December with the Johnston's

We have had quite the wild time over the last month and a half. We had major car issues complete with good news, bad news, and repeat. Our new car will be here in February! We had issues with our new refrigerator, and thanks to some creativity on my Dad’s part, it now fits beautifully in our kitchen. Our Christmas cards disappeared after FedEx reported they had been delivered, only to show up for the first time a week later. After dealing with FedEx and Shutterfly more than I ever care to again, we now have double the Christmas cards! Our water filter was out just in time for the new fridge, and now it is working splendidly. We all took our turns being sick. Adelynn had bronchits, a round of fever and another few days of a cold. Dave got a stomach bug, a nasty sinus thing that finally cleared up (yay, neti pot!) and I had junk a couple of times. My fluid levels were too low with this pregnancy and I had to go back and get them re-checked. That was a long month of waiting, but thankfully, it is all on track now. Everything has worked out for the best, although Bella’s teeth grinding still remains a mystery. Whew! We are looking forward to a New Year!

Dave is enjoying playing basketball again now that the season has started. It was great to have a 4 day weekend with him and we are looking forward to another one this weekend. I am currently working on the Christmas Hangover that has invaded our house and planning to get ready to move and refinish furniture for the baby’s room. This also means that Adelynn gets her new bed, which she knows and keeps asking about… however, after all the car and Christmas festivities, I can say that for the first time in my life, I’m actually dreading shopping, but she needs a bed. We are also trying to come up with a baby girl’s name since we have a boy’s picked out. 9Suggestions welcome!)

Adelynn is lively as ever. On a regular day she will be found in her tutu, carrying her Snoopy and doctor kit, giving check ups and talking up a storm. (My ears are worn out when Dave gets home) She’s been wearing us out with all the activity jumping we have been doing while playing with all the new Christmas toys. My house is still a disaster because of all the playing. It does not bother me like it normally would since I know my time is being better spent :)

I’ve kind of failed on the blogging front lately, but there’s always a good dose of Adelynnisms to keep us laughing out loud (and sometimes stifling it)!

Here’s some pictures:

Remember last year’s visit to Santa? It wasn’t very fun.

This year’s visit was much better! (Complete with more hair!)

 

Happy New Year!

Christmas at the Johnston House

Christmas at the Johnston House

We have been enjoying the Christmas season at our house with lots of decorating, candy making, wrapping and the sending of Christmas cards.

Randy is out on his last week of consulting before Christmas and will start again January 3rd when some of the family goes skiing.

I will be finishing up at school this Friday.  I'm sure the students will be ready sooner than Friday to enjoy the Christmas vacation so it should be an interesting week.  I do not return until January 7th this year.  What a nice break!

We have enjoyed the granddaughters throughout this special time.  The Christmas events to come will be so much fun to see through their eyes! 
We are also anxiously awaiting the birth of the next grandchild.

Below are some of our Christmas activities for this season.  Have a Blessed Christmas as we celebrate Christ's birth!

Christmas Parade -Nov. 17, 2012- Hutchinson Municipal Band

Fun with Uncle Dan after Olivia's birthday celebration.

The granddaughters did a wonderful job of decorating at Great-grandma and Great-grandpa's house!

Our "Big" tree!

Precious Moments Nativity

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care!

Outside Peanuts Nativity

Outside Nativity - The Reason for the Season.

Peanuts decoration that Randy grew up with(remade several years ago).

Here comes Santa Claus......

Clara is home for the holidays and enjoying the back yard.

Our newest decoration.

 

A New Apartment and First Christmas Home

Well, things are once again changing in my life. Ben and I are moving into our new apartment here in Hutchinson. In case you are interested our address will be 720 North Main Apartment 402 Hutchinson KS 67501. I still love mail and I'm getting better at answering back so feel free to send me some mail.

I love my little apartment. It is in The Hutchinson Lofts which was formerly Grace Hospital which is where Grandpa was born. About a year ago they completely renovated the building and made it into housing. Each apartment is different and has a lot of character. My apartment is two bedrooms and has a cute little living room. The first thing in my apartment was a thrifted couch and my (fully decorated) Christmas tree. I'm excited because we will be celebrating Christmas day at my apartment.

