Life as a Lewis

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas! We spent a quiet night at home yesterday and it's about the same today! Made coffee cake for breakfast, opened presents, called all the family, ate dinner about 2:00, and my house is trashed! I made a ham, rolls, green beans, and sweet potatoes for dinner - nothing too extravagant for the three of us. Camden has made it through the first round of playing with all his presents and is currently watching The Polar Express so I got in a little scrapping time. He seems to be catching a cold. Hopefully, nothing too serious. He had a flu shot Friday so I'm hoping it's not related to that. It's been nice having a quiet couple of days at home, but I'm ready to go hit the after Christmas sales tomorrow! I've already hit a few digi-scrapping sales today!

"Mommy, why are you so short?" Just the question of the day from Camden! We had a nice quiet evening last night after all the events earlier in the week. Camden did not deal well with his cousins, but he's settled down some now. We've had a fun day of just hanging out at home, finishing up wrapping gifts. I made a dessert, and we're headed to my in-laws tonight to celebrate Christmas with them. Camden is getting quite excited about opening gifts, and I'm excited to celebrate Christmas morning. Here are the two layouts I've managed this week. I love using Christmas kits, and there are just so many out there! I'm trying to resist the Scrapartist sale on their Christmas kits tomorrow, but not sure I'll be able to!

So guess where I'm blogging from today? Home!! As of Wednesday at 4:00 p.m., I am officially off work until January 3. It feels good! My sister, brother, and twin nephews came into town and stayed with us last night. They're running around today, but will be back tonight. Should be fun! Camden seems to be having issues with letting them touch his toys! I guess this will be a good lesson in sharing for him! I just have one layout to share, but it's one of my favorites! The template is mine and available here .

Layouts!

Wow! It's just so busy everywhere! I went to Target on my lunch hour to pick up a couple of small gifts and left empty handed. There were people everywhere; no parking spaces; I couldn't get to what I needed in the aisles. Crazy! I am vowing to never let this happen again. I'm going to shop all year long or at least well before December 19 next year! Just a couple of scrapping pieces of news I want to share. First, just wanted to direct everyone's attention to Jennilyn's My Kinda Christmas available at The DigiShoppe. This preview doesn't do it justice - there's a ton of fun stuff in here and I will have a layout soon! I especially love the little train details, and I have the perfect pictures to go with this kit! Next, if I can toot my own horn, check out this thread . I'm the featured scrapper at DST. How fun is that! We got lots of laundry (I'm embarrassed to announce how much here) done last night and some cleaning. It's so great to have Bri

What a busy weekend! We had a church party Friday night to attend; got home late. Saturday morning went to a wedding shower; came home and left again to go Christmas shopping. Thought I would finally finish, but no such luck! Maybe today! Sunday was full of early Christmas program practice, an ill-advised nap (see next paragraph) and early practice before church. Insomnia has struck again! I probably slept all of 2 hours last night. Combine that with Camden getting up 4 times in the night, and I've got huge bags under my eyes! My Starbucks peppermint mocha should be pulling me out of my sleepiness soon. I scrapped one page over the weekend - and it took me all weekend to finish for some reason! It's a picture of Kim's little girl Izzy (who I think is the cutest baby girl ever!).

It's over!! My big work dinner I'm in charge of for 100 people is over! So happy to have it behind me for another year, and it went very well, but I'm having trouble moving off the couch this morning. It's 10:42, and I'm still in my p.j.'s! I've got to get motivated - grocery shopping and some Christmas baking is on the agenda today. We've got a church Christmas party tonight. I've scrapped so much for Christmas gifts the last couple of weeks that I'm just feeling really burnt out. Not sure I can crank out a layout for another couple of days! I've been tagged by Nikki (I think this is a first for me so here goes.) 1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Most definitely hot chocolate. 2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa who? 3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? white 4. Do you hang mistletoe? No 5. When do you put up your decorations? The day after Thanksgiving. 6. What is your favorite holiday dish? There is no

Camden walked around all night last night with a blanket around his head and pretended to be superman. Brian jumped in the game and was Batman. Not to be outdone, I declared myself Wonder Woman. Camden had a blast. Small problem, though. He didn't quite get the "Wonder" part of Wonder Woman, so he walked around all night calling me, "Woman." As in, "Hey, Woman, thanks for making me supper." It was so funny! I am having serious issues sleeping, which makes me grumpy! The last 3 or 4 nights I go to bed at normal time and then lay there for hours! I wake up again about 3:00 and am awake for another hour or so before finally falling asleep again. This morning seems worse because I'm catching a cold, which only adds to my grumpiness! Don't I sound fun today? No layouts to share - I just had no motivation last night! Maybe tonight!

