Fun Bird Photos!

 My office window looks out on a large juniper tree and on Friday/Saturday a whole flock of Cedar Waxwings appeared to pick it clean of its berries. These little guys are some of my favorites! They've got dusty yellow bellies, brilliant yellow tips on their tail, and flashes of red on their wings. They even have a crest a bit like a cardinal's. About 90% of waxwings' diet is fruit, and sometimes they accidentally eat overripe fruit and get drunk; if they're eating berries and only one bird can reach them, they'll actually sit in a line and pass the fruit down to make sure everyone gets some.

(the quality of the photos is thanks to my job: the professional-grade Canon lives in my office 😀)

Rivers Ripple (ok, rock throw) from 2021 as we enter 2022

It's been a full 2021. We started with much anticipation in 2021 for a new year and...sadly lost much of that in January 2021. We lost Appa, Dan tested positive for COVID, as did Olivia and Kinley. Somehow we made it 21 days in quarantine without Sarah and Emily testing positive. (I'm happy to report this year has started much better.) Just before the COVID quarantine of 2021, Nora Jane joined our family. She has proved to be a spunky puppy with plenty of energy and quite the bark. 

In other Rivers pet news from 2021, Olivia's two gerbils, Ginger and Snowflake, passed away in the fall. We adopted Delta, a guinea pig, from cousin Kyle in Dec. and she is fitting right in. Bob, Grandma's fish, is still swimming strong.

Dan transitioned back to in person work for some days of the week in June 2021. He has enjoyed the opportunity to chat with people and get out of his basement office. He was working from home since Feb 2016, long before March 2020. He has continued to do some leisure running and played a LOT of band gigs this summer. Everyone was ready for some normalcy. 

Sarah finished up remote school with Olivia and Kinley in May and Emily in March 2021. Whew! Thanks especially to Grammy for her extra help on Wednesdays. We would not have made it without her. The return of the girls to in person school in the fall of 2021 has been a big adjustment. Sarah did add half a day at TheraPlay Spot when just the right kiddo came along for a spot on that day. So on Mondays and Wednesdays she works. And that is plenty for now. She has not tackled as many home projects (mostly organization and cleaning) as she had hoped, but there are more days and weeks ahead for those types of projects. Managing doctor appointments, snags in education for Emily, the day to day house things, mount laundry, etc etc. keeps her plenty busy. She did participate in the school board election campaigning some this fall, after declining running for a position. Sarah has continued to do some outreach for the Down Syndrome Society of Wichita and is helping with PTOs at the girls' schools. Sunday mornings find our family attending Sunday school, where Sarah often helps with managing bodies. A visit to Hannah in Texas to meet Spencer was fun this summer and a girls trip to Kansas City with Susan Reazin for our 40th birthday were highlights.

Olivia finished 4th grade remote and transitioned to Maize Intermediate School as a 5th grader in fall of 2021. She has loved it. They have house "nests" (think Harry Potter, but nests since they are Eagles) and rotate between 4 classes. She tried flute, didn't love it and switched to clarinet which she loves. She also tried out for swim team in October 2021 and made the team. And loves swimming too. She got to spend her birthday at DisneyWorld seeing her other favorite--StarWars. She also continues to take piano lessons.

Kinley finished 2nd grade remote and transitioned back to in person school. She has days where it is not her favorite activity, but her teacher reports that she does fine. Kinley will talk your ear off and has a fun sense of humor, which her teacher has also appreciated. Kinley asked to return to dance and did so in Fall 2021. She did her Christmas recital and did well for a quick prep time. Kinley takes piano lessons. Slothy, Kinley's sloth, continues to be an important fixture in our family. 

Emily did part of preschool remote in 2021 and returned for the 4th quarter in March 2021 to preschool. She did very well with the transition back. Summer school was not good, but we learned. Emily did private PT and speech therapy in 2021 and in fall of 2021 with the start of Kindergarten, reduced to just speech. Emily loves school and has the same Kindergarten teacher Olivia and Kinley did. She has a fantastic para and a great team. It was a tough transition to KG, but everyone was patient and I just laughed because what else can you do when one of the biggest problems is Emily knowing which is the girls bathroom? Most school days are smooth, although sometimes she has days where she does her own thing. Emily's favorites are music (especially Frozen, Moana, Encanto, etc), Disney TOTS, and Grammy. She has a favorite Barbie which Nora ate the hand off of. 

We had the opportunity to travel several places in 2021...which was so good for us! 

In June 2021 we went to South Dakota with Dan's family on a camping trip to see the Badlands, Mt Rushmore, Rapid City sites, and Devil's Tower. It was a lot of fun to see all of the national parks and we survived tent camping (Dan's parents have an RV). Dan does not recommend tent camping. Everyone else seemed to enjoy it. 

In August 2021 we went to Kansas City for a few days since we could not go to Minnesota due to the fires. We even joined Dave's family for a day at Worlds of Fun since our trips overlapped. Olivia and Dan rode lots of roller coasters. Sarah enjoyed watching and hanging out with the less adventurous crew. 

In November 2021 we replaced our Disney Cruise with a trip to Disney World with Dave's family and had such a fun trip. We made many good memories. 

