A trip to the alligator farm

Today the girls and I went on a little adventure.

To Alligator Alley!

While purchasing our tickets, this little guy was running loose.  He jumped on Grace's shoulder and then took off.  Isn't he darling?  He's only 9 weeks old.  The girl behind the counter told us that he fell from a tree and his mother abandoned him, so she adopted him.  Now Grace wants a pet squirrel.

Next, we bought gator chow and headed out to feed the gators.

I couldn't resist the mini man eaters...they're Grace's age!

We walked along the boardwalk.

And feed a few of the gators.  Since there are over 200, we didn't come close to feeding them all.

Captain Crunch was pretty interesting.

Even Faith enjoyed tossing some chow out.

It didn't take us long to run out of food.

So we decided to walk around the park some more.

It was quite warm, but mostly shady.

When I asked who wanted to see the baby alligators, they both raised an arm and said, "I do!"

Aren't the little hatchlings so cute?

Then it was time for the gator feeding.

This is Wes.  He's the owner of Alligator Alley and I think he's Alabama's version of Steve Irwin.

All those alligators came running as soon as he crossed over the fence.

They knew it was feeding time.  Feeding time is every day at 11:00, 1:00 and 4:00.  It was an amazing thing to watch.

Then they brought a 2 year old gator out for us to touch and hold.  At first Grace announced, "My momma says I can't touch the alligators."  But after a few minutes she looked at me and asked so sweetly, "Momma, is it okay that I touch the little alligator."

She was so brave as she held it and took it over to show Faith.

Next my girls will be wanted a pet alligator...

Tenacious Faith

Faith, what do you have in your mouth?

Open up!

Dog food?!?!  Gross! 

I'm not sure why but for some reason Faith really likes playing with Chloe's dog food.  I think it's because she knows that is something she's not supposed to do.  She enjoys testing her boundaries.  Whenever Faith is playing with Chloe's food and sees me or David coming for her, she looks at us and quickly crams it all into her mouth and then plays  sweet and innocent.  She'll even go so far as to start banging magnets against the refrigerator hoping to convince us she really wasn't in Chloe's food and water.  All the while with a mouthful of dog food.  It's quite obvious that Faith is very headstrong.  Exceedingly stubborn.  Unyielding.  And she's only ONE year old.  At times like these I really start to dread her teenage years... 

We went to the beach

We took a trip to the beach today.

Faith was really excited.

So was Grace. 

We took a few quick photos before heading to the water.

I remembered the camera remote so we even got a family picture.

Then we put the camera away and went to play.  Much to my surprise, Faith really enjoyed the beach today.  She played in the sand and even got in the water.  Grace of course really loves the beach.  Sometimes I think she's part mermaid.

A box full of fun

I buy so much online resulting in an endless supply of empty boxes.

And the kids never fail to make good use of them.

They turned this box into a choo-choo train.

Grace was the steam behind the engine.

But all good things must come to an end at some point.  Even 3 year old Grace engines eventually run out of steam. 

Dancing makes her heart so happy

Today is Grace's first day of dance class!  She was so excited and wanted to put her dance clothes on as soon as she got home from school.

First she put on her tap/jazz outfit.

I can't believe how growny she looks!

Then Grace tap, tap, tapped across our tile.

And proudly exclaimed, "I just LOVE to dance!"  That she certainly does.

Next, we put on her ballet clothes.

And Grace showed me how a ballerina dances.

I think Grace may have gotten her dance skills from her Momma.

She definitely got my coordination.

After dancing for a while, Grace plopped down at her desk slightly out of breath and pronounced, "Momma, you make my heart so happy."

 "You see, Momma!  My heart sees you!"  And my heart just melted.

Before we knew it, it was time for dance class!  Grace had so much fun and came home full of excitement.  She told me how they started with running around in a great big circle and then they jumped on a "Jump-o-lene" (trampoline).  Next, they danced and danced and danced some more.  Unfortunately the parents aren't allowed to watch the classes.  They don't want the students distracted.  But I did stay for the first half hour and the director peeked in the class and told me that Grace was "dancing all over the place" and was obviously having a great time.  

I just knew from all the little dance parties we have here at home that Grace would absolutely love dance class.  I'm so glad she enjoys it.  Seeing Grace so happy dancing around in her tap shoes and ballet slippers "makes my heart super duper happy."

Down low bed

We've been struggling with Faith at night.  For some reason she really fights going to bed.  We make sure she has a full tummy and then we rock her to sleep.  As soon as we stand up to put her in her crib, Faith wakes up and starts screaming.  So my brilliant husband came up with a new strategy.  He put her in the bottom bunk. 

 And it worked!  Wonders never cease!

Faith apparently just wanted to sleep in a big bed like her big sister.  So from here on out, I guess Faith gets to sleep in the bottom bunk below Grace.  It works for me although it makes my heart ache thinking about how fast my babies are growing up.  Sometimes I really wish time would slow down.  Just for a few years...

Grace is ready to dance!

We registered Grace for dance classes today.  Her class is 90 minutes long every Tuesday afternoon and is a compilation of tumbling, ballet, tap and jazz.  She is required to wear a pink or black dance leotard with a skirt and pink tights.  She also needs pink ballet slippers and black tap shoes.  And a dance bag to keep up with all her dance gear.

Aunt Jennifer had already bought Grace an adorable monogrammed dance bag. 

 So today we bought leotards, and tight, and shoes.

 Pink ballet slippers

And the most darling tap shoes.  I think she's ready!

Craft crash!

CRASH!  Something clattered to the floor and it sounded like glass shattering.  What did I find?

Faith managed to pull the color pencil jar out of the basket on our craft station and onto the floor.  Fortunately, the jar was not broken.  Mason really takes pride in their work for which I am immensely thankful.  It looks like now is the time to move our craft caddy to a higher shelf.

When Faith looked at me and smiled so big, all I could do was smile back. 

She just wanted to color.  And she was even willing to share.