I am so tired this morning! Lots of holiday activities over the weekend! I worked Friday afternoon at a party at my boss' house. Friday night Camden had his Christmas program at church (let's just summarize that experience to say he apparently has NO stage fright!). Saturday was the children's party from work. We took what I thought would be a short detour after the party to pick up ice cream, but got stuck in traffic and it turned out to be a LONG detour! Sunday was church, choir practice, and more church! I'm not sleeping well at night for some reason. Hopefully, it will be better tonight. I have got several cute things to share about Camden today. First up - he's got a little cold and has been coughing up junk from his throat. Brian thought it would be a great idea to tell him he could spit it out in the trashcan (and even gave a demonstration!). So, now Camden's new past time is spitting in the trash. Fun. Second - lately, he has been so sweet in telling me

It's Brian's 31st birthday, and unfortunately, it's not a great day! He's taking exams today and very busy! We were able to celebrate a couple of weeks ago when we went out for our combined birthdays, and I made his favorite pound cake last weekend. The good news is that after tonight, he's finished until mid-January! I took Camden Tuesday night after work to buy a card. I let Camden pick it out and help pay for it. He was soooooo cute! When we got home, he "signed" his name, and I made a big deal about it being a secret. Well, you can imagine how well he kept that secret. Not so much! Brian got a good laugh out of it, though. We tried it was time to try giving up the night-time pull-ups again, but after 4 nights and about 8 bed changes, we decided to wait a while! I just don't think he's ready, and all those bed changes in the middle of the night are not fun! Went grocery shopping after I picked Camden up from school today since I'm working to

Not much going on today, just taking a quick break at work to share these layouts. I think they're sweet. Who knew scrapping with pink could be so much fun!

We had such a fun weekend! Camden had a blast at his pajama party at school on Friday and came home completely wired! I made a really great potato/broccoli/cheese soup for supper, which tasted so good in the midst of our cold winter weather (finally!). Saturday we lounged around in the morning and then went and met friends for lunch and went to the Schoolhouse Rock performance at the Nashville Children's Theater. Camden was mesmerized! He sat really well most of the way through. After every single song, however, he asked, "is it over?" Then when it was over, he says, "why is it over?" There's no pleasing him, I guess! I have a very busy week ahead of me, but I'm not feeling like Scrooge yet, so that's good news! Maybe ask me at the end of the week. Sometimes the Christmas festivities (mostly involving work) just take over the season and make it hard to be excited about my own holiday events. I've got to get some Christmas shopping done soon! I ha

Yes, it's true. After almost 3 years of joy with Camden, we have made the first step towards our little girl. Those of you in our family know that we've made the final decision (ummmmm, many times) on whether it would be Korea or China, but the final, final decision is Korea! We're going to be using our same local agency and placement agency, and we're very excited. My heart is beating a little quickly as I write this because the envelope is in the mail so it's official! We're not planning to tell many people yet (only the close friends and family who read the blog - and all you cyber friends). I'm not ready to make the announcement at work simply because we don't know yet what my work situation will be after the new baby arrives, and I need some time to decide and we have plenty since this process will take approximately 18-24 months, and I'm not ready for the daily questions of how it's all going because mostly it will just be waiting going on.

The basketball fascination is continuing! Camden could not wait to get home last night to play, and he played hard and fast barely taking a break for supper and a bath. I'm really busy today and just posting during a quick work break, so I'll leave you with 3 layouts. The first two are using papers and elements by Stacie Prinzo and The DigiShoppe. The third layout uses papers and elements by Dani Mogstad available soon at The DigiShoppe. Happy Wednesday!

