Great-Grandparents

I know it's rare for kids to have all their grandparents let alone great-grandparents. Our kids are so fortunate to have 4 great-grandparents still alive. I took these pictures on Christmas of Sarah with my grandma and grandpa. What a precious gift.

Watching Great-Grandpa play the harmonica. She was staring intently. I think she was trying to figure out what that thing was, and why was it making such a loud noise.

Playing games with Great-Grandma.

Christmas

This last few days has been filled with lots of fun memories and lots of time as a family. We have enjoyed having Dave home with us. On Sunday we celebrated Christmas with Dave's family. On Christmas Eve we went to dinner at a Japanese steakhouse with both sets of parents and my sister. We have been doing this for about five years or so. It's so nice to be able to join all the family together. We then went to the Christmas Eve service at church. Last year we started the tradition of sleeping around the christmas tree with all the kids who are old enough. (we got the idea from a friend) We pull the mattresses off the beds, get snuggled in the new pajamas we get every year for the kids, and watch a movie. This year we let the three older kids do it, and they did surprisingly well. We woke up the next morning, opened presents, and then, in keeping with tradition, Dave made us a huge breakfast. Then, off to my parents for more presents. What a wonderful few days.

The kids in their new jams

Mikaela got a real guitar. Can you tell she was very excited!

Caleb got a big wheel (remember those?)

Caleb got a "Cars" bed. He saw it and started jumping everywhere!

Caleb jammin on his guitar

Alethea got a music stand. She's grateful for the littlest of things.

The Wedding

Dave's brother got married last Friday night. It was so wonderful. Everywhere is so beautifully decorated this time of year. Dave and I were both in the wedding, so we had the rehearsal dinner on Thursday night at a really neat Irish Pub in Baltimore. Friday was spent getting pampered getting my hair and makeup done. My parents and sister were the heros of the weekend. They watched the kids all day Friday, got them ready and brought them to the church for the wedding. If you have kids you know getting four kids ready to go is no small task, especially when they have to look nice! We tagged teamed at the reception, and then my parents took them home for a sleepover at their house. Dave and I got the rest of the night alone and even got to stay in a hotel. I think that was one of the most exciting things, sleeping through the night until however long we wanted in the morning! What a treat!! Here are some of my favorite pictures from that evening. It's kind of hard to tell, but Caleb has on a three piece suit. He was the talk of the party.

Dave and two of his girlies (the girls are holding the bridesmaids flowers. aren't they beautiful)


The Fam


Sarah


Caleb was a dancing machine

Been Awhile

I have not been very good about blogging, so again I have to play catch up. Things at the Brewer house have been very busy with field trips, Thanksgiving, and life. I also have not done a very good job with pictures, so unfortunately I have no pictures for our field trip to Children's Hospital, Thanksgiving, or the first snow. So sad. Our trip to Children's Hospital was great. The kids got to sit in the helicopter. That was so awesome. They also got to sit in an ambulance, talk to some nurses, and bring toys to put in the toy closet. What a wonderful opportunity. One of our other field trips last month was to Sharps Farm to learn about Pilgrims and Native Americans. It was a cold day, but the kids were such troopers. They got to learn about Native Americans, and lots about Pilgrims, their daily life, games that children played, and their chores. Caleb was more interested in playing with sticks in the mud.




The girls also finished their soccer class. That was so much fun. They had a great time running around with all their friends, even on the days when it was cold and rainy. Here is a "team" picture. They are wearing their t-shirts that got during their last class.


Now for Sarah. Well, at our house she is affectionately nicknamed, "Trouble". I have this feeling that I am going to have my hands full with her. She is already into everything, puts everything in her mouth, and very opinionated. This picture is how I frequently find her after naps. She went to bed with all her clothes on!



Up next...Dave's brothers wedding.

October Happenings

Our latest field trip was to the C & O canal. It was so interesting. It was a rainy day, so only one other family from our group decided to come. With the exception of a few others on the boat it was mostly us. I know the field trip is for the kids, but I learned so much on this trip as well. We went on a mule drawn boat ride. Our mule was Miss Lil ( I think). We also got to do a real lock lift. Which until that day, I had no idea what that was. The picture with all the kids is all the kids from our group. Alethea and Mikaela are on the end. I left Caleb and Sarah with my mom. There was no way I was going on a boat with all four kids by myself. My friend Helen on the other hand, brought all five of her kids. They all did amazing. I love the opportunity the kids and I have on these field trips. Not only do we learn lots of neat stuff, but we have the opportunity to make new friends and deepen relationships in the process.




