Wreaths Across America

This past Saturday we got up early and drove over to Arlington Cemetery to participate in Wreaths Across America.  Every year this program lays wreaths on all the graves of individuals who were involved in the Armed Forces.  The program started in 1992 by a wreath company owner, Morrill Worcester.  He had a surplus of inventory and did not want it to go to waste.  He contacted then senator Olympia Snowe from Maine and with her help and some other companies they laid wreaths on an older, less visited section of Arlington Cemetery.  They quietly did this until 2005, and then a picture of the wreaths at Arlington Cemetery went viral and due to popularity a non profit was organized.  There are tons of businesses who support this non profit and lots of trucking companies who donate drivers and time.

I have wanted to participate in this event for the last few years and am so glad we made it happen.  We left home at 5:45 AM to make it to the Cemetery by 8:30 for the short ceremony.  We had to factor in parking, walking to cemetery, security and the trek to McClellan gate for the opening ceremony. Security took a good while and I was nervous we would miss the ceremony but walking super quickly we got there just in time.  The colors were presented, a moment of silence observed and the national anthem was sung.  Instructions were given to lay the wreaths against the tombstone and then say the individuals name out loud and thank them for their service. He explained how once someone dies their name is forgotten never to be mentioned again and one goal of this program is to make sure people are not forgotten for their service.  Their motto is: Remember. Honor. Teach.

There are trucks full of wreaths parked throughout the cemetery.  You receive your wreaths from them and then walk to a nearby section to place the wreaths.  The four of us each laid 6 wreaths.  At the last section we were in I saw an older man tap a tombstone and say "See you later Dad" as he walked by.  I went over and said thank you and his name as well and the wife caught me and gave me a grateful smile and told me thank you.  It was so sweet to have the simple connection and to help someone feel appreciated.  This is likely the most meaningful thing we will do this Holiday Season and I am so happy it worked out.  Jared and Lydia were good sports about walking around in the cold rainy weather.  Lydia really wanted to lay her wreaths on female tombstones and Jared really enjoyed seeing where they served and when. There were tons of volunteers and a really special community feel. We may not do it every year but I know we will be back frequently.

Toy lift, caroling, ward party and Richmond Botanical Gardens

Friday was the Charlottesville Toy Lift.  I picked Jared and Lydia up from school and we made our way to the Toy Lift. We went through the "drive through" to drop off the gifts and then parked and played in the bounce house for a few minutes and enjoyed some hot chocolate sponsored by CATEC the vocational high school in the county.  They gave us a quick tour of their converted school bus.  They took out most of the seats and put in a kitchen.   It was cool to see. 

We went caroling Thursday at an assisted living home.  Mark and I volunteered to organize this activity for the cub scouts.  We invited the activity day girls to join us. Before we started I had asked Mark to be the one to choose (from a folder of songs) and announce the next songs we would sing. I figured having one person in charge who has a great "teacher" voice would make the transitions smoother.  We sang our first song and what did he do?  Ask for requests.  I tried to soften the look of annoyance I gave him since I was in front of a lot of people but seriously.  

We had a decent turnout and enjoyed singing and visiting with the residents.  I loved seeing the residents sing along. We went to the church for hot chocolate and cookies after which was nice. 

Friday we attended our ward party.  At this party and the Halloween party both Jared and Lyda ditched Mark and I to sit at tables with friends.  I am a little nervous about this but it seemed fine.  I guess we have reached a new milestone with parenting.  The party was really low key and seemed to go well.  I hope that next year we can do a breakfast instead but know that many people want a dinner not a breakfast. 

Saturday we finally managed to get the rest of our Christmas light up on the house.  We tried Wednesday but 2 of the 3 strands of lights ended up not working.  Mark grabbed some more that night but didn't have time to hang them up until Saturday. I'm glad they are up.  That afternoon we attended a baptism.  Lydia's baptism is coming up in just over a month.  We picked out and ordered a dress for her which was fun and have enjoyed her excitement for the upcoming event.

