snow daze

if you happened to see my last post, you'll know that it's been typical winter in my neck of the woods lately, and it has kept us rather cooped up inside. but while 4°F is enough to keep us indoors with hot tea {or hot cocoa} and cookies, a forecast of six inches of snow is not.

i knew it was time we stop watching the snow, and time we start experiencing it... especially since we are a week into february and there is no telling what a chicagoland winter has in store. we might get a whole lot more of this, or we could have a winter-of-2012 encore. just in case it's the latter, i wasn't going to miss out on this falling and totally-mesmerizing snow.

it wasn't just about getting out to play in it. it was about getting out to be under the giant flakes as they fell from the sky. whoever coined the phrase "winter wonderland" was right on. it was just that! the prettiest thing i've seen in a while.

i'm not a fan of snow.... at all. but even i can't deny the pull that something like this has on the inner-child in me.

plus, i've long wanted to practice my snow photography. in fact, i think yesterday was the first time i was able to get outside to take pictures in the snow since i upgraded camera and lens, and thus, the first time i was able to attempt some shots of snow that would turn out the way i have hoped. i know i still have some things to learn, but i'm happy with the results.

in fact, the first photo of this post might be my favorite picture of isaac that i've ever taken {and a contender for next year's christmas card!}. so even if none of the others had turned out, i would have been so happy just to have snapped that one. {don't tell anyone, but i actually intended to focus on his face for that photo. but it was to my benefit that i snapped the shot while focused on something else between his face and my camera. i love it so much more that way! but like i said, shhhhh... don't let on that i didn't mean for it to turn out like that in my "grand expertise"! *wink*}

i had hopes that isaac would enjoy this knee-deep {for one of his stature} snow. but i also sort of had a feeling that he might react to it the way he did for his first time in sand and his first experience playing in the grass... not wanting to sit in it or touch it. i was right. he just sort of sat there not knowing how to move... or not wanting to... like something of a character from a christmas story.

yeah... it's not his thing just yet. but it made for some sweet photos, especially when he finally figured out how to sit up straight so he could look around at the neighbors' cars {which are like one thousand on his coolness scale, whereas snow is like a -27}. i think if we invest in a $2 sled and take him to a sled hill this weekend, his opinion of snow will sky-rocket and smiles will abound. but even if not, i still love him to pieces. who couldn't love a face like this...

getting him happy was my first priority. but once i felt like he could stand on his own without tipping into the snow face-first and was content to just stand and ramble on about the cool red car next door, i felt free to start shooting the beautiful snow.

again... i'm only an admirer of snow in the visual sense. but even in our last home, it never seemed pretty enough in our yard to venture out for some photos. not so here, though. we've got some beautiful trees in the front that look really cool with all that snow resting delicately on their vein-like network of branches. and we've also got some type of evergreens that line our backyard. i always love snow on evergreens. of all the things i am grateful for in our new home, this has to be one of the biggest. i love trees! i can't wait until spring to see how they look in bloom. that is the one benefit of moving to a new place in the winter... a whole new set of outdoor surprises await {hopefully good ones}... discoveries to look forward to when the season changes.

well, enough about that... here are some more photos. i'm not ready to take full-on pics of the house yet, as we still have some things we want to fix up first {that screen door has got to go!!!}. but here are some hints of it... like the red door that won't stay red forever, 'cause i've got some future plans for it that may or may not involve the color orange! {sorry red door enthusiasts!} that means the red cardinals on the garage door that came with the house will have to go, too! {although, i'd kind of like to keep those, as they sure look cute in winter/snow photos!}

our time out in the snow was short, but surely sweet. i kept thinking of the verse in the psalms that says "purge me with hyssop, and i shall be clean: wash me, and i shall be whiter than snow." a quiet reminder that went perfectly with the quietness that surrounded us under the flakes that softly fell.