Life as a Lewis

If you're on Instagram, you may have seen a few of these, but if not, here's a little iPhone catch-up. Last week at the ballfield. Honestly, the girl is so pretty she takes my breath away sometimes. I was trying to take a picture of the two of us and kept cutting off her head. We giggled alot over this. When did we turn into people who wear aprons? I have no idea, but it probably happened right about the time I started cooking supper every single night as well as simultaneously stopped wearing pajama pants all day every day. Brian comes home from school and joins me in the kitchen every single night, by the way. Giggly girl in the doctor's waiting room. Had to go this week for an asthma check-up, but we've been a solid 3 months without inhalers. It's probably a record! We met Sumner and Joy for lunch after Rory's doctor's appointment. A not-so-happy boy on our way home from his last day of school. Camden and his teach

Camden and Rory had a new Sunday school teacher this past week, and they decided it would be fun to switch up their names as a joke on the teacher. They giggled about it endlessly at lunch after church. Yes, they've turned into the stereo typical preacher's kids. It is entirely possible that I have over-compensated for Rory's boring school uniform wardrobe during the school year by taking advantage of sales at Crazy 8, Gymboree, and Tea Collection this week. Her closet is back to over-flowing, and I am back to mentally kicking myself for not keeping it simple. This has been one of those strange weeks where any number of things have gone wrong. None of them big; none of them important, but enough to turn me into a very cranky mama. I keep reminding myself of the families in Oklahoma who have had their homes destroyed and family members lost in an effort to keep it all in perspective. It only works part of the time. Today is the first day of summer break, and I s

Our weekend was both eventful and uneventful all at the same time. Brian was very busy with yard work, church meetings and church-related work. While he was super busy, I was not so busy, but not in a good way. I started off my Saturday morning sick with similar pain to my gallbladder issues last year. The kind of pain that shoots you straight off the couch and then immediately makes you vomit because it's so strong. Not quite my idea of a relaxing Saturday morning. My doctor was able to call in some pain medicine for me so I could avoid the ER, but I had to miss a meeting with a friend and fellow adoptive parent that I've been looking forward to for weeks. Not to mention I was supposed to be the pianist at church yesterday; something I don't get to do very often these days. Thankfully, I am feeling much better today, which is a good thing because my doctor can't see me until Friday morning. I'm more than happy to put it off as long as possible. Today i

My  baby graduated from kindergarten Friday night. Seriously. How can this be? I fought tears the entire night, and I am not one who cries over each milestone. But leaving kindergarten behind feels like leaving the last little bit of baby girl behind. I am supremely grateful for the wonderful teacher she has. Rory doesn't come home talking about learning to read or phonics or science. She comes home telling me the Bible stories and the character lessons Mrs. L has taught them. In fact, she thinks everything she's learned about Jesus has been from Mrs. L. I don't know whether to be grateful for everything Mrs. L has done or peeved at the years of family devotions, Sunday School lessons, and Children's Church hours she's clearly forgotten about. :) I can at least be thankful she still has two her front teeth. They have been loose for several weeks now, and she has been desperately trying to get rid of them in time for her graduation. I made the bold decision

Because Brian was named Teacher of the Year at his school, he got to take an afternoon off before the end of the year. We decided to use it for a little outing without the kids, something we haven't done in about 4 months. At least. We headed to Nashville to the Farmer's Market, which is something we've been planning to do for at least a year. The market isn't really in full swing yet because of the season, but we did snag some strawberries, bell peppers, tomatoes, cauliflower, squash and zucchini. We also had lunch, which was my favorite part, of course. They have some international food vendors as well as several farm-to-table restaurants. Brian chose Indian food, while I chose a farm-to-table pizzeria . I chose the Margherita pizza on whole wheat crust, baked in a wood-fired oven with homemade lemon soda. It was so good! We met my friend Tina to take some headshots for her, and then she snapped one of us. We ate a little frozen yogurt then

I decided to take advantage of happy hour at Starbucks Friday afternoon and surprised the kids with a frappucino after school. They are 9 and 6 and have had exactly one frappucino in their life up to this point. Suffice it to say that the caffeine was coursing through their veins almost immediately. Camden especially was BOUNCING off the walls the entire evening. It made family game night a little more of a patience test than usual. As of today, I have walked 9 out of the last 10 days. Maybe this isn't an accomplishment for anyone else, but it is definitely one for me. I've also completed week one of the Couch 2 5k program and started week two. While I've completed week one a couple of times, I've never moved on to week two before. Because I hate exercise almost more than anything else, I've been using Camden as my motivation. He is my serious quit-when-the-going-gets-tough (although he gets it honest from me), and we push him hard, hard, hard to overcome.

