swinging happy...

My favorite photo out of a zillion taken today...

Tea Party

A tea party was held Sunday for Daddy, Me, and 6 of Kenzie's closest stuffed pals. Kenzie served gourmet plastic fruits, donuts, beverages and more. We had shrimp basted in drool and she really outdid herself with the peas that reversed into green beans.



Daddy's a bit of an over-actor, & should have known better than to come shirtless to a fine dining affair.

A Masterpiece

WE LOVE PAINTING!!!
I didn't take many pictures as my fingers were too gooey, however we created an extravagant fingerpainted mess on a piece that was approximately 2 feet by 4 feet of butcher paper.

Voila!



We settled down in the shade under the trees in our yard and I told her we'd make flowers. I assisted in forming some actual flowers out of the blobs of paint, which she'd quickly scurry over and smoosh. This held OUR attention for nearly an hour and a half and was great fun for us both.

Rainy Play

"Rain, Rain, go away...Little Kenzie wants to play..."
..was chanted a good several times before I relented and let her have at it. She was already wet anyway from my morning run, which was cut short by a down pour. And, to think -- she requested a tapestry (that I use to block the sun) be put over the stroller so that she wouldn't get wet... Silly monkey.



Singing in the rain in Ladybug boots and (ineffective at that angle) umbrella...



She was also kind enough to heavily water my flowers with her baby sized watering can. Guess that makes up for my forgetfulness yesterday.

What's a Camel Say?

I visited a heck of a garage sale this past week and picked up LOADS of plastic animals. Kenzie loves plastic animals. She sorts them and lines them up...and makes every animal sound imaginable.



But we are perplexed by her latest question.

Anyone know what sound a camel makes??

Please do share. I told her they spit, but I've no clue as to what they say when doing it....

Farmstead Photo Deluge

Our community has a very nice little farmstead which is free to the public. It's an amazing place for kids. Kenzie really enjoyed talking and interacting with the animals. Probably a few too many hugs for the goat's taste - but there's nothing better than a friendly farm animal to her. It was a nice cool day for Kansas, so the animals were out and about and socializing up a storm.




The goats are the best as you get to go right in their little cage and feed them of course. Those hungry little critters thought my pants were edible though - and there were more than a few instances where they nearly pulled them off of me. (Note to self: no elastic waist bands next time).



There's also a park area, so Kenzie road the duck and slid the slide a few gazillion times, before returning to the animals.






The peacock had an attitude problem. He stood looking all serene and calm and when most unexpected would let out this startling screach. Kenzie told me he was "Scary...Kind of like a Monster."



And, then I drenched the child in hand sanitizer and the trip was over....'till next time.

Today, I'm exhausted.

This blog has been kind of quiet lately. I choose to mostly blog about good, positive, and the funny. Generally, I enjoy writing about what Kenzie does that brings me (or us) joy. The past few days have been hard parenting days; I've felt like there's been a lot of naughty, a lot of one particular toddler telling me "NO!" (and promptly landing on the naughty step), and a lot of begging to be outside -- although we've been outside all -freaking- day long. It's hard to exist on a toddler's preferences. Really.
Especially when they can. not. have. ice. cream. for. breakfast. (I don't care what the neighbor mommy said about that!!)

As result, I haven't had that "I wanna blog this" feeling lately - but today, I'm going to force it.
Last night, Doug mowed the lawn. This is an every other day kind of experience as he's a bit fond of a nice neat lawn. Typically, Kenzie and I stay indoors so that she's not accosted by all the allergens...but we'd already had a long day of yelling so I gave in and took her outside, rather than hearing her stand at the window begging for Daddy. She took her toy mower out and "helped" mow the yard. Poor thing couldn't push it on the grass, so she stood on the concrete frothing at the mouth until he mowed a path next to the cement...and she could follow.




Kenzie's taken to giving me a really coy & cute look when she KNOWS she's being naughty. I try and pick my battles, so with this demonstration of the coy/cute look, I chose to ignore that she'd just gotten caught playing with Zoey (the dog)'s food. I just couldn't do another time-out so soon after the last one (for hitting the same dog with a magic wand). I just didn't have it in me.



Yesterday, we planted flowers and she helped break them into little tiny bits. Today, we went to the pool where she was not happy in the baby pool. She's a big girl after all (or so she tells me every few minutes) and big girls jump into the adult pool even. though. they. cannot. swim. My arms are shaking from so much lifting her up and out of the pool. There's been coloring on walls, jumping on furniture, saying "I'm not ready" to just about anything I ask her to do...and I'm tired.

And, even though it's been a rough few days. I'm still not ready to sell her to the highest bidder.

California Girls

We're back from San Diego. We had a really good time but had a little trouble sleeping a few nights (due to the time change and no crib)... a lot of trouble eating all that we were fed (A LOT of Persian cuisine)... and got spoiled rotten. (and yes, that means the both of us). Of course, the trip was well documented by my new camera...

We visited the ocean a few times, stayed with Mary (our previous sitter/grandma figure), and visited our old favorite San Diegan spots. The weather was gorgeous and we were forlorn to leave the concept of San Diego - but we missed Daddy, our home, and even Kansas. Kenzie even slept on the plane for once during our return flight. That was dreamy ride for me - an adorable toddler sleeping on my chest and a book in hand!

A few of my favorite trip photos:
Here's Kenzie after a BAG of cheese puffs. Once she popped one she couldn't stop, and needless to say - she didn't eat her lunch! She has a bit of a cheese puff beard.


Kenzie apparently always enjoyed wearing curlers while at Mary's house. She got a new 'do one day:


Kenzie made friends with a darned fish bowl - and wouldn't leave its side. No matter where we hid it, she was persistent enough to have it returned. (um, can you hear the yelling??) Those fishies got their eyes poked more than a few times.


Kenzie with her beloved snails. She wasn't as confident in carrying them as she was when we lived in San Diego - but she was still horribly interested:


We also revisited her favorite mall playground (right by our old house):


And finally, a shot of Kenzie, Mary and I at a fantastic Mexican dinner the last night we were there:


Now, we're home recovering from the time change (again), lack of discipline, etc. :)

Doug and I are off to a Music Festival in celebration of our 8th year of wedded bliss (which just happened to fall on the creepy date of 6-6-06). We're going childless to the festival and really looking forward to it.