Things that make Kenzie smile

One day it was raining and Kenzie was upset because everyone had to go inside.  After the rain stopped, we looked out and there was a double rainbow- a complete one!  Even though it was very clear and vivid in person, it was actually kind of hard to photograph; the colors wash out.  And the upper one is a little harder to see.  This is the best picture I got.  Since we live that the end of a cul-de-sac on a hill, the rainbow spanned over our street with the mountains in the background. 

Added bonus when it rains:  Cute rainboots. 

This is our next door neighbor, Samantha.  Kenzie thinks she is prettier than Hannah Montana (she really is) and cooler that just about anyone.  She is 16 and sometimes keeps Kenzie.  We invited her to go on a walk with us.

What that really meant was that Kenzie walked with Samantha and we were left behind and forgotten about as usual.  

Best thing about walking after the rain?  Splashing in the puddles, of course.

About a week later, we went to Anderson's princess birthday party.  Here they are modeling the crowns they crafted themselves.

Okay, so anyone wanting to make Kenzie happy now has the basic ingredients to make that happen.  Double rainbow?  Check. (although I'm sure a regular rainbow would work fine).  Cute rain boots?  Got 'em.  Doing anything at all with Samantha?  Check.  Splashing in puddles?  Yep.  Birthday with her bestie? Of course.

Mission accomplished.

Mini Trips

Have you ever been to Lake Winnipesaukah?  It's just past Chattanooga into Georgia.  I have always heard people talk about it, but had never been until July.  You know how fun the county fair is?  Well, it's like the county fair bolted to the ground.  But cleaner.  And with better rides.  And oh yes, the small lake in the middle.  They have all the same yummy fatten-you-right-up fair food and they are pretty inexpensive.  Anyway, we went and it was seriously fun (well, except for that one ride that takes you up and just drops you- that made me see my life flash before my eyes.  Not fun.). 

Also, there were these huge, huge carp in the lake so when you were on the lift ride that takes you across, you could see them from above. 

No carp in this picture, but I swear they were there.  They were about the size of Kenzie.  Seriously. 

I actually took quite a few pictures, but on this particular day, it was hot enough to make the devil sweat, so very few were post-worthy.  You can tell it's bright and hot by Kenzie's face- she's doing the "peep-eye".  That's what my grandmother would say when she would turn on the light in the morning when Collen and I would wake up at the farm.  When it's so bright you can only hold one eye open, that's the peep-eye.

Next up, The Lost Sea!

If you have never been to The Lost Sea, that's another place that is worth visiting.  It's this big cave near Sweetwater.  After you walk through for awhile, you end at a room with a lake.  And who doesn't enjoy a boat ride on an underground lake?  They stock the lake with rainbow trout but over time, due to there being no light in a cave, the fish lose their rainbow colors and also end up almost blind.  It's actually kind of sad now that I think about it. 

There are people who have gone diving way under the cave walls and found that the lake actually extends over twice as far into a different room, but it's entirely filled with water and no one knows how big that other room is (their sonar devices wouldn't reach any further).  Anyway, it's very interesting.  Kenzie wasn't really a fan at first.  I think she thought we were going to a haunted house or something.  It didn't help that once you're really far into the cave, they turn out the lights to show you how pitch-dark it really is.  On the way out there is this rock (shown above) that's supposed to give you good luck if you touch it.

Kenzie took the above picture.  I think she did a pretty good job for a four year old!

Kenzie is wearing a frog hat and Erin's is a pizza hat.  They are at the Crazy Hat Shop near the cave entrance.  I am still trying to figure out what crazy hats have to do with an underground lake.



Back in the Saddle

I am embarrassed.  No, seriously, I am.  It has been so long since my last post.  It's pitiful, really.  And I have no excuse; other than the fact that sometimes it's difficult to upload pictures correctly so I just quit instead of spending time trying to figure out what went wrong.    I just think posts are boring without pictures, you know?

So here is what I'm going to try.  Instead of playing catch-up all in one big swoop, I'm going to attempt to highlight past events every couple days.  I mean, the reason I even write this blog is to keep friends and family (especially those who refuse to do Facebook) updated about the happenings in our family.  If my past blogging habits were how anyone was keeping up with me, I could have been eaten by alligators for all they know!

So here we go.

Every year we go camping for the 4th of July.  And when I say camping, I don't mean rent a camper and "rough it" on the pull out couch.  I mean camp in a tent.  Sleep on the ground.  Build a fire.  Real camping.  I do require that there be a bathhouse somewhere nearby, but that's just for basic hygiene.  Plus Kenzie would flip out if she had to use the woods as a restroom.  The above picture is on the top of a mountain overlooking the Ocoee river. 

