Life with the Johnstons

It is unbelievable that Adelynn just celebrated her half birthday! These last 6 months have gone way too fast and it’s amazing that time continues to speed up. Dave and I cannot imagine our lives without her or even remember what it was like before her. In fact, just the other day I was walking, only carrying my purse and it was such an odd feeling. I am now used to carhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifrying Addie, diaper bag, purse, and whatever else we might need for wherever we are going. But of course, we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Dave is still working and going to school like normal. He gets to graduate in May! Yay! His classes are all pretty good, except his Networking teacher is ridiculous. That class is proving to be more challenging because of the teacher. He is still donating plasma twice a week and playing paintball on the weekends. If this is the first you have heard of him donating plasma, you are probably surprised because of how he feels about needles and blood. You all know the flu shot story… And on top of that, when I got my epidural, he almost passed out and he couldn’t even see it! (He loves when I tell that story :) ) He has overcome that fear because for 2 hours a week now, he sits with a huge needle in his arm. In his downtime, he watches Futurama since it is on the air again, and Halo Reach has been the game of choice.

Things are good for me, too. I am still doing a little work for Rachel, although not as much. She needed a lot of help from me to start up her big website and now that it’s up, I have less to do until the next big thing comes around. Work at Stifel is always good, but I will be cutting my hours down starting next week. There is just so little to do at work right now and it’s a good way to spend some time at home with Adelynn. Plus, I will have Fridays off so that will be nice.I have joined a Mom’s group called Little Apple Mommies. It is to meet other Moms and kids and organize play groups. Adelynn mostly watches the other kids, because they are fascinating big kids, but we both enjoy going to the meet ups.

We have been church searching basically the whole time we have been in Manhattan. For the last year or so, we have attended a church we were happy with, but it’s not our “home” church like South Hutch is. We decided to keep searching and decided to try Vintage Faith church. It is small, but we had heard good things about it. We have met at least a dozen people in the few weeks we have attended. We also joined their young marrieds Bible study on Sunday nights. There are 2 other baby girls there, Addison – 3 months and Alexis – 11 months. Adelynn was the only quiet baby last week. The 3 month old was fussy, and the 11 month old was rowdy. The only noise Addie made was a random burp :) Our good friends Ally and Travis go with us to both church and Bible study and they enjoy it too. The group does a great job of helping us get involved. We have brought snacks to one Bible study already. We are even greeting this Sunday! Even though we are nearing the end of our time here, it is nice to finally have a “home” church in Manhattan.

And now, the part you have been waiting for… the bragging…and the pictures :) Adelynn can now sit unassisted for short periods of time without her hands. She sometimes topples if something is beyond her reach. Or she will just lay down and “Army crawl” to go get it! She is getting fast, too! She sure got a double whammy with the stubbornness inheritance.



At her 6 month check up, the doctor said great things about her. She is 16lb 5 oz (57%), 27 inches tall (89%) and her head is 40cm (60%). The doctor calls her “the tallest kid in the class”. She said she is advanced to the 7-8 month stage with sitting and supporting herself. While we work with her to do new things and are proud of her for all of her achievements, she does not need to hurry to grow up! She is at the 9 month stage with her stranger anxiety :(. Dr. Klingler said to reassure everyone that her being upset is not personal! So if you hold her and she cries, she doesn’t hate you.

We all went to a dairy farm a couple weeks ago, and Addie had the chance to see the animals. She wasn’t sure about touching them, but she enjoyed watching them. She also really likes our cats. She sometimes sees Bruce and just starts laughing. Although, one time she grabbed his tail and he wasn’t too impressed with that. We have video of her sitting by herself and petting Bella. (She is usually gentle, but luckily we also have 2 tolerant cats!)





Adelynn has started solid food now twice a day. It is always fun to feed her the food and she enjoys it too. She really likes to rub it all over her tray. She wasn’t a fan of cereal, but she seems to like it mixed with carrots, mango and squash so far. It is amazing that one little person and 4 little carrot-spoonfuls can make one giant mess! When eating is over, you clean her face and she grabs it again with a dirty hand before you can clean them. It is an endless cycle! (Sometimes I think she does these things on purpose. You know her Dad, right?:) )



She also wants to sit up too much now to use her baby bath tub anymore. We got her one that goes in the bath tub that she sits up in. It is like a boppy with a seat that hangs in the middle. She puts her arms on the sides and looks like she is in a pool float. She tries to drink the water all the time and she loves kicking and splashing, too. Maybe she will be a fast swimmer like her Dad someday, or enjoy relaxing baths like her Mom, or maybe both!



