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."

Introduction to skating

Going. . .

Going. . .

Gone.

This past weekend, Kenzie's cousin Gracie turned 7.  That's Gracie with Kenzie in the second picture.  Her party was at Hamilton Skate Place in Chattanooga.  Kenzie had never skated before, so when we first started out, she insisted on Erin and I both holding her hands at all times.  She gradually got good enough to trust herself with just one of us, and by the end of the party, she didn't really want us around at all.  We all had a great time. 

The weekend before that, it snowed so we decided to go sledding.  Now when I say it snowed, I don't mean it snowed like it did in the rest of the United States that weekend.  We weren't that lucky.  But it was enough to have a little fun.  We didn't get much, but it was a very wet snow which made for icy slick sledding trails- you really can't get much better. . .or dangerous.  We met up with Adam, Ashley, and the kids and started out on a normal, tall but non-frightening hill.  Then Ashley's Dad took us to this really super tall, very steep (ultra scary and terribly perilous looking) hill (I don't even know if it counts as a hill; perhaps "mini-mountain covered in nothing but grass and ice" is a better way to describe it).  In the pictures you will notice one of Erin and Kenzie appearing to be sledding across the street on the pavement.  That is actually what happened as the hill was so high that if you made it to the bottom without flipping your sled (like Adam) or chickening out and putting a foot down (like me), you would fly right across the street into the grass on the other side.  Curbs included.  I was convinced I would bust my head into a million pieces that day, but miraculously, that did not happen.

And yes, Kenzie is wearing rain boots.  That was the best we could do.  We don't have much need for snow gear here in Knoxville.  At least her feet stayed dry.

Kenzie and Baylor climbing Hill #1.

Erin, Adam, Kenzie, and Baylor- still Hill #1

Quick hug from Mommy before we journey to Hill #2

Erin and Kenzie atop Hill #2.  My camera was zoomed in.  For real.  It doesn't look that high, but it really was VERY high.  And steep.  From the bottom, it doesn't look scary, but after you make the mile-high trek to the summit, it is very ominous looking down (especially since the end of the hill is pavement).

They were still moving fast here. . .and didn't stop until they were pretty far into the grass.

Adam and Ashley

I was very happy to be alive- I had just come down Hill #2.

It was a pretty awesome Saturday.

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".

Before.

After.

The damage actually extends way over to the right side of the living room, but this picture had Kenzie in it so I used this one instead. It was a terrific Christmas morning and Santa clearly thought that Kenzie had been very good this year. I have a funny story about that morning, but I'll have to include it later. It was a really great day.

Picture of the Day

Okay, I know this picture isn't the best quality. I took it with my cell phone. Plus she was moving. But I thought it was totally cute. We got our Christmas tree at Lowe's the other day and after they trimmed it and wrapped it up, Kenzie wanted to pull it on the cart by herself to the checkout lane. It's a 7 foot tree (they didn't have any taller this year) so she just looked so small and determined while pulling it!