I have really big, wide-tooth comb that I use to comb Kennedy’s hair when it’s wet.  The other night she came out of the bathroom after her bath, using a comb on each side of her head.  Her explanation?  “I couldn’t find the big comb, so I just got two instead.”

Today was Kennedy’s first day of school.  Her teacher is Ms. Kropfinger, and Kennedy seems to like her.  They had a ton of homework, which I wasn’t expecting on the first day, but otherwise things went pretty smoothly, mostly.  This morning, Walt and I both planned to take K. to her classroom.  However, when we were getting ready to walk out the door, K. said, “I’m going with Dad.  Why are you going anyway (to me)?”  I got a little sad and looked at Walt for help, and he came through with just the right thing, “We’re all going because it’s your special first day.”  Her enthusiastic response, “Okay, I guess.”

I took Kennedy back to the high school to finish up a little work after school.  We always stop by and say hi to the secretary because she’s a grandma and she loves Kennedy.  The principal called me into her office, and Karen (the secretary) and Kennedy played “dog” complete with barking, howling, scratching, petting and sitting.  The funny part wasn’t that K. was pretending to be a dog; the funny part was that Karen was into being a dog as much as Kennedy was.
After dinner, Kennedy said, “Some girl named Felicity used to be my friend, but now she’s not.”  I said, “Oh, really?”  I’ve never heard of this girl before now.  Kennedy continued, “Yeah, she kept telling me I was going to get on red, probably.”  I said, “What did you say?”  K. said, “I didn’t say anything and that is what is called the silent treatment.”  So, I said, “Did you tell her you were giving her the silent treatment?”  You can probably guess her answer, “No, because that would not be the silent treatment.”

And then finally, tonight, Kennedy and I were swimming and she told me to “Chillax!”  I said, “What does that mean?”  She said, “You know RELAX and CHILL.”

This week was our “last” week of summer.  I start back to work (officially, I’ve been putting in a few hours here and there) on Monday and K. starts back to school on Thursday.  I can’t believe she’s already in first grade!  So, anyway, I tried to cram some last minute activities into our week.  On Wednesday, we played cards all morning long.  Then we headed to town to swim at Pelican Bay.  We snacked on snow cones and pretzels and K. kept saying, “This day just gets better and better!”  I guess because she was making all the plans, and I kept saying, “Why not?”

After swimming, we met Walt at Penn Square Mall.  Kennedy’s allowance has been burning a hole in her pocket, and she decided she needed to build a friend for Fuzzy Da Bear, that she made at Build A Bear prior to staring PreK.  She decided on a pink cheetah, which she promptly named “Pinky.”  K. picked out a pink jogging outfit and snazzy white tennis shoes.  Pinky is exactly 18 inches tall, which is exactly how tall (long) Kennedy was when she was born.  (K. loves this fact; she has been eaten up with babies, especially since Sarah’s c-section is the 26th of this month.)  Again with the, “This day keeps getting better and better.”

And, for the grand finale, we let her pick the restaurant for dinner.  Her pick?  McDonald’s, of course.  We seldom eat there and K. doesn’t really eat the food very well, but she said that’s where she wanted to go.  Just to prove me wrong, she ate EVERYTHING, her whole hamburger, almost all of her apples, and some of my fries.  Being the boss is hard work.

Kennedy sleepily said that night, “It was a good day.”  I agree, K.  We should spend more time together doing fun things.  You’ll only be little for a while.

Cousins Noah and Myra are spending a few nights at Granny and Papa’s in Stroud to give Josh and Chris a much deserved break, and time for a kid-free birthday celebration.  Happy Birthday, Chris!!!  Anyway, so they came by and picked up Kennedy and me and took us to Incredible Pizza in OKC.  We LOVE that place.  It is such a welcome change from Chuck-E-Cheese!  The kids had a blast (so did I) and on the way home, Kennedy sat in the middle between Myra and Noah.  I wasn’t really paying attention to the kids; K. and Myra were doing their usual, “Girls go to college to get more knowledge..” when all of a sudden I heard Noah say, rather loudly and rather empatically, “NO!!!  Boys do not go to Jupiter!!!  They go to tollege!!!”

We died laughing, and I tried to end it all a few minutes later when it was apparent that Noah was a little upset with the girls.  I said, “Stupider isn’t even a word.”  Kennedy said, “We know that, but we think it’s funny.”  And so it continued…all the way to Luther.

This summer, we have purchased Guitar Hero (thanks to Kennedy) and Wii Fit, and we have had a ton of fun with both.  Unfortunately, all that extra usage and disc switching somehow messed up our system, and I put in a call to Nintendo this morning.  Actually, I put in a call to Josh first to see what he would advise.  We’ve had the Wii for about a year and a half, so I knew it wouldn’t be covered under warranty, but we were willing to pay because we have so much fun with it.  The Wii Fit disc was ruined before I figured out something was wrong, so we were looking at fixing/replacing both the system and the disc.

I had no idea how much it would cost, but Nintendo, you are “THE MAN!!!”  The lady I talked to (after only about a 30 second wait) arranged to have us ship the Wii and the game back to them at no charge AND they are treating it as if it were under warranty.  So, we probably won’t have to pay to fix it or the game, and they are giving us another extended one-year warranty.  I’m in love with Nintendo right now!!!

Kennedy has been reading (a bit) for a while now; however, this summer I have noticed it really taking off.  She reads EVERYTHING, signs on the road, television commercials and even stuff on the internet that she probably she shouldn’t.

