This is a short video from Easter morning when Emilee & Kaycee were looking for the eggs the Easter bunny left. They also received a few "gifts" that were hidden, which is the ball that you will see in Emilee hand.

Kaycee continues to change on a daily basis. Her eating has slowed down some, but she continues to like most foods. The only thing that she seems to not like on a constant basis is canned fruit, she prefers fresh fruit - but who wouldn't! We have gone to story time at the library, and she seems to enjoy the interaction with other kids. Mom has become a real bore at home! The first month everything was new and interesting, but now that she is use to things, mom is boring! She loves to play outside, and took right off on a big wheel and a 3-wheeled scooter. She gets frustrated when Emilee goes so much faster than her because Emilee is on a bicycle, so I am sure that it won't be long before Kaycee is on a bike. Kaycee enjoyed the Easter holiday. We had an egg hunt at Aunt Julie's when Granny & Pappy came to visit, and the Easter bunny left some eggs at our house on Easter morning - Kaycee was confused on why there were eggs scattered all over the house - she kept saying that the house was "messy". Kaycee was not too excited about the candy, except for the Reeses Peanut Butter eggs - darn, those are mom's favorite! We took our first trip to Deanna Rose park this spring - Kaycee loved it! Kaycee loved feeding the goats a bottle of milk, but would get mad when they would not sit on her lap.

We visited the cardiologist last week to have them exam her heart, and then validated all of the information that the Chinese doctors gave us. Kaycee has VSD (Ventricular Septum Defect), and the hole is about 11cm, which is a moderate size. She is not in any immediate danger, but it does need to be repaired. Doctors will put a patch over the hole, and then the muscle will grow over the hole, and she will lead a normal life with no restrictions. So, on Monday May 4th Kaycee will undergo open heart surgery at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. The procedure is very common and easy for the doctors to do, but that does not help parents that are sitting in the waiting room knowing that their child is having a bypass surgery. She will probably be in the hospital for 3-4 days - isn't that amazing! Then home for rest - any ideas on how to keep a 4yr old resting?

Kaycee has been very busy this past week exploring everything & eating everything in our house! I feel like I am a short order cook & laundry lady! Who would have ever thought that one adding one more person to our house would add so much laundry! Kaycee continues to add more English words to her vocabulary - she can count to 10 and sing the alphabet song in English. Brian's birthday was the 29th, so now she is constantly singing "Happy Birthday to you", but that is the only words that come out. This past Sunday we went swimming and she loved it! No fear in that girls body! She was a little nervous at first, and cried when splashed in the face. But after her cousins got in the water, things were much better, and she was splashing everyone and jumping into the water. We had her visit to the doctor at the International Adoption Clinic at Children's Mercy in Kansas City. The appointment went very well and he saw no visible issues with Kaycee. The nurse drew 4 vials of blood so they can make sure she has had all of her immunization shots and also test her for various other things. Kaycee is triple jointed in her arm and they could not get a vein to draw blood out of, she kept turning her arm around - sounds gross, but it did not look gross. It took two nurses to hold her down, but they ended up getting the blood out of her hand. I think that the entire hospital heard her screaming. But after a vanilla shake and a quick nap she was up running around the house. We have an appointment next with a pediatric cardiologist at Children Mercy to have him examine her for VSD, which is a small hole in heart. We have known about the hole since we got the referral and had several doctors examine her medical information that China gave us.

We got snow this weekend, and this was Kaycee's first snow experience. Emilee initiated Kaycee to the snow very quickly, and Kaycee loved it, but she hated being cold. Kaycee continues to be very girlie, as you can tell from the picture with her and all the barattes. Kaycee also enjoyed her first fingerpainting experience - she hates to get her fingers dirty, so she used a sponge to 'fingerpaint'.

Everyday we are amazed at the progess that Kaycee makes. Kaycee is such a delightful person to be around. She is very caring, thoughtful & funny!

We have been home almost one week! Our trip home ended up lasting about 30hrs, from hotel room to our front door in Olathe, KS. We made all of the connecting flights in China, but then had a delay in Newark. Continental kept delaying the flight and then after Brian raised his voice they told us that a part fell off the brakes of the plane and they were not sure how long the delay would be. We finally made it to Kansas City at 130am and my wonderful sister was at the airport to greet us! By the time that we got home and got to bed it was 300am! We slept in Friday morning, and then finally woke the girls up in the early afternoon. Both of the girls did great on the flight home, they both slept most of the way. Kaycee cried a little on the plane, but I think that it was more that she was so tired and could not get comfortable.

