Calm down, breathe, calm down

3:15pm--I pick up the kids from school.  I notice right off that Rhiannon has a big hole in the knee of her favorite jeans.  If I hadn't seen that, I'd have noticed her sad face, too.  "Is that dried blood there on your jeans?"  "Yes," she said.  Darn.  I was hoping it was dirt!

3:35pm--Rhiannon gets in the tub to soak her wounds.  She'd tripped at PE, scraped up her knee and hands pretty good, and was totally embarrassed when it happened in front of the 5th grade.  Our kind friend, the school's secretary, cleaned them up really well, but she'd told Rhiannon to have me clean them a second time when she got home.

3:35-eternity--Okay, it wasn't that long, but Rhiannon was freaking out, sobbing, and, yes, screaming here and there, too.  I know it hurt and didn't feel good soaking the wound(s) and trying to clean it more, but I also know that Rhiannon was making it worse in her head.  She was worried about everything, that the knee looked so bad, that her skin was going to boil if I put alchohol or hydrogen peroxide on it, that the Band-aids would hurt and pull hair out, etc, etc, etc, etc.  Thankfully she started to calm down just before I thought she was going to pass out from hyperventilating.  At one point I said, "Rhiannon, I really need you to take deep breaths and calm down, or you're going to go into shock, fall over on me, and make things worse."  And then I used the big guns:  "If you don't let me clean this up, it's going to get infected and you'll have to get SHOTS for this."  (If anyone has ideas for helping a 10-year-old deal with shots, let me know.  Shots are definitely her Kryptonite right now!!!  She panics just thinking about it.)  Poor thing!  She's going to be sore for a while, but I'm very thankful to her and admire her for being brave and overcoming her fears.  Kudos to Wade, too, who was worried about her after hearing all that was going on.  He let Rhiannon borrow the teddy bear he got after his surgery last spring.

I won't embarrass Rhiannon more and share all of the funny things she said/did, too, but I did smile when she said, "I could NEVER be a doctor!"

Sandlot! Sandlot! Sandlot!

Today was an amazing, beautiful day.  After some up-and-down weather, it was nice to have a break from the cold/wind!  Jason and Wade were gone in the morning getting some baseball gear and playing football with a bunch of guys from church.  I thought it was nice that kids were invited--they both had a good time.  Rhiannon and I watched a chick flick on Netflix called My Girlfriend's Boyfriend and enjoyed being together, and then we all went out to lunch when the boys got back.

On our way home, we saw our neighbor friends Katie and Keagan on a walk.  They met us back at our house and then the kids and I joined them on a walk to Albertsons.  30 minutes after that our family headed to the closest park to play some baseball.   There were a LOT of people there, all out to enjoy the weather, too!  Before long our friends the Samuels family joined us, along with some kids we hadn't seen in a while from our old ward.  It reminded me of the Sandlot movie, because these kids came up and just jumped right in, asking "Can we play with you?"--they were so excited to play, and pretty good baseball players, too!  Jason was the good sport of the day, pitching LOTS of balls to nine different batters.  I had a great time in spite of myself, even though I "throw like a girl" and can't catch a ground ball to SAVE MY LIFE!

We'll all get some good sleep after being outdoors so much today!

Another weekend recap

Friday--bedroom clean out party; we took 3 big black garbage bags of stuff to the thrift store.  That felt good.  We also ordered some Pizza Hut for dinner online, and it was super tasty.  Brought back good memories of doing the same thing in Virginia OFTEN, only with Papa Johns instead.

Saturday--Dad went to LA on a youth temple trip.  The kids and I watched a lot of Psych and this cool movie called Amazing Grace.  We went to a book store.  And we took Wade to his 2nd baseball practice.  It was 90 minutes and C-O-L-D, but it's so fun seeing the improvement from last year that the time goes by fast.  Wade has amazed me by connecting several times with balls "thrown" from the pitching machine, something he's never done before. 

Sunday--Dad stayed home with Rhiannon from church.  She is much improved from Thursday, but still not 100%.  I told my "volcano" story to all the Primary kids as an example of how prayers are answered, and they were very appreciative of a crazy story like that.  The Junior Primary made "mad faces" for me, while one kid in Senior Primary couldn't understand why I still wanted to go nuts after I'd said a prayer.  He's a kid I consistently admire for his sense of humor and understanding of the gospel!  One cute girl came up to me after church and said, "Sister Cushing, I am SO glad that nice nurse stopped you from blowing up."  Me, too!

Monday--We all have the day off, but what to do?  It's up in the air, so we'll play things by ear.

She's gonna blow!!!

