Rivers Ripple

Trip to Botanica June 2

Emily's baptism May 8th

Visiting GGma and GGpa June 17--Em loves GGpa's voice.

Summer is in full swing! Between Aunt Carol's pool, the backyard kiddie pool, and the Y pool we have been keeping cool!

Dan is in transition to his new job at Gray Communications. He's doing web and app development for them. They own KWCH. Dan is helping transition things at KWCH.  He'll eventually work primarily from home, but for now continues to go in most days.  His work schedule changed last week to 7am-4pm so he's been home earlier, which has been nice.

Sarah had the equivalent of a mini vacation this past week since the girls were at VBS. I had a small list of things to do, Emily got one on one time too.  Sarah is back to work two Saturday's a month.  It's been a good transition back and Dan has been more than capable--getting all three girls to a 9am soccer game the first Saturday on his own.  In between caring for the girls, doing housework, and the day to day, I try to make it to the Y twice a week.

Together Dan and I have been tossing house updating ideas around...so we'll see what project wins for this year. 

Olivia is 5 1/2.  Most days she is enjoyable and a bit stubborn/testing some limits.  I think this is a 5 1/2 thing, but it's hard to say!  Olivia has spent her summer days with her imagination in full swing--most days in various parts of the house there is evidence of whatever her most recent idea has been.  This can be anything from treasure hunting to house to doctor office to hair salon.  Olivia has been doing Little Lambs Preschool Summer Camp two days a week and seems to really enjoy it.  She finished preschool in May and had a good year--lots of friends.  We have toured her school for next year so she's ready for Kindergarten.  The past few months Olivia took swimming lessons at the Y and also continued in gymnastics.  She also played soccer this spring, which she also really enjoyed. 

Kinley June 17

Kinley is 3 1/2.  She just celebrated her half birthday and enjoyed that special day.  Most days Kinley plays hard--Lalaloopsies, ponies, and LEGOS or whatever Olivia has dreamed up.  She has emotional times and struggles with how her clothing feels many days.  Kinley tried out soccer this spring.  She also took swim lessons, which she was very excited about. 

Emily sharing some smiles. :)

Emily is 4 months.  She is easy going and is the perfect edition to our family.  The older girls love her and Olivia especially likes to tote her around and include her.  Emily has been doing well developmentally.  She's holding her own--propping on her elbows when on her tummy, holding onto toys, reaching out to get some toys/blankets/hands, and making cooing and gooing sounds.  At times she is stingy with her smiles, but she has a good one!  She has therapy 2x a month.  Most recently we're trying some kinesiotaping to facilitate some abdominal muscle use.  Emily is up to 11.7 lbs and 23 inches.  One the growth chart for Down Syndrome that is right at the 50% range.  She's holding her own at the 5% range on a regular chart.

Family Pictures May 15

Mr. Brisco is doing well on his new allergy medication.  He's been a bit more spry and active since starting it.  He also still likes to do naughty things--eat small toy pieces, take toliet paper off the roll, and tear up paper.  He's also been a hungry hippo lately, we increased his food to see if that will help. 
We've settled into somewhat of a routine and are enjoying summer and each other. 

I'm trying to blog when I get a free moment, so feel free to check in there too--theriverscurrent.blogspot.com 

Summer Starts for the Tollesons

Things are going well in Austin. James traveled to Coronado Island in San Diego, California for his annual Collegiate Information and Visitor Services Association (CIVSA) conference. The timing was perfectly aligned with the end of my school year, so I flew out to join him the day after his conference ended and we spent a few days exploring San Diego together. A few highlights included the sea food, beer, beautiful beaches, sea lions, pandas at the San Diego Zoo, gorgeous bougainvilleas, and the USS Midway Museum. We both agree that we have to return soon to catch all of the things we missed on our first visit. 

Beautiful San Diego, California! The view from Point Loma Seafoods (thank you Uncle Randy for the suggestion).

Sea lions at La Jolla Cove in San Diego.

