Split Pea Soup
This is a recipe from Randy's mom. She makes it from scratch and has had the recipe in her head for years. :) So here are the ingredients.
Split peas(1 pkg.)
Vegetable or chicken broth (large size 1 qt.)
1 onion ( 2 inches across-use half-cut small)
4 slices of bacon or ham slices or a hambone.
For the bacon: brown a bit, add onions, peas, and broth
For the ham: just add to onions, peas, and broth
Cook 2-3 hours. Add water mixture if needed. It gets pretty thick.
Water mixture: Add water with chicken broth cubes(1-1 1/2 tsp.)
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10.30.2018
10.23.2018
Yes, there really is leisure time!
Hello family:
Tim and I are actually doing non work things these days. Tim seeded the front yard and lo and behold
we have a good stand of grass. I think
we have given up on the back yard. It
has gone to the dogs. Although, Tim is
still planning to repurpose the Johnston (thank you) deck wood for a small deck
out back. He has been working on his
church treasurers job which creates many frown lines as well as Sunday School
class and a local Mental Health task force committee.
With the new job, I have evenings and weekends free. I have rediscovered my enjoyment with house
plants. One of my favorites is “Audrey”. She is a large aloe vera that was given to
me. When she first arrived I found her
rather creepy, hence the name Audrey from little shop of horrors. Since then I have discovered that she is
really rather sensitive and sunburns.
She moved outside for just a bit this summer but had to return
inside. As you can see she is thriving
and producing more little Audreys.
I’ve also been working on the house. One large project is cleaning up the “lego”
room. Good heavens there was lots of
stuff in there and many giant dust bunnies.
It’s not done yet but progress is being made.
This weekend we did the annual Givan Fall Festival. Tim, Kate, Tyson, Gus and I went to Polk’s
and picked out some pumpkins. Then we
followed it up with some yummy chili
made by Tim.
Happy Fall you all!
10.21.2018
A Soup to Share! (Chicken and Wild Rice)
Here is a super easy crock pot soup that has been delicious every time I've made it! I think it tastes a lot like the Panera chicken & wild rice soup. We made it first in Minnesota visiting the lake a couple years ago.
https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/slow-cooker-creamy-chicken-and-wild-rice-soup/dd8f8c01-7124-43ed-b408-dce697c5c634
We stuck pretty close to the recipe, but I think we did add a few more frozen veggies. Super yummy with some biscuits or a side salad.
Enjoy!
https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/slow-cooker-creamy-chicken-and-wild-rice-soup/dd8f8c01-7124-43ed-b408-dce697c5c634
We stuck pretty close to the recipe, but I think we did add a few more frozen veggies. Super yummy with some biscuits or a side salad.
Enjoy!
10.20.2018
Sharings from the Shooks
Hello all: We have been moving along with not too much exciting of late. Tim has two new faculty that are doing well. They are training the second faculty assistant of the year now. He does wish the drama department did not have so much drama!!
We both enjoyed our birthdays. Samuel cooked over the weekend for us. He made vegetarian chili one day and pizza from scratch the next. Nancy and Janet brought a chocolate pudding pie to work for me. It was yummy. And of course birthday dinner in Hutch. Always wonderful!
Erik is enjoying the Americorp Work. They have done trail cleaning, invasive plant removal and avoided the hurricane. The park department workers came and got them and offered their office floor but Americorp had booked them a hotel room. He said the electricity went out in the hotel so tahey ate breakfast in the hotel next door. Otherwise things were good. The tree that fell beside their campsite did not damage anyone's tent. He posted pics on face book.
I will have to take more pictures:) Have a good Halloween!
Hello all: We have been moving along with not too much exciting of late. Tim has two new faculty that are doing well. They are training the second faculty assistant of the year now. He does wish the drama department did not have so much drama!!
We both enjoyed our birthdays. Samuel cooked over the weekend for us. He made vegetarian chili one day and pizza from scratch the next. Nancy and Janet brought a chocolate pudding pie to work for me. It was yummy. And of course birthday dinner in Hutch. Always wonderful!
Erik is enjoying the Americorp Work. They have done trail cleaning, invasive plant removal and avoided the hurricane. The park department workers came and got them and offered their office floor but Americorp had booked them a hotel room. He said the electricity went out in the hotel so tahey ate breakfast in the hotel next door. Otherwise things were good. The tree that fell beside their campsite did not damage anyone's tent. He posted pics on face book.