We wrapped up 2021 with good Christmas celebrations and rang in the New Year together (Dan did not have a gig). And here we are on day 15--back to school, try to avoid all of the COVID germs, and just enjoying each day. 

Photos below(blogger makes photos tricky, so these are just a few from the past year): Emily and Nora Jane-Jan 2021, Olivia and Kinley-March 2021 at the Easter program for church, Halloween 2021-Harry Potter Death Eater, Disney with Johnstons-Nov 2021, Christmas 2021, Delta the Guinea Pig-Dec 2021, the girls at the Badlands (so hot!)-June 2021

    

 Charles and Nate: 2021

A Year in Review

We will call 2021 the year of dodging COVID-19.

In February, we enjoyed a trip to Orlando to Walt Disney World to celebrate my friend Michelle's 50th birthday.  We also took time to visit the beach where we got married.

 

 

 

February also saw Nate get a promotion at work to Card Analyst which was then followed by another promotion to May to Senior Card Analyst.

We spent a great deal of time at home, enjoying working around the house, watching our fair share of Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, YouTube TV and Disney+.  Of course Hampton had to enjoy the cuddle time with us as well.

Summer brought Municipal Band responsibilities which took up a significant chunk of our time.  We celebrated the end of summer with another trip to Disney World, this time with the Rutherfords. It was a wonderful time had by all.

We did take the time to briefly enjoy the fair, mainly because I'd missed riding on the Kansas State Fair Railroad.

We marked the Halloween and Christmas Holidays at 1022 East Sherman.  And that about does it for us.

Chicago Shooks' 2021 Year in Review

Unfortunately, we missed our window to post during the year, but wanted to share some photos and memories from the craziness that was 2021!  The year was another overshadowed by COVID and our family definitely experienced it in waves, from the start to the finish.

The early winter months were mostly filled with the pandemic routine of living and working in the same space.  The kids were able to return to daycare in the fall of 2020 so it wasn't quite as hectic as the early days, but we definitely got very familiar with our new house.  February brought a series of snowstorms that totaled close to 3 feet of snow.  Andrew was extremely grateful for the foresight of a snow blower purchase with the driveway that runs the length of the property.  

By the end of the month, the snow in the yard was up to Theo's shoulders in spots!

As the temps warmed, Andrew tackled a patio project built from extra stones from in the yard.  

In May, we had a scary episode with Natalie suffering a febrile seizure leading to an evening in the hospital ER.  In a way, while you never want things like this to happen, it was perfect timing as we had both sets of grandparents at the house when it happened and that allowed us to respond with an immediacy we could not have had on our own.

As Spring turned to Summer, we spent more and more time outside together as a family.

With outdoor birthday parties.

Outdoor activities like baseball.

And golf.  Andrew even had a hole-in-one when playing with father-in-law Brian!

In August, we had a block party that brought the Evanston Fire Department for a visit.  Most of the kids wanted to play in the water from the fire hose, but Theo had other priorities.

Starting around Labor Day, we started traveling and found ourselves making up for lost trips quickly!  We started in Austin, visiting Hannah, James, and baby Spencer!

Two weeks later, we switched mini trains and visited Mom/Vicki, Dad/Tim, and Samuel in Kansas with a stop at the State Fair and a Family Dinner.  We also made our first visit to Grandpa since his passing.

We visited the lake in Minnesota during the summer time as a family and then Andrew and Tim returned in September to try and start the process of building a new cabin on the property.

Then in October, we took our biggest trip yet, to California to visit a friend in SoCal and spend a few days at Disneyland.  We started out in San Clemente, which is at the southern extent of the Los Angeles metro area before it transitions to communities more oriented to San Diego.

It was an extremely laid back couple of days focused on rest and beach time...

Because we knew we'd need the energy for the following days at Disneyland!  Charles did an excellent job of helping us plan a truly magical trip, with a stay at the Disneyland Hotel on site and passes to both Disneyland itself and California Adventure next door.

Theo has been a Cars fan for a while, and he thoroughly enjoyed Radiator Springs. 

He even steeled himself to go on Rise of the Resistance and found a passion for lightsabers.

The monorail reopened on our last day in the park so we continued our train theme (not that the Disneyland Railroad didn't count).

Even had an extra night with our friend Mike in the hotel room.

Fall was a return to the old patterns around the house with a brief interlude to Cincinnati for Thanksgiving.  Unfortunately, Natalie contracted COVID in mid-December and shared it with Theo shortly thereafter.  They both had cold symptoms for a few days before largely returning to normal just in time for Christmas.  Out of an abundance of caution, we stuck with the longer quarantine rules and spent the holiday by ourselves as a family (for the second year in a row).   

Unfortunately, 2022 started off much the same way 2021 ended with Katie and Andrew contracting COVID just this week after somehow not catching it from the kids last month.  Like them, we're experiencing mild symptoms and are optimistic about our recovery but are feeling a little exasperated from the seemingly endless pandemic struggles! 

We wish you all a happy and HEALTHY 2022 and are looking forward to seeing some of you when we visit Kansas around Presidents Day!  Love from Chicago!