The cool thing about camping near the Ocoee, is getting to ride bikes or hike down to the river when they close the dam.  Then you can play on the rocks and even swim through long rock tunnels underwater.  I wasn't brave (crazy) enough to try that last year, but this year I was courageous (insane) enough to take the plunge.  Sadly, there is no photographic evidence of this, but Kyle and Erin will confirm that I did it.

 Kenzie being pretty

 One of the only pictures that exist of me with no makeup (& likely the last you'll ever see)

On a rock near our campsite

The sad thing is, I can't really remember all the amusing stuff that happened while we were there since it's been 3 months ago.  I can tell you that a copperhead snake fell out of a tree about 5 feet from the campfire and strangely, Kenzie and I were the only ones that didn't jump out of our chairs.  My reasoning was that (in my mind) snakes rarely jump out of a tall tree with the intentions of landing on someone to bite them.  I figured that he probably suffered a frustrating fall, was going to shake it off, and then try to climb the tree again.  And that's what he did.  He did fall 4 more times before reaching whatever height he was going for.  Alec was concerned that the snake would somehow make it into his tent while he was sleeping.  You know, because snakes can operate zippers and all. . .

The other funny thing was about my car.  I had just gotten a new G37 convertible (remember in that earlier post I said it was my last day in the G37?  Well this replaced that car.  See?  Tying all the posts together).  We always bring these little speakers that Erin will plug his iPhone into so we can listen to Pandora radio (which is an awesome app if you have never heard of it).  Well, he couldn't find the speakers and the iPhone doesn't sound all that great by itself so we decided to put the top down on my car and turn up the radio.  That was fine until we realized it was kind of loud so I pulled the car closer to the fire, put the top up, and rolled down the windows facing us so you could really only hear the music from one side.  After awhile, I got scared that all the smoke was going to suck into my car and ruin the new car smell, so Erin took a Neat Sheet (kind of like a blue fabric tarp) and anchored it to the top of the car with rocks so it fell over the window like a curtain.  And that's how we listened to music every night.  I'm going to try to find a picture; I'm pretty sure I have one.  It's more comical if you see it- I mean, is it a redneck sound system or is it a cool new car?  Who can tell?

It was a fun trip as always.  Except for when Kenzie and I were driving back and got rear-ended in the McDonalds drive through.  Did I mention my car still had temporary tags?  Sometimes I really think our last name is Murphy.  At least we have humorous stories to tell.

Dear Kenzie

2 days old

4 months

8 months

Well, sweet girl, it's been four years since you've come into my life.  That sometimes sounds like forever to me, but when I think about the fact that I'm 27 (ok fine, 30.), it's hard to imagine all those years not having you around.  You have brought me so much joy.  Serious, blissfully happy, erase-all-my-worries-away joy. Like when you were a tiny baby and you would wake up and give me a big smile. . . And when you slept through the night so early on. . . Like when you tell me that I'm your best friend in the whole world.. . Or that I sound just like the girl singing on the radio in the car while we're driving. . . When you get excited on Monday and Tuesday mornings and whisper in my ear:  "it's a girl day" because it's just us hanging out until 2pm. . . You unselfishly share anything you have- even your favorite candy. . . When you draw me a card with lots of pictures of me and you- sometimes in a tent or on a swing, or with Pippa- always in beautiful dresses. . . When we look in the mirror and you say we're twins because we have the same eyes. . . When I'm cleaning your room and you pick a couple of things up and tell me to "give it to another little kid who doesn't have any toys". . . Or when you are looking through a magazine and point to a ridiculously gorgeous model and say I look just like her. . . When you tell me that you just want me to hold you or that you need a hug or a kiss.  You don't say you want one, you say you need one. 

 9 months

9 months

11 months Kiawah Island

1 year old!

You also give me some pretty awesome belly laughs (and sometimes humble me as a parent too).  Like the other day when we were walking into the store and you loudly announced that the woman just a few feet away "is getting pretty old", which was a tad mortifying considering that woman really only looked about 60. . . Or a few months ago when you pointed at some bras while we were shopping and proclaimed "Mommy, your boobies are way too small to fit into those"! . . And the other night when I threatened to spank your tail, you immediately stopped what you were doing and told me "no you can't because I don't have a tail.". . .The time when you were not even two years old and we were in the shower and you started wiggling and touching your shins- when I asked you what you were doing you said "shaking my legs" because you had asked me the day before what I was doing and I told you "shaving my legs". . . Or just this morning when you were sitting in my closet and had asked me to do 3 things for you- all at once- and I told you that I can't do everything at one time and you replied, "well, Sponge Bob can". 