I will have to take more pictures:) Have a good Halloween!
10.08.2018
Delayed - not forgotten!
A few quick pics from our trip to Kansas in September when we were due to post. Always love to spend time with family and it is wonderful to hear how everyone’s lives are changing. Aurora is growing in such a beautiful way with lots of words and running around. Kurtis is working hard and the Cher Show begins now!
Update: There will be photos once I can find them to attach them. May take a couple of days.
Update: There will be photos once I can find them to attach them. May take a couple of days.
Rivers Ripple
Well, this is a long overdue update as I completely missed our post in July between conference and vacation.
The 2018-2019 school year is off to a good start. We are finding a new normal routine with both older girls in school full day.
Dan is busy with work and finishing up his Master's degree. He has one class and a paper left to go! He will be done in December. He has been playing regular gigs this year with 90 Proof and then switched over to the Llew Brown Band (he played with them before Emily was born) when they called a few months ago. Playing music is definitely what he enjoys! He hasn't ran much competitively this year, but plans to run a half marathon next week.I am finding the benefits of Emily's nap time and getting things done during that 2 hour window. Dan is gracious enough to keep an ear out if needed. I started helping the Down syndrome Society of Wichita provide new parent outreach (deliver welcome baskets and answer questions and provide follow up). It involves snuggling new babies and chatting with parents. They seem to come in waves, I've had 3 new babies in the past 4 weeks. There is another gal helping, but she is going to nursing school right now so that means she's not very available. I'm continuing to work one Saturday a month, sometimes two and in between if it works out for Via Christi Rehabilitation Hospital. Most of my days are spent playing with Emily, doing therapy with her, going to playgroups, cleaning, organizing, learning, and sneaking in a couple of workouts at the YMCA a week. I've managed to finish six books since school started between afternoons and workouts, so you can tell that my time is becoming less small person care driven.
Olivia is in 2nd grade. She seems to really like her teacher and enjoys all of the socializing that comes with school. Math is definitely her strength as she is in the highest combined math group in 2nd grade and the only girl in the group. Her reading really improved last year, although she's not much of an independent sit and read kind of gal. She is trying some dance this fall through the Y and says she likes it. She's also taking swim lessons. Both Olivia and Kinley are doing church on Wednesday evening, which includes a children's choir this year and sing 1x/month in church (the good oldies).
Kinley is in Kindergarten. She was so excited for it to start. Since it's started, she's been tired but I noticed last week I think we've finally found the balance for her. She must do well at school because she received the Student of the Month award in her class for August. She has a lot of friends and talks about them. At the Walk-A-Thon on Friday she said good-bye to a whole row of them, and kissed a boy on the cheek! (We had to have a chat about that.) Kinley really wanted to do studio dance (as she calls it) again, so she is taking dance on Thursdays. She does enjoy it, although has had some reluctant days I think because she is tired. She is doing swim lessons this month too.
Emily is now 32 months old. She is a busy little girl. Her favorite things to play right now are baby dolls and kitchen. We moved the kitchen up to her room and are rearranging a bit. She will just spend time in there playing away. We have a transition meeting set up with Maize School District to have paperwork signed for Emily to be evaluated to attend preschool when she turns 3 in February. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed and sad all at once! We've continued Rainbows therapy and private speech therapy. Emily got a new speech therapist in July since her other one moved to the school district. We've been working on more vowel sounds and individual sounds, transitioning from a pretty intense focus on imitation. I just took Emily out to visit with my speech therapist friend to have her take a look for apraxia, which we are pretty sure Emily has. This means there is a disconnect between her brain and what her motor movements should be to make speech sounds. It is not uncommon in children with Down syndrome, but not readily diagnosed. We are going to try breaking down the words to just beginning sounds throughout our day and at snack and see if we can make some more progress. It takes intense and frequent practice to make progress. Emily's sign language skills are quite good, she's picking up as many signs as I can give her. And she's impressed our PAT lady with her attention and recognition using signs during story time at playgroup. Emily is identifying colors by matching them, can do a 9 piece peg puzzle, and really has some nice foundational skills. Emily has the Buddy Walk coming up on Saturday!
Brisco is not aging gracefully. He's showing his older doggie age in the past few weeks and is about to earn himself something! He still enjoys being right in the action and occasionally takes a stroll down the block.
Overall we are all doing well and enjoying life. We are looking forward to a trip with our neighbors, the Hesses, to Disney World in December.
