houseofbrands's Xanga

Ok...so we've been BUSY!!!

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:47:38 GMT

I can't believe that it was May that I last posted. My excuse? I can tell you in four simple words. Its the kids fault!!! If it wasn't for them I'd have all the time in the world but there would be nothing for me to post about. I'm going to do a quick recap of our spring and summer.

First: Jaden had her first dance/gymnastics recital to the song Mean old lion from the wiz. It was cute and she did a great job. she even helped everybody to their spot if they were in the wrong place. jaden & troy did the daddy/daughter dance and it was a hoot. I'll try to post a vido later, its definately worth watching!

here's a few pictures of jake playing baseball. he played shortstop, catcher and he was the main pitcher. they had a good season and finished in first place.

Syd played softball again this year, thankfully without any injuries. She played center field and some 2nd base on the jv team and did some batting and running bases for the varsity team.

Our trip this summer was to the Wisconsin Dells. Didn't stay long and it was hard to really get into our vacation with Grandma Mildred in such bad shape. Our minds and hearts for the most part were back in Iowa.

We spent an evening at the Tommy Bartlett Water Show. The kids didn't care for the premade, prefrozen sno-cones. The cotton candy, however, was a hit!!

They ended the water show with a tribute to the veterans. It was beautiful.

We spent a day at Noah's Ark and despite the not so warm weather we still had fun. Its really hard to take pictures at waterparks though so there aren't many of them.

We spent an afternoon shopping and looking for souvenirs. The kids are always ready to ham it up for the camera.

Grandma Mildred passed away on July 25th just a few days shy of her 96th birthday.

We had a visitation for her here and then we took her to Kansas and had her funeral there where she is laid to rest beside Grandpa John.

Dad, Marc, my nephew Niki, Troy, Jake and our cousin Brad were the pallbearers. Sydney, Jaden and my niece Maddy stood to the side.

As sad as it was to lose grandma, she couldn't have been more ready to go. We were thankful for the time we got to spend with the Hermons in Kansas City.

Marc and Shea made us laugh with their funny faces. Shea's growing up fast and will soon have a little playmate at his house. Ginger's due this month and we are anxiously awaiting the little guys arrival!

Time Flies...

Thu, 21 May 2009 00:24:41 GMT

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?

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:58:05 GMT

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!

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:36:35 GMT

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

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 01:59:06 GMT

Hi! This is Niki. I hacked into Aunt Dani's website to post my new movie starring Jake and Jaden that I worked on today. Hope you enjoy it!

This may be a long one...

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 15:36:16 GMT

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!

Happy Halloween!!

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:03:23 GMT

Ok, so I'm a little late! I'm still just trying to get caught up. This year I decided that I didn't want to carve pumpkins. I bought a couple plastic jack-o-lanterns from Wal-mart that had lightbulbs in them. All you have to do is plug them in! Could it be any easier? Then Jaden brought home a pumpkin from the pumpkin farm. So I put the kids to work. Each kid took a turn. Some enjoyed it more than others.

Jaden was in charge of treats at school for their Halloween party. I saw this recipe for Graveyard cake and thought it looked like a fun project. Jaden told me she wasn't going to eat any and when I asked her why she told me that there were dead people in there. Kids!

The last couple of years for trick or treating we have gone around with the neighbors, some of their friends, one of Troy's cousins and various other people. Jaden went as a witch this year. She's terribly scary! Here she is with some of her friends.

Jake & Jaden's Fall Activities

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 01:53:56 GMT

Here are some of the things that have been keeping the other two kids busy this fall. Jake played flag football. He can't wait until next year when he can actually hit people.

He was in the homecoming parade and participated in the crazy outfits they wore all week. He finally got best dressed for his sports getup.

He had a vocal/band concert. He has switched from the drums to the bass guitar.

He went to his very first school dance. What I should have pictures of is his older sister and her friend Cierra trying to show him how to dance. It brought back memories of my mom showing my brother how to dance when he was getting ready to go to his first dance. From what I remember it was nothing like mom told him it was going to be!

Jaden has been busy with her tumbling class. She now knows how to fall with style. She loves it! Or she loves wearing her leotard anyway.

Jaden also got to be in the homecoming parade and posed afterward with some of her friends and before with Sydney & Jake.

Jaden wasn't too impressed with Jake's concert.

Here she is with our neighbor and Jaden's fourth grade buddy.

These three girls (Grace, Jaden & Sophia) along with one other girl are going to be flower girls in Alena Brady's wedding. It's never too early to practice!

This is a picture of Jaden at the Pella Hospital last Monday night. She had blood drawn twice from her arm that day, a shot of high dose antibiotic and a chest xray. She was a trooper but it took alot out of her. The next day she had to have another shot of the antibiotic. On Wed. we got the results of the xray and she had pneumonia. Five more days of an antibiotic, thankfully not the shots and breathing treatments. She is feeling much better now. We had alot of CRUD going through our family which resulted in the kids missing alot of school and mom missing alot of work. Everybody seems back to normal now, thank goodness!!

Sydney's Fall Activities

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 04:17:42 GMT

Here are some of the activities that Sydney has been involved in since starting her freshmen year.

She started on the freshmen volleyball team, moved up to the junior varsity team after a couple of games and got to dress with the varsity for their regional match in which we got beat.

She is also on the drill squad where they dance and twirl flags. She has spent alot of time in the yard practicing but now that the weather is getting cooler it hurts more when she hits herself with the flag so she might be spending more time in the gym now.

She also plays the flute in the marching band. They have gone to a couple competitions and marched in the state contest in Williamsburg. They do a pretty good job for being as small as they are.

Syd participated in the freshmen skit for homecoming. They did a ghostbuster themed skit. It was pretty cute and they took second place behind the seniors. Here she is in the parade with the volleyball team and some of her teammates.

I'll post on what the other two kids are doing to fill their time a little later.

Happy 15th Birthday Niki!!

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:44:54 GMT

My nephew Niki turns 15 today! Happy Birthday Buddy!!! Wish we could be with you today!!!