15 months in the barn

16 months in the Old City

16 months in the Old City

August 2008 Jen's wedding

The way your mind works is fascinating.  You are so smart.  You could easily find your way around an iPhone when you were two and a half.  Last week you counted to 50.  And you use words like "actually" and "magenta".  I think that's pretty cool.  You are so good to me.  You love me unconditionally.  And you see the good in people.  I am so proud of the little girl you have become in such a short time and to say that I am extremely blessed to have you is quite the understatement.  I am so happy to be your Mommy.

September 2008 in the cabinet

January 2009 at the farm

February 2009 at home

3 years old!

May 2010 at school

I love you so much, Kenzie.  You are my sunshine.

I took this picture last night at Pizza Kitchen.  Kenzie is growing up and like every other parent in the world, I really want to keep her this age forever because time just goes by too fast!  She will turn four on Tuesday.  I am certain of the date because she has asked me "how many days until my birthday" for about 44 days now.  She was looking through some old pictures and asking me questions about when she was a baby and glancing at them, I realized how much she has grown and changed in just (under) four short years.  Maybe I'll post some of those.  Or maybe I'll procrastinate and never get around to it like always. . .we'll see.

This was the first official haircut that I long ago promised to talk about.  Randy told her all about how he had to go to special hair-cutting school to get a special license which means only people with that license are allowed to cut hair.  Before we left, Kenzie told him that she wanted to go to hair-cutting school so she could get a special license too.  It actually turned out super cute and I didn't have a panic attack or faint like I feared I would.  He cut off 5 inches, which means that there is still a little bit in the back that is 3 inches shorter, but honestly, unless you're really looking for it, you can't tell at all. 

I know at the time, I was really freaking out, but in hindsight, it could have been far worse.  Like the other day when I picked Kenzie up from school and was thinking "Man!  Who cut all of her little friends hair off?!  Her hair is ridiculously short!  What kind of parents would do that to a little girl?!"  Then, it hit me.  Upon a closer glance, I saw that the front was not quite right- almost like the hairdresser had an accident while cutting. . . it suddenly dawned on me that she had cut her own hair to the scalp in front- and pretty far back too.  The teacher confirmed that's what had happened.  I didn't ask if it happened at school.  It made me feel pretty lucky though, I mean at least Kenzie still looks like a little girl.  I don't mean that to sound ugly- I know that pixie cuts are all the rage for some people.

It was my last day in the G37 a couple days ago and Kenzie and I had gone out for one last errand in it.  On a whim, I pulled over next to the railroad tracks to take some pictures of her.  Had I planned it, I would have picked a different outfit, but whatev.  Once I convinced Kenzie that I would know when a train was coming WAY before it ever came close, she enjoyed taking pictures.  Well, for about 2 minutes.  It was blistering hot that day and 2 minutes was all we could stand.  This one was the best of the bunch and I used it for her birthday invitations. 

This is a picture from Easter. I know that was a long time ago, but still, a cute picture worth posting. We don't have a lot of family shots since Erin or myself is usually taking pictures. It was the perfect day for hunting eggs. We had beautiful weather and Deloris was finally able to convince Mom to come up to the farm. Everyone had such a good day. Plus, since Kim stuffs like 200+ eggs and there are only 5 kids to hunt, we are still eating Easter candy. And yes, it still tastes good.

Remember when you were a kid and you used to say the "Eeinie-Meenie-Mynie-Moe" rhyme to decide things like who gets to eat the last piece of candy or who gets to hide first during hide and seek? Well, evidently in Kenzie's group of friends, it's just used to see who gets to BE Moe. Being Moe doesn't seem to have any special benefits or anything, but if you're not Moe, I guess that's almost like saying "you lose". Even though you weren't playing anything. For example, the other night, Kenzie was playing outside with her friends and ran to me crying. She was upset because the other 2 girls had both been Moe, but she hadn't yet. Make sense? Yeah, me neither.

It finally happened.

You know, my intent was to post pictures of Easter, cupcakes, Dollywood, and the two 5K races Erin and I have ran and talk about how awesome all of those times were.  Instead I am going to be a Debbie Downer and tell you how one of my worst parenting nightmares has now come true.

