2023 January - March activities for Randy and Pam

 The first three months of 2023 have been filled with different family activities.  Below are some pictures of these activities. 

January brought helping in Emily's classroom and a quick visit from Mary, Kurtis, and Aurora. Plus time with Adelynn at the zoo with the tortoises. 

February, we had a great celebration for Emily's birthday.  I got to take her treats to the classroom plus a Spidey party for the relatives at our house.

Adelynn and I got to learn about the animals' diets at the zoo complete with pinkies.  It was fun to make them for the animals.

The end of February and first week in March brought babysitting in New York for Aurora while Mary and Kurtis were in tech.  

 

March found us celebrating Ava's birthday, complete with Pam making the cake Ava designed.

We celebrated Auntie's birthday at family dinner.  She chose pie for her cake.  

2023 has brought us lots of good family time and fun!!  

We look forward to more as the year goes on. 

 

2022-The Givan's Year of Heart and Hoof

2022 did not go exactly as planned, actually not as planned at all.  Here is a recap:

February:             Tim goes in for more heart stents.

March:                  End of the month Kate and Tim pick up CJ, Kate’s next service dog.  She is going to be great at the job and is a sweetie.

April:                     Auntie has a surprise heart attack.  Receives 2 stents and then 10 days later has two more stents.

May:                      Tim and Auntie both graduate from Cardiac Rehab.

June:                     Relatively uneventful.

July:                       Kate breaks her ankle (hoof) in many places.

August:                Kate has surgery on ankle.

September:        Tim has open heart surgery.  Auntie now providing all transportation.

October:              Theresa and Chris visit for a week to help out decrepit family.

November:         Chris starts job at the Smithsonian.  Tim has another heart cath after a “tiny heart attack”.

December:         All humans stay out of hospital but CJ has to have an emergency vet run for tummy issues. 

We were very glad to see the year end and hold out hope for a better 2023.

A January Johnston contribution!

 I forgot to post in November! (I take the Kinast blogging responsibility for myself as I, Cassi, thoroughly enjoy writing and Dave thoroughly does not.) 😉

In reflection, this was a year of growth and trying new things. Ava picked up an interest in cooking and has been very helpful in the kitchen when we have busy nights! This summer she began piano lessons and is already a natural. She played Spiderella in Spiderella the play, along with Ollie and Adelynn picking up roles as strong ants.

She was also the lead role in Dolly The Polkadotted Llama And The Mackindoo Zoo. Ollie was Speedy the Tortoise in that show and did an amazing job with his lines! I don't believe we have seen the last of him on stage. 

Both girls and I hosted one of the stops at the Spookwalk this October. 

Ava had a lot of fun in Moana Jr, even more fun in Elf the Musical, and is preparing for SpongeBob the Musical in a few weeks! Shameless plug: let me know if you would like tickets for the show Feb 16-19!

Ollie graduated Pre-K and entered Kindergarten! He is one of 12 boys and 4 girls in his class. Bless his teacher! (She's also 45 and pregnant). He's enjoying math and is starting to read. 

He had his first summer of participating in camps! He enjoyed Zoo camp, Love Hutch, Dillon Nature camp, swimming lessons, and a season of T-ball. 

Adelynn graduated 5th grade! CCS does a really cool transition into middle school in 6th grade. Although they are in middle school, they still have one homeroom teacher, but they have lockers and are responsible to walk themselves to their other classes - music, PE, library, lunch, etc. She plays her flute in the school band and is in her 11th year of dance! (Which is wild since she's only 12). The dance photo below is posted outside her dance studio! If you look, you can see her smiling face when you drive by! She joined Ava for a short Play in the Park this summer too. 

Our friend Alice lived with us for a few months before she got married in July 2021 and on June 13, 2022, her daughter Amaris was born! Outside of blood-relation, I have never seen Dave voluntarily reach for a baby - but we love Amaris and her parents! 

Our vacations this year were to KC and California! In California, we got to experience Universal and Disneyland. We don't currently have one planned, but are usually counting down the days to our next Disney vacation.

Overall our zoo is doing well. Sundae & Meatball are still slobbery and cuddly. Leroy and Moxie still silently rule the roost. Our red betta fish, Flash, got a new roommate. A blue snail named Seabiscuit. 

We lost our chickens to some terrible raccoons in September. We hope to get more in a couple months - with a plan in place to protect them from nasty raccoons who dig under fences. We will hopefully have eggs for sale when school starts. 

The biggest addition to our herd is the guinea pigs! The one pictured in Dave's right hand is Dawn, who belongs to Adelynn. The one in his left hand is Reese, who belongs to Ava. The girls are responsible to budget for and care for their guinea pigs from their allowance. They even wash their reusable bedding twice a week.

I keep pretty busy with being in leadership for Hutch Moms, hosing my Turquoise Table in the summer, volunteering at school and participating in Lasagna Love. I've taken approximately one lasagna per month to families who need a little bit of help over the last year. My friend Jamie and I recently cooked and assembled 12 lasagnas, but they won't last me half a year because, since I have them available, I keep signing up to deliver more! 

A few weeks ago we lost my Grandpa. My Dad's dad, Charles, passed away when he was 17. My Grandma married Frank, and he passed away when I was young. She married my Grandpa Marlen 30 years ago, when I was 5. Although he had 22 biological grandkids, he always claimed us as his own. The kids knew him the same as his bio grandkids - as "Pampa". Thank you all for your love and support as we said 'goodbye'. 

We hope 2023 is a year of more growth and trying exciting new things for you all as well!

Kinast Christmas - BINGO - December 30, 2022

 We enjoyed a fun time with BINGO and eating sandwiches as we played.  It was a good time together.  We had Chris and Theresa join us through zoom as well. 

Here are a few pictures of our time together.