Gators, Gators Everywhere!

Florida certainly is the land of the gators.  Even after living here for twelve years now, we still look for them and find seeing one fascinating.

On Sunday afternoon we had dinner at the Outback Crab Shack.  This is a little restaurant located on a creek nearby.  Everytime that we have been there we have seen at least one alligator (usually many more) down by the dock.

On Sunday, there just weren't any of the little guys hanging around in their usual spot.  We took a walk down to the end of the quarter mile floating dock and still didn't find any gators.  Surely there were many of them watching us from their hiding spots along the edge, but we couldn't see any of them.  On our return trip down the dock, we were not disappointed.  A smaller gator of about 3-4 feet had come out to check us out -- and maybe look for some dinner himself. 

Even though alligators can be found swimming in many creeks and ponds in the area, it's still fun to go to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm to check them out up close.  Ellie's first grade class did just this for their last field trip of the year.

There are so many different types of alligators and some crocs too at the Alligator Farm.  Check out all of the teeth on this little guy!

Then there are MUCH LARGER alligators to check out too!

The best part of any trip to the Alligator Farm is feeding time.  They do three demonstrations daily where they actually have a zoo keeper walk into an large enclosure with about 20 alligators and feed a few of them.

Can you even imagine being so close to that open mouth?!?  Crazy!

A happy gator after a little snack...

Ellie's Piano Recital

On Sunday, May 23rd Ellie performed in her second piano recital.  A recital is held each spring by Ellie's teacher, Mrs. Patterson, for all of her students at a local piano gallery.  It's so much fun to hear all of the students play their pieces that they have worked so hard on throughout the year. 

Ellie performed two pieces:  Anyone for Tic-Tac-Toe? and Old Time Train Ride.

After the recital, Mrs. Patterson presented each student with a certificate for their accompishments and this year they each received a music trophy too.

Ellie played so well and we couldn't be more proud of her.  We love you, Ellie Bean!

Fun at the Beach

This is such a perfect time of year in Florida!  The weather is just starting to get hot but the spring breezes are still blowing.  You can't help but want to head off to the beach each time that you go outside...so that's just what we did on Saturday.

Emory and Ellie each brought their boogie boards with them and had fun riding in on the waves.  There was even a surfing contest going on just down the beach, so maybe that inspired them a little.  The water was perfect and pleasantly warm for a swim.

The afternoon also brought some fun throwing the frisbee in the water and trying to throw the lacrosse ball back and forth.  Emory is trying out lacrosse and liking it a lot so far.  The lacrosse ball doesn't float though, so it's not a great sport to play in the ocean or on a beach full of people.

Happy Birthday Owen!

On May 20th, Owen celebrated his first birthday!

We of course sang Happy Birthday to him and then he and Piper enjoyed some Puppy Paws ice cream.  They had the peanut butter flavor this time and were a little slow to dive into it.  I'm not sure if it's because it was so cold or if they just prefer the original flavor more.  We're going to have to do a taste test! 

He was quite excited, although a little apprehensive at first, to get into his bag of presents.

It took a couple of minutes to work up the courage to stick his head all the way in but finally he just couldn't resist the temptation anymore...

He finally did it and pulled out the rhino squeaky toy he had been eyeing.  It's just like another favorite toy that he has that is an alligator.  Unfortunately for the alligator, he is now missing a couple of legs!  Before the evening was over, the rhino was in for a similar fate.

All birthdays should end with a new bone to chew on.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, OWEN!

Spring Soccer Comes To An End

Spring soccer for Emory and Ellie came to an end on May 15th but not before they each scored a goal!  Emory scored his during the game on May 8th and Ellie scored hers in the very last game of the season.  It was a fun season and now we've got a little break before it all starts again in the fall.

Not sure what this funny face is about because I didn't know that I had caught it until I got home and looked at the pictures up close.

Ellie had so much fun this year and she can't wait for the fall season to start.  As the weather continues to get hotter here in Florida, I think we'll all be hoping that it cools off some before they play again in the fall.

Mrs. Ledford's Class Carnival

To celebrate the end of the school year, Mrs. Ledford pulls out all of the stops and puts together a carnival for just her first grade class.  For a few weeks before hand, the students work to earn tickets for the games at the carnival.  It's amazing what a first grader will do to earn a little yellow ticket!

