The Tooth Fairy.

My youngest lost two teeth this week, one on Monday, the second on Wednesday.  Her two top, front teeth, to be exact.  Yes, cue on "all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth", however I don't think she'll be waiting that long for them.   And they came out without any help from other kids, unlike my 2nd oldest child who went around the neighborhood asking kids to punch him so he could lose his.  What is the going rate for a tooth these days?  It was a quarter when I was little, and there are rumors that if you lose a tooth while visiting the Magic Kingdom at Disney World that Tinker Bell does the Tooth Fairy's job and leaves you $50!  Being that I go to the Magic Kingdom on a regular basis I am definitely glad that we haven't lost teeth there.  Does the Tooth Fairy hand off her job to other characters or is it a strictly fairy business?

This is our experience with the Tooth Fairy this week:

Monday:  afternoon she comes home from school wearing the coveted tooth box around her neck and sporting a one less toothy smile.

Tuesday: morning my daughter runs downstairs beyond excited about the dollar and letter the Tooth Fairy left her.  Tuesday night I come home from work to find her other front tooth hanging by a thread. 

Wednesday: I pick her up from school and she has successfully taken her tooth out at school and is wearing it in the much coveted tooth box around her neck.  Wednesday evening there is much chaos at girl scouts when her tooth is lost amongst popcorn.  Wednesday night she is tucking her tooth safely under her pillow along with a letter asking the Tooth Fairy for a Skylander toy.  

Thursday morning: she woke up very distraught that the Tooth Fairy has not met her demands.  I suggested maybe the Tooth Fairy had to do a deal with Santa to get something like that, that she's really just in the business of exchanging money for teeth not toys.  Thursday night a new letter goes under the pillow  telling the tooth fairy that she'll take whatever.   

Friday morning:  the Tooth Fairy left her a dollar and I think she learned her lesson about trying to tell the Tooth Fairy how to do her job.

In my back yard

I've always been an outdoorsy, nature, type girl. I grew up in the Midwest and I loved going into the woods and camping and going to the state parks and enjoying all that nature had to offer. I worried that I wouldn't have that when I moved back to Florida. For all intents and purposes Florida was really foreign to me (despite the fact that I was born here and apparently wrestled alligators as a small child- or so I've been told). I knew I'd have the ocean, which is more than enough for me, but the ocean is a 45min drive away and I can't be there near as much as I'd like to be. What I do have is a lake in my back yard, as well as something I really love about this area....birds. Not the robins and cardinals and blue birds I grew up with but something that is a little more exotic for a Midwest girl.

We have a family of Sandhill Cranes in our back yard!   It's a momma, daddy and two babies.   The kids and I have been watching the babies get bigger everyday.  They come right to our back door, sometimes peck at our windows and they sound like velociraptors.

We also have other water fowl that like to stand on the bank of the lake.

And yesterday we discovered a bald eagle!

We do get an occasional alligator in the lake and there are plenty of turtles, as well as snake birds, ducks, ect..  But these are are favorites.  My 6yo has named the entire sandhill crane family -Cala, Lala, Tulla and Tallulah.  It's definitely an adventure to look out my back windows and see what new life is out there and even more fun getting the kids excited about it.  

   What about you?  What's in your back yard?

Pinterest Made Me Do It.

     It happened.  I, like so many others, have succumbed to that which is Pinterest.  It started out as an innocent curiosity, as so many things do.  An example of such curiosity driven endeavors:  My oldest once asked me to give him a copy of Twilight so he could prove it sucked.  It sucked, all right, it sucked him right in and didn't spit him back out til the end of the series!   That is was Pinterest is doing to people everywhere.  I have "pinned" obsessions such as baking, cooking, books, craft ideas, ect....  Not only am I "pinning" these things but I am actually trying them at home.  

     Let me take a few steps back for anyone who lives in a peer pressure free environment or don't suffer the disease known as curiosity.  Pinterest is an internet based site that allow people to "organize" interests.  When you stumble across the site you encounter pages and pages of pictures,  most of the pictures on Pinterest are linked to other sites that explain what that pictures is about. For example:  for people getting married there are sites upon sites of wedding inspirations, ideas, crafts, ect..   What do you do with all of this?  Instead of bookmarking every single site you can "pin" them to your own board according to categories of your choosing to browse at your own leisure.   So, in short, you see something (a picture of something to be more exact) and "pin" it to your own board and can flit through everything you like at your own leisure. 

     What do I "pin"?  EVERYTHING!   I see pictures of food that look good and "pin" it, and  I've already used some of the recipes (one of which I am sharing here) I've found.  I've also found great craft ideas for holidays,  and with the kids.  One of my other obsessions are the DIY projects like making a headboard out of pool noodles (I'll blog about it when I do it), a play hut out of pvc pipe, ect...  But today I am going to block about what I made for breakfast.  

   Using just a box of yellow cake mix and a can of pumpkin.

Mix the two ingredients together in a bowl.  That is it, just those two ingredients, you don't need to add anything else.

Once mixed put it into your muffin pan.  One box and one can made 18 muffins.

Put them into an oven set at 350 for 20-25 mins.

Frost them, sprinkle them with powdered sugar, or eat them naked. There is a definite pumpkin taste to it, but it's not like eating a slice of pumpkin pie, it's just right for getting you in an autumnal mood.  There are 10 days left in August and with September just around the corner, bake sales, potlucks, family gathering, ect..this mix is just the thing to make and so easy to make (plus no eggs means you can let someone lick the bowl).

Enjoy!