The Holidays are here...

The following pictures ARE IN RANDOM ORDER!










What a fun few weeks we have had in our home. We got to spend time with Aunt LaLa from North Carolina over Thanksgiving and she will be back soon for Christmas. Speaking of Thanksgiving...we played minute to win it games with the family. It was a blast! We didn't take pictures but for those of you who know the Brewer clan, you can imagine the chaos of fun that was had! Especially, by Uncle Bill. He doubted every game, and was proven wrong every time. Yes Bill, it can be done! Berkley even joined in a few times. She was a hoot as usual.

We got to spend time with friends at a few Xmas parties, Berk even got to see Santa two times! She freaked out both times, and I laughed, hard, both times. Oops! At one party that was for the kids, Berk found a nativity scene and she proceeded to hang out with Baby Jesus most of the time. She took him in and out of the manger, put his blanket on him, and even took him at one point over to a baby seat and strapped him in. She loves babies!

Oh and.... please excuse all my horrid iphone shots, she was moving to quickly for me.... but you get the point. Baby Jesus was her friend, she looks cute in any dress, we love the holidays, etc.

Did you see the one where she is STUCK in her crib rails? I think she was still half asleep, trying to crawl out like it was my bed or something. She just kept saying mamadadddy, mamadaddy, and yes its all one word.

Oh we also had the Brewer Family/Work party. Berkley has gone every year (2) that she has been here. Ha. Everyone loves seeing her and its fun to dance and play and show her off. One of the partners and our good friends the Ogles are always so sweet and love playing with her. Ms. Karen taught her naughty things though this year. She was throwing sugar packets on the ground and laughing like a crazy woman. Karen would laugh too, and so the GAME continued. It was a mess. Did I mention she would also tear open those sugar packets with her teeth, like a sugar crazed animal? Such a sweet, well behaved child. WHO ARE HER PARENTS!?

We did a lil Xmas party with our friends and their kids. We played, tried to read Xmas stories, and made Santa Hat bites. SO YUMMY! Brownie bites, whip cream and strawberries! Berk loved them.

We are so blessed and thankful for another wonderful year here in the Brewer house. We love this time of year with family, and we pray that no matter what is going on we can all remember how blessed we are! I know I can lose sight of how wonderful I have it...so feel free to gently remind when I have to go up another pant size after all the food, that I am lucky to have that much food, and when I pick up another broken ornament, that some children don't get to have a tree, and when I am exhausted from my crazy lil blessing, that she is a blessing and there are people in the world who would give anything to be up all night with their child. God is good. Thank you Lord for loving me, and thank you Lord for blessing me!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year! - the Brew Crew

Fall Photo Fun!

We're takin this one man show on the road...

Berkley has been taking her diaper off lately, many times a day. Today though...it was taken off and I was given another present. We had gotten home from the park and a jog and mommy needed to use the restroom, badly. I got her out of her seat, rushed inside, put her down, and took myself to the potty. She followed, took off her pants, diaper and then urinated all over the floor and her feet. That all happened so fast I barely got out...."Berkley! NO!" I was *ahem* busy, so I just had to watch it all happen. Precious lil darling. She's a one man show.

Did I mention that on Saturday she got into the vasaline?? I had been putting it on her nose, its that time of year for us both. Raw, red noses. I had left it out where she could get to it. So I take full responsibility. Ok not really, but whatever. Again, I was right there, but thought the bathroom door was closed in her room, and she was reading her books. Well she was doing that, and then mommy goes into kitchen and she stopped doing that sweet little thing where she reads books and plays quietly, and started taking full hand/finger dips in the vasaline and using as hair product? All I know is that its Monday evening and I still haven't totally gotten it all out. I started with soap. That was a no. I tried cornstarch. Helped a lil. MIL went used bar soap. Helped a lil more. Dishwashing soap has been the best so far, but it still looks like she has gel in her hair. Oh well.

Did I tell you then one where she tried to shave her face?! Yep. About two weeks ago. She had a lil cut on her chin. Daddy was getting ready, mommy was still asleep (thank you honey) and she reached in the drawer and got out his razor, started to shave like daddy. Nice. She has tried to shave her legs too. ALL RAZORS are now in top cabinet where she can't reach. Please don't call child services.

