one of my favorite weeks...

i always love this week between Christmas and New Years. for us it's a time to rest and catch up and organize.

Christmas was good. busy, crazy, exhausting, but very good. we loved visiting with our families and laughing and all the yummy foods and watching the girls open their gifts. (i took lots of pictures, but have yet to download them. i will soon!) we were all so very blessed and now we're going through old toys and stuff and trying to get things is (much) better order. grace is cutting some major teeth and sophie is testing the boundaries over and over and over again. (:0), but i have enjoyed spending time with them too. we've spent lots of time playing in the playroom. tomorrow we are headed to tulsa to celebrate Christmas with my mom & mike and and to enjoy some New Year's day sales! woo hoo! i'm hoping for a peaceful, relaxing trip.

my parents blessed me with a cricut for Christmas and i am SUPER excited about getting it going and making some fun stuff in the new year.

but, for now, i'm going to keep on resting and reading and playing and organizing and planning and hugging and snuggling and savoring these last few days of the holiday season.

blessings to YOU!

Merry Christmas!

Lord, help me to remember this tomorrow...

If I decorate my house perfectly with lovely plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights, and shiny glass balls, but do not show love to my family - I’m just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals, and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family - I’m just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home, and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family - It profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties, and sing in the choir’s cantata but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.

Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.

Love is kind, though harried and tired.

Love doesn’t envy another home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.

Love doesn’t yell at the kids to get out of the way.

Love doesn’t give only to those who are able to give in return, but rejoices in giving to those who can’t.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

Love never fails. Video games will break; pearl necklaces will be lost; golf clubs will rust. But giving the gift of love will endure.

-A paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13 by Sharon Jaynes

3 days until Christmas!

it's 11:30 pm on Sunday night. the weekend is almost over. sigh. i just finished picking up all the rooms (minus the play room. i can't tackle it tonight!) and now i'm ready to start making lists, lists, lists for this week and to finish up some airport work. hopefully sleep will come soon! the girls are sleeping away and dan is busy working on some Christmas gifts. i'm so thankful for his help. i love working with him.

we have a full week ahead and i seriously need to make every hour count until Christmas. i do have a lot to do. but, i am determined to enjoy it. i realize that most of my expectations are self-imposed and that in the end it will all be ok. my family will still love me even if I didn't get the perfect thing for them this year! Jesus is the perfect Gift. He gave Himself for me and i want to give myself to Him and to others. the other gifts of Christmas are secondary.

today on the way to Church (we visited my Dad's little country Church today) I was thinking about all that was left to do... the cleaning, shopping, wrapping, cooking/baking, crafting and wondering how in the world i was going to get it all done with the girls at home? (they have been especially demanding lately!) it hit me that they only have one childhood. this will be the only Christmas we will have with Sophie as a three year old. this will be Grace's only 1st Christmas. time goes by too fast and I want to enjoy them right now and not regret it in the future. honestly, things have been super difficult lately with Sophie so this is me asking for God's grace to help me! tonight I talked to her about all the things we are doing this week and she seems really excited. i told that I am going to need her help and that the most important thing was to LISTEN and OBEY. we'll keep going over that one and hopefully those words will get down in her heart!

i am looking forward to this week! one more week to wear those Christmas sweaters! :)

We just gotta Keep Calm & Carry On!
Merry Christmas!!

I love glitter!

This is party week in the blogosphere! Boo Mama's party was HUGE! I thought I'd visit Kimba's too! : ) I love Kimba's blog and the sweet spirit that she exudes. I love crafty people who see something and know they'd rather try and make it than buy it. She has helped me see spray paint with new eyes! :)

So, WELCOME to my home. Here is my little contribution...

This year I am all about the glitter. The new Martha Stewart line at Wal-Mart is so pretty! I just can't bring myself to spend over $20 on glitter though. (Especially since little hands could get a hold of it!)

So, this year I have made a few glass candle holders that are super inexpensive, cute and full of Christmas cheer! You just apply a thin coating of modge podge to the inside of a glass votive holder (or a bigger glass object) and then pour the glitter in and let it coat the entire inside surface. The modge podge will dry clear and in a few minutes you'll have a beautiful new candle holder! More holiday decor here.

I used white glitter on these for my sister's baby shower last week. I added some ribbon and a scrapbook charm and I think they turned out pretty cute.

So, now I want to add glitter to everything! This will come in handy as I decorate for my baby girl's Winter One-derland Birthday party in January. Fun, Fun!

Here's a little glitter bird I made out of foam board, spray paint, GLITTER, feathers and pipe cleaner. I've thought about making a garland of these or maybe some ornaments. Maybe one day. :)

Glitter makes everything prettier.

I pray that you and yours have a sparkly holiday season, full of love, compassion, togetherness, tenderness, peace and hope for the new year. I'm so thankful for Jesus, our Emmanuel, the ONE that we can put our hope in... Merry CHRISTmas!

Christmas Tour

Welcome to our humble little home. If you were here in person I'd offer you some yummy peppermint hot chocolate and some white chocolate pretzels and we could chat as we watch the beautiful tree. It won't be too quiet with the pitter patter of little feet nearby. :) Enjoy!

A little bathroom sparkle

This is one of my favorite Christmas decorations. My grandma gave it to me and Dan the first year we were married. It lit up and we displayed it above our bed. Little snow couple in love! :)

I got a great deal on these simple stocking from Pottery Barn this year. $6 each with free embroidery & free shipping! Woo hoo!!:)

The dining room... I love these green ornaments. I bought them last year for $1 each.

happy little figurines in our retro kitchen. :)

The star! I poke lights in this woven twig star every year. This year my three year old, Sophie placed the star on the tree and she loved it! :)

I love to spend evenings staring at the twinkling lights on the tree. So far we have always had a real tree. I love the Frasier Fir tree...it smells great, but isn't so prickly! :)

Here is the tree with flash and you can get a glimpse of our Willow Tree nativity. My parents have given Daniel & I piece every year. We love it!
A quick peek at the girl's room tree. I love the warm glow that it gives their room.

