"Verity, Rhiannon, and Wade--treasure hunters!"

On Sunday Rhiannon came down with the yucky cold the rest of us have dealt with already, so apart from going through WAY TOO MANY Kleenex boxes, we've been taking it easy, watching our Christmas-gift movies, and playing WII, WII, WII all the way home. :)

Today we got McDonald's for lunch and then we stopped off at the fantastic nature trail in our neighborhood. It's been a while since we were there, and we had a great time. The kids played a bit on the tiny playground set, and then we walked down to the stream. We climbed down to the bank of the water, and Rhiannon and Wade picked up rocks and threw some around. A simple thing to do, but they didn't want to leave!!!! We've had ridiculously mild weather lately (50s and 60s), and it felt good to take advantage of it today.

On the trek back to the van we were talking about how much fun we'd had and the new things we'd discovered (besides all the rock fun, we also found out this little field in the woods has a built-in baseball mound!), and Wade piped up, "Verity, Rhiannon, and Wade--treasure hunters!"

Speaking of treasure, we talked about 2009 family and personal goals last night, and we've got some GOOD ones to work on!

Best wishes to everyone as they ring in the new year!

A perfect day

This has been a wonderful Christmas season for us. We'll stretch it out for a few more days, too. :) Santa came and was spot-on with his gifts this year--hooray! AND we are now Wii-ing and having LOTS of fun with that! (So far Wade is our boxing and bowling champion, and Rhiannon gives me a good tennis workout!!!)

After dinner we went to a beautiful Christmas music program at the church. It was the perfect end to a really perfect Christmas day!

We hope you had a perfect Christmas season, too, and wish you all the best as you close out 2008!

Finally, some cookie decorating!

I think the one thing I really let slide this year was baking! I did next to none. We weren't hurting for sweet stuff, with all the yummy food people dropped by! (THANK YOU!) Wade and Rhiannon got an extra-special treat when Brother and Sister Romney invited them over for cookie decorating on Christmas Eve afternoon. Their home was crawling with grandkids, so our kids fit right in. They had a blast!!!





Brother Romney is one of Wade's good buddies. We sit right in front of them nearly every Sunday at church. We're grateful for his family's friendship!

Christmas Eve with friends

On Christmas Eve we were invited to join the MacArthur family for dinner and a Nativity play. We had a wonderful time with them. The food was amazing and the play (written by Mary Jane) was incredible. Jason and I got to be narrators, while the kids and Tashia and Matt played parts ranging from Samuel the Lamanite to a donkey to shepherds. Mary Jane was very gracious and asked Rhiannon to play Mary and Wade to be Joseph. It was a fantastic evening and the perfect start to our Christmas celebrating!

This may be the only way we'll disco...

THANKS, AUNT JAYMIE!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Wade's Joy School Christmas Party

Hansel and Gretel

10 days left, but who's counting? :) This past Tuesday Rhiannon went caroling and delivered cookies with a bunch of girlfriends from church. She had a TOTAL blast! Jason and I enjoyed the Christmas party we went to on Saturday night, also. We'll all go to Wade's family Joy School party tonight--I'll put pics up later of that.

On Wednesday we broke out the gingerbread house kit from Grandma Deb.

We loaded it up with lots of candy, candy, candy....

and took pictures with it....

It was a thing of beauty, but then slowly the candy started to disappear...

"Someone" had their fill--it was fun while it lasted!

The culprits play dumb: "Who, me?"

Cushing Christmas Card, blog-style

 

So, I've been working on real-life, send-in-the-mail Christmas cards the past few days. I love doing it, especially when I'm armed with a thin-point Sharpie, various Christmas playlists going in the background, and peel-and-stick EVERYTHING. But after checking out the new Picasa today (thanks, Aimee!), I may re-think our annual "card" next year, and save a few bucks, too. :) Enjoy our annual family pictures and Christmas newsletter!

The countdown begins

Today we'll start three different Christmas countdowns. We've got the yummy chocolate candy one, and Wade made a great paper chain at Joy School last week, where you do something nice for somebody else each day (thanks, Angie!)

