Life as a Lewis

Well, I took a grand total of 4 pictures last night for Rory's birthday (and 2 were with my iPhone). Our house has one small light in the main living space so once it's dark outside, pictures are impossible. I mean, literally, it is so dark my camera cannot find focus. I have to say that Rory's birthday started off really rough. In case any of you were under the impression that my kids never fight and are always sweet to each other, I have clearly misrepresented our family. They had an episode yesterday that involved pulling hair, screaming, and punching. Oh, yes. Good times. Anyway, I was sorely tempted to call off her birthday altogether, but decided to take a deep breath and not do something I might regret later. After punishment was handed out (and, yes, it was fairly severe for all involved), the night was fun. I think her 6th birthday will forever be known as the Barbie Birthday as well as the one in which there was a literal fist fight. Here's hoping tha...

Today is Rory's 6th birthday. (How did my kids get so old so fast?) I took her outside last night after supper, and here are the results of our 2 minute photoshoot. If you can't tell, she was more than a little hyped up on not one, but two chocolate cupcakes with marshmallow buttercream . And pink sprinkles. > (Clearly, I like to shoot with the subject on my right. I never notice these things until they're finished and uploaded to the blog.) Funny story. I made cupcakes for Rory to take with her to school yesterday (their school is actually out today and tomorrow), and on the way to school, she gave me everyone's requests. Yes, she had been taking cupcake requests in her Kindergarten class. One girl wanted no icing, one wanted icing but no sprinkles. Someone else didn't like chocolate. I am not kidding - she had specific requests from kids in her class. If you know me at all, you know that I did not do custom request...

I promised you a story about Camden that will melt your heart, and I have one of those. But just yesterday's blog, I also have a really funny Camden story. First the sweet story. In Camden's 3rd grade class, they are rewarded with stamps for good behavior. Each Friday, they're allowed to go shopping and buy little gadgets and toys. I noticed that Camden had not brought anything home for a couple of weeks so I asked him about it. He leaned over to me and whispered in my ear, "Can you make Rory go into her room, shut the door and lock it?" I didn't quite know what to make of that, but I told Rory to go to her room for a minute. Camden then proceeded to tell me that he has been saving up all his stamps so that he can "buy" Rory a birthday present. Melt your heart, right? Since then, he gives me conspiratorial looks and winks whenever her birthday comes up (it's tomorrow). I love it. And now the funny story. Camden has an easy gag re...

DWTS All-Stars season started last night. It's like a little piece of reality TV heaven. I have a story to share with you tomorrow about Camden that will make your heart melt. Any ideas on how to break up with your realtor before you've even met her? Know those teeth I had fixed last week? Oh, my stars, the pain in my jaw and joint. Still! I'm assuming it has to do with chemo and my reduced capacity to heal? Who knows. My chemo nurse called yesterday. My heart always skips a beat when the doctor's office number pops up on my screen. And when she said, "your CA125 number came in, and I thought you'd want to know" my heart did more than skip a couple of beats. I'm not sure they've ever called *just* to give me my CA125 number. I breathlessly said, "yes??" SEVEN, people. SEVEN. She said she knew I'd be excited and didn't want me to have to wait until I came back into the office. Oh, sweet relief. This pict...

Completely random compilation of things today. Our weekend recap: I was home with Addison Friday and despite really cute morning pictures that said otherwise, she was Miss Cranky Pants all day! Brian and Camden took off to the spend the evening with friends while Rory and I stayed home to take it easy. Despite not feeling well, I absolutely took advantage of my Friday night and stayed up until 1 a.m. scrapping. Saturday morning was a soccer game (we didn't win); two batches of cupcakes, looked at our first house (it was a total bust) and dinner with our friends, the Kivette's. Sunday morning was church (Brian preached a sermon full of truth and good reminders for me) and then we spent the afternoon at Gram and Gramps's (Gramps' - I can never remember the apostrophe rule with an s) house celebrating Gramps's birthday. A few Scriptures I've read recently that really spoke to me: "In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if nece...