One of the sweet ornaments on the little tree in our bedroom. :)

This is one of my favorite pieces. This is the reason we celebrate Christmas. Emmanuel, God with us!

Merry Christmas from The Brewer Family!

Check out (LOTS) more decked out homes at Boo Mama's Tour of Homes & at Hooked on Houses tour. Beautiful!

a little maintenance

i've tried to clean up my blogs a bit. i finally hopped on the bandwagon with the "blog list." i know it isn't completely done and i probably need to categorize it some so it isn't so overwhelming! you can see why i never have time to write... i'm always reading! :)

well, i've also been to other places around the world wide web lately. i thought i'd leave a little link love in case anyone else is interested...

1- scrapblog.com- SO cool! i can't wait to try out more of this!
2- fontspace.com- TONS of cool fonts, some of which I am using for Christmas projects
3- facebook.com- I gotta say, facebook is fun. i finally posted some pics this last week and i love getting comments on them. very sweet! it's a good way for me to communicate with family and friends too. i have lots of family on there. HI!
4- thatsmyhome.com- great recipes, specifically "Jar" recipes. more Christmas gifts!
5- amazon.com- the fluctuating prices bug me a bit (well, only when they go up) but the overall great prices, free shipping and selection are great. LOTS of toys to choose from. lately I am especially drawn to Melissa & Doug toys. Solid, wooden, hands on, educational, colorful toys. Good stuff. :)

also, since this is all about maintenance... i have a couple confessions to make. no really, i blogged about stuff that i was planning on doing and haven't done yet and i want to be honest. :)
1-i did not attempt the garage sale last week. just TOO much going on. however, we (as in my fam) are having one this coming week. prayerfully, it will go really well and we'll make some money and bless some people.
2- the jesse tree has not been happening in our home this year. :( i thought that december 1 was the first day of advent and by the time i finally got the ornaments printed and stuff it was dec 3rd and i learned that advent had started right after thanksgiving. :( so, we were pretty behind and i just never got it together. again, :(! hopefully we can do this next year and the girls will understand it more too!
3- a couple of saturdays ago when i wrote about being "deliriously in love with" my kids and hubby I was being honest, but by late afternoon and all day the next day, i was REALLY struggling with my kids and my life. my hormones were crazy and i was very sad. we even cancelled LIFEgroup because i just couldn't get it together. i got better and by the GRACE of God all is well. I just want to keep it real though!

well, i think confession time is over. i bet you're glad! (if anyone is still hanging with me!)

this is why i shouldn't always blog about things to come, but rather about things that have already happened and i am so far behind on this! BUT, i have all my pics in the computer so it should be pretty easy for me to do this week. hopefully i can get caught up soon!

oh my gosh, it is 1 AM and officially sunday. i must get to bed! daniel and i have a big day tomorrow and i better get myself to bed. :)

Blessings to you and yours!

i'vejustgottosay...

that these kids are pretty darn cute! :)

a few of sophie's funny faces

miss pouty lips with her daddy. it was too cold outside! :)


*kori did such a great job capturing my kiddos. more evidence will come soon!

stuck in my heart

tonight sophie and i had a little heart to heart. we were laying in her bed reading, praying and talking. i started talking to her about her recent behavior, disobeying mommy, having frequent accidents etc and how that made my heart sad and angry sometimes. we talked about me working some and she said that she wants me to stay here, "at her home." :( i asked her if everything was ok in her heart and she said, "yea, just God and Jesus are in there. they're just stuck in there... God and Jesus." how sweet! my heart melted and i tried to hold back my giggles. i know i want God and Jesus stuck in my heart too!

Motherhood

Raising young children can be a challenging endeavor, but through it all, Jennifer somehow managed to keep a smile on her face.

*photo by the super-talented, Kori Hudson

December 1st

This afternoon I have been planning and filling up my Google Calendar. I love the Holiday season! I love to read Cosmic Christmas and to ponder Emmanuel, God WITH us!

I love to decorate and bake and sit in the living room and gaze at the beautiful tree with all the lights. The past couple of years I have been the Christmas Decorating business and have worked my little fingers to the bone (even last year at 8 months pregnant)! This year I don't have that many trees lined up, but I know there will be a few. :)

This week we have lots going on with family & friends. Lots of extended family will be here this weekend for Jaclyn & Ike's shower and we are busy bees getting ready for that. We also have The McPherson Christmas Ball on Friday night, which is always lots of fun. I am excited about making Brie Kisses as an appetizer and getting all gussied up!

Add in work, regular cleaning and taking care of the kiddos and getting our house decorated for Christmas and that makes for a full week.

In my craziness I am also going to attempt a small garage sale on Thursday. Am I insane? I don't think so? I am just trying to earn a few extra Christmas dollars. We'll see how it goes.

But, tomorrow at 4 pm I am going to R-E-L-A-X as I breath deep and enjoy a wonderful hour long massage with a very gifted massage therapist and I'm not going to worry about a thing! Thank you SO MUCH Aunt B, I am SO looking forward to it.

XOXOXOXO!

For now, I must make dinner and get this little family ready for a Birthday party.

PS- Happy 1st Day of Advent. This year we are celebrating with a Jesse Tree. Find out more info here.