Grace Notes: January 2014

Friday, January 31, 2014

A Day of Music and Cookies

Happy last day of January all! Only 1 month of winter left! (according to my Dad's calendar. which I might someday share with you)

This song below is awesome! Its for 3 violins, a cello, and a piano. (in case you can't read German.)

(at least, I think that's what it's written in...does anyone know?)

Anyway, I have been working on this song for almost two months. And I still love to play it!!

It is a piece that has really pushed me. It has lots of shifting, fast parts, and keeping tempo is *ahem* For some reason, my wonderful teacher likes to pull out the metronome for this piece... ;) Haha!!

And I've learned that there are two squeaky stages to playing the violin: When you first begin. (but you still think it sounds good ;) And then when you learn to shift. (and you don't think it sounds good, because you've been playing long enough to know when you sound, well, terrible.) And I sure there will be more squeaky times as I learn higher shifting. But it is fun, and challenging!

Kanon and Gigue by Johann Pachelbel

Interpreted, I believe it's pretty much Canon in D.

I had my first introduction to 32nd notes in violin. They are twice as fast as 16th notes, which are twice as fast as 8th notes, which are twice as fast as..... :) Get the point? They are fast!

Shifting....what can I say. Don't be scared!!

The only problem with this is the music would only print up the score. (which has all the parts for 1st, 2nd, 3rd violin, cello, and piano.)

So, I downloaded MuseScore (some free music writing program) Put the violin part on the computer, printed it, and now I don't have to flip pages while playing violin. Which is a task.

Because, this song is 7 pages long. But now I have it in 2 lovely pages! :)

Another plus, my song now has bigger print!

And then, I made Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies. For half the batter, I put in Raisins, and the other half I did not. Can you guess if my Dad likes raisins or not?

I know this pictures make cookie dough look absolutely unappealing. Its because I didn't change the white balance on my camera. :)

This one is a little more true to color, but cookie dough is hard to get the color exactly right.

Cookies and milk. Wonderful winter snack!

I got the recipe off the Quaker Oatmeal box.

Have a great February first everyone!

Love

~Emily

P.S. I am trying out putting my name on my pictures. I like the look of it, but am still undecided. What do you think? Oh, and there are two different fonts throughout the pictures. I do not like the cursive one, and I'm not sure I like the other one either. So maybe different font? :)

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

How to entertain people of all ages.

Wooden tiles.
Yep.
A six year old, fifteen and seventeen year old all sat around a table playing with wooden blocks.

But it was fun!

I take pictures at weird angles. not on purpose, I just don't hold my camera straight. :)

my masterpiece.

Requires deep concentration.

Lots of goofiness.

And many crashes.

All the towers collapsed.

The end.

Monday, January 27, 2014

Winter Pictures

It is really cold here! -3 is the high tomorrow. I went outside for a few minutes yesterday and snapped a few pictures. I didn't stay out very long though!

The sledding is awfully good!

I love these little bursts of color God gives us in the middle of winter!

My hat I made.

More berries

I focused on the tree on purpose, but the picture kind of annoys me. It just doesn't look right. :)

I couldn't believe this tree still had leaves... hasn't the wind been strong enough?

I hope you all are having a lovely winter and staying warm!

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Reuben's Birth

For my first blog post, I thought I'd post about my first love..... ;)
Just kidding! My Mom said Reuben should be my first love, and Susan totally agrees that he'd make a great one. :) But, since he's only 5 weeks old.....
I got the incredible experience of being able to be in the hospital with my friend as she gave birth to a boy. She has adopted me as the baby's Auntie Em, and I was so privileged to be there with them.
When I first heard she was pregnant, I offered to take maternity pictures for them. They accepted and I had a blast with them!
They didn't find out if baby was a boy or girl, so they would be surprised.

I had so much fun, that after lots of texting and phone calls, they decided I could come and watch this little miracle be born and take pictures! *happy dance!*

Baby's due date was December 14th. Friday the 13th, I texted Susan, and jokingly said "Do you think Baby will come on it's due date??" She responded "Oh my! I don't think so...but then again I know nothing. But just trusting the Lord & His perfect timing!"

Well, that night around 10:30 pm, she texted me that they were on the way to the hospital due to some complications.

Mom told me to go to bed as it could be a long night.

(I went to my bedroom, but I didn't sleep!!)

Another text around 11:45 saying Dr. broke water, Baby will be here sometime soon, I could come to the hospital anytime, but a it could be a while.

I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep or stand the suspense, so I told her I was coming, and Dad dropped me off at the hospital.

When I got there, she was eating ice cream.....?!

;)

Randy was texting peoples and updating FB.

And so the night began!
(or morning, however you want to call it.)

Baby's heartbeat monitor, which was really cool!

Trying to take a nap between contractions

I loved watching these two!

Keeping people updated!

(this was Randy's drink)

;)

Encouraging one another

Then the next morning, Baby made his appearance.

Reuben Dean entered the world at 10:36 am!

Happy parents!

There are absolutely no words to describe the emotion of when a baby takes it's first breath of air, and meets it's mommy and daddy for the first time!
It is such an incredible experience!!!