I am most excited about the countdown in December's issue of the Friend magazine--each day you read a different scripture about the Savior. This morning's scripture was in Isaiah, the one that reads, "For unto us a child is born..." I started singing the verse and got all excited about it. Luckily (or maybe not so lucky?) for the kids we have a CD of Handel's Messiah, so I turned it to track 11 and turned it WAY up. We'll do this countdown in the morning at breakfast--it'll be a good way to start the day!

The scripture countdown!

"Take a picture of us with our animals next, Mom!"

Wade took this picture--Rhiannon finished a Warriors cat book this weekend and was very excited about it!

Wade: "Will you please come take a picture of what I did?"

A very happy Thanksgiving!

Yesterday was awesome. Around 8am Jason played in an informal Turkey Bowl with a bunch of people, and since I didn't have any real dinner preparations to worry about, the kids and I went along and hung out on the sidelines. I don't know exactly why it was so much fun, but it was! We got some huge donuts for breakfast afterwards and then went back home and lounged around for a while before leaving to the Wilsons' home for dinner.

We are so grateful to our friends for their hospitality and kindness. It was so nice to just sit back and enjoy the day. The kids had fun playing, the meal was amazing, and the hours flew by. I've always said how much I enjoy our little family holiday dinners when it's just the four of us, but it was also very special to be with others and share in the holiday spirit together!

This morning we all did more lounging, but the kids and I "decked the halls," so to speak, and had a great time putting out the Christmas stuff. Rhiannon and Wade keep coming back to the Playmobil nativity set and acting out the story. Good times! Tonight Jason and Wade are going to a hockey game, and Rhiannon and I are going out to eat and making a Blockbuster run. Happy Black Friday, and Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!

(I'll put pictures up soon)

Moments

A tag from a good friend of mine...

Happiest moment of my life--this is a hard one for me, simply because I find happiness in both the big things and the everyday things. I get a lot of joy over things like a cuddle with my kids or a date night with my hubby, so you can imagine how I've felt on those truly big days like my wedding day or the days we took our kids home from the hospital. I distinctly remember the first time I got to hold Rhiannon, though. I was very ill after she was born and wasn't in any shape to see her for a few days, so when they wheeled me in to see her for the first time in the NICU, well, you can just imagine how I felt then.

Scariest moment of my life--hands down it's the events that led to Rhiannon's emergency c-section birth. It's a miracle that I am alive and well, typing away at this computer!

Saddest moment of my life--probably when my Grandpa Max died. I knew I would see him again someday, but that didn't take away from the intense grief that I felt. I think I was 14 at the time. His death did help me understand the plan of salvation better, though, and helped me handle the deaths of other loved ones better. Death is not a scary thing; it's being apart from the ones that we love that is hard for me.

Most embarrassing moment--just like happiest moments, it's hard to choose here because it happens so often, being embarrassed, I mean. :) Just one out of many was when Wade was a baby. Jason and I were at some kind of get-together (Christmas, maybe?), and I realized halfway through the party that several of the buttons on my blouse were not done up. (I was nursing then.) I don't think I want to know how long it was like that.

Most exciting moment in my life? Lots to choose from here, too! Our East Coast adventure has been full of excitement! Going to Europe was exciting! Using Facebook has been exciting! Shopping for Christmas presents this week has been exciting! Aren't you getting excited just by reading this! :)

I tag...hmmm...I tag anyone who has a lot to be grateful for this week!

Award winner!

The picture is horrible, but the moment is TERRIFIC! Rhiannon won a very special "Community of Caring" award at her school's town meeting yesterday. She was so happy, but her favorite thing was that DADDY was there, too! It worked out for him to go because he had an out-of-town meeting that wasn't until later in the day. She was thrilled to see him. The way Jason put it, she got an award for being "an overall nice kid," one who consistently shows respect, responsibility, and kindness to others.
HOORAY, RHIANNON!!!!
WAY TO GO!!!!!!!!

So glam!

Rhiannon was a sweetie and let me roll her hair up last night while we studied for her geography quiz. It's fun trying something different! :) After I took the rags out this morning, Rhiannon looked in the mirror and said, "Oh! I look like Hermione!!"

