Love you, Grandma Lola!

Grandma Lola is one of our heroes. The last time we'd seen her was back in July, on a hospital bed in a great deal of pain and discomfort. In the past 8 months she's had both shoulders worked on or redone and been working hard with physical therapy. She looks wonderful, and we were happy to spend some time with her at her home. The kids had a blast looking at Grandma's doll collections and holiday decorations and playing with all of her toys and games. Grandma also allowed us to go through Grandpa Ed's HUGE library of books and pick out some to take home. It was so great to visit, look at all the family pictures around the house, and catch up on family news. We love Grandma Lola!

The Cushing Family Dinner Experience

On Sunday afternoon we celebrated Colton's birthday at Grandpa Rod's and Grandma Deb's house with a delicious spaghetti-and-meatballs dinner for 17+ people. I'm always AMAZED at how Grandma pulls these big meals off--truly it's an art!, and we always have a good time. We didn't see Rhiannon and Wade much because they ran off to play with their cousins, and we enjoyed catching up with everyone. When our nephew Sammy arrived, he walked right into the living room, stretched his arms out wide and said, "Jason, Verity, Rhiannon, and Wade, WELCOME TO UTAH!" We definitely felt the love! :)

Hangin' with the Sheens of Provo

THANKS, guys, for a great visit--we love you!

Our first official Spring Break stop was in Provo, UT. We spent much of the day at Jordan and Amelia's casa, and then we checked out Derrick and Traci's new apartment, too (they finished moving in that day). Highlights included: meeting baby August for the first time, watching Wade's reactions to his cute bear cub cousins Jonah and Nolan, Max and Rhiannon sticking together, getting Slurpees, visiting, and eating yummy, I-need-more-of-this carne asada for dinner. I don't get to hang out with my brothers and their families as often as I'd like to--this visit sure left me hungry for more! Can't wait for Tom and Lyd's wedding festivities this June and the first official Rich and Donna Sheen and Family reunion to DALLAS in July 2011!!!

Spring Break!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just a quick update on our comings and goings for Spring Break: Jason flew to Salt Lake from DC (thanks for Grandma Deb for picking him up), and the kids and I began our drive on Friday, stopped in Cedar City, and got up to Salt Lake later Saturday evening after spending much of a very fun day in Provo with Derrick, Traci, Jordan, Amelia, and kids. We are having a BLAST and still have 4 more days to PARTY! We've lovin' it. ;)

Three Angels

So I should preface this by saying that the subject matter of this post only seems to happen when Jason is out of town...

This morning at:
3:45am, Jason leaves to catch a plane for Texas
6:00am, the rest of us wake up and hit the showers
6:50am, we are out the door to get Rhiannon to school by 7:15 for IMPORTANT field trip
6:51am, Mom turns the key in the ignition and the van battery is completely dead
6:52am, Mom calls Heidi to take Rhiannon up to the school
6:55am, Mom calls Howard and Sandi for battery assistance

Intermission: Rhiannon is really sad that I can't go on the field trip; she's worried because I was going to be her group's chaperone for the day. I apologize and tell her that I'm sad, too. I had been looking forward to it, but I need to get this van thing figured out.

7:00am, Heidi takes R to school and takes Wade, too; she'll take him and her girls to school (again) at 8:30am
7:15am, Howard arrives, helps me get van out of the garage and also jump-start it
7:50am, while the van runs for a few minutes, I am tempted to try and follow the field trip caravan, but they would have been long gone by this point and I have NO idea how to get to the place they were going, so...
7:55am, I call Sheri, my visiting teacher, and ask her if she's free to drive out to Inyokern with me so I can get Jason's car. She's ready right then. Good opportunity to charge the dang battery, too.
8:00am-8:30am, we drive out to Inyokern and Sheri helps me laugh about a very bad morning
8:35am, I drop Sheri off and go buy jumper cables.

The reason for the dead battery was that I left the lights on. Instead of having the light switch on "auto," like I always do, I'd been one click short of that. So the lights didn't automatically turn off--they just stayed on all night long. REALLY DUMB mistake, and I feel BAD that I inconvenienced my three angels this morning, but they were gracious and quick to help, and I am SO GRATEFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!

D&C 84:88
And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.

Play ball!

Wade officially started t-ball today with his team's first game. We got to the field at 8:30am for "Opening Day" festivities and didn't leave until after 12:30pm.

