C's Blog

Over the past 24 hours our eyes have been peeled to the TV, soaking up every last bit of information about this winter storm as possible. I don't know what it is that makes it so addicting to watch, but we do, hour after hour.

Our power went out in the middle of the night. We think it was out for about three hours. After watching the news this morning, we're some of the lucky few with electricity.

The salt trucks made it down our street mid-morning and we headed off to work. I sat in the passenger seat armed with my camera.

The trees looked so sad. They stand limp and saggy and broken limbs are everywhere:

Every winter, however, I look forward to the highway icicles:

We had to take an alternate route to Nana's house, where Izee is hanging out today. A giant tree blocked the entrance on one of the streets:

The alternate route was a little scary, though, too. The tree limbs were so low that they touched the top of our car as we drove through. Notice how low the power lines look:

My mom's Sweet Gum tree looked gorgeous coated in ice:

  

And Isaac got his first look at snow. He wasn't too fond of it, but his opinion will change:

  

Or, maybe Isaac is thinking, "Well this all looked like fun until you handed me this shovel." : )

Be careful out there. Sometimes the re-freeze is just as dangerous as the initial storm.

p.s. I finished my socks yesterday! Woo!

During Isaac's nap today, I began backing up my photography. I can't help but look thought old photos every time I do this.

I started looking back at pictures from two years ago, when Isaac was first born. I decided to practice my photo editing skills on some of my favorites.

Here's my favorite result from today's practice: Nana & Isaac (11/2004):

I can remember taking this picture and knowing how special it would be to me.

I can also remember thinking, "It has got to be one of the most rewarding things in the world to raise your kids and then watch them raise their own children."

Thanks, Mom, for everything. I love you.

Thank you for my new lens for my camera. I love it and all of its 50mm goodness.

I am now addicted to taking portraits. It's taking a little bit to get used to the large depth of field, but I'm getting it. In no time, I'll be back to my normal swift paparazzo speed.

More Christmas photos to come. For now, here are more initial portraits of my family:

Love,
Caron

p.s. Santa, I hope you don't mind that your thank-you post is a test for me to try to blog via flickr. If this works smoothly, I may be using this method to post more often. (crossing fingers)

p.p.s. Maybe I'm a stickler, but the flickr engine didn't produce clean enough code for me. I just tried to edit it and it broke. boo.

Back to the normal Moveable Type blogging. In this post, however, the photos are coming from my flickr account. (click on the photos above)

On Christmas with the Hoyne side of the family, we gathered in front of the Christmas tree for a group picture.

My little camera will take a series of pictures with the timer. On the last picture, my sister Sara said, "okay, everyone be silly!" Apparently, only Dad, Reese, Sara, and I got the message.

Roll over the image below to see the silly shot:

It's funny to note the similarities between the silly faces. : ) I wonder if all families make funny faces the same way.

There are so many photos from Christmas to share, that I need to do it day by day...

Here are pictures from three days before Christmas. Isaac and I went to my parents' house to visit with the fam in STL for the holiday. The Betts (my sister, bro-in-law, and nieces) were in town from Kansas City and Kristin (my prego sister) was in town from Pennsylvania.

I know I see my parents' house all of the time, but there's something about being in the house where we grew up at Christmas time with my siblings that makes the cold dark winter warm and bright.

Inspecting the Christmas tree to find ornaments from years' past is a fun past-time. I find that I can't pass the tree without stopping to look for some favorites. Recognize this little girl from 1986? Pictured below, the poor Jayhawk who has been picked on for years and the new tiger ornament that Kristin made to target in vengeance.

I spent a lot of time practicing with my new lens. (Santa gifted me early.)