Things not to do in front of B, because she WILL try to copy you and do them herself and then I will have my child taken away:

Shave legs
Shave face
Product in hair
Use lotion (she tries to put toothpaste and anything else that kinda might resemble a lotion bottle on her face or body like its lotion)
Put vasaline on nose (ok I have to do it infront of her when its her nose...)

Mom of the year! Love and Blessings,

BB

We parents are just to slow sometimes...

Hey Yo!

So Berkley had a rough night last night. She was kept up a lil too late and didn't get her normal 2.5 hour nap at MDO, so about 1am she had what I think were night terrors or something like that. It was off and on for about 1.5 hours and for about 30 minutes it was every few seconds. CREEEEEEPY and sad. Anywho...it made for one tired mama.

I am not a morning person to begin with, but if I have been in and out of sleep then it makes me pretty much dead to the world. I am up, but a walking zombie. So apparently while getting myself together, teeth brushed etc., I didn't realize my daughter had just gifted me with her morning BM. Which brings me to...

Sometimes we parents are just to slow.

One of my besties was telling me the most hilarious kid incident the other day. Love her and her kids but it is just one of those OH MYLANTA, that is gross, no way, how did it happen kinda stories. Basically she is a working super mom of three, so after I'm sure what was a busy day everyone was down for a nap and she too decided to partake. Apparently at somepoint her 20 month old woke up and came out to the living room and started handing her things. This is normal for her to get books, toys, whatever so she just in her 'sleep' took them and didn't realize she was being handed a dirty diaper, poop, and not all in the diaper, but seperatly, multiple times! HAHAHA!

So, this morning when I was trying to get us ready for playgroup I didn't think I would ever be able to relate to my sweet friend, but, I can. I was gifted a diaper with poop falling out of it, and off of my child as she was running away to go get whatever it is she thought she needed, but couldn't do with her dirty diaper still on. Apparently me getting ready was taking to long, mind you...I was only brushing my teeth and putting on clean clothing, no shower, no makeup...anywho so she handed me stuff and I took it. I will never do that again, ALWAYS look down at what you are being given.

I love her. I love her sweet smile looking up at me with a look on her face...as I freaked out...saying to me, "what mama? It was yucky. Gotta go get my toy now. Bye!"

Did I mention we didn't make it to playgroup? Fail.

peace and love,
bb

Where did the summer go?

First day of MDO. What a face?!
Loves bike rides with mommy.
Still loves each and every single bath she takes.
Getting her ears checked at the doc and sportin her OU gear.
LOVES pushing carts, strollers, anything you will let her at. I totally gave in and bought this for her. It was a fight I was not going to fight. Mommy was sick so she went to work with daddy for a few hours. Pretty nice setup for 18mo old!

The recent goings and comings of The Brew Crew...

School has been in session for a few weeks now. It feels good and weird not to be there. Did I mention I am not teaching this year, and maybe not till we are doing having our clan and they are in school? I was in a plush situation with great coworkers, and had a GREAT principal. It wasn't a tough decision to stay home because teachers make poo in Oklahoma pay wise. So, working part time it just wasn't worth it to have a sitter 3 days and leave B that much. I love kids but I love B more, and while I like teaching, I have been so annoyed with the system for so long that this is a good thing. I do hope to go back one day, and will hunt down Beth and Tammy and beg to be back on their team.

Went on some fun trips and got some mommy me time. It is always nice. :) I took 2 solo trips and loved every minute of it. As social as I am, I am also equally a loner. I love quiet time. Bart took a couple works trips (golf) and I did my thing to. We are VERY blessed to have both grandparents within a mile to watch B, along with Aunt Lindsay and Aunt Tonya.

Doodlebug Berkley is growing at rapid speed. I still can't believe I have a child sometimes and then I realize that she is on the downslide in to being 2 and it is just to much! She has the terrible 2s already down though. :) ha. I love her but wow am I getting paid back for my moodiness! She does these silent protests. She lays down on the ground and just lays there. No screaming, or kicking, and its just pathetic I tell ya. She also can do the crazy scream, crying, kicking throwing things tantrums also. On the other hand, she is pretty much a really happy, sweet lil girl. We have been very lucky. She likes people, but it takes her a minute to warm up. She loves her grandparents and has started to become a daddy's girl. She still has a belly laugh, randomly does funny dances, faces and is still into jumping, marching and seat drops on the ottoman. She is quite the little ham! She loves babies, buckling and unbuckling her seatbelt, and is obsessed with our friends lil boy Rhett. She is talking up a storm, even putting a few words together. She literally says more and more every day. Its amazing what they soak up.

