Important!

Savannah has a very important interview this morning. 


Please pray.


Thanks

Update: She thinks she did well.  In a few weeks, we will know whether she gets the desired result.

Monday Funny

Savannah: Wyatt, what's up with your arms?

Wyatt: What arms?


(um, the ones attached to your shoulders)

More Camera Fun

Intellectual Goal 2016

A huge learning curve stretches before me, but I've enjoyed some fun.

Playing with a macro lens at a Best Buy photography class.... I love that lens!!

Playing with various settings on the camera.  It has all kinds of fun filters where the camera does all the work.  I want to be doing all the work, but this is fun for now.

One of the reasons for upgrading ---Action!!!

Julia is frustrated that I have yet to get video of her tumbling with the camera, but I am working on it.  She only has two games left -maybe one...Yikes!  It's gone so fast!

This is Julia coming out of a back handspring.  The action photos were blurry as there was too much going on around her.

I can attend additional Best Buy classes as they are offered through the end of the month.  I will likely do that or catch them again on another round.  They were great and so willing to help anytime I have questions.  I do want a more intense class, but that may not make the budget this year :(

In good news this week,  Savannah learned that the hope of a scholarship at her first choice school is not quite dead.  She has a scholarship offer of $21,000 per year from another school, but their full price is $47,000+ per year, so yeah, probably not going for that.

Kallie fix!

That hair!!  I suspected it, and the nurse confirmed it that boys usually get the long hair and eyelashes - I guess that's because girls know how to compensate for deficits in those areas?

Sweetness!

We have decided that she looks like a combination of my brothers.  One thing we do know -- she looks nothing like her sister.

We also learned that if the nurse strips her down and takes her vitals, she gets really mad, and she actually opens her eyes and keeps them open.  At two days old, she first did that tonight.  

Hello Kallie!

Brand Sparkling New

Kinsley became a big sister today.  I think she might have been less than thrilled.  However, the rest of us happily welcomed Kallie Rose. She arrived at 11:04a.m. weighing 9lbs. and 6oz at 20.5 inches long.

We are so thankful that Kallie arrived safely as the cord was wrapped around her neck twice.

Savannah and I met her tonight. Kallie slept soundly for our entire visit.  She did not even do that small eye open that babies do, so we did not even get a peek at her eyes.  We plan to return on Wednesday when she is cleaned up more and hopefully more alert.  I learned tonight that they now wait 12 hours to bathe newborns because there was a theory that newborns would be able to regulate their temperatures better if they were not bathed so soon.  Practice seems to be proving that theory, and Kallie arrived on a very cold day.  In fact, she was in fleece pajamas when we arrived because John and Tessa said she had been shaking and seemed cold.

Congrats to John, Tessa, and big sis, Kinsley!

Meeting Grandma

The oldest and youngest girl cousins on my side of the family met today.

My initial thought is that she looks like my grandma Jewell.  I don't think she looks much like Kinsley, but in a few weeks she will look totally different, and I suspect she will end up looking a lot like her momma.

Can you even believe that hair!? Wow...just wow!  Logan and Isaac had comparable hair, so that might come from my side of the family.

Kallie arrived almost to the hour one day before the fifth anniversary of my mom's home going. I think Mom knows all about her, and celebrating Kallie will be a nice way to take the sting out of that hard day.

New life is so precious and affirming.

Winter Dance 2016

Old Hollywood theme- a different experience for us

Our preparation for winter ball changed a bit this year.  We did not buy a dress on clearance during the summer.  For the first time ever, we splurged on a dance dress that was not on sale. For the first time ever, Savannah actually planned to shop for her dress with friends. That was not to be.  She wound up sick on the day they shopped.  One week later after staying the night at a friend's house, Savannah walked in the door and asked if I was still up to dress shopping.  You must know this happened on the Saturday before Christmas. She wanted to visit the mall to look for a dress she found online.  THE MALL on the the Saturday. before. Christmas at peak shopping time no less. Who in their right mind would do that?  Well, I decided to be adventurous and off we went.  

