Class is over

That's right, the 5 weeks of my photography class have come and gone. It seemed to go so fast. I'm so glad I took it. I actually feel like I understand my camera more now. And I can see improvement in the pictures I'm taking. So it was worth it. These are the pictures I took for my homework on landscape, abstract and black and white.
Just cause everyone asks, the red one is of a water fountain spout on a jogging trail in town.

Refrigerator Worthy?

You know those precious pictures that flood your mailbox during the holidays? You know the ones of dear friends and family members that will probably make it to the refrigerator, maybe a special display board, a prayer bowl on your table, or tucked inside your Bible? Our family set out on a mission to have such a picture taken. We thought it was a great idea to do it with our close friends who have kids of similar ages. It would be fun, right?

Chaos was more like it. It was a true Kansas day; WINDY. The kids did do a good job, their cooperative window was just quite short.

So even though this was more telling of the day . . . and why wouldn't this be the picture that leads you to pray for our family?

This is the one we settled on. We may try again as Elias gets older and can hold his head in the direction of the camera.

And for their cooperation, the kids were rewarded with a lolli-pop. Elli confidently told some friends when we were giving them a copy of our picture; "I do that for a lolli-pop."

Pictures for Photography class

I'm glad I've stuck with it!!! It was REALLY intimidating the first night, and the class shrunk by 4 people the second night. But I'm glad I've stuck with the class. Elias has been super cooperative, sleeping through most of the classes. So I thought I'd show you some of the pictures I've taken, both for assignments and just for fun.

The assignment was to capture movement. So many times when I take pictures of my kids I'm trying to stop the movement so I get a good shot. I like how this one turned out though. You can see she's loving it!


Now this isn't his land, but everywhere I've ever lived with this man (including the balcony at our Pawnee Apartments) he loves to look out over the land and think. He's a farm boy, through and through.


This one isn't very interesting, but the assignment was to try the same shot with different f-stop settings. All about learning the manual settings.




Some more fun shots from our time at the Pumpkin patch. I love that I caught this loving sibling moment in action. They really are good friends!

I'm really glad I've been able to take the class. I can already tell a difference in my confidence level with my camera. And my eye . . . I'm starting to see shots that I hadn't seen before. Fun stuff!

Pumpkin Patch

The fall festivities continued, as we traveled down to SE Kansas to be with Austin's family. Long time family friends have started their own pumpkin patch, and it really is a lot of fun! You'll notice I have mostly pictures of Elli. Ethan loves to do everything his cousin Lauren is doing, so it is typically really hard for me to keep up with him when we're with this side of the family. And I had Elias asleep in the back pack carrier, so it was even harder! But we all had a great time!

First real Halloween

This year was our first year as a family to really do anything for Halloween. Believe it or not, it's not really an internationally celebrated holiday. And so much of what we do as foreigners requires explanation, so I've never chosen to get out there and "be weird" for the sake of Halloween. Can you imagine trying to explain that people dress up, sometimes as dead people, and go to strangers homes asking for candy. Thus, this is our first Halloween.

So I'm the co-Class parent (that's what happens when you have 2 laid back moms who don't want to be the sole class parent) for Ethan's class. That means I helped coordinate and throw Ethan's Fall party on Friday. With only 3o minutes for the party, we kept it super simple!

Their snacks and treat bags to take home.


Simple or not, the kids loved it anyway!

So if this doesn't capture my always observing little boy: Ethan has sat by the blond girl on the left since the beginning of school. That means they sometimes sit beside each other at lunch. One day Ethan came home with a story describing how she eats her cookies and sandwiches; "she always pulls them apart into 2 pieces Mom, and then she eats them." It was so funny to watch how each kid is different. Ethan dumped out his treat back and picked 3 things he wanted to eat during the party and then packed his bag back up. His little blond neighbor dumped her bag out and opened and sampled every package; putting the half eaten packages back in her treat bag. I guess this mom has been surprised at how ordered Ethan is proving to be, as he gets older.

This was the game we played; 2 teams racing to carry candy corn on their spoon to the bowl at the end of the room. They loved it and got really competitive once they figured out how to play.


Friday evening there was a fall party at church, which gave opportunity to dress up. Ethan was the "Etho-bot" and Elli was a little princess. Thanks Aunt Jenni for all the dress up clothes that came just in time!! They had a great time going room to room, playing games and winning prizes. Elias and I spent most of the time in the Nursing mom's room. I guess he'll enjoy Halloween more next time.

Getting his groove on!

Ethan's been working hard in music class and PE to learn the songs and steps for his fall performance. And what a fun performance it was. It was in the parking lot of his school. Everyone brought their lawn chairs and blankets to watch. PTA sold pizza before hand, so we went (with Grandma Vickie) early to enjoy pizza with some of Ethan's friends and then watch the whole school sing their songs and show off their moves.

This was after dinner and before the dancing began. Elli was the only "preschooler" brave enough to join in on the racing fun. She ended up wiping out which yielded a good chunk of asphalt in her forehead. But there really is very little this girl is intimidated of; especially if her big brother is there doing it too.

2 of Ethan's multi-cultural friends. They spent much of the evening with our family. From that interaction, I can really see why Ethan is drawn to them. They feel very familiar; their personal space and the ways in which they interact with Ethan are very similar to friends back in Central Asia. It was fun to get to love on them.

This was Elias' seat for the evening. It was a really windy evening, so we had his seat angled just right to keep him from getting hit by the wind. And he slept the whole way through! Not a day goes by that I don't praise God for this little ones temperament.

There they are, the Kindergarten and 1st graders doing their dances. It was quiet a random process of grouping, so my super tall Ethan was put in a group of all 1st graders he didn't know. He was a little timid at the start, but did a great job.

The PE teacher cued them from the front. They danced to 2 different songs.

And we didn't realize that Ethan would come grab a parent or grandparent to then come out and do the dance with him. So here I am learning the steps and dancing with Ethan.

The last song of the night all the students and whatever adults wanted to participate crowded onto the "floor" and followed the cues of the teachers up front. It was a revealing moment in how Ethan and I are different. As we wondered around looking for the perfect spot, I (being the social person that I am) kept telling Ethan "lets dance by Andrew, oh there's Rae'G," etc. as I spotted his friends. Finally Ethan grabbed my arm, "Mommy, I can't see my teacher. Let's dance here." He was more concerned about being able to see and do the steps right, whereas I wanted to dance with friends. Homeschooling should prove interesting! :) It was a really fun event.

Our first out of town trip

What a fun day today was!!! We traveled to Manhattan for a fun shower Erika (my pregnant sister-in-law) put on for us. What fun to see and connect with people we haven't seen in years. It was sweet to get to hug numerous kiddos that have arrived and grown in the years we've been away. Thanks Eeka for a very special day!!!

And we got to see my brother and sister-in-law's house that seems to be getting so close to being finished. Nate, thanks for dropping in, even after a full day, just to meet Elias and give hugs. Blessed me big time!!!

And then it was off to Abilene for some yummy Brookville fried chicken and a picnic with Dave, Laurie and their precious girls to celebrate Dave's birthday. That will be a special memory!

Bummer I didn't take a single picture the entire day. I think just the traveling with 3, figuring out when and where to nurse Elias, etc took most of my attention. I'll be honest, I'm a little overwhelmed by the road trips that await us when we get back home. But we have some time to sharpen our traveling skills before we get there.