Wordful Wednesday-{Better in Bulk Guest Post}

Wordful Wednesday is like Wordless Wednesday, only WITH words. It’s for those of us that can’t contain the chatter, but in a good way. More info. in my tabber box titled WW on the right.

I hope you’ll join with me in thanking Laura from Better In Bulk for guest posting today.Β  She’s a mother after my own heart, a fantastic photographer and great friend.

THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

On Sunday afternoon, after a light snack and a change of clothes, I took a little walk with my youngest daughter, Reese, behind our house. One of her teenage friends had french braided her hair during church, and she looked particularly cute, so I grabbed my camera to snap some pictures of her.

She knew exactly what to do…

When we’d finished our walk and our little photo shoot, we headed back to the house. No sooner had we stepped inside that the heavens opened and a tornado hit. Yes, last week, Maryland was rocked by an earthquake, and this week it was beaten by a tornado. The storm blew in and out rather quickly, and while the winds wooshed and the lights flickered on and off, the kids ran around the house like maniacs, setting out candles and flashlights, making plans for some marshmallow-roasting. We did, indeed, lose our power…but in the middle of grilling our dinner in the backyard, the lights (and the air conditioning — thank goodness!) were restored, and we went on with our evening.

This morning we were shocked to learn that the majority of the state, including some of our closest friends, are still without electricity. In fact, fellow DC-area blogger Jessica from A Parent in Silver Spring, wrote a fantasticly entertaining post on post-tornado stress syndrome. So while the rest of the state waits for their power to come back on, and as the insides of their houses match the outside temperatures in the mid-90s, our house will be a little more full than usual.

And I consider it a blessing. We have power. We are staying cool. And we can share it with friends.

Thank you all so much for continuing to share your photos and thoughts and for your ever thoughtful comments!

About Angie

Angie is a CRAFT dabbling, recipe making, WORD loving, sunshine hording, book DEVOURING, Mama to a lot! She's kind of in love with Instagram right now, so if you want her attention, go find here there. {smiling}

Comments

  1. These pictures are just LOVELY! You know I heard about the earthquake but I didn’t hear about the tornado. WOW!

  2. Oh, she totally knew what to do!

    Glad your AC and power came on quickly..I can’t even imagine!

  3. Beautiful shots! Crazy to have so many disasters in such a short amount of time! Goodness…

  4. her hair is so cute like that and she is so adorable!

  5. Wow! Thank goodness you all stayed safe. Thank thank goodness for AC! I’m in VA and the heat lately has been horrendous! Finally, a cool down this week.

    Gorgeous photos!! πŸ™‚

  6. omg… what lovely pictures! happy WW!!!

  7. Gorgeous shots! And having been a resident of Oklahoma for many years, I certainly can appreciate those sudden tornadic storms!

    Blessings!

  8. Those shots are just wonderful! Crazy about the tornado though. Glad you are ok!

  9. I agree…particularly cute!

  10. what a lovely series of her photo πŸ™‚

  11. What wondrous pictures of sweet Reese…the braids, the dress the sweet personality…PERFECT.

    So nice to see you here, Laura…looking forward to seeing you next week at BlogHer!

  12. These photos are lovely!! πŸ™‚

  13. How scary! Glad you are safe! Love the photo shoot! She is an adorable subject! πŸ˜€

  14. I love the pictures… they look so perfect and natural. Glad your ok from the tornado.

  15. You are an awesome person Laura, a really great friend. And your daughter is beautiful.

  16. Beautiful shots!

    Happy WW!

  17. What great pictures

  18. Those photos are gorgeous. What a way to capture the moment. Glad you’re okay despite all the natural disasters.

  19. i’m so glad we don’t have tornadoes here!

  20. Your photos are, of course, just beautiful! I especially like the one of her twirling around.

  21. Stunning photos. She is just gorgeous.

  22. Wow! What a great little model you have there! I can’t wait until my boys are old enough to know what it is I want them to do when I break out my camera!

  23. Wow! Crazy about the tornados….but what beautiful pictures of her!

  24. Loving the pics. I want a girl, wahhhhhh! πŸ™‚

  25. I’m so clueless, I had no idea any of this went on. Can you tell I don’t watch the news much?

    Glad you all have A/C and can help keep others cool.

    And the photos of your girl, well they are simply lovely…

  26. I love the pictures. I’m so glad you made it though the tornado without any problems. Tornados are so scarey.

  27. Reese is beautiful! I am glad you got your power back, and hope those affected by the tornadoes will recovery quickly.

    I TRIED so hard to learn how to french braid when my daughter was a gymnast; I never really mastered the art —- the girl has a whole lotta hair!

