Where is the summer going?! It seems like I blinked and now it's almost August! Kerry seems to be enjoying herself and has been a very busy girl this week .

There were "pine-cokes" to be collected...

Uncle Dale and Aunt Stessie (Stephanie)'s pool was beckoning to us in the 90+ degree heat...




Mama's "may-no's" needed picking..

And puddles needed to be splashed in. She's had a good week.

And I couldn't resist posting these photos from a few days ago. She decided she needed to eat her dinner all glammed up in sunglasses and bracelets.

Saying the blessing =)

to be 17 again...

This is Ashley.

I've known Ashley since she was around 9 years old and have been lucky to call she and her family my neighbors, and dear friends, since. I recently had the pleasure of photographing this pretty girl for her Senior year photos. I was thrilled and honored that she asked me to do this, but was also just a little nervous...okay more than a little nervous. Luckily, she seemed happy with the results..phew. Anyway, I had a great time, although it was HOT, HOT, HOT outside! We're talking ninety degree weather with about 300% humidity. Anyway, here are a few pics from our little shoot.

Ashley is such an awesome girl. Pretty, smart, strong...she's gonna go far.

It was just us girls; Ashley and her proud Mama Amanda, Kerry, and myself. Afterwards we went out for lunch. We had a great time =).





Did I mention it was HOT! Kerry was with us and the poor thing was melting after just a half hour. I've never seen anything like it. If she goes out in anything warmer than about 80 degrees, her little head and face just starts pouring the sweat.

I caught Kerry playing in the light that pours in from our large picture window in the living room and couldn't resist snapping some photos. She was in rare form, so I managed to catch quite a few of her frequently used facial expressions =). She rarely has all of her hair down since it seems to grow straight forward and hang like a curtain over her eyes, but the longer it gets, the easier it is to get it sweep it to the side, if only briefly. I can't get over how much more mature she looks in some of these..guess its the hair.

I wish I knew how to make the photos larger, like I've seen on some other blogs.

this is how she often looks when she's talking

not sure what this one was..

this is the look she gets when she's amused with something we..or she herself...has said. And now she follows this up by saying"Funny!"

One of her belly laugh expressions =).

The look I expect to be getting alot of in about 12 years, lol..

This one just screams "Mo-o-om...geesh"

"Enough already, Mom!"

I asked her to smile in this one =).

Just cute...

Kerry shows what she knows (letters)

I shot this video of Kerry earlier today while she was demonstrating some of the letters that she knows at 2 years 4 months. She didn't want me rearraging the letters after she'd put them where she wanted them, the stinker =).

Holiday World

Doug is on vacation all week so we took a little trip up to Holiday World yesterday. Kerry has never ridden any "rides" aside from the carousel at the Zoo...which she will not ride without me and does not like to ride the horses that go up and down, only the stationery ones. So imagine our pleasant surprise when she proceeded to ride every ride she was tall enough for about 3 or 4 times each, all by herself. We were so glad she was enjoying herself and we just loved watching her having so much fun.

This little rocket ride actually went up pretty high. I was expecting her to freak out a little, but nope, not this intrepid little girl.

She loved the sea-horses and wanted to ride a different color (saddle) each time.

After a few rides we were of to Splashin' Safari for some fun in the water. We tried out the splash pools and water slides that they have for the little bitty one's, the wave pool, and Kerry shared an inner-tube with mommy for a trip down the lazy river. After a couple of hours she was so worn out that she practically begged for her stroller. Once I put her in her stroller with her much loved robe, she was out like a light. She slept for just over an hour, during which time Doug and I each took a turn on one of the huge waterslides...fun. My camera was in a locker for this portion of the day so I didn't get pictures. Just believe me when I say she had fun.

By the time she woke up we were all ready for a late lunch. (All I asked her for was a smile in the above photo, but she decided to give it a little extra "cute".)

After lunch she was ready for a few more rides.

Check out the smile in this one =)

Kerry and Daddy on the "Tin Lizzies"

Needless to say we all slept well last night. We plan on taking her again next summer =).

This summer seems to be absolutely FLYING by, and we've been pretty busy with some of the typical "summer" stuff. We're still getting some use out our Zoo pass, and plan to renew it for another year. Lots of time still spent in the back yard on her playset or in the wading pool.

And Kerry seems to be growing and learning in leaps and bounds. She loves to count things lately and now counts to ten, consistently, with no mistakes. Her expressive language skills seem to be developing more and more, also. Just a few months ago she still did a lot of repeating things that we said, naming objects, colors, animals...things like that. Now she is actually trying to make conversation, telling us what she's doing, describing what she's seeing, in 2-4 word sentences. Sometimes she tells us more than we want to know, in fact. Like earlier this evening she told us she was "workin' a dirty" (her words exactly), when she was, in fact, working on a dirty diaper.

Speaking of...potty training is coming along. She has no problem with going #1 on the potty, but #2 is a no go so far. She's in pull-ups during the day but diapers at night as she seems to have a huge bladder for such a little girl and has often soaked through her pajamas and sheets. She finds an empty diaper box to be great fun, and can still fit inside of one even with her beloved robe.

She loves to play on our bed, and gets so silly and giggly that we don't have the heart to stop her. We just make sure she doesn't take a dive off the side. She loves to stack all of the pillows up and then dive into/onto them. And she likes for us to cover her up with all of the pillows and play "Where's Kerry?".

She's taken a new interest in "talking" on the phone lately, too. Mostly when she's doing something fun and she wants to tell whoever I'm on the phone with about it. When I call home from work, she likes to tell me what she and Mamaw have been up to. And earlier this evening when I was on the phone with my friend Jessica, Kerry was playing in the tub started reaching for the phone. When I finally gave it to her she ).

told Jess she was "taking baff! Bubble baff!!" During her bathtime , I sometimes take the opportunity to make a phone call, while in the bathroom with her of course.

She has her own way of pronouncing some of her words, too. Today we went out for one of our after dinner walks during which she collected a "weef" and a "pine coke" (leaf and pinecone).

A few other "Kerry-isms":

"By-per" = diaper

"boyd"= bird. (think Three Stooges)

"puppa" = puppy, although she often says this one correctly.

"pabble"= table

"eh-pane" = airpplane

"fwabber"= flower

"ye-yo"= yellow

"fuh-bye" and "buh-fye" = butterfly

We had a fun filled Independence Day. We spent the day at the lake where Kerry had a good time pretending to drive Papaw's golf cart.

Then it was time to take a ride on the pontoon. ( Cousin Sydnie's name is on the other side ).

We swam some...

Then we headed home to enjoy some playtime in the back yard. Then it was time for the fireworks to start.

She started off strong.

Then ended up watching the rest of the ear.
fireworks from my lap...with my hand clamped over her ear. But she wanted to stick it out apparently. I'd ask every few minutes if she wanted to go inside and she'd say "No! Watch fireworks". She ended up climbing down out of my lap later to watch the rest of the show and as we were leaving she said "Bye, fireworks!"

Three little words...

So we were getting ready for our baths tonight, and Kerry was doing something that prompted me to say "I love you, baby" as I do about 2 dozen times a day, when she said it. The three little words I've been waiting to hear, or at least very close to it; "Mama, I you". Music to this Mama's ears, let me tell you.