The 2018-2019 school year is off to a good start. We are finding a new normal routine with both older girls in school full day.
Dan is busy with work and finishing up his Master's degree. He has one class and a paper left to go! He will be done in December. He has been playing regular gigs this year with 90 Proof and then switched over to the Llew Brown Band (he played with them before Emily was born) when they called a few months ago. Playing music is definitely what he enjoys! He hasn't ran much competitively this year, but plans to run a half marathon next week.I am finding the benefits of Emily's nap time and getting things done during that 2 hour window. Dan is gracious enough to keep an ear out if needed. I started helping the Down syndrome Society of Wichita provide new parent outreach (deliver welcome baskets and answer questions and provide follow up). It involves snuggling new babies and chatting with parents. They seem to come in waves, I've had 3 new babies in the past 4 weeks. There is another gal helping, but she is going to nursing school right now so that means she's not very available. I'm continuing to work one Saturday a month, sometimes two and in between if it works out for Via Christi Rehabilitation Hospital. Most of my days are spent playing with Emily, doing therapy with her, going to playgroups, cleaning, organizing, learning, and sneaking in a couple of workouts at the YMCA a week. I've managed to finish six books since school started between afternoons and workouts, so you can tell that my time is becoming less small person care driven.
Olivia is in 2nd grade. She seems to really like her teacher and enjoys all of the socializing that comes with school. Math is definitely her strength as she is in the highest combined math group in 2nd grade and the only girl in the group. Her reading really improved last year, although she's not much of an independent sit and read kind of gal. She is trying some dance this fall through the Y and says she likes it. She's also taking swim lessons. Both Olivia and Kinley are doing church on Wednesday evening, which includes a children's choir this year and sing 1x/month in church (the good oldies).
Kinley is in Kindergarten. She was so excited for it to start. Since it's started, she's been tired but I noticed last week I think we've finally found the balance for her. She must do well at school because she received the Student of the Month award in her class for August. She has a lot of friends and talks about them. At the Walk-A-Thon on Friday she said good-bye to a whole row of them, and kissed a boy on the cheek! (We had to have a chat about that.) Kinley really wanted to do studio dance (as she calls it) again, so she is taking dance on Thursdays. She does enjoy it, although has had some reluctant days I think because she is tired. She is doing swim lessons this month too.
Emily is now 32 months old. She is a busy little girl. Her favorite things to play right now are baby dolls and kitchen. We moved the kitchen up to her room and are rearranging a bit. She will just spend time in there playing away. We have a transition meeting set up with Maize School District to have paperwork signed for Emily to be evaluated to attend preschool when she turns 3 in February. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed and sad all at once! We've continued Rainbows therapy and private speech therapy. Emily got a new speech therapist in July since her other one moved to the school district. We've been working on more vowel sounds and individual sounds, transitioning from a pretty intense focus on imitation. I just took Emily out to visit with my speech therapist friend to have her take a look for apraxia, which we are pretty sure Emily has. This means there is a disconnect between her brain and what her motor movements should be to make speech sounds. It is not uncommon in children with Down syndrome, but not readily diagnosed. We are going to try breaking down the words to just beginning sounds throughout our day and at snack and see if we can make some more progress. It takes intense and frequent practice to make progress. Emily's sign language skills are quite good, she's picking up as many signs as I can give her. And she's impressed our PAT lady with her attention and recognition using signs during story time at playgroup. Emily is identifying colors by matching them, can do a 9 piece peg puzzle, and really has some nice foundational skills. Emily has the Buddy Walk coming up on Saturday!
Brisco is not aging gracefully. He's showing his older doggie age in the past few weeks and is about to earn himself something! He still enjoys being right in the action and occasionally takes a stroll down the block.
Overall we are all doing well and enjoying life. We are looking forward to a trip with our neighbors, the Hesses, to Disney World in December.
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| Sarah at National Down Syndrome Congress in July in Dallas, TX! |
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| Olivia and Kinley enjoyed VBS twice this summer. |
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| Emily playing in the sand with cousin Aurora. |
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| Olivia |
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| Emily |
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| Kinley |
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| Swinging Aurora at her park at the end of vacation. |
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| Fair Time! Ice cream with the Johnstons. |
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| All of us at the National Seashore Park. |
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| We did the Glow Run/Walk for our cousins in September. |
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| And had a fun ride at PedalFest for HeartSpring. |
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| Pumpkin Patch fun to start the fall off right with the Johnstons in September. |
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