5 years

Can't believe it's gone this fast.

I sure do love him. Still pretty smitten. It's been an adventure from the start, and I feel so lucky and blessed he has stuck with me, as crazy and weird as I am.

Here's to an eternity of adventures!

Lil' dancing queen

My sweet friend did a little dance class for the girlies in the neighborhood this summer. Claire did really well this year, even after a rough start she really surprised everyone and performed the routine so well. She just loves her buddies and dancing her heart out! We are really going to miss this wonderful group of friends, they have really been such a wonderful blessing for us.

The best two years

Caleb "bubba" James Brewer

You came out, squealing like a pig, and have not stopped since.

You peed all over the nurses and your daddy, but not me, so thank you.

You are so sweet, and give THE BEST hugs.

You very rarely stop moving, but I suspect that goes with the territory of boy/toddler/being your father's son.

You really are mostly good with your sisters, and play along with the girly schemes and they love it.

You l.o.v.e. nursery, and despite my concerns, you get excellent reports.

You love Jesus, and love looking for pictures of him.

You love all your bears. It was one of your first words.

You loves CARS, racing as fast as you can, and driving with the windows down.

You ALWAYS have a bruise on you somewhere. ALWAYS.

Monster, we love you to pieces. Happy 2nd birthday!

And now, a picture montage (of just the last 8 months. Ha.):

California dreamin'

As of today, we are a military family!

Joe was finally able to swear in today, and has joined the Navy! We are all so proud of him, he has worked so hard to be able to do this, and we are excited to be moving to Monterey by the end of the year after he completes his basic training starting in October. 

Ever since then, all the beach boys songs have been playing in my head. We're happy to be moving on, sad to be leaving so much behind in Utah, but totally ready. The kids don't get it, Claire kinda knows but I doubt it will all make sense until it happens. 

And here they are in the tub. They crack me up.

4 months.

I luf this girl. 

4 months. 

4 months of a beautiful, infectious smile. It's been 4 months of pure joy. 

Evie girl is happy, all the time. Except when she is hungry.... But she is a brewer, it's bound to happen. 

Evie is giggly, and coos. She blows bubbles, raspberries, and makes noises that sound like she is talking back. 

And, in true brewer fashion, she was introduced to limes today and couldn't get enough of them. In fact, it was the only thing to calm her down when I didn't have a bottle ready for her when I went to get a burrito with Lindsay tonight. Gotta love that. And Evie. Gotta love Evie. 

Long live summertime!

We are having too much fun right now to post much. Dance class, pool, sprinklers, outside play, doggies, parties, friends, visitors, it's all just making time fly. These two fight as hard as they love each other, so that's fun. Summer is slipping through my fingers like sand, and I can't get it back. I'm sorta obsessed with watching the Olympics as much as possible, and it's driving my kids bonkers I think. Anyone else?

And that binky..... Oh man he hasn't had it since January, but found it last week and he insists sometimes. Yikes!

Whiplash

It keeps happening. Time speeds up and slows down, and makes no sense at all.

Evie is four months? But I don't remember life without her anymore.

My dad retired today. (no more wakes-ups!) never thought that day would come for him. So deserved. So proud of him.

As I've mentioned, some days seem long, and bed time seems forever away. Each day slowly melts away. My seeeeester is staying with me right now, so luckily I have an adult to converse with whenever needed.

Caleb turns two in three weeks. When did he get so old?

I moved to Provo 6 years ago. How has it been 6 years??? But only six years? That's 1/4 of my life, so sometimes it seems longer. This is the longest I've lived anywhere dice elementary school. I'm feeling itchy about that.

It's speeding up and slowing down every time I blink. I can hardly keep track of the days of the week.

And my claire girl, she seems like a teenager already. Whaaaaat? All her friends will be in preschool this year. I can't bring myself to do it. She won't be in kindergarten for two more years anyways, and right now I am having so much fun teaching her about things. Her imagination is exploding, and she soaks up everything we learn about. I don't want to think of anyone else teaching my baby about the world right now. She is being molded and shaped at every turn, and I want to be part of it all. Claire got into a bit of a cat fight with a neighbor girl the other day, and the other girl came out of it with a bloody lip..... It was a strange moment where I was MORTIFIED she would retaliate enough to hurt someone (we had a loooong chat after) but also a tiny bit proud she stood up for herself (it was determined the other girl started it after trying to exclude some girls from playing and claire tried to tell her everyone could play.) I definitely don't condone the hitting back, EVER, but just being strong willed enough to defend her friends made me smile on the inside. She has always been my little miss independent, who cares deeply for her friends. And I love that about her.

She is doing a little dance class with her friends again this summer, and has improved by leaps and bounds (haha) from last summer, in pretty much every way. She is also rocking at swimming- when she is in the mood. She is almost swimming all by herself regularly. Loves diving for rings and being underwater as much as possible.

I can't figure out when she got so big! I started imagining what she might be like as a teenager, and as difficult as it might be, I hope her sassy-ness never changes.

Someone stop this back and forth? And can someone stop it from being August next week? I'm thoroughly enjoying as much of summer as I can. And staying tan easily, since we're outside pretty much every day, and the water park almost weekly. And we're downing peaches like there's no tomorrow, because peach season never seems to last long enough.


Blah blah blah.... Olympics! Are you watching? Pretty sure it'll be on 24/7 at our house.

Now how adorable is Claire?

Fears, yuckiness, and generally unwanted

Lately, I've been doing things I don't really want to do.

Claire's hair has always been a little out of control. It's super thin, and it stick straight on the sides and crazy curly in the back. No matter what I do, or don't do, she wakes up with a messy for in the morning. Sick of the mess and tears trying to keep it groomed, we said good bye to her locks.

She likes it! I dream of her having long, pretty locks, but it's just not meant to be right now. Sad.

Yesterday, Lindsay practically shoved me down a humongous water slide face-first. I thought I was gonna die. I try and avoid heights at all costs. Oh, you remember me jumping out of a plane five years ago? Yeah, this was pretty close to that. Dizzy, shaking, screamed the whole way down.

Cleaning up dog pooh. Yep, doing that too. Must be love.

But, even all that, among other things, is forgotten after seeing the beautiful quilt my mother-in-law made for sweet Evie. She is SO blessed, and I am so lucky to have her in our lives. And that's all for now.

Just the kiddos.

Everyday I wake up and have to remind myself I have three kids. (how did that happen?) Everyday I am so glad to have them. But it usually takes me a while to get myself up. Because they are sometimes long, lonely (lonely only because i dont get to see joe) days, with some pretty active kids. Most days, joe is gone pretty much the whole day. Like, sometimes it's three days before the kids see him for more than the 15 minutes before he leaves for work.

So most days it's me and the kids, and some days we don't do anything. But it's summer and I don't mind. Summer is for playing, snow cones, sprinklers and pools, suntans, and right now, snuggling with my baby, who is growing up entirely too fast. And it's for chasing my almost two year old, who doesn't want to wear a diaper. The little rascal.

More to come

Just my favorite snapshot from last Sunday, when baby Evie was blessed by her daddy. She was perfect the whole time (duh) and looked adorable (as always).

All the guests are gone, for a little while. But we still have dogs! The poor things get tortured constantly by my oh-so-loving children. Working on that.

Can I just say how much I love summer? It's been blazing hot, but it's better that way.

And, I can't stop eating cookies. I'm hooked on cookies. And chocolate. I put five pounds back on in the last few weeks because I can't stop. Purging my house today. It's gotta end.

More pics when I get some time, which is probably never.