Sunday, August 17, 2014

Oh what do you do in the summertime?

Well, another semester down and now we officially have spent more time here than we have left of school!  Woo hoo!  Sometimes I feel like I should update more, because there are a lot of things that we do that go undocumented because I can't remember everything at once! 

In May we just played catch up while Tyler was on a break from school.  I made a list for him, and he completed it in no time.  We planted our first ever garden!  Lyndi and Tyler did anyway, I kept Emerie inside so she didn't eat dirt :)  We will see how it does... haha, My thumb isn't green (my garden time expired at the age of 12) and I think Tyler's is more green, he grew up with more garden time than I did. 



We also went to Valley Forge to see the Historical Site down there and, of course, the one day that we go, they are re-paving the road to drive on!  So with it being a million degrees outside we only walked to one site and then turned around and went to IKEA :)  We also decided, pretty much, that we are going to be living through the LONGEST 9 months of our lives next year.  We are going to be living separately. :(  :(  :( We have thought, prayed, contested, and gone nuts over this decision for about 6 months now and have (mostly) decided that me and the girls will be living with my mom in Greensburg starting in August next year while Tyler travels around for rotations.  I so wish we could have made it work together, but we feel good about where his rotations are and feel good about living with my mom.  So... that decision is pretty much made, but it somehow doesn't relieve the stress that I know is coming in a year!  We just figured that's the place that we'll get to see Tyler the most often, with the exception of the last 3 months.  I guess I'll be praying a lot more in the future for calmed nerves haha. 

In June we had Lyndi's Joy School graduation!  It was so fun, so much good food and entertainment.  It was a good year and a good group of kids and moms.  She said she was just like Uncle Brandan graduating ;)



We went to the beach in June and Lyndi learned how to boogie board!  Boogie board?  I can't remember what it's called, but it's when you go out in the water and right before a wave comes, you jump onto the board and let the water push you to the shore.  She did awesome!  It was FREEZING when we first got there and it was raining and I was sick so I didn't think we'd last all day, but the rain stopped and the sun came out for a bit and it was beautiful the rest of the day!  Emerie.... that girl is hilarious!  She spent a good part of the day literally chasing seagulls down the beach.  Or swimming in the sand.  Or eating.  We went to the boardwalk at the end of the day and got some yummy pizza and Lyndi went on the Ferris Wheel with Tyler and had a blast!  The girls both crashed on the way home on our friend Kylee :)


A lot of our good friends moved away in May and June!  The above picture was at a birthday party right before Lyndi's friend moved away.  That's Emerie's 3rd cupcake. 

July came and went in a flash! The 4th was pretty cold, which was a welcome change from last year's super heat.  It was so fun!  We went to a BBQ with friends from church and lit up some sparklers.  This was Emerie's first time with sparklers, she couldn't stop staring at it haha. 


Lyndi had too much fun playing with friends that she barely came over for even one sparkler!  But she got a pink one, so it was all ok :)

Our good friends took the girls overnight for us while we went down to DC for the first time.  It was so fun!  We got to see most everything except for the White House.  I know right?  The White House of all places.  That was going to be our last stop and we drove over to see it, but there was construction on the road and we were too tired to walk anymore haha.  That was our first getaway other than the 36 hours we had from Lyndi when she was just barely 1. 

We spent a good chunk of time in our little pool in the backyard.






In July, Lyndi also finished her reading lesson book!  We started it in March and she just took off with it!  She's so proud of herself when she reads signs on the side of the road or on the TV.  She's such a big girl already! 


 So she got an ice cream party at the ice cream shop down the street for finishing :)


We went to the Zoo with the Evans' one day and we hadn't been there before and the girls loved it! 

 There was a peacock that wanted part of our lunch, came right up to us!

