Life as a Lewis

We were lucky enough to escape ice, but we did end up with about 4 inches of snow overnight (which is more snow than Tennessee has seen in several years). Camden and Rory both have coughs (or coughses as Rory calls them) and it's very cold outside so we decided they better not play outside and made Snow Cream instead with fresh snow (at 9:00 a.m. for some reason). Yes, she's in charge of her own hair this morning Brain freeze! Brian got all domestic on me and made coffee 'n cream cookies (seriously good!) We (a.k.a. Brian) decided we should make snowmen out of clay since we couldn't make real ones. And then we gave in and took them outside for just a few minutes and hopefully the coughs won't be worse. Brian did all the work pulling the kids around on the sled (video coming soon)

Brian and Camden are off school today in anticipation of an ice storm followed by a snow storm later this morning. It looks this time as if we actually might get some accumulation, although our weathermen are not exactly known for their accurate reports. We've got wood downstairs if we lose electricity, plenty of food in the fridge in case we need to stay put for a couple of days, and I've got lots of scrapping to do! :) You might see a familiar face here (and it's not Rory this time). I have four new layouts to share, all with new products I'm sure you need! Gina Miller/Karah Fredericks: Lil Cowpoke Lauren Reid: new frames at SSD tomorrow Shabby Miss Jenn: Sweet Cakes Shabby Miss Jenn/Kay Miller: Follow Your Heart

When Kelly emailed me about 2 weeks ago and asked if I could take some pictures of Rory modeling hair accessories for her Etsy shop, I was so excited and thought how fun it would be! I may have overestimated the fun in having a 3 year old change clothes 6 times while plopping her down in front of the teeny patch of natural light we have in our house to take 100's of pictures in the hopes that 1 from each outfit would turn out cute enough to put on a public website. :) I think they mostly turned out cute, and we just LOVE the hats and head bands. Definitely check out Briar Claire - they have great designs, and I think their prices are SO reasonable (and you'll see cute pics of Rory). Oh, and it's a sale this week too! Thanks for letting us help out, Kelly! Camden is having a rough week. He is extra energetic for whatever reason (possibly because of the extremely dreary weather conditions we've had for over a week now) and is having difficulty making good choices. In fac...

I have traumatized Rory by taking her through the automatic car wash (imagine how dirty our car was if this was the first time she's been through one). She sobbed and sobbed, "get me outta here" and "I just wanna go home." When we finally finished, she said, "pleeeaaasse don't ever wash the car again." I tried to be compassionate, but mostly I was hiding a smile. Camden informed us he was going on a date with Renya (a girl from his class) at 9:00 on Saturday. Apparently, she asked him to go to Opry Mills mall with her, but he thought Chucky Cheese would be more fun and "at least one adult will go with us, of course." He also informed me on the way to school this morning that way back in K-4, there were actually 2 girls he liked. I'm sorry, when did he turn 16? In about 48 hours time, we've had buckets of rain, 60 degree weather, a tornado, 30 degree weather, snow, lots of wind. Yep, it's January in Tennessee. It's homecomi...

As if I needed another obsession, I've discovered I Heart Faces , which is a fun photography site with weekly challenges. This week's challenge was texture and here's my picture.

Sooooo, what are the odds that a certain someone would have the stomach bug two Saturday nights/Sunday mornings in a row? I am clearly being punished for saying that being sick was almost worth the alone time. Because it is not worth it two weekends in a row. And it is not worth the weekend I spent cleaning because our small group was supposed to meet here tonight, but now can't because of germs. And it wasn't worth the hours I spent practicing my song for church today. And it wasn't worth being up until 3:00 this morning. Nope, I'm completely rescinding my statement about a few hours alone being worth the sickies. Shabby Miss Jenn: Autumn Flea Market

Okay, so ignore the fact that he has crazy hair all over his back (he was in the middle of a haircut - does it freak you out? LOL), but isn't he just beautiful.

Gina Miller 365 template , Ashby papers

I am so happy with the amount of decluttering I got done yesterday, although it's not near enough! Why do I let things go until they drive me crazy? I can take the easy way out and put some blame on Brian because he is not only a pack rat, but seriously busy and all of his school and church stuff accumulates very quickly and it's not anything I can mess with. Of course, I can't blame him for the FOURTEEN pairs of shoes that Rory still had in her closet that she's outgrown in the last 6 months. Yes, it's a sickness. I also packed up about half of Rory's overflowing book baskets. The plan is to switch them out every few months. Today I have to tackle actually cleaning those places I decluttered. A couple of scrapping things: (1) Gina Miller has a new set of Project 365 templates out today that are fabulous! (layout coming soon to a blog near you) (2) Scrap Orchard has a collab kit for sale. All proceeds will go to the Clinton Bush Haiti fund, and you can find it ...

