Happy 1st Birthday, Audrey!

Love her soft features!

 Our precious little baby girl turned 1 on Sunday, March 25th.  The entire week before her big day, we tried to remember what life was like without her.  For the life of us, we couldn't.  We know such a time existed and was great (especially once Noah was in the picture), but for some reason, the best memories that flood our minds were those including both the kiddos. 

Also in the past few weeks, we have gone over and over in our minds, that terrifying/awesome night of her birth. We are still amazed that God had all of the details in place so Audrey could make her debut safely, for the most part. 


We went through all of the pictures and of course, we cannot believe how much she has grown and are saddened at how quickly time flies.  But what parent doesn't feel that on a daily basis, right? The sleepless nights, the immobile stage, even the diaper messes all seem like such a distant memory.  Le sigh. We love those baby days!

We were so thrilled that the big day happened to fall on a Sunday, so Dave had the day off and we could take her for a day on the town!  We had received a Please Touch Museum membership for Christmas, and this was the perfect day to activate it and let Audrey and Noah roam around together rustling up some adventures.


Get ready for the photos! (Wish I knew how to do them in a better format for y'all!)

Fairytale beauty

Daddy/Daughter cuddles as they checked out the classic toys.

Audrey hanging out the clothes. I think she is ready for chores at home now!

Our group shots are never very impressive.

Noah was very amused by the hall of mirrors.

What little boy doesn't dig the dump truck?

My baby girl!

Looks like Noah is ready for a part time job.

Remember what I said about our group shots?

Someone refuses the water smocks.  Future germaphobe?

Puzzles are Noah and Daddy's special thing, so they were delighted to find one here!

Climbing through the rocket ship!

Too much fun for the birthday girl. (But it was a record for how long we could keep at least 1 shoe on her!)

Fret not, she was back to her cute self after a bit of a rest!

 

Invasion of the Caterpillars!

For Noah's first birthday, we wanted to do a Very Hungry Caterpillar party.  We had the book, the felt play set, the toys and Noah just dug it all.  However, we had about 30 family members to invite and a very small apartment.  Actually, it was a good sized apartment, but unless you have a 2K sq. foot penthouse or something, 30 people is a lot for any apartment.

Anyhoo, we were able to secure a space at our local fire department for the party for only a tax deductible donation. Alas, as excited as we were for VHC, it was rather odd to have a non-fire truck themed party at the fire station, so we caved.

Then for Noah's second birthday, Audrey was all of about 10 days old, so there was no way we were throwing a grand fete.

This brings us to 2012.  Audrey turns 1 and Noah turns 3, and a Very Hungry Caterpillar party will finally be happening at our house! We are so glad we waited, since Noah enjoys the caterpillar even more, and Audrey really digs it, too.  Plus, Noah is just pinch-his-cheeks adorable when he says "Caterpillar birthday party!"

For a few months now, we have been Pinning (oh, do we love Pinterest!) everything VHC and testing all kinds of caterpillar creations and confections.    This week, we have finally started hanging the decorations and making the food.  A full fledged caterpillar invasion is happening at the Lewis household and we just couldn't be happier!

Our First Imaginary Friends

Noah is hooked on monster trucks.  Thanks to Netflix and their instant streaming, we found a monster truck video, circa 1995 (think Jonathan Taylor Thomas haircuts for everyone).  In said video, there is a "genie" named Hard Hat Harry and monster truck builder named Frank.  After watching this show approx. 1290438 times, Noah informed us that they were his friends. 

It started out innocently enough with him pretending they were knocking on the door, and he would go answer it.  At first, we thought it was just a clever ploy to get up from the dinner table.  Then Harry and Frank started coming to the grocery story with us, and Noah insisted that he hold their hands in the parking lot (perhaps another clever maneuver to get out of holding my hand??).  Then last night we had to move the chairs around at the dinner table so Harry could sit next to Noah.  And while we were spring cleaning today, Noah informed me that Frank fixed some stuff around the house with his tools.  At least they are helpful imaginary friends!

We aren't sure if these imaginary friends are here to stay, and we aren't 100% sure of how to interact with and respond to them, so we will most likely scour the internet for some child psychology blogs or whatnot.
But in the mean time, we are going to use this to our advantage for as long as we can.  "Harry ate all of his vegetables, you should too!"


Well, I venture to say that Harry is tired, so we should probably all go take a nap now :-)

The Lewis Family Dinner Table

As this blog is entitled A Lewis Legacy, and it is meant to be a memory keeping tool for mainly our kiddos, but also ourselves as we undoubtedly become old and senile or just get confused as to which kid is which, I felt it fitting to make our first post about the Ye Olde Lewis Family Dinner Table.

When Dave and I were wedding planning, D's parents were in the process of a kitchen remodel. Their brand new kitchen boasted the usual stainless steel, new soft-touch close cabinetry, stone counter tops and a large work island smack dab in the middle of the room. So that left the question of what was to be done with the old table that had been rooted to that spot in the middle of the room for the past umpteen years. The table where all 5 Lewis kids had dinner with their parents each night. The table where all kinds of awesome memories unfolded for the Lewis clan. You can't craigslist memories like that, folks. They must be kept and cherished, especially since this was the Lewis family we are talking about. Just about everything must be kept.

Lo and behold, the table made it's way across PA to our apartment and it has been a sentimentally rich eye-sore ever since.

Until this past weekend, that is!

After years of talking about refinishing it, we finally did! With the expert advice from Keala, we sanded, painted, glazed and polyurethaned the Lewis Family Dinner Table and it is now something we are all proud of. Noah loved all of the painting and he looks forward to eating his meals there for a long time. Or until we re-do our kitchen and add an island of our own in the next few years!

The Chair Before: (We had already begun to sand when we remembered to take photos, so it wasn't in THAT bad of shape)





Here is the Chair After:




















The table Top (Sorry, no before pictures of this.
Just imagine the ugly brown that was the Chair!)









And even the table base now is much prettier!


Now it is time to go make the food that goes on the table! Pictures of it "styled" to come! :-)