Sweet Bella at 4 months!

It is hard to believe that Bella is 4 months old! She is so super sweet and good. She sleeps in her bed for 10-12 hours straight at night and she is starting to take some naps in there during the day. She has rolled over from her tummy to her back and is really close to rolling from her back to her tummy. She found her hands and likes looking at them but her favorite thing to look at is still big brother Max! Just this past week she really started "talking". We may be in trouble because the coos are pretty non-stop! She goes in for her four month check up next week and we are looking forward to seeing how much she has grown. AT HER 4 MONTH CHECK UP BELLA WEIGHED 14 LBS, 2 OZ AND WAS 24 3/4 INCHES LONG. HER SWEET BIG HEAD IS 43 CM LONG WHICH PUTS IT IN THE 92%!!

Preschool Finale

Family Fun Day

Last Day of School!

Our summer vacation has officially begun! Max had his last days of preschool and graduation this week. Graduation was Monday night and Max sang and danced with his class-too cute! PapPap, Nana, Bapa, and NanaSue were all there to celebrate with us! Tuesday was his last regular day and then Wednesday we had a Family Fun day and lunch with the rest of the preschool. Max really loved preschool and learned so much both academically and socially. After much prayer and agonizing, we have decided to homeschool Max for kindergarden. There are many reasons why we made this decision but bottom line is that we feel Max will get the most out of kindergarden here at home. We have found a great curriculum and I am looking forward to being his teacher. Max will also be participating in a program at our church and will go there on Friday mornings for school. The Y has a PE program he will join and there is a group that organizes field trips and get togethers for homeschoolers. Pray for us as we begin this big adventure and stay tuned to the blog for lots of updates on what we are doing!

Butterflies

We have done alot of this today-it is really cool to watch!

Thursday, May 21: We have butterflies! The first 2 chrysalids have turned into butterflies! We put sugar water on toilet paper for them to eat.

Watching and waiting for our Butterflies!

Yeah! We have 4 chrysalids!

Bella in her Very Hungry Caterpillar T-shirt

Almost a week later-Look how big our caterpillars are!

We've enjoyed watching them grow and talking about their "frass" (Ask Max what that is!)

They should start making their chrysalids soon!

The caterpillar larvae the day of arrival-May 2

Max and I are hatching butterflies! We started this unit over his spring break. We read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", painted egg carton caterpillars, talked and read about the life cycle of a butterfly, and now we are watching our very own caterpillars as they turn into Painted Lady butterflies. We have a butterfly cage that they will hatch in and then we will release them into our yard. Stay tuned here for pictures of our project!

Cousins

Emory and Bella


Addie and Max


Emory and Bella

Addie, giving some "older, wiser cousin" advice to Bella!

Bella and Eliza

Max and Addie playing Leapsters

Addie and Eliza

All 5 with their blankies made by Great Aunt Tici

One of the great things about Max's birthday weekend was having all the Zierden cousins together! Bella got to meet her Tallahassee cousins for the first time and we had a blast seeing all 5 kids together-groups photos were nearly impossible but fun to watch!

Max's Birthday Weekend

Max's birthday weekend was packed with fun! Max had a soccer game Saturday morning and had lots of fans cheering him on! Then we celebrated his birthday with both sets of grandparents, the Tally Zs, and the Saunders! Daddy made Max an awesome light sabor cake. Unfortunately Max's friend birthday party at the Y was rained out but we really appreciate everyone giving it their best shot! Sunday morning Max and cousin Addie ran a mile in the pouring rain at the 15th annual Great Train Race in downtown Fredericksburg. It was amazing seeing those 2 little ones complete the mile.

It is hard for us to believe that our first little baby is 5!! We love him so much and love the great little kid he is and the wonderful little man of God he is becoming!