September - how to pass a month while waiting for preschool to begin

As mentioned previously, Emma was REALLY excited to start her pre-k year, but since school didn't start until October, we needed to find some fun activities to fill the days. She was really jealous that every day Spencer got to go to school, and she had to stay home. So...

We went to the zoo with lots of cousins, Aunt Jenny, Uncle Nathan, Aunt Katy, and Uncle Aaron. (Side note: this made Spencer jealous. He was wondering why we got to have all this fun while he was at school. It's a no-win situation, I'm afraid.)

While at the zoo, we ran into Stephen Haskin and his cute family. Stephen was a Resident Assistant at Deseret Towers while I was Hall Advisor there. Spencer was a baby last time I saw Stephen, so it was really fun to catch up on the goings on of the last 5 years. (Wow, that has flown by!)


We spent lots and lots of time with Trina, sometimes at our house, sometimes at her house. Aunt Julie was out visiting for a week to scan pictures, so we camped out during most days at Grammy's to help in the sorting process. Trina is also coming over weekly to babysit the kiddos while I teach violin. My kids look forward to "Trina day" all week, and now the neighborhood girls do too. They like the imaginative stories that she creates for playtime. I've been really impressed with how Trina has stepped up and managed John in his post-nap state too. He wakes up wanting Mommy many afternoons, but that doesn't work so well while I'm teaching. Trina has figured out how to involve him in playtime, and it has made violin teaching SO much easier. I love this girl.


Emma and I taught John how to paint.


We went to the Heritage Farm Museum with a boatload of friends. If you make reservations and have at least $30 in entrance fees, they will open the museum half an hour early for a group and then provide cookies, water, and a story time. It was a fantastic day.


We had dentist appointments. Spencer has been a champion example when it comes to getting his teeth cleaned.


Emma has been several times as an observer, but this time she got to sit in the chair and have her teeth counted and cleaned. She was fearless.


We also spent a lot of time going to the nearby park with these cute neighborhood friends, K and R. I was watching one of the girls the first few weeks of school until her kindergarten schedule got figured out. We had a great many morning play dates as a result.


Even after K started her all-day school schedule, we still kept up daily play dates with R and her nanny, Nahid, who has become my good friend.


I felt like every day in the month of September was full of fun. Still, in the few moments of down time, Emma would complain of boredom. Maybe it was just exhaustion. She ended many days like this, dressed in her next day's clothes so she wouldn't miss escorting Spencer to his morning bus time (which is way too early at 7:20am).


September was a good month, but we were all really, really happy when it was finally time for school to begin. Can you tell?