Spring Fever in April

April flew by with both girls birthdays, Will's spring break and lots of fun and projects.  Spring fever hit us in full force, and despite the winter like temperatures we rolled up our sleeves and worked hard and played harder this past month.

Let's start with the fun.  Below are the girls with Great Grandma J. at the Sunday brunch we had with Will's side of the family for the girls birthday.

The girls wanted a rainbow cake and kept changing their mind as to what type of theme would decorate the top.  I finally told the girls that I would make a surprise cake for them since they couldn't seem to make up their mind about anything except the rainbow colors.  In an effort to avoid food coloring, I made a rainbow out of fruit and found two rainbow My Little Ponies to put on top.  I may have been the most excited one when I revealed the cake to them on the morning of their birthday brunch.   

Here are Emma and Lucy with Uncle Mike and cousin Ellen enjoying a story time snuggle.

I took the girls to Rochester Play (think indoor playground) with a friend of mine over spring break and ended up meeting another friend while there too.  It was crazy busy, but a great time was had by all.

We spent time at our neighborhood Elementary School playground bundled up in winter gear...

...and took advantage of the cold wind and soccer field to fly the kites the Easter Bunny brought the girls.

We even took a class on Catching Rainbows at the local nature preserve, since the girls love rainbows so much.  It was cute to seem them in a class together.  Lucy was intent on following directions and listening to the teacher while Emma was fascinated with people watching and staying as close to Lucy as possible.

Since the temperatures of April were more like winter than spring, we had an indoor picnic in the living room while watching a movie for a family movie night.

We made crafts almost every day...

...and I even had a chance to work on a craft of my own!  I decorated the shelf that Will made in Lucy's room with scalloped wood trim, mod podged fabric and a fresh coat of white paint.  Thank you Pinterest!

We did tackle some outdoor projects, although they would have been a lot easier if it had been warmer out!  Here is Will below, espaliering a pair of apple trees we planted last fall along the west facing wall of our garage.  Pretty much this means that we are going to train the trees to grow two-dimensionally along the wall in an effort to save space.  It will take several years for us to get the shape just so, but once it is set we shouldn't need to train it anymore - just prune it annually and enjoy the apples.

We also attempted to remedy a problem we are having with our chickens.  The lowest three chickens in the pecking order of our flock are literally being pecked at until they have bald spots on their backs.  This has been happening since the weather got cold but doesn't seem to be letting up now that the weather is getting warmer.  We read online that you could put aprons on the backs of the chickens to give their feathers a chance to grow back and the other chickens to forget about bullying them.  Around this same time my favorite pair of jeans ripped beyond repair.  I decided to use the comfy soft denim to make the aprons.  It was a little emotional for me to cut into my favorite pair of jeans but at least it would be going to a good cause and it wasn't like I could wear them anymore.

Unfortunately, the chickens didn't seem to appreciate the sacrifice my jeans had made for them and found a way to get out of the aprons before any healing could take place on their backs.  We are back to the drawing board on this situation.  Anyone want a set of three chicken aprons?

The most exciting project we worked on this past month however involved our latest endeavor.  I have decided to start bee keeping this year!  I have spent the last year researching the heck out of all things honey bees and have talked to many seasoned bee keepers.  I have never been afraid of bees, and I am taking this as a good sign for my new hobby.  The more I read about bees, the more fascinated and excited I became about the prospect of having my very own.  Thanks to Will who built the two hives for me, and to Lucy and Emma for not laughing at me when I tried on my bee suit for the very first time.

Ironically, I may be more afraid of the smoker that you use to keep the bees docile while I work on the hives than the bees themselves.  To tackle my fear of fire head on, I spent the month of April practicing how to light and keep my smoker smoking.  The first time I lit the smoker I started screaming when the flame rose about a foot out of it.  Will thought this was hilarious and is looking forward to seeing me handle 30,000 bees at a time.  The more I practice, the more confident I feel and I am hoping that the same will hold true for handling my bees.  I am as ready as I'll ever bee and can't wait for our bees to arrive next week!