The Rivers Ripple

Time flies when you are having fun!

The Rivers had a full fall.
Olivia has been enjoying Kindergarten.  She's learning something new every day!  (although when asked, some days she did "nothing" at Kindergarten)  Her right ankle has continued to heal through the fall and Olivia was able to start gymnastics back again in November.  She does occassionally still roll it and we baby it for a few days.  Both girls took swim lessons in October and November.  Olivia got her first lap pool experience during this time and can swim 25 yards of front crawl and back crawl.  She tried basketball last weekend, with a camp through the Maize South Girls Team.  Most days you'll find Olivia completing her homework, creating something (art, game, etc), playing with Kinley, playing Animal Crossing, watching Wild Kratts, or playing outside.
Kinley has been attending preschool and enjoys it once she is there and in class.  Kinley prefers to move slowly in the morning and have the opportunity to wake up and leisurely prepare for her day.  She has been doing Starlets (parent/child preschool) with Sarah and Emily this fall on Mondays too.  Wednesdays for Kinley include something new to us--dance.  Kinley genuinely enjoys it and has asked to dance again in January (thankfully these classes are month to month and the instructor doesn't mind that Kinley prefers no tights and her hair down).  Kinley loves to play Lalaloopsy's or whatever happens to be the theme of the day with Olivia.  She also loves to color pictures.  Kinley saw an allergist this fall and has been diagnosed with a milk allergy.  She has done very well with the removal of all dairy from her diet (no more ice cream, cheese, butter, chocolate).  Thankfully there are some alternatives to her favorites from the dairy list.  Our most recent discovery was a hot chocolate recipe (vanilla almond milk and Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips--yum!).
Emily has made some nice gains this fall--sitting up is probably the most noticeable.  She is also exploring her toys more, engaging in songs with movement, and etc.  She had a sedated MRI on Nov 17, which went well.  We were very nervous to have her sedated, but needed to check her ventricles in her brain.  They are stable, but still measuring large so at this point we just watch and wait.  She recently had some virus, but that was really the first time she's been sick--she's just had a couple of colds.  Emily does therapy 2x/month, PAT once a month, and swimming 2x/month (if it works in our schedule).  She's a cuddle bug, and still continues to be easy going.  Hard to believe the next time we post, she will have celebrated her 1st birthday!
Sarah drives the Rivers Taxi Service van 5 days a week getting small children to their various schools and activities.  She's been squeezing in a work out at the YMCA 2x/week with her friend.  We've tried cycle, pilates, PiYo, and Barre classes.  Bunco 1x/month was added this fall as a night out--the neighbor gals, along with others play Bunco.  So far, she's been the biggest loser once (and came home with money)!  She still participates in MOPS 2 nights a month and also helps out with Special Needs Support Group 1x/month.  And that is plenty for now!
Dan has settled into working from home and we enjoy having him around during the day.  We often see him around lunch time.  Dan usually escapes the man cave to the Y over his lunch break.  He's been playing with church band and working with another band in town that hopes to be playing some gigs in the new year.  Dan ran the Say Grace 5K and also the Prairie Fire 1/2 Marathon this fall.
Brisco turned 10 years old in November and continues to be a spoiled dog.  Since Dan has been home, if he is left completely alone there will be vengeance usually in the form of eaten small pieces, shredded toilet paper, or once a small scarf.
We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas celebration and wish you a great start to 2017!

Kinley on Dec 17--Shopkins Birthday!

Dec 17 was also snowy and COLD.

Emily's first visit to Santa.

As one of my friends said, Emily was not pleased to share her Santa time with her sisters.

Emily's First Christmas

My attempt at a group photo in their Christmas Eve dress clothing.

Emily on Christmas morning.

Kinley playing with her new Doc Toy Hospital.

Olivia enjoys taking pictures--here's Em and I on Christmas Eve.

Olivia on Christmas Morning.

Emily in the sleigh at Great Grandma and Grandpa's.

In the Bleak Midwinter!

Seasons greetings to all!

We've certainly been suddenly thrust into the wintertime here in the Midwest.  In Chicagoland, we've had a series of storms that probably gave us a total of 12ish inches of snow.  Our front walk is now flanked by two piles of snow that has been shoveled 3 or 4 times and the temperature fell down to -13 degrees last night.  So our base layer is set for the winter and we'll see when this snow finally disappears.

On the work front, Katie received a promotion in October which elevated her to a full Catastrophe Modeling Analyst which was a while coming.  She has been modeling some of AAICs biggest accounts and always felt slightly frustrated sending her tagline with the somewhat comical Senior Catastrophe Modeling Assistant title.  Assuming nothing big changes in the next two weeks, they will have had a moderately successful year after dodging a bullet with Hurricane Matthew and despite some major wildfires.

