1 Brest a Week: Elliott

If you haven't read Amy's blog recently(you should as she has some wonderful insights into the minds of her children) we have a ranking structure in our family that is completely unnecessary. However, it kind of describes us as a family. So, in honor of this ranking structure I have decided to dedicate one blog a week to each sibling in my family. If I have success with these blogs then I may go into nieces and nephews and maybe the in-laws will even get a shout out! So this week will be for the youngest in our family, Elliott.
When we were all still fairly young, and Elliott was still new to the family(he was about 2 or 3), the whole family was taking a trip down to Texas to visit Grandparents for a week. We stopped at a small gas station because EVERYONE had to go to the bathroom so we all jumped out of the white rental van as soon as we pulled into the parking lot. Elliott, being the smallest, was the last one out so he would have had to wait the longest in the line to the porcelain throne. As we all finished using the restroom and got our snacks paid for by Mom and Dad, we all came out of the gas station, Mom and Dad behind us, and we almost all froze in our tracks. As Mom and Dad came out they did the same. There in front of us was Elliott, putting into practice what he had learn to do as though he were standing in front of a toilet and not a cement sidewalk. He had his pants and underwear pulled down to his ankles with his bare bottom exposed to ongoing traffic he was going to the bathroom all over the sidewalk as casually as though he should get a pat on the back for it. After we all stared at him in astonished amusement for a second or two, Mom quickly walked over to him, pulled up his pants and proceeded to give him the spanking of a life time. The rest of us just laughed because it was hilarious. After Mom spanked him a bit she put him back in the van and turned around to get back into her seat and I saw a small impression of a smile on her face. It was that funny. And that was the only time Elliott ever got spanked...in his life! That's right folks, of all the spankings that have been dealt out by the fury of Mom's wooden spoon or the wrath of Dad's homemade paddle(he had to make a new one because he broke the store bought one on Chris, that story in a couple weeks!) not a single one hand been dealt to Elliott. Guess what else Elliott has never had to do: finish a meal. I like to visit Mom and Dad on occasion and sometimes I stay overnight. Mom will make dinner and as she has begun eating in a more healthy way recently, they eat a lot of vegetables, rice, and chicken or fish. On one occasion Elliott asked what we were having for dinner and Mom said it was steamed vegetables, and fish. This is how the conversation went:
Elliott: What are we having for dinner?
Mom: Steamed vegetables and fish.
Elliott: Anything else?
Mom: No, why? Do you not want that?
Elliott: Not really.
Mom: Ok, what would you like me to make you?

Now, here is a conversation that I distinctly remember between Mom and Katie a long time ago before Elliott was here:

Katie: I don't want to eat these beans!
Mom: Be quiet and finish your plate. You are going to sit there until you finish.
Katie: I'm not hungry anymore!
Mom: Well then I'll put your plate in the fridge and you can eat it for breakfast.
Next Morning...
Katie: I don't want to eat beans for breakfast!
Mom: You have to because you didn't finish them from dinner last night.
Katie: How come ben gets to eat cereal and I have to eat beans?
Mom: Because Ben is a good little boy who finishes everything on his plate and someday he will grow up to be an awesome person who will be famous and you and all your siblings will ask him for favors and he will grant them but only because he is caring and merciful and all you are going to do is make buttons!
Katie:...I don't wanna eat beans!

So you get the picture. Elliott has life a lot sweeter than the rest of us did. Mom and Dad say they found a better way to raise children and they didn't figure it out until they got to Elliott. Right...So that's all there is to know about Elliott. Tune in next week to learn about our brother who is not related by blood!
Ben

This one's for you mom!