Brrrrrrr

I had on 5 layers yesterday and I was STILL cold; with the wind chill the temperature felt like it was in the 'teens. Thankfully it's supposed to "warm up" to the 50s in a few days, but I think winter is here to stay. There were even a few snow flurries when I picked up Rhiannon from school. I may be spending more time on the treadmill throughout the day, not so much for exercise, but just to keep warm!!!

This week Joy School is at our house. Yesterday we did a lot of different activities, everything from pudding fingerpainting to puppet shows to talking about physical disabilities (we were ending a unit on bodies). Tomorrow we get to have a Thanksgiving party--it's going to be terrific. :)

Here's a video I tried to upload of the cranky crew. It's old news now though; today Wade woke up in such a happy mood--he definitely rubbed off on me, in a good way. :)

"Thankful"

"Thankful" (lyrics to Josh Groban song)

Somedays we forget
To look around us
Somedays we can't see
The joy that surrounds us
So caught up inside ourselves
We take when we should give.
So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be.
And on this day we hope for
What we still can't see.
It's up to us to be the change
And even though we all can still do more
There's so much to be thankful for.
Look beyond ourselves
There's so much sorrow
It's way too late to say
I'll cry tomorrow
Each of us must find our truth
It's so long overdue
So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be
And every day we hope for
What we still can't see
It's up to us to be the change
And even though we all can still do more
There's so much to be thankful for.
Even with our differences
There is a place we're all connected
Each of us can find each other's light
So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be
And on this day we hope for
What we still can't see
It's up to us to be the change
And even though this world needs so much more
There's so much to be thankful for

Call in the Cranky Crew

Yesterday "someone" woke up pretty cranky and said, "I NEED SOME PEACE AND QUIET." Wow, I didn't think a 5-year-old knew what that was! Oh, well, I called in the Cranky Crew (Rhiannon) and she helped make everything better....


It's been rainy and muggy outside today, so we've been taking it easy. Rhiannon and I had a blast out and about town earlier, though. She tried on dresses, we looked at shoes, and then we got yummy cookies at Barnes and Noble and browsed books there. I love hanging out with her!



"The boys" worked on one of Wade's b-day presents--a boat kit! I'll be sure to take pictures of their finished product later--the paint's drying right now...

Music, ah, sweet music

The kids and I had a total blast adding to the music playlist just now. Rhiannon is singing her heart out right now to "Proud to be An American," and Wade's excited to listen to the Indiana Jones theme song! :) Hope you enjoy our little mix--it has everything from Rock Band favorites to the Beatles to Jonas Brothers to MOVIE themes! :) We're on a roll--and taking requests! :)

We're all feeling much better (thank you for all the well-wishes!) Yesterday Rhiannon's school put on a terrific Veteran's Day program, then later Jason and I worked on the yard (translation--LEAVES). Jason got up on the roof with a leaf blower--he's my hero! The smell of rotting leaves was pretty nasty, though...

"It's going around."

Yesterday was a surprisingly good day in spite of our sick, sick household. Jason and Rhiannon have horrible coughs, and Wade has a stomach bug. So far I'm okay--I had a fierce sore throat a couple weeks ago, though. We talked about it last night over dinner (saltines for Wade and chicken primavera for the rest of us), how sometimes you're sick and sometimes you're healthy, and, well, that's just life! We'll make it through. There's always an upside, such as getting sick now and not over Thanksgiving, right?

Rhiannon and Wade did a TERRIFIC job in the children's church program yesterday. They knew their lines and sang well. Wade gave a talk later in Primary, too. And then after church we got cleaned up quickly and got our annual family picture taken by a good friend. She took lots of pictures and we came away with some winners! I'm happy, and Jason is THRILLED about it being OVER. :) Here's a sample--it's pretty good, but I'm keeping the best ones secret for Christmas!

Today

Today I...

enjoyed not having to rush to the polls. (hurray for absentee voting!)

cleaned the house top to bottom with Rhiannon and Wade's help.

updated the blog.

got McDonald's for lunch.

took the kids to the park.

enjoyed a nice walk in the woods with the kids, with rain AND leaves falling down--talk about peaceful and quiet!

finished reading Twilight for the second time.

made plans and preparations for a big youth activity tomorrow night.

decided on scallopped potatoes for dinner.

did not even think about checking on election results. I'll deal with it...

