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***image1***“We’re military kids. What’chu think about that.
We move it all here. Then we movie it all back.
We truck around the states, overall this land.
Mom’s a military babe. Dad’s a military man.”
A packed circle of more than 20 Ramstein Intermediate School deployment support group students crowded around their guest, shouting enthusiastically, more than singing, these words with her.
Carrie Blake-Brekke, known professionally as Mrs. B, travels the world to bases, schools and educational events, spreading humor through her original songs and stories.
Her performances at RIS concluded a 10-day swing through Germany to three schools and a Parent Teacher Association conference.
“I was a military wife and mom for years,” Mrs. B said, “I know what a lot of these kids are going through, and if we can laugh a little about it, it makes it all a bit easier.” Mrs. B lived with her family in Augsburg, Germany, for three years.
“She was fun,” said fifth-grader Katherine Sims. “She understood how the kids feel when their dads and moms are gone. I think it is really nice that she visits schools and sings for kids.”
Mrs. B said that if she has one message for all kids everywhere, which she hopes to communicate in her “All Grossed Out with Mrs. B” performances, it is, “Don’t grow up too fast. Remember to laugh.”
The students did laugh, as Mrs. B included plenty of “grossed out” humor in her show, including picking her nose, to the delight of her audience.
“It was cool that she came to our school,” said fifth-grader Samantha Wheeler, “She did a bunch of weird dances.”
Mrs. B has been performing professionally for 13 years, basing her characters and songs on ideas she made up for her own children, now grown.
“I never thought people would pay to see me do these silly voices and songs,” she told the RIS students. “But they do, so follow your dreams.”
Mrs. B was performing at a 2004 conference of the Military Child Educators Coalition in Colorado Springs, Colo., when she was approached by RIS counselor Noreen Mantini.
“Ms. Mantini asked if I’d consider coming to perform at the American schools in Germany, and I absolutely jumped at the chance,” said Mrs. B. “It has been a total honor to bring music to these thousands of military kids. They are precious, absolutely precious.”
“I liked her; she really cared about us,” third-grader Erika Hermanson.
Mrs. B now lives in the Phoenix suburb of Peoria, where she performs regularly at schools, book stores and area events, as well spending time on the road around the United States.