I have never let Kenzie use a pair of scissors.  The reason is because I didn't want her to cut her hair like every little girl seems to do at one point during childhood.  A couple months ago, I received a proficiency report on how Kenzie was doing at school in just about every aspect that is preschool life.  She was graded "mastered", "can complete with assistance", or "needs improvement".  I was bursting with pride when almost every field (over 4 pages) was filled with "M"s for mastered.  The only things did not score an "M" on was something about staying on task while not talking (and who could I blame for that?  I mean, I'm kind of a chatterbox myself), willingness to try new foods (no shocker here), and ablility to cut on a straight line.

With scissors.

Well, of course she couldn't do that!  I had never stuck a pair of scissors in my three year old's hand; let alone teach her how to CUT things!  And maybe that's a little backward on my part.  I admit that.  But since then, they have been using scissors at school.  And I have been telling Kenzie how she is to only cut paper.  That's all.  Nothing else.

Especially hair.

We had a neighborhood yard sale on Saturday and Kenzie's hair was pulled back in a clip for the better part of the day.  Later she took a shower and after her hair had air-dried for awhile, I brushed it out.  This is what I saw.

Nothing super surprising at first, just a little. . .off.  Or something.  It just wasn't quite right.  Then:

This time I noticed that the bottom of her hair was virtually non-existent and I kind of started to hyperventilate.  I asked Kenzie when and who had cut her hair and she told me that she cut it at school on Friday but that it was an accident.  She showed me how she happened to have the scissors behind her head and accidentally happened to cut off 8+ inches.

Yes, over 8 inches.

I will spare you the details of how I nearly passed out and how Erin thought that it was totally the school's fault.  All I can really say is that this happened on Friday and we can't fix it until tomorrow (Tuesday) because Randy, my hair man, isn't open today.  You might not think it's that bad.  And that's what my friends and neighbors all tried to convince me of this weekend.  But when you brush it out and it looks like this:

You know something has to be done.  I intend to chronicle the hopefully-not-so-traumatic hair repair in pictures.  Kenzie is upset because she says that her long hair makes her a princess and I am upset because I tried so earnestly, so diligently to prevent this from happening.  I guess I should just be thankful that she didn't cut it all the way to the scalp (or really any shorter at all) and that she didn't hack from the front.  I mean, at least I can still put it in side pigtails (albeit thin ones) or a ponytail and people don't notice.  Or at least they pretend not to. . .

Less Talk, More Pictures

Stories are nice and all, but I'm behind on my updates here.  And I figure that if I don't throw all these pictures out here now, with commentary here and there of course, then it might be summer before I get caught up.  Easter is this Sunday and I'm sure I'll have pics and stories from that day too.

When it comes to Kenzie, I have the most tolerant cat in town, possibly in all of Tennessee.  She may not be happy about it, but Pippa will let Kenzie dress her up and do anything she wants.  What a good sport.  The top 2 pics were when Kenzie said they were dressing up to go to a dance.  The bottom picture is from a different night when Pippa had to be Snow White (that's Kenzie's Snow White dress up skirt that Pippa is modeling).

These are from the Deer Farm Zoo in Sevierville.  If you live even relatively close, it is so worth visiting.  Kenzie's favorite animals are the goats (like I even needed to say that- she's been begging for a goat for about 2 years now).  My favorite was that oxen-looking animal.  I just wanted to take him home!  The bottom picture is Kenzie's first pony ride.  We weren't sure how she'd do, but she loved it!  She has asked a couple of times when she can go back and ride Patches.

One day Kenzie wanted me to put all of her hairbows in her hair.  Every single one.  I convinced her to stop around twenty-something.  (It doesn't look like that many in the picture, but trust me, there was a bunch!) She also has on cat ears.

Our neighborhood had an Easter egg hunt a couple weeks ago on the first really pretty day of spring.  The kids also got to decorate their own sugar cookies with as much icing and sprinkles as they wanted.  If I recall, Kenzie did not end up taking a nap that day.

I don't really think these next two need any explanation.

Kenzie and her friend Lauren last weekend:

Mommy's sunglasses and Daddy's hat:  witness protection program:

I walked into the living room the other day and this is what I saw:

I noticed it was unnaturally quiet in the house on Wednesday.  I found Kenzie just standing in my bedroom looking at her finger.  Then I realized she was holding a lady bug. 

Okay, I do have one funny story to share.  For the most part I let Kenzie put on whatever accesories and shoes she wants with outfits (as you may have noticed from the pictures), but sometimes I have to draw the line and tell her that things really just don't match.  Like when she wants to wear 2 different shoes.  A few days ago Kenzie was upset and crying while we were in the bathroom, in front of the mirror, combing her hair.  To distract her, I said "Hey Kenzie, look- we look just alike!  We have the same eyes!"  To which she replied, "Yes, but I also have brown hair.  So I match.  And you don't match."