Picture Wednesday and Auntie Kenzie's Visit

Here's Finn at 33 weeks old.

Finny's been a bit of a mess this week.  Today he was especially grumpers.  He spent the afternoon either crying in his crib, wiggling and fussing restlessly in my arms, or crying on the ground if I dared put him down to use the restroom, or something equally selfish.  I hope it's just another tooth and not a new phase of Finn.  He's getting so big.  This week he's started to get up on his knees and rock back and forth quite a bit.  He has yet to move those knees forward though.  He rocks and then kind of lunges forward and scootches quickly to whatever he has his eye on.  Even when he has a "hard" day, he has still spent the majority of the day smiling, so it's not all that bad.

Kenzie went home yesterday after a week long visit.  We missed her today.  Last week we shopped for hours every day from Tuesday to Saturday.  We exhausted our resources at 4 different malls, (visiting the one closest to my house 4 times).  We missed naps and meals, argued about fits, fabrics, colors, and styles, pushed strollers, carried bags, tried new sandwich places, and kept track of the Tate-o in crowded stores with tons of racks to hide in.  And I think we ended up with a nice school wardrobe for her.  Shopping with Kenzie is....an experience.  We have very different opinions about everything and while Kenzie is usually a really great girl, the teenage attitude rears it's ugly head just a bit when we go shopping.  Luckily, it really does disappear as soon as the shopping stops so we had quite a bit of very pleasant time together as well.  We got all of her shopping done in the first 5 days and spent Sunday relaxing and playing with the Garvins, and then Monday and Tuesday playing together.  It was nice to have some time to play with Kenz and have her all to ourselves.  Flying out here alone was a big deal for Kenz and we're so glad she came.  

On Monday we went to the aquarium.  One of the best things about Auntie Kenz is that she still loves to do fun things with the kids.  She still knows how to marvel and play and Tate couldn't get enough of her.

 On Tuesday we met the Cluff ladies at the zoo.  Tate rode in Janelle's wagon for most of the morning and was the keeper of the map.

 Here are the kiddos looking at the cheetahs.

It was a really hot morning but we stuck it out and spent 3 hours walking around the zoo.  We saw a little show, rode on the zoo train, drank icees, and obviously saw lots of cool animals.

I think our favorite moment of the morning was when we saw the lemurs.  Tate's very into the movie, "Madagascar" lately and loves the part where the lemurs sing, "I like to move it move it."  So when we saw them at the zoo he did this goofy dance while singing, "I like to move it move it."

We had one casualty while Kenz was visiting.  Tate was jumping on the bed, slipped, and smacked his head on the headboard and split it open.  Forehead scar #4 for the poor kid.  I was so grateful the Kenzie was around for that one.  She helped me calm him down and watched the boys while I ran to Walmart to get some super glue to glue his head shut.  It would have been so hard to pack up both the boys, one whose head was bleeding, and take them both to the store with Finn screaming the whole time because he was hungry.  So glad she was here.  Tate recovered really quickly and spent the next couple days showing everyone his lightning mcqueen bandaid.  It's way up next to his hair line and healing fast.  I guess I'd better get used to the gore, raising 2 boys but...I don't know if I'm ever going to be used to it.  Blood and I...we don't get along.

I think the thing I like most about Kenzie (while I like many things) is that she is such a sweetheart to our boys.  She played hours of hide and seek with Tate and acted surprised every time she found him hiding in the exact same spot.  She made Finny laugh every day and he just beamed every time she came near.  She was helped me care of the boys, get them in and out of the car, run errands, make dinner, clean bathrooms, and even watched the boys while Glenn and I went on TWO dates!  Needless to say, she's welcome back any time.  We miss you Auntie Kenzie.  Thanks for coming to visit!