12-10-10 Practice

Boys milked early like usual, then Jesse dropped Levi off at Precision and joined us at the dentist in Morton. We had gone to the library (102 books in case you care) and gotten to Dr. Flanigan’s in time for our 8 appointments (I took Levi’s appointment due to a change in his work schedule). All had good teeth which is always good, but Jacob has a previous filling that has a crack in it and must be re-done. Not sure I understand all that, but anyway we’ll be going back in January to get that fixed. Also one of Kate’s front teeth came in with a discoloration on it and she’s old enough now to get it fixed so we’ll do that at the same appointment in January. Anyway, no cavities although lots of plaque so I need to do more supervising on some of the littler ones’ brushing. Picked up our traditional Torpedos from La Gondola and headed home for lunch and beautiful beautiful time outside. I’ve been hearing we have more bad weather coming soon, so am SO THANKFUL for today where the kids could just be outside all afternoon. LOVE that fresh air for them – and they love being out there. I walked with Karol  - kind of amazing that the north half of our road was too icy to walk yesterday but today we safely walked the whole thing. And then I took a bit of time to practice with my new camera. I haven’t yet figured it all out (will I ever?) but so far I am very pleased with my choice. And I am amazed at how I look at subjects/scenes differently since Aunt Jill’s willing and impromptu lessons, hints, and tips (thank you very much!); that plus a book I’ve read is giving me some results that I really really like…and even without a DSLR (maybe someday, maybe not…).
Pre-Aunt Jill’s influence -

Post-Aunt Jill’s influence -

Isn’t that great??!!!! And so fun!!
Here’s another Pre -

This one I cropped to get the Post -

…and I must say that my new 12 mega-pixel camera makes such a crop amazingly possible…my old camera would have fuzzed out with such a task.
Another Pre – quite good, I like it -

Post (cropped) – much better, I LOVE it!

Anyway, Aunt Jill had the most amazing simple advice concerning photography, and she is so right: Practice, practice, practice. That has truly been the best advice and so fun too – since I’m not ready for a DSLR yet (ever?), I love playing with new techniques and practicing on my wonderful subjects, although I haven’t done it much because my old camera just didn’t do very well anymore. Okay, I’m rambling again, although it’s been a long time since I’ve taken time to practice (probably shouldn’t have today but it was too nice out!) and post about it. Here are some more of the beautiful day--




Okay, we really need more snow for this sport -

Jacob’s super-blast balloon (or something like that) -



(nice candy cane in Kate’s mouth)

Did I mention it was a BEAUTIFUL day? View looking east -

Looking west -

ASK came out after chores and stayed for the evening while Levi, Jesse, Dad & I went to the Precision Planting/River Valley Dairy Christmas Party. Supper was wonderful, the Sauders’ violin music was beautiful, the talent show was hilarious, the games were so fun to watch, shopping was great, and fellowship was even better. Our many thanks go to the Sauders for giving us such a fantastic evening! Not only is Precision a great company for which to work but they also know how to throw a party. So fun. I took a lot of pictures to show the kids back home, but with the dim lighting it was hard to get good ones consistently, even with a new camera. Most of them were good enough to show the kids, but fuzzy and I wouldn’t want to post them; I did get a few good ones which I’ll post. We came home to find several kids up yet so showed them the pictures and enjoyed the evening all over again telling them about it. Then Aunt Sarah headed home, and we headed to beds, tired, happy, and thankful.
Dad & I, ready to go. Levi & Jesse milked so took their clothes etc. and showered and got ready there.

Fill a bag!

Shopping for the ladies.

l-r Brent Dill, Brandon Rose, Levi, Jesse, Trent Koch.

Dad, Bruce & Becky Sauder, Linda & Ken Sauder, Phil & Linda Baurer. Becky told us that Cindy made the centerpieces---they were gorgeous.

This dessert table was the hoers’ devours earlier. So pretty.

Beautiful and delicious.

Games were so fun to watch. Each of 12 teams had 10 members. Each member had to do one event.
1. First one to get the red cup to the bottom wins.


2. They’re trying to get the cookie from their forehead to their mouth. No hands allowed.

3. Contestants had to drink two pop cans enough so they balanced like this:

4. Who can empty the kleenex box first (one hand only)??!!


(where did all the spots come from?!)
5. Empty a roll of toilet paper by wrapping it around a team member (who is spinning in a circle) (picture didn’t turn out).
6. Throw a 2/3 full bottle of water so it lands on the table.
7. Stack three golf balls. This looked hard!
 

Nic was ready with a $10 bill for every member of the winning team of each event.

8.  With ten needles stuck into a styrofoam block, who can thread them all first?
9.  Sort 50 skittles in order into 5 clear cups (teammate called out the order – separation wasn’t random but had to be in the specific order). This one was called Separation Anxiety and is the only title I remember. All games had similar clever names.
10. With 10 nuts on a wooden rod, nuts had to be stacked, using only one hand. Dad did this but I didn’t get a picture of him doing it.

Fun folks, fun games, fun time, and -
That’s it.