Not The End

Our hearts are in Beaufort today. We stand in Spirit and in Prayer with the Cushman Family as they say "Good-Bye-For-Now" to their sweet little Ellie.

High Note, Low Note

Until recently, I didn't know much about Disney's Little Einsteins. Now, thanks to the free Disney JR app, we are all on a first name basis. Sometimes, Riley even lets me be June... (other times, I have to be Mary or Joseph and she is Baby Jesus...or we are both puppies... but that is another story for a different day)

For the uninitiated, Little Einsteins set their adventures to classical music and plug in classical works of art along the way. I never thought my two year old would be running around saying "Mozart" "Seattle" or "Paris, France" but she quotes these amongst other high brow tid-bits and phrases.

My concern is that she is going to think there are lyrics to some of the musical pieces... to insist that Beethoven's 5th really does go: 'I Love Balloons, I Love I Love Balloons...' but, I suppose we'll cross the bridge should we arrive at it.

Rye has a musical soul- she loves to listen to music; to dance and sing a long.  Because of this, she naturally adores Little Einsteins. See?

(& here's the original, sung by Annie)

Rye's Christmas Message

Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Merry Christmas

Shiny Baby Jesus

Silent Shiny Baby Jesus from Jim Morgan on Vimeo.

Virtual Christmas Card

If you have already gotten a Christmas card from our family in the mail, you will recognize right away that this is our actual Christmas card's cover. (Unless you already live in Florida, then you got something a little different) Once you click on the links, you will see that the letter is the same as well. If you have not received a card in the mail, it is either delayed due to the antiquity of our local post office or...well, I was running low on stamps, see... and I knew that I planned to send this here virtual one... so... please enjoy this version and know we love you very much!

Even if you did receive a tangible card in your mailbox, there is a slideshow of the children in the virtual card.
Rather than try to get one good shot of the children all looking in the same direction at the same time, I had the realization that I could hit the continuous shot button and improve my odds...2000+ still shots later, I had another realization that a movie would be easier and after a little tweaking, we ended up with a stop motion-ish sort of slide show.

Every time I've played it back, I am moved to thankfulness again for the gift of our kids.
We hope this time of year finds you counting your blessings and enjoying the gifts that we have been given by God. They are innumerable, if only we start to count.

Brewer Family Virtual Christmas Card:
WARM WISHES FROM THE BREW CREW

Nativity ReTooned

For the purists: 

Retooning the Nativity from Igniter Media on Vimeo.

December 2012 SlideShow

We headed out to the beach to take pictures for this year's Christmas cards... I used the continuous shot mode on our camcorder in hopes of catching a few good shots (ever try to get multiple kids to look at the camera, smile & not twitch...simultaneously? Fun stuff, that.)

(See Also: my everyday camera has been re-assigned for use by Chandler & Logan in their FLVS Photography Class...and had dead batteries) 

So, the camcorder... I always forget about the continuous shoot function until I accidentally hold the button too long (it is usually always around Christmastime when I am scrambling to make pictures happen and end up resorting to the camcorder)

I was a little delighted by this realization... "This way, " I thought,  "perhaps I will actually get them all looking in the same direction with print worthy expressions" I figured I had improved my odds anyway.

Once we got home and I began to sift through the 2,000+ stills (the downside of continuous shooting with a camcorder) and realized there was another way... and so, after importing into iMovie and tweaking a bit with some music,  this slideshow:

::sniff, sniff::

Where does the time go?

Children are a gift from God.

Indeed. :) 

Merry Christmas, Glad Tidings, 

Be Of Good Cheer 

 Count Your Blessings 

Throughout All The Year

All Seasons' Reason

Are you keeping Jesus in a manger?

I Am Here from onetimeblind on Vimeo.

Jesus & Santa

Liked This:

JESUS & SANTA CHRISTMAS VIDEO from Barton Damer on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday Nicholas!

Nicholas Mark, 1985

I have known Nick for as long as I can remember. No, really. I don't have a childhood memory that doesn't also include Nick's existence. An existence which started a handful and half years ago on this very day. 

Happy Birthday Little Brother 

(who has always been like an Older, Wiser and Better Looking Brother  ;)

When I think of our sibling-hood, several key memories always come to mind first...

Climbing over The Ugly Sofas & Red Eyeball Chair (*see picture below) in games of " I Can Do Something More Dangerous Than You Can" A game in which one of us would do something 'dangerous' like leap from the ottoman to the sofa and the other one had to take that dare then up the ante by jumping from the sofa back to the ottoman with our eyes closed!

I think of hours and hours riding around in the backseat of our various family cars -usually in the  hot, sweaty, summertime- making up games to keep ourselves entertained en route to small country churches in need of a pastor, or with our Granny squished between us en route to the beach. 

(Why yes children, we DID have television way back then... and yes, it was even in color... we just didn't have them in our cars yet.)