  28. Her hair is so amazing! The dress…everything is so great! How did I not realize that you were in Maryland? Where is my brain? We are out west from you, Allegany County, and we didn’t feel the earthquake or the tornado but man, it has been super hot so I cannot imagine without power.

    Happy wordFUL Wednesday!

    Mindy

  29. oh just disregard last post..I knew that Better in Bulk was Maryland! lol I didn’t realize it was a guest post! Doh!

  30. She’s beautiful!! I hope your weather stays calm for a while now!

    My Wordful Wednesday – Om- The Symbol of Absolute (http://mothershideaway.com/blog/2010/07/28/om-the-symbol-of-the-absolute/.html)

  31. I’ve been waiting all day to see your WW pics. Your photoshoot turned out some absolutely gorgeous pics. You are so lucky you had such a willing subject. And I’m glad that you are all ok after that storm. Whew. Crazy stuff. http://weloveiowa.blogspot.com/2010/07/wordless-wednesday-linky-party-meet-bum.html

  32. great pics… she is too cute

  33. Beautiful photos! Your daughter is quite the model. (must say it’s strange not to call you “Lolli”)

    I had no idea about Maryland getting hit, but must’ve been the same time PA was getting it as well. UGH…. these storms are impressive.

    Bless you for opening your home & heart to your friends.

  34. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!!!

  35. Those pictures are A-MAZ-ing!!!!

  36. Beautiful shots & glad to hear you & your family made it thru unscathed! Happy WW! πŸ˜€

  37. Wow, an earthquake & a tornado! I thought we had it bad in Louisiana with oil spills and hurricanes. At least we have warnings, sort of. Glad you have power and were able to take such beautiful photos.

  38. Adorable photos! I am glad you all were kept safe during the tornado!

  39. glad to hear you survived both disasters. I think we had a micro-burst again this weekend. we’ve has a few tornadoes too.. Mom Natures is not a happy camper this year. Your daughter is adorable!

  40. Wonderful pictures, she’s a cutie!! Crazy story. Lucky you to have power!

  41. First off the pictures are amazing, secondly I am really glad that you are all safe and cool. I have never experienced a tornado and I really hope I never do. I have been through my share of earthquakes, but for some reason those don’t seem as scary to me. I hope you are all having a great week. This is my first time linking up.

  42. I love her hair, she is just beautiful!
    Glad to hear you survived the tornado…and the EQ….I hate them both!

  43. Great Pictures! I can’t believe MD has gotten hit so bad!

    • Neither can I! I’ve lived here for 13 years and never been hit so hard in a single year like we have the last 12 months!

  44. Oh to be a little girl with pigtails and a twirly dress in the summer! Great shots.

  45. Oh my goodness!! YIKES!!

  46. Wow~a photoshoot you’ll never forget! Glad you are safe and sound. Beautiful pictures of your daughter!

  47. Woohoo! A WORDFUL Wednesday! Haha! That little girl’s hair IS cute. Great pictures.

    • I am determined now more than ever to master the art of french braiding! πŸ™‚ You’d think I’d know by now, with 2 older daughters…

  48. Really lovely pics! Your daughter really knows how to pose for the camera.

    • She and my second daughter (when she was this age) seem to be born to pose in front of the camera. I never give them any coaching–it’s all “natural!”

  49. What a cutie!! You got some great shots!!

    Yikes on the tornado!! Glad everyone is safe and sound!!

  50. Oh love the french braids and the dress – she’s beautiful!

    Oh my, I’m glad everyone is ok – my oldest is horribly afraid of tornadoes so she freaks out any time there’s even a storm in the forecast, sigh.

    • We didn’t know it was a tornado until the next morning. One of the benefits and disadvantages of not having TV. The storm hit us by surprise, and we had no idea how bad it was til the next day, when we talked with friends.

  51. These pictures are beautiful!! As is your daughter!

  52. Beautiful pictures and I’m sooo sorry to hear about MD. That’s really crazy that it was that bad there. πŸ™

    • You’d think that the Nation’s Capital area would be able to handle storms a little better….but apparently not! πŸ™‚

  53. Same state. Same storm. Never even lost power. Mine didn’t even blink! Amazed at how much worse it got as it made it’s way down. Very lucky to live in one of the only places around MD that has UNDERGROUND power lines. Who knew it was such a novel idea?! Great shots!

    • Lucky duck! Yesterday I blogged from McDonalds for the free wifi (since Verizon seems to have died in the power outage as well) and McD’s lost power and internet!! I feel like I’m living in the dark ages.

  54. That’s nuts! And terrible! But I must admit, the ‘calm before the storm’ coupled with the pics of the girl….I thought we’d see a pictorial of sweet – to – tantrum….lol.

