Merry Christmas

On this Christmas Eve, we would like to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!  In all the hype of gift giving and receiving, may you remember that Christ is the reason for this season.

At another time we will share our holiday season excitement.  Just some hints….Chicago, American Girl, Elf on the Shelf, holiday gift giving.

Love The Roffel Family

Anniversaries

This year marks 2 significant anniversaries in our family.

December 6th marks the 50th wedding anniversary of Brian's parents.  They are celebrating with an open house on Saturday December 28th followed by a dinner for family and friends.  This is an exciting time as we will be reunited with family who are living all over Canada and the world.  We will be having family pictures taken which I will post at some point in the New Year.

December 6, 1963

On October 12th, my parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary.  We had family photos taken and then went for dinner as a family.  Here are some of the pictures from that day.

My parents

My siblings with my parents

The whole gang

The Grandkids

The married folks

Brian & Rosemary & Family

Linda & Mark & Family

Melissa & Kyle

My family photos.  Not sure which photo is my favourite.  Help me pick my Christmas card.

#1

#2

#3

#4

And a couple more…

My parents

My favourite family photo

Until next time 

Time with Grandma and Grandpa Koomans

Jaelyn and Ava have always talked about wanting to bake with Grandma.  Grandma is known for her baking.  One day this summer we found a Baking with Grandma Brownie mix package at our local Winners.  The girls begged and begged to buy it.  

Mid-September, Grandma picked the girls up from gynmastics and they had a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house. That Saturday morning they finally got to

bake with Grandma.  A big thanks to Grandpa for taking the pictures.  

That evening, we invited Grandma and Grandpa over for dinner. Once done eating, the girls and Grandpa went outside and collected ladybugs.

Enjoy the pictures of a great weekend of memories!

Eager to get started

Cracking the eggs

Stir

Adding the margarine

Stir some more

Adding the brownie mix

Mix 

Mix, mix, mix

Adding to the pan

Love this picture!
Grandpa and girls licking the leftovers

Yummy

Ava's loving it

Jaelyn enjoying every bit of it

Not so clean faces

Packaging and wooden spoons

Out of the oven

Waiting for brownies to cool

Jaelyn and Ava with their ladybug ecosystem 

One of the many ladybugs they caught

One got away so they re-captured it

Ava doing a handstand 

Jaelyn doing a handstand

Until next time...

Photography Class

So way back last year there was a Groupon offer for Flying Photo School.  I purchased 1 Groupon to take an online class (classes are $97 but with Groupon it was only $29).  I remembered in mid August that I had to use it soon.  When logging onto our Groupon account I discovered that it had expired 5 days before.  Just Grrrreat!  However I remembered that even if the Groupon has expired you can still use the value of what you paid towards a purchase.
So being the Dutch person that I am I decide to purchase the intro to photo editing class in September.  When entering the Groupon code it said I owed nothing.  Woo Hoo!
So the course was 4 weeks long.  The course was done with videos and then an assignment was assigned each week.   I am proud to say that I have a little bit of understanding how to use the full version of Photoshop!  I  am also comfortable using Bridges.  
So here are my edits:
Week 2 - Basic Editing in Bridge (white balance, temperature, tint, exposure, recovery, blacks, brightness, contrast, clarity, vibrance, and saturation)  followed up with adding text to pictures in Photoshop

Before

After

Week 3 - Using the clone tool to remove blemishes

Before

After

Week 4 - Adding textures to pictures

Before

After

I learned a lot from this course.  However, it makes me now realize that all the pictures I have taken over the years can be improved with minor edits.  However, this all takes time.  Not really sure I am ready to take on that project.  So maybe I will start by editing future photos.
Until next time :)

Summer Continued

Well it has taken me a while to finish this post.  The pictures have been uploaded for some time, but I have been enjoying the summer with the girls to finish up the written section.

I have taken a lot of photos this summer.  I really enjoy nature photos and close ups.  Here are some of my floral photos taken while on vacation at Elim Lodge.

This is one of my favourite photos.  The lake front is so relaxing.  Sitting by the lake is one of my favourite things to do while vacationing.

Jaelyn and Ava having fun after their triathlon.

My brother-in-law, Mike, never fails to keep us entertained.  His family is working at Elim Lodge for the summer.  They are running the Snackery.  Mike was able to enjoy a day off by the pool.

Ava has been very determined this summer.  One of the things she wanted to do was drive Grandpa Roffel's golf cart.

Jaelyn was quite the fisher.  She loved getting the worms but wasn't too excited about taking the fish off the hook.  Aunt Linda said she could go fishing with her anytime.

Worm girl

This is the small bass that we, Jaelyn and I, caught that night of fishing.

The sunsets are always so beautiful.  Photos can't go justice.

The sunset

We went to the rope again this year.  Ava loves the rope so much that she sometimes forgets to let go.  This makes everyone else very nervous.  Brian is always the crazy one.

"Don't forget to let go Ava"

Jaelyn and Ava puzzling in the trailer on a cool day.

Ava even practiced her piano while on vacation.  She is playing the neighbours toy piano.

The family took a trip to the Peterborough Zoo for an afternoon.  Here we saw all the animals and the girls were able to play in the park.

Daddy and his girls

Mommy and her girls

Ava on the monkey bars

Ava on the slide

The girls loving each other and their new beach towel.  Love this photo and those kiddos.

This is Ava and Dave, from the kids program, on Christmas in July.  Jaelyn is being a little frog-like.  They are playing games and received a Christmas treat. 

The view from my chair by my parent's cottage.  So relaxing.
  

The lakeside closeup

Ava snuggling with her daddy

Jaelyn loves the water and the sand.  The wetter and dirtier the better.

Sand Girl

The girls enjoyed playing in the park and meet some great friends.

Ava

Jaelyn

The girls and their camping friends

Well that was  our family vacation.  I hope you enjoyed all the photos.