TOMORROW! :)

The library of all libraries!

Yesterday Rhiannon had the day off from school, so Jason took off work early and we went on a field trip to the Thomas Jefferson Building, one of 3 buildings making up the "campus" of the Library of Congress. It was more like a museum than a library, with beautiful architecture and art.



We got a birds-eye-view of the largest reading room but weren't allowed to take pictures of it. Wade instantly recognized it from a scene in National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets, so that was fun! The public tour we went on was interesting, but I think the kids were disappointed that they couldn't check books out. :) You have to be 16 years old to handle any of the library's collection of books, and books never leave the library. You can ask to see any book they have(once you get a good-for-2-years card), and then someone hunts the book down and puts it on a conveyor belt that brings your book out at the reference center. For space reasons they don't carry a copy of every single book written, but every book is given a record that's kept in the Copyright Office.

I'm happy we could go see it, have Jason with us, and check another thing off our very short "still-to-do" list! :)

Trick or treat!

This month we celebrated Halloween 4 different times! We went to the Wilsons' Harvest Festival, our ward's Trunk-or-Treat, neighborhood trick-or-treating, and Jason and I went to a fun adult costume party. On top of that Wade also enjoyed his Joy School Halloween Party, and Rhiannon got some treats at school, too. If you can't guess from the pictures,

Wade was IRONMAN!
Rhiannon was a BLONDE FAIRY with BUTTERFLY WINGS!
Jason was a BEAT-UP HOCKEY PLAYER!
And I was "Raining Cats and Dogs," with a poncho, rainboots, Rhiannon's blonde wig, and an umbrella full of stuffed animals. ;)

Good times!

Enjoying the Disney machine..and other things

Yesterday the kids and I raced off to the movie theater after school to watch HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3 (at this point Wade would say, "No, Mom, it's High School Musical 3 Senior Year..") We have thoroughly enjoyed the HSM movies, and this "final" one was no exception. Rhiannon, Wade, and I loved the music, the story line, everything, and we were dancing in the aisles on the way out of the theater. :)

The crazy thing for me was to feel a real sadness when the cast graduated at the end of the movie. Boy, did it bring back some personal senior year memories! It reminded me of a conversation I had with my dad that year. I was telling him about how my heart was hurting, thinking about saying goodbye to good friends and all going our separate ways. Dad told me then about eternal friendships--it brought me so much comfort and definitely helped me feel better.

On another note, I finally picked up the Twilight series again and finished New Moon last week. When I read the first book, I was seriously pulled into the Twilight ZONE...I don't remember too much about that weekend except staying in bed much of the time and having my family come in sometimes to make sure I was still alive... This past week I took my time and read slowly and only after I'd gotten other things done. It was more enjoyable and less psychotic, for me anyways. Am I excited about November 21? YES. I. AM.

Adventures in Dog-Sitting

First off, THANK YOU to Grandma Deb for a fantastic visit. We had a wonderful time with her. I'd say the only bummer was that her week with us was way, way, way too short. :) Thanks to Grandpa Rod for letting us borrow her, too.

We like to joke that Grandma sends Rhiannon to therapy, only because Rhiannon asked to see the school counselor when she was sad after Grandma's first visit last October. This time our neighbors came through with a major coping mechanism--they asked us to watch their two adorable Labrador retrievers for the weekend. Any of you who know Rhiannon even a little bit can imagine how she felt about this!!!!!!!! We got to check in on them several times a day, feed them, groom them, take them for walks, and keep them company. One night we even slept over, but both Rhiannon and I had enough of Wade's kicking and flailing that night to last a lifetime. Cleo and Ginger were TERRIFIC dogs. I was bracing for the worst, but honestly I don't think I've met gentler, sweeter, better-behaved dogs! Someday we hope to have a dog like them, with maybe just a little less hair. ;)

It's magic!

Without knowing it, Wade gave me a great compliment a couple nights ago at dinner. He picked up the can of Parmesan cheese and asked in amazement, "Mom, does the Parmesan cheese EVER run out?"

