Greensburg updates

Tada!  I was kind of over the beaming orange glaring at my eyeballs whenever I looked at my blog haha.  Hopefully this is a little easier on everyone's eyes too!  Our family's new territory is littered with dead opossums, deer, raccoons and smells like skunks, dead or alive. After seeing one in its dead state, I decided I would never ever ever like to encounter an opossum while it's still alive. Holy scary animals!  My mom lives on the outskirts of town, so most of the roads I take are quiet and heavily wooded with LOTS of wildlife. 

Lyndi began kindergarten August 31st. I still can't believe it is time for one of my kids to be in school! The kindergarten teachers hosted a Popsicle party a few days before they began so they could look through the school and meet the teachers and classmates. I have been so worried about Lyndi making new friends because she gets so attached and kind of closed off sometimes that I didn't know how she would do in a completely new setting.  However, she found another little girl within a few minutes that is tall with brown hair just like her and their lockers are right next to each other! They walked around holding hands :) after her hour with the other kids she called Mia her best friend!  She told me a few weeks ago that people get mad whenever she doesn't play with them.  Such a hard life to be popular :)  I love this girl.  She is our sweetheart.  She has the biggest heart and the most thoughtful mind.  She is in the top 5 kids in her class for academics, and I get the chance to go in once a week to help out in her class, it's so fun to see her in action!  She comes home with homework and I keep waiting for it to be challenging for her.  I'm sure it'll come, just not for now! And I don't know how teachers do it!  There are a few kids in her class that drive me NUTS every time I'm in there!  So kudos to you teachers for sticking with it!  I very much appreciate you.

We are through our first trimester of our "4th pregnancy", we're through the transition of starting a new temporary life in Greensburg (although, since it's temporary, we are not going to fully adjust). Not that it's any easier saying goodbye to Tyler every time, but now we can start counting down seasons, months, weeks, days whatever to help it pass faster. It's starting to cool down outside and we are settling into a new routine. I also have a put a plug in for my rockstar kids. They have been quite the troopers with this rough transition, and can make the 4 hour drive without having to stop! And without crying! We have been able to see Tyler more than we originally thought. I'm sure that will change soon, but it's made it easier to adjust being able to see him almost every weekend!

Tyler just started his second to last rotation this week in West Virginia.  He is working at a VA hospital and is living with an older man who works there too.  I don't know much more than that yet.  His second board exam is coming up in a few weeks, and I'm not worried at all, since he passed his first one on top of 3 weeks of sleep deprivation from having a newborn in the house. :)  He amazes me.  He puts the work in and it definitely pays off!
  
Emerie is LOVING being the older sister at home while Lyndi is at school.  She is starting to write hew name and still very very much loves anything princess. She gets dressed in the morning with Lyndi and then around 10 am she changes into a dress haha. She has started winking at everyone.  It scrunches up her whole face and is quite cute.  She is our theatrical child.  VERY upset when she's upset, VERY happy when she's happy, VERY mad when she's mad.  But because of that, she's VERY snuggly when she wants to be and VERY helpful when she wants to be.

Levi is going to be walking soon!  Lyndi will probably always hold the record (9 months, 2 days), but he's going to give her a run for her money!  He stands on his own (if it's his idea, if WE try to make him stand, he immediately wants to sit down) for bits of time and travels down furniture like it's nobody's business!  His little personality is so sweet. He grins constantly and is starting to hide or run away from people when he doesn't want them to get him.  He has 2 little bottom teeth, which came through about a month ago, which put him 6 months ahead of the girls' schedule haha.  This kid can pack in food!  He is a bottomless pit, and eats almost everything I put in front of him.  Hence his rather large size.  He is 25 lbs. at 8.5 months. My arms are getting some serious muscle :)

I have been able to do a lot of projects the last few months that I haven't been able to do for the last few years.  I'm helping my mom make 6 giant demin quilts, we're about halfway through.  I made 4 rag rugs out of the leftover material my mom and I had.  I finally re-printed my cookbook, am working on re-printing Joy School stuff and printed pictures so I'm caught up to 2013.  I am going to work on my T-shirt quilts next.  My mom has a pretty kick-butt quilting frame that a guy from church designed for her, so I'm going to take advantage while I can!

My mom and I take turns cooking, which has been AMAZING.  To say the least.  I am not a fan of cooking every night.  I love to cook, but have increasingly less time and desire to spend lots of time in the kitchen.  We trade off weeks, and it's nice to have my mom's home cooking again!  Lyndi told me that she cooks a lot better than I do haha.  I'm not even offended, because it's true.

I was going to add pictures in here, but my computer is on its last leg and it takes FOREVER to load even one, so I'll have to do them another time.