A visit to the archives

Alternatively titled: I'm sorry, I have no new pictures for you.

You read right, folks. Believe it or not I don't have a single new picture to post here, unless you're interested in a dozen or so shots of the stop light down the street. I've been taking a photography class and part of my homework was to play with aperture and shutter speed, which did not involve Nora.
(Not because she isn't a willing subject, but because sometimes I like to try a little harder in my work, push myself a little farther. Like down the street. To the stoplight.)
So, because it's snowing hard outside at the moment and I'm feeling all warm and cozy here in our tiny apartment, today you'll be treated to a little walk down memory lane. Or, in this case, a stroll through the archives of my photo library. Shall we begin?
To start, a candid from our wedding.It was a totally dry affair. Not a drop of that repulsive wine or beer to be seen. And look how prim and proper I was as a result!

This next shot is from a trip I took to Seattle with my Mom and two sisters for a good friend's wedding. We brought along Kalen because, well, he was only two months old.
In all likelihood I was probably pretending to nurse him inside my sick little mind. Little did I know of the torturous nursing experience I would endure in the next year.

Speaking of the coming year- this picture was taken a few weeks before Nora made her arrival. Can you tell which one is me? (Hint: I had recently swallowed a beach ball.)
I'm not sure what to say about the next picture.
Take from it what you will.
While Shane was away letting the good times roll and attaching clothes pins to his face, I was laboring away to deliver this bundle of goodness.I'm just kidding, you know.
Shane was there the whole time, never once fainting.
I was very impressed. That last photo represents the bane of my existence. If any of you have listened to Shane describe, in all it's glory, his 'chair' then you know what I'm talking about.
For everyone else, I'll just say that Shane and I are a bit divided on whether this chair will ever make it inside our future house.
We love Hermione.
With that said, I can't really explain how this photo came to be in my photo archive. I'm definitely blaming Shane.
Well, you've reached the end of this exciting photo tour, and to thank you for reading this entire post, I've decided to let my guilt-ridden self off the hook and snap a picture of Nora. I had just let her eat two (gluten-free) cookies. Once I had taken the picture, I let her have a look at it. She immediately said, 'Nora. Cookie. Face.' Then ran off to grab the washcloth.
That side of her comes from her Nanny, I just know it.

A quick post

I just wanted to stop in here for a minute and post some adorable pictures of baby Jonas, who stopped by our apartment with his mom, Emily, yesterday.

I managed to snap these in between Nora's attempts to bite the poor baby.

Sure, she's cute, but those little chompers are razor sharp!

Did I ever tell you...

About the great little dinner party we had last week with our friends Jay and Kristin? While house sitting for Shane's aunt and uncle, we used their awesome raclette set-up. Raclette is kind of an alternative version of fondue. A tabletop grill is set up for vegetables and meat, and underneath is a broiler with individual 'shovels' for each guest. You place a piece of the special cheese in the shovel and broil it until it's melted to your liking, then pour it over your finished meat and vegetables that you've grilled and moved to your plate. Viola! A delicious meal!

I went a little overboard with the vegetables, and we ended up having two full platters of summer squash, peppers, asparagus, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower and red potatoes. We also had shrimp and marinated chicken. What can I say; I really love veggies.

Nora wasn't as big a fan of everything as we were. She ended up eating a yogurt instead.

We always have a great time visiting with these two, but I'm pretty sure
it's Nora they come to see. She turns up the charm for them.

The morning after the party Nora decided Elmo needed a little nurse.
She's so thoughtful.A few days later we were back at our apartment.
Nora had Camella over for a little visit and I had some fun with my camera.

Yesterday we went into town for the class I'm taking and got to visit with Nanny. Nora had some work to do on Nanny's "puter", as Nora would say.
Of course, she needed her glasses to see.

My, she really does look distinguished, doesn't she?

Finally, a nice parting shot I took on the way out of town. This is why I like to always have my camera with me. That way, when I see a nice sunset, I can try to find a place to pull over, scramble around in the back seat trying to find my camera bag, find my camera, find my zoom lens, switch lenses, jump out of the car without getting hit by another car and look like an idiot standing on the side of the road staring at the sun as cars drive by. Ah, good times.

