The Children's Museum

Aunt Staci told us that one of the local children's museums (like 30 minutes away) is free on the first Saturday of the month, thanks to Target, so we thought that we would venture that way and check it out.

Gavin filling up the car with gas.



He got his turn to drive. He loved it, of course!



Best of all, of course, he loved the trains around the museum! This is the first set of tracks he found, but there weren't any trains...



...but of course, if anyone could find one, leave it to the train lover. He found one in the room (this was in the kids' room for five an under and things get moved) and brought it straight to the tracks. He knew exactly what it was.



We also watched a bit of the marionette show. I personally thought that pretty much all of them were a bit freaky looking...



He seemed to enjoy it perched on Philip's shoulders, though, he also liked to play with Daddy's ears.





Gavin practicing finding fossils with his cousin, Sage.



Here is Gavin with his friend, Kaylee and cousin, Brooke.



They all had fun shopping in the mini supermarket where there was plastic and wooden food, a scale, cash registers, and of course one of Gavin's favorite things: miniature shopping carts.



Sage stacking as much food as she could while Brooke was shopping nearby.









Gavin, of course, found the other train set. This is a Thomas set they had near a large model train. He only had eyes for the one he could play with, though.



He also LOVED the model trains that moved on the tracks behind the glass. There were also real trains outside, which Gavin liked as well, but they didn't have an engine and we didn't stay late enough to tour the caboose.

Making Pancakes

Gavin really loves helping to cook/bake these days! He wants to add ingredients to the mixing bowls for us, which he did, but then he wanted to pour the batter and turn the pancakes! He did a really good job with the one on the right, but got a bit carried away with the other one. I am still loving how he wants to imitate us and do exactly what we do! (Although I have to admit it can be a pain at times.) :-D

Getting Ready for Preschool

I have been having fun getting things together for Gavin's preschool this coming week. He will be attending preschool out of the home of a lady from church, where Aunt Staci is working and one of Gavin's cousins, Josh is attending as well. Aunt Staci is the reason he's able to attend: she offered to change his diapers!!! Thanks again!!! His school is on Tues/Thurs mornings from 9:30-12:30. I plan to use the time to get things ready for the baby, shop (by myself!), clean, or maybe even nap if need be.

To get ready for preschool, we needed to get together stuff for Gavin to be "Star of the Week." He won't be it until January (he is one of the youngest kids so he's not really ready for it yet) but the teacher had asked for it by the first day of school, so I was happy to oblige.

We filled out a star for him... (darn blogger thinks it's smarter than me again, but you get the idea...)



and got together some photos to share on the board.



We also needed to buy a bucket for his spare clothes and diapers. I let him pick the stickers to decorate it with (between Cars and Thomas) and he chose Thomas, of course!



I hope that Gavin has an awesome time at preschool and really loves it!

Cousinly Love

Gavin and his cousin, Josh, were having fun together this morning. I'm so glad to see that, not only because they are cousins, but also because they will be attending the same preschool class!

It was so sweet, it was hot outside and Josh went to go get water and brought back a cup with two straws to share with Gavin! This was the third glass they had shared (one of the little tiny Ikea kids' cups) Gavin drank and Josh drank and blew bubbles. So cute!

Big Helper

Gavin helped me stir the dry ingredients for making pumpkin bread. It entertained him for about five minutes or so, allowing me to finish up making dinner!

Gavin's brother the cat

In the hierarchy of children Gavin is usually at the bottom, so instead of telling younger kids what to do he likes to tell the cat what to do as well as try to take care of him or play with him. He has fed him from his spoon, shared cat food with him, fed him cat food, pet him nicely, and also said, "Come on kitty," like he sometimes does with other kids around his age. Just prior to this picture, the cat had been laying down on the floor and Gavin had covered him up nicely as if he was going to take a nap (with his head outside the blanket). By the time I got back with the camera, he had completely covered the cat up and the kitty had turned around under it. Moment lost: I'm too slow! Oh well! So anyway, Gavin treating the cat like a brother is hopefully good practice for when his brother comes! He is usually pretty good with the cat and the cat is good to him as well.

Down by the Bay...

...where the watermelons grow...

Did you ever sing that song as a kid? Well, anyway, we just went to the bay for the last time this summer.

There were a few of us who went. I know I won't be going next Tuesday (the day the moms from church usually go) because that's the day Gavin will be starting preschool! Yay!





The cousins built a habitat of sorts and put a few crabs in it along with some seaweed. (Gavin never wanting to hold still in the background. He didn't help build at all anyway.)



Here's an up close shot.

Big Boy Bed Time is Here!

We have been preparing for it anyway, we have a bed frame, mattress, and even a rail, but we didn't know we'd be forced into it. On Monday after Gavin had been in bed for a couple of hours (hopefully having slept most of the time) Gavin's bedroom door opened and out came our little man! I thought he had been scared to get out of the crib, but apparently the switching around of his room (I had been trying to figure out that morning how I could fit both a crib and a twin bed in the same room) or who knows what triggered him to try it again! Well, this morning he decided he didn't want to wait for us to come get him, so he did it again! Probably we will start trying this weekend with the twin bed! My little baby is growing up!

Train Track Outline

Philip thought it looked like Gavin had a train track outline instead of the classic chalk outline...

Sprouting Pumpkins!

These pictures are from Sunday, the pumpkins definitely sprouted in five to seven days like the package said! Hopefully we'll get some in time for Thanksgiving pies!

The view of my entire garden. There is a sprout closest to us in the middle and then another one just past the ladybug flag.



Up close. Will have to thin pretty soon.

Our Tiny Tumbler 4 (Last class)

Gavin had a great time, as always during his tumbling class. We might consider putting him in it again in the fall, but are undecided yet. He was going to do a science class on Tuesday mornings, but now it looks like he'll be doing preschool instead on both Tuesday and Thursday mornings!

Trying to hold onto the rings and kick a ball. Philip had to help him with that one.





I love how they imitate!



Jump!



Then roll!





Row, row, row your boat! Gavin for some reason wanted me at that moment. Doing it where I lean back and forth for the rowing motion wasn't such a good idea for my tummy muscles...



Backwards roll!

The Aquarium

We had the opportunity to go to the aquarium on one of Philip's days off. We only went for a couple of hours, but Gavin was bushed afterward, so mission accomplished, right?



He was a little bit scared of the rooms in that were dark.



Unfortunately a lot of the time he was more interested in his stroller than the fish.



Even when we folded the stroller up, he still wanted to play with it!





The sea lions playing "fetch." We thought it was so funny, but Uncle Lee talked to one of the trainers and we found out that unfortunately the sea lion was really probably frustrated with the game since it would never be able to catch it. They still make for good pictures, though.





We also had a good time looking at the Lorikeets.