The beginning of September

Monday Tyler and I decided to be social and go to the ward picnic!  It was located at a giant park 30 minutes outside the city and we got there in time to eat before the rain came.  I've noticed that it rains about once a week here, usually Wednesday afternoon/ evening for some reason.  I know this because it's Thursday morning the trash collectors come and pick up our sopping wet cardboard.

Just had to throw in a picture of the yard for Ben.  Those gorgeous overflowing plants in the background? Weeds Ben, beautiful, beautiful, weeds.

      Week 2 of school was better.  Alex is getting very good at rolling her eyes.  She is very bright and so far most of these subjects haven't been very challenging for Heidi, let alone Alex.  This week I'm going to change things up a bit and see if we can make homeschool fun now that I've figured the basics out.

   Tuesday we went to the Library.  It was the small town library about 10 minutes out of Pittsburgh and it kicked both the Orem and Provo Library's butts.  They have a bazillion special classes and activities for kids, and this giant play area with chairs so the Mom's can sit and talk while the kids play house, or blocks or read or play trains!  And it's set up in some sort of old school or house I think, so the walls of these small rooms are lined with bookshelves.  It's magical.  Sorry Provo Library, you lose.  We went with our friend/ neighbor and her little boy.  He is the CUTEST thing ever and does the funniest faces!  I think Tyler would totally steal him, and might, if our next kid isn't a boy.

Tyler chopped half of the weed tree down and when Heidi saw she said "Dad, why did you kill that gorgeous plant?!"  Alex upcycled the dying morning glory that was strangling it and decorated her swing.

    Wednesday was Institute followed by the potluck lunch and then homeschool in the afternoon.  Homeschool in the afternoon is almost impossible- but potluck lunches are wonderful, and Institute is getting better.
   Thursday is a blank and Friday we went to the Home Depot out of town for a change.  The Home Depot in Pittsburgh is in this sort of sketchy neighborhood (that Tyler has to go through to get to school) and I went there last week by myself with 3 kids in tow and felt REALLY weird and out of place.  NO other kids there, mostly just older black men.  So when we needed a family outing on Friday night, and some screws, we went for a drive.  Let's just say it was worth the drive!!!  I'll now be doing all my yuppy shopping in Shaler!  I didn't feel the need to have my pepper spray in hand while walking through the parking lot there.

This is what homeschool recess looks like.

   Saturday I hit the Holy Grail of Alley finds.  I'll admit I feel a bit white trash scoping out people's garbage in the Alley, but it really is addicting and totally feels like a treasure hunt.  I had just returned from the store and found no parking in front of our house.  I looped through the alley to try again when I came upon the most glorious site!!!  The church 5 houses down from us had cleared out their pile of outside play toys into the ally!  I stopped the car and called Tyler to get down the Ally NOW, he wouldn't believe it!  We snagged a little tykes castle and play house, a see saw, toy sink kitchen thing and a chair and didn't even have to haul it more than 50 feet to our backyard!!!!  We left a giant outdoor play jungle that wouldn't have fit in our yard at all, a table, a slide, some more chairs, and odds and ends that would have fetched some serious money on KSL in Utah.  I couldn't believe it.  A lady from across the ally chatted me up as we drug some of it to our yard and the next day she stopped by with some more finds.  Her and her friend had been dumpster diving and found trash bags full of perfectly good toys in front of the church.  She thought of me and the girls and brought us some stamps and a cash register! Pictures soon.

Quinn is the Queen of our home.  Alex informs us daily that Quinn loves her the best and she in turn loves Quinn the best.  

    Every week brings and adventure here!  Now that life is a bit busier with homeschool and we are making better friends- we are really liking it here.  I never thought we would love Pittsburgh, but I'm feeling more at home.  Our neighbors are so great and fun to chat with which I think has made a big difference.  The ward is still a bit strange to me, so different than Utah, it is really helping us develop our testimonies.  I've been asked to make friends with a lady in the ward who is less active.  I was told that I should be able to take my kids with me to visit her, as the poor neighborhood she lives in should be safe during the day. hmmmmm.

Stay tuned to see what I turn this beauty into!

    Our pediatrician suggested I give up milk and see if it helps Quinn's diarrhea.  I've been doing pretty well for 2 weeks now- much better since my neighbor tipped me onto coconut milk ice-cream and yogurt.

Book family!

The girls miss their friends and family- they have had a few melt downs for the Grandparents in the "old new house" as Heidi calls it.  I don't think they have gotten over not having Grandma and Grandpa living just upstairs yet.  They talk about family a lot more and are SUPER excited to have Grandma Asay come visit in 2 weeks!

   Last week we found this big hairy weird centipede in the bathroom sink.  It was gross and had too many long legs to flush down the sink.  I also had to look up Black Widow and show the kids a picture so they would stop claiming that every spider they saw was a "Black Wider" as Heidi says.

As I'm typing this, my forearms are sticking to the desk and my knees are sweating.