It took us a while, but we finally got a pumpkin to carve. The kids all really enjoyed it. Everyone did pretty well with the goopy insides too. Notice how Alethea is directing Dave in how to carve the pumpkin. The girl got so into it. She is really into art, so Dave told her to draw some ideas of eyes, noses, and mouths. She came back with a paper full of them, so we decided she could choose how she wanted Dave to carve the pumpkin. She was definitely watching over his work.



Finally, we went to the churches Harvest Party. The girls dressed up as Mary, Laura, and Baby Carrie from Little House on the Prairie. Dave's Mom had made the two older girls dresses for dress up a while back, so when the girls decided they wanted to wear them for the Harvest Party, I asked her if she would make one for Sarah. They were amazing. The girls looked so cute. Everyone kept commenting that with the braids in Mikaela's hair she really looked like Laura. Caleb dressed up as Buzz Lightyear, but if you asked him what he dressed up as he would say "to infinity and beyond". So cute! Once again the kids all had so much fun playing games, getting candy, face painting, and seeing all their friends. We so appreciate all the work that goes in to this event to make it fun for us.

Where does Daddy work?

Apparently I need to do a lesson on where Dave works. When Caleb got up from his nap today, he asked, as he always does, "Daddy
home?" I said no, Daddy is at work. Caleb's response...."Home Depot?" They go there a lot. Can you tell?

Daddy works at Starbucks

First, the backdrop to this story is that Dave often does work preparing messages or planning at Starbucks. So, this morning as he was leaving Mikaela asked where he was going. He told her he was going to work. She responded by saying, "at Starbucks?". He said no to the church, and off he went. I was curious by her response, and figured she was still half asleep. So I asked her a few more questions. I said Mikaela, "Do you think Daddy really works at Starbucks?" She said yes. At this point, I'm still thinking she knows he goes there to work on his computer. So then I ask her a question to be silly, totally not expecting her response. I ask her if she thinks Daddy serves coffee at Starbucks. To my surprise she says "yes". All this time when she heard Daddy's going to go do work at Starbucks, she really thought working there. How funny! The mind of a kid is so literal!

Not So Yucky

Mikaela has been needing to take tylenol lately. I kept telling her it would not be so bad. I tried to convince her that the bubble gum flavored chewable ones that I got would not be as bad as the liquid that she is used to. She was not buying it. Dave in his usual brillance told her that if she put her finger in one ear it would not be so bad. We've had great results ever since!

Soccer

The girls started a soccer class today. They had so much fun. The program is so great. You get a group of people together, pick your time and location, and they send someone to teach your class for you. Our coach is so good with the kids. Coach Ben came up with lots of great games and all the kids seemed to really enjoy it. Here are some pics from our first day. I love the team huddle picture. Notice Caleb standing on the edge. He thinks he is in the class. Sorry bud, still a little too young. I also love the way Alethea and Mikaela are arm and arm. Sweet!

Funny?

The other night we had a hair cutting party. Alethea, Mikaela, and Caleb were in desperate need of haircuts. Dave always has this task. He is actually very good. There was a time when he cut my hair too. Anyway, here is his idea of a funny joke. Caleb comes into the room where I am waiting and says "look mommy".

September

This month has been so crazy. So rather and do lots of detailed posts, I'd thought I would do a quick month in review with pictures. Hopefully I'll be able to be a bit more frequent with the posts. We'll see! Enjoy!!

First day of school. Alethea- 1st grade, Mikaela- PreK




A field trip to the Maryland Science center provided lots of fun with friends. The kids got to be dinosaur explorers, lay on a bed of nails, learn about the way animals protect themselves, and play in the water!








Alethea turned 6 on September 19th. We were at the beach on vacation so we had a party there. Complete with a princess theme, lots of gifts, cake, and her dinner of choice- tacos.


Vacation

There was a movie theater in the basement of our beach house. Everyone watch Cinderella on the big screen for Alethea's birthday. We enjoyed it so much, that everyone gathered again the next night to watch Cars.

the official walker

pool in the backyard of the beach house provided many hours of fun

cutie

Jockeys Ridge Sand Dunes




Field Trip to Larriland Farm