no, you didn't get left off the mailing list

i love every part of the christmas card process.  i love taking the photo, designing the card, and ripping open the box when the man in brown delivers the cards to my door (ok, i can't stand addressing all of the envelopes, but that doesn't sound very cheery, now does it?).  but last year as we were saving up money for our adoption expenses, we made the decision to forgo the paper card portion of the season in lieu of a cute little online ditty that we could share with all of our family and friends.

but then the christmas photography rush came, and our plans never made it past the first thought.

well this year, i'm proud to say that while i don't have any witty year-in-review letter to share with you like i had hoped to, i do have a picture.  on a card.  on the internet.  whoo-hoo!!!!

(you can click on the card to make it big enough to actually read.)

since the christmas letter didn't make it to fruition, i thought i would link back to a few of our favorite posts from 2010.  some make me laugh, some make me cry.  but they're all a part of our story.

january.  the month i was really funny.  i don't know what got into me (or, more importantly, where it's gone since then), but january's stories make me giggle.  the new year started out with a bang (and not necessarily a good one) that i documented through song here and here.  i wrote a blurb about our not-always-so-reverent family worship time, and for you fellow adoptive-mommies-in-waiting, "god's voice in the waiting" is a must read.  while the baby we really want home isn't here yet, we did add one member to our family early this year.  she's a gem.  and yes, i did dress her up for the photos.  :-)

the "overheard at our house today..." posts are true reflections of what goes on in the house of the five lewis crew.  this one makes me crack up every time i read it (as long as i'm not trying to eat at the same time).  and although this conversation with myself wasn't technically an "overheard" post, it's definitely telling of some of the real parts of life around here. 

july 30 was one of the best days of our year while august 13 was the worst.  i could link into so, so many other posts during the weeks following judah's death - moments i forgot, days that i ugly-cried, the gift of answered prayers - but this is the day i want to remember and celebrate the most. 

what a year it has been!  the blessing of a beach trip with friends and a mountain trip with family, the scares of a car accident and a hospital admission, and the pain of growth.  we've climbed to the mountaintop and we've tumbled into the valley.  it's our story, and we're trusting the lord to bring about great good for us and great glory for himself through the events of this past year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and much love to you all!

chubby bunny

pronunciation - \'chuh-bē buh-nē\ 
definition - a game in which each participant puts a progressively larger number of marshmallows into his or her mouth, all the while repeating the phrase "chubby bunny".  the winner is the individual who successfully repeats the aforementioned phrase while housing the largest number of marshmallows.


i was initially introduced to chubby bunny during my first trip to the cabin at cashiers.  i didn't remember much about the game other than i laughed myself silly and that josh's mom won, so when somebody mentioned that we would be playing chubby bunny again this year, i jumped all over it.  the dentist(*) tells me i've got a pretty small mouth, so i knew better than to think i might take the prize this year, but i was definitely up for the laughs.


*perhaps i should clarify something here.  the last time i went to the dentist, he did tell me that i've got a small mouth.  the part i didn't mention is that because of a touch of terrified phobia, i've only been to the dentist twice in the last ten years.  maybe my mouth has grown since then.

the kids' cousin, chase, was on us all weekend wanting to know what "chubby bunny" was, but we kept telling him he would just have to wait and experience the amazing game on our last night there.  after excited anticipation, he finally asked once more after our last dinner, "pleeeeease tell me how to play 'chubby bunny'!"

somebody started to answer, but i jumped in with, "ok chase, here it is.  go ahead and close your eyes."  (he closes his eyes and i continue in my best soothing, meditation-type voice...)  "now picture a bunny.  think about what his little face looks like.  think about what his ears and tail look like.  now try to stand like a bunny."  (he perches his hands in front of his face, bends his legs, and pokes his top teeth out)  "next, you've got to imagine a chubby bunny.  think about how he walks.  think about how he hops.  now try your hardest to hop like a chubby bunny."  (he moves his hands out beyond his belly and begins to flop heavily around the back porch.  everyone screams, "bigger!  faster!  chubbier!" as he frantically ups his chubby bunny impersonation.)  

through our laughter and tears, we let chase in on our little secret.  some might call it hazing, but we prefer to think of it as "chubby bunny initation".  chase laughed as hard as we did, and the real game was ready to begin.  the kids each got in on the action...

but the main event began when the grown-ups got going.  "chubby bunny" is one of those things that has to be experienced to be fully appreciated, but i can tell you this about that time-honored tradition -- sometimes it's a little messy...

it's always very funny...

and if you're like papaw, the game is ever-changing.  he tried playing "chubby bunny" in character this year as some sort of backwoods, slightly scary orator.

grandpam and papaw, thank you so very much for letting us join you at the cabin this year.  as you can see from the last two weeks' worth of posts, we had a FANTASTIC time.  we love you -- and we love camp cashiers!!!

it just got better and better...

everyone loved hiking up whiteside mountain and visiting the falls, but if it's possible, i think we had even more fun once we got back to the house and came back to life after naps.  grandpam and papaw took this whole camp cashiers thing to the max when they busted out a slip 'n slide, water balloons, and a sprinkler.  it was like another version of the poor man's water park!! 

as we learned a few weeks ago, izzy hasn't quite grasped the concept of a slip 'n slide, so daddy had to help her out a bit...

since jack laid out of the slip 'n slide festivities the last time, he was also a little unsure of how to execute a proper slide...

so josh created the torpedo game.  problem solved...

it's too bad jack has that whole violent-face-reaction-to-water problem.

we finished the night off with smores...

and fireworks and sparklers.

