The Great Midwestern Ice Storm of 2007 (insert dramatic news sound effects here)

We survived the Great Ice Storm of 2007. Actually, we didn't fare too badly, considering that as I type this, 1200 homes in our county are still without power. Our power was out for about 12 hours on Tuesday, but we were able to spend the day at Mom and Dad's. Our food was still good, and it wasn't cold enough for the pipes to freeze. Our two baby trees in the front yard to still small and bendy, so they didn't suffer any damage. Here are pictures from around Fulton and our yard. (Taken with my Treo, so they aren't the best, but you get the idea.)
Hockaday Hill.
Limbs on a power line on Market street, across from Ovid Bell Press.
Limbs snapped off at the top on Cote Sans Dessein.
More damage on Old Jefferson City Rd
Our mailbox.

My birdbath.
Grass in the front yard. It's hard to tell how thick the ice is, but it's about 3/4 of an inch on some of the blades.
Our little Charlie Brown red maple.
Icicles on the patio furniture.
Icicles on the gutter.

REA and AmerenUE are working hard to get power restored to Callaway and Cole Counties. We are expecting another front this weekend, bringing snow this time, so here's hoping everyone gets their heat back soon!

You Spin Me Right Around, Baby, Right Around, Like A Record, Baby

So the weather has taken a turn for the nasty this week, and on my way to work on Thursday evening, I had my first weather related accident on hwy 63 north. I was being careful, I was only going 45-50 mph,and I was in 4WD, and my rear wheels slipped to the right, then to the left, and then back to the right again and into a full spin. I made two full rotations across the two lanes of highway, and came to rest on the embankment of the median. It all happened to fast for me to try and correct myself, not that I could have regained control on that icy stuff anyway. Thankfully, I didn't hit anything at all. Nothing - not a tree, highway sign, or especially another car. And thankfully, it happened at a good part of that highway, too. There are lots of little creeks with steep ravines, and if I had gone off the road near any of them, I would have been seriously injured and so would my car. But, thank you saints and angels, I was only shaky, and the car is totally fine. I gave myself a few minutes to chill out, called work to tell them I would be a few minutes late, and backed of the embankment. The ditch was shallow, and I was able to simply drive out of it without any problems. The only thing different about my car was my Holy Family medal flipped completely around and over my rear view mirror, I guess from the spin and sudden stop, enertia and all that physics stuff. I am grateful I didn't learn any other physics lessons in the accident. I have never lost control of a vehicle like that and it was scary as hell. You can still see my tire tracks if you drive by that particular part of hwy 63, just south of Turkey Creek.

So, in honor of my spin, here is a video of Noah spinning to the music of the Sit N Spin.

Happy ChristmasTime!

Click to watch the Cernekas celebrate!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1190466340

NCYC

I totally forgot I got this done. I just needed to add some captions, and it's all ready to post.

We're home from Columbus and right back at the craziness that is work, ministry, family, and preschool. It was a good conference for Oddwalk. Lots of people are more aware than they ever thought they'd be of the keytar. We got the see the new CD, finally! We got to see, however briefly, ministry friends that we only get to visit with one or two times a year. We were very lucky to have Mom and Dad along to watch the kids, and we all had a good time.

The new CD!
GIA's booth.
The miniature "Santa Maria" was actually a backyard climbing play structure. They allowed people up on it to take pictures.

Erin H and Madeleine

Erin h rocks the keytar.

Noah rocks the keytar.
bMom, Dad and the kids aboard the Santa Maria.
Noah gets a ride on Shannon's shoulders.
He's got a thing for people's mouths and teeth these days. It's kind of yucky.
Orin.

bSmallfish, our next-booth neighbors, had this inflatable rainbow unicorn that Madeleine *loved"*.
We couldn't eat dinner until after the exhibit hall closed at 7:30 pm, and the kids were usually done done done by the time the meal was over. Madeleine knelt on the floor and put her head down on the bench and fell asleep here at Gordon Biersch.


Orin and Noah.

This is a little grainy because I took it through our hotel window, but those long white things are all motorcoaches lined up outside the Nationwide Arena to take the participants back to their hotels after the evening session. They lined up for 3-4 blocks in each direction from the Arena.
Madeleine helped by handing out flyers and stickers. She loved it! She was great at it, too, actually chasing people down to give them stuff.
She got a lot of traders in return - beads, candy, flashlights, stuffed animlas, etc.
Noah, once again rockin' the keytar. Orin put it in his lap and then walked away, that's why my foot is in the picture, keeping it from falling to the floor.
Saturday was Keytar Appreciation Day.

The kids celebrated KAD in their own special ways.
The winner of the inflatable keytar, who also happens to be one of Shannon's teens.
Madeleine snapped a picture of Granpa at dinner.Another picture of a sleepy kid at dinner.

...and he's out.
The girl was starting to get droopy, too.
Noah, having some naked butt time, crawled into the basket of th stroller.

Playing checkers at Cracker Barrel on a lunch break.

October Catch-Up

Here is a bunch of pictures from October, just daily goings-on and stuff around the house.
Noah snoozing in his high chair after lunch.

Doesn't everyone play an African wedding drum when they're dressed like a princess?
Smiley close up of Noah Boy
Madeleine falls asleep on the couch at night, holding her box of Disney Princess flakes that I cannot get her to eat. We're not big cereal eaters at our house, and I thought I'd introduce it by letting her pick out her own, but she refuses to eat this, even though it is super sweet and it turns her milk pink.
Noah loves to sit on the Dora couch and look at books.
Princesses Mommy and Madeleine.

I don't know why a) she's only wearing purple tights and b) she's sitting in the basket.
Cerneka hair. Noah gets all his crazy cowlicks from his father. God knows they don't come from me.
At a Prayer and Praise night in the Haven with some of Shannon's teens.
Sporting t-shirts to go and help promote Lifeteen with Dad at Helias.
Bam! I'm not making an easy, outdated joke here. He really is banging a pot and spoon together.

Whack-A-Mole's cousin, the Whack-A-Shark at Bonkers.
We won a bunch of tickets playing skeeball and Whack-A-Mole and -Shark, and this Frankenstein mask is what Madeleine decided she wanted. She played for a long time while wearing this thing.
n More than anything, besides playing dress-up, Madeleine loves to cook, or to "make", as she calls it. She is mixing croutons with parmesan cheese and pepper to add to our dinner salad.
Crazy Daisy shampoo hair. It's amazing how long it's gotten.
Yee-haw! Noah has sitting and rocking in the step stool, turned upside down.