Life as a Lewis

Snippets from yesterday: When Camden realized I was going to walk him in yesterday, "You don't have to walk me inside because I like being independent. It feels like a challenge to see if I can remember where my classroom is." Seriously. The child did not want me to walk him inside for his first day of school. I could barely get a goodbye out of him because he was so busy sitting at his desk waiting for the day to begin. Rory informed me as we were on our way to pick up Camden that she was going to tell him that she did not miss him. I guess she forgot about the session yesterday morning where she sobbed to me that she "missed Bubba" (Yes, she calls him Bubba - not my favorite nickname, but it has somehow stuck). Our first night of real homework went fairly well. Camden had to copy a list of spelling words that he could spell in his sleep so he flew right through them which is good because he was so full of stories from the day that he had trouble co...

I'll be taking Camden to his new classroom for the first day of first grade this morning, and we're all very ready for this school year to start. We enjoyed our summer, spent alot of family time together, but all good things must come to an end. Rory's decided that having me all to herself again is going to be fun (although I anticipate her mind to change yet again as soon as we actually leave Camden this morning) and Camden has been bouncing off the walls with excitement the last couple of days. And I am more than ready to have a solid schedule back in place (and to be honest, I'm having flashbacks of how much easier it was last year with one child at home instead of two). I'm curious as to how much more difficult this grade might be because Camden completely breezed through kindergarten. Our weekend was pretty uneventful. I didn't have any plans to shop during our tax-free weekend, but eventually gave in to temptation and shopped just a little. It was a mad ho...

Anyone remember this picture I took last year after dropping Camden off at school the very first day? I have a sinking feeling it's going to be worse, much worse this year. We had parent orientation last night and the kids both came along. Rory was so excited to visit Camden's school (although I'm pretty sure she had something more exciting in mind that the little meeting we attended). When we left, she broke down and was absolutely distraught. And I do mean distraught (think uncontrollable sobbing and only wanting to curl up with me the rest of the evening). She is so heartbroken to be left behind, and really there's not much I can do about it. She's such a little social butterfly and I know she'd be perfect for preschool, but there's just not room in the budget for another monthly payment. The whole episode certainly made me rethink canceling gymnastics, but there's that whole monthly budget issue. I'm definitely going to have to try harder this ye...

A little glimpse into our day yesterday: Started off the day with Camden having to miss breakfast after 4-5 disparaging remarks about his homemade cinnamon toast (which he normally loves). Complaining about food has been a general theme around our house recently, and we've tried working on it gently and it's not helping. So I employed a little tough love. Rory lost her popsicle for dessert at lunch after she hit Camden while they were getting ready for lunch. Yes, hit. Hitting is her theme around the house these days. Of course, Camden's theme is aggravating her to pieces (which might explain the hitting), but that's another story. Rory slept for all of 30 minutes at naptime. For the sake of my sanity, I decided she needed to spend some time playing in her bed for the rest of naptime. We had no internet access most of the day (and it's sketchy today as well). It was 103 degrees outside. That would be about 30 degrees too warm for me. However, there was al...

August 2, 2007 July 24, 2010 I find myself thinking several things when I see these two pictures. First, how grateful I am that Becky is healthy (although she did rock the bald look). Second, how blessed we are to have added Rory to the picture. And, third, how did they all grow up so quickly?

The kids and I took advantage of the last week of summer free movie program and saw Kung Fu Panda for probably the 198th time this morning. It involved lots of screaming children, 2 boys who literally ran up and down the theater aisles for the entire movie plus a grown man who sat behind me and gave a running commentary including appropriate Kung Fu noises. Our temps this week are 99/100 every day until Friday when it cools down to a balmy 96 so we're a little low on activities since outdoors is not really a good option. The truce Camden and Rory seemed to have developed over the summer is definitely over, and the past few days have not been easy as I have reverted back to my role as referee. I keep reminding myself it's part of being a parent, and that keeping calm when they can't is part of the job description. Not sure how well I'm succeeding at the moment. Here are a couple of pictures I took of them both this weekend as I was practicing a technique for my photogra...

I clearly have not been grateful enough for Brian these past 8 weeks for the privilege of grocery shopping/Target shopping without children because it took every last bit of patience I have to survive my trip to Nashville this morning with the kids in tow. Actually, they behaved just fine (mostly), but the number of questions I had to answer in one 3 hour period as well as the Star Wars scenarios I had to endure from Camden while Rory sulked because she didn't get to exchange a duplicate birthday gift like Camden is enough to drive a sane woman crazy. ;) I do have one funny Camden story to share. While at the library this morning I noticed a man who was clearly homeless (the stench and his big bag were my final confirmation), and when we returned to the car I asked Camden if he had noticed and mentioned how sad it was he had to spend his days at the library with nowhere to go or a bed to sleep in and tried to move into a teaching moment about why we shou...