Life as a Lewis

Look at the smile on her face. She thought she was big stuff holding the "baby." (Mayme, Emma better watch out - Rory will think she needs to hold her too!)

Yesterday was kind of a rough day. Rory was attached to my hip and very tired and cranky. She cried more yesterday than she has in a very long time. Michael came and picked up Camden to take him out for lunch and to hang out with him for a bit (wasn't that sweet!), but he came home tired and threw more fits than I can keep track of. We sat down with him last night and let him help make up a behavior chart, so hopefully that will be help a bit. I made the mistake of grocery shopping at our small town store yesterday. I'll never do it again! I cannot believe how much more expensive groceries are there. It was nice to save a bit of time, but it wasn't worth it! Not only were groceries much more expensive, they were clearly restocking shelves at 8:30 in the morning and took up the entire aisle so I couldn't make it through with my cart - quite frustrating! At least I was pretty much alone in the store. If you're interested in seeing Becky's talk last week, you can g

I never know quite how to recap after a long trip, so I think I'll just list the highlights and be done with it. Left Friday night and drove 8 hours to WV. The kids were angels! Met our new niece Miley and Brian's cousin's baby girl Aubri on Saturday morning Celebrated Brian's grandparent's 58th wedding anniversary with a picnic, cake, and lots of family pictures at Grandview State Park. Took over Brian's aunt and uncle's house when we added 6 adults and 7 kids to their household. Camden absolutely wore himself out playing with his cousins. I am so glad he had such a good time. Rory and Miley (14 months old) each thought the other was the baby and they were the big girl. It was so funny! We found gas for $3.59/gallon!! Unfortunately, we had just filled up at $4.05/gallon. We shopped at Brian's uncle's new Amish store and bought fun stuff like butter cheese, green onion cheese, and peanut butter spread that tastes like peanut butter fudge. Leigh gave

No one panic. LOL We're going out of town for the weekend so no new posts from me until sometime next week. I'll come back armed with lots of new scrapping material. The weather outside was cooler and humidity-free yesterday so we spent quite a bit of time outside in the morning. I hadn't pulled my camera out all week so I decided to get it warmed up again so it would be ready for the weekend. I wanted to post these to show you that they don't all turn out good! This picture is typical. I pull out the camera and Rory immediately starts with her fake smile. Camden, of course, is oblivious. Look at her face. She was mad at him because he wouldn't move over. We're hoping that Brian can finish up his in-service early today. If not, we're going to be on the road until about 1:00 a.m. this morning, which will not be fun. This is our first extended road trip with Rory - it's about an 8 hour drive. Hopefully, it won't be too traumatic! I'm in charge of f

After almost 2 months of searching, we finally found and bought Mario Kart for Brian for Father's Day. He and Camden spent quite a bit of time yesterday afternoon playing. Then I had this conversation with Camden this morning. Camden: Mommy, when I'm a Daddy, I'm going to get Mario Kart for Father's Day. Me: I bet there will be something even cooler by then. Camden: Yeah, like Pokemon! Rory is currently throwing a fit because I won't let her take a bath with Camden. He begged to take it by himself this morning (I think he's tired of Rory stealing his bath toys!). This is her second little fit of the day - and this is really the first day that she's thrown fits. She's especially irritated that I won't let her take her diaper off. I can't imagine why not. Rory's newest trick is if she falls or hurts herself in any way (or if Camden does), she runs to me and jabbers in this soft, fake voice showing me where she hurt herself and waiting for me to

They've got style, don't they.

It's 8:57. I've changed 2 dirty diapers, 1 regular diaper, been to the grocery store, fed the kids breakfast, broken up 2 fights, "saved" Camden's current favorite toy from Rory's destructive nature, and dealt with another infamous Camden temper tantrum. Can I take the rest of the day off? Doesn't 2 adults for 5 kids sound like a good ratio? Yeah, I thought so too, but the playdate yesterday was B.U.S.Y. They were all so good and had a great time, but with two strollers and then 3 kids running wild through Target and the mall, they kept us on our toes! We even dared to take them into Gymboree and the Disney store. I left the house yesterday at 9:00 and didn't get home until 4:15. We missed naptime, so you can imagine how exciting our evening was! LOL We have no plans today other than VBS for Camden tonight and church for the rest of us. Brian is at another in-service day. I think he's getting more stressed out as each day passes. He actually spent

Yesterday was not a good start to the week. In fact, it was pretty awful. However, today is a new day, and I'm hopeful it will be better. We're meeting my friend Kathy and her two girls and baby for a play date and lunch today. The mall is almost an hour away so it will take up a chunk of our day. I'm sure Camden will have a good time. The mall has a cute playground, but I don't know how Rory will feel about all the other kids. I'm so happy to spend time with an adult! :) This week is VBS at a friend's church so Brian took Camden last night, and he had a blast. I think we're all going tonight. My sister Becky is speaking to alot (as in thousands) of people this morning at the NAFWB Convention. You might want to say a prayer for her if you think about it. I have full confidence in her, but it's a big deal, and she's speaking on her experience with breast cancer and how that has changed their career as missionaries to France so I'm sure it will b

The doctor's appointments went well on Friday. It's always good to have two healthy kiddos! Camden is still slightly below average in height and weight, which surprised me because he's grown so much this year! Rory is 2nd percentile for head circumference, 5th for weight, and 21st for height. She's grown 2 inches and gained 2 pounds since she's been with us. Camden had to get 4 shots, and for the most part behaved himself (there was quite a bit of SCREAMING during shot time). At one point, our doctor remarked about Rory, "it's not enough that she gets to be a princess, she wants to be the queen." It's true. She's quite bossy and demanding at times! He wants us to have her hearing checked because her vocabulary isn't expanding nearly as quickly as we thought it would, but I am certain her hearing is fine. She doesn't seem to have trouble hearing, and she really seems to understand everything we say. Speaking of vocabulary, we did see imp

Today, both Rory and Camden have doctor's appointments. I purposefully scheduled them together so that we could save a trip (it's about a 50 minute drive) and so Brian could come with me! This is Camden's 5 year appointment, and Rory is scheduled for a shot and just another quick check-up. Camden didn't have to have any shots last year, but I know he's going to have several this year. Hopefully, he won't embarrass himself by. . . . how should I put this. . . being less than brave. We're trying to bribe him with the promise of ice cream. Brian is still feeling better. He is still in pain and can't hear a thing, but it's definitely better. I took Rory to have her hair cut yesterday. We thought we might like to grow it out, but it's so darn cute short that we decided to keep it short for a little while longer. After the haircut and naptime, we let the kiddos play in the pool. Rory spent her time holding her nose and dunking her head under water. Cam