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!

Are you kidding?

I have decided that today I will post a vintage pic. The reason is because I erroneously put an SD card into this computer and discovered it's an old one with old pictures. And I am sitting in bed. And it's cold so I'm not going to get the current memory card. So today's picture is from exactly 4 years ago when Erin and I went on a cruise to the Bahamas. I was a little over 3 months pregnant at the time. It was super fun and I'd love to do it again.

But back to today. I was having some minor sinus issues yesterday and my voice got hoarse as the day went on. It was bothersome, but not a huge deal. I talk constantly at work. And it's not because I just really love to talk (well, that too, I guess), but that's like half of my job. Cut up tissue and talk about it at the same time. Someone types what I say and it ends up being the "gross" part of the patient's report. (That's really what it's called- because I'm doing the gross dissection; not because it's disgusting) That's what I do for the better part of my day. Anyway, this morning I woke up and couldn't talk. At all. As in, no sound was coming out. It is now almost 11pm. The prognosis seems grim as I have really not improved at all.

Does anyone else agree that this is somewhat of an emergency situation for me?

I mean, I talk pretty much all the time.

I suspect that Erin may secretly be happy about my current condition.

Gobble, gobble

Yesterday, Kenzie had a Thanksgiving play at school. She was one of the Indians the pilgrims met at Plymouth Rock. Her line was "We want to be your friends" and she remembered it without being prompted. I was very proud since the play was with the 4 year old's class and some of them either didn't remember their line or started crying and ran to their parents. Afterwards we had Thanksgiving dinner in the gym. I was fixing Kenzie's plate and asking her what she wanted:

"Stuffing?" "No"

"A pickle?" "No"

"Green beans?" "No"

"Turkey?" "No"

Well, then what do you want to eat? "a peanut butter sandwich"

I told her that we had all brought such good things and that we should all eat this good food together. Her reply?

"Mommy, I already told you. I don't like food."

She ended up having macaroni and cheese, bread, and corn. A plate of yellow. Super healthy, I'm sure. We had a great time though and it was really awesome getting to hang out with her at school.

We have been talking a lot about Santa lately and even mustered up the courage to go see him a few days ago. Now don't be confused- we did not sit on his lap and take pictures or even come within 2 feet of him. We spoke to him from afar since Kenzie is terrified of anyone in character (mascots, costumed adults, the Easter bunny, Santa). She did get close enough for him to hand her a candy cane. It's an improvement from last year. And now you know why you have never seen a picture of Kenzie with Santa.

Anyway, on the way home last night, she asked me what Santa's reindeer like to eat. I told her probably corn, hay, and maybe apples or carrots. Kenzie said "oh" sounding disappointed. Then she was quiet for a second and said, "I thought they eat Taco Bell." It was pretty funny.

Kenzie and her friend Olivia

My sweet little Indian girl

The Pumpkin Patch

I was reminded this past weekend by my cousin Kim that I needed to update this blog. She's right. But let me tell you why I haven't. After each milestone, I would procrastinate blogging until I red-eye corrected the pictures. Then I would forget. Then something funny would happen and I would think, "Man, I really want to blog about that!". But then, I would feel ashamed to blog about something funny when I was neglecting the significant event that never got any credit. Like Kenzie's birthday. Or my 30th birthday. Or Kenzie's first day of school. . .the list goes on and on. But anyway, I'm back in the saddle.


And in case you're wondering, the earth did not, in fact, spin off it's axis as I imagined it would the day I turned 30. I survived. But just barely- I will still totally lie and say I'm 29 if need be.

The picture above is from a couple weeks ago when we took Kenzie to a pumpkin patch for a hayride. Instead of a sand box, they had a corn box. Best. Invention. Ever. You don't have to brush corn off when you get out. It falls off by itself. It doesn't make a mess on the floor mats in your car. And last time I checked, it's relatively clean (as in, cat's aren't peeing in it). We had lots of fun. Here are some more pics.

This is the pumpkin Kenzie picked from the patch.

On a hay ride. Kenzie doesn't look excited, but I just think she wasn't paying attention.


In the corn box.

