Happy New Year!

So I have been on a bit of an unintentional break due to the holidays and work and a few interesting things that have been going on in the Brewer household. Promise updates in the near (I hope) future.

Today's post is to look back and remember the good and the blessings we had in 2008.

In January - We brought in 2008 with a bang. Josh decided that shortly he was going to be coming off of the road and be home with us.

In February - I became an Auntie again when Zavian was born. I also started this blog.

In March - March was a fun month we had a great Easter! Lots of dying of Easter Eggs and Candy (of course). Something that would change our lives beyond what we could imagine is that Josh stopped going over the road. He quit. This was a scary time too as we had to go from one income to no-income and trust. (We know the issues Shay has with this).

In April - Josh found a job and started working for Charter and we celebrated Daddy's 25th birthday with specially made cupcakes and his favorite spaghetti dinner.

In May - I started working full time again to make ends meet for the time being. Josh is already well on his way of making it possible for me to stay at home again and I am looking forward to being able to do that once again.

In June - We had a busy but fun summer. The kids had a rough adjustment period to mommy not being with them all the time. We enjoyed trips to the zoo and to the pool and to the park.

In July - We had a great 4th of July with fireworks (which Hudson decided he did not like at ALL). Lots more swimming this month Hudson loves the water. Leanna started to learn how to hold her breath and put her head under water.

In August - We of course had a crazy month this month is pretty much my family's birthday month. We had birthday parties galore this month. Leanna turned 4 which is of course a sad and happy moment all in one. I turned 25. Leanna also had her first sleepover. Which was a complete success.

In September - We had a pretty busy month too. Hudson turned 2. The kids had a swinging time at their birthday party. I got to have a wonderful visit with some girlfriends of mine (who I miss and need to do a better job of keeping in touch with miss you "S" and "C") and Josh and I "celebrated" 5 years of marriage with movies and popcorn on the couch night *Smile*. Who thought we would be where we are 5 years later. Leanna and Hudson were also the flower girl and ring bearer in a wedding.

In October - The kids had an awesome Halloween and we went to several pumpkin and apple picking adventures. I love the fall time soooo much. It was a good month and having Josh there to take part of all of these things was soooo much fun.

In November - I got tired of the political nonsense and was glad to have it over with. Thanksgiving was very low key for us this year. We did enjoy getting to see my sister over the Holiday that was lots of fun. We got to spend time with some friends of ours and give to a very special mission Operation Christmas Child. Leanna worked very hard to pick out fun and pretty things for her little girl. Also baby "E" came into the world YAY for the "N" family. I haven't seen him in person yet (going to change soon! don't hate me "C") but his pictures sure are cute!

In December - We had a wonderful Christmas and I will post pictures soon. We had a good time with all of the different functions. Leanna was perfect in her Christmas play and remembered all of her lines and her little snippet of her song she sang with no stage fright or anything it was awesome. Our friends the "G" family welcomed baby "D" which Leanna and Hudson are already in love with.

A good year. An amazing year. I am thankful for so much. I hope the 3 readers I have also enjoyed an amazing year. So much has happened and yet so much yet to come.

Blessings and HAPPY NEW YEAR from,

The Brewers
Josh, Shay, Leanna and Hudson

Friends and Family

My children had a great weekend last weekend. I have been blogging about it for the past couple of days. This is another continuation of that same weekend.

We also got to have lots of fun with some friends (that are pretty much like family we spend so much time with them) and family. They all were at the Breakfast with Santa and then later cousins came over and helped "paint" the Gingerbread Houses.

I also got to get some pretty awesome photos (well for being in cruddy lighting conditions with over sugared children) that I laugh looking at. I wanted to share some of them (with the permissison of mommies) with you.


The above picture is of Hudson and Aubrey. They are good buddies. They are also only two months apart in age. They had lots of fun that day. Hudson's face just makes me laugh out loud. So much joy in one little face.


Leanna and Cadence are 2.5 weeks apart in age. They love to hang out and they are soooo dramatic. Sometimes Leanna tells me she wishes she had a sister but that Cadence will "work for now".


And this picture is of the cousins. They had a ton of fun hanging out together that day. I was so pleased with how well the whole process went. (Even later with the gingerbread houses).

I am so thankful. My children haven't been very blessed with much family that takes time to truly know them and who they are. But they have some (what I hope will be) forever friends that love them for just who they are.

Breakfast with Santa...

So you can read about our ridiculously BUSY weekend here.