Dave and I laugh so much more than we ever have before. Who knew dirty diapers and other messy events could cause so much laughter? We laugh at eachother’s antics to make her giggle, silly mistakes made caused by lack of sleep, and at her new tricks. It seems like she does new things every day now.

One new thing is how she “sings”. She kind of yells this really long “aaaahh” sound when she is playing in the carseat. We can barely hear each other talk in the car. We wait until she is done, start talking again and then she “sings” again. We usually end up laughing some more and waiting to finish conversation until we have reached our destination. She has “sung” herself to sleep in the car a couple of times. We look in her mirror and see her “singing” with her eyes closed when she suddenly stops. She is out!

She has started blowing raspberries and squealing… A LOT. She is a vocal child, we all know which parent that came from. She also loooves books. We read to her every day and she used to actually listen as we read and let us turn the pages. Now she likes to bang on the books and chew on them. She has certain books she really loves and certain pages she likes best. She giggles all the time and she responds when you say “Adelynn”… sometimes…if she feels like it. From reading this, you can tell she is developing own fun personality It’s so fun to see her blossoming every day and we love every minute!

Erik Shook

Hello everyone. I'm settling into my Senior year nicely. I thoroughly enjoy all but one of my classes. The odd one out is AP Statistics. But I've got friends with whom I can share our dislike of the class. The aura of negativity of this class is by far overshadowed by the sheer capacity of awesomeness that the other classes provide. A great way to wake up in the morning is with my spanish teacher, Senor Shelly. An energetic teacher who combines the methods of lecture and pure fun perfectly. He's also a great Scholars Bowl coach. Orchestra is great as well. We're playing some great music, the two most difficult pieces are the Concerto for Strings by Ginastera and La Muerte De Los Angeles by Golijov the second movement to the Last Round. My only complaint about our amazing conductor is the bias that has corrupted him like so many other musical program leaders. I am quite convinced a blind audition would have put me ahead of the person directly ahead of me but oh well. Again I have lots of friends with whom I can share complaints. Film Studies is a great class and my only regret is not having taken it earlier. It is a blast. Already we're filming our first short film and this weekend some of us are heading out to Olatha KS for a film competition. One of the by far best classes of all time is HL Biology with Mr. Weigand. What a great person. Though he speaks more politically incorrect words than others, we all accept that because it makes the class that much better. Just to give a better idea here are some examples of the awesome dialogue that he has shared in my class. "You see we need digestion and enzymes because you can't fit a hamburger through a cell wall." Upon failing to find the owner of a small female jacket that had been left in his room he gave it to my buddy stephen who, upon trying on the jacket recieved mr. Weigand's compliment "Sexy, thats what that is." I don't think I've ever laughed more constantly in any other class. He also is very gifted with a frisbee but unfortunately doesn't participate in our actual games. My European History teacher Gary Harden or GH is just plain crazy. He has a million stories and videos to share along with his great interpretations of the history he shares. Last and most definitely not least is Maack. I've known him for these past four years of high school better than any other faculty member. I've shared the highs and lows of ultimate and he has shaped and molded not only my ultimate skills but my character as a whole. And now I get to share literature with him as well in my HL World Lit. class. A subject about which he is just as passionate about as ultimate. Looking forward to a great year. As for college, I'm looking at Tulsa, St. Olaf, Carleton, and I think it was Vermont. Thinking its gonna end up Tulsa though, as i will be able to continue sharing the companionship of a couple of my best buds Stephen and Dan. Also by the way. I've discovered the secret of flight. Though I can only keep myself in the air for a few seconds I can cover quite a distance. You think I'm kidding but come watch some ultimate and you will find that once you've found a passion for something as powerful as I have for Ultimate, even gravity can't hold you down. This isn't me but here's a great video of some pro ultimate players and they are gooood. Observe what I mean about human flight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq3pg0JcJSI

Autumn at the Pasture

We have had such beautiful days in the last couple weeks. I love all the different flowers and grasses at this time of year so as I mowed I decided to take some pictures.

Now the hedge balls are another matter! It seems there should be some sort of "Profit" one could acquire from them but so far we haven't been able to come with anything. So...we continue to pick them up and move them out of the way of the mowers. This year Aunt Vicki got to help with the job!