I'm not proud to admit it, but I came close to completely blowing up in the doctor's office today.  It was my second time there with Rhiannon in a week, and after many phone calls during the day, I was told that no antibiotics could be prescribed over the phone, even though I'd taken Rhiannon in 2 days before.  Her sinus infection was getting worse, not better, and it had spread to her eyes now.  And now, even though I'd already spent money on copays for both kids and a pricey Nasonex prescription on Tuesday, they wanted more money so they could tell me what I already knew--that Rhiannon needed some actual medicine!

I like to think that I'm the picture of calm.  That I'm in control.  But as I got ready to take Rhiannon in, I felt like a human volcano.  I WAS SO ANGRY!!!  I prayed, almost half-heartedly, that I'd be able to keep my cool.  The half-hearted part of me really wanted to LET SOMEONE HAVE IT.

I stepped into the waiting room, ready to do some damage.  But there they were, two of the calmest, quietest people I know from our ward, seated next to me.  How could I go postal in front of that sweet couple?  And then Rhiannon was seen by the nicest nurse in the whole building, the one who'd been answering my crazy phone calls all morning.  She was kind and sympathetic, so sincere.  By the time the doctor came in, the plug on my volcano had been pulled.  I was still reserved and on edge, but I wasn't going to let loose, not today.

Will I be trying a different doctor's office in the future?  Yes.  But now my mind isn't tossing and turning over some dumb antibiotics.  All I can think about is how Heavenly Father wanted to help me and Rhiannon, so He placed three very gentle people in my path to help me keep it together and not totally lose it in front of my daughter and other innocent bystanders.  I'm grateful for that!

Catch me if you can!

I have fainted twice in my life.  At least, those are the two that I remember.  Both times I was pregnant.  The first time I was on the phone talking to a friend, and the next thing I knew I was on the floor, staring up at the ceiling.  I felt like angels had been watching over me when I fell, because my head was an inch or so from hitting the desk I was sitting at.  The other time was in the St. George temple.  I'd been kneeling for a while during a sealing session, and, you guessed it, woke up on this soft bench outside the room, where people patiently waited for me to wake up and take some orange juice they had ready for me.  Apparently the temple workers said it "happened all the time," but I was incredibly embarrassed.

Rhiannon has fainted once that I remember, too.  We were at the Edwards Air Show, and I detailed that in a previous blog post.  Go here to read all about that.

Jason said he's fainted at the doctor's office before.  Needles...

And then there's Wade.  In his favor, he always gives me a warning and enough time to get to him, usually by screaming "MOM!!!!!!" really loudly.  He's fainted 2 or 3 times, and it usually happens when he's sick and has been standing in a hot shower.  Or when he's been out with Dad in the heat and forgot to get some breakfast.  Boy, it is not fun.  I find him all pale and skinny-looking, and then just as I catch him, he goes completely limp.  It happened yesterday, and even though he was only "out" for a couple seconds, it sure felt like an eternity to me!

I wonder if my brother Derrick remembers fainting.  I remember catching him, too, and feeling like I was going to have a heart attack, I was so freaked out! :)

I liked this helpful article on fainting:  GO HERE.

Bottom line, you're not alone if you've felt a swoon coming on, too!

Be Mine, Valentine!

Things I've learned about Valentine's Day celebrations at our house:

Construction paper hearts go a long, long way.

Things taste better when they're dipped in chocolate. 

Heart "attacks" in doorways or on mirrors are a very, very, very important tradition. 

If you're going to decorate your house with hearts, go big and put them everywhere.  Get the kids to help you.

When filling out Valentines for classmates, be very careful with who gets what (that whole boy/girl thing, ya know?) 

It's fun to write the words "sexy" and "hot stuff" on your husband's Valentines, and even more fun to hear your kids giggle over them. 

Tortoises deserve some love, too.

Say "I love you."  Say it again!  And again!


Here's wishing you and yours a perfect Valentine's Day tomorrow! Lots of love coming your way from the CA Cushings!

Weekend report

Friday--
HAIRCUTS  (pictures coming soon)

Saturday--
Kids tried a free class at CrossFit and really enjoyed it
Mom and Dad went to more training on new Church handbooks
Wade and Dad did some errands
Mom bought groceries
Rhiannon went to a big birthday party
We all got in the hot tub
We ate some pretty good homemade sub sandwiches for dinner
Wade found out he's on the Dodgers baseball team with Coach Jones, and practices start next week

Sunday--
Meetings
Church
Choir
Hometeaching for Dad
Hopefully a little "down time"

Career luncheons...

