A year in fiveish paragraphs

and thats a wrap for 2014. Holy shmoly.

We started the year by spending three months in Mahwah, New Jersey. We have some marvelous friends from Mahwah that own and operate a maple farm near Cooperstown, New York. Ches spent those months tapping maple trees, and I spent them annoying Nancy by laying around her house nauseous. We loved spending that time there, and feel so blessed to know such amazing people.

Chesley spent over three hundred hours of this year about ten feet off the ground in a BELL 47 helicopter. He dominated that sweet corn. He has loved flying everyday just as much as he always thought he would, and being paid to fly rather than having it the other way around has made for one happy man.

I spent the year growing a human. I finally got a piano of my own, and we were able to move from our apartment into a house (can I get a HUZZAH!) ?? The highlight of my year has been all of the visitors we've had. My mom basically waited on me for three weeks, and it was heaven. She was here a full week before the baby was born, and ten days after. My dad even got to come for a couple of days at the end of my mother's visit, which was a huge deal. My mother in law came for about five days while Ches went on a hunting trip, and we got to have the ENTIRE Lewis clan out for Thanksgiving. The house was bursting at the seams, and it was absolutely perfect.

Maverik grew from a baby faced toddler into a little boy this year. I can't believe how much he's changed. He has an incredible vocabulary for a two year old, and will talk your ear off. Some of his favorite things to say are from movies. He loves to say, "curse you tiny toilet!" and "I had a dream once" (even in a little tiny deep voice). You totally get points if you know those movies. He also totally rules at being a big brother.

Piper managed to break free of the womb on October 15th, and had one happy momma. She was about 10 pounds, and was between 21 and 22 inches long. She has been such a dreamy baby, and we can't wait to see her personality come out.

Have great holidays and stuff!...or we hope you did since we got our cards out late, and some of you may be reading this after the fact.

Love,

The Lewis's

Apologies for the price of postage

We were unable to send a card and letter to everyone we would have wished, so here it is. Merry Christmas. Isn't our Savior the greatest!?

You guys. 2013. It happened. It happened in a marvelous way. We arrived in Le Sueur, Minnesota on December 31, 2012, and started out the brand new year in a brand new place. It has had its challenges, but they have been mustard seeds in comparison to our yoga-ball sized blessings.

Chesley continues to work like a mad man to keep our lives up and running. He worked many 18+ hour days this summer, and always still had a positive attitude when he got home. He even still had a positive attitude when he would wake up before 4:00 the next morning to start another long day. Can we just bottle this positive energy already? We’d be rich. He got more flight time than last year, and is so excited to be a full time pilot next year. Finally! Three year old Chesley’s dream comes true!

I am still momming it up around here. Bein’ a mom.  I have a hard time finding grown up things to do sometimes, but building blocks and Bob the Builder will have to do as pass times for now. The baby and I spent a full three months in Utah and Idaho this summer while Ches was working those crazy hours. I did have some elderly women in my parents’ ward concerned about my marriage after such a long trip, but we managed to stay in love, and the trip was a treat. With Chesley being gone so much we were right where we needed to be.

Maverik grows and grows and grows! In both stature and personality. He is busting at the seams with it. He doesn’t say many actual words, (mama, daddy, and Bob), but he jabbers nonstop in his own little baby words.  He loves to throw, and we are constantly blocking our faces and flinching away from projectiles. We are working on clearing up the rules on what can be thrown safely and what draws blood.

So, we raise our glasses of non-alcoholic sparkling white grape juice (it’s the best kind) to the passing of another wonderful year. We hope the Spirit of Christ fills your Holiday season. Loves from the Lewis family.

Some new lyrics to a Christmas classic.

I haven't done one of these since 2010, so I figured I might as well do it again. Also, I wish I could copy this post every year, because it is truly how I feel. I always forget how indifferent I am about hot chocolate.

Dear hand-me-down garland,

Since you are are doubling for our tree this year, I am pretty happy about you. You look cute with ornaments hanging on you. However, you will not always have that particular honor, so enjoy it. I am hoping 2014 can bring us our first actual Christmas tree....Also, I apologize for the bunching of lights on one end, and sparsity of them on your other. 

Dear 'Bing Crosby' Pandora station,

Marvelous. I have no complaints other than that you have way too many versions of "Baby, Its Cold Outside" and "Santa Baby". Stop it. Other than that, don't stop it. Play on.

Dear C,

Thank you for loving me enough to give in on your hard and fast 'no Holiday music before Thanksgiving' rule. I am not sure I really knew what real love was before this. Also, you did a pretty good job of meticulously painting my popsicle sticks red. Lets make out later.

Dear Pinterest,

Thank you for allowing me to feel festive with  the aforementioned popsicle sticks and metallic poster board. You truly understand poor people on a budget.  

Dear Christmas,

Come come come come. (read to the beat  of the little drummer boy's rum tum tum tum. Obviously.)

a compromise

Halloween has been on my 'hardly like at all' list for as long as I can remember.

My indifference toward it must have started the year I forgot about costumes until an hour before trick-or-treating, so my mom safety-pinned the lacy piano runner to a white elastic head band, put me in what was probably my little brother's sunday shirt, and called me a bride. Not a pretty bride. A very embarrassed bride.

I also have a distinct memory from another year of driving to a neighborhood with which we were not familiar. Our neighborhood was not the nice one to trick-or-treat, so we went somewhere else. I was too nervous about the scary looking decorations to get out of the car. When my siblings returned with otterpops, I was overcome with jealous distress.

I have had little love for it ever since. 

Mr. Lewis looks on it as quite another matter. Halloween is important. 

Discussing my determination to not dress up, and his determination for me to do the opposite is honestly the closest we have ever been to having a real fight. We have worked it out every year so far with no marital damage.

So, here is to this year's compromises! 


                               

                     

                     

Backwards

I have complained muchly that husband and my first year of marriage is documented by a depressingly small number of photographs.  My camera is cheap, and takes soooper low quality pictures.  His camera does not respond when you push its buttons.

Happy Anniversary to me! Husband went and bought me a camera.  Let the documentation of our very weird lives begin.

(I HAD to take the picture of the camera with photobooth...I couldn't quite figure out how to make it take a picture of itself...)

An Ode to Marshmallow Martyrdom

Do you know what this is?

 

This is my, "I loooooooooooooooooove Christmas time" mug.

My "I think all of the Thanksgiving Nazi's should be forced to wear Santa Suits" mug

My "It is now time to commence the constant playing of Celtic renditions of magical classical Christmas Songs" mug

My "I need to splurge on boots and festive scarves" mug

My "I should wear jingle bell earings, but only for one day because after that it is irritating" mug

My "Ouch this hot chocolate burns, and I remember that I don't really love hot chocolate mug"

Sigh. 

Bring on the Holidays

Nobody knew

Nobody knew what I was....can you guess?
I mean besides completely adorable, pigeon toes and all...
.......
I am a high fashion Keebler Elf of course! It's the striped cardigan. It makes me edgy.

Nobody knows why.
Not even me. I kept my eyes closed....
But I think this....is what he was going for


I am still having nightmares.....

Ultimate quote of the Day

Karlie: "There are PLENTY of red balls...."
weird silence as little brothers continue to put tinsel on the tree
Shane: "That sounds funny....ornaments. Red ORNAMENTS..."
PAH HA!