Kaycee has adapted far better than either Brian or I would have anticipated. The language has not really been an issue, we just seem to figure out what the other is saying. She is starting to say some words in English, but not on a consistent basis. She seems to be a very smart girl, so I don't think that it will be long at all before she is speaking English. It is like chasing a 2 year old around our house because everything is new to her, and she wants to get into everything! She is a very girlie girl - which of course I love because Emilee is very much the opposite. Sleep has not been to much of a problem, she has a problem getting to sleep, but then she is ok for the night. Almost off of her congestion is gone, but Brian & I are on antibiotics for sinus infections. Kaycee is eating us out of house & home, and as of right now there is not much that she does not like. Her favorite foods are still corn & watermelon, but she loves yogurt, green beans, chips, french fries and pepperoni - weird stuff huh? Emilee & Kaycee are getting along wonderful - they are attached at the hip. Emilee is really going to miss Kaycee when she goes back to school on Tuesday. We have been going to the park everyday. Today was the first day that Kaycee decided that hugs were ok, so I got my first hug today! Kaycee usually has several melt downs during the day, and is still grieving, but this too could be much worse. I think that I was prepared for the worst and happy with everything so far, not that things couldn't change.

All the bags being packed right now and we are ready to go... Our Consulate appointment went off without a hitch. There were about 30 other parents there that did the oath with us. We did not have to be at the appointment until 330pm today, so this morning we did some shopping and then went to the park. As you can see from the pictures, everyone had fun at the park. Kaycee was able to get a little nap before we left at 245. We had our final supper at Lucy's, which is a restaurant here the we visited about everyday. Both girls are sleeping right now, so Brian is packing the suitcases now. We have to have the luggage ready to go at 645am, and then we are leaving for the airport at 700am, and should arrive in Kansas at 1130pm - only 18 hours of flying - no big deal!

The weather was warm again today and no rain! We met all of our group at 1030am this morning for group photo's. Can you saw...crazy! Try getting 11 babies to stay put on a couch with no tears and stay that way while 11 cameras are shooting pictures - it was wild as you can tell from the picture. Both Kaycee & Emilee looked so pretty in their dresses, and they both enjoyed getting dressed up in the traditional Chinese clothes. Afterwards we went back to the hotel for lunch & nap. Kaycee slept great last night, and then took a 2.5 hour nap. Kaycee still has her cough, but it does not seem to be getting worse. After Kaycee woke up we walk around the island for awhile, and then had supper at an Italian restaurnat - it was an awesome meal! We did some shopping after dinner and then back to the hotel for baths. Kaycee loves the bath now, and we have to pull her out. Kaycee loves soap, so when we showed her how to use soap in the bathtub, she was all about taking a bath. Our group heads back to the USA tomorrow, we have to stay until Thursday because Guangzhou Providence requires an extra day to complete the paperwork. Tomorrow we go to the US Consulate for paperwork and our group oath, and then we are out of here!!!!!

Finally the sun came out this afternoon! It made us feel so much better to feel warmth on our bodies. This morning for breakfast they had fish on the buffet, little betta size fish. This fish was the whole thing (head, tail & gills)- so of course Emilee had to try it, even though I told her that it looked like her pet fish Marley. I had to use a squatty potty today, it is not as bad as it looks, but the smell is not so great. We did some shopping this morning, had lunch, and then met up with our group for a visit to two Temple's. The first temple that we went to is a Buddist Temple. This was very interesting, we all got to throw money into the wishing well and then light inscent and make a wish infront of the Budda. There was also a monk that performed a 'Blessing of the Children' ceremony, that was pretty cool. Kaycee decided to cry during most of the trip at the temple, forunately she did not cry during the ceremony except for when they sprinkled the water on us. Then we went to another temple which is now a Folk Art Museum, this was was interesting and the grounds were beautiful. We did not get back until 5pm, so we went to get some dinner. It was finally warm enough to eat dinner outside! Kaycee was exhausted and feel asleep on the walk back to the hotel. We got both girls Chinese dresses to wear for our group picture tomorrow. Yes, even Emilee wanted to get one of the dresses! Kaycee's cough is much looser today, and her nose does not seem to be running as much. We got her some Benedryl and gave it to her tonight. She had a rough night sleeping last night, many nightmares. I am sure that tonight will be better!