Life as a Lewis

My family always moans and groans a bit when I say we have to take a group photo, but I know one day we'll look back and be glad we did. This year we decided to take advantage of a corn pudding that refused to finish baking and took our picture while we waited. (My usual habit is to wait until we're ready to eat and then drive everyone nuts while I snap a shot.) Every time we set up a family photo, I always laugh at the test shots and think that I should totally do a "build a family photo" post, but never do. Well, this is your lucky day. ;) Oh, yes, Addison's getting a spit bath. Gathering the troops. Oh, we definitely need to close that garage door. Getting "the look" from Micah. The kids are smiling much too early. You know those smiles won't be around for the real picture. Now my husband is getting in on "the look." Next up? "The look" from Michael. Now my brother is joinin...

The first group of family arrived safe and sound Christmas Eve night, followed by everyone else Christmas morning. We spent a glorious day enjoying being together. A big turkey dinner was cooked and consumed; Christmas carols were sang; presents carefully (and always one at a time) were unwrapped. Dirty Santa (for the adults) was a blast as always. And then Micah, Becky, and Xavier spent several hours in the ER Christmas night, and they came home with a confirmed flu diagnosis. Christmas night was spent doing laundry, disinfecting the house, all kinds of fun stuff. By the time they got home from the ER, William was running a fever. Poor William and Xavier spent the next 24 hours quarantined up in Camden's room, but when Becky woke up sick this morning, they decided they better hit the road. So. The lesson of Christmas 2012: Get. Your. Flu. Shot. William, Xavier, Becky, my brother and my dad all did not get their flu shots this year. So far, three of the five are down a...

I ran out of Christmas cards long before my Christmas list so if you did not receive a card this year, (1) I am so sorry and (2) here ya go! Merry Christmas!

So I spent yesterday afternoon pouting on the couch and texting back and forth with Becky while Brian worked away like a little beaver and the kids screamed like banshees upstairs (in a good way). Rory had several bouts of crying because "it won't be Christmas if only half of us are here!" By the end of the day, I'd pulled myself together enough to put on a good face for the kids. I played Christmas music very loudly, made a batch of oreo truffles (using Trader Joe Candy Cane Joe-Joe's), texted Becky that I did not have the will power to clean the house today if they weren't going to be here. We let the kids stay up late, wrapped the final presents, and settled in to watch a movie. I promptly fell asleep on the couch (which never happens) and woke up 10 hours later. (Something else that never happens.) This morning as we all relaxed on the couch enjoying a quiet morning, my phone twirped letting me know I had a message, and we all let out an audible s...

Oh, for them to stay this little and naive forever. Rory and her "Activity Scene." a.k.a. Nativity Scene If you've hung out with me here for very long then you know how important family and family holidays are to us. Last year we were all set to travel to Oklahoma to be with Becky , Micah, William, Xavier, my parents and brother (who were traveling from Illinois). Unfortunately, I ended up in the ER with strict instructions to not go anywhere. If you're in love with your family like I am, then you'll understand how devastating it was to not spend the holidays together. This year, Becky and her family (along with my parents and brother) are supposed to be traveling to Tennessee tomorrow. For the last several days, the vague thought about what catastrophe might happen this year to keep us apart has danced around in my head. And while it's not a catastrophe, Becky has a very sick boy that might keep them home for Christmas. Anyone want to join me i...

Clever title, right? (insert plenty of sarcasm here) Because Brian is a saint, he is off running a whole lot of errands for me (and he took the kids with him so I could convalesce in peace and quiet). Of course, the downside of that is when he dropped off a whole lot of boxes at Goodwill, he filled the car back up. With purchases from Goodwill. In the interest of full disclosure, he found super cheap end tables for our living room that we are going to repurpose, and the purchase was fully approved by me. Rory lost a second bottom tooth this week, and it appears as if she has three teeth growing back in the place of the two she lost. That math adds up to a very scary total. I respect this blog post From the Nato's blog SO much. Such a great, simple approach to Christmas that keeps the focus on Christ and it's a perspective we have tried very hard to incorporate over the last few years. This year we stuck to one gift per child and we're also giving them the gif...

Today has been a very long and full day, but it marked the beginning of our Christmas break. Brian and I were able to attend Christmas parties for both kids at school. We actually ended up being late because of car problems, and we had to split our time between the parties, but I think we managed to be around enough to make both of them happy.  This is the first time I've attended a school party. I realize you're in shock and might need to remove me from your Google Reader now that you know I'm a horrible mother to school-aged children, but it's true. And let me just tell you that I was in awe of all the parents who were helping, headed up the games, etc. Children in large groups make me shiver with fear, but thank goodness for those parents who are willing to step up and take one for the team! Game time. The infamous Camdyn. We hear never-ending stories about Camdyn. Not gonna lie. It gets a little confusing as we try to figure out if Rory is talking abo...