(well, most of us did...)

but the very, very, VERY best part of the entire trip came just before all of that. 

but you'll have to come back tomorrow for that story!!

sore legs and happy hearts

the drama of the wasp sting began to subside (unfortunately much faster than the swelling of her face) but abby felt good enough to hit the trails.  and why wouldn't she?  after all, it felt amazing outside.

the little people donned their camp cashiers shirts, and we headed over to whiteside mountain for a hike.  after a quick group shot at the bottom of the mountain...

...we started up.  everybody grabbed a partner...

we swapped partners around a bit...

and somehow poor josh ended up with two partners (who happened to be quite tired and in need of hiking help).

but we finally made it to the top, and it was well worth the effort.  gorgeous!!!

poor jack couldn't wait to get to the top of whiteside so he could see the "water fountain" (i got my mountains a little mixed up and might have told him there was a waterfall at the top) and you can see from the photo above that he was heavily disappointed.  but grandpam and papaw knew just what to do...

we left whiteside and drove to hike at a mountain with running water.  and not only was there a waterfall, but you could actually walk behind the water!!

WE DID IT!

wordless wednesday (the wasp)

you know you're in the mountains when...

josh and i were so excited to get to head to the cabin for a few days over the fourth.  we kind of felt like we had taken a bit of a beating over the previous few weeks so we were thrilled at the prospect of leaving town for a while to visit with family, hike, bask in the 68 degree weather, and just stop for a while. 

one of the first ways that we were reminded of our arrival at true mountain living was when we got to the cabin late that first night and pam called downstairs to jim to remind him of a very important task:  "jimmy, go outside and turn the water on!"  we swept a few bugs off the floor, spread out our sleeping bags, and tried to convince the kids that they really did want to go to sleep. 

you've already seen what parts one and two of our first full day in cashiers held, but we were thrown full-force into a whole new world when the music festival began.  everybody was digging the authentic bluegrass of the first several groups...

...especially jack and josh.

and then "sweet tater" took the stage.  who (or what) in the world is that, you ask?  let me enlighten you.

this, my friends, is "sweet tater" (along with their beards and overalls)...

these men loved every minute of what they were doing, and despite the fact that i wanted to rip my ears off and eat them, it was such a joy to watch them play.  especially this guy...

how precious is he?!?  if you're like i was, you're staring at his "instrument" trying to figure out a) what it's made of and b) what kind of music it makes.  well, you're in luck because he told us a little story about the "gut bucket" (no joke, people, that's what it's called.)

he's playing a tin wash bucket turned upside down with a hole drilled into the top.  this type of instrument is typically made with a long stick of some sort to attach the string to, but this jolly little man got creative and used his grandfather's musket to make his version of the GB. 

you can't find stuff like this in birmingham, folks.

we finished the night out with a few more bands, a fireworks show, and a lot of fun laughs with family.  good, good times.

the weekend was off to a fantastic start, but unfortunately, things took a bit of a nasty turn the next morning when abby had a run-in with a wasp.  don't think a wasp sting is that big of a deal?  come back tomorrow...

i'll have three tickets to extended naptime please

once the campers had their t-shirts properly decorated, we scooted over to the cashiers town square for a day of fun at the festival.  before we staked out our seats for the music and the fireworks that night, though, we turned the kids loose on what seemed to be an eighteen-acre land of entertainment.  there were monkey bars:

slides:

and really cool poles that made jack think he was a fireman.

(too bad he had to have papaw help hoist him up so he could actually exercise his new-found fireman skills.)

there was a fantastic old red tractor there, too, that i decided i really needed for some sessions coming up.   but hard as i tried, i just couldn't figure out how i could get it back to alabama with me.  I-85 doesn't seem very tractor-friendly.

but the highlight of the playground was most definitely the tire swing.  it may look pretty tame...

but let me slow my shutter speed down just a bit so you can get a feel for what it was really like.

it looked like so much fun that i decided to give it a go myself.  abby and i were having a nice little ride...

that is until man of muscles came along.  josh thought we would enjoy a bit of a more, um, adventurous spin on the old tire swing.

**i would like to point out to all you fellow alabamians that i was wearing a sweatshirt in the photos above.  in case you're not familiar with said clothing, a sweatshirt is designed to keep one warm when the weather is chilly outside.  it was heaven.**

jack was digging the swing, but what he really wanted to do was play chase with daddy.  wish granted, my son.

while the guys ran off some of that unbridled boy energy, izzy and i slowed it down for a game of "make this face".

smiley face:

crazy face:

kissy face:

and my personal favorite (and izzy's specialty)..."do your eyes":

"make this face" is a game of ultimate focus and concentration, and it must have taken it out of izzy because this is how she spent the next thirty minutes on the playground...

when the troops started to fade, we spread our blanket and perched our chairs in the grass near the stage so we could listen to the music.  and let me tell you, you ain't heard nothin' til you hear "sweet tater" rip it up on their gee-tars.

stay tuned, my friends.  you don't want to miss this!