Football has begun. I have always enjoyed watching sports but now my other half is in the zone. Going to games, watching games all day and did I mention the multiple fantasy teams? Add golf in there and I guess I will see him in the new year? I've got it pretty good, but men and sports is nuts sometimes.

Ok so I kinda lied...I will actually see B lots here in a couple weeks. We are going on a great beach trip to celebrate my 30th birthday! I have made it to 30, all limbs intact, and the world did infact keep on turning! It was a wonderful birthday and I love all my family, friends and especially Bart who helped me celebrate. I was spolied rotten and I got to celebrate about 5 different times. It was great!

Baby boo started MDO at our church last week. She has done great so far! She is getting less of a nap there, its about an hour less than she is used to, so I am getting a crazed kid around dinner time. You can just see her exhaustion, poor thing. I have tried mini naps but, by the time she finally gives in to sleep, I have to get her up so it won't interfere with her bedtime. She is a good napper and sleeper in general, almost always goes down without a fuss so I know I am blessed and will take MDO in stride. Its good for her and me. We are still doing Gymboree every week, took a break from swim lessons because of being out of town, being sick, & another ear infection. We also are part of a twice monthly play group and I have met some really great new girls that attend church with us. It is nice to know more and more people with kids around the same age and doing the same things.

I am addicted to Pinterest when I get on it. I can go a day or two, just like with FB and such and not get on... but once I am on, look out. It is like my reading addiction. Before I know it its 1am and I have been on the darn computer for 3 hours. This has to stop. It is a brilliant way to 'file' aways things though. Okay, so maybe Pinterest and reading is my "sports". :)

Took a really fun trip to Breck with one of my besties Mere and our husbands. I LOVED Breck in the summer, want to go back ASAP. I hadn't been since I was 19 (in the summer) and I forgot how beautiful it was, and how much great stuff there is to do. We ate, walked around, shopped, biked and went white water rafting. We had a great time and can't wait to go back! We also got to see our friends the Colley's in Denver. It was so nice to relax, catch up and love on their sweet kids.

What I really wanted to share and got sidetracked with personal mumbo-jumbo:

***We are attending a Wednesday night bible class at our church by one of my favorite pastors. His name is Terry Feix and I love his teaching style. He is on staff at Crossings and is usually the one to fill in for Marty when he is gone, or just to take on topics that have a little more theology to explain. He is brilliant and knows so much about history and the Bible and yet he is one of the only teachers that has really ever made it easy to understand all the stuff that can make someone studying the Bible get a headache. He keeps you interested but is in the word, making it understandable and applicable the whole time. The series is called Hard Questions and it hits on things like 'why can't/won't everyone go to heaven?, is heaven/hell real?, viewing God as a just God equally to a God of grace and love, etc." I truly think no matter where you go to church, or if you don't go that you would benefit from this series and you should check it out. My dad has gone with us and if you know my dad, that is a big deal. :) It is Wednesdays in the Sanctuary at 6:30, or they are online to view/listen to. You can go to http://crossingsokc.org/terry-feix-teachings/ to see the lesson that have been posted so far. It really is worth looking at. Terry is a great teacher, Oklahoma Christian/OU grad and one of the best teachers I have ever heard. It has really helped me look at things and either reevaluate my belief on a certain topic, or confirm and strengthen it. Did I mention I think Terry is a great teacher? Haha.

Love and Blessings,
bb




Breck pictures & Mere's Bday Party:




Highschool friends! Love them.Baby shower for Jeff, Logan and Baby girl Ellis!

The Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer...

Summer has been great so far! I have a precious lil girl who loves being outside, loves the water, and belly laughs to show her joy for everything she is doing.

I was SO thrilled when the rain started today. Thank you Lord for the rain. Please, send more. Berkley and I were on our way to her swim lesson when it started and she kept saying, "uh oh" and then pointing to the moon roof where the rain was hitting.

