We're having a good summer. My parents moved to Georgia and bought a house, staying with us for about a month in the process. We enjoyed having them here and and are glad they found a house on our side of town. Amelia still asks for Pop Pop many mornings when she wakes up -she's used to him being up early with her. Amelia's sleep schedule was a little messed up while we had company but is now back to normal and I am finally rested for the first time this summer. The kids have spent a lot of time playing with each other this summer, which is fun to watch. Gavin is a great big brother. Most of the time. He is tall enough to reach the bottom of our pool this summer, and swims many evenings. Gavin's reading continues to improve as he reads 45 minutes or so each night. He's been getting a lot of Magic Tree House books from the library, along with his usual non-fiction - airplanes, pirates, insects, and sharks. He does a few minutes of school work each day before he is allowed to play Minecraft. The game keeps him occupied and quiet while Amelia takes her afternoon nap. We've been reading out of the real Book of Mormon instead of the kid's version, and Gavin impresses me with his ability to pronounce a lot of big words. The end of June was sad as we had to say goodbye to our good friends the Jessops as they moved away. Before they left, Gavin was upset about losing his best friend and told us, "I know, I will go with Brayden to Pennsylvania!" We are looking forward to visiting Dale, Angela, and Brayden when Amelia gets a little older and easier to travel with. We had our usual 4th of July festivities with friends, and once again I didn't take any pictures. Amelia sat on my lap happily for 2 hours while Gavin and friends played with sparklers and such and watched fireworks all around us. I didn't want to ruin her contentment by going to get the camera. It is nice not feeling like I have to photograph everything for adoption stuff anymore.
Gavin & Brayden
4th Of July, after the pancake breakfast at church and before the party at our house:
One day last week it was raining in on our front porch- the kids loved it. Gavin ran around in the yard in the rain too (until it started lightening), and said it was the "best day ever."
Earlier this week Gavin decided to introduce the Wiggles to Amelia:
