Caroline's Birthday Bash!

We played outside a lot this weekend-you can tell from Stella's appearance, right? She was watching the ants in the driveway.

Jumping!

Learning to play hopscotch

Mulching with mom

Sophia liked riding in the car!

Neighborhood Easter egg hunt

Walking home from the hunt

Hunting for some eggs-it was so cold!

Arriving at Stella's "best friend Caroline's" house for her 3rd birthday party

The birthday girl enjoying a story

Stella jumped right in to listen to Mrs. Marie

Marie's sister, Michelle, made this AMAZING cake

So cute!

Can you tell I loved the cake? Surrounding the cake were these adorable baskets for the egg hunt.

Getting ready or the indoor hunt-the weather was uncooperative, but they did such a great job!

Hunting in Caroline's play room

SWAG table

Caroline feeding the bunnies

Stella was so gentle, but I kept reminding her to stop waving the carrot and hold it still. The bunnies were surely traumatized after this day, but the kids loved them!

Oh.....my.....gosh-I know I am biased, but I have the cutest kid in the whole world.

I meant cutest kids in the whole world

Caroline enjoyed her special cake

Stella's Easter bonnet from Caroline

Mommy had to try out the bonnet

Caroline's Aunt Michelle made these beautiful keepsake eggs-there is a little chick in inside and HANDMADE eggs and flowers with a sign that says "Caroline's Easter Party"

Stella was very impressed, but immediately tried to pull the chick out. We'll have to put this egg on a high shelf.

Her "special present"

Thank you, Caroline(and family), for giving us such a memorable day! We love you!

Watch this!

Picnic outside on a pretty day

Sophia was trying to catch bubbles

Yeah, that's right-I'm chewin' on a a stick.

Stella jammin' on the xylophone at school during her St. Patty's Day party

Sophia just hangin' around with Daddy

The girls hangin' out with "other Stella"-the only other Stella we know!

"Other Stella" and her baby sister Harper came to play with us last week

Regarding the post title-"Watch This!" Stella's latest thing is yelling "watch this!" and doing things like this-not much, but she wants you to look and be amazed.

This is another one

And another

She is also really into "Roll Ball." What is roll ball, you may ask? Well, it's very complicated. You sit on the floor and roll the basketball back and forth. Oh, but there is more. There are many tricks involved-rolling the ball up your legs and catching it, lying on your stomach and catching it with your face, fist bumping it back to your opponent, bumping it with your bottom, etc. We are champs at Roll Ball around here. And every time you do a new trick, you have to yell-you guessed it-"Watch this!"

This game is welcomed since the other games she likes to play involve running "super fast," jumping off of the couch on to the coffee table, seeing how many items you can carry, dragging Sophia around by the back of her pants...and usually hurting herself in the process. She has her mom's grace, unfortunately. She falls and runs into things constantly! Poor thing-hopefully she will outgrow it or maybe Roll Ball will become a real sport and we won't have to worry about it.

She is definitely not shy. A couple of weeks ago, we were at the Babies of 2009 Celebration at our church. They had a short message in the sanctuary, a group picture, and refreshments in the parlor. I was chatting with a fellow mom, Josh was feeding Sophia a snack, and I turned around to find Stella pushing her head between an elderly women's legs! I looked at Josh in horror and ran over to her-"Stella!" The elderly woman was flustered at first, then spread her legs apart and let her pass through. She happened to be talking to our pastor, who made a joke about it and she began to laugh. I tried to explain to her that we do this at home and call it "the car wash." We even did this with Maybelline. One of those "It's o.k. at home, but not in public" tricks. That girl....

As for Sophia, even though it seems like she has had a cold every other week paired with an ear infection for the entire winter.....she is amazing. She is the happiest baby on the block. She is still not walking, but very good at balancing. She crawls really fast and cruises along the table and couch. She hasn't met a food she doesn't like and is growing by the minute. I can't believe last year at this time, I was nine months pregnant with her. It has gone by so fast! I know everyone says that, but I really understand it. We can't wait to get her in the water-she is crazy about the bath tub and unfortunately-the toilet. If she is ever missing, she is in the bathroom splashing in the toilet. Gross! I heard Stella yesterday saying "Sophia Kate! That is disgusting!" Sure enough-the toilet. Good thing we got into the neighborhood pool this season!

Spring is finally here....sort of....

Just a couple of shots from our little photo shoot....

On our way home from the Tennessee Aquarium with the Thompson family-Stella chose a "Deep Sea Diver Steve" from the gift shop

Sophia was trying to watch the movie

Snake petting

I agree with Sophia-no snakes for me!

Butterfly garden

Piedmont Park with the Pedersens and Fishers-Sophia had been eating strawberries-can you tell?

Unsuccessful kite flying