Brian took Camden to a basketball game last night since a boy from the youth group was playing the team where Camden goes to school. When they got home last night, Camden could hardly say hello to me he was so excited. He ran into his bedroom, grabbed his basketball, and then ran into our bedroom, and said, "make noise for me, daddy." Brian obliged by making the appropriate "music" and Camden came running into the living room, dribbling for all he was worth, and then proceeded to throw the ball against the door and rebound it (like he was being announced at a game). We repeated this process many times! He was soooooooooooooooo cute! His teachers said they heard about how his daddy was taking him to a basketball game all day long. He also seemed to be fascinated by the buzzer sound and kept telling me over and over to "bzzzzz." I have no layouts to share today because I spent 3 hours (yes, 3 HOURS) working on our Christmas card last night. I probably should

. . . my Monday is not off to a good start. I left early for work today to make sure I got in my regular Starbucks coffee, but traffic was so horrible, it took me over an hour to get to work, and no coffee! There's always tomorrow! Camden had a blast putting up the Christmas tree Friday night. He was soooooooooooooo excited! It was hard for him to wait while we actually put it together and got lights on it before he could work with the ornaments. He called Gram and Gramps and Grandma and Grandpa in the meantime because he was so excited and couldn't wait to tell someone the tree was up. Of course, he put all the ornaments in one spot so I went and fixed them when he wasn't looking! He's loving the Christmas music and insists that our Christmas tree stay lit at all times (even when he gets up in the middle of the night to go potty he must check on it!). Saturday was pretty laid back and relaxed. Brian took Camden to the park to play soccer, and we rented Over the Hedge a

Just one of the funny conversations we had this weekend. Camden: Mommy, will you play with me? Me: Hang on a second while I dry my hair. Camden: But why? Me: So it doesn't stick out everywhere and look ugly. A few minutes later. Camden: Mommy, will you play with me? Me: Hang on a second while I finish my makeup. Camden: Before your face gets ugly?

Our Thanksgiving Day was relaxing and full of good food! We spent most of the day at Brian's parents house, just eating, looking through the sale ads, eating some more, etc. The day ended on a not-so-good note, however. First, my sister and her husband were in a really bad wreck. They are okay somehow, but their vehicle is totaled. Even worse than that, one of the students who just graduated from the college where I work passed away unexpectedly. He was playing football, fainted, and never regained consciousness. My sister and her husband were in school with him, and he was a friend of theirs. It's so tragic for his family, and especially his wife of only two months. On a lighter note, I've enjoyed Black Friday so far! We got up and left about 7:00 a.m., which is much later than we normally go, but we had Camden with us. He did really well, just very hyper and required a lot of attention, but hey, he's only 3! Target was crazy! I stood in line for about 30 minutes for a

I'm so excited that the Thanksgiving holiday is about to begin. I work half a day today and then I'm free until Monday! We're headed to Brian's parents for Thanksgiving. I'm sad to not be going home to be with my family, but we'll spend Christmas with them so it's all right. Brian's family has always lived so far away that I haven't really had to share holidays until this past year, but it's only fair I know! I'm getting my hair chopped this afternoon. I grew it out for almost a year, and after that it's been the same length/style for about 8 months now, and I'm just ready for a change. Hopefully nothing too drastic, but definitely a change. Might even go for some long, side-swept bangs (which will probably drive me to distraction!). Anyone else planning to shop on Friday? We almost always do. There's something really fun to get up at a ridiculous hour and rush to the stores and find all those great deals. We've always had fam

A little motivation, apparently, is all Camden needs to sleep through the night and not wake us up over and over! Right before bedtime last night, genius struck, and I promised him donuts for breakfast if he would either sleep all night or just go potty himself without waking us up, and he did! I also slept all night without waking up, which is so rare for me! Must have been a good night for sleeping. Of course, he was up at 5:30, but I guess it's a trade off. Going to lunch with a group from work today. We always go out right after payday and take turns choosing places. Most choose crazy places like White Trash Cafe or Fat Mo's Burgers, but the guy choosing this time likes clean so he'll choose somewhere good. Here are a couple of layouts from last night. All Wrapped Up Dianne Rigdon's Brown Paper Packages kit My Little Monkey - credits here

We had such a nice weekend! Brian got off work early Friday, we dropped Camden off at his Gram and Gramps house, and we headed to town to do a little shopping, see a movie, and eat. Shopping was fun because I got to buy stuff! Bought a couple of new piano books and a new Christmas CD. Went to Kohl's and found a new sweater and two shirts. We saw Casino Royale, the new James Bond movie, and it was actually pretty fun. Headed to Olive Garden next where we waited for 45 minutes out in the freezing cold only to be seated in the smoking section (full of smoke!) and had horrible service, but the food was good so it all turned out okay. Our last stop was to the little bakery to pick up cheesecake and coffee. Saturday was pretty low-key as well. Just hung around the house doing a little cleaning and alot of relaxing. Sunday we had church in the morning, but no evening service, which was wonderful! What is it about cancelled church services that's so nice? Work today has been hectic, bu

. . . for his own good! I mean, seriously, how could you resist this face? I'll blog about the weekend later.

