REWIND: Rocky Acre Farm

Wade and I have a couple hours together on our own every school morning.  He starts school almost 2 hours after Rhiannon does!  I love to sit down over breakfast and visit.  It doesn't happen like that all the time, but we had some fun conversation this morning. 

First we talked about the special people with birthdays today, Grandpa Rod and our cousin Jonah!  Happy Birthday!!!

Then I told Wade about his new cousin born yesterday, David Harrison Sheen, how he was really cute and Aunt Amelia was doing well. 

Wade made some funny remark about how his dad knew someone named David...a character on a video game, of all things! 

Then I told Wade that I had two uncles named David, Grandpa Rich's older brother David Sheen, who lives in Colorado, and Uncle David Funk, a farmer in Idaho. 

That led me to share a couple fun memories I had of being with my Funk cousins, how I was always amazed at their beautiful home and appreciative of how down-to-earth, generous, and fun they were, even though they were "rich," ha-ha!

Then Wade said, "I've never been on a farm."

I said, "What!  Yes, you have!  Don't you remember Rocky Acre Farm?"

Wade:  "Oh, yeah!  I remember having to eat breakfast with all these strangers and how Rhiannon and I didn't like it.  We even had to INTRODUCE ourselves to them!"

We laughed about that trip and all the fun/scary/weird things we got to do there.  What a memory!

Click on the picture below for a link to that old blog post and pictures--great fun! :)  Hard to believe it was only 4 years ago--the kids have changed SOOOOOOO much!

Annual Ensemble Recital, Feb 2013

The kids with Melanie McDonald, their piano teacher, and our friend Melanie Litton, who asked Rhiannon to play with her student Nathan.
 

Last Saturday the kids participated in an ensemble recital, presented by the High Desert Music Teachers Association.  Rhiannon and Wade did a piece together called Race Car Boogie--they did great!!!!  Rhiannon also performed Dueling Pianos with a new friend Nathan. 

We had a good time listening to all the different pieces; it was a fun hour!

I messed up and didn't get Rhiannon and Nathan's recital piece, but here's a video of Rhiannon and Wade practicing theirs.  Way to go, kids!  We're very proud of you!





Side bar:  Jason let Rhiannon borrow one of his Ragnar shirts for "Sports Spirit Day" at her middle school.  We tried to talk her into wearing the orange sweatband that went with it, but she passed. :)

Here we go!

 

 

This will be a big part of our routine the next 3 months!  Every time I get a little crazy in the head trying to keep it all straight in my brain, I talk to friends who have kids in more intense activities.  One dad told me about what it's like for them during tackle football season--practices and games every night, til late, plus lots of out-of-town games.  And, no, this is elementary-age kids, not high school.  I'll count my blessings!

 

Wade is on the Tigers baseball team, and his coaches are tough, thorough, and AMAZING.  They don't mess around and they don't let the boys mess around, either.  Jason and I are excited for Wade--it's more intense and challenging in this new division, obviously, but if he can keep up a good attitude and pay attention, he's going to REALLY learn how to play baseball!

 

Batter up!

Learning something new

It took us a few days to recuperate from our wonderfully long weekend last week, and, now that we're recovered, another weekend is upon us!  Woo-hoo!  This weekend will be loaded with baseball, ensemble piano recitals for the kids, a Ragnar meeting for Dad (gearing up for SoCal in April), and a busy day at church on Sunday.  Somehow we'll find a way to carve in some down-time, too.  That's how we roll--downtime helps us stay sane!

 

On Monday night Howard and Sandi treated us to a great dinner at China Express; I'm STILL working on my orange chicken leftovers and loving every bite of it--thanks, guys!

 

Yesterday there was some "excitement" on base.  The kids both got to do live lockdowns at their schools because some idiot sped on through one of the base entrances without stopping and getting ID checked.  I felt really bad for Wade's school--apparently they were last to get the message that everything was clear and ended up being stuck in their classrooms, under their desks most of the time, for close to two hours.  Rhiannon said they were released much sooner than that at the middle school.  I guess you could look at this two ways.  One, I'm grateful for the precautions that were taken and the schools got some good practice.  Two, having schools on base can be/is annoying!

 

Last night we were all over the place for baseball practice and Mutual/Scouts activities.  Wade was at baseball, Jason was doing Scouts, and Rhiannon was making cookies with the Beehives (for me and the other YW leaders--so sweet!)  I had a TOTAL blast and learned something new at our activity--we met at our MiaMaid advisor's home, Sister Rivera, and she had gone to a great deal of trouble to set up this fun craft for the girls.  They printed inspirational signs on BURLAP with her home computer, then glued them to wooden boards that she'd painted ahead of time and made fabric flowers to glue to the boards, too.  I was super impressed--watch out, extended family, you might get some burlap awesomeness for Christmas this year to go along with your photo coasters, ha-ha! :)  Click on the picture for a pretty good tutorial on how to print on the burlap.

