True Beauty

If you have read my blog long enough then you would know that I have had a burden to homeschool Lyla since she was about 3. She is so interested in learning and I feel like if we could focus on that interest then she would go so far in life. Also this momma thinks about the things you get exposed to in public schools. The character traits of others that are not acceptable but can't helped to be picked up if you are with them all day....The words that a child should not know...The innocence that could be lost in a moment .. when I am not there...and can not explain ..I can not fix. Once that innocence is lost.. it's gone.. forever.

Although there is a few things that my child has already picked up and learned that I am not happy about.. we have gotten to the stage of "boyfriends" and "who likes who". We are asking about makeup and jewelry.

I ask why she thinks she needs all that...she is to young. She says so she can look good and be beautiful.

So I go straight to the Bible to get something.. anything.. that will grab her attention and let her know that God made her without jewelry and makeup ...and she is perfect just the way she is.

So here is the lesson we are learning right now:

1 Peter 3:3-4

³ Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. ⁴ Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.

Your beauty is your spirit, your character, your joy, your friendship to others, your love for those that are unloving, your faith, your prayer life
Your beauty does not come from gold, glitter and all things that sparkle. Yes, they are nice and lovely to look at..but it does not make your beautiful.

You are beautiful .. just being You.

Repost from 2008 - Baby Dr Appt

I love going through old posts on my blog and reading what I was doing and how life was like at the moment. Sometimes Gregg and I chat about how we can not even fathom our lives right now without our kids or each other. We sit and think about how our lives would be different if we hadn't met each other.. or if life went a different way. Earlier in our marriage.. we had a "maybe" answer for that question..but now.. we both just look at each other and think.. I don't know.. I can't even imagine what life would be like with out our family. I don't want to know. I don't want to know what life would be like without them. I am happy.. beyond happy. I am content. Safe. Secure. Settled. I am settled. And I love it.

So grab a drink with me and let's go back to 2008 when I was pregnant with Lyla and I guess I had just went to my 3rd Dr appointment and it was Gregg's first time going with me. He worked a lot. He always has. When I met him he worked two jobs and he has always been one to work .. even overtime.. just to make sure that I have never "wanted" for anything. So funny to see that we already had Levi's name picked out back in 2008 also.

Ok .. I will stop rambling.. let's take a trip to the past......


Dear Baby,So I had dr appt number 3 Monday and your daddy got to go with me!!
This was the first one for him to go to! It was just a check up but the dr brought in that thing and let your daddy listen to your heartbeat. He was excited...your heartbeat was loud. Dr Haraway said your heart rate was about 154...which means that the old wives tale about the baby’s heartrate being over 140 means you might be a girl!
We made the appt for the Big ultrasound to see what you are going to be...it is March 24 so we will see if that old wives tale is true! Now you just have to turn the right way so we can see. That way daddy and  I can get your room ready! 
I thought I wanted a girl ...I think because I lost your sister Natalie....but the further along I get I don’t think I will prefer one over the other as long as you get here and healthy!
I have almost past the point of when I lost Natalie which might not mean anything but it means alot to me for some reason. Here lately I have been so nervous over everything...knowing that this is close to when my water broke with Natalie and i don't wanna lose you.
I already love you so much! We have discussed a few names.....so far we have Levi Greggorey if your a boy and Lyla Faye if your a girl.
Well it is time for me to head to chuch so i had better get going!!!! Please don't kick my bladder while we are praying and make me run to the bathroom!

Sincerly,
Your Momma

Drama Club Play - Enchanted Woods

Disclaimer: I'm done editing and worry about grammar, perfect sentence structure, etc. So my posts here on my blog is my voice. Me just talking to a friend.. YOU. I hope you hear my voice and enjoy my blog.


To my surprise this year Lyla wanted to be in the Drama Club which puts on a play each year.
This year it was called Enchanted Woods. We got a list of characters that were going to be in the play and the kids got to pick their top 3 to audition for. I tried to prep her that most of the older kids were going to get the parts with a lot of speaking parts but still she chose Narrator 1, Narrator 2, and Narrator 3 as her top 3. This girl just loves to read.
Well the list came out on who was what character and Lyla got "Happy Dwarf"

Yea.. a little less than a Narrator but I told her that she will do her best and be the best little happy dwarf they have ever seen ..then next year I bet she will get a bigger part.
I'm kind of thankful for the Happy Dwarf part because she was also in a church play.. and had to practice for a piano recital all at the same time.

So we got a shirt made specifically for her part.. so everyone would know that she was a happy dwarf. We had to wear a yellow shirt, rolled up jeans and yellow socks..
here she is in her play:

she did have one line
She jumped gleefully and said "Snow White Get Up!" after Snow White fell down when she took a bit of the apple. And if I say so myself.. she did great with her one line.

I love this girls drive and her confidence. I love her perfectionism and competiveness. I love her.

Lyla's Toy Brew with Audree

So.. my daughter has found Shopkins.

She found them about a year ago and has been completely obsessed since. I thought it was just a phase and we would eventually move on..
but no..

Moose toys is very smart.

About the time we are done collecting a season of Shopkins.. What do they do? Yep. They come out with a whole new Season!! Yay! Which keeps my child ... obsessed!