I think of countless backyard games & play time with cousins. Of Super Man. The 80's. Knight Rider. St. Nicholas. Sky City. Lucky Touches (Nick had the 'Lucky Touch' with coin op machines... like The Fonz to a Jukebox, a free soda was Nick's for the knocking. Change return slots held other customers' change hostage in wait for Nick's arrival- always paying his searching pinchers with a little jingly change.

I think of games of Alligator on the First Church of the Nazarene front stoop; throwing rocks in the grate behind the church in Wrens. We played games of "Get A Long Gang" that lasted entire minutes before one of us 'messed it up' with a squabble; net-less badminton on Rosemary Drive.

Together, we became expert U-Haul loaders and even shared "Grandma's Attic" seats to get to where we were going.

We were always new in school together- Nick much quicker to make friends than me. Because of Merriweather's combined elementary and middle grades, we never even knew a time where the other wasn't in a classroom nearby on the same premises.

I could spend a lot of time drumming up warm memories of Nick, for as I said, most of my childhood memories feature him too... but he is older now 

(much, much older ;)

And now? Well, now, when I think of Nick-- I think of a fellow follower of Jesus. A man who loves his family, church and serving others.

 I am proud to call you brother Nick, and proud of who you are allowing the Lord to call you to be.

Happy Birthday, Little Brother. 

Keep Obeying Jesus. 

 He has made you an even more awesome person than back when you could fly from the top bunk.
(not that you still can't... just don't try it without some aspirin handy ;)

I love you. 

*sofa & chair in question

Coming Soon

We took pictures for a Christmas card this afternoon. Pretty soon, you ought to be getting one in the mail or seeing our 'virtual card' online... or both. In the meantime- here's a sneak peek from today:

It helps to look away from the camera from time to time

Counting piggies and blessings

Okay~ I realize it's mostly toes, so...

...STAY TUNED!

:) 

Ballpark Bird

This weekend, we LIVED at a local ball park while The Brewer Brothers participated in tournaments...

Some of the games were LATE GAMES, so we befriended coffee:

 Enjoyed healthy snacks (what? they're orange, like carrots!) in the truck with Buzz & Woody 

(Rye has just discovered the Toy Story Franchise):

Gathered "flowers" in the big field: 

Caught up on some reading:

Discovered RING POPS ®

Napped:

Oh, and we watched a little baseball: 

FERNANDINA BEACH PIRATES  12U BABE RUTH LEAGUE

Picnic

Riley is fond of picnics. 

(which really do encourage her to eat vs. survive on sippy cups of milk)

Swingy~Bird

Because she said "Take pitchure!" while  swinging 

(Perhaps she has seen several other photos of herself mid-swing on our screen saver?)

I don't have to be asked twice to snap a pic :)

(but I will snap a picture twice!) 

Good Morning, Sleepyhead

Riley greets the morning. 

(these were snapped a bit after 9 AM on a recent morning- practically afternoon!)

Must be nice to be so very asleep, so very late into the day... 

(says the one Rye calls on to fetch her 4 AM sippy cups...or be her personal heating pad) 

And....notice whose bed she claimed...realize that she has kicked the rightful owners out and decided to sleep in...not that I mind. 

:) 

Love our little sleepyhead.

UpWards Ends

Logan closed out her first (and likely last) season as a cheerleader the week before Thanksgiving. They were given a team photo at the ending ceremony. Here it is, courtesy of 

Pam Bell Photography: 

(go peek at her photos, she's got some nice shots over there)

Beautiful Neighbor

From time to time, Riley will sit on the edge of her bed, place her shoes side by side and begin to sing "Beautiful neighbor.... won't you be mine, won't you be mine... " shuffling her shoes Mr. Rogers style all the while.

 Unfortunately, most of the time she does this routine  fresh from the shower and sans clothing. I have attempted to dress her then coax another round of singing, but often times, when Rye has moved on from something, she has moved on for a long while... so my few attempts to video her singing with shoes has fallen short as her attention has wandered on to new things mid-song.

I was delighted then, when a fully dressed Riley (and perched on the hallway bench for easy filming), started singing her little version of Mr. Rogers' famous intro song... my phone was on the counter, within reach...so, I captured a little bit of her routine before she spotted me filming and decided that she wanted to "take a smile" (picture)

Enjoy the show, Neighbors. 