That evening we drove down to Richmond to check out the lights at the Botanical Gardens.  I had wanted to do this for awhile.  We invited the Shaws and are so glad they could come. The lights were so beautiful and well done.  Parking was kind of crazy but it worked out. Everything went well until Lydia wandered off. 

We had stopped near a hill because the kids wanted to roll down the hill and for whatever reason Lydia left without telling us.  It was awful.  We had no idea where she was for 8 - 10 minutes.  Mark and Chris stayed with the boys and Julie and I went in opposite directions to look for her.  After a bit Julie called me to let me know she had found her.  Earlier in the night shortly after we arrived and the boys had gotten ahead of us I had the distinct impression that we should pick a meeting spot so if we got separated we could meet up but I ignored it.  The one thing we are told not to do again and again.  Julie and Lydia both shared how they had said a prayer for help and right after they finished Julie saw Lydia.  We had never been to the gardens so were really unfamiliar with them and it was dark and really spread out so while I knew we would find her it was a horrible 10 minutes.  I'm so glad the Shaws were with us to help and nothing happened to Lydia.

The theme was "Things with Wings. " These were the Flying Pigs. 

The other story of the night was super weird.  We stopped for dinner before heading to the gardens. Once we arrived at the gardens we opened the trunk to get out coats and in our trunk was a carseat! We all just stared at it so confused as to why it was in there.  We quickly checked to see if there was a baby in there and thank goodness there was not! Mark had not locked the car while we ate (What!!??) and someone had gone to the car maybe thinking it was theirs and put it in there.  The Shaws were waiting for us inside so we just left it there planning to stop at the restaurant on the way home.  When we got into the car the baby doll in the carseat started crying.  It sounded so much like a newborn it was awful. Lydia was completely freaked out, almost to tears.  We got to the restaurant and Mark took it in.  When he got back to the car he told us that it had a label of the Henrico public schools on it. It must be from one of those classes schools offer.  Whoever put it in our car is clearly not ready to have a child.  The guy at the counter said that someone had just called a few minutes before we arrived.  We left at 5:50 and didn't come back until after 8:00 so thats a decent gap of not knowing where your "child" was.  It was a crazy twist to the evening.

Thanksgiving weekend

Thanksgiving was great this year.  I started the day running the Earlysville Turkey Trot with a friend and watched the end of the parade with my family when I got home.  I don't particularly enjoy the course for this race but do love running a race on Thanksgiving morning.

We invited a family from our ward to eat with us and enjoyed celebrating with them. We have tried to get together with this family a lot and have been unsuccessful so I was happy it worked out. The food turned out really well.  It just tasted better than other years.  I can't say why exactly, maybe because they were telling some really funny stories of Thanksgiving fails they had had over the years.  After eating we played  "Don't Eat Tom!" a festive twist on Don't Eat Pete and did a few Thanksgiving Mad Libs together.  We did this last year with my family and it's a great thing to do with a group in a setting like this.  Mark had to be at the airport at 4:00 (he kindly covered for another coworker) and they left about 30 minutes after him.  I finished cleaning up the kitchen and then did a Thanksgiving scavenger hunt with Lydia and Jared.  It was a new way to talk about things we are grateful for. After we put all those items away I realized I was tired!  So we all laid down in the front room and read our books for about 45 minutes.  It was lovely.  I'm so grateful they love reading, it was very Hygge of us and it was great. 

Gratitude Scavenger Hunt 

Piles from Left to right April, Lydia, Jared (Front)

2019 Gratitude tree 

The next day we got up early and drove to Raleigh to go to the temple.  I did sealings for the first time since changes had been made and enjoyed hearing the changes and being a witness.  As I sat in the sealing room I just kept thinking about how right it was to be in the temple and that we had made the right choice in coming there.  It was really nice.  Mark was signed up to do sealings after me but ended up getting a spot in the session so he did that.  Lydia, Jared and I did some shopping while he was inside.  (He took them to a nearby park while I was inside) We bought toys for the Charlottesville Toy Lift and books for the library book giving tree.  By the time we finished it was time to meet up with Mark so we headed back to the temple to pick him up, stopped for lunch and then headed right back home to Charlottesville.  Normally we try to do some fun things in Raleigh but we had just gone in September and there was an event I wanted to attend near home so we got on the road.