Panda at the San Diego Zoo

Another pic from the San Diego Zoo. They paired their cheetah with a dog and they have become best friends!

The bougainvillea were spectacular!

The beers we brought home with us from San Diego (Modern Times, Lost Abbey, and AleSmith Breweries).

James just recently finished reading Wild by Cheryl Strayed (one that mom passed on and I plan to read next). I'm almost done with Xeonocide by Orson Scott Card, the third book in the Ender Quartet. Yay for summer and more time to read! Of course summer would not be official without a puzzle. I love completing a puzzle every once and a while (usually one in the summer and one around Christmas). Other summer projects have included bread making inspired by the Netflix short series, Cooked - four intriguing episodes about food, definitely worth watching. Also, we went through the many t-shirts in our closet and I've started a project using the shirts we are no longer wearing. We'll see how my braided t-shirt basket turns out. Rimsky and Duncan have been there to help us pack, play with the t-shirts, and regulate the amount of Netflix we watch :). 

Summer 2016 puzzle!

Yummy homemade bread!

The first step in making a braided t-shirt basket; a pile of 3-inch wide strips of t-shirts and some extra jersey material to reinforce the braids. Check it out at: http://bloggingcornerblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/diy-braided-basket.html

Rimsky says: "No more Netflix for you!"

Duncan taking care of his two favorite toys: owl with a bell and squirrel with catnip (from Chris and Theresa)

 Happy summer to all! Lots of love,

James and Hannah

Summer 2016

Hello to all!

Not too much in the way of news for us over the last couple months.  The big events since our last post was our trip to Europe, which I already put together a write up for over at my own blog (waking it from a long slumber):

European Photo Essay

Since I spared no details on that post, I'll be brief here.  Our basement project continues to go slowly forward.  We have hired some help to finish it up at this point, or we may have never quite made it.  They are tiling in the bathroom this week and drywall should be up soon too.  That will really make it go from feeling like a construction zone to a series of rooms waiting to be finished.

As for work, Katie is finishing up with her conference and client presentation season.  It was a success as they reacquired a big account they have been courting for a while.  She just spent a couple days downtown doing their report to re-insurance buyers (which meant I got to join for a fancy meal at the Shedd Aquarium!) She has also been moving through her Associates in Reinsurance designation exams, which will give her some additional letters to add to her title and the commiserate pay increase.

I have been continuing my work at Peapod.  We've been in our low demand season for a couple months at this point.  We have short spikes for the various summer holidays but otherwise it's a much slower pace.

Other than that, we're looking forward to a family visit next week, and then we'll all continue on to Minnesota for Grandma Shook's memorial service.  It will certainly be a different place without her daily presence but it will be great to gather together in her memory.

I hope all is well with everyone across the country!  We're looking forward to getting together at Christmas time again!

View from the Shedd Aquarium during dinner at the conference

Post 432

According to blogger, this is the 432nd post on our family blog...that's impressive, especially considering how often we forget to post.

Theresa and I have officially left the Cosmosphere. Technically I was fired, and she quit, over an issue that has gone back as far as last fall or even summer regarding dysfunction and inappropriate "management" in the Cosmosphere. I tried to do something about it which was not the corporate thing to do and I paid the price. We're much healthier away from the place though.

In lieu of the Cosmosphere, we're trying to take our museum skills on the road. We're visiting museums and talking to them about creating educational programs. No bites yet, however, that's to be expected. We're selling one of our cars as capital, to keep us fed in the meantime. Once the money runs out, we'll compromise and look for steadier employment.

Since we work from home and with each other, we don't have the usual stories to tell of funny goings on, so instead here are some pictures from our museum visits:

Museum of World Treasures

Atchison Railway Museum

Glore Psychiatric Museum

National WWI Museum (the only picture we took, actually)
We also visited the National Toys and Miniatures Museum and the National Airline History Museum that day

Georgetown Energy Museum

Forney Museum of Transportation

Denver Firefighter's Museum (the wooden object on the lower left is a wood water main)

Colorado Railroad Museum