I read these verses this morning, and thought they were so appropriate for Mother's Day. "What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short . . . For this world in its present form is passing away." I Corinthians 7:29, 31 May 2011 May 2012 May 2013 (Clearly, taking decent pictures on Mother's Day is not my strong suit.) (And my hairstyle seems to be getting worse year after year.) Pictures aside, my Mother's Day was full of excited kiddos ready to share their gifts, lots of hugs, and feeling special. I've reminded Rory every day for the last week that she was supposed to wait until Sunday to tell me all about their Mother's Day projects. She is not one for secrets! Brian and the kids brought me home a huge bundle of lilies Saturday morning. Sunday morning they burst into my bedroom full of smiles bearing cards and homemade gifts (along with this bracelet from Lisa Leonard). We went to church wher

On May 11, 2012, I was in the hospital having surgery that would eventually result in the news that my cancer was still hanging out in different spots on my peritoneal wall and liver. When I read back this morning over everything that happened during the month of May, it just kind of made my head hurt. Thankfully, I had forgotten alot of the bad stuff. Unfortunately, I had also forgotten some of the ways that God showed love to us so it was actually good to revisit those difficult days. And to pray that we never experience a month like it ever again. I'm spending May 11, 2013, in a decidedly different way than last year. I slept in (as is usual for me on Saturday morning), had my cup of coffee. Brian took the kids to visit his parents while I used the treadmill (which is NOT usual for my Saturday mornings). We're running errands this afternoon and preparing to host his parents and brother at our house for Mother's Day and then attending Camden's baseball game toni

On the way home from school yesterday. Rory : I've decided I'm definitely starting a band. Me : Oh, yeah? Well, who's going to be in it? (because this is the first I've heard about a band) Rory : I was thinking you and Camden. Maybe Daddy can jump in there if his back is better on Saturday. You can play the piano. I haven't come up with a job for Camden yet. Camden : You know I can sing, right? (a little indignantly) Rory : But I was going to be the singer! (said in a very whiny voice)  Can you whistle? Camden : Seriously. I can sing. (starting to get disgusted) Rory : I just have to find a song where I know all the words. Camden : Oh, boy. I'm out. I'm not sure where this band enthusiasm came from, but she laid on my bed listening to music on my phone for almost an hour and then informed Brian when he came home that our band was called The Lewis's Family Themed Band and asked him to join it. Camden is officiall

Did you even know there was such a thing? Me neither until recently. My friend Barbara (who recently found out she can stop chemo - woohoo!) sent me this from the Sandy Rollman Ovarian Cancer Foundation . Today marks the first World Ovarian Cancer Day. On this day, ovarian cancer organizations- like Sandy Rollman - from across the world will unite to educate their communities about ovarian cancer and its symptoms. For women living with the disease, and their families and friends, World Ovarian Cancer Day will build a sense of solidarity in the fight against the disease. As many of you know, ovarian cancer has the lowest survival rate of all gynecologic cancers, and is characterized around the world by a lack of awareness of symptoms and late stage diagnosis. To help raise awareness about ovarian cancer and to let those fighting the disease know they are supported, my niece Remi Weinstein, choreographed and performed with her dance class the video below. Remi has be

Outside my window: green, green grass   I am thinking: about how I should feel embarrassed for going back to bed after I got the kids out the door this morning. I know. It's so luxurious that I feel guilty, but not only did I not sleep last night, I am all too aware that the little munchkins (they're too old to call them that, right?) will be here full-time in less than 2 weeks. I apologize to all of you who had to get up and actually go to work or take care of a houseful of toddlers today. I am thankful for: being on the no-driving end of the car pool this morning. See above. I am wondering: how all the poor teachers are going to survive these next 2 weeks of school because if every kid is as wound up as my two, the teachers most definitely need some extra thoughts and prayers.   Last 3 purchases: I wish I had something really fun for this, but nothing comes to mind. How about what I'd like to purchase? ;)   Dinner plans: these turkey nachos . We actuall

Our weekend was supposed to be quite full, but cold, rainy weather turned our Saturday into kind of a lovely shut-in day (it is somehow already the first week of May but our chilly temps and rain sure don't feel like May). It wasn't necessarily a restful day since it included some cooking and baking, closet cleaning, garage re-arranging, packing away our cold weather clothing (ironically enough since it's cold out) and an 8 hour science project. Oh, yes, I said 8 hours. School work comes SO easily to Camden that we tend to forget he's a typical 9 year old boy who can lose focus and become very distracted when faced with a challenge. After a skipped project earlier this year (when he literally hid the project from us until after it was due - so unlike him, by the way), we should have realized that this one would be a doozy. But we procrastinated and trusted in his super smarts. Eight hours later, we decided we'll never trust those natural super smarts ag

Monkey see . . . . . . monkey do I could probably sum up their relationship with those 4 little words. Brian specifically requested Flashback Friday, and this is the picture that popped for May 3, 2011. Seems fun, right? Except it was the night before this happened . God was so gracious to give me incredible friends and family to help me through this period of my life. Honestly, I'm still amazed when I look back at 2011 and see how God showed up. Glad to be spending this May 3 chemo-free.

I sent my kids off to school a little while ago (after a morning full of arguments and unkind words between them, a recurring theme these days), and read this verse: Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6 It hit me straight in the heart that being Camden and Rory's mama is my good work that I can carry on to completion. I can't give up. And I've got Someone on my side who will help me make the right choices. Parenting is so hard. Most days I can't wait for bedtime (theirs!) so that I can relax and not feel as if everything little thing I say is going to determine their memory of me. It's good to remember we're not alone in this parenting job we've undertaken. I also uploaded these pictures from my camera this morning, and it was such a perfect reminder that sometimes they do love on each other the way I want them to. They wanted to play outside