 Those pink pj's are 4T... Lyndi wore them up until she was 3.5...
 Look at how curly her hair gets out here!  LOVE IT!
 Lyndi loves to read to Emerie
 I wish I could get this girl to smile with her eyes open, I'm postponing family pics until she does haha
 We played the flour cup game and Lyndi got to dig through it with her face to get the coin!  I love this girl and her big heart!
 They discovered a new hiding place in the house, the tub!
 Is it all rubbed in mom?
 This melts my heart.  Emerie is so affectionate!  She will snuggle (well, I think nestle is the better word) right into me and hold my hand :)  And I just now noticed all the pen marks on her leg haha!
 In August, Tyler's parents came to visit, and we saw so many things!  We went to Lancaster and went on a buggy ride with an Amish man.  So fun to see things down there!
 Then we went up the NYC and rode the ferry

 It breaks my heart sometimes to explain to Lyndi that the world isn't the happy bubble she lives in.  She understands things really well for a 4 year old though and she was asking all kinds of questions about the Twin Towers, for days after.  Such a neat place.  Eerie though, watching reflections of the planes before they fly over the new tower!

 LOVE this guy ;)  I didn't get a picture of it, but we got to go see Newsies while we were there.  AWESOME SHOW! 
 Niagara Falls
 Hill Cumorah
 This shirt sums up Emerie's mischief pretty well!
 The girls helping dad clean the car
Emerie giving herself kisses in the mirror



Well, the last big news ;) is that we picked our first tomato and it was delicious and meaty!  And our first corn that was 2" long and Lyndi ate it in about 1 minute.  I'm thinking we'll get a few more tomatoes, and maybe some cucumbers, but that's about it haha.  Good thing we don't have to live off of it!  that's all for now.  Tyler starts his LAST semester of classes tomorrow!  Woo hoo!  So excited!

Monday, July 7, 2014

Rotations

Alright... alright... Here is what we found out this last week.

Tyler's first rotation (Feb-April) is in Horsham, and he found a bus route so we wouldn't have to get another car... yet.  That's about 30 minutes from where we live. 

His second rotation (May-July) is in Trooper, which is... 45 minutes away?  not sure on drive time for that one yet.   But it's PAID (not very much, but still!) and he won a lottery (the other students that applied with Ty for that one had to basically draw straws) for that one :) which is crazy because our luck and life here has not worked out at all the way we thought, so it's good at least something is pulling through for us for rotations. 

His third rotation (Aug-Nov) is at The Eye Institute, which is about 15 minutes from where we live.

His fourth rotation (Dec-Feb) is in West Virginia with FREE HOUSING!  Yay, such good news!  We didn't think there was any chance that he'd get any with free housing, haha, those are all that we applied for.

His last rotation (Feb-May) is in Montana also with FREE HOUSING, and meals I think!  Yay, more good news!

But NOW I feel like I'm almost back to square one with deciding where me and the girls are going to live.  We were planning on taking care of Ty's parents house while they were on a mission, but they might not be gone the whole time we live there, which is hard because we're at the point where we NEED our own space and routine.  I thought there was no way we'd get free housing rotations and any in the area.  But now that he'd be living somewhere else for free, I feel like we can make it here (barely, like we've been doing).  Then I wouldn't have to uproot my kids for 9 months and then do it again when he's done.  And now it's 6 months without him here versus 9 months without him there.  It'd be about the same amount of support either way, our ward = awesome, but a lot of people I count on now will have moved by next fall, but more people will have moved in... Ahh..  decisions, decisions, decisions...

Anyway, just to let the world know, we know our rotation schedule and places :)


Tuesday, May 6, 2014

It's that time of year again, but with pictures :)

Here are a few pics, mostly of the girls, I'm not a fan of my face on camera, and Tyler's usually gone when I take pictures.


This picture may speak for itself ;)






Playing in the snow, these pictures also speak for themselves ;)

The Please Touch Museum



Maple Days

 Lyndi made a "rainbow" egg for Easter, it turned out pretty well!
 Emerie water colored two eggs, then proceeded to peel and eat them
 Easter girls
This picture perfectly describes the girls.  Lyndi so happy on Easter, Emerie so tired and wondering why she doesn't have a cup full of candy to hold. 

 Our little Obi-Wan ;)
 Lyndi likes to watch tv like this sometimes
 And wear a lot of store clothing while we're shopping

Emerie likes to eat a whole tomato and wear purple boots

 Lyndi was practicing letters, so Emerie wanted to
 They really do love each other!
Their matching aprons from Grandma for Christmas (I have one too).  Making chocolate chip cookies to celebrate Dad's finals being over!

The Joy School kids were making the ABC's with their bodies.  Such a hilarious day at our house!