She found Shopkins on a YouTube channel (parental controls do apply) when they were in Season 2. We have almost all of Season 2. Then her Dad and I bought her a whole case of Season 3 Blind Baskets for her birthday. Now we are collecting Season 4. *fingers crossed we find a Limited Edition*

Don't know what a Shopkin is?

Here .. allow me to show you..

A few weekends ago Lyla had a friend sleepover and they HAD to do a YouTube video of their own showing off Shopkins. Like Totally HAD to!! or the whole 7 years that they have been alive on this Earth would just be for nothing.

Anyway.. I set up the camera.. and said "Have Fun!"

I caught up on my binge watching of the Big Bang Theory and their YouTube video kept them happy for about an hour.. Your Welcome though because I stayed up one night and edited it down to just under 30 minutes..

Yes... I edited it DOWN to less than 30 minutes. Love them girls though and I'm so happy that they are friends. They make me laugh. Sometimes.. as adults.. we just need to laugh at some like totally funny girl stuff and forget about all the adult stuff in our brain.

Enjoy!

Lyla-Loopsy

I am so proud of this girl. She has made my dream of motherhood the best reality possible.

On the last testing session at school Lyla scored at a Level 40 on reading. I just got a message from her teacher saying is the equivalent of reading at the end of the 4th grade year. Wow!!

I love that she loves to read! I pray her love for reading does not cease in the slightest. Every night we read a book before and even though she can read she likes for me to read it..but you better believe she is following along with every word.

Right now we are on our second round of reading The Wizard of Oz  (which by the way is different than the movie).

Are your kiddos at reading age? What books do your kids like?

Halloween 2014.. successful!

Last night for All Hallows Eve 2014 Lyla went dressed up as Elsa from FROZEN. Suprised? There were approximately 658 other Elsa's strolling around..but I am pretty partial to mine, especially since I spent $30 on that dress thinking she might look a little different than every other Elsa...
But..
Arkansas decided to have a cold front sweep in ON Halloween night so everyone was wearing jackets.
The $30 dress.. covered up.. most of the night!

Moving on..

Our town has a wonderful walking trail where all the groups from the High School set up "stations" and decorate them how they want...the kids walk along the walking trail and the High Schoolers just load thier bags up with candy.. It is absolutely wonderful! and safe!

 

 I have to say I am pretty proud of her Elsa inspired hair. We put baby powder in it to make it white then sprayed the hair spray glitter on it. It was magical!

 

 

At the end of the end of the walking trail you go through City Hall.. which was all decorated as The Emerald City. Super cool!

 

Lyla and I would read a chapter from the Wizard of Oz book every night before bed. She was very into it and we finished the book. So to actually walk into the Emerald City was pretty amazing!

 

 

Of course it all started with a Yellow Brick Road. 

The Cowardly Lion turned out to be Lyla's Kindergarten teacher Mrs. Kinslow. This was serioulsy the highlight of Lyla's night....and turned out to be mine as well. Mrs Kinslow told me she tested Lyla's reading level and she scored at a Level 10. Which was Chinese to me until she told me that they START first grade at a Level 6! Wow!! So now Mrs Kinslow is going to let her go to the library to check out her own books to read. Once she finishes reading that book she can take a test on it and then pick out another one to read.

Proud Momma Moment!

 

 

The last stop is the Fire Station.. they had the smoke machine going and you had to walk through the station in the smoke. What a cool picture! 

 

 

 

After the walking trail .. we hit a few safe houses to Trick or Treat at.. then ran by Taco Bell for some late supper. I look over to ask what my Ice Queen wanted and found this: 

 

Halloween 2014... Successful!

Birthday Party at Preschool

In my last post about Lyla's birthday party I told you that we had to do it early.. well this day was her Real Birthday!! And we were getting ready to party down at preschool!!

We had a big day scheduled..
First a field trip to Chuck E Cheese

Then cake and juice for snack time!

Here was our birthday attire....

 

Lyla and Izzy have become pretty good friends since Lyla moved up into the schoolers room.
At Chuck E Cheese every kiddo got around 60 tokens to play games with .. Lyla and Izzy.. played in the tunnels and this cage.. for free.. almost the whole time.

 

We ended up with 200 tickets...thanks to me and my master skeet ball skills...

so we went to the counter to pick out a sucker and some FunDip

 

Woop Woop!! Cake time!!

It was an Ice Cream cake!

It was a hit!

 

 

I think she had a pretty good day.

 

 

Kindergarten Class List ....

It's been the chatter for a while now.... Who is in who's class? Who is your teacher? I hope they get this one or that one... or I've heard this or that about this teacher...

Kindergarten is stressful...
for the parents!!

This picture is of course from about a month ago..

Our class lists went up on a Friday.. they weren't supposed to be out until that Monday... and oh my goodness.. it was all over Facebook!

We got so and so...

Oh man.. I hope we have a good year...

 

So Lyla and I drove down to her "big girl" school...and she looked for her name

 

We found it!

