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?