candy gets all melty and yummy and the hot buttery popcorn with the chocolate makes a delicious treat.  Worker Bee - our resident purist - does not like this treat, but us girls do!  I think it was the perfect way to spend that last free weekend with so many changes happening soon for our Baby Bee.

Now....

wouldn't one of you like to come up here and help get me organized? 

I really need your help!  

(and please note the stash of fast food coupons - 'fraid we'll be living on that stuff the first few days after school starts)

Just a Peek!

I showed you some of the inspiration for one of my tables for the fair this year here.

Baby Bee is going to do a table again this year too.

Here's her fabric but that's all I'm going to show you.  

You know I'm a huge tease! Right?

Buzzingly,

P.S.  Did a bit of Back to School shopping for Baby Bee.....

can you tell she's going into 7th grade with those shoes?

Forgive Me Please for Bragging About Baby Bee....But I'm Just So Proud!

Today Baby Bee competed at our county History Day.  She has turned into a bit of a chip off the old block and has become a bit of a ham.  (I probably have not mentioned this before, but I LOVE to speak in front of audiences – after all, I consider my third graders to be a captive audience – and I am definitely a ham.  So is Worker Bee.  Baby Bee did not stand a chance.)

Okay, I digress.  I'll get back on track.

So today was the big competition.  They had won first place at the school district level, but since they were the only entry, they didn't know how good they might actually be.  

She and her group chose to do a group performance.  They wrote their own play, came up with their own props and scenery, and decided what costumes to wear.  Their performance was on the Great Depression and its effect on one family.  I really loved how they ended it with a ray of hope as the economy began to improve and their family's situation began to improve.  

Well their little group ended up being co-champions and will advance to the state History Day!  Oh my goodness I had such butterflies in my stomach as we waited for them to announce the winners.  

Now it means more work and improving upon their project, but what a fantastic experience this is going to be.

Buzz, buuuuuuuzzz, buzz.  That's bee speak for saying thank you for letting a proud Mama brag a bit about her little Baby Bee.  

A Baby Bee Beach Bash

Edited to add:  Started this post the night of the slumber party and didn't finish it for a few days.

What a world of difference a 4th grade sleepover is vs. a 6th grade sleepover!  The 6th grade is much easier!

Right now we have 8 girls just hanging out in the sunroom after we brought them in from playing with beach balls in 44º weather in our backyard.  (8 girls screaming in the backyard at 10:30 at night hopefully won't upset our neighbors too much.)

One of the best ideas I borrowed from....well all over the place.....was a photo booth!

I bought some of those $2 tablecloths at the party supply store and we taped them up to the bookcases in the library.

I set up my laptop on a table and they took TONS of pictures.  I picked up a few props from Dollar Tree and the dollar bins at Target and had them handy in a basket in the booth.  

Our living room wicker chairs fit the theme perfectly and they even have apple green pillows on them now to go with the colors.

 We served cherry limeade and lemon-lime soda.  I couldn't resist getting some striped paper straws from Michaels in ------aqua of course.

All the colors were lime green, aqua, and turquoise!

I even found cute little beach pails in lime green at the party store that we filled with treats.

 Decorations were pretty simple this year - just some fun curly cues hanging from the ceiling and I drew a sandy beach on the giant chalkboard.  Pulled together a last minute bunting by adding the phrase Happy Birthday to the adirondack chair tags we made for the invitations.  

Only one craft this year!  YEAH!

We painted those great $1 wooden frames from Michaels with Martha's Beachglass paint and the girls glued shells on them.  

They turned out great!  Sent the photobooth pictures to Walgreens and they were ready in the morning for them.

I have video of the girls all singing along to Adele's Rolling in the Deep as they glued the shells on but I am not allowed to share that with you.  Just trust me when I say it was so sweet and charming.  

Of course we had delicious treats!

My friend SHE-Bee (long story as to her name, but let's just say Baby Bee will get a kick out of it) came over and helped us make cake pops!  

 A veritable forest of cake pops!

 The red ones?  Yeah, those are especially made for me!  (You know how I'm lovin' that red and aqua combo right now!)

Kind of reminds me of The Lorax trees.

 Nighttime beachball volleyball!  Hope the neighbors didn't mind too much!

And now for the morning after.....

It was a wonderful party and a great way to end her elementary school years.  

Next year she is off to middle school with new friends and new interests and I'm so glad we made time for this party to happen.  

My Baby Bee is growing up! (She says both proudly and sadly.)

So glad you're buzzing along with us!

It's a delight to see you.