Kerry has discovered a new talent this past week. Pole climbing. It started with the poles in our unfinished basement, and now she finds the playground poles an irresistable challenge. She climbs over and over again trying to get better and go higher (yikes).   Not to worry, though, Daddy is close enough to catch her.






I love that she smiles while she climbs. It's kinda funny that I was one of those kids that wanted to climb everything, too =).

She discovered that she could climb up and grab onto the monkey bar and swing over.

Her little mouth is working just as well as her little muscles lately, too =). Some more memorable things I've heard her say this week:


" This is serious, I'm afraid."

I asked her where something was earlier today and she said " I have no clue".

After some prolonged teasing by Daddy, Kerry gave him a stern "watch it, Mister boy!".

While she and I were playing Wii yesterday Kerry thought I needed a bit of help so she said "Hit the 'A' button, Sistah".

Me: "Kerry what would you like to eat?"

K: in a mock suprised voice, mind you. " Hmmm, My tummy say's it reeeally want's another chocolate chip cookie. Can you believe that?."

Nice try honey.

Spring!

As I may have mentioned, I love Spring! I mean, reallly, really love it. And I love that my shrubs and trees are all in bloom which makes for a really pretty back yard =)

My Yoshino cherry tree..

My Lilac, which is smelling so good right now.

Azalea.

Just a pretty little tulip..

My redbud, I love redbud trees, and we have lots of them around here.

My Carolina jasmine.. also smells amazing.

And my Kerry, who is enjoying her little playhouse. This was given to her by neighbors of ours who really took a liking to Kerry. They moved recently and could not take it with them. They wanted her to have it so we all picked it up and hauled it across the street. Trust me...it's heavy, but she's worth it. It was so nice of them to give it to her, and she really loves it.

Yes, she's excited that the dandelions are back. Mommy..not so much.

I've been going through old photos and videos (trust me there are a LOT of them) and I came across this video clip of Kerry that was taken just a couple of weeks after she came home. It was shot with my old digital camera's video function so it's dark and grainy, but still cute. I believe she was being introduced to vanilla pudding and, well, I think you can see how much she loved it. Kerry was absolutely silent until about halfway through the second day with us in China, but it didn't take long to see that she could be a very vocal, and VERY loud, little girl. I never could tell, though, if she was just using the typical "baby babble" or if she was actually saying a few simple words in Chinese. Sometimes she seemed so intent and purposeful in her vocalisations, like in this clip, that I was sure it was at least a little of the latter. Either way, I love that loud little baby who, by the way, can still be quite loud when she wants to be =).

Hello Sunshine!

Oh, how I love that smile. Sometimes it seems as bright as the sun itself! Speaking of, I'm really enjoying the fact the Mr. Sun seems to be hanging around a little bit longer each day. I am soooo not a winter person.

Around here, this is the time of year when our weather gets crazy and unpredictable. As in 70 degrees, thunderstorms and tornado watches on Friday, 3 inches of snow on Sunday night, Back to near 70 and sunny on Tuesday, drizzly and cool today.

Obviously these photos were taken on Tuesday. Here Kerry is with Salem and the remnants of the snowman she made the day before. See??! Crazy!

"Okay Sassy, it's time for your checkup."



"First we'll check your temp-i-cher to make sure you're hel-fy for your shots"

"and we'll shine a light in your ears"

"Now you'll get your shots, this will only hurt a second."

"There you go".

" Now we'll listen to your heart"

That's pretty much exactly what I overheard the other morning and I couldn't resist snapping some photos. Kerry got a little Doctor's kit for her birthday and she's been having so much fun "Doctoring" Mommy, Daddy, her stuffed animal friends, and even poor Sassy. Salem is the only one so far who has refused a visit with Doctor Kerry even though she keeps convenient hours, makes housecalls, and accepts most major medical insurance plans. Guess he just doesn't understand the value of good preventive care =).

Kerry had her own appointment with her cardiologist today...just her routine 6 month follow-up. As usual, Kerry was the perfect patient. Although he did hear a "different" murmur than he remembered hearing before, everything still looked fine on her echocardiogram so he's not concerned. He said that it's not unusual for children to develop an "innocent murmur" at around her age. The VSD is still there but it is small, not causing any problems, and seems to be smaller than last time. Just what Mama wanted to hear. Praise God! From now on, we only have to see him once a year.

After we got home from her party last Sunday, we decided it was time to give Kerry our gift. Every time we're in the toy section at Wal-Mart she begs to look at the bikes and pedal one up and down the aisle a few times, so we decided to suprise her with one of her own. She and I were in the living room when Daddy wheeled it around front and rang the little bell a few times. Her head jerked up when she heard it and she let out a little squeal when she saw it through the window. She bolted out the front door and hopped right on and took it for a spin down the sidewalk.






She got a gift card to Toy's R Us (thanks Aunt Mary) so we decided to take her on Monday to pick out something. She combined it with an in store credit from a duplicate gift that we returned and this is what she picked out.




A pink basketball goal. She looks tiny to me in this shot, but she was feeling like pretty big stuff as she pulled her wallet out of her little purse, said "hello" to the cashier and handed her card over. So cute.

Look at those feet! She can really catch some air.

Wait, is this basketball or Kung Fu?

Taking a break and enjoying the sunshine.

She's FOUR!

I begged her to stay three for just a little while longer but she wouldn't go for it. She was just way too excited to be turning four. Of course, with birthdays come PARTIES!

We opted to just have it in on Sunday afternoon in our church's fellowship hall. Lots of room, tables, and chairs. I'm so glad we did because these 11 little girls were cute as could be, but MESSY. Mine included. She ended up getting herself drenched in pink lemonade not once, but twice.

She wanted a Minnie Mouse party (of course). She picked out this "Minnie Shopper" cake at Kroger and it turned out to be very tasty.

See that Minnie head? Three styrofoam balls, some black spray paint, and a home-made bow. Easy-peasy. Found this idea on-line somewhere and had to use it. I also made bows for each of the girls and attached them to store bought ears. Wish I would have taken some good pics of the decorations but I was just too busy, so I ended up just handing the camera over to my brother (thanks, Dale!) .

Pinata time! Birthday girl gets the first good whack in of course. Our "stick" was a miniature Louisville Slugger bat..a souvenir from a trip to the Slugger museum.

Opening presents.

Kerry had such a fun time at her party. I had fun just watching her and her friends running around with their balloons, squealing and smiling ear to ear...so cute. I realized, also, afterwards that 5 of the 11 girls present are all part of a family through fostering and/or adoption.