Life as a Lewis

I worked from home three days this week, and it has been some kind of wonderful. Instead of rushing myself and the kids out the door at 6:45, we pull out at a leisurely 7:20. I've cooked breakfast, spent time reading scripture and praying with the kids (as we've done for the last 7 years . . . until 2 months ago when I went back to work, that is). Instead of getting home at 4:00 and rushing in to start supper, manage homework, etc., we've pulled in the driveway at an easy 3:00. On my lunch break, I've thrown laundry in the washer, emptied the dishwasher, etc. Instead of 10 hours on the road, I've spent about 3.5 this week. There was time for cookies after school and walks before dark, chapters in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire were read. We finally finished up the last episode of The Great Food Truck Race. Just in case I'm presenting this as an easy week, let me assure you that it was FULL. But there were moments of peace in the midst of the craziness...

After a whirlwind fall break (I use the word break loosely), we packed up Friday morning and headed to the Smokey Mountains for a couple's get away with our church group. Does it really count as a couple's get away when you're traveling with a whole bunch of other people? Just curious. ;) We unfortunately spent ALOT of time stuck in traffic during the 48 hours we were there. The upside to all that sitting in traffic is that it gave me and Brian plenty of time to catch up, debate, listen, talk. Brian's parents met us in Pigeon Forge and took in some of the tourist attractions with the kiddos. I hear Rory climbed to the very top of a huge rock-climbing wall and that Camden quickly became a driving expert on very fast go-kart tracks. My favorite part of the trip was Sunday morning. We drove to Cade's Cove (after a quick stop at Starbucks to fuel up for the day). It may have taken us 90 minutes to arrive and we may have actually missed the church s...

Taken April 10, 2014. I want the bangs back in a big way. I am fully aware this looks like a camera crazy mama made her kids pose on a broken down basketball goal. I PROMISE I didn't - they were amusing themselves all on their own. I just jumped in to snap pictures. This one is my fav. I guarantee you his fingernails are typically not (a) this clean or (b) this short. I have no idea why I thought this was fascinating to photograph.

I bought a $120 pair of shoes last week for $34. You know they're expensive when they come with a little fabric bag to live in. Rory came down last night ( well after bedtime, of course) and said she really wanted to do something together after her devotions. She walked over, sweetly picked up my hand, and asked if she could pray with me. Well, "OF COURSE," I said as I shed a little tear. Five minutes later she came back down and said she had something else she'd like to do together. "Let's say something complimentary (she really used the term complimentary) to each other, and then let's tell each other something we can be better at." And that's when I realized I was being fooled into letting her stay up late. Also from Rory - "Mommy, did you know that yoga means you can do back flips off a desk without falling off?" Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day was a super cute, very family friendly ...

The weekend was crazy, starting with the non-stop rain Friday. Why did I think it was a good idea to run errands . . . with the kids . . . in the rain. Brian didn't make it home until nearly 7:00 (that's a tragedy when it's the start of fall break!). Saturday was full of a church community event, paint shopping for the kid and teen rooms at church. We finished up about 3:00 and Brian dropped me off at home while he took the kids to an early supper at a Chinese buffet. It was a win/win. I don't remember the last time I had some quiet time, and the kids can't remember the last time they had supper at a Chinese buffet. Rory's cold from the week finally got to a point where I knew she needed to stay home, rest, use inhalers regularly, etc. so we stayed home Sunday while Brian and Camden started out their day with a men's breakfast at 7:30, church, then painted until 8:00 last night. Needless to say, we're kind of in desperate need of some family tim...

I've been tagged multiple times recently about listing the most memorable 10 books I've read. I finally sat down and put it together, but first how about just some fun articles I've read recently as well as the books currently on my nightstand. Why No One in the NFL Wants Tim Tebow. Because I'm a huge fan. Annie Downs blog . Recently discovered her, and she's kind of amazing. I've just started her new book Let's All Be Brave . I happen to love this particular post: Stop Singing Oceans and I really liked this interview . When Childhood Has Become a Race From Jen Hatmaker's blog: 10 Year Olds Should Not Be Day Laborers An Amateur Dissertation on Marriage and Pop Culture blog post. I came home with this stack of books from D6. I used to be so good at reading parenting books as well as personal spiritual development books. Determined to get back to learning. And because I'm nice, here's a link for each book. Not ...

Today starts a 4-day weekend for me and the kiddos, and Brian has a whole week of Fall Break next week - something he hasn't had for several years. Even though he's maybe not feeling less pressure yet, the reality is that things are finally settling down a bit at the new school. Wake-up calls have been more in the 3-4:00 a.m. range instead of 2:00, and he's been getting home closer to 5 than 6:30 for the last 2 weeks. I call that progress. Our mornings this week have started off chilly and very rainy, but by noon those clouds have transformed into beautiful sunshine and blue skies. I am hopeful that our weekend will be more of the same (especially since I have 3 photo shoots this weekend!). I snapped these pictures Tuesday night, and they crack me up. So representative of our life right now. Camden hanging all over Brian - this kid is so all up in your business all the time. We thought this might lessen as he matured, but not yet. I know, I know. He'll be a...

So I didn’t really take a long blog break, but I feel like I’m just bursting with things to share and remember so I’m going to just jump back in and then possibly jump back out again with no warning. Last week was a bit crazy. We left the house at 5:30 a.m. (SO EARLY) Wednesday to head to Louisville for D6. In case I’ve never mentioned it, the company I work for created the D6 curriculum, concept, and conference. The official tagline is “a movement intentional about empowering parents, homes, marriages, leaders, and churches to live out the story of Deuteronomy 6.” Completely up my alley, right? It’s amazing to me that Brian and I attended this conference for the first time last October and now I get to be a part of it. I knew when I left Wednesday morning that I was getting sick, but I managed to stay on my feet with voice intact. The moment we walked out of the Galt House (our hotel suite was literally larger than the entire downstairs of my house – amazing), however, my voi...

always pulling up his pants