Tough as a Pine Knot

You've just seen the pictures, so you know what has taken place. Long story short, Kenzie was running at Mom's while carrying a bunch of books for Granddad to read to her. She tripped and fell into the coffee table, busting her chin. After deciding that this injury required more than a band-aid, we headed back to Knoxville to Children's Hospital. I was hoping we would get away with just a butterfly bandage or something, but it didn't turn out that way.

Now, it's important to point out that when we first saw Kenzie, you would have thought that we were offering to treat her cut with salt or something, because she was screaming and fighting us just looking at it. We really didn't know what to expect from the E.R. visit, but if last weeks visit to the pediatrician for shots was any indication, things weren't going to go well. During the hour long drive, I fully prepared myself to hold back tears while they tortured my baby.

We arrived and to our amazement, we didn't wait long, nor did Kenzie cause a fuss when they took her band-aid off in triage to replace it with lidocaine gel and a piece of tape. We were assured that the gel was pretty much the stuff that miracles are made of, and it turned out, they were right.

While we waited to see the doctor, I explained exactly what they were going to do and told her that if she would be very still while they used their "string band-aids", we would get out of there much sooner and that we would head straight to Toys R Us for a special toy afterwards. I was still apprehensive about them scrubbing the wound clean and actually stitching her up, but they said they have a girl that comes in with toys and bubble to distract kids while they have procedures done. We honestly thought that it wouldn't matter if Spongebob himself showed up, nothing was going to distract Kenzie from someone coming at her face with needles.

As it turned out, we were totally wrong.

Kenzie didn't move a muscle the entire time and didn't cry a single tear. We were about to burst with pride and were relieved that we didn't have to see her suffer. (Plus, I also knew that my kid would be one that was remembered as incredibly well behaved and brave once we left).

After being given a popsicle at the hospital and checking out, we drove straight to Toys R Us and told her she could pick out anything she wanted. We were so proud, she could have asked for a tree-house and we probably would have said, "sure honey, whatever you want- did you want a pet goat as well?"

Lucky for us, she decided on Play Doh and a little baby doll.

Murphy's Law at it's finest

You know, I feel awful that I have not yet posted about Kenzie's third birthday, but this is worth writing down before I forget about details. And I promise I will post about her birthday as well as our recent camping trip. This just could not wait, you see.

We have been looking for a bed for Kenzie. A big girl bed. And not just any old bed will do. I had a picture in my mind of what I was looking for and so for the past three days, Erin, Kenzie, and I have been shopping for a bed. Like shopping where you look at a bunch of places, compare pros and cons as well as prices, and leave every place with nothing. Well, yesterday, we had finally decided on a bed (a cream wooden day bed with a trundle/storage drawer underneath), went back to one of the places we had visited, and Erin had negotiated a very handsome price.

He got them to knock off a little over $400 below the sale price.

We were walking out, feeling really good about ourselves for getting such an awesome price break. I mean, we had really done our homework and put in time at these stores! On the way out this salesman asked,

"Are you guys driving that G37 outside?"

"Yes", we replied.

"Did you know that you have a tire that's almost flat?"

I wasn't really excited to hear him ask that, but I thought "whatev, we just saved $400 and the tire probably just needs some air". So we left and did find that our tire appeared to be struggling pretty badly. We drove to an air pump nearby and decided that something was clearly wrong with the machine, because it wouldn't put air into my tire. Then we drove to a Pep Boys a mile away and after a failed attempt at airing the tire, they told Erin to take the wheel off. And you know, they didn't offer to do this for us even though they had a couple guys standing around doing nothing, as well as a bay open in the garage. But I digress.

Erin takes the tire off (in the parking lot of Pep Boys. . .a car garage!) and finds a nail in it. Not what we were wanting to see, but we were hoping it could be fixed since no one (seriously, no one) carries my size tire in stock. (see for yourself- it's a 245/40-19) He carries it over and the guy points out a 3 inch gash in the inner side wall. Totally not fixable. Terrific.

This next part is Murphy's Law at it's finest.

Anyone know how much that tire is? Anyone? I've replaced this size before on the G35 I had before, so I'm quite familiar with the price.

It's just over $400, of course.

*UPDATE*

In true Murphy's Law style, when I took the car in on Monday to have the one tire fixed, I was informed that the opposite tire had 2 nails in it. Two! I don't frequently drive my car through construction sites or take it muddin' so I'm not sure how that happened. Either way, I ended up replacing BOTH tires. It was wonderful.