The Gift of Work

My Thoughts On Work

1. The words work and gift hardly seem to belong together, but I can remember not having work, searching for work...having work to do is most definitely a valuable gift.
2. Sometimes I feel like my work matters little. Then I hear my children remembering their manners or my husband pay my work a compliment and my investment is repaid instantly.
3. When I undertake a project, from baking a cake, planting a garden or building a web page, a connection is formed between myself and my work. I care about the results. I am encouraged to do my best in order to yield the best results. I believe this is an important element that having work to do develops in me.
4. Having a project flop completely, be unappreciated or lost to damage in some way is as important an experience to me. I have learned that any job worth doing is indeed worth doing well. I have also learned that any job worth doing should be done simply for the satisfaction I get from doing the job and doing it well.
5. People are my favorite part of work. Whether I am working for others, with others or for the benefit of many others, I find that meeting new people adds a dimension of immense value to my life.
6. I love to learn new things- work affords this.
7. Experience also comes from work. Experience is like a very handy bridge that allows you to cross into the presence of new populations.
8. Places I have worked:

• Churches
• Christian School
• Assorted Daycares
• Bridal Boutique
• Cell Phone/Electronics Store
• Movie Rental Franchise
• Movie Theater
• Non Profit theatre
• Hospital
• Coffee Shop
• Mall & Outlet retail stores
• Home
• Pharmacy/Drugstore

This is Jules...one of my favorite gifts from work.

I could never call her a co-worker...even though that is where we met and the only place we ever really spent time together.

If you listed things about us on paper, we'd seem the most unlikely pair--thank goodness no one did that before we shared our first Michelina's meal in the break room!

Jules doesn't live in Savan(Ninev)ah anymore (lucky duck) and we rarely get to talk...but I will always consider her a friend... a gift I received at work.

(We'll always have Wife Saver...)

Benjamin Jacob

Happy Birthday Benjamin!

(a.k.a. MeMe)

~Check Out This Day In History: November 15~

My first memory of Benjamin is the phone call we got from the hospital to announce that we were the proud new owners of a baby brother. 

I had been praying for a sister for a long time but God always knows what's best. I think there was some expectation that I would be disappointed, but I really wasn't. When you are a 7 year old girl and a real live baby comes to live at your house... how can you be disappointed? Besides, my baby doll Moses was the happy recipient of all Baby Benjamin's hand-me-down clothes and... ironically, his Moses Basket. 

All it meant to be told we had been given a brother was that I must continue praying. Which I did. Until it worked. Which it did. 

...my Prayed For Sister would be delivered by the next stork two years later. But, how lucky am I? 

I got more than I asked for in a good way...doubly blessed, you could say.

:) 

I also remember helping dad convert the toy room into a nursery- helping run a Muppet Babies wall paper border around the room... I still think of Ben anytime I see Baby Kermie :) 

When I think of Ben, I think about many of our shared tastes in reading, food and music. I think back to when we both lived in Kentucky and he was learning to drive. About how we stayed up all night making marzipan Veggie Tales for Chandler's birthday cake. The storm thru town we made, looking for an appropriate liquor (& cheese) to make fondue (Barren County is indeed dry & barren when it comes to alcohol) We used Cooking Wine if I recall. 

I don't have time to list all of my favorite Ben Memories- but I can say that I am glad there is a Benjamin Jacob Carnes in this world~ and I am blessed that's he's my brother. 

Putting together a photo collage, as I did on Jamela's birthday, would not be gift-like to Uncle Ben. Another thing we share is a "super-critical-of-photos-of-ourselves" gene... I am almost certain he dislikes just about every photo I own of him, save perhaps the baby ones that have yet to be scanned in. 

So, the BrewCrew collaborated on a Wordle instead...each kid gave me at least three words that came to mind when I said "Uncle Ben"- if a word appears largely in the Wordle, it was offered by more than one contributor.  I added some words from my own memories...and then we tweaked the colors to fit the kids' insistence that it contain red, white and blue.
This UncleBenBen Birthday Wordle is in no way exhaustive...but it is created with lots and lots of love :)

Of course, I think a birthday isn't a HAPPY BIRTHDAY without at least ONE photo from the past.
So...

This one was taken after Ben's graduation from NGU.
He's so awesome, he not only graduated with honors but was also bestowed with an honorary
  RED HATTER Membership.

Little Known Fact: Only Two Men In The Whole World Hold Honorary Red Hat Membership:
 Benjamin Jacob Carnes & CHUCK NORRIS.

Florida Virtual School

In the not so distant future, the two biggest of The Big Kids will be taking a handful of online classes via Florida Virtual School. 

Because they can.

And, it's free. (for Florida residents, purchasable outside the state) 

We are still in the midst of the enrollment process but were afforded a bit of a preview this evening during the systemwide WorldFest.

Using a virtual white board, teachers were able to share a presentation while maintaining a conversation via microphone and chat window. Whenever we answered a question, the moderator responded on a personal basis, calling on us by name.  

In some ways, it isn't unlike the Bob Jones Satellite system I used in high school. 

The presentations we watched varied in theme based on which country link we chose. We saw Latin American cuisine, amongst others. The instructors were also able to patch through video to enhance the lesson- we watched a video on preparing empanadas. After the video, more dishes were highlighted, a review discussion was had and then an assignment was issued- ("Write a paper on how to prepare one of the dishes highlighted.") 

