Time Flies...

Back in February we went to Marshall, Minnesota to see our nephew Jordan. He goes to school @ SWMSU & works there as an athletic trainer.  It was great to be able to spend time with him. The kids just love him!!

In March I chaperoned Sydney's band trip to Branson, MO.  They performed On Stage Live in Branson as an opener for the actual show. They did a great job. While in Branson the kids rode on go-karts, little scooters, posed with people from the shows and ate alot!!!

Within a month of each other Jake got braces and contacts.  Between the two he looks different than what we are used to.

Syd now has her permit and will take driver's ed this summer. This is a picture of her driving home from getting her permit.  Pray for us......PLEASE!!!

Here is a picture of the kids from Easter:

Sydney marched in the Tulip Time Parade in Pella, IA:

Jaden was one of the flower girls in Rodney & Alena Ingle's wedding and really enjoyed being a part of their special day.  Her cousin Samantha Ford (right) did her hair.

These pictures were taken on Mother's Day.  We were lucky enough to spend some time with Grandma Mildred, Dad and Troy's family. Jake & Niki went fishing.

Here are some pictures of our Track & Field Day here in Sully.  Its a big day for the kids, they love it!

Has it really been 2 months since I posted?

Where did January & February go?  I haven't even posted Xmas pictures yet! Guess I better get caught up.  Here are some pictures from our xmas:

   Sydney helped me pick out this vest from Aeropostale. This is her acting surprised that she got it!  Jake needed something to hang his AAU medals and certificates on so we got him this sports cork board to hang in his room.

You can't go wrong getting Jaden stuffed animals. And Cujo got new dishes, treats and a bag of dog food.

This was our official Xmas picture.  Syd was mad at me because I didn't give her time to dry her hair but we only have so much time on Sunday morning before church.

Here we have our kids along with Marc & Ginger's kids.  It's not easy getting them all together with our busy schedules.

Its even harder getting this group together.  Here we have our nephews on Troy's side with our kids.

Jaden celebrates being a kid of character during one of the many ballgames we go to.  Sydney taking and making a free throw. 

Jake taking a three point shot and making it.

Jaden - before perm

                                                                      and after perm.

Jake celebrates his 12th birthday on the 12th of February.

Jaden performing in the Winter Dance Clinic. Behind her and to the right is Sydney, one of the girls that taught these little ones their routine.  They did a couple cheers and did a dance to Pumping up the Party by Hannah Montana.  This was right up Jaden's alley, she loved it!

Happy New Year Everybody!

Just a quick update on the Brands:

Syd has been keeping us busy with drill team (flags & poms) basketball & marching band:

I know it may look like she is a cheerleader but those are just the uniforms they used for their pom routine.

I don't have alot on Jake & Jaden @ this time, just a basketball picture of Jake:

There are those wild eyed Brand kids:

Just and update on Jaden. We had our visit with the Pulmonologist today. They have decided she has intermittent asthma. Which means that she doesn't need to be treated on a daily basis, only when she is exhibiting symptoms.  Instead of inhaling a steroid through the nebulizer, she will be taking a steroid in liquid form by mouth only when she is suffering symptoms.  She will still do breathing treatments and she has an inhaler that she can take to school.  She could possibly outgrow this which is what we are hoping for. 

A movie by Niki

This may be a long one...

As usual we have been having computer problems so I haven't been able to post lately. I need to catch up on whats been happening the last part of Nov. & the first part of Dec.

THANKSGIVING: We all went to Dad's and were able to spend time with those we are thankful for.

       Dad             Grandma Betty  Grandma Mildred          Pam           Grandpa Carroll

   Marc & Ginger                   Shea              

We walked up to the Hawks Nest to watch the kids play basketball.

When we came back I insisted the kids take a serious picture:

And found out it was impossible! Hopefully had Shea been in the picture they would have been less rowdy but he was taking a snooze. These kids make it easy to be thankful for them! They are such a joy to be around!

Moving on. Next we celebrated Jaden's 6th birthday. We kept it simple this year.  I'll tell you a little bit about whats been going on with her.

A few days before her birthday the doctors were thinking about admitting her to the hospital due to her low oxygen level.  She had pneumonia 3 weeks before that and had been on antibiotics.  All of the sudden she starts having a hard time breathing so we take her back in.  The chest xray that they took showed the pneumonia was gone. Her white count was high so they put her on another antibiotic and continued her breathing treatments. On Jan. 6th they are sending her to a pediatric pulmonologist and hopefully we will find out why she continues to struggle with this.

For her birthday we went bowling. Before we ever started she didn't see a step and twisted her ankle. It wasn't the best of birthdays but it could have been worse.

         Here she is bowling.                  Me & the b'day girl. 

Jaden had been wanting a cupcake maker.  I know because she told me every time she saw it on t.v. Jaden is not much into cake but she loves those strawberry shortcake rolls so that was her birthday cake this year.  As I said, we kept it simple!

Jaden was chosen by her class and teachers to receive the character counts award for the month of November.  They had a ceremony at school and Troy and I were invited. 

She was very pleased with herself. She also had her first concert. She looked very cute thanks to Grandpa Lowell's birthday gift to her. Dad has good taste in clothes! Below is a picture of her with some of her friends.  She also had a special part during one of the songs.  She was shaking the jingle bells and the girls got rythym!

I better stop here.  I have alot more to post but this has been a long one.  I'll post more in a couple of days!  Have a Merry Christmas everybody!