can you be a vegetarian and hate animals?

wait, wait, wait...

before any of you goes all PETAfied on me, let me clarify. i don't actually hate animals (except roaches, but i'm not going to apologize for that one. that's what they get for wearing their skeletons on the outside of their bodies). but like i said, i don't have it out for any of our two-, four-, or even eight-legged friends. animals and i are just in a hard place right now.

it all started when the kids and i put the christmas tree up last week. as picturesque as this sweet shot is, it didn't have such a tender beginning. when i pulled the piano out so i could plug in the strand of lights, i found a varied collection of items back there. two CDs and a necklace were the first things to catch my eye, but as i reached down to pick up the necklace, this monster charged me:

ok, maybe "charged" isn't the right word, but let me do something to help you feel as crazy-wigged-out as i felt when he appeared:

there. scared?!? don't blame me...he was the one who was trespassing. and judging by his size, he had probably been back there since i unplugged the same strand of lights back in december 2008. what subsequently ensued was a violent tango involving a broom, the piano bench, and a few screams of terror.

the spider is no longer here.

as soon as we got back from the thanksgiving festivities, animal #2 started in. i woke up that next morning to the sound of what seemed to be something banging around in our attic. my immediate thought was that someone had broken into our house, snuck up into our attic, and was sure to make an unwanted appearance soon (don't laugh, i've actually been up there to make sure it's all clear before), but i accepted that that was a ridiculous scenario, and i dozed back off. well the next morning, it was louder, and by the third morning, the sound had moved down to directly behind our headboard, and it was impossible to sleep. it sounded like some woodland creature was completing a triathlon of running, scratching, and gnawing 12 inches from my tired, puffy eyes. josh walked around the house on his way out for work and found a big hole in our chimney siding -- which apparently doubles as a fancy entryway into our house for all the neighborhood squirrels.

we're still not sure what to do about that one.

because of the extra busyness around here (not to mention the additional sleep-deprivation thanks to our uninvited house guests), i haven't been taking very good care of myself lately. i've stayed up way too late, gotten up way too early, and i've ended up skipping a few meals here and there. well yesterday as i laid in bed begging the squirrels to leave my bedroom, i decided that when i got up, i was going to make a gourmet omelet breakfast. eggs, cheese, mushrooms, and tomatoes...ooh, i couldn't wait. but unfortunately, our eggs are doing their best to kick me over the fence from being a vegetarian to going all-out vegan.

i cracked the first egg, whisked it up nicely in a bowl and grabbed another egg to add to the mix. but as i cracked it, i immediately knew something was wrong. way wrong. the normal eggy stuff spilled out -- but so did something that, if i stared at it long enough, greatly resembled the makings of a baby chicken.

i get the heeby-jeebies all over again just writing about it. needless to say, my breakfast plans went out the window (along with the rest of the eggs from that carton).

now that i've probably turned you off from ever wanting to read this blog again, i'll leave you with something a little gentler. here are a couple of pictures of the little ones enjoying some of the sweetness of our christmas decorations (that bottom photo is of jack and abby playing with the snowman wise men from one of our nativities. if you look really close, you can see his carrot nose sticking out. you don't think that's sacrilegious, do you?).

(mom, the answer is "no". i'm not actually going to turn into a vegan. it just might be awhile before i eat eggs again.) :-)

a little bit of this, a little bit of that

my brain is swimming right now, and i've got a whole lot of random to share with you. consider yourself warned.

thanksgiving was a whirlwind to say the least. using good old weather channel lingo, it was equivalent to least a category four tornado (or is that rating system reserved for hurricanes?). in the 48 hours we were gone from our house, we had a precious time of fellowship over thanksgiving lunch in eastaboga, al where much of my family lives...

we played in the leaves...

...and, of course, took some pictures.

that part was pretty tame. but from there, the speed picked up a bit. we drove straight from my grandmother's house to lenox mall in atlanta to meet josh's family for the lighting of the huge tree on top of macy's. after an hour-long wait in the 45-degree cold, though, we realized we had the wrong "go-time" in mind and that the tree wasn't going to be lit until after the live christmas show (an hour later). cold noses and hungry tummies won out, so we hopped back in the car and headed home to marietta to watch the lighting on tv from the warmth of papaw and grandpam's living room.

the girls on josh's side of the family have a years-long tradition of waking up early on black friday to knock out our christmas lists with crazy-cheap deals that we get by shopping at dark:thirty each year. well, apparently the stores are even crazier than we are because this year, the stores opened up at 4 am. i was pretty low on sleep from this past month as it is, so i told them i would catch up a little later (they were leaving the house at 2:45 alabama time...nuts!) unfortunately, i was battling an ugly case of delicious-black-bean-soup-meets-sensitive-digestive-tractitis, so i already wasn't getting much sleep that night. i weighed the pros and cons, woke josh up to ask if it was ok if i headed on out, and decided that if i was going to be awake, i'd rather be spending time with the girls than the guest bathroom potty.

