Life as a Lewis

I love that you can see her smiling behind the mask. Thank you, Christine , for the masks! They posed for the obligatory picture. First one out of the camera is this. But this was all on their own. Good thing I kept clicking. You just can't fake these kind of smiles. 50mm 1.4 lens, f3.2, 1/200 SS, 400 ISO - they didn't really need editing, but I ran Paint The Moon's Jubilee action at 20% opacity for fun.

Rory and I spent Wednesday furiously racing around Nashville trying to fit in a whole bunch of fun things into one day. We started off at Target where I tried not to bankrupt us with all the good things on sale. I managed to resist everything but the essentials such as K-cups, socks for Camden, bottled water, and more K-cups (what can I say? they were on sale!). We visited the library, then raced to the hospital to see Addison. I completely took advantage of valet parking so that we didn't have to walk in the cold rain. Best idea ever. After the hospital was a visit to Trader Joe's, which is always a highlight except this time I resisted all treats and stuck strictly to organic essentials. It was hard to leave those chocolate covered potato chips in the store, but they managed to stay out of my cart. After Trader Joe's we met my friend Tina for lunch at 5 Guys where I had a minor breakdown at the thought of sending my body into a gallstone attack because of the burger

So when I say it's been 4 years since I put this hanbok on Rory, I was not kidding. I tried to look for the picture of her wearing it, but couldn't quickly locate it so you'll have to just trust me. And I didn't think Monday's shoot was going to be very successful. I tried lots of different locations trying to find the least brown spots in our yard. It was super windy and that hanbok is drafty so most of them turned out a little like this (and I didn't even bother editing all these throw-aways): And then we've got goofy girl Serious girl Are we done yet? Dancing girl There's that wind again Ta-Da! Blowing her pageant kiss. Yes, Toddlers & Tiaras is still haunting us. Occasionally, the stars all lined up, and I got something like this one. But the ones I really love are these final two. Mostly because they're so true to her, but also because I've been read

Ever since we saw The Addams Family a couple of weeks ago, Rory has been singing the theme song (yes, the one you remember from your childhood) non-stop. And she thinks that because we were at the same theater that they played the same music for Wicked. So I introduced her to Defying Gravity . Unfortunately, it hasn't made her stop singing The Addams Family theme song. Camden and I both had long over-due eye appointments yesterday. Camden's eyes had changed drastically (which we suspected) and the doctor told us that he has an increased risk of retinal detachment and that we should reconsider any plans for karate or boxing. Ha! Like Camden would ever choose a sport that might possibly involve injuries. LOL I'm sure lots of my adoptive parent friends have seen this video, but if not, you should watch it. Katherine Heigle (actress) and her husband Josh Kelley (singer) adopted a little girl from Korea, and this is a sweet song he wrote about their journey. And that is

Taking it easy on this Lunar New Year after a stormy day (figuratively speaking) yesterday followed by very stormy night (literally speaking). As usual, we don't have too much planned for Lunar New Year, but I am cooking Asian food tonight (not specifying Korean because that wouldn't be quite correct) and I've got this printable dragon mask ready for the kids after school. Maybe I'll even drag out the hanbok and attempt Rory pictures - something I've been *planning* to do for oh, the last 4 years. (ETA: My friend Christine has this super cute dragon printable as well - I'm  going to print it and let the kids do both.) And one quick picture - this is what our mornings look like. I get the kids up at 6:45, they drag themselves (or I carry Rory) into the living room and as they wake up we read our morning scripture and devotions then have a quick prayer for the day. As much as I hate mornings, I kind of love those first few minutes where they're so drowsy

So yesterday did not exactly turn out as planned. I did get to see Baby Addison (hurray), but we spent 3 hours at one doctor's office and then an hour at the next, which resulted in no time for a birthday lunch. In fact, we left the house at 9:45, returned home at 4 and it was all spent at the hospital. Fun times. The good news is that I'm totally fine - the doctors were just running late. Very, very late. As in the receptionist brought out a basket full of cold drinks and snacks to the waiting room kind of late. Twice. Our friend Randall spent the night with us, and I am just hoping I didn't pass on my nasty germs. My cold ramped up into high gear throughout the day, and I had completely lost my voice by bedtime last night. I didn't sleep well, but at least my throat isn't on fire this morning. Rory and I are camped out on the couch (she also has a cold) and plan to spend the day resting. My mom is coming over tonight and making her homemade chicken and dumpli

Yesterday flew by in a flurry of breakfast and some Pioneer Woman cooking show viewing with my friend Andrea, my mom, and Rory; a trip to Walmart; and then a very long afternoon and evening of preparing all of Camden and Rory's spring/summer clothes for a consignment sale followed by a long calendar-planning church meeting. My cold seems to revive itself every 24 hours or so, and I feel kinda crappy. Today is another full day. Rory and I are picking up my mom and Elizabeth and headed to Nashville to see Addison, celebrate my mom's 60th birthday, and two doctor's appointments for me. I'm seeing my primary care doctor for a blood pressure follow-up (as well as to check in on this sore throat that's been bothering me for 7-8 days now) and then to see Dr. T. I'm a little unsure as to whether or not I'm seeing Dr. T or having an ultrasound, but it's a follow-up to my gallstone episode. After the afternoon appointment, I will be rushing home to pick up Ca

Despite it's less than exciting start yesterday turned out to be a pretty nice day. The kids had a blast with the whole Next Great Artist competition Brian came up with. They were just really cute with all of their efforts. Brian took Camden to a friend's house for batting practice while Rory napped, then took both of them to Sonic for Happy Hour, which gave me a chance to settle in with some silence, a fresh cup of coffee, and my heated body bean . And while they were out, they went to a local shop and brought me back some chocolates. Camden said the best part of his day was seeing my smile when they brought me the chocolates. How sweet! Camden was SO excited while he waited for Brian to hand out the awards. ;) And while we're not really all about making sure everything is equal or that the kids never lose, we did decide there was no way to hand out just one award when you're talking about artwork (or when one child is 3 years younger and can't read or

Well, we are certainly celebratory on this Martin Luther King Day (insert varying degrees of sarcasm here). Brian is hard at work on lesson plans, and I am working on about 5 loads of laundry. The kids, however, are having a great time. They've been creating with moon dough and play dough for the last 2.5 hours.  To encourage their competitive spirit (a.k.a. sibling rivalry) Brian has promised to make an art gallery and judge their work this afternoon.  Camden's first creation (not sure how we're going to hang this on the wall) We had a nice weekend which involved all my favorite football teams losing (seriously, all 4 games) as well as purchasing not only a new can opener, but a new iron. Exciting, right? Rory's cold never developed into anything, thank goodness, and I felt better by Sunday. Unfortunately, last night I seem to have developed a new strain of that cold despite my current habit of incessant hand washing to get rid of all unwanted ge