On the way back we took wrong turn just after Lynchburg and had to back track about 30 minutes on some crazy back roads which was not fun but we made it to Boars Head Resort in time for their Christmas festivities which included hot chocolate, luminaries and a carriage ride.  Their decorations were beautiful and festive and the carriage ride was fun. I was happy we made it in time.

Today Lydia and I watched Frozen II and loved it!  We met up with Jen from work and had a great time. Lydia and I both liked it more than the first one and are so glad we went.  Neither of us wanted it to be over. We stopped by the library to drop off the books we got for their giving tree and when we got home we broke out the Christmas decorations and got them all up.  This meant taking down the Thanksgiving ones and cleaning up a bit but I got it done.  For whatever reason Jared was super grumpy about decorating the tree so that was annoying but it does look beautiful and festive.

I was super happy to find these matching Christmas Pajamas on sale, so fun!

After dinner Mark cut Jared's hair and Jared's reaction was so extreme.  He was so upset about getting his hair cut.  Loud sobbing and moaning during it and in the shower after.  For over 20 minutes! He hates his hair short and now refuses to be without a hat.  I made it very clear that he will not be wearing a hat outside of our house when we are in buildings like school or church or anywhere really.  He is even sleeping with the hat on.  I truly don't understand him at times.  And I was annoyed that he would not take it off for this picture!  Now the story is recorded for us to tell his kids one day.

I also ordered Christmas cards, did some shopping for gifts (I'm about half way done buying what we plan to give) and Mark and I planned some Christmas events to attend throughout the month so we are ready! It was a good holiday weekend, minus Jared's craziness, which was really just half of today.  Not that he can't have bad days because that is ridiculous but wow was this a rough one for him.

Birthday recap

It was a fun birthday weekend.  Mark and I went out Friday night to see "Peter and the Star Catchers" at Albemarle High School.  It was a fun play and they did a nice job.  We tried to get Peppermint Chocolate Chip Milkshakes at Chick Fill-A on the way home but when we got to the register they told us their ice cream machine was broken.  That was super disappointing.  We stopped at the grocery store to buy all the ingredients to make one at home but waited until Sunday to do so.

For my actual birthday we spent the day in Harrisonburg.  We stopped for lunch, but ate breakfast at Cracker Barrel, made a quick stop at Hobby Lobby and then went roller skating.  It was a great way to spend my birthday.  I always thoroughly enjoy roller skating.  It makes me feel young and cool. Mark left from the roller skating rink to go to a leadership meeting for Stake Conference but skipped the adult session to come home and make me dinner (brazilian black beans and rice) which was nice.  He also ordered some red velvet cake pops for me from a friend who bakes really well and they were delicious.  I hope to perfect the art of cake pop making one day.

 

One day they will be able to skate without these walkers.  They made a lot of progress by the end of the 2 hours. I am actually thing about making "teach Jared and Lydia how to roller skate" one of my goals for the new youth program.  There is a place we can go for free in town every Friday so that is where we will be this winter. I haven't ever gone and have heard mixed reviews but need to put my snobbish skating views away. They just need more consistent time skating. 