Meanwhile, Andrew has continued his work for Peapod, which has picked up during the holiday season.  In the last few months, Andrew has also been working with his boss in spare time to learn some details of the decisions that go into building the service model and the day-to-day challenges of executing our plans.  Basically, these issues fall immediately on either side of his current work taking in orders each day and producing the next days route plans.

Throughout the fall, we've been following the Cubs in their run through the MLB playoffs.  Katie's family has had season tickets for decades which meant we were able to afford tickets to playoff games.  We each went to Game 2 of the NLCS and Game 5 of the World Series.  As I'm sure everyone knows, they had not won a title since 1908 and few expected that to change this fall.  The question was simply how spectacularly could they lose?  But instead they won in one of the most spectacular runs since the.....2015 Royals! (Guess who's writing this post!)  In all seriousness though, after watching one of our teams go to the World Series three straight years, October baseball is emotionally draining and it wouldn't be the end of the world if we get a reprieve next season.

Other than that...

Obviously the biggest story is our pregnancy!  (Grand)Baby Shook is due on May 17th of 2017.  Katie is doing well and has been relatively fortunate to escape any struggles with nausea.  This second trimester has introduced some insomnia but frequent naps are helpful when they are an option.  We've made the jump to maternity clothing which has emptied her side of the closet significantly!  As we approach the 19th week, Katie is unsure if she's felt the baby move but we've been told to expect that to begin soon.  We've been blessed with a large spread of hand-me-downs already as friends and family (thanks Rutherfords!) are stocking our cache of supplies.

Below are a few photos from our lives the last couple months:

Baby Shook at 12 weeks

Attending game 2 of the NLDS

Fall adventures took us camping in Wisconsin

And apple and pumpkin picking in Northern Illinois

Our Christmas decorations this season, before a couple of the strings burned out.

Our current winter wonderland!

The Givans Have No Internet!

The Theresa and Chris Givans, that is, have shutoff the internet at their place as a way of saving some money. Hopefully, when combined with a deferment or income-driven repayment plan on Chris' student loans, that will make our income and expenses commensurate!

So without internet "delivered" to the house we've been relaying on our still-active data plan and phones or other people's internet—in fact, the first time we tried to borrow someone's internet for this post it was Kate's and it turned out to be down thanks to a problem on AT&T's part.

Finally, we've overcome that and borrowed another connection to bring out an update on our typically-uneventful lives. Chris is still at the library part-time, when he remembers to go in, anyways. Monday night I was actually supposed to have gone in, but forgot about it. In my defense, I don't normally work Monday nights, I'd traded with someone else. Fortunately the library is understanding and even allows you to make up the hours.

Theresa is working with Kate to sell clothes via their Lu La Roe consultancy, which went well this past week. Some appointments to see their inventory plus an open house resulted in a solid income for the week's work.

We'll be driving to the Chicago-area for Christmas, to join Theresa's family. We won't actually be in Chicago all that much but bouncing around between the city, Lake Geneva, and Madison, WI.

That's just about all in our little world, I think. Best!

Enjoying the Fall Colors

The old saying "'no news is good news"   pretty much sums up our post this time.
With that in mind we decided to enjoy the fall colors and pass the pictures on.

The last rose of summer.

The Rivers girls decided to help when they visited.

           Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. Love, Grandma & Grandpa

Every Day is New

Hello Family,

You know, I can't even remember the last time that we posted on the blog. Life is going so quickly right now and my brain is filled with so many little moments that I often forget other things currently. And that is just fine with me!

Kurtis and I have had the great pleasure of enjoying time together with our daughter, Aurora. (See, I don't remember whether or not I officially posted her birth on the blog...) He took about a week and a half off right after she was born. Then a lay off at the shop for a short while gave us another month together. Basically the first two months of Aurora's life we got to spend as a family. How lucky! Sometimes there are perks to our jobs being a little less predictable!

We have had a few family members come to visit. First, Mom and Dad for about a week. Rori was only two weeks old at this point, so we spent the days just watching and enjoying cuddles with her. A few wanders out in to the sunshine. Then, Sarah, Emily, Hannah and Susan came to visit at the beginning of October. Again, it was mostly cuddles, but some wandering through the neighborhood too. This was during Mary's recovery period, which she and Kurtis took very seriously to ward off any postpartum depression with plenty of rest.

A couple weeks ago we were finally able to start feeling like we were coming out of the wonderfully intoxicating newborn haze and began to piece together how life would now be working as a family of three. It's such an exciting adventure to be on together!