Rory and I spent some time yesterday with my friend Amanda and her little girl Emma. We mostly stayed on the floor with photography books and camera manuals spread out around us taking pictures of toys while we worked on settings. :) It was lots of fun to talk with someone as crazy about camera and taking pictures of their cute kiddos as I am. She got a really cute picture of the two girls that I can hopefully snag from her and post. On today's agenda is :(1) Get rid of some clutter starting with our bedroom. I'm determined to get rid of the piles of clothing and anything that hasn't been worn in the last 12 months is out the door. (2) Spend a little extra time "cuddling on the couch wis me" for Rory. With all the playdates, she's been acting like she's missing out on the mommy and me time. (3) Make nice with the treadmill for the first time this week. Gina Miller: Snapshots

Thanks to Amanda (who helped out ALOT with settings), I was able to shoot my first decent photos in full manual mode. Hopefully I can remember everything she showed me and duplicate it soon. Straight from the camera - no editing! Another straight from the camera And then I had fun with actions thanks to 4 Hens Photography ! Banana Cream Pie Cream Puff Honeycomb Are you Rory'ed out yet?

I fixed Rory's hair this way yesterday, took a picture, then promptly re-fixed it because it made her look too old! Emma and Rory playing yesterday. Emma had quite the ensemble going on!

Rory has a (fairly) new night time routine that is wearing me out. She'll wake up 2-3 times a night, call out for me, and when I go in to ask what she needs or what's the matter, not only is she wide awake, but she says "nothing." Last night was no exception, and I'm dragging this morning. At this point, it's definitely a habit and not a need, but I'm not quite sure how to handle it. In general, her sleep habits have been creeping down the tube lately. Yesterday, she didn't even take a nap despite my many threats, and it's not because she wasn't tired - she was just much too wound up from playing with Camden. I finally told her that we were going to have to skip gymnastics so she could go to bed early and that brought on the (many) tears. I would say that maybe she's just moving into a new developmental stage and doesn't need quite as much sleep (and that might still be the case), but considering her behavior when she doesn't get s...

This was clearly an exciting weekend for our family since I couldn't even remember what we had going on for several minutes this morning as I sat down to write today's post. :) Friday night was the lock-in and Brian had 18 teenagers. He survived. That's about all there is to say about that. He got home about 7:30, finished up some church work (I actually caught him asleep at the computer), and then he napped for several hours. I took the kids to the library and to Target in an effort to get them out of the house, and we actually had a nice time. On any given day, Target is pretty dangerous to our bank account. Add in their January 75% clearance, and it's very dangerous! I managed to walk away with only a few things and Camden informed me on the way home, "well, this is the first time I liked shopping." I had a little stomach bug yesterday and stayed home from church. How awful is it that as I got into bed last night the thought crossed my mind the price of a s...

In case you haven't picked up on this, I love my kids and think they're the most beautiful children on the planet. And just in case you missed this too, I really like taking pictures of them. Part of my love/hate relationship with my camera is I feel like I'm always on the quest for the perfect picture. Not necessarily the perfect picture that shows how cute they are, but that really captures them in any given moment. I spend most of my photo editing sessions frustrated that the pictures didn't capture them. However, if I never take another good photo, I'll always be happy with these. :) And I wasn't even trying for great pictures. Rory's hair is messy, she's in play clothes. But they are completely her . I just might plaster my walls with this one. :)

Gina Miller: Snapshots

I made the best supper last night - chicken pot pie from Pioneer Woman's cookbook . Since I am mostly incompetent in the kitchen, I am quite proud of the fact that I made homemade chicken pot pie including homemade crust. It was seriously good and will definitely make the menu list again. My friend Angel and her little boy Mason came over this morning to play and Rory spent the whole time begging to color instead of playing. She's feeling a bit cantankerous and it showed! Our weekend is supposed to be pretty uneventful, although poor Brian has a lock-in with the teens tonight (thank heavens I can use the kids as an excuse to not attend!). Tomorrow I'll probably take the kids out of the house so he can catch up on a bit of sleep. Here are a few random things from this week: I was chopping carrots in the kitchen while Camden and Rory colored in the computer room, and I heard Camden say, "Mommy, could you be any louder?" Yep, he's heard that one before. Rory'...