Strawberry Picking

It's strawberry season!

Sammy, Lily, my friend Laura and I headed north to Wisconsin to pick strawberries. It was a great day for picking berries in a hot, shadeless strawberry patch.

Here's a good one.

Wow! You can eat these things and boy, are they tasty!

(Of course, Lily didn't know how to pick off the green leaves, so I had to remove several of those from her mouth later that day!)

Hmmmm, if she helps me, I can eat them even faster!

Let me find a good spot.

At some point, Sam got tired of picking berries and picked up my camera. I just let him snap away while we filled our baskets. Surprisingly, he took some excellent photos:

He even took a self-portrait:

I love the strawberry juice dripping down his chin and cheeks!

One Year Ago Today...

we received the call! A little girl in Jiangxi Province, China was waiting for us to come and make her part of our Forever Family. Then, Fu Ni Run was 8 months old. Today Lily Rose is 20 months old and has been home with us for over 10 months.

According to our referral, ONE YEAR ago, Lily Rose...

weighed 13 pounds...TODAY she is a robust 24 pounds.

could not sit...TODAY, she can sit, walk, twirl and go up and down stairs.

was described as suspicious of strangers...TODAY she is STILL suspicious!

liked sweets....TODAY she LOVES sweets.

favorite activity was taking a bath...TODAY, not so much, but she likes it as long as we don't wash her!

loved to be held...TODAY, as long as it's mommy or daddy, she still prefers to be held more than anything else (other than eat!)

cried before falling asleep....TODAY, alas, some things don't change. But if we're lucky, she'll fall asleep after just a few minutes of crying.

was beginning to babble...TODAY, she says "Uh Oh," mama, dada, kitty and bye bye (but only when SHE want's to!)

was described as impatient...TODAY, her impatience fits in well with her two impatient brothers.

slept in a room with 8 other babies. TODAY Lily Rose, sleeps in a crib in her own room in a house with her two big brothers and her adoring mommy and daddy! We are so happy she is a part of our family.

WE LOVE YOU LILY!

Kid Quotes

Setting: Just after dropping Joey off at his pre-game warm-up, Sam, Lily and I are looking for parking.

Sam in back seat: Mommy, I want two peanut butter sandwiches just like Joey.

Mommy: But Sam, Joey will be getting lots of exercise while he's playing baseball. That's why he had two sandwiches.

Sam: Mommy, watching and relaxing a little bit, that's MY exercising.

Ahh, the apple falls not far...