There are so many fun things to do at the carnival!  There are lots of games like bean bag toss, darts, duck pond, fishing, a cake walk and many many more.  Each game has prizes to be won too!

Ellie soon had a bucket full of prizes to take home from her day of fun!

The dart game was definitely a class favorite. They loved popping the balloons!

Emory even came out to join in the fun during his lunch time.  He swears that first grade is more fun now than it was back when he was in first grade! 

Near the end of the day the class enjoyed a fun lunch of carnival food -- hot dogs, cotton candy, popcorn, lemonade and snow cones!  Mmmm!  If every day could only be so fun!!!!

Happy Mother's Day

Mrs. Ledford's first grade class hosted a Muffins with Moms breakfast on the Friday before Mother's Day.  Each child baked muffins at school on Thursday as a surprise for us.

When we arrived at the classroom, we were each greeted by our child dressed as our own waiter/waitress.  Ellie had a flower for me and took me to her seat where she had even more surprises waiting.

Ellie had drawn a picture of her and I on a placemat, made me a beautiful butterfly magnet and written a special note which she read to the whole class about me!  It was so sweet!

On Thursday Ellie had baked the Banana Nut muffins so of course I had to have one of those! Yummy!

Thank you Ellie for a great kick off to my Mother's Day.  I love you sweetie!

On Friday afternoon, Mom made it down to spend the weekend with us.  It made it extra special to have her here this weekend!  On Saturday evening we went out to dinner  and then walked down to the beach since the weather was so perfect for a stroll on the beach.

Happy Mother's Day!

Catching Up...

Now that May is finally here, the weather has turned beautiful and it seems that we've got something new going on each day.  With less than a month of school left to go, the kids are having a great time going on field trips and just having fun together.  Here's some of what they've been up to...

During the first weekend in May, we headed south to Melbourne, FL with Emory's soccer team for a tournament.  The boys had such a great time together!

Emory, Mack and Reagan

Ellie and Sydney found a way to entertain themselves and stay cool during the games.

Ellie and Sydney having fun at the restaurant

Emory's 4th grade class took a field trip to the Fountain of Youth in St. Augustine. 

Ellie's Daisy troop went on a field trip to the bowling alley.  The girls had such a great time together and Ellie bowled three spares in a row! 

Ellie's first grade class took a field trip to Home Depot where they learned about plants and then on to lunch at Chick-Fil-A.  Here she is with her friends Rose and McKenna.

Report Card Time!

Third quarter report cards came out on Monday and Emory and Ellie made us so proud once again!  Emory got straight A's for the 11th quarter in a row and Ellie got all M's and P's which are equivalent to A's for first graders in our county.  All of their hard work and studying seems to be paying off...and they have great teachers too!  Great Job, Emory and Ellie!

Ellie's 7th Birthday!

It's hard to believe but Ellie turned 7 years old on Sunday!  She woke bright and early before 7am and couldn't wait to open her presents from family.  I did manage to hold her off until everyone was awake but she was ready to go as soon as Emory rolled out of bed. 

Next we finished up the last minute preparations for her birthday party at 2pm.  Ellie invited 16 of her friends and 14 of them were able to make it so we had a full house.  Luckily we had a bounce house and crafts to keep everyone entertained.

Ellie's theme this year was pink and green with a Lilly Pulitzer elephant.  We made huge flowers out of tissue paper to decorate the table for the party out on the lanai.

I had lots of fun making the cake this year.  It was my first time working with fondant and it was much easier than I expected it to be.  Ellie really liked the way that it turned out!























After bouncing around in the bounce house for a while, the girls were all ready to cool off and do a craft.  They had lots of fun painting and decorating picture frames that they took home as their party favor.  Each of them was so cute!

After a little more bouncing we were ready to sing to the birthday girl and have cake and ice cream!  Mmm!

Even though there were 7 candles to blow out this time, Ellie had no problem getting it done on her first try!

We wrapped up the party by opening  presents  and then saying good bye to friends.  Ellie was all smiles during the party and hopefully she will have lots of fun memories of her 7th birthday and  all of her birthday wishes will come true!

HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY, ELLIE BEAN!
We love you!!!