Our "break down syndrome" still continues and now we have a new mower at the pasture. One of the old ones just completely gave up as I mowed a few weeks ago! (The repair man at Haven was nice enough to come and haul it away.) Of course the new one is supposed to be much faster and more reliable than the old one! Grandpa gave it a trial run yesterday and decided "yes" it really is faster. Hopefully it will be more reliable too.

Grandpa continues rehab at the heart lab and working with the Friends of the Library. My spare time is spent working at the Zoo, the Cosmosphere and helping the Friends of the Library when they are short of help.

Happy Autumn to all.

Love, Grandma & Grandpa

The Point that I Have I'll Get To It

My bike got stolen. That certainly doesn't sum up my experiences since I have gotten back to school, but it has changed things a lot. It was probably a week or two ago (I haven't been counting, I don't pay attention to the days particularly), but I still haven't found a replacement. Although I hadn't thought about it this is now a slight plea for relatives still in the Hutchinson-Wichita area: I am looking for a used road-bike. Nothing fancy or expensive it just needs to be rideable right away.

Places my bike has taken me

The internet is rife with creative writing ideas, and here's a favorite, the six-word story.

This dorm has an ant problem.

I have more room for activities.

I have avoided injury so far.

The writing lab, currently, is dull.

This past week was an odd one for the school, our "5th Annual Symposium on Democracy." For two days we had no classes and instead attended a series of lectures (War: An Inevitable Evil by Brigadier General McFarland, 14 Steps to a Successful Insurgency by Dr. Sean Gourley, Rwanda: A Study on Conflict Genesis and Resolution by Antoine Rutayisire, The Literature of Witness to War and Conflict by Carolyn Forche, and Pragmatic-Idealism by Secretary James Baker) and smaller sessions we could choose from in-between the larger lectures. Dr. Gourley, a statistician/physicist/entrepreneur, had presented before at TED and was a fascinating man with interesting insight into how insurgencies across the world work based on statistical data. A former Rhodes Scholar, when he got fed up with academia he trained for the Olympics before tearing his Achilles. Carolyn Forche's entire presentation was presented as though she were reading a poem, and I attended a second, smaller session after hearing her speak. Secretary Baker was a big deal for the school, but his speech was only okay.

Philosophy and Literature is an excellent class, I spend large (very large!) amounts of my time planted in front of my desk reading texts and writing responses before turning around and focusing my thoughts in my journal. I've begun tying together many of my individual thoughts and seeing a coherent whole emerge for the first time. Some of it is excellent. Philosophy and Literature focuses on the existentialists, the school I identify with the most (gratuitous Nietzsche quote: "Let us strive against one another like gods") and lets me interact with a group of people as interested and at the same level in philosophy as me. This hasn't stopped me from being late to it...

The night before (it was a Wednesday) Justin and I spent a long time discussion why I had to get up at 8 every morning for French when there was a 1-1:50 class I could have taken without interfering with Philosophy and Literature. I just kept repeating I didn't know why but I thought they had interfered with each other, that Philosophy at 2 would have meant overlapping classes. But, it clearly didn't. It didn't make any sense. So the next day I loaded up for class, plugged my earbuds into, cranked some walking music and left for class about 15 minutes early. A pretty normal time it seemed. Coming into to the building I could see Dr. Geenen talking to the class already, I thought it was a little weird but he's usually early. Push open the door, everyone's staring and my usual seat is taken. I hesitate, then yank my earbuds out and repeat, aloud and to myself, "Class starts at 1 doesn't it?" It does. Philosophy is at 1 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but on MWF at 2 I have Cultural Anthropology...that's why I couldn't take French and Philosophy. Nevertheless I spent the next hour after class discussing parts of the assignment with Dr. Geenen along with several other students--so no harm. Then the next day I was late to a writing lab meeting.

I'm also looking for a small recliner for my room, I have the space for it beside my desk and it would let me move around the room some. Currently I spend many, many hours sitting in my (rolly!) chair in front of my laptop, a change of scene would be nice. Even if it means staring at a poster of John Belushi in a "College" sweater. Justin and I also learned the price of our privacy, it's $40 each. For that price, $20 a semester, our dorm room is the demonstration room for prospective transfer students looking at "Triangle" where we live. We haven't decided yet if my stolen streetsign constitutes something illegal (the admissions department told us they didn't want to see "anything like a keg or bong") if it comes down than my side of the room will be really bare.

Also congratulations for making a splash Hutchinson!