Of our fun adventures this weekend this is one that the kids were looking the most forward to. (It helped that they didn't know about the gingerbread adventure till after this part but I digress.) They got up with smiles on their faces (at 6:00 in the morning after a late night that isn't normal for my two) and were excited to get dressed. Here are Leanna and Hudson waiting to put their coats on to leave.


Their excited little faces made the early morning rush totally worth it. I love all the excitement of the holidays to begin with but to see their eyes bulging out twinkling in sheer excitement makes it just that much more special.

So we get there to a wonderful breakfast of delicious donuts with chocolate icing and sprinkles and muffins with candy sprinkles and sugar "breakfast" cookies with sprinkles. I hyperventilated watched calmly as they devoured their breakfasts. As they were eating we heard Christmas Bells and in came Santa. Leanna and Hudson almost fell out of their chairs! (Did I mention I love the magic children bring to this holiday) Here is Hudson telling Santa he is eating a snowman donut.

There were some stories and games and then we got to go upstairs and sit on Santa's lap. We were invited to take as many pictures as we wanted (So of course I did). Here are some of my favorites...





It was soooo much fun. We had a blast with friends and family that day. Are you having a fun Christmas season so far?

Gingerbread Houses...

This past weekend was a busy busy weekend for us. Leanna had her final play practice on Friday night from 6:00 - 8:00. Saturday was an early day as we had breakfast with Santa at 8:30 in the morning. Followed with our cousins coming to our house for Gingerbread Houses and the making of them, Sunday was church and Sunday night was the play.

Today's post will show the Gingerbread House portion. (Cause that is the memory card I have with me at work)

We had a ton of fun. The kids got to help pick out the extra candy that was going to be needed to "paint" and decorate the houses. They picked out sweethearts and gobstoppers and smarties and so many other goodies it was almost unfair. (Especially to mommy who wanted to eat all of them)

The girls did one house and the boys did another which made it easiest for Josh and I. He took the boys and I took the girls (that way I could also take pictures). The turned out really well and it was nice to see them put so much effort and thought into it.

This year was extra special because while I have always made gingerbread houses with the kids. Daddy was home for the first year ever to be a part of the always fun and forever messy tradition.
The girls were so very proud of their house. The worked very well together.

The girls working on theirs

This is the boys finished project they were very excited to tell the camera about each piece of candy.


Most of my pictures just didn't "turn" out for my blog. Lots of mouths open and hands in faces and motion. Perfect for my scrapbook not so perfect for the world to view.

Happy Thursday.
Come back tomorrow to see Breakfast with Santa.

Weight loss Challenge!

Good Morning Blog world.

So I didn't win the Biggest Loser for the 6 weeks. Mark did that with a weight loss of 17 pounds which is amazing!


Last week: 232.00

This week 229.6

Which is another weight loss of 2.4 pounds. Bringing my total weight loss to date for six weeks to ..... 12.4 pounds.

I have 30 more to go people. It would be awesome if I could do it for our FINALE on Jan 30. We are weighing again then to see who has lost more or kept it off. So I am pushing for at least another 15 pounds by then. That is an average of 2.3 pounds a week to lose which is something like .65 pounds a day or something like that.

I am going to continue with the weekly weigh-ins for here though. Just to keep me accountable and motivated. Hopefully by January I will be needing to buy new clothes and to motivate myself for that I have been taking 5 dollars a week and hiding it. So I have a starting point for my skinny wardrobe.

Happy Wednesday..

By the way this week also marks my 4 month anniversary of quitting smoking too. I am pretty proud that I have lost weight and quit smoking for those of you who didn't know what jump started the weightloss thing is that in the two months I was "working on" quitting (before I just went cold turkey) I gained 25 pounds. Putting me at the heaviest I have ever been and hence starting these weekly posts of Weight Loss Challenge!

Do you ever feel...

Inadequate?

I do. All the time. I can't shake this feeling of screwing up all the time. It is like this paranoia I have. Am I messing up? Did I do this right? Can I do it better next time? Am I doing things "green" enough. Am I to hard on the kids? Am I hard enough on the kids? What can I do to make this faster?

That is just in the first 2 hours of my day usually. I worry like really really really worry. About everything all the time. I almost feel anxious. I wonder if I should see a doctor about it?

See there I go again. I can't shake it though. My favorite verse in the bible is in Matthew I believe 6:36 "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow for each day has enough sorrow/trouble of it's own". I CAN"T NOT WORRY. I pray about it all the time. I wish I was better at laying stuff down and letting things go. I need to be better I need to surrender the bad and good thoughts the hopes and the wants, the failures and the hurts at His feet. I know I do. I just fail. All the time at it. Every time.