We did not see the dress she found online.  She tried on four dresses (liked them all), and when she tried on the last one and practically whispered "I love it" when she looked in the mirror, I knew.  The dress brought a whole different look for her, not at all like any of her previous dresses.  Buying this dress meant that the shoes we purchased thinking she would never need another formal pair of shoes would not work.  The jewelry she wore for every formal dance prior would not work, but this is senior year, and Savannah never asks for much, so we splurged, and I have never had such fun getting her ready for a dance.  I'm not sure I've ever seen her so beautiful.

Savannah's date is the son of a friend of ours, so it was different going into this knowing the other parents already.  He's a great guy and asked her in a sweet yet subtle way - simply offering a bouquet in the school's parking lot.  Savannah does not like a lot of attention, so this worked for her.  

We had her hair done today and met the group of 27 kids for pictures and then sent them off hoping they would make their dinner reservation on time.  This dance is a big deal for the seniors.  It's a fund raiser for their senior trip and also the place where senior superlatives are announced. She's not home yet, but I imagine she had a fantastic time!

I upgraded my camera and am so happy with my choice to do this so far.  My heart was palpitating when I went to make the purchase.  I've wanted it for a long time, but even with a terrific deal, it's hard to pull that trigger.

I love this picture of R and Savvy taking a selfie.

Three of these girls including Savannah were part of an AHG group I once led.  They grew up to attend the same high school and run around in the same great group of friends.

These three have been friends since elementary school.  If you knew them you would know that the one on the right is the instigator. She comes up with the mischievous ideas. You would think the one in the middle would follow along, and Savannah would be the voice of reason.  You would be wrong.  It's the opposite.  Speaking of such, Savannah drank hot pepper juice at work this week. One of her co-workers said he'd always wanted to try it and asked Savannah if she would join him in trying the juice. She agreed.  When she told me this story, my response went like this:  "You are not the kid who will jump off the cliff because your friends are doing it, and you are unwilling to stand up to them.  You are the one who shrugs and says, 'sounds like fun'."

Her response, "you are right."

Dr. W went up to the landing to get a picture of the whole group.  I hope he shares. He got much better pictures than I did.

Dr. W posed this one.  Andy saw it and sent me to shoot it.  I am so glad I did as it is possibly the best picture of the night.

In honor of the dance theme, I think a little black and white is in order.

Savannah has looked forward to this for weeks.  I'm a bit sad that it's over :(

This was my first time using my new camera.  I upgraded from a Nikon d40 to a Nikon d3300.  I read lots and lots before taking the plunge.  I was torn between the d3200 and d3300.  I was just not sure I could justify the difference in price, but both cameras are now being sold at incredible deals (I am pretty sure that means a new release is on the way). My decision both to buy at this time and to buy the 3300 was influenced by several things.

1. During my photography tour in NYC (more on that here: NYC Night Photography tour) a few years back, the photography guide spent a great deal of time telling Andy to upgrade my camera. If I remember correctly, he was using a d3200.  I was very limited by the settings in my camera for the photos we were trying to capture. I knew at the time that there was no way that would happen soon but started trying to prepare financially for it.

2.  The mexapixels on this camera are way higher allowing for greater clarity in the photos.  I read arguments on both sides of making this a factor in choosing a camera.  Some argued that the d40 is solid and does fine in the hands of a decent photographer.  Well, I am not decent, and I do like the sharper images I am getting with my new camera.  This was in my mind when deciding whether to get a new camera at all.

3. I have a greater ISO range.  I was struggling with this a bit.  I really use auto mode way more than manual on my camera, but I really want to use manual more.  Could I justify this purchase?

4. I really liked the idea of having video capability built right into my camera. I stopped carrying a video camera years ago and have some so so videos of Julia tumbling.  This will be particularly nice since she plans to join the dive team this summer.

5.  When deciding between the d3200 and d3300, Andy was sold on the faster shooting for sports photos.  The d3300 can shoot 5 pictures per second while the d3200 is limited to four.  He felt like we would benefit from this especially for Julia's sports.

6. I never invested in a telephoto lens, so I've always been limited by my lens.  This set up came with a 55-200mm lens.  I have yet to try it, but this will make shooting the kids while they are participating in activities so much easier.

7. My new camera has a built in guide to help me use the settings more.  It can set my f-stop based not only on the conditions under which I am shooting but also for the type of photo I am trying to get, and it explains why that choice.  For example, I set my camera on guide to get shots of Savannah last night.  I then chose portrait, so my camera would know to soften the background to focus on her.   I did not use this feature much last night since our time was very limited, but I really like having it.