She is in Mrs. Kinslow's class

 

Her cousin Landon had Mrs. Kinslow last year for his Kindergarten year.. so we know that she is already fantastic.. like every other Kindergarten teacher...and I know that she will have a wonderful year! I'm excited to see how much she loves it!!

 

 

Then of course we looked for all her friends names.. to see which teacher they got....

To her surprise.. she had 2 friends in HER class!

Yay!

 

 

Here we go.. Off to a great school year!

Chatting at the fence...

Oh my goodness..What am I going to do with this girl?

My husband went out to mow the yard and the next thing I know when I look out the window I see this happening.

Such sweet summer memories.

Happy 6th Birthday Lyla!

This year we had to push Lyla's birthday party up a little bit so that all the family would be able to be here to enjoy it.. which wasn't a problem with Lyla. We had only a few short days to plan so we did a quick McDonald's Play Place party in a Frozen theme.
For a quick planned birthday.. I think it went pretty awesome.
All the kids had chicken nuggets and ice cream..My mother in law made this awesome Frozen cake...they kids played their hearts out in the tunnels..and they all went home tired!

SCORE!

 

Does anyone else HAVE to lick the icing off the birthday candle?? It is either a family tradition or just a southern thing.. because I remember doing it when I was little. This year I found her a number 6 candle holder that lit up and blinked.. it was pretty stinking cool!

 

We only invited 10 friends to this birthday party since it was kind of quick deal.. but I can not believe how blessed she was with presents.. you would have never thought we had only 10 guests.. we filled our trunk up in our car with presents. Wow!

We have great family and friends!!

 

She got a ton of toys that she loves.. and we couldn't wait to get home and put our new Frozen bedding on our big girl bed!

 

How precious is this picture? This is Lyla and her best friend Addison...

Total girl secrets going on here.

 

Teddy Bear! Who doesn't love a new soft Teddy Bear! That comes with a matching night gown just like yours!!

 

Perfect ending picture.

This is exactly how her birthday went!

Exciting

Loved

Fun

Perfect!

 

Yay!!

Don't mind the mismatched socks

she picked them out herself

Floatin' down the river

Brewer Family Float Trip on the Illinois River

 

Look at this cutie in her life jacket and sunglasses...

That is how you pull off a life vest and make it look good.

I've only been floating one other time. It was when my husband and I were dating and we went with the church. He was still "chasing me" so he paddled the whole way and I just rode like Ariel in the Little Mermaid. It was a Southern Fantasy.

So I was excited to go again and this time take my daughter on a float trip.

You had a couple of options:

You could choose to have a raft, kayak, or a canoe.. we chose a canoe. Somehow I got in the back of the canoe which means you are the person that practically steers the whole boat.. which gave my husband a great opportunity to do some fishing while I was busy steering.
Honeymoon period.. Over!

Learned my lesson: Always get in the front of the canoe!

You could also choose to do a 6 mile float or a 12 mile float. Since we had the kiddo with us we chose the 6 mile. It almost felt like it was to quick.. we wanted to keep going. So next year we are going to try the 12 mile.

It was a great day. The weather could not have been any better. Summer in Arkansas is hot and sticky.. but that day it was nice and cool. Just Wonderful!

 

We packed a picnic lunch and some snacks so along the way when we would come across an area where we could pull the canoe up.. we would stop. We did some fishing, some relaxing, some snacking.. Just hanging out together. I found out my baby girl loved herself some Moon Pies.

Such a Southern girl!! 

 

I can't wait to go again next year. I will be in the front of the boat.. I will pack my own lunchbox of slim jims...and I will take it slower.. not worry so much about having everything we could possibly need.. and have a good time!!

 

Memories Made!



Sweet Dreams.

 

When baby girl pushes away the iPad to lay her head down..

She is exhausted!!

 

Sweet Dreams little one.
Momma loves you.

 

 

Birthday and Backpack

Since Lyla has started preschool..she has developed two pretty awesome friends. Addison and Darah.
They all fight like sisters... but then can't function without each other. Recently it was Darah's birthday and she had her party at Chuck E Cheese!

All the girls were excited to spend some time together .. outside of school.. just playing and having fun!!

Here is Lyla and Addison.. ready for Cake!

Darah is turning 5! What an awesome cake!

Present time! Darah opened up Lyla's present first.. which was a big deal to Lyla for some reason. I guess there is some sort of status symbol in getting your present opened first! I did take quite a while wrapping it and putting all the curly ribbon on.. so I'm glad she enjoyed it!

We got her a HUGE coloring book of Doc McStuffins.. and a DVD.

After the party I had to run by Target to pick up a few things and they already had all their back to school stuff going up.. so we swung by the school section to look at backpacks...because we all know that is also another status symbol of school.. You HAVE to have a cool backpack.

 

I , being the uncool mom, went to the backpacks that had the princesses or Barbie on them..

Lyla went directly to this one!

OMG!

Rainbow Spikes!

 

and her daddy approved!!

Not that I have anything against rainbow spikes but I just can't see my lovely little daughter walking into Kindergarten with a Rainbow Spike backpack...so I told her "Let's look around"

 

*fingers crossed that a FROZEN backpack crosses our path SOON..

I think that will be the only thing that will change her mind**