Toddlers in Tennessee

I thought that I got a few pictures of the kids today, but it turns out that I took three and they all stunk.  Initially, I began to panic.  Then I thought of posting another set of oldies (but goodies).  Instead I remembered that I had taken quite a few pictures on Saturday while the kids were appropriately dressed in their ORANGE attire in honor of the first UT game.  I only posted one that day because the day sort of got away from me (and I sort of attended the game and was way too tired to come up with anything to say that evening).  And we have had so many other adventures since Saturday and lots of pictures that I just didn't need to go back and sort through them all yet.

When you are a toddler and you live in Tennessee, there is a very good chance that your parents or grandparents (or aunts and uncles and cousins) will dress you up in all things UT.  It's just a part of growing up in our beautiful neck of the woods. Football season arrives and our city is awash in orange and white.  It's nice to see the community come together in a sense and I always enjoy the display of Volunteer pride on cars, storefronts, etc.  It's just a nice way to signal the beginning of fall in East Tennessee.  Soon the trees will also show off their support for the Vols when they turn colors.  OK, that's pushing it just a little too far, but you get the idea. 

Originally I had the girls dressed in their adorable orange and white polka-dot pillowcase dresses and it was just too precious.  But while we were making plans to head out to the park, the kids got undressed in the playroom and someone pooped on the floor.  At that point, we realized that it was much more practical to put them in pants and shirts so that they could actually play and be comfortable.  (And Mommy would need to know that there wasn't any sort of bio-hazard waste on the dresses before they would be allowed to wear them again.)  It was then that I realized that we didn't have enough UT garb to go around.  I had to resort to using a UT shirt that Clark normally wears as PJs for Kendall to wear to the playground.  We had an orange shirt for Emma (and no, I don't want to hear from anyone that it isn't the "right" color orange because my intention was good) and the cute football jersey for Clark, so we were going to make do with those outfits.  I quickly recognized that Kendall needed a girlie touch, so I grabbed a brush and got her hair in pigtails.  It wasn't the best hairdo, but I thought she looked super-cute.
Just in case you are wondering why she is looking up the tree (in one photo), we located a caterpillar while going down the slide.  Daddy relocated said caterpillar to the tree so that it wouldn't get squished or trampled by the children playing at the park that day.  Kendall was so interested in the tiny caterpillar (relocated on SATURDAY) that she went searching up the trees for it when we were back at the same park on Wednesday evening.  It was very sweet and I hope that I always remember that when I see those pictures.

Go Vols!