Addie Grace's Fourth Birthday

Relaxing in the pool!

Feeding the turtles

The Birthday Girl!

We loaded up the car last week and headed to Tallahassee for Addie Grace's fourth birthday bash! Max, Bella, NanaSue, Aunt Bekah, Eliza and I made the trip and the babies did great!! (Especially Eliza who started the trip with a fever and sinus infection! Sweet Girl was a trooper even though she felt yucky!) We had lots of fun at Addie's birthday party and then spent the rest of the weekend in Kim's parents pool! All that fun cousin time makes it tempting to move to Florida but the 400% humidity is a deal breaker!

Random Stuff

Lyla and Bella at 4 months old-Lyla was born an hour before Bella!

Bella in the Bumbo supervising Max's school work!

Mashing bananas for banana bread!

Let's see if the frog wants to slide. Please don't call PETA!

The frog Max caught and let loose in the kitchen!

Eating Cereal for the first time!

Max and Bella with the daughters of my oldest and dearest friend MaryBeth Sykes Marcum. Her dad was the pastor of our church and co-pastor at our wedding. We met for lunch last week and had 10 years and 2 kids each to catch up on!

We have had a slow, lazy start to our summer but the pace is picking up! Max is enjoying the pool, playing at the Y, and finding critters in our backyard(As I type this he is playing with rollypollys under the deck!). We have been doing some "school" stuff to help with the transition to fulltime school later in the summer and he is doing really great! Come for a visit and he can read to you!

Bella is growing so fast. She loves sitting in the Bumbo seat when we are at the table and has enjoyed some playtime in the saucer seat. She had cereal for the first time on Sat! She really seemed to love it and made quite a mess because her other new favorite thing to do is suck on her fingers! Feeding time is interesting because she is easily distracted and wants to see what is going on around her. She is taking her first big trip this week-Mommy, Max, and Bella are hitting the road with Aunt Bekah, Eliza, and NanaSue! We are heading to Tallahasse for Addie's birthday party. It is the first of a couple of big trips for us this summer and we hope Bella travels well! Hope everyone is having a great summer!

Eliza's Baptism

Eliza was baptised by our family friend Tom Goodrich who also married Bekah and Steve.

Emory, Eliza, and Bella hanging out

The boys waiting for the wings to cook.

Our niece Eliza was baptised this weekend and all the family was in town. We had a great weekend hanging out with everyone in Culpeper and Charlottesville. Here's just a few pictures from the weekend!

Butterfly Release

The little blur on Max's arm is the last little butterfly leaving!

We finally had to let our butterflies go. Max and I got a little teary-we had been with them for their whole life cycle-but it was a great experience!

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!