It feels important to mention here that this will be my first holiday out of treatment in four years. I was able to come home for one day in 2009 when I was at Laureate's eating disorder program but I have very few memories from that time. In 2010 I was in Utah at The Center for Change and in 2011 I was in Washington DC at a trauma program. I'm so excited to be home and to experience all of the season. I am appreciating the traditions, the lights, the trees, seeing all of you, hanging stockings, helping out at church's Street's of Bethlehem and for the first time decorating my own home.

The main reason I have managed to stay out of treatment (as this is a hard time of year for me) is of course Benny. Ben has been amazing. Our bond has continued to grow. We now move seamlessly through crowds whereas before it took a lot more forethought.  He reads my emotions easily and comforts me without asking. His grounding presecene and the love he offers me everyday has allowed me to continue to function.

Speaking of Ben we faced our first act of discrimination. A retreat I wanted to go to would not allow me to come because I have Ben. I plan on writing them a letter and also reporting them to the department of Justice. Ben has made me quite fierce.

Let's see....nothing much else to report. I am participating in a photo challenge where I take a different themed picture of Ben (or one of the girls) every day for the month of December. If you are interested check out that album here. I'll update it everyday.

Love,
Kate and Ben

And now for a few pictures. :)

And the tree is up in the apartment! 

Ben and I in our apartment 

Ben and Adelynn have become quite good friends

Ben visits Santa (November 2012)

Another Rivers Ripple

When last we posted, it was August and we had just returned from vacation and began to tackle potty training.
Since then, the fall has flown by.  Olivia and Sarah continue to enjoy days home together.  We fill our time playing, reading, creating arts and crafts, attending playgroup and library storytime, running errands, going to the Y, and generally having a good time.  We've had OB appointments more frequently so that's been an added task on the list.  Sarah is now at 36 weeks (and dilated to a 4 as of today!)--the crunch for accomplishing things before baby arrives began at the end of October with the realization that Olivia's birthday and Thanksgiving were only weeks away.  Since then, we've been working hard to get things accomplished.  Some days are more productive than others.
We've transitioned the computer room to a playroom/library, which seems like it will work out well.  Olivia continues in her toddler bed because when we went to set up her twin bed, the headboard was missing!  Now we are waiting for it to ship.  Hopefully soon.  Otherwise she may end up on the floor on her mattresses for a bit of time for Sarah's sanity.  The basement is now our entertainment area/music man cave.  Dan has his basses hung and we are able to watch TV when time allows.
Dan works hard daily at KWCH-12, you can see a lot of his hard work in the presentation of the KWCH website and in his iphone app for CatchItKansas.  Bayless Band is officially done in Kansas--the main people moved, so Dan just has church band right now.
Sarah has been busy teaching 2 and 3 year old Sunday School and has Olivia in her class now.  It's a fun adventure most weeks!  (For a fun picture: the first week Olivia joined our class we had 2 separate potty breaks that involved everyone...)  Besides what was mentioned above, Sarah has continued with one Saturday a month at ViaChristi and plans to return there in April as this past Saturday was her last day to work until after new baby.
Olivia has been successful with potty training--we are down to an accident every week and a half or so, which is usually the result of being in the wrong place and the wrong time (car, Y parking lot, church potluck).  Wa-hoo!  For those who might be around to help her, potty break sounds a lot like "patty cake".  Beware.  Olivia celebrated her 2nd birthday and enjoyed the cake, candles, singing, and presents that came with it.  It was fun to watch her enjoy opening her gifts and her eyes lighting up when people sang to her.  Her favorite activities include playing babies, dressing up, and tea/fruit party.  She's also been into painting lately--this usually involves whole-hand finger painting, even when given a brush.
Brisco has good and bad allergy days, but we are going to try some probiotics and resume fish oil to see if that helps.  He's now on grain free food permanently as his salmon food was affecting him.
My apologies for a late post and for no pictures.  I had most of this post typed, and went to add pictures only to have google say I was out of space.  Now I can't seem to figure out how to get my picasa album working.  Grump.  But, know that we are all doing well.  We anxiously await new baby's arrival and hope to have a little person to introduce to you all before Christmas.  You can keep up with our latest adventures and Olivia's antics at: theriverscurrent.blogspot.com
  

Some Christmas Cheer from Colorado

Well...after three days and many expletives...my apartment is decorated.

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy!

Love and Holiday Greetings to all!