I know God is bigger than me and my worries and my problems. Why can't I trust him to take care of it. Why can't I let it go? Why can't I say... okay God here you go I am giving this to you 100% letting it go and trusting you with what is going to happen.

My children. I feel like THE. WORST. MOM. ALL. THE. TIME. I can't pray for patience anymore and I won't because I fail that test every. single. time. I pray for kind words and a soft leading hand. I don't feel like I am accomplishing it. I feel so inadequate.

My grandmother always says to me "Quit borrowing trouble". Man sometimes I feel like I am borrowing, begging, pleading and stealing it.

Kinda heavy today sorry. Feeling that way today.

The Incredible Shrinking Shay Returns....

Okay so I am not shrinking very fast but I am shrinking.

So I missed a check in. Or was it two???

When the whole process started you will remember I weighed in at 242 pounds. That is big (even for my tall big boned frame). I was unhappy with myself and decided to get more proactive about it. Thus the Weight Loss Wednesday posts.

I am proud to announce that as of this morning I weighed....

232 pounds!!!! Which makes my total weight loss so far a 10 pounds. That is through the holidays my friends! In 5 weeks I have lost 10 pounds which only averages to two pounds a week. But I'll take it.

I am eating better mostly. Although I am trying to exercise. There are time restrictions on me though so I am trying to find a time of day or days that work better for my family as well as my schedule. Hopefully after all of this crazy weather ends (you know when springtime is here) my gym trips will be more frequent.

Until then I am going to have to get creative with my exercising options... I wonder how many calories curling soup cans while cooking burns???

Crying in the car...

Okay so that sounds pretty melodramatic. I don't mean it to sound that way but I promise there is a point to that title post.

Driving to work yesterday had to be one of the scariest driving experiences for me EVER. I live in a valley and our roads aren't "overly" traveled in the morning. So yesterday it was ICY!!!! I don't mean like "oh there is icy spots on the roads be careful". I mean that when I turned out of my subdivision yesterday morning the first sight that greeted me was two cars smoking off the road in a ditch tangled together it was NOT pretty! I wish I had my camera to show you the ice on the road. This wasn't black ice this was no matter where you looked you saw ice.

So I called Josh (who is two cars behind me in his work vehicle) and made him drive in front of me so he could tell me what to do. Did I mention yet that I don't enjoy ice? Just on my back roads there were 7 cars in ditches in the 1 mile stretch from my subdivision to the "main traveled" road.

I cried. I cried alot. I hate ice. I love snow but man I really truly hate ice. I try not to use the hate word to often (anymore anyway) but I really hate don't like that stuff. It is terrifying and useless (unless it is going in my glass to chill my drink) and causes pain and hurt and accidents and frustration and for me tears. Lots and lots of tears.

Next time I am calling in late!

Not Me Monday

So... another edition of not me Monday. I enjoy telling my weaknesses as a mom to you. I enjoy reading about others which you can do too at MckMama's blog. It is fun to read about other's struggles and mess ups and enjoy knowing that you "aren't the ONLY one". So have a giggle with me as we enjoy...



I most certainly did not feed Leanna and Hudson frosting and cookies for breakfast on Saturday because that is what they asked me for. I would never do that because I prefer my children to eat healthy and balanced breakfasts. I also did NOT join them in this said breakfast because it of course did NOT look delicious (it also did NOT taste that way).

I also did NOT lay around my house in pajamas ALL weekend long because it felt good. I did NOT allow Leanna and Hudson to stay in their pajamas right along with me. We did NOT lay around and watch movies all day.

My son did not have a large number two accident in his pants (notice I said pants and not diaper or pull up) and leave my husband (who did not JUST arrive home from work) to deal with the cleanup of said child so I could continue visiting with my good friend. No I am the good mama who cleans all children and their messes right up.

I would never proceed in eating cookies and milk after the children have gone to bed and when one beautiful little blonde hair girl snuck back out on the couch with me I did NOT share the wonderful snack with her and not her brother.

I also did NOT turn fourteen shades of red when my daughter proceeded to tell a group of people that her mom farts at home and sometimes (she did not giggle and smile here) it is really loud.

So there you have it blog readers. That is my NOT me Monday. What blog gives you Number Two and flatulence along with cookies and frosting all in one post?

How has your week been?