My admiration for the Farragut Taco Bell

First of all, the pictures have nothing to do with what I'm going to talk about, but they make me happy and that's the topic today. 

The first one is Pippa enjoying some "ice cream" that Kenzie made for her.  She must be done because the spoon has fallen out of the bowl.  The next one is Kenzie dancing for us in the living room in beautiful attire, complete with a princess crown.  The last one is the back of her hair from when she went to a friend's princess birthday party a couple weeks ago.  They put glitter in her hair and did her make-up.  She wore it (and insisted on re-applying the brightest pink lipstick I could find) all day long.

Last night we went to Taco Bell for a late dinner.  You may remember that sometime before Christmas Kenzie was asking me what reindeer eat and I told her things like hay, oats, and maybe a piece of bread for a treat (well, at least that's what I gave the family pet jennet back in the day!).  She told me that she thought they ate Taco Bell.  This was very funny to me because at that time, we seriously never went to Taco Bell.  I mean, Kenzie had probably been there once ever.  Well, since then Kenzie has had this thing for Taco Bell (and Moe's, which she also calls Taco Bell) so that's why that restaurant was chosen. 

I have to say that I have never been treated so well as a customer.  The employees seemed genuinely glad to be there.  And it was festively decorated with "Mexican-style, not regular Taco Bell" decor. . .complete with cacti!  Plus it was super clean.  They even had colorful ceramic bowls sitting on the table with sauce packets in them.  To top it off, one of the employees brought their new flavor of slushy drinks to everyone in the dining room to try.  Full size.  The only drawback was that they were out of toys for the kids meals, but come on- unless you're at McDonalds, is the toy ever that great? 

Now, you may think I'm making a big deal out of nothing.  But when is the last time you went to a fast-food joint and had service like that?!  When we were walking out, Erin said "you know, that was the best Taco Bell experience I've ever had!".  I was seriously thinking the same thing.  Then Kenzie, who hadn't said much in the past few minutes said, "well, I didn't like them because they didn't even give me my toy!"

Guess you can't please everyone.

The Big Red Dress

Well, I just got done washing, drying, folding, hanging up, and putting away a load of laundry.  As I walked out of the closet, I realized that all of that laundry was washed only with fabric softener.  I forgot to use detergent.

Fantastic. 

Below you will see pictures of Kenzie in the same red dress on 4 different days.  It was a gift on Christmas morning from Daddy and she calls it her "big red dress".  She wants to wear it ALL the time.  Her Bitty Baby even has a matching dress.  It has been the source of more than a few meltdowns when I've told her that we have to take it off for various reasons (we're going outside and it's snowing, it's time for school, it's not pajamas, you have to take a shower, etc.).  She's obviously not bothered by wearing clothes that need to be washed.  I guess I only have to rewash a third of that load.

Just kidding.

Very early Christmas morning

Very late Christmas night at Grandmothers

December 29th, passed out right in the floor.

New Years Day

A little bittersweet. . .

These pictures were actually taken before Christmas, but I didn't get them until last week. It was a bitterly cold day and the wind was blowing, so Christy promised Kenzie that we would immediately go have hot chocolate after we were done shooting. Afterward, Christy took us to this quaint little coffee shop (I can't remember the name) and we waited patiently while they made us some delicious, real hot chocolate. They even just barely steamed Kenzie's milk so it wouldn't be too hot. I guess Kenzie just doesn't appreciate that kind of hot chocolate like we do, because she begged for a juice box from their cooler instead.

It was great catching up with Christy since I only see her a couple times a year. You can see the rest of Kenzie's pictures in the form of a slide show at this link:

www.bonifaciophotography.com/slideshows/bankes121109

Then, check out Christy's website: http://www.bonifaciophotography.com/ She really is amazing with that camera. She has been taking Kenzie's pictures since she was 4 months old. In fact, she took the picture of me and baby Kenzie at the top of this page. This time, the pictures were truly bittersweet. Kenzie doesn't look like a baby or toddler anymore. She looks like a sweet little girl. I'm going to try to dig up a couple pictures from other sessions with Christy. You'll see what I mean. It's wonderful that Kenzie is growing up and all, but I think every mommy wants to keep her children little for just a little bit longer.

Quick funny story. I was in my bedroom and Kenzie was in her room playing with a tea set. I could hear her on the baby monitor (her room is on the other end of the house) as she was having everyone (stuffed animals and baby dolls) drink their delectable concoctions.

Overheard:

"Now you have some and we'll all drink together"

"Ssssiiiippp, mmmm. That tastes SO good going down my drain."

I guess I have never taught her the word "throat". I mean, that's one of those things you don't think of when you're singing "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes".