Almost Fall

Here it is almost the end of August and getting very close to the beginning of Fall.  School started last week and it isn't long till the State Fair.

Despite the heat we had some beautiful flowers this summer.

  Pam and I tried our gardening skills again but it was a battle between us and the rabbits.  There were 3 that really liked the garden.  We tried  putting screen around it  but they just crawled under and quite enjoyed themselves.  Finally put up some fencing which did the trick.  We did enjoy what was left of the cucumbers, green peppers and zucchini.  Still have cantalope and eggplants that are growing.

Two weeks ago the Kinast Reunion was held at the Dillon Nature Center.  There was a good crowd this year and lots of good food. Here are the siblings and all of our family that attended.

This week-end was the reception for Chris and Theresa at the pasture.  The weather was beautiful, nice and cool and the lights and flowers made for a festive evening.

Baby Brain

Hi Family!

Sorry for the delay! Just a quick post from us for now as you'll be hearing from us and seeing many pictures once this little one arrives.

Mary has had some serious baby brain so if it's not directly on my to-do list, it's probably not getting done. All my blood circulation is going down to this baby that's growing in me! I love it, though. This week marks my last week at Jersey Boys. On Sunday, I will bid them fair well for a bit and go on maternity leave. There is lots of flexibility in my timing for all of this so I won't have to decide when I want to go back until well after the baby comes.

Kurtis is working hard at Hudson Scenic and filling in at Jersey Boys whenever they call him to swing. Both jobs are very fulfilling and, if I'm not mistaken, he has or is very very close to making his money for the second year in a row toward union membership. He will have one more year in order to complete this and we're excited to have that milestone accomplished as there is no better union in the entire city for theatrical work. He's excited to be a dad, too and often chats with our little one.

The baby is growing bigger now! We are at 37 weeks out of 40 tomorrow and everything is looking healthy. All movements feel great and it's especially fun when the hiccups hit. The only thing that we are working on is getting this wee one to turn around. Currently the baby is in a breech position, which the doctor and midwife do not like at this point in the pregnancy. So, we're trying mostly natural techniques to turn and if that doesn't work, then we'll have to do an ECV on Tuesday which is a rather invasive way of turning the baby from the outside. Prayers that the baby cooperates before then, please, and we get a full turn to heads down! If all of this goes smoothly, we'll be upstate for a home birth with our midwife and friend, Whitney, who is extremely competent and well connected to the hospital up there should we need it.

Hope you all enjoyed your summer time! More from us soon-ish!
Love,
Mary, Kurtis and the baby

Givan Update by Numbers            

Hello all:

Well, the summer is almost over and for me that means another camp season in the books.  Praise the Lord!  Here’s a summary with some numbers.

 3,259 number of stays for camp that had to be arranged

 365 camp meal times that had to be scheduled

51 days until a trip to Chicago with Kate for the National Eating Disorder Conference.  (Her trip to Disney didn’t work out so we are doing this instead).  Andrew and Katie will contact you when it gets closer.

31 days until the State Fair begins and my vacation.  Let me know if anyone wants to go with.

20 (about) number of new plants Tim put out this year.  They are very pretty and have been fun to watch.  Several will get moved inside this Fall.

15 number of job applications I have filled out.  It’s time for a change but right now it isn’t looking to possible

13 days until Chris and Theresa’s reception at the pasture.  We look forward to seeing you if you can attend.

6 number of girls at the zoo.  On our bucket list was a trip to see the elephant exhibit at the Sedgwick County Zoo.  Thank you Rivers’ girls for being our guides.  If you want to go to the zoo and have the animals look at you you should attend with Kate and Gus.  One giraffe left his feeding station (zoo patrons were feeding him) to come and see Gus.

The Meerkats were especially interested in Gus

4 for the number of actual job interviews.  Sympathies to all who are doing the job hunt or may need to in the near future.  It does nothing for self-esteem.

3 = a trio.  Tim and his “girls”.  Liza recently had to wear a cone and man can she flip her head and get it off quickly.

2 number of times I have worn a dress in the last 4 years.  This is Sam (co worker and friend) and I at a fund raising event at the Cosmosphere.  We were there working not donating!

1 number of new family members added to the Givan group and she doesn't have 4 legs.  Theresa and Chris will be married on the beach in Santa Barbara on August 8. 

Theresa with her parasole

Off to Santa Barbara

Take care everyone and enjoy the rest of the summer.

Summer with the young Johnston family

It is hard to believe Summer is coming to an end! I feel like we just celebrated Adelynn's preschool graduation and in two weeks she is off to Kindergarten! I've heard that sending your kids off to Kindergarten and college are the two hardest transitions for parents. She tried on her school uniform the other day and even that was hard! If you haven't heard, Adelynn will be going half days to Central Christian. On the first day at drop off, they invite all of the parents in to pray with the class. That is something we are thankful for.

Mother's Day 2016

In May, our office in our basement flooded. 

We ripped out the carpet and hauled it away!

Then we painted. I had to paint sitting down because Ava wanted to sit on my lap.

Adelynn helped paint too.

Here is Dave laying the floor...

We are done! The toys have flooded in and it's now a great play room!

 So our summer contained at least one project and a lot more adventures. We had a lot of time in swim suits and a lot of typical summer activities. 

Pizza picnic after playing in the water.

Popsicles with their friend Grace.

We need lots of rest in the summer too...

Even watching sisters play at the water park is exhausting.

This was Ava relaxing on the porch while waiting on me to grab a few things and come join her. I thought it was cute until I realized that she was wearing a dress without panties at that moment...!

Sometimes we have to work... and when we do, I am glad I get these two laundry folding helpers!

Some work I did this summer was to plan a sale for kids items only. It was the first sale of its kind in our area! We had a great turnout. Each mom got some cash in their pocket and two great organizations in Hutch benefited from it. I can't wait to do it again in the spring! 

Working to help my mom pin my dress for Stephanie's wedding.

Technology is both work and play for this guy! We had a church conference over the weekend and Dave wanted to sit with me, but had to run sound. That is when he put the soundboard on the iPad! True love. 

We all spend a lot of time playing...

This is how Cassi plays. This is my new decor for the farmhouse style dining room table Dave built for us! I tried to channel my inner Joanna Gaines with it. 

But thankfully you also have reasons to smile!

When your sisters are playing kitties and you mistake their meowing for crying... you have to shed some tears too.

Summer is also good for getting fancy once in a while.

Including for Oliver's dedication. He wore a tie for the big event.

And lots of traveling! This is our trip to Wichita at 7:45 PM. All three kids were knocked out and we were going to see a 9:00 PM Drive in movie with the Rivers family!

Traveling by horse...

Traveling over "Oliver Hill" (that's what Adelynn said!)

When I left to do laundry, Ollie was in the crib by himself. When I came back, his sisters had moved his seat into the crib, put him in it, one was feeding him, and the other was driving him away! 

The Chairplane the girls made. Ollie is also their passenger!

We will try not to travel too far away! See you all soon!