I love this age of discovery. Everything is so exciting to her and it is hilarious to watch and also a little scary because, she is climbing everything! Well, ok she still hasn't tried to get out of her crib... but the tub, on the tables, on chairs up to the counter, etc. Girl is going to give me an ulcer. Her vocabulary is expanding and all that she remebers a word for, and the unknown language she babbles is so exciting, as a first time mom. Of course, it's not as exciting as when she says BeBe to my mom. That is her 'grandma' name. My mom squeels and you have never seen more joy.

We love our lil girl, love summer and I feel so blessed to get to be at home with her and having fun. While I realize I am biased, I think she is the funniest, silliest, sweetest, smartest, most precious thing on this planet. God is good.

Swim lessons with Miss Megan, practicing my hanging on side of pool.
She is also learning to float on her back, so she likes to practice in the bath.
After swim lessons, and Gymboree this is usually what happens on the way home. This particular time, she was snacking and fell asleep with her hand in the baggie. :)
One of our sweet babysiters (Miss Devin Dobson) let her play in her awesome sunglasses. B thought she was a diva!
We love swimming, and the Wedel's is always a favorite choice! She is a little skiddish around their puppy dogs. For some reason the only thing that seems to really scare her is dogs. I have no clue why. Sad.
I got this little swim mat for our yard. It is great! You can find it at onestepahead.com It attaches to your hose, fills up and squirts water out. Not deep, so no scary baby in water issues. Gotta beat the heat!
Due to the bluegreen algae up at our lake place, we stayed home for the 4th. We are so glad we did! We had a blast with some friends.
We ate dinner twice with this group and then hung out after. We also watched fireworks with them and the Holleyman's and got to see some other friends too! It was a great weekend.
We were headed to watch fireworks with our friends and thanks to Megan and Lindsay we got some awesome 4th of July tatoos and glow in the dark necklaces for the kids! SO fun. Thanks fun moms who think of stuff like that!
Poppi (aka Grandpa Tom) got Berkley her first golf club! She thinks its pretty fun. Notice the grip? She is a natural!
She loves holding the waterhose and helping with yard work. She likes to sit in the flowerbeds while I pull weeds, and sweep the sidewalk.
She is modeling her shirt from her Aunt LaLa (aka Laura).
On her Aunt Lin's (aka Lindsay)birthday she sent kisses!

Oh Highschool days at OC, I mean COLLEGE days at OC.

I tend to give background when telling a story so...If you are reading this by choice, then just keep reading. The funny stuff is at the bottom. At least it is funny, if you were part of it.

Ok so here is the thing. I went to Oklahoma Christian University. I was kinda given a non-verbal ultimatum for a while and then a conversation happened. It went something like this:

Dad: If you want college paid for, it's going to be a Christian college. As in, affiliated with the Church of Christ.
Me: Oh Oh, I choose Pepperdine in Malibu.
Dad: That doesn't count.
Me: hmmm. Well. Um. grrrrr. OC?
Dad: Exactly!

Ok my dad is the best, and I am SOOOO Flipping Grateful I have no school debt and so is my husband. But, if I am being honest I should have spread my wings and moved away for college, but, it by no means was totally my dad's fault that I ended up at OC. It was just one of those things that kinda happened all of a sudden. It is Senior year, like the end of it, most of my friends were going to big schools. They had been working on their grades, applications and all sorts of stuff for Rush for quite a while. I had not. My best friend and I had a falling out, she went out of state, and I think I had always thought in the back of my mind, I would go with her. It didn't happen. I was a coward, so I stayed at OC. Where my family went. Where I went to church. Where I knew almost everyone.

I'm glad I went to OC. I grew up, regressed a little, then grew up more. I screwed up a bunch, learned from it, then screwed up more. I had my first true love. I met some amazing NEW people. I learned a great deal the HARD way, oh I mentioned that already, huh? I connected with people at the end of my time there that I wish I had known the whole 4.5 years. I fell in love with Honduras, made some life long friendships with families and I got to say I was 'staying at home' for the weekend but really just stay out past curfew. YEP, curfew is a enforced rule at OC. Long story short, OC was great, is great....but it is a small private school, it is in the town I grew up in, my mom works there, I babysat for half the staff, etc. So, it was kinda like highschool. Highschool - that is where the funny story starts.