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Thursday!

Target practice

To celebrate President's Day today, our little family went out and enjoyed some target practice, shooting guns south of town and blowing up Gatorade bottles, an old printer and laptop, and Jason's old iPod.  It was a gorgeous afternoon, and we had a good time practicing our 2nd amendment rights, in safe hands with Jason! 

Boy for hire!

About three days ago Wade came to me and said, "I'd really like to earn some extra money.  What can I do?"  He made a very comprehensive list of how much money he had, how much he wanted to earn, what Lego sets he was interested in, and how much each set cost (both the WalMart and Amazon price).

Jason and I came up with some "money chores" he could do, things that were big projects and went way above and beyond the small monthly allowance that he gets once a month.

So this morning Wade got outside and started in on a $10 job--weeding and turning over all the dirt in the garden.  It's been left alone for several months, the dirt was hard, and there were quite a few weeds.  Jason and I both expected Wade to get maybe a third of it done and then work on it throughout the 4-day weekend. 

Well, we were both astonished and very impressed at the effort Wade made this morning.  He worked on the garden all morning long, drank Gatorade and hooked his iPod up to a speaker, took a couple short breaks here and there, and finished the entire thing before lunch, with only a little help here and there from his mom.

I think I'm out of a job.  Wade is the son of two very excited, happy parents! :)

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

 

 

 

Took advantage of a 20% off deal and completed my first 2013 goal today, too--Volume 3 family blog book is done--yay!

 

Cushing Family Adventures January-December 2011 | Make Your Own Book

The plan of happiness

Rhiannon and Wade, circa February 2004

Yesterday at church our stake president gave a little message that I really appreciated.  He talked about how sometimes it's hard to find the "happiness" in our Heavenly Father's great plan of happiness!  Life is designed to be challenging, but we need to remember to look for the "fruits" of the plan of happiness.  President Hedman told this cute story about reading a book with his granddaughter.  The picture book was about a little boy who had an alligator under his bed.  When President Hedman's granddaughter turned to the page in the book where the mom is standing by the boy's bed, grumpy and with her arms crossed, she said, "Look, they're saying family prayer!"  Pres Hedman said it was a wonderful feeling to know that his son and daughter-in-law were teaching the gospel in their home.

Sometimes I get bogged down by the silly details, the day-to-day stresses that really aren't that big a deal in the grand scheme of things.  I have so much to be grateful for, and I know it!  I'm particularly grateful for Jason, Rhiannon, and Wade, that we are a family and that we can be together forever!  These three individuals make everything worth it!  I love them so much!

Waiting for the cable guy

Today I'll be waiting for the cable guy to show up sometime between 8am and 5pm to set up phone and TV service.  Goodbye, DirecTV, and hello to less-expensive bundle service!

While I wait around, I've got a nice long list of things to keep me busy so I don't go crazy:

--prepare beef stew in crockpot
--dust well downstairs
--vacuum whole house
--do a few loads of laundry
--catch up on ironing
--clean off my desk
--finally get around to organizing my Young Women's church binder
--walk on the treadmill
--update blog
--write in journal
--take a nap
--throw balls around outside with Oscar
--clean up kitchen
--watch an episode of The Office on Netflix
--put my feet up and read

So, it should be a full day. :)

Last night we attended the Cub Scouts Blue & Gold banquet and had a good time.  It was the first time in 3+ years that I didn't help plan and carry it out.  I learned (yet again) that life doesn't revolve around me and that people do go on and accomplish amazing things without me!  The cultural hall was PACKED with people from both wards--it was a great turnout.

Tonight Jason and Wade will have some guy bonding time while Rhiannon and I go do a little service project helping another ward.  Hopefully sometime this weekend we can all sit down together and watch The Bourne Legacy--it finally came in the mail this week.

for·tu·i·tous

Jason picked up a call on his cell phone tonight--it was Wade's new baseball coach for the season, Coach Tony Martin, whose Tigers team won the Mustang championship last year!  Woo-hoo!

Usually I'm the one who gets those calls, but I was so glad that Jason did tonight.  In a few sentences he conveyed exactly what the coach needed and wanted to know, gave our family's support, talked about Wade's strengths, his possibility as a pitcher, and his good attitude. 

Let the good times roll!