 The completed assignment had the bonus of being worth class credit if one is taking Spanish. (Chandler and Logan will both be taking Spanish as soon as their enrollment is complete)

After we poked around various country links, we checked out the FLVS Online Library which is basically a vast collection of links for a myriad of subjects. Looks like a very useful tool, if not slightly overwhelming (too many options can overwhelm me and make me feel as if I'm missing something)

All in all, it looks like Florida is offering a fresh approach to education. The format is innovative and the atmosphere of learning has not been lost in the translation from classroom to chat room. If anything, it may prove to be better concentrated. 

We are looking forward to starting classes in the coming days. 

Dancey Bird

While celebrating Fisher's 10th Birthday @ Adventure Landing, Riley gave the dance game a go:

A Timely Word

More Perspective...

In case the first one wasn't your flavor ~ some options:  ;o)

Perspective

Some perspective:

Now We Are Two

When Riley woke up on her 2nd Birthday, there was a "pincess" outfit waiting for her...a present...and underneath the bucket- a bunch of balloons.

"Purple my favorite" ~Rye

What I didn't take a picture of was re-inflating all of the balloons--they had apparently lost their verve overnight, under the bucket (I guess I would too, if I had to sleep under a bucket all night...)

A heart necklace like sissy's... and also, importantly, not like sissy's either :) 

"I love balloons, I love, I love, BALLOONS..."
She sings it a hundred times a day. 

Fatal Attraction :) 

Cheshire Cat is a new favorite friend


We ran a few errands- including a stop by the Dollar Tree for balloons, and Zaxby's for  "my chicken" as Rye calls it every time we drive past the sign. 

Outside is one of Rye's favorite places to be...

Stepping out for balloons...

sisters

The Whole Crew

Fisher, the double digit dude sports his new duds

Singing "I Love Balloons" complete with hand motions
(this must work like a rain dance, for she had no balloons when she sang/danced but she came home with a handful :) 

Back from our errands, it's time to celebrate...

BALLOONS!

Riley runs  to the elevator with her prized balloons. For the last month, every trip to the grocery store (or anywhere with mylar balloons), Rye has wanted a balloon, and we kept telling her "On Your Birthday" so that, maybe she would see a distinction when her special day finally arrived... I think it actually may have worked a bit. 

Riley Loves Balloons

Movin' On Up... 

RyeBird & Balloons

Almost Party Time...

...just as soon as Daddy gets home...

Taking a small rest before the fun begins...

~~~~****NAP DID NOT OCCUR****~~~~

This thing looks like fun... 

Learning to toot her own horn...

Let's Get This Party Started!

The cake I am about to show is NOT the cake I originally decorated...well, it is the cake, but not the decoration... that version fell over (the top layer toppled onto the tray- Jell-o cakes are moist and so was this particular icing mix). This cake is also NOT the version that resulted when I put the cake back together and tried to salvage the decorating scheme (a purple layer atop a pink layer atop another purple layer) because that second version also toppled... this swirly, tie-dyed THIRD version was "good enough" and "stop while you're ahead" and "making do" Everyone ate it, and that's what counts, right?

Riley Wren's Cheshire Cat Cake

Make a wish, Baby Bird!

Purple & Pink Birthday Cake for Riley Wren

...Start Small...

You did say this was MY cake, right?

" Dewishus, Mom! " 

"Present Time! Present Time! Open A Present, See What's Inside!" (once Blue's Clues gets in, it never...ever... leaves :) 

It's a piggy!

Baby NEEDED a new pair of shoes

Hmmm....

Riley is always singing and dancing and, much like the balloons, asked for a microphone whenever she spied one in the store... we told her, much like the balloons, "On your birthday, when you open a present" And so she did...

My Pink Microphone!

Ever since discovering Doc McStuffins on my phone, Riley has been a big fan of doctor tools. She likes to "check your heart" and calls herself Doctor Rye Ye or Doctor Rolly (different days, different dialects)  She has used the little plastic "bump-bomp"  (stethescope) until it wore out... so, the big idea for her birthday was to go on ebay/Amazon and get REAL stuff (you can get most standard equipment for $10 or less.) Her "doctor bag" includes an Otoscope/Light, Stethescope, & Reflex Hammer (poor, Chandler, she got him good with it last night...) Can you guess which kids play with the equipment the most?

" I Doctor Rolly "

The Loot (some of it brought over by our wonderful neighbors)

"Performing" the next day @ LoLeece's UpWards Game

Riley Wren  

"I  SO mad!" (acting out a scene from Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood....she's not really mad, this is just her intro into singing "When you feel so mad, that you want to roar, take a deep breath and count to FOUR...1...2...3...4!')

Color Hopping

~RyeBird~

Now We Are Two