If you need any help getting into the Christmas spirit, let me give you a push. Camden and Rory before Christmas caroling with the church a few weeks ago. I'm pretty sure these two would brighten up anywhere, right? (Did I already share this? It's feeling familiar.) And two Addison pictures that didn't make the Christmas card cut. Today is Brian's last day of school for two whole weeks. Listen for his shout of joy as his 4th graders get onto a bus about 10:45 this morning.

For someone who has never attended a major sporting event, in 2012 I can mark not only a MLB game but now an NFL game off the list. And not just NFL, but Monday Night Football! One of Brian's former students (who has a grandpa with connections) gave him 2 tickets to last night's game against the Jets. We had thunderstorms all day and until the last minute it was a toss-up as to whether I was going to be Brian's game partner, but the rain moved out and even though we froze our little tails off, it was a ton of fun. And, surprise, surprise, the Titans even managed to pull out a win! Believe me, they had alot of help from Mark Sanchez. Of course, biggest news of the night was that I actually laid eyes on Tim Tebow. Oh, yes, I'm a total Tebow fan. And we may have been in Tennessee, but the crowd had a whole new energy when the Tebow man stepped onto the field for the few plays he participated in. And if you're into this kind of thing, Avery and De...

I don't really have the right words to convey how I feel this morning other than to say overwhelmed. I want to ignore the media coverage of what happened in CT, but I have trouble turning it off. Friends lost a father last night; a chemo friend is going through a very difficult time; our pastor's wife is losing her mother soon. On her way out the door this morning Rory told me she's scared to spend the night somewhere else in case I'm not here when she gets back (she and Camden are staying with Gram and Gramps tonight). While I've never been the person who thought life should have an "easy" button, why does it have to be this hard? There's really only one option for me and that's to continue to choose to trust. Trust verses like Psalms 103:19 which says, " The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all." or Hebrews 13:5, "I will never leave you or forsake you." or John 16:33, " I ...

I love my sparkly tree and with our house layout, you can see it from the kitchen too (this was taken from our kitchen table). Notice the Christmas cards hanging from twine over the doorway. Hello, Pinterest idea! I've been feeling pretty down about my looks these days, specifically my weight gain, but I liked my red lipgloss - a color I do not usually wear! Kathy, Tina, and I stopped at Jeni's (they'd never been so it was kind of a must ). I can personally verify the dark chocolate peppermint ice cream is out. of. this. world. Peppermint Hot Chocolate from Trader Joe's. I bought this for gifts, but might not be able to let it go. ;) Camden is in the elementary choir at school this year (have I mentioned that here?). He really does have a good voice and when you can stay on key every note at age 9, I think that's pretty good. He's been able to do this since age 3ish, and now that Rory is 6 and still can't carry a tune, I realize ...

Oh, the time is just flying by these days. So much Christmas stuff to get done mixed in with all the daily duties. I'm realizing that my big list of things to do before Christmas has now turned into the big list of things to do NEXT WEEK. December is one of those months that I want time to just soak up all the holiday fun, make lots of memories, but I find myself just running in place trying to keep up. I had lots of fun plans in my head for the kids, but just not sure they're not going to happen. Good news is I KNOW what they will remember the most is having everyone here together the week of Christmas. And that's the most important memory of all. So I've mentioned the whole sleep thing like a bajillion times over the course of the last several years. For the first time ever it seems to be affecting my driving. As in, I've fallen asleep two times at the wheel this week. Talk about scary! Not sure what we're going to do, but I have a feeling it needs to...

I started blogging waaaaayyyy back in 2006. I had 3 reasons: (a) to document Camden's silly 3 year old antics, (b) we were starting the adoption process again for the second time and I wanted a record of what our lives were like when our still unknown child was born, and (3) I really, really wanted to be on a creative team for a designer, and I thought blogging about scrapping was somehow going to help me along. Several years ago (three, at the very least) I started wondering if backing up my blog might be a good idea. As the years had passed, though I was still scrapping quite a bit, Life as a Lewis had become my main memory-keeping vehicle. I did a bit of research, found some companies who would print a blog, and decided it was time to get serious about making Life as a Lewis permanent. As I got started, however, it became abundantly clear that I was quite chatty and the cheaper options were just not going to work unless I wanted to break up each blog year into multiple...

Camden and Rory were a part of the Christmas program at school last week, and Rory keeps telling us how excited she was to sing in a conference (a.k.a. concert). I know the whole Elf on a Shelf thing is super popular, but I feel as if he's taken over Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, blogs, etc. Sooooo over him. Ducking and running now. (although my friend Melissa L. has the best ideas I've seen) My Starbucks habit has had a revolutionary change. Did you know you can ask for just half the syrup (pumps of peppermint/caramel, etc.)? Oh. My. Stars. Not only does it save you a whole lot of calories, it tastes so much better to me. A regular one starts to get too sweet after the first couple of drinks. After literally sleeping the weekend away (seriously, it was like my body was catching up on all the sleep I'd lost over the last couple of weeks), I've now slept a grand total of about 6 hours in the last 48 hours. So. Tired. I know you're going to feel as ...