Epcot Flower and Garden Festival

I've been wanting to go to the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival for a few years now, but when I heard they had a fairy garden, I really wanted to take the girls! Steve was able to break away from work for the day to go with us which made the day extra special.

The fairy garden was great! It was full of fairy topiaries, fairy houses, a fairy playground.. all things magical.

Brooke was mesmerized by the fairy houses. She builds them all the time in our yard, so it was fun to watch her soak it all in, looking for ideas and taking mental notes.

This was a Rapunzel topiary

 

One of my favorite memories from the day was going on the ride Soarin. It's kind of like a flight simulator that makes you feel like you're "soarin" through different scenes. We got to the ride and both girls wanted to go too. Ali just BARELY measured tall enough to get on the ride according to our estimation. Steve went ahead and gave Ali some pointers on how to measure at her very tallest once she got to the entrance. Sure enough, the Disney employee puller her aside to measure her and Ali stood her very tallest, hoping to make it through. After being checked by two different employees, they gave her the thumbs up! She was thrilled and got to go on her first big-girl ride!

Homeschool Nature Hike

I joined a homeschooling group of moms a while back for some extra homeschooling ideas for our family. They're a great resource for answering questions, small field trips, and encouragement when you need it. I decided to plan a nature hike for the group and asked Steve to use his wealth of Florida wildlife knowledge to lead us. I wasn't quite sure what to expect since there's a big range of ages in this group but figured we'd have fun no matter what. We ended up with a big group that day (wish I would have counted, but at least 7 mommies and their kiddos came).

Steve did a great job of teaching to their level. He found tons of things to show them and they were truly interested to hear what he had to say.

Looking for wildlife tracks under our feeder.

 Time to take a snack break!

Ali is checking out a wasp nest in the picture below. I always envisioned our homeschool classroom being out in the world where my girls could learn through experiences and as much hands-on as possible. But the truth is that we have little time/energy for the experiential learning after the required lessons are complete. I guess that makes days like these even more special. I'd much rather have a school day that includes a magnifying glass and a flower press than a day of books and worksheets.

Riding Lessons

Brooke has continued to take riding lessons at WB since horse camp last summer. She really enjoys it and, if I do say so myself, she's quite good at it. I love watching her ride. She has such confidence, great posture, and amazing focus.

The picture below is of Brooke on her favorite horse at WB, Charlie.

Brooke and Charlie, getting ready to ride.

Peeking over her shoulder at her adoring mommy.

Rounding the corner while in a trot.

As a "warm-up" to jumping (yikes!), Brooke's newest skill has been leading the horse to walk over the rail (you probably can't see it in the picture, but it's lying on the ground in between the yellow posts.)

Dolphin Tales

Jeff and the Georgia Aquarium crew have been hard a work for about a year now preparing their new dolphin show. The official open date is April 2 and I could not be more excited! We will have to be patient and wait for the right time to get up there to see it, but in the meantime it's been fun reading the publicity and seeing Jeff's mug in a few places. I LOVE this picture!

I am so proud of him!!!

Meet Spike

Meet Spike! He is the newest addition to the DeMoor Zoo and entered our family with much drama. Brooke got a large terrarium for Christmas that would be used to hold her new bearded dragon. When the reptile show came to Sarasota in February, Steve and Brooke made the trip to find the perfect bearded dragon. Brooke describes it as love at first sight. She looked at a few dragons before finding the perfect "Spike". She rode all the way home with him on her knee and when they made it back to Orlando, Spike even got to go camping with us that night. The next day, Brooke was riding a friend's scooter at the campground and Spike was in the scooter basket. She stumbled on the scooter and fell off and Spike was hurt badly. He was bleeding in a few places and Brooke was devastated (understatement). Steve took a good look at him and determined that he was dead and we broke the news to Brooke. It was heartbreaking. She had grown so attached in such a short time, and now he was gone. We packed up our things and headed home. When we got back to the house we were unloading the car and Steve took one last look at Spike before disposing of him. To our surprise he was moving! It was amazing. We were torn between telling Brooke the news and putting Spike out of his misery. Even though we was obviously still alive, he was so badly injured. Steve ultimately decided to tell Brooke and give her and honest prognosis that he might not make it. They put him in his tank and Brooke prayed for Spike to pull through. We started out by hand feeding Spike his crickets. Brooke would pry open his mouth while Steve or I popped a cricket in there. Day by day it was amazing to watch his progress and Steve and I were amazed that this was the same lizard who we thought was dead a few days ago.

As of today, Spike is now almost fully recovered. He hunts his own crickets now and his only remaining injury is his left eye, where he is most likely blind. I'd say he is not likely to regain vision in that eye, but this lizard has already proved us wrong so many times. It's been so amazing to watch his progress and to watch Brooke's faith and enthusiasm for this little creature. Just another adventure in parenthood that I never would have expected. God uses my children to teach me so many lessons. The faith of a child is an amazing thing.

ICS Field Day 2011

Getting ready to run through the bounce house obstacle course.

More bounce house fun!

Brooke takes off in the sack race.

Taking a break for snow cones

And MORE bounce house fun!



7 Years of Brookieness!

One Year Old

(In Grammy's shoes)

Two Years Old

(Talking to a goat)

3 Years Old
(Holding a baby otter)

4 Years Old

5 Years Old

(Lizard love begins)

6 years old

(Look what I found!)

Seven Years Old

Fairy Food

Making the food for Brooke's fairy party was so much fun. I got tons of ideas off the web (gotta love the web) and was able to create..

Raspberry Toadstools (Raspberries and mini marshmallows)

Mom made these little fairy cakes with a mold she has. They were so sweet and yummy and coated with colored sugar.

Fruit Kabobs

The cake was so special! It was two separate cakes designed to look like a fairy house.

Mom made these lady bugs too. They are strawberry halves with mini chocolate chip spots and grapes for the heads.

We also had chocolate dipped strawberries, butterfly crackers and cheese, pixie punch, and butterfly-shaped PB&J sandwiches!

The fun fairy food table!

Brooke's Very Fairy Birthday Party

After weeks of debate over what Brooke wanted for her birthday party theme, she finally settled on a fairy theme. It was very fitting since she has been talking with her cousin Sarah about fairies a lot lately, building fairy houses, and always dreaming about flying. I made a Fairy Hideout with this pop up tent and some tulle, ribbon and silk flowers.

I decorated the inside with giant tissue paper flowers and hanging lanterns.

All of Brooke's guests arrived in their "fairy best" complete with tutus, wings, and more. We started by making fairy wands out of dowel rods, silk flowers, green duck tape, ribbon and bells.

Here are some of the fairies hanging out by the river with their new wands

Once everyone had a wand we played Pixie Tag. This was such a sweet moment, watching all the little girls run through the yard chasing each other, dressed as fairies. Quite a few of the adults commented that this was their favorite part.. watching the fairies giggle and chased each other without a care in the world.

Then we took a break for some fairy snacks in the fairy hideout.

My sweet birthday fairy

Then they played a fairy relay game!

Our last activity was a fairy hunt. I set up a scavenger hunt in the yard and they ran around collecting clues. In the picture below, Steve, Michael, and JJ tossed paper butterflies off the roof and the fairies had to try to catch them in butterfly nets in order to get their next clue.

Reading to see where to go to next...

The final clue on the fairy hunt let the girls to their goodie bags.

Then we went inside for cake! I had this wonderful cake made by a local baker. It was amazing!!

Make a wish!