Brenley Turns 8

I can't believe my beloved baby girl - that I prayed for, that I dreamed about - is already 8!  And oh boy, I knew she would be independent, a bit stubborn and sassy, but never did I think it would be so extreme at age 8.  But really, I love it.  We are learning how to "manage" her because we say this a lot, "the will in this one is strong."  She does things her way in her time. It needs to be her idea. And she is full of ideas.

She still has her stutter, but we continue to work on it, and it ebbs and flows.  The important thing is she knows about it, and can "fix" it when necessary, and it doesn't embarrass her.  That may not always be the case, but it is right now.

She is super smart. I mean. Like scary smart. She absorbs everything you say, and can say it right back to you. Her reading comprehension is off the charts. She is reading huge books right now and can finish them quickly and tell you all about it.

She can be a walking, talking encyclopedia.

She loves Friends lego's and puts them together all by herself. She loves baking, and helping Mom in the kitchen. She loves helping others. She wants to do everything.  She loves to "garden," and tells me she will be a gardener someday.

She loves all dogs, but certainly her pup Ribbie. She loves Pa Pa's rabbits. She loves to sing. Her current favorite is Charlie Puth's, "One Call Away" and she sings lovely.

She loves to be outside so she can be in her own world. She talks to herself a lot when she is out there. Complete imagination play time. She prefers playing by herself, which worries us a bit, but her teacher assures us she is very social and well liked at school.

She has gotten into watching YouTube videos on how to create things, and she watches these little family shows on there, so sometimes I catch her describing her toys or walking through the steps of building lego's, because I think she is pretending she is on YouTube. I asked her if she wanted to create her own channel. She said no, but I think she'll change her mind soon.  Has to be her idea.

We had her grandparents over on her actual birthday, which she loved. She got to pick her own places to eat out.  We headed to Kansas City the weekend after her birthday to celebrate her some more at Great Wolf Lodge and Build A Bear.  She built a new bear friend named Hannah.

Anyway, we love this one. She is so special. So smart. So beautiful.  Happy birthday, baby girl. Mom and Dad love you to the moon and back and around again.

And this is two pages out of her new scrapbook. Add that to the list of her skills!!!

And I just love this picture. Her hand. My rings. 

Official Thunder Pictures

Happy boys!

Happy New Year!!

We started the new year painting again! This may be our new thing! 

She did not want her picture taken, but you get the point. We had a nice time. She loves opportunities to be an artist.

Happy New Year!

Brenley's space

This was Brenley's Christmas.... A re-done play space with a mini futon and some new writing tools, one of which is this dry erase board.

So not only do we love her space because we can hide Legoland in the armoire, but we love that it fuels her mind and imagination.

This is her first GRANT sign. She did this completely on her own. 

This is her second one. Guess the Caring part needed to be re-thought. 

I love this girl and how she thinks!!

P.S. This is Ribbie in Boone Pickens Stadium!!!

Thunder Up

So yes, we did get to the Thunder Game for Beau's Christmas present. I think it was all that he imagined. We feel very fortunate to not only give him this gift, but to have delivered on it considering the cold and crappy weather this week!!

His smile was completely worth it.

Well, here is kind of a smile.

We love our KD!

Christmas Part 3

Well, it didn't quite turn out like we had wanted, or hoped, but in the end.... It turned out just fine.

This big blizzard of a snow storm had been hyped for a week and the Oklahoma weathermen didn't disappoint. They scared us in going back to Wichita early. The ice did hit, and we debated on if we could make it back to Oklahoma to the Thunder basketball game Sunday night, but finally decided we were safer to stay put and get to the game another night.

So before I get to far down the road of the basketball game, let me break down Christmas #3 in Garber.

So great to see the faces of our niece and nephews and of course, Me Ma and Pa Pa. There are two new drivers in the family. And everyone is getting so tall. So grown up. 

Ryan and his basket of boy stuff. Definitely a highlight of everyone's night! "Oh look, a toy lock and some tape!"

Beau getting his new KD jersey. And here is he with Blake and their jerseys. Little white Russell, as Me Ma describes Blake.

Brenley loves her Cas!!

And now to everyone's favorite and loud game.... Dirty Santa.

Ryan was mad at this point. Shocker.

But as you can see below. He rebounded. 

And now we are chilling out as the girls give us a vocal concert in Me Ma's room.

And this was the point in the night that we decided everyone should head home instead of staying the night. His quote was, "this sucks." Yeah. He is 4.

So while it didn't end like we wanted, we had a great, albeit, short time together. 

Here is to celebrating Christmas in July in 2016!!!!

695 pieces ... Barely took one day