He played in the outfield one inning and then covered 1st and 2nd base on the other innings. His hitting was great, too! It was so fun seeing him giving directions to some of the kids who hadn't played before: "THROW IT TO 1st BASE! THROW IT TO 1st BASE!"

Many thanks to Howard and Sandi who came out to see the big game, too. It was WINDY but fun!

I'll try to do a better job getting pictures; it's hard to remember that when a game is actually going on!

A smile lets people know that your heart is at home...

So it's been a busy day. I spent all day helping at the school's book fair (that's very little compared to the time others have put into it this week!). Took a van full of kids home afterwards, got Wade's allergy shots done, worked on the t-ball team banner, raced off to Wade's scheduled t-ball picture shoot, came home and made dinner, and then went to WalMart in the evening. That's about par for the course lately.

But a couple comments today made me realize that I need to put a smile on my face amidst all the craziness! :) One of my new friends on Wade's t-ball team saw me from a distance at school this morning and thought I looked upset. She had a t-ball question but was afraid to call me because she was worried she'd be bugging me! And then tonight at WalMart a mom I've met from Wade's class was standing RIGHT NEXT TO ME, saying hello, and I was completely oblivious. Thankfully I "woke up" in time to realize she was talking to me, and we had a nice conversation. I apologized, saying it had been a long day and I was in my own little world. I thought she'd been talking to her daughter, but she was trying to say hi to ME. Yikes. :)

I really did have a nice day, even though it was crazy, but my "outward appearance" portayed exactly the opposite! Gotta work on that!!!! :)

Projects!

Last night we didn't have anywhere to be--no meetings, no clubs, no practices, no visits. It was the perfect time to get some projects DONE! Here's what we worked on:


Jason assembled office furniture, all by himself:

Wade worked on a kindergarten assignment and made a "leprechaun trap." His favorite part is the balloon; I like the tiny pot of "gold." :)

Rhiannon's big project was creating a model of a natural landmark in California--she chose Rainbow Falls (near Mammoth Lakes). I helped with spray paint and hot glue, and I think I made the trees, but Rhiannon did everything else. It was a fun project.

The next big "projects" are for the school's science fair coming up in May. No disrespect to my scientific friends, I am NOT a fan of science projects. Hopefully I'll be able to fake some enthusiasm and help get the kids motivated. :)

You're already doing it!

"Perfect Love," by Del Parson

Tonight Wade came into the kitchen and asked, "Hey, Mom, do you need help with anything?" He washed down the kitchen table for me and said, "I read about this kid in the Friend magazine who went the extra mile..."

What a sweetheart. A couple weeks ago Wade was slumped on the couch and sad. He just didn't know what he could do to make it into the Friend's "I'm Trying To Be Like Jesus" section. He absolutely loves the stories sent in by kids all over the world and reads all of them to us when it's his turn to give a lesson in Family Home Evening.

Well, I want Wade, and the rest of the world for that matter, to know that he is a wonderful example to me and a great kid. He is obedient. This is HUGE in my book! When I ask him to do something, he does it, no whining or tantrums or complaining. He's a good friend and has a loooooong list of friends to prove it! He gives awesome hugs. He prays for the people in Haiti and Chile in every single one of his prayers. About 98% of the time, he is a wonderful brother to his sister. :) We love this kid so much! And we are thankful that he recognizes how important it is to try to be like Jesus. He does it every day, without even realizing it. Love you, buddy!

Rhiannon walks the red carpet!

Each month our kids enjoy going to the school's Super Star assembly, where all kinds of accomplishments are noticed and rewarded: the big (achievements in math and reading) and the not-so-big (things that just made the principal smile).

February was a good month for Rhiannon. She was one of the top 10 finishers out of all 3rd-5th graders in the Accelerated Reading program for the month AND got to walk the "red carpet" for reaching a certain level in the program, too. On top of that, she and a handful of other kids were surprised to get a bucket of Laffy Taffys from the principal for putting entries in the school's "records" book, similar to a Guiness Book of World Records. Rhiannon's "record" was balancing 9 dominoes on her knee. Gotta love elementary school!!!

I'm glad Jason and I were able to make it to this assembly so that we could experience what Rhiannon called "one of the happiest days of my life!"

Way to go, RC! We love you! :)