  55. Same state. Same storm. We didn’t even have a flicker out here, let alone actually lose power! Guess we are lucky to live in one of the only places in MD that uses underground power lines. Who knew it was such a novel idea?! Was very surprised to learn that so many people are still stuck without power and I shiver when I think of the time we were similarly stuck. For 7 days no less! Glad you guys got to keep yours and thanks for sharing such amazing shots!

  56. The photos are beautiful and wow, what a story! I hadn’t heard about the tornado for some reason. Maybe because I stayed offline more the last several days, celebrating birthdays here. Hope everything gets back to normal soon.

  57. She was quite the lovely model and so very pretty!

  58. That’s cute that your daughter knew just what to do. Twirling, hamming it up… She’s a pro!

  59. So glad that you are safe and sound. Beautiful shots!

  60. Susie's Homemade says

    Those pictures really are the calm before the storm, aren’t they? Good gracious! I am glad that no one was hurt!

  61. She is beautiful!

  62. You have such a beautiful daughter!

    I’m surprised at how tornadoes freak people out around the Mid-Atlantic. I actually miss tornado weather!!

  63. What beautiful shots!!

    Glad everyone is safe.

  64. beautiful pics Angie

  65. Amazing photos but sorry about the earthquake and tornado!

  66. Amazing shots, Lolli! I was wondering how you guys were doing down South – we got hit pretty hard with wild storms, but only a tornado watch, no actual tornadoes. Hope your friends get their power back soon, it’s been too hot to go without!!

    LOVE the shots of your daughter – she’s a natural! πŸ˜‰

  67. Beautiful shots!

  68. Ack! That’s not my twitter handle anymore. πŸ™‚

  69. Wonderful pictures – I love that spinning one! Sorry to hear that you guys are having such a hard time – it seems like when it rains it pours – We have been really lucky this year as far as weather is concerned…living in tornado alley – I thanks my lucky stars for that!

  70. I hope the tornado didn’t do much damage! I know how bad those can get.

    Great pictures; she’s super photogenic. I love the one with her smiling really big. Too cute.

  71. Wow, weather can be so unpredictable. We had flooding here.

  72. The photos are absolutely wonderful – the last one is my favorite, they look like pictures from a professional shoot. Glad you all survived the storms – moving here from Europe one of the things that surprised us most is the incredible extremes of weather experienced here. We had been here just a few weeks when we got hit with a storm that deposited 13 inches of rain in 24 hours and we just could not believe such things happened.

  73. What absolutely gorgeous pictures!

  74. Ew, Scary!

    Lovely photos though. πŸ™‚

  75. Beautiful Picts!! Happy WW.

  76. Yikes about the weather and earthquake!!

    What a pretty girl though!

  77. Those were great pics and wow how scary that a tornado hit right afterwards!

  78. Beautiful pictures, I can’t wait until my daughter’s hair is long enough for french braids. Then I’ll have to learn how to do it!

    Crazy about the tornado, hope they get the power back on and all is back to normal soon. Good for you for making the best of it and enjoying the company.

  79. Lovely photos. She’s the picture of summer.

  80. WOW Stunning Pictures! Your Daughter is Beautiful!
    Yikes how crazy about the tornado! Glad you are OK!

  81. Your little girl is very pretty. Looks like she knows how to pose for the camera. I bet the tornado was very scary. I am 43 and haven’t ever been in a tornado, I feel very lucky as they are always around here. I would like to invite you to read my WW post at
    http://traci66.blogspot.com/2010/07/wordful-wednesday.html
    Also you might like to check out my giveaway and enter a few they are on my right side bar at the top.
    Have a Wonderful Wednesday.

  82. Love the pictures, what a sweetie! Can’t believe the weather, that is crazy.

  83. Um, can we say MODEL????

    Gorgeous!

  84. What beautiful pictures! Glad to hear that you are okay after the tornado.

    Are you going to BlogHer?

    Dagmar
    Dagmar’s momsense

  85. Not quite as wordy today as I am usually — but I’ve also been out of the loop for a while. Glad to be back.

    http://blondesherry.blogspot.com/2010/07/ww-stages-of-sunset.html

  86. what an adorable photos of your lovely daughter! she really knows how to pose on cam.

  87. Lauren @ Hobo Mama says

    Those are the most evocative photos! What a natural model, and what gorgeous photography. Glad to hear the tornado was just an exciting experience!

  88. Beautiful pictures of a beautiful girl!

  89. What a darling girl! Thank goodness you beat the storm!

  90. Those photos are BEAUTIFUL!!

  91. Those are beautiful pictures! I wish I had your talent…or even a fraction of it.

  92. What an amazing photo shoot. Who knew that such upheaval would follow!

  93. Lolli- those are absolutely gorgeous pictures. Everything about them. The coloring, the outfit, and of course your daughter.

  94. Absolutely gorgeous! The first 3 are my favorite.

  95. What beautiful photos of a very pretty child.