It's Date Night! We're celebrating my birthday and Brian's birthday all at once. Camden is spending the night with Gram and Gramps, and we're going out to eat and a movie. Brian sweetly offered to take me to Maggianos , which I love, but in keeping with our "save for adoption" mindframe, we're downgrading to Olive Garden, which I also love! Not sure which movie we're going to, maybe the new Bond movie. Then we're going for cheesecake at this cute gourmet family restaurant that has amazing homemade cheesecake. I'm very excited because Brian has no class, no work, nothing this week but us! It's 10:20, I'm still in p.j.'s, and Camden is calling me to help him put together his Thomas track that takes up the whole living room. Not my favorite thing, but I've been parked in front of the computer all morning finishing this calendar for my in-law's Christmas gift so he deserves some time from me! I used Kimberly Geswein's calend

Not much to post today, but did want to share a quick layout using Lauren Reid's Abby's Orchard kit and tell one funny Camden story. He was sitting on my lap the other night watching TV. If I let him stay up late, one condition is that he must sit on my lap. Used to be that I didn't have to bribe him, but these days I do! All of a sudden, he lets out a huge sigh and says, "Mommy, I'm just so tired of sitting on your lap." And off he goes to bed!

Warning: this post will be mostly full of useless information. I'm just rambling. So my friend Kathy got me a cool gift set from L'Occitane en Provence . I've been wanting to try something from there, but haven't yet so now I can! The great thing is I've been to that area in France. I really want to try their lavender products. I got a gift card for my birthday I'm dying to use, but can't decide what to get. I might try the lavender products from L'Occitane, or I really want this Vera Bradley purse. Origins is another favorite of mine. I'm sure you've noticed these are all girly, not-very-practical items! But hey, it's my gift card, isn't it! I managed to get a layout done last night. I love this picture and hope the layout does it justice! Camden is so full of personality, and I think this picture helps show it off. You can find the credits here . I'm quite busy at work today, so I better finish up my break and get back to it!

. . . . The DigiShoppe that is. Let me direct your attention to my new blinkie on the right! I'm a Shoppe Girl! I know all my non-digiscrapping readers out there don't have a clue what I'm talking about, but just believe me when I say it's a big deal! I came home to a fun surprise last night. Brian had fixed supper and (more importantly) had brought home ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery for a little belated birthday fun. It was great to have him home last night! Only a couple more weeks before this semester is over. Next semester won't be quite as bad, and then we're home free! I have some Camden funnies for you today. Last night sometime before supper, I had mentioned I was starving. So when it came time to pray, Camden said, "Dear Jesus, help mommy to stop starving. Amen." Apparently, he was listening! This morning at breakfast, he wanted Brian to pick him up from school this afternoon, and he said, "please, I'll be your best friend!"

Yes, I started my Monday morning with a Starbucks Peppermint Mocha - my favorite! I also noticed their Cranberry Bliss bars are back for the holiday season, but I resisted! We had a good visit with my brother. Camden absolutely loved having his Uncle Matt around. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Uncle Matt brought him the movie, Cars, as then took him to the toystore and bought him a Cars racetrack with remote controlled cars, and then played with him almost every second! He had a blast. We were also able to meet up with my cousin, uncle, and respective girlfriends for dinner on Saturday night. Yesterday was my 31st birthday (I am so old!!), and I can't say it was the best day I've ever had, but that's all right. I'm an adult, so my birthday doesn't have to be a big deal, right? Exactly one year ago today, Brian and Camden were headed to West Virginia with my in-laws for a quick visit to family when they hit a spot on the road where a truck had been leaking diese

Happy Friday! My brother is coming for a visit tonight so I'm spending the day cleaning, doing laundry, and grocery shopping. Okay, pretty much how I spend every Friday, but probably doing a little more heavy duty cleaning. Brian went deer hunting this morning, but is coming home early to help around the house, which is great! Camden was up at 5:30 this morning so I'm feeling tired. I'm usually up by 5:30 during the week anyway, but somehow it's harder to get up when I'm off work! Here are two layouts from last night. Family is Forever - Credits here . Fall