Round One

I couldn't resist posting a couple from the morning's festivities. Keep in mind that my living room is the world's worst place to take a picture, so these aren't going to win any awards. I do like them, especially the one of Braeden ripping the paper from his very first model train set. To me, it just packs all the emotion of the morning into one picture.

Doot, doot, doo...

.... lookin' out my backdoor...

Christmas Bows

I was so proud of these that I had to post them asap. If you're feeling Martha Stewart-y, here are the directions: Jo's Blog, Just scroll down a bit - and thank her for the lovely idea!

Please forgive the wonky color on the pics. My camera can't figure out how to handle these compact flourescent bulbs.

Christmas Parade

South Pittsburg's football team - #1 in the state! Go Pirates!

















An American icon - only smaller and on wheels!
























I love that the fire departments around here keep these wonderful classic fire trucks!

















I really got a kick out of Bebo staring at the huge trucks.
























My personal favorite part of the parade is the Shriners in their silly little vehicles.

















And before the parade . . . this is the death look I got from Braeden for taking his picture when he didn't want me to!

Our Car (post-tornado)

I've been meaning to post a pic of this for weeks and just now remembered to actually take the picture! This is our Lumina after a tree branch clobbered it last month (gives it character, don't you think?):

A Sampling from My Tree

Some of my favorite ornaments - and the crocheted snowflake is my most treasured. It's one Nanny made years ago. I always think of her each year when I hang it.

My Town at Christmas

Okay, so technically this is South Pittsburg and I live in Kimball. Same-same. They're close enough together that it counts. Anyway, I love the back-to-the-fifties look of South Pitt. The day of the Christmas parade was absolutely gorgeous. It's just the kind of day my camera loves. It never meters so well as it does on a clear sunny day like this was. These pictures are more of the town. I'll post some of the parade itself soon.

Magic of Christmas

My sweet niece Katie was in my lap as we drove through the Bristol Motor Speedway's Christmas light exhibit. It's blurry and grainy, but I don't know that I've ever taken a picture I loved more.

Tornado Aftermath

Wednesday night we had a tornado. I'll talk more about the details on my other blog. Anyway, here are pictures of the damage:

Kimball Baptist Church, about 3 hours after the storm died down. This is just across the street from my house:



These are classrooms on the front of the building.





The wind pulled down power lines, yanking our meter box from the back of the house:

Here they are working on the house:

This is the traffic mess going through Kimball. Only 1300-ish people live here, and the traffic was a nightmare.



This house is directly behind mine. The roof was lifted up and dropped about a foot to the side.

Bebo's Halloween Costume

This year I got smart and took Halloween pictures early in the day. It gave us a trial run for the costume, which we only bought today. There were a lot of pieces to tape and adjust to make it work. Braeden really thinks he's hot stuff in this getup!

My Boy!

So cute... we went to the pumpkin patch Saturday, and he wasn't feeling especially cooperative for the camera. I had to beg and plead to coax even one pose out of him. I'll post the pumpkin-y pictures later, but for now I have a sweet one that will definitely have a place in on a non-pumpkin patch scrapbook page.

The Fountains at Coolidge Park

On a whim, Jeff & I played hooky from work this afternoon. We wound up at Coolidge Park at dusk. If I'd had the tripod, these would have been better. I will definitely be making a trip again with more equipment. As it was, I only brought the camera to Chattanooga as an afterthought, anyway. I was very pleased, considering these were all handheld or propped on my knee. I simply love the way the light plays from the reflections of the water.

Another Self-Portrait

These are tough, especially when your arm is too short to get the camera far enough away to autofocus! Since they were already fuzzy, I played around in Photoshop to give them an artsy feel. The occasion? New glasses that I think totally rock!

First Family Session

My friend let me take some pics of her family this weekend. Despite the awful sun, I managed to get a few shots I really liked. Sheesh - it's been too long!

At the Opryland Hotel

I have no idea what kind of flower this is. When I walked up to it and saw the light coming through the petals, I nearly had a cow. This pic is SOOC (straight out of camera). I am absolutely thrilled with it.