so off i went...only 30 minutes behind.

the lewis crew is going through some big (but very, very good!) changes, so we had made a decision to slim christmas way down this year. after an 8-hour shopping run, i walked back in the door with goodies for most of the people on our christmas list...and spent very little. nice! ;-)

after a quick nap, i took the kids and ran to target to pick up a couple of things i needed (besides, josh needed some quiet time to study). we had a delicious thanksgiving meal with josh's family that night...

...and then josh's sister, rebekah, and i started to work on baby ayda's first birthday cakes for her party the next day (don't be impressed with me...rebekah did 99% of the work).

so, that was the first half of our trip.

i had a session in atlanta early the next morning, so i scooted out before the kids were up and headed to marietta square to meet this fun family, who was together from marietta, nashville, and chicago for the holiday :

i had never shot at this location before, so i was excited to play around with some new settings. rebekah's husband, kevin, had told me about a neat area one block over from the square, and as soon as i saw it, i was smitten! gorgeous colors, perfect lighting, lots of texture and detail...

oh, did i mention it sits right beside a train track? all was peaceful and nice until this big guy came through...

this next shot is photographic proof of the differences in boys and girls. kaitlin looks stressed and not so happy with the ear-shattering mess of steel that was plowing through our session. and josh? i'm pretty sure i heard him squeal with glee...

from this session, i did ayda's one-year session at a different park near the house. this is literally the only shot i've edited so far, so rebekah, i promise to be back with more of a sneak peek soon!

from there, it was back to the house to put the finishing touches on the birthday setup, and after another family meal together, ayda threw down some cake at her first birthday party!!!

needless to say, when we got home that night, we were all pooped. we've been going ninety to nothing ever since we arrived back in birmingham in a desperate attempt to get on top of everything we have going right now. for josh, it's been schoolwork as he finishes out his first semester of seminary, and for me, it's been photography and card related activity. but something happened this morning that kind of snapped me back into line...

as i was frantically trying to wrap up an order from a recent session, abby came in the room and said, "mommy, can we please read my bible?"

hmmm...

not only do i not want to discourage her budding love of god's word in any way, i want to do everything i can to help foster and develop it. but now? at that moment, i was drowning in a virtual ocean of editing, orders, and e-mail questions. part of me felt like if i quit what i was doing, i wouldn't get everything done in time. i wouldn't be doing enough to provide in even a small way for our family.

but i got up anyway and walked to the couch where i sat with my three munchkins cuddled up with me under a quilt. and we started reading the first story we opened up to...

it was a paraphrase of mark 4 and matthew 8 where jesus and his disciples were in the boat when a raging storm suddenly came upon them.


"HELP!" they screamed. "Wake up! Quick, Jesus!"
Jesus opened his eyes.
"Rescue us! Save us!" they shrieked. "Don't you care?"

(Of course Jesus cared, and this was the very reason he had come - to rescue them and to save them.)

Jesus stood up and spoke to the storm. "Hush!" he said. That's all.

And the strangest thing happened...
The wind and the waves recognized Jesus' voice. (They had heard it before, of course - it was the same voice that made them, in the very beginning). They listened to Jesus and they did what he said.

schoolbooks and photoshop have proven to be enough to keep josh and me busy, but as i alluded to above, there's much more going on around here than those things. i hope to share much more soon, but if we've ever been in a place of feeling totally dependent on god, it's now. as i read the words to that story, i began to tear up at the magnificent power of god...and the complete inadequacy of allison lewis. i was reminded that the lord is the one who provides daily for our family. and he's the one who has graciously guided our steps. and he'll never leave us or forsake us.

this whole story probably doesn't mean as much to you as it did to me in that moment. but it was one of those times when everything around me stopped and the lord gently reminded me that he's got this.

consider the ravens: they do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet god feeds them. and how much more valuable you are than birds! luke 12:24

before i go, are you looking for something special to do this christmas? something that will literally change a life? come back later for our favorite christmas tradition. we'd love for you to join us!

Wordless Wednesday

pictures of everyone except my children

i finally came up for breath today. this past month has been insane with sessions and card orders, and i've kind of let some things go around here.

why don't i give you a few examples...

1. i haven't been able to get on top of the laundry for ages now (i know, mom, you're shocked!), but i realized things might have gotten a bit out of control when i had to put izzy in a fleece outfit on friday night because all of her jammies were dirty. (if i weren't too embarrassed to do so, i would tell you that she also wore that same outfit to bed on saturday and sunday nights. and perhaps all day monday.)