My gal pal Ginny Lou came for lunch the other day. That is us at her wedding!
Ginny is from Edmond, went to OC, but has a legitimate reason...she was on a softball scholarship. Back to the other day... I was coming home from swim lessons and Gymboree with a very tired 16month old so as I pulled in the driveway and got out my sleeping zombie child, Ginny said "you are SO a mom. " We had lunch and updated on CrossFit stuff and her hubby being a doc and me being a mom, vacations we wish we were on, etc. Oh and updated on her crazy cool fun sister who basically almost got stuck in a foreign country when her passport, purse, etc. got stolen. That girl is like a movie waiting to happen. Did I mention she is a FLIPPING AWESOME military woman? She like got her finger bit off one time. Nway, so as we are eating and updating we are like wow, being an adult stinks. Bills, cleaning, jobs, cars that break down, ugh! So we laughed, ha ha. Talked about how being a kid was fun. I felt bad about myself as she ate fruit and a sandwich. I ate those things talso but, I also had chips. Then I showed her my Magnum IceCream Bar I would later devour.

Ok so Ginny and some others including me were in what we called SGC. Senior Girls Club. See, highschool. But, I am so glad I was apart and I love it. Not knocking it, just explaining. This was our made up club. We were all in different clubs at OC. Not sororities, because we can't have those. Ok so, in our SGC we did fun things like meet for lunch, we took senior pics together, yep...like jeans, matching black shirts, all 15 or 20 of us at a house taking pics outside, posed. Seriously. We had shirts, we had meetings, we had jobs, as in president and we even had a COOKBOOK, thanks to Mich's mom. We also might have all had matching rings. Hot pink with fake diamond rings. Think JLO engagement ring from Ben. Oh and lots of obsession with SATC & Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde. Anywho, we really did have SO much fun. We did random missions, we laughed a lot, we got to be close with friends of friends and made new friendships that were so great.

One of the best things I remember about SGC, was that a smaller group of us were in a war with some guys. PB&J or PBNJ. I can't remember exactly. I am pretty sure they started it. Like 99.9%. They caught a goose that was in the pond, put it in a plastic tub and knocked on our door. We opened the said door, they threw goose in, shut door and we were trapped with a goose, flying, walking, squawking, and going nuts and we couldn't get away because they were on the other side of the door keeping us in. We stole all the antenas and tailgate from one of their trucks. They (Ben) got really mad about that one. They did the same back to a girl, or actually I think they took Haley's tailgate first, and then wrapped it up and put it under the school Toys for Tots Xmas tree. If I am mixing up details, sorry. Ginny, Angela or Amy can tell you exact stuff. LIke the Xmas tree might have been for homeless people not toys for tots, or what order stuff happened in. Nway, we put flour on their door inside a trashbag so when they opened it, it was a mess. I think we spooned their door? Like we wanted to fork them, but they had no grass in the apartments. Ok so back and forth we went with this war. It was fun. It was fun until they singled me out. I came out from class one day. My car was in the parking lot by the gym. I go up to my car and there is a note on the window. I laugh as I start to read..."Not going anywhere for a while? Have a snickers!" There was a snickers with the note on my window. That was the saying from a current snickers commercial. Anyhow, as reality sinks in of what is going on...I realize, they have chained my tires to my axel. I can't go anywhere. I laughed thinking they were watching, but they were long gone. SO I wasn't laughing anymore. My car was stuck. Bootyheads. Hilarious, clever, but Grrrrr. They also put another girls car up on blocks. I think that is how it all started. Maybe even someone caught them in our group. Like, girls car up on jacks, taking wheels off, its on blocks. OH and we had initiation night, for ourselves. It was fun. I'm pretty sure some guys had chainsaws and scared us. It was dark. I have great pictures from all of this, but most are saved on my old computer and that whole switching stuff isn't my thing. So, enjoy these few.


Yes, we did the whole make female products looked used, in college. We did it, we laughed the whole time, we made memories!

Oh college fun.

Love my life, grateful for all I have, thankful for the lessons I have learned, prayerful that lessons in the future are a tad easier to learn. :)

-bb