Visiting The Boys

A little while ago Nora and I got to visit with our friends Emily and Meg- and their sweet little guys Jonas and Gavin. The two of them are about three months apart and believe it or not, Gavin (in the stripes) is younger.

He might have a few pounds on Jonas...

Nora was the big kid in the group this time, and had fun playing with all of their toys, eating lots of snacks, and chasing Megan's cat. Oh, and playing with a giant bouquet of fake flowers. I'm not really sure where that came from.

I can't get enough of these two boys- they're both so sweet- and adorable!Don't you just want to reach out and give 'em a little pinch?

On a completely different note, Nora had a little run-in with a dog this past week- she's fine, though, and recovering like a champ. Actually, she doesn't even notice the bite except to pick at the scab every now and then. We did bring her to the doctor's the day it happened and she's had a nice little dose of antibiotics just in case, but she really doesn't seem traumatized and is not scared of dogs at all. We were lucky that the incident was as minor as it was and thankful that everything is healing so well. Whew!

And on another completely different note, I'm debuting my website! It's pretty close to finished, although I'm sure I'll be tinkering with it on and off for a while. So go explore it, play around, and let me know what you like/don't like about it. I look forward to your comments!

Caitlyn Barker Photography

Oops...

Sorry about that last (deleted) post everyone. Apparently I can't trust my husband for any amount of time when the blog is open. There's a reason I keep the password a secret from him...

An Afternoon in January

As I mentioned in the last post, we spent a recent afternoon skiing and snowshoeing with Hayley and her boyfriend Evan. It was quite cold out(though not as cold as it is supposed to get tomorrow and the next day!) but Nora was well bundled in her pink, down snowsuit.

We took all of the dogs out on the trails, though you can't see any of them. As soon as we headed out they were off, running all through the woods, but (almost) always keeping within sight of us.

Barkley has his winter coat on now and tends to collect clumps of snow when he's out running in the winter. It takes a little longer for him to defrost once we come inside, but he doesn't seem too concerned about it.

The weather was just beautiful- crisp air, a deep blue sky, and as we came out of the woods and into the field the sun had just set and the sky was a beautiful deep peach color.

Nora's nose and cheeks were a bit red for quite awhile after the walk, but her hands and feet were fine. (Don't worry, Nanny!) We'll definitely be heading out again soon, though maybe for not as long. The promise of single-digit temperatures in the coming days will certainly make for quick trips! Stay warm, everyone!

The big three!

Kalen turned three this weekend, so we all headed down to his house to celebrate and have a nice visit. There were plenty of goodies to eat (and awesome paninis- both gluten-full and gluten-free!) There were also lots of presents to be opened. I was a little surprised at how jealous Nora was, but I think she may have been remembering Christmas and all the gifts she got to open.Luckily, there were plenty of relatives and toys to distract her.

Tara made an amazingly delicious (and also gluten-free) strawberry shortcake per Kalen's request. He requested it last year as well, and I expect next year we may have the same; nothing wrong with strawberry shortcake!

Nora loved the strawberry shortcake. She ate her entire piece, then most of mine, then a few more bites later of the strawberries Kalen had left behind on his plate.

Wylie was so great during the party. Every now and then you would hear someone yell, 'Who wants him next?' and off he would be to the next set of arms. By the end of the night he was ready for a little alone time and went right to bed.

Before the end of the party we got to watch a puppet show put on by Tara. We set the kids down in the 'theater' and the show began!

It really was an academy award-worthy performance.

Unfortunately, the audience didn't realize that it wasn't an interactive show. Nora had to be distracted for part of the show so she wouldn't pull it all down.

The kids (and adults) had a great time helping Kalen ring in his third birthday. Later we headed home to our dog/house sitting job where we're staying for the week. Yesterday we went for a nice ski/snowshoe, so be sure to check back tomorrow for those pictures!