Since moving to Saratoga, we've been trying to make the most of summer. (With the move and all, it really didn't feel like we experienced the FUN of summer until mid-July.)
Puppet Shows!
Gavin graduated from his Upstart Waterford Online Preschool Program. I LOVE this program!!! Laynie is already signed up for it when she turns 4, and it has turned Gavin into a pretty good reader with the only effort on my part being to make sure we were consistent in our usage.
We turned our dryer box into a McDonald's. This has been pretty fun to play with - especially for Laynie.
On the 24th of July, we went to "Riot for Rhyann" a fundraiser for a little girl who was diagnosed with cancer. Joni (my sister-in-law) was one of the main organizers for the event. We ate dinner, played on bounce houses, met Moana, then went to Jeremy and Diana's house for fireworks. Laynie was chatting it up with Grandma like no other - telling her all about each color of the fireworks.
My Aunt Kim came down from Canada for a conference she was a part of and so we hung out for a day. (Why I didn't take a picture is beyond me!!) Grandma Sorensen came up for the day and we had to go to a school supply store. What do you think? Future teacher in the making???
We toured the new addition to the MTC. I went to the Preston MTC, so it wasn't nostalgic for me at all, but for Matt it was a bit. We also wanted Gavin to see what it was like and begin looking forward to the day he can serve a mission.
Laynie let me curl her hair for the first time ever!!
And we started potty-training!! Some days this girl is dead on - other days she will hold it in or not make it to the potty on time. She is learning though and she's really proud of herself after she makes pee pee or poo poo in the potty! (We thought candy would be a good motivator for this little girl with a major sweet tooth.)
We've babysat cousin Amelia for a couple days. For some reason, she LOVES Matt and runs into his arms when he comes home from work.
Gavin and I had a campout in our back yard!! We played card games, read books, made s'mores in the microwave, and told spooky ghost stories. (It was right after the ghost stories that Laynie decided she wanted to sleep in her own bed.) But Gavin and I made it through the night and it wasn't as uncomfortable as I had imagined. When Gavin woke up in the morning. He had the biggest smile on his face and gave me a big kiss and thanked me for camping out with him. It was a sweet mommy moment.
Gavin wanted to run through the sprinklers and the kids insisted on getting their goggles out for the occasion.
We traveled to Ogden for another visit to the Treehouse Museum. Gavin got to be part of the ParticiPlay. Afterward, he told me he was a little nervous, but he did it anyway. They also had a new fire station and police station built since we were there last. The kids LOVED them and spent most of their time in both stations.
"Hey Mom, I'm going to have to arrest you for... stealing a bike!"
Mommy in the slammer.
Gavin: "We are in a book!"
(Piggie and Gerald wanna bes.)
Gavin starts kindergarten in 8 days. We met his teacher (Mrs. Stump) at the teacher meet n greet on Friday. He's ready for school, but I'm not so sure I am! I'm going to miss my helper, but I'll still have him for most of the day. I think a little bit of school in the middle of the day will be a good thing for everyone.