I head back to work this weekend. Kurtis and I will be able to switch off care for a while, so lucky for little Miss Rori, she will have time with both of her parents. We look forward to seeing all of you for a quick visit coming up at the end of November and hope to make a longer visit in the following near future so everyone can get even more time with Aurora.

In the meantime, with a week that has left some disappointment with the president-elect, I encourage all of you to remember that each day is new, God never sends us more than we can handle and we each have the ultimate power of love to send out in to the world around us.

Love to all,
Mary, Kurtis and Aurora

Pictures mostly from when Aurora was a newborn...

I'll figure out how to download more recent pictures next time...

and I'm sure you'll be bored with all of them soon enough, but I'll keep sharing ;)

Oh, the places we shall go-

Hello family:

For once, the Givan’s have actually gone places..

In September, I went to the State Fair.  Hey, it was somewhere.  It was a great 10 days spent with many people.  Jeni, best friend since Junior High, came for the 1^st weekend.  She really got into it and think it was good she left when she did as she was starting to be lured in by many products.  I introduced Theresa to more of the fair and think she could become a convert (Sorry, Chris).  My themed Christmas tree won third prize.  When I went to pick it up, the workers were apologizing that I didn’t get any prize money.  I assured them I was fine as long as I got my ribbon. 

My Sunflower Benny Tree.

K-State Booth with Jeni.

At the end of September, Kate and I flew to Chicago to visit her friend and see Dr. Beth (her therapist) present at the National Eating Disorder Conference.  Gus did great with all the public transportation.  Thanks to Andrew for all the help with planning the subway and etc.  We enjoyed a nice dinner with Andrew and Katie and in fact our hotel was within blocks of Katie’s work.   I, however, did not enjoy driving in Chicago.  The not knowing where I was or going kind of freaked me out. 

In October, Tim, Theresa and I went to the Buddy Walk in Wichita.  We really enjoyed it and it was a beautiful day.  Since it wasn’t miles and miles long, I didn’t have to do a lot of prep work to be able to make it.

Walking for Emmie Roo's Crew

We returned to Wichita a week later for Family Pictures.  It was a windy day, but with the help of a talented photographer we ended up looking pretty good.  Here’s a sample.   There’s 104 total so if  you’d like to see more, just let me know.

Bartlett, our van, made a trip to Missouri for a wedding with Chris and Theresa. The following weekend Bartlett headed to Colorado with Kate and Tyson for a dog show.  Coming up is Tim’s trip to Colorado to visit his mom. 

I think we are now back to our stay at home ways.  Looking forward to seeing many of you over the holidays.

Fall Fun Activities

The house is nearly complete now with the latest addition being a refinished front door.  The windows are on their way but wanted to share the door with you as it really looks nice if you remember the way it was!  Work is busy for both Randy and I.  I am still hanging in there at Faris although a lot has changed and I'm not too sure how I feel some days about it.  Oh, well, time is short so it will be alright.  Randy is traveling again.  We enjoyed him being home for several weeks and got the house back in a livable order but now have the hard parts to go as well as the time consuming parts of sorting.  Oh, my!  We have also been enjoying the grandchildren this fall in some fun ways.  Below is a picture journey of these activities.

Refinished front door.  Windows to come.

9-18-16 Aurora, Grandma, Grandpa at the park.

9-19-16 Grandpa carrying Aurora.

9-4-16 Helping Great-Grandma blow out her candle.

Emily , Grandpa, and Oliver

Snow cone machine for Great-Grandma's birthday.  They really liked it!

10-16-16 Celebrating Aunt Vicki and my birthday while opening presents.

Dr. Olivia bandaging Grandpa's head.

Our silver maple tree had some beautiful leaves this year!

  Every fall since Sarah was born the neighbor's tree has been this way.

10-22-16 Olivia discovered her mom's bike. 

Adelynn, Kinley and Ava enjoying playing outside.

Oliver, Cassi, Emily, and I enjoying watching them.

10-28-16  Pumpkin patch time.

Adelynn, Olivia, Ava, and Kinley

Emily and Oliver

Adelynn loved this big pedal car!

Ava, Olivia, Kinley, and Adelynn playing in the corn.

Cassi helping Oliver pound the drum.  He's on his way to drumming!

Grandpa, Olivia, Kinley, and Ava.  Olivia was driving  :)

Ready for a train ride with the field of pumpkins in the back.

10-29-16 Charles, Nate, and Randy carving their creations.

Charles' made the cat, Nate made the spider, and Randy the old fashioned one.