March 14th- Prom 2009

This is Brandon's Junior Prom. The group went to dinner at Ruby Tuesdays instead of eating hotel convention food. The dance was from 9-12 then post prom at the Big Apple (bowling/fun center) from 1-4. Chuck and I are security volunteers for Post Prom and Chuck along with two KPD and another father are doing breathilizer tests as the kids enter. Brandon's date is Tori, they have been dating for about 4 months.

Sitting around the fire.

Our first fire of the season. Could be a good sign that we will be doing it more this summer. It was a crisp 40 degrees out, but the fire was warm. Ash had a friend over, Katherin, so that is the extra girl in the photos. Sam was having a great time in the monster truck. All of the pictures of the 5 of us were taken by Sam.

Cranes 2009

This is a video taken with my cheap digital camera, so the clarity is not the greatest, but you get the feel of how many cranes are flying around right now here in Kearney. This is about 10 miles from our home and on the way home you can see 3-4 more bunches as big or bigger than this. It is an amazing thing if you have never seen it.

Max, Chewbacca and Socks

This is the rest of the family. When it is really cold the kittens like to come in and warm up for awhile, the three of them get along really well. Socks is under the chair, he is a GIANT cat between his fat belly and fur he is enormous. Chewbacca or Chewy for short is the all black cat and he is a lover. Max our 100+ pound Cheassiedor is the best dog ever, he is half purebreed Cheassie and half purebreed lab, Chuck got a great family hunting dog.

This is so Samuel

It might be hard to see but where Samuel is supposed to be laying is full of cars and monster trucks. This was not going to interfere with his sleep, he just moved to the other end of the bed and used his Sponge Bob pillow. There are very few nights that we find him with out his bed full of toys when we check on him. Rarely do they prevent him from sleeping.

Ashlyne Status

Ashlyne had a 6 week check on Tuesday, Dr Zapata did not run blood labs since Ashlyne was a little dehydrated due to her having to fast for her ultrasound. Initial ultrasound looked like inflammation or thickening of the Terminal Ileum was still present, upon pushing Ash did experience some pain but minimal. She has still had no growth in height, she is up to 91 pounds but Dr Z is sure 8+ pounds is prednisone. She is off prednisone officially as of Tuesday. He is making no changes, we will go back in 6 weeks and monitor her blood labs until then and then run the 6mp and stool sample test again then. IF she remains asymptomatic and labs stay good we may make diet modifications in April. Ashlyne's headaches were better today but when she came to pick up her meds to go to her dad's she asked for Tylenol so they are still there but not as bad. A very exciting praise is the Crohn's and Colitis foundation called tonight and Ashlyne is 1 of 12 kids from Nebraska getting to go to California for Crohn's & Colitis camp in July. The camp is called the Painted Turtle, founded by Paul Newman. Dr Z did say on Tuesday he would sign her off and plan on her attending unless she goes into a severe flare. Pray she remains stable and her checks will go down!!!

Brandon is 17

This years celebration was pretty simple, Homemade Chicken Pot Pie, (Brandon's favorite has changed it was always homemade pizza), cake and a few gifts. He had his girlfriend Tori over for dinner and the festivities. Hard to believe he is 17, he is now old enough to enlist and speak to the military recruiters. UGH!