April, May, June

Backyard picnic

Shrek the Musical with Beckett

Last soccer game

This is serious

This is the face Sophia makes when Stella asks her for a goldfish

Soccer star-o.k., maybe one day

Mother's Day breakfast feast!

Decatur Arts Festival with the Chornyaks-this was Sophia's first ice cream sandwich

Stella and the Chornyaks

attempt at family photo

That girl's got hair

Stella and her hero, Coach George

We took a much needed vacation to Playa del Carmen and this is one of about 5 pictures I took. That's what happens when you go to a resort and sit on your bum all week! Too lazy to take pictures!

Josh and his pina colada

Our new, fabulous, spectacular, wonderful swingset! The girls love it and their mommy loves it even more!

piggy tails-that lasted about 5 minutes

Three Little Pigs ballet recital

Easter dresses courtesy of Mimi Sandy-thank you!

Easter egg hunt at church

Sophia was more interested in swinging

What we're into lately:

• Stella is really into "Swamp People" on the History Channel after the last grandparent visit-thank you, Grandma Polly and Papa John! :-)
• Sophia is into throwing hyperventilating-kicking-screaming-glazed-look-in-the-eye-crazy tantrums. Not cool. But when it's over she asks for a kiss or a hug. Are we in an abusive relationship with our 2 year old?
• Cousin Tori came out with my parents and taught the girls lots of tricks on the swing set-thank you, Tori! You rock!
• Sophia still loves taking care of babies and names them all Diego (or "Daigo", but she is not making ethnic slurs)
• Stella is becoming very, very helpful and I think has finally grown out of the terrible 2's (at 4 1/2). This is good because we are just beginning with Sybil-I mean, Sophia.
• Sophia is a wild card. She might be deathly afraid of the baby pool sprinkler, but she won't hesitate to go down the 10 foot water slide at the neighborhood pool.
• Stella has imaginary pets and friends that she won't claim. She talks to them all the time, but won't own up to it when we ask who she is talking to.

Spring Break

Yeah, Sophia is 2!

And here she was BLUE!

Aunt Carrie made her Blue's Clue's cake-thanks, Aunt "Ra-ree"(oh yeah-Uncle Richard, Mimi, and Papa were also here to help celebrate!)

Aunt Carrie bought dresses from their California trip

She likes to read in her quipao-she is actually reading Mandarin

I had to include this picture from the Georgia Aquarium. This is the picture I was taking when I lost Sophia. I stopped to take the picture (this is my favorite exhibit) and when I looked down, she was gone. This is a very dark room and every day of the year at all times of day, there are 150,000 people inside the Georgia Aquarium. I'm serious. I panicked, broke out into a sweat, and became that parent-running through the crowds yelling Sophia's name. Thankfully, I found her around the corner. Otherwise, I would have to say I lost my kid while taking this stupid picture of these stupid jellyfish. And it wasn't even a good picture.

Stella Tenenbaum

Stellas at the zoo!

This is the life!

Caroline's birthday is also in April

Sophia was eating the bread that was meant to feed the ducks

Another amazing Michelle creation-the Tangled cake

Pony rides?!?!?

Sophia isn't the only one being potty trained around here

Top 10 Lessons of 2010 (I know, it's late)

Notice she's clutching her water-must stay hydrated

Oh Coach George, you are a riot! Must suck up to coach to get maximum play time.

She has mastered the cookie scoop!

This is a picture of Grandma-note the curly hair. I am not sure where Grandma's body is, but we'll work on that.

Guilty smile after discovering....

she had been hiding her socks behind her bed during nap time!

Valentine's Day-daddy bought them flowers

My attempt at Toddlers & Tiaras-putting makeup on little faces is hard! I give those crazy pageant moms credit. Sorry Stella, you'll never make it into the Sexy Southern Baby Glitz Pageant with me as a stage mom.

Top 10 Lessons of 2010

(better late than never, right?)

1. Children can be extremely clumsy. However, they can remove the tiniest piece of broccoli from a parent's attempt at hiding it in a dish with the dexterity of a surgeon.

2. Vomit has no warning signs in small children.

3. They have no concept of real time. "Mom, do you remember next year last week when I went to fishing with Grandma Polly in her boat and Papa John shot the alligator?"

4. They have the memory of an elephant. (See #3)

5. Reasoning skills improve with age.

Stella: Mom, can I have some of your drink?

Me: No, it's not for kids. (it was a soda)

Stella: Why not?

Me: Because soda will make you stop growing.

Stella: Then why do you drink it? Don't you want to grow?

Me: Nope. I'm finished.

Stella: Is that why daddy eats chips? 'Cause he's finished growing, too?

Me: Um...yes.

6. Road trips are not for the weak. (See #2) p.s. Vomit smell gets into your pores.

7. Even though your kids are having a great time at a party at 10:00 p.m., it's never a good idea. They don't know how to sleep late to make up for it. (at least, not in our house)

8. I've said this before, but I'll say it again-we should learn a thing or two about eating from them. Kids eat continuously all day. They don't get the three meals a day concept and they are probably on to something.

9. Bodily functions are nothing to worry about it when you are having a good time. Who needs to actually go to the bathroom when you are playing a game? Just go. Right there. You can change later, when the game is over.

10. It takes approximately three times to memorize a book and realize that mom or dad is skipping pages or shortening sentences.