Jason and I did something interesting this week.  We were both roped into the Career Lunch program at the kids' school, where different people from the community come in and describe "careers" with groups of kids over a pizza lunch.  Even though Jason was crunched for time and I doubted my qualifications, it was a fun experience!  A co-worker had suggested Jason, and then the person making arrangements for Jason asked if I'd do the teacher one.

Jason went yesterday and described the life of an engineer.  I wish I could have been a fly on the wall--I'll bet he was great!  He talked with about 13 kids.  I did my "teacher" presentation this afternoon and had fun.  The 10 kids I had were extremely well-behaved and attentive, and you could tell that most of them really wanted to learn (I think the others just wanted the pizza, but they were still polite! :)).

The most frustrating thing for me was the 20-minute time limit.  There was SO MUCH I wanted to share with them, from college classes to my actual classroom experience to how I still use my degree even though I'm not teaching full-time.  The minutes flew by--hopefully I managed to condense it all in a way that wasn't boring and gave them a good idea of what it was like!

1:06.37

We are so proud of Daddy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  One of his goals this year was to run a 5K.  Well, he can check that off--on Saturday he ran a 10K in Death Valley!  He was hoping to get the 6 miles done in under an hour and came pretty close to that.  And he did it even with a bad cold, too!!!

On Friday night we dropped the kids off with our good friends the Samuels family for a sleepover, and then Jason and I drove to Death Valley in the date night car.  The sunset was spectacular!!! 



It took us a while to find our friends Lee and Julie--they were running in the race, too, and offered to let us stay with them in their mansion of an RV.  We had a great time visiting with them and having dinner together.  Everyone was up bright and early around 6am the next day, and then we walked up to the registration area before the races were going to start at 8.  We were able to meet really interesting people who'd come to Death Valley from far away, like Seattle and Canada, and everywhere in between... just to run the race.   You could tell who the hardcore runners were, with their outfits and belts full of gels or water that they could eat/drink to get through a marathon!  It was a whole new world to me--I admired all those runners but was quite content being Race Support. :)  Here's Jason, with his #1 fan!

These friends are all in our ward:  Kurt, (Jason), Julie, Lee, and McLain.  Jason and Lee ran their first 10K, and Julie, Kurt, and McLain all ran their first half marathon.

If I were ever to do something like this, I think the Death Valley race would be my choice.  It was SO LAID BACK.  The weather was awesome.  There were no speakers or megaphones set up--the guy announcing the race just stood up on something and yelled instructions and encouragement, and he was FUNNY!  The prizes for top finishers were pretty cool--rubber chickens and a rubber chicken purse! :)  There weren't any gadgets marking your time, either.  

One shocker was that there was this big group of people at the start, but after the marathoners left, only half the group was left.  I had no idea that many people were running the marathon!!!

THEY DID IT!!!!  I was so happy to tag along with these fun people.  The only thing I regret is that I missed cheering for Julie when she crossed the finish line.  I'd gone back to the trailer to get her some cold Gatorades, and just missed her.  :(  I'll be a better race support next time!

WAY TO GO, GUYS!!!!!!!!!!

Positive media

You've probably seen these cool Values.com billboards.  I love them!  So different, and uplifting, too!




http://www.values.com/inspirational-sayings-billboards

Sorry, Grandpa, no haircut yet!

Sorry, Grandpa Rich, but the hair growth continues.  The picture at the top of the blog is from 2010.  :)  We joke about it, but I do believe Wade is trying to create a Justin Bieber 'do.  He's asked to grow it out til March, but the wings and the curls are killing me--I don't know if the parental figures will be able to hold out that long!  Then other days I enjoy running my fingers through that crazy mop of his!

I took some other fun pictures of Rhiannon writing in her journal and getting ready for school, but they were horizontal and it was driving me batty trying to fix it.  She has the funnest sense of style--I LOVE IT!  We continue to sing her cousin McKaleigh's praises for the super cool hand-me-downs. :)

Wade lost a big front tooth this past week.  Boy, did he pitch a fit before it came out, though.  We were sitting down to dinner and he took a bite of his hamburger.  The next thing I know, he was screaming bloody murder, flailing around.  I guess the tooth had completely twisted, and it hurt a lot.  Funny how it stopped hurting, though, once he let me get close enough to pull the tooth out! :)

We celebrated 3 birthdays with Howard and Sandi this month--Howard's, mine, and Jason's.  What are we going to do with ourselves now?

The game on the left is called Little Big Planet, and the kids  play it ALL THE TIME.  THEY LOVE IT.  THEY LOVE IT.  THEY LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!

Crazy pic of me, but I needed another picture of cute Rhiannon in it, since my horizontal ones weren't turning...

My super friend Sandi!

Goodbye, January!  Hello, February!