Outside my window: Beautiful cooler temperatures and a UPS notice saying my Gymboree package will be here today. ;) I am thinking: About the nightmare I had last night which woke me up at 4:30 this morning. I am thankful for: Low platelets which are giving me an extra week off of chemo, although after my nightmare I'm tempted to call Dr. W and ask if I can still come in! I am wearing: My comfy clothes. Last 3 purchases: Dunkin' Donuts for the kids this morning (okay, and for me), some cute fall clothing from Gymboree, the new Shabby Princess kits because I cannot resist. Dinner plans: It's just going to be me and the girl tonight so we'll probably just have a sandwich. There's no way I'm cooking for just the 2 of us. Last verse I read that spoke to me: So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day ...

I've had many people ask me how Rory is liking kindergarten so I thought I would just write an update here. It's probably going to include more information that you want, but I plan to just copy and paste right on over to a scrapbook page. Multi-tasking. It's good for the soul. So Rory loves school like we all knew she would. She seems to have narrowed friends down to 2 very specific girls, and from what I can tell, the 3 of them spend their days playing spy girls. And trying to learn, of course. I always knew the actual learning part of school was going to take second place to all the socialization, and that has most certainly proven to be true. In fact, I'm a little concerned she's not learning at all. For instance, just this week she told me that the following words start with B: considerate, quiet, recess, and Bella. In addition to recess spy girl stories, she also comes home full of what she's learned, like how to spell colors, new memory v...

Bad news: My chemo nurse called me yesterday afternoon to let me know my platelets are low. Good news: Low platelets mean I probably won't have chemo tomorrow. Hello, extra week off! Bad news: I had my first ever toothache last night/this morning. Good news: My dentist was able to get me in first thing this morning and it's probably fixed. Fingers crossed. P.S. I will be alot more compassionate with my kiddos now that I've had my own dental experience. Anyone else just cringe at the sound of those drills? And I seriously don't like having my lips, tongue, face, eyelid numb! Valorie Wibbens/Lauren Reid: Super Duper

I sat down to blog this morning and realized I had not collected any Tuesday Tidbits for this past week. Camden and Rory's cute factor must be going down. ;) Not possible, right? Over the weekend I added up all the time I spent driving Monday - Friday this past week (a very standard week, I might add). 685 minutes. 11.42 hours. Seriously. I'm not kidding when I say it's like a part-time job just getting our family to and from everywhere we need to go. Now that I have an iPhone, I've found a good way to help pass time when I'm in the car. Podcasts! Any favorites you want to link me up to? I've had a good time catching up on The Digi Show . I blogged about fall at The Lilypad yesterday. On today's agenda is switching out summer clothes with our fall wardrobe. Which absolutely guarantees that the temperatures will shoot back into the 90's. Just for kicks, here's a look at a picture from exactly a year ago. Are my kids beautifu...

I'm feeling the pressure to blog (my husband always worries about me if there's not a blog post waiting for him to read during his lunch), but I seem to have a lack of blog material. Not surprising since I spent most of the last 3 days on the couch feeling the effects of chemo. I woke up feeling pretty good this morning, and I've been enjoying this rare morning home alone. It's been weeks since I was able to actually drop the kids off at school and then come home by myself. Between helping out with Addison, house sitting, Labor Day trip, chemo, Neulasta shots, haircuts, soccer practices and games, plus all the regular grocery shopping and house upkeep, I am wondering where all that quiet time I was hoping for has gone! Friday night Rory spent the night at Gram Gramp's house while we introduced Camden to his first Harry Potter movie. He. was. smitten. I think I mentioned before that I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to him over the summer. He the...

I signed up for a workshop at Clickin Moms, and it talks about trying something new: shooting at a different time of day, a new editing format, setting up a themed shoot, etc. It's been a busy week, and while I haven't exactly embraced trying something new, I did position myself purposefully with these pictures of Addison to use the sun flare, and I have to say that I kind of love them. Doesn't hurt that she's so darn cute either. Can't you just hear the giggles? I'd like to say that alot of thought went into this, but I just grabbed my camera and shot. ;) I used my 35mm lens; settings were f2.5, ISO 400, 1/320 SS. I increased the contrast and warmth in Lightroom for a little drama, then used the sheer haze from Florabella's ColorPlay action set.