Blessing Day

Aidan's special day was July 3rd, and Holy Hades, was it hot!!  We had scads of family and friends and a only a little bit of shade, but the day was special and fun, all the same.  He looked so dapper in his little tuxedo shorts and we actually got to church on time!  It was close, but still...
Aidan is named after my grandpa, Royce Chamberlain.  He was such a kind man, and loved his family so completely.  He showered his grandchildren with love and attention and we always knew we were special to him.  He playfully sent us out back to "eat grass" trying to convince us it was delicious, whereas candy was nasty.  He played with our ears and bounced the babies on his knee until they were so fascinated by the sound of their own jiggly voice that they forgot why they were crying.  When he found something funny, he'd laugh til he cried, and he watched Married With Children just to make me mad.  He died in 1995, when I was 21.  It was years yet before I met Sam and began our family, but we have felt his gentle influence and I'm quite convinced that he is aware of these precious little ones that have joined us here.  

Royce and Alene Chamberlain

Brooklyn really enjoyed a key lime pie facial. 

Mommy and Aidan

Aunt Bethy gives some snuggles!

The official "Brand Family" section, nothin' like some garage shade!

Aunt Mandy, Uncle Dan w/ Kara, Uncle Jeff w/ Elle and Uncle Jake

Daddy and his little man.

We love this little guy to pieces, sometimes a wee bit on the literal side.  He is hugged, held, squeezed, bounced and carried...a lot. 

We're so happy he's part of our family, he's rounded it out quite nicely!  

Small Fry

Ok, seriously.  How cute is he?!  Babies are supposed to double their birth weight by four months, he's almost done it in two (he's an over achiever.)  I think there's at least a pound in each of those cheeks.  I'm not going to lie, it's been more bitter than sweet to watch the "newborn" fade, but all he has to do is flash that lopsided grin and I'm completely in love and anxious to see what he'll do next!

4th of July

This year was perhaps the best 4th of July celebration in recent history, at least my recent history.  Some wonderful neighbors organized a neighborhood block party that lasted all weekend, complete with huge blow up water slides, a BBQ and an amazing fireworks display.  Although it has to be said that we'd love to be in our very own house, we are very blessed to live where we do.  We have the most generous, wonderful neighbors and friends and right now, it's exactly where we need to be...I guess. (wink)  All whining aside, we're happy as clams (what does that mean, exactly?) Here's a sampling of our holiday fun: 

It was a late night for McKenna

 Sam is seriously proud of this picture. It is quite lovely.

I hope your 4th was grand!!

Keeping it real...

Ok, so I know most of you moms out there gain little and lose a lot when you have a baby, but I am not so blessed.  Well, I did live a charmed life for the first three, but the charm must have expired because it's gotten harder and harder to get it off and after Brooklyn, I never did.  Along came Aidan and voila, now we have a situation.  Seeing as how none of my clothes fit and I am not spending money on anything with a number that big on the tag, my only choice is to get smaller.  It's easy in theory...no, really!  Eat right and exercise, only two steps.  In reality, chocolate chip cookies are a food group and running up and down the stairs a few times a day is exercise, but oddly, it doesn't really do anything for the bottom line, or my bottom...line.  I'm gearing up to take things a bit more seriously, and thought I'd do something here to keep me accountable.  SO, on the right hand side of this blog, below the pictures of the cute kids (the ones responsible for all this fun), you'll see this:

It'll keep everyone apprised of my progress, or lack of.  I'll also, *gulp* post a picture from time to time.  This part will get a lot more fun, right now it's, um, not.  But I've gotta start somewhere, yes? 

One year, one move, one baptism, one baby, one heck of a time!!

I am writing this fully aware that NOBODY checks this blog anymore, and why should they?  Seriously neglectful I have been. However, in the interest of making excuses, I must say we've been more than a little busy around here!  About the time of my last post (September 2010), we were presented with a big surprise...we were expecting a baby!! I found out on Labor Day...at Maceys.  Don't ask.  The rest feels like a blink and here I am, with a little Aidan sleeping on the couch next to me.  But there were some crazy things going on in the meantime...

About November we realized we weren't going to be able to buy a house like we'd hoped, but we did have to move before the baby came along.  Though it was hard to think of leaving all we were familiar with, we made plans to go ALL the way...to our backyard.  Almost literally.  Some new twin homes were being built right behind us and were perfect, at least for the time being.  March 1st was the finish date and we eagerly watched through the back windows as things came along.  Meanwhile we enjoyed our first Christmas at home, a job change for Sam in January (back to Zions Bank), and Caleb's baptism in February.  March 1st came and we were all packed and ready to go, but no house.  Finally, one frustratingly long month later on April 1st, we MOVED!!  The whirlwind continued as we frantically tried to get settled before May 10th...D-Day.

Aidan Royce Brand

May 10, 2011

8:39pm 

8 lb 5 oz

21 inches

So you see, there was very little time for blogging.  Ok, that's a lie.  There was time, I just couldn't focus long enough to do it.  (That's a politically correct way of saying, "I was l-a-z-y.")  However, with many of the years major milestones behind us, I'm feeling excited about it again.  Eager to introduce our new little guy and continue adding to what has become our family's journal.

Odds and ends

This is an old entry, never posted, and I'm not posting it now for anyone's edification, it's just fun to be at this point in my life, looking back at that point in my life, and seeing where we've come...

November 17, 2010
I was just sitting here today, procrastinating looking over old entries and realized there's a lot I need to catch up on.  Not for anyone's sake but my own, but if you're interested, read on...

First, for the record, we're expecting the sixth and final Brand, AND this child looks to be a MAN child!! Once again, there's a disclaimer due to the early call, but we had 2 ultrasounds on the same day and there was "junk."  I was quite prepared and happy for either; for one thing...I know girls, and boys are frankly a little intimidating to me.  But to say the kids were excited is the understatement of the century.  I have yet to upload the raucous video we took when we delivered the news, but it's ear-splitting.  They were jumping up and down and Caleb was screaming, "I'm going to have a brother!!  I'm going to have a brother!!"   In many ways, I'm relieved.  It isn't twins.  We don't have to buy a full size van.  I can now get rid of the boxes and boxes of baby girl clothes.  Caleb can now share a room which greatly increases my chances of someday having a craft room, or a spare room, or an extra freaking closet.  This does round out our family quite nicely.  Everyone's happy.  Caleb says he will "finally have someone to call 'little dude'." And he keeps talking about a "minion" and teaching him to "do eeeeee-vil," it's...a little frightening.  I'm due May 6th, which coincidentally, is Brooklyn's birthday, but we'll probably sneak him in the end of April, we'll see.  We really are excited, it'll bring a lot of changes to our family besides the obvious.  We'll have to move-which is sad and exciting at once.  We have loved our 4+ years here.  We have made life-long friends and had too many wonderful experiences to even begin to count.  But it's small, very small and getting smaller by the day, it seems.  When we moved here, we had 3 tiny kids, Karlee was just barely 2.  Our family has literally doubled since then.  We planned to be here less than a year, and we're so thankful it didn't work out that way, but whether we want to or not, we have to move on.  And every time I walk in my kitchen, or my bathroom, or my bedroom, I want to.

Other things of note: Brooklyn, at 18 1/2 months, has yet to walk.  I worried about it until she crawled at 1, since then I just think it's sort of funny.  She talks a blue streak and is right on target in every other way, she just doesn't want to move...vertically.  The doctor actually ordered a physical therapy consult after her last appointment and they came yesterday to do the first part of the evaluation.  Wouldn't you know she started standing by herself today.  I should have called them MONTHS ago!