Wednesday's agenda

Today has been a great day for me.  I got several little projects done that have been scattered all over the house, such as finishing Jason's set of photo coasters for his office at work, and baking cookies for a Mutual activity.  Wade helped me with some of the cookies so he could bring them to the Blue & Gold banquet tomorrow and cross off a requirement for his Bear badge.  I also put 57 baby shower invitations in the mail, and, no, I am not hosting this one at our house. :) 

Because I felt caught up and things were in order, I was blessed with some opportunities to serve others today, too.  I dropped in on a friend who's on bed rest and expecting her baby any day.  It was good to sit with her and laugh/empathize for a bit!  Then in a few minutes I'm going to accompany the full-time missionaries on a visit to a 12-year-old girl who's taking lessons.  The elders called me this morning and asked if I could stop by with them and invite her to church activities. 

Then I'll end the day with a busy night of Mutual with the 14-15 year-old girls.

Tomorrow will be all about Oscar--I didn't get my walk in with him today and I think we're both feeling it!

Wade's 3rd Grade Science Fair project

 

Wade did a nice, easy science fair project this year on light.  He learned that when light passes through a curved surface such as a magnifying glass or eyeglass lens, it bends.  This is how you correct vision problems such as nearsightedness and farsightedness, so that images can get closer to the retina where they need to be.

 

 

His next big project will be a Famous Americans assignment, where he does a report on someone and then dresses up like that person for the school's "Wax Museum" in March.  Stay tuned!

 





 

 

 

 

 

Product endorsement

We had a good time watching the Super Bowl last night, well, at least I did!  Hurray for the Ravens!  Both Rhiannon and Wade were bummed because they were hoping the 49ers would win.  Hopefully all the yummy food helped them recover a little bit.  We had Doritos, smokies wrapped in bacon, cheeseball and crackers, guacamole, veggies, chocolate chip cookies, and a layered Oreos-hot fudge-Cool-Whip-ice cream dessert.  There was so much of it all that it became our dinner and I didn't have to cook again the rest of the day!

After eating all that food last night, I couldn't wait to do a little exercise today!  Thanks to the Fitbit that my mom and dad got me for Christmas, I can happily report the following:  it's not quite 10:00am, and I've already taken 8,510 steps, walked 3.33 miles, and burned 1,018 calories (that probably doesn't include what I burned during a Les Mills Pump strength training workout, either).  When I remember to clip this handy little device to my shirt first thing in the morning, great things usually happen!  Thanks, Mom and Dad--I love it!

Here's what the Fitbit looks like:

and here's a great review on it if you're curious how it works: Fitbit Review

My math question is this--if Oscar walked with me, do I multiply my steps by 2 to figure out how many steps he took? :)

Happy Monday!

Dare to Stand Alone

Tomorrow I'm teaching a lesson to the young women about choices, and why they matter. I found this wonderful video and had to share!

Good intentions, ME days, and a grand yard project

This is one of those r-a-n-d-o-m posts!

Yesterday I had to laugh at myself during a sub job with 2nd graders.  Here's how it went:  one thing I don't manage well is when you give kids an assignment and have to check everyone's work before they can put it away.  I haven't managed a good system yet and so I usually end up with 20+ kids waiting in line to see me (=disaster waiting to happen.)  But I got an idea yesterday and set up an "answer sheet" system at the back table, where 5 kids at a time could go check their work with red pens after they'd shown me that they'd at least completed the pages.  I was pretty proud of myself until two of the boys raised their hands and said they didn't get any papers--I'd used theirs for answer sheets!  Hahaha!  I laughed and said, "Well, that is definitely my mistake.  You boys luck out today and can work together as a team on this last remaining page."  Yeah, I was humbled because here I thought I had rigged up a perfect plan (the kids LOVED it!), and then it backfired on me! 

While the kids and I were at school, Jason enjoyed a very rare "Me" day.  He had the entire day to do whatever he wanted, and he did just that!  He finished our taxes, arranged for a new bundle service with our cable company, did some shopping, got Taco Bell for lunch, and went for a run.  He works so hard and does so much for so many people--I'm happy he could get a little time to himself!

That night Rhiannon and I watched Dolphin Tale while Wade and Jason put together the Tie Fighter Lego set that Jason had picked up that day.  Then we watched a "classic" on Netflix....don't laugh...Leave it to Beaver!  I told the kids they had to watch one episode with me, and then they stuck around for a second one.  It was so cute! 

So that brings me to today.  The boys did Scouting for Food, and I put Rhiannon to work with me at home vacuuming, mopping, organizing linen closets, and super-cleaning bathrooms.  THEN when the boys got back, we all donned some work clothes and removed all the oleander bushes in the backyard.  HALLELUJAH!  We have plans for reclaiming that area for more garden space or a flower bed.  I am thrilled! 

Happy Saturday!