This evening, we couldn’t get the sound on the TV  to work.  That, my friends, is a HUGE deal around here.  She is a true TV addict and she started to sound desparate as she begged me to call her father.  I refused (he was working), and so she said, “See if the ‘mutt’ button is on.”  I said, “What?”  She said, “The MUTT button, the one that makes the sound not work.”  I (realizing she read the remote) said, “You mean the MUTE button?”  Her response?  “That’s what I said,” in a snotty little voice.  She is NEVER wrong.  She reminds me of someone, but I just can’t put my finger on who…

Tonight Kennedy played in what we thought would be her final Tball game.  The Hot Styx are in a tournament, and since they had already lost once (double elimination), we thought we’d be finished after tonight.  Kennedy has had lots of people come see her play this week:  Granny, Anna and her kids came last night and Tonya and Lindsay came tonight.  Of the two games, tonight was infinitely more exciting; unfortunately, it wasn’t because of the players, but because of the other team’s coach.

We were kind of excited to be playing this team because the girls had beaten them last time.  However, we remember their coach well; he’s a yeller, and he does it all with a condescending tone, as if he is the end-all, be-all Tball God.  Before we had even finished one inning, he was already getting warmed up and had received one warning from the ump.  I felt sorry for her because he was so hard on her.  He would even argue calls where his girls tagged our’s out because the ump called her out “for the wrong reason.”  The ump said, “I’ve already called her out.  What do you want from me?”
One call involved Kennedy.  She hit the ball and ran towards first.  The little first base player was trying to field the ball, right in front of first base.  Kennedy slowed down as she neared the base so as not to run the girl over, but she didn’t stop.  She kind of ran to the side of the girl and stood on the base.  The other little girl tagged K. but Kennedy wasn’t giving in.  There was a little bit of a shoving match on the base (Kennedy stood her ground, even when everybody thought she was already out) and the ump called her safe because the first base player can’t stand in the base line.

Well, the other coach came charging out of the dugout screaming at the ref.  Then he turned and stomped toward his own catcher and yelled at her awhile.  The ref told him, “These kids are here to HAVE FUN; LET THEM HAVE SOME FUN!!!”  Two plays later, the coach told his girls they were done, and he forfeited the game.  He is filing a complaint about the ump, but I can’t imagine what actual grounds he would have.
So, now their team got 4th place in the tourney, and Kennedy’s team will play in the finals on Thursday, in Luther @ 6:30.  We think they are going to play the team that already beat them once last week, but the girls are over the moon.  Their coach told them if they win that the team will receive a trophy bigger than “Little Bali” (a teeny-tiny-little-four-year-old on the team).  I caught her coach after the game (he’s our neighbor) and we visited about the crazy other coach.  I also said, “Just to let you know…if you ever yell at my kid the way that coach yelled at his catcher, we’re going have a problem.”  His response (by the way, he rarely yells at all) was, “I don’t yell at my own kids that way, I’m darn sure not going to yell at someone else’s kid that way.”  I agree, Gary, I agree.

Good luck, K!!!

ETA:  They won Thursday’s game, but ended up having to play the same team on Friday, since both teams had one loss and Harrah had beaten us.  We lost Friday. (Thank goodness, I hate to think what the other team’s coaches would have said to their kids.  They had been yelling at them for two straight games, and their catcher-why is it always the catcher-was sobbing audibly by the end of the game.) But, in ironies of all ironies, the second place trophy was EXACTLY the same size as the first place, and Kennedy was thrilled to have won her first trophy ever.  It’s on the mantle at our little green house if anyone wants to drop by and see it.

Take It Easy!!!  Kennedy used her birthday money to buy Guitar Hero 3 for our Wii.  She created a band named Pearl and her favorite guy is the one with no shirt and a tall mohawk.  Her highest completion rate is 90% of “Slow Ride.”  She plays until her eyes water and the guitar shakes, but she still hasn’t mastered it 100%  Regardless, she doesn’t get discouraged and seems to have a lot of fun doing it.  It doesn’t hurt that her dad and I enjoy it as much (if not more) than she does!

Kennedy has been playing catcher for her tball team this season, and she is scheduled to play one of her last games tomorrow night in Jones.  (That is if it doesn’t rain.)  It has been so fun to watch her play this year, and she really has improved.  She (almost) always watches the ball during the play, and as soon as the ball is hit, she throws her helmet to the ground every. single. time.  She looks almost aggressive as she stands on the plate and screams, “THROW ME THE BALL!!!!”  K. also gets on base almost every time at bat, although we were unfortunate enough to play a team that could catch the ball in the air and they got her out each time.  The other night, one of the other parents said, “Boy, she sure can hit that ball!!!”

It’s been fun, but I think she’s ready for a break.  She has been asking to sit out some of the innings.  Summer school starts for her next week.  The bus will pick her up at 7:30.  Good thing she’s an early riser!

We had Kennedy’s “friends” birthday party this morning at Pump It Up, a play gym in Edmond.  We used to take Kennedy there when she was younger, and she has attended a couple of parties there.  They have an “pop-in play time” every Wednesday morning, so we invited a few of her friends to come play, and then we went to to Baskin Robbins for clown-cone sundaes.  Riley, Ryan, Megan, and siblings Evan, Logan and Landon all came.  We missed Caden, our former neighbor in Edmond, but he’s a little high maintenance, so it all worked out.  Kennedy was up by 6:00, dressed by 7:00 and giving me time updates all the way up until we left at 8:45.  I think everyone had a great time, judging by the sweaty faces!!!