So mom has been sending me subliminal messages(telling me I need to post more on my blog) to put more on my blog, especially since I'm unemployed it shouldn't be so hard to take a couple minutes out of my day to record what I'm not doing with my life. Thanks mom! I love you too...So, since mom is so interested in hearing what I have to say I figured that I would dedicate this blog to her! So here it goes:
Some people take for granted what they have when they think about their mothers. Earlier in my life I went through a few episodes when I thought I didn't really like my parents because they punished me for whatever dumb things I did. But in probably the last five or so years I have really come to appreciate what my mom has done for her 6 kids as they were growing up and now watching her interact with Grandkids and even with her own kids as they are older has given me a completely different understanding of her. Examples:
I went to church with Mom and Dad last Sunday and as we went to pray I put my hands on the seats in front of me and leaned forward just slightly. Mom was standing right next to me and saw that I was leaning forward a bit and as every head was bowed, every eye closed, Terri Brest saw that it was ok to push my left arm off the chair and I proceeded to fall into the next row in front of us. Not enough for you? Another example:
Mom babysits Tobin and Jonas every week. I happened to be babysitting Caleb on the same day as she was babysitting Tobin and Jonas and as the set of parents live only blocks away from each other I figured I would go over there and hang with the boys and Mom. While we were there Tobin and I were playing a game that consisted of me throwing a mini beach ball to him and then him throwing it back in my general direction(or not, whichever happened). Mom wanted to be a part of the action so she explained to Tobin that I was gonna throw it to her and she was going to LIGHTLY hit it to him. Tobin was ok with this plan and we proceeded. I threw it to Mom, as planned and that's where everything went wrong. Mom's idea of 'lightly' is apparently a little different from the rest of the worlds idea. As the ball left my hand I saw a gleam in mom's eye that I've only ever seen before she was getting ready to spank Katie and I knew that trouble was coming. She spiked the ball as hard as she possibly could right into Tobin's forehead! Before I could grab Tobin and get him out of harm's way she told him she was sorry and opened her arms up for a big hug. As children are natural suckers for this move he ran into her arms and gave her a hug back. She then looked at me and gave me a look that stood my hair on end and sent shivers down my spine. Needless to say I looked away to avoid the glance.
Fellow siblings, you are all shaking your head in agreeance as you read this because you know that this is all true and you can all see her doing these things. But one fact remains: We all love her dearly. There is no one like her and there never will be. I love you mom and I look forward to the next time where our paths cross and we make even more memories.

Thunderdome Round 1 for KtDJ!

I am no longer a Thunderdome virgin! This past Saturday night I along with my brother-in-law Jeremy Alexander, and friends Charley Belle and Jonathan Bender took the stage under the name of 'Kill the DJ'. Our format being long form with a twist...any character we created had to be killed in order for us to become a new character. The suggestions we recieved were the words 'yellow', and 'shark'. So we went from an American in Australia learning how to catch the illusive 'Yellow Shark' to a rather attractive secretary in the big house in the men's division. It was a lot of fun. I would say that was probably the MOST fun I have had so far doing improv! Between Jonathan's famous crab impression, Charley's frat boy and Jeremy's gay (guy?girl?) there were lots of laughs not only amongst the audience but amongst ourselves. There were a couple of dry spots here and there but overall I would say the best performance we've given between our rehearsals and the show. The best part about it was, we won!!!! It was an awesome feeling and I am looking forward to more of our rehearsals together and the final showdown. Good luck to all!

And now...A Relationship!

That's right folks, I am in a relationship with the lovely lady that you see in the attached photo. Her name is Kait Loney and she is 5' tall. She is very funny, smart, cute, and most importantly, she gets me. Or should I say she gets my jokes! We met Friday the 2nd of January and we stayed up until 6 am Saturday talking about any/everything and then Saturday night we met back up at about 11 pm and talked until about 630 am Sunday and she left Sunday afternoon. While back in Wichita with her parents she and I talked on the Facebook IM from about 6 pm to 2 am Monday. Monday evening we talked again from 8 pm to 230 am Tuesday. Tuesday afternoon I went to Wichita to meet her parents and her brother who were very nice and hospitable. I entertained them, as I am fit to do so, with a few short jokes and anecdotes of growing up with several of my siblings and my parents included. She said her parents liked me so I think I am doing well so far. I'm excited about this relationship as she is a fairly new Christian and will be an excellent influence on me. She goes to school at a College called York in Nebraska where she has a full ride scholarship for Soccer. She is a goalkeeper. Hopefully she will available to meet all family very soon. We'll see.

New Year's

Happy '09 everyone! I'm sure this blog finds everyone doing well...I wish I had more pictures to post but I got separated from my photographer during the course of the evening so what is being posted is all I've got...It was a great New Year's Eve, I went to Manhattan with Luke and his girlfriend Veronica and we went to the Eve 6 concert...I saw a ladder going up to a roof top so naturally I climbed it to see what was up there and it was the sound crew...Luke and Veronica followed me and we watched the concert from the rooftop...Luke said the cops were watching us the whole time but must've figured we were with the crew...Moral: If you want to do something you're not supposed to be doing, look like you're supposed to be doing it and no one will know the difference...So since January 1 I haven't done a whole lot with my time. I used the Gift Card given to me by Jessica for Christmas to buy a Stephen King Collection which had Dreamcatcher, The Shining, and Shawshank Redemption in it...This was an awesome buy if you ask me...Shane and his girlfriend are in Texas vending T-shirts at the Cotton Bowl with her Uncle...Justin is in Germany with his girlfriend until about the 18th I believe and Luke works a lot so I've been catching up on all nine seasons of the Simpson's for the last couple days...You never know when someone will ask you some trivia about the Simpson's and you will need to know the answer...So yeah, I'll be putting up another blog soon about some exciting news but until I have pictures for it I don't want to write it. So, until then we'll see ya.