Serious mom skills, eh? :)

Birthday highlights

Wade loved celebrating his 5th birthday! On Monday some friends came over for a Transformers party. We kept it simple, short, and silly with water balloons, Red Light/Green Light, a treasure hunt, and hide-and-seek. Of course we had to give everything a cool Transformers name, which made it even better. The best part for me was getting help from two fantastic party assistants--Grandma Deb and Rhiannon. :)

On Tuesday we had donuts for breakfast. Wade also went on a field trip with his Joy School friends to Frying Pan Farm Park. How convenient that it was on his actual birthday! :) Then the partying continued into the evening when Daddy came home early and joined us for present-opening, dinner, and cake/ice cream.

Thanks to everyone for the phone calls and emails, and especially to Derrick and Traci, who were the first ones to call and happened to be celebrating their 2nd anniversary on the same day! Wade was on top of the world and definitely felt everyone's love for him!




s

It's all about WADE today!

HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY, WADE! I tried to find some cute pictures of Wade's last 5 years, and, well, I just couldn't stop. We love him so much and are so glad he's part of our family!!! Love you, buddy!

We're lovin' it!

Our time with Grandma Deb here, that is!



Thankfully we've got another 3+ days with her before she heads back to Utah. One day we took her to Hidden Pond and one of our favorite local libraries. That same day Grandma got to be a Mystery Reader in Rhiannon's class--I think they both got a kick out of that! On Saturday Jason got back from CA and took us all to the International Spy Museum, and then we stopped by the National Portrait Gallery. The hall of American Presidents was awesome--I just didn't think to take pictures, though, until we spotted a painting of Joseph Smith--cool! Today and tomorrow we'll be celebrating Wade's 5th birthday! Stay tuned!!!

Implications...

Another great video (Thanks, Kathryn!) about the implications of Prop 8 NOT passing. Feel free to pass along...

6 things

1) Six places that I go to over and over: WalMart, Giant (grocery store), the library, Rhiannon's school, church, and maybe Costco
2) Six people who e-mail me regularly: Hmmm...Carl Hall, Heidi from church, my visiting teaching companion Leslie, my dad, my mom, and Facebook :)
3) Six of my favorite places to eat: Austin Grill (Tex-Mex), Mike's Grill, Olive Garden, On the Border, Chinese restaurants, Chipotle's (I'm sensing a Tex-Mex theme here!)
4) Six places I would rather be right now: I'm actually pretty content sitting here at the computer, listening to the stillness of the house. But if I had to be somewhere else, I'd choose to be with family and friends who are far away, in the temple, in a movie theater, at the library, at a park, or in a museum!
5) Six TV shows I watch: I hit and miss the following...The Office, Chuck, Dancing with the Stars, House, What Not to Wear, and cool shows like Mythbusters.
6) Six friends I invite to make a "six" list: Linda, Lori, Maggie, Jaymie, Sophia, and Amelia!

Some things never get old...

On Monday we went to Burke Pumpkin Patch, a place we'd visited a year ago. For one thing, Rhiannon was so happy to be there. She'd been very sick on Saturday and Sunday, and she was praying so hard that she'd be well enough to go on Monday. Thank heavens for little answered prayers. :) I realized that even though it felt like we'd just been there, some things don't get old, like petting zoos, fast carpet slides, pony rides, mountains of pumpkins, and watching your kids zoom in and out of play structures. Wade was "put in jail" for going MIA at one point, though; he wasn't in plain sight after going down one of the slides and was gone long enough to get my heart racing and my mind spinning. Jason found him just before I started screaming Wade's name...all Wade said was, "I was putting my carpet square away!" Man.

Grandma Deb comes on Thursday--hurray! We are looking forward to her visit and hope she'll be able to put her feet up and relax, in between sight-seeing and b-day celebrating, that is. ;)

You're absolutely right

If you're thinking:

a) Wow, Verity is timeless--she'd fit into any era!
b) Verity needs to get off the computer
c) Verity needs to get some rest
or
d) Verity is having a little too much fun with http://www.yearbookyourself.com/ ...

You're absolutely right! ;)

Groovy, Wade, groovy!

Wade's picture was a little bit harder to match up, but, still, we enjoyed the results!! :)

http://www.yearbookyourself.com