Basketball, Pumpkin Treats, Turkeys and cupcakes

Last week Mark and I looked at basketball tickets for UVA Men's team. We saw that the game on the 16th was at noon and really cheap so we decided to go for it.  It was really nice to have it early in the day.  Lydia was not that excited but she is a good sport and when I assured her she could bring a book she was good to go.  (I'm really grateful Jared and Lydia both love to read.  Besides all the benefits that come from reading I think it has really made our traveling work out so much better than it would otherwise.)  So we made it to the game found our seats and enjoyed the first half and half of the second.  UVA was playing Columbia.  Halfway through the second half UVA took out their starters so the bench could get some time on the court.  After that not much happened, from either team.  UVA did end up winning which was good.  During the first half Lydia kept compliainig that it was too loud so she couldn't read.  She did not really have that problem the second half.  She did really enjoy the stunts by the cheerleaders and the half time show which was this guy who balances crazy large and heavy things on his chin.  She and I got up to take a walk at half time and could not make it out of the arena until he was finished because she was so mesmerized by him so taking her along did turn out pretty well for her. After the game we walked all the way to the court and took a few pictures.  As we did so, Ralph Sampson the former UVA player, retired NBA player was by the court and kindly agreed to a picture when Mark asked him.  Mark has always loved watching basketball and while Ralph Samson was little before Mark's time he is well aware of who he is and was happy he got to take a picture with him.  It was a fun outing.

 This is a piece of the actual floor from the championship game!  

And the trophy.  We aren't crazy fans or anything but if it there why not check it out? 

This picture makes me smile.  The one time Mark is actually not the tallest person in a picture. I looked it up and Ralph Sampson is 7'4 so he has over a foot on Mark. 

Sunday we had friends over for pumpkin treats and the treats were delicious.  It was nice to get to visit.  I'm grateful for the awesome people we know here. They arrived around 2:30 and Mark made it home shortly after that.  Tithing settlement takes some time. 

Most Sundays we try to spend as much time together as we can. We have a whole list on the fridge of activities we can do together.  For whatever reason we almost always end up playing board games.  I don't mind board games but Jared and Lydia always want to play the same games, Jared especially.  He always wants to play Settlers of Catan and while it is a fine game I do not want to play it every week.  Often he and Mark will play and Lydia and I will do a puzzle or play another game most often Candyland which is only marginally better.  This week I put my foot down and asked if we could please do something else instead of a board game.  Lydia suggested an art project and Jared took it another step and suggested "Disguise a turkey". They do these most years at Baker-Butler and I think its a really cute project.  I was so happy he suggested it.  We all made our turkeys and had a fun time creating and being festive.  I was happy not only to skip a week with board games but that we did a project and I didn't have to come up with it.  Win Win.  That being said, nobody could figure out my turkey so maybe I disguised it too well?  They kept guessing corn on the cob which I totally see but it was a pineapple.  Lydia worked on three turkeys.  A penguin, popcorn bucket and a peacock.  I am not sure what Mark's was but he played along with us which was good of him.  My sister in law guessed it was a UN turkey which works well for Mark so he went with that.  I thought he should make a suitcase or something to cover the turkey but he used up his creativity with the flags.  I am happy we have them to hang up for the next little while. I have yet to put up our Thankful tree, I printed the leaves but am stalling cutting them out. And I have left them at work the last few days on accident.  Maybe we will get it up this week. 

Mark, Jared (tree), April (pineapple), Lydia (peacock). 

Jared's second to last "Cub Scout" activity was last week.  Next month we are caroling and then it's on to the new program. We watched the church broadcast last night and it was nice to hear more about the program.  For the activity last week they decorated cupcakes.  It was really nice of a sister in our ward to get everything ready and show them a few tips.  She bakes/decorates on the side.  I stayed to help out and picked up a few tips myself.  Cupcakes are pretty fun to frost.  When Lydia saw Jared's cupcakes she was sad she didn't get to decorate any and Joni kindly offered her the mini cake she had brought in to demonstrate on but did't get too.  People are so kind and I appreciate it so much.  The idea was to take your decorated cupcakes and give them away to someone.  Maybe a family we don't see at church much or a neighbor.  Earlier in the week Lydia had told me that Calvin, one of Mrs. Jeong's and Mrs. Shafran's guinea pigs had died.  Lydia was really upset and Jared ended up giving each of them a cupcake.  He also gave one to his teacher and Ms. Peterson the Assistant Principal.  Mark walked him in to help distribute the cupcakes.  Mrs. Peterson was not in her office so Jared left it on her desk with a post it.  He wasn't going to add his name but Mark made sure he did.  Not for credit or anything but if I walked into my office I would like to know where the cupcake came from. 

She was particularly pleased with her L and S in the middle.