8. It's hard to believe it, but I bought my d40 eight years ago when we were waiting for Wyatt.  Eight years and thousands of photos later, it's still going strong, and I spent exactly the same amount on my new camera with so many more features.  I expect to get at least 8 years out of this, and if you start dividing that price by years, it's minimal for recording memories - certainly better than buying and processing film.

In the end Savannah reminded me again and again that I have wanted this for years.  Why not now?  She said it's what you love.  A free class is starting soon at a local store, and I will start there.  We were encouraged in church this year to set four goals for the new year: spiritual, relational, intellectual, and physical.  This is my intellectual goal.

My final thoughts: it is always hard for me to make a big purchase and then pull it out of the box and use it - especially if it is not a necessary purchase, but I am pleased with the pictures I got last night.  I took my d40 along so that if the learning curb was too much I could rely on old faithful, but I did not use it much and am less impressed with the pictures I got with it.  Bottom line, mexapixels do make a difference to a novice photographer.

Remember pictures can be seen bigger by simply clicking on them.

Ringing in the New

Our 2015 ended like this:

I babysat Regan, Ira, and Isaac on Wednesday.  Isaac is a busy boy with fantastic eyelashes!

Wyatt spent the last few days of 2015 and the first day of 2016 on a beautiful farm with a friend.  I received this picture of him fishing via text.

The tree is dying.  I finally got some quiet time in front of it.  I even lit the mantle candles for effect, and it was pleasant.  I will do it again today.

I spent the afternoon with my high school friend.  We enjoyed a lunch out and then baked cookies together before I returned home to get Julia off to her sleepover.  Hopefully, Kim and I will get more time together in the New Year.

Beautiful young ladies - inside and out. B also has fabulous eyelashes - possibly the longest natural lashes I have ever seen, and it would be hard to top my mom and Savannah on that front.

For the first time ever, Andy and I were childless on NYE.  Zach went out with friends.  Savannah partied with girlfriends and slept over.  Julia was at a sleepover with some cheer friends.  

Andy and I rented a movie and were about halfway through it when 2016 quietly entered.

Goals for 2016

The immediate goal is to paint Savannah's room.

My main goal is admittedly very shallow.  I hate the floors in my house.  We are not a family who should live on carpet (especially since I cannot vacuum during the day or on Saturdays), and our tired, worn carpeting throughout the house desperately needs to be replaced.  I know there is no way to do this for the whole house, so I am hoping to have the living room carpet replaced with hardwood (we actually have exposed nails in the living room and have had for a while).  I will just have the rest of the carpet professionally cleaned and hope eventually that I can replace the rest of the flooring.

It would be nice to replace our ripped and sunken couches too, but Andy is absolutely opposed to that until Zach moves out, so unless I can come up with some extra income to cover that myself, I will have to wait on couches for a few more years.

I started the day at Jazzercise.  The journey to 150 classes in a year starts with one.

I hope to spend more time getting to know my camera settings better.  In fact, I am working on registering for a free class but need some things to come together first.  I found a truly incredible deal on a long desired camera upgrade and am still deciding whether to go for it.  I know - another shallow goal.

As it will be a politically charged year, I believe I will spend far less time on Facebook.  I like social media for catching up and keeping up with friends but not so much for political soapboxes.  For this reason, I am using Instagram much more and liking it much better.

Dare I dream?

New floors and the fact that we had car repairs in 2015 that wiped out the budget means that we will not be going on vacation again this year, but maybe I can take a virtual vacation via Google :)

I would really like to see Savannah get a full scholarship to her first choice school (room and board included).  She has worked hard, and she has the goods, but since we did not hear from them over the break, our hope for this is dying.  She knows that unless something else comes through, she will have to spend two years at a school that is not the best choice but would be free before pursuing her dream.

Maybe Andy and I will have a week off at the same time this year?  I know he won't get holidays off but maybe a summer week?  I am getting used to not seeing him and appreciating when we do get time together, so maybe I will handle this new normal better in 2016 and let go of some of my bitterness toward his employer.  

Of course the biggest thing that is not a dream but is about to be a reality is that I will be an aunt again.  I have cleared my calendar on January 11th so that I can meet my new niece!

Wishing you many blessings in the new year!