2. a morning shower has been absolutely out of the question since august. when josh walked in the door this evening from work, i was forced to greet him with these words: "i'm so sorry you had to come home to a stinky, grunge-monkey tonight". sad.

3. i no longer have time for capital letters. (although if you've ever received an e-mail from me, you know i dropped the "shift-letter" combo ages ago -- i just did it for looks on the blog.) i'm so over it now.

4. i haven't been to bed before midnight or 1 am since i was 31.

5. oh, and did you know we've already got our next baby?!? we named him "photoshop".

as wild a ride as this has been, i've loved getting to work with both old friends and new faces. i'm going to try to choose one favorite photo from my most recent sessions. to begin, this little guy was new to me. his mom and i realized we actually went to college together but hadn't seen each other in ten years.

ok, i can't show him without showing his precious sister!

and there's no way i can move on without sharing what are now some of my new favorite sibling shots. they were so funny together!

it's obvious that i'm not going to be able to stick to the "one photo per session" rule, which is good because this next one is very near and dear to my heart. my precious friend, anna, came up from montgomery with her husband, paul, and daughter, addie, so i could do addie's 18-month pictures. anna and i have been close friends since we were in college, and it's been a joy watching her blossom into the beautiful role that god has given her of "mommy". and it's a good thing that she's so great at it because she's got two little ones in her tummy that should be here around april. :-)

we started in the leaves...

...and then moved to the swings.

and what trip to the park would be complete without playing on the wooden choo-choo train?

but i think my favorite shot of the day was when addie toddled around in the leaves wearing her little turkey dress. the way she was lit from behind by the warm sun was perfect!

my next stop was with the spunky girl from this session a couple of weeks ago and her cousins who drove into town for the photos.

the leaves on the trees were gorgeous...

...and, once again, the sun cooperated beautifully!

this last weekend was the weekend of babies for sure! my friend, michelle, finally had her newest on november 11, so we gave lily kate a few days to adjust to life outside the belly and then i headed over to shoot her newborn session. we never left the nursery...it was great!!!

michelle didn't have many requests, but she did ask for a little feet shot like she had seen on my website...

...as well as some sibling shots (also some of my new favorites)...

after those were done, it was playtime. i had a ridiculous amount of fun shooting these next photos...

and finally, our loooooong time friends in starkville referred the grandmother of this family to me earlier this year. i've done a couple of sessions with some of the local crew already, but with christmas around the corner and new babies in the mix, the whole group drove in from mississippi for one big hoopla.

i don't know how well you can see it in the storyboard above, but this was definitely my favorite shot from the day. how sweet are they?!?

you might be wondering where my little ones fit into all this madness. well, don't fret...while they haven't had a "normal" amount of mommy-time, they certainly haven't lacked for fun things to do. i'll be back with that post later. but for now, i'm going to turn my computer off and walk away for a while. after all, i promised the kids that tomorrow is "christmas tree decorating day" (also known as "don't edit a picture day")!!

Wordless Wednesday (Who Could It Have Been?)

A Sneak Peek for the Bs

Speaking of autumn beauties, I got a real treat last weekend when I shot a session with this family:

The Little Bs couldn't have been any cuter, and it was so much fun watching the interactions between these three...

Brook had asked for some pictures of her and the hubby, so once we wrapped up shots of the little men, the three of them "chillaxed" in the car beside us while we knocked out a few last photos. (Brook, is that how you spell chillaxed? Does chillaxed even have a "correct" spelling? I mean, it's not even a real word!)

Hee-hee.

This next part was so much fun for me!! I'm used to running, chasing, squatting to the height of 24 inches, and pulling out the 'ole "there's a monkey in my camera" trick. So when all I had in front of me were two people who actually come up past my knees (and who probably weren't too impressed with the monkey game), I got to practice some different types of shooting. LOVED IT! Of course, who wouldn't have? I mean, look at these two!

They were total troopers and did whatever I asked them to do. They didn't even flinch when I told them "just one more picture" about 13 times!
Thanks guys, and I'll have the full gallery to you soon!

Autumn Beauty

Autumn is most certainly my favorite season of the year. I love the crisp air and the chilly breeze, but the leaves just can't be beat! I love how they tumble down from the trees and how they crunch underfoot as the kids and I stroll through the park. But the very best part is how they change to a million different shades of reds, yellows, and oranges just before they fall to the ground. Take those gorgeous colors, add to them a gorgeous couple, and you get my entry for the I ♥ Faces challenge this week.

There are loads of "Autumn Beauties" over on I ♥ Faces, so click on the button below to check them out!