These are the days

"These are the days.."  The lyrics from that classic 1990s song have been stuck in my head tonight.  School is right around the corner.  Life is busy with a too-full-too-fast calendar, work stress, online classwork, hard cross country workouts, AP summer reading and this hot/hot/humid summer heat.  But thankfully there is also an abundance of memory making and fun times together.

These are the days for excellent movie choices.  Movies we have loved this summer include Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Spiderman: Homecoming, Transformers: The Last Knight, Pirates of the Caribbean 5, Wonder Woman, and Dunkirk.  

These are the days of many small jobs for both Rhiannon and Wade.  Both were a little concerned about how they were going to make some dough this summer, but they've kept busy with all kinds of jobs, from pet-sitting to trench-digging.  

These are the days of backpacking for Jason and Wade.  As I type this, the two are downstairs packing for a 3-day backpacking adventure with friends this weekend.   I love that they have this tradition, and I hope they have a blast! (They have also had a lot of fun on some golf trips, either out of town or to the local golf course on base).

These are the days of Parks and Rec watching for me and the kids.  After finishing (and re-watching) The Office on Netflix, we moved on to Parks and Rec and have gotten some big laughs from it.

These are the days of Girls Camp/Boyz Gone Wyld Week.  That was last week.  Rhiannon and I had a really good experience up at Camp Wilderness with our stake, and the boys had some good bonding time here at home.  More on Girls Camp in a later post--I could write a book about it!

These are the days of healing.  Rhiannon had her foot surgery on June 21, right after we got back from our UT/ID trip.  The surgery went very well and she has done a great job following doctor's orders.  It sure has been a work-in-progress, though!  She has moved from the walking boot to tennis shoes, but the foot is still too swollen to wear flats to church.  She's been a good sport about it all and we are very proud of her.

These are the days of Wade trying cross country with other middle school students.  It is HARD for Wade, really hard, but we are hopeful that he'll continue and learn that he is indeed capable!  Slow and steady wins the race!

I'm glad for the thought I had tonight to come and capture this night, this summer.  There are many more things I could type, but for now, I just want to remember this night of fish foil packets and fried rice for dinner, of the boys bustling around packing for their mountain trip, of Rhiannon grabbing the Star Wars Force Awakens movie to go watch at a friend's house (Katie J), of desert humidity and a cloudy night sky.  I wanted to capture my grateful heart in this moment.  I am so thankful for these days!

2016 CA Cushing Family Pictures

On Veterans Day, we got cleaned up and drove up to the trail area behind the community college to take an annual family picture.  Our friend Emily MacGregor did a lovely job.  It was so wonderful to be able to capture some good lighting as the sun came down and take some pics in this desert that we love!  We had fun and came away with some great pictures!!

Jason, Verity, Rhiannon, and Wade

Ridgecrest, CA

November 2016

2 big milestones

Two VERY big milestones happened in our family this summer.

Wade grew taller than his sister.

And Rhiannon got her learner's permit!  She needs 56 hours of driving before she can take her driver's test and get her official license, but she's doing it!  She's got about 3 hours of local driving done and looks forward to it every time.  Exciting times for this girl, even if her brother is taller than her, haha!

February is here!

Wow.  It's February already?  We had a good, fast week.  Here are a few details:

Today (Saturday) is a nice busy day.  Wade went and helped with Scouting for Food (there was a good turnout for that and they finished an hour early--yay!), Rhiannon got a haircut, Jason repaired a TV, I did some sewing repairs and ironing.

Silly boy--when you hijack my phone, I put your handsome funny face on the blog!

Right now Wade is playing downstairs with his buddy Jacob Williams, who had a little free time this morning to hang out, so Wade invited him over to play his Lego Avengers game.  Rhiannon has two babysitting jobs later and is working furiously on her math homework for the weekend.

Last night both our kids were gone to separate birthday parties, so after Jason got home from a grueling Crossfit workout (called the "Crippler"--yikes!), we went hot tubbin', haha!  The hot tub had been on the fritz for a couple weeks, so it was nice to get in and enjoy it after it was repaired.  We both thought we needed to make use of that hot tub more often!

Wednesday was a non-stop day in our week.  Of note, Wade got a well-check physical finally and is doing great.  He is 5 feet, 2.5 inches,now, and right where he needs to be.  The doctor was impressed by his maturity--love that kid.  

One day this week the United States Secretary of Defense came to China Lake for a brief afternoon visit.  Jason didn't get to see him, but he did prepare information for him.  Pretty cool to have a visitor like that in the middle of nowhere!

On Tuesday I took a morning sub job at Richmond.  It was a pretty good deal for me because Wade's middle school band and orchestra was coming that morning to do a performance, and I got to see it! I was so impressed by Wade's playing on the mallet set--he was loud, clear, and on target, and his manners were impeccable (there were a few girls in his band that I wanted to take outside, just sayin').  Very happy to see that he is doing well in the concert band and showing those older 7th and 8th graders a thing or two!

Wade is standing in the very back, just to the right.

I asked this beauty to take a math break and go take a picture for me.  She was excited to get a haircut trim today, haha!  Love this girl!  We are so proud of her!

It was time!

Thanks, Grandpa Rod, for treating Wade to a haircut when we visited in November.  He was due for another one today--we were amazed at how much hair we cut off, haha!

  

Big News

According to the doctor's office, Wade is now half an inch taller than me.

Apron strings

A friend of mine from college days dropped her oldest child off at Texas A&M this week.  She posted the following:

"I'm sure people would have you believe that apron strings don't have nerves in them, that you can't feel them being cut. I'm going to be straight with you: you can feel it. And it hurts."

As this school year comes to a close, I feel a little of what this friend is going through.  Our "baby" is finishing up elementary school, after 9+ months of fantastic experiences with spelling bees, student council, Battle of the Books, a winning basketball season, and an a-m-a-z-i-n-g teacher.  His big sister is getting ready to tackle end-of-year finals as she finishes up her first year of seminary (where she only  missed for sick days a couple of times!).  She's enjoyed making math videos for geometry class, reading Raisin in the Sun and Great Gatsby, and dissecting A-L-L kinds of interesting things in her biology class (a worm, mollusk, squid, and grasshopper!)

I am soooooooo ready for summer with these cute kids, ready for no schedules and be-here-at-this-time-on-this-day routines.  

BUT.

the approaching summer reminds me that time marches on and there's not one thing I can do to stop it.

Hopefully I'll remember to be in the present, be where my feet are, and enjoy it to the fullest!