Four Generation Photo

What a wonderful present it was to have my grandparents, parents and brother in town for Christmas. It was great to have a group shot of everyone too!!!

The Naughty List on day #2

Looks who on the Naughty List NOW!!! Hmmm... Only 363 days to go, guess that didn't last long! Mark and the boys went to shoot their Christmas Rocket off and decided to do a little Muddin' instead since it was so cloudy. Thanks to the efforts of Pres. Cheney, everyone arrived back home after being stuck in the mud for a few hours!
What color is my car???
The chief naughty list leader!!!

Please wash me... PLEASE!!!!!!

The Un-wanted Surprise on Christmas Day...

MONO!!!

We had a little unexpected surprise on Christmas Eve when Brock started with a fever and huge swollen glands again. He had just had strep 2 1/2 weeks before so we all assumed that it was that and I gave him plenty of medicine to help him to still enjoy Christmas day. When I took him to the doctor the day after, we found that he did not have strep but it was MONO instead!!! How on earth does a five year old get mono I do not know although now we are thinking that I am the one who started the mono thing in our house back in November when I was sick the entire month with the same symptoms. My mono test was negative, however they never did the longer test, just the rapid test for me. Brock is very tired and feeling pretty nasty, but hopefully he will be better soon and we can really have some with his Christmas toys. Unfortunately, this means that Brock will have to miss at least a month of basketball and absolutely no more wrestling and monkey business with the boys at home! Hmmm.. this should be interesting... and dangerous. I pray that we can keep him safe!

Santa Did It Again!!!

The magical Gold presents arrived on the sleigh... but not after a really late night. Ming Ming the Elf had to keep on reporting to Santa that the Kenison's were still not asleep... even at 1:30am!!! Oh my!!!
Reese was SO excited to cook in her kitchen and play with her new food and grocery cart... and she had a ton of fun playing with her babies in her Nana's baby bed that she brought for her with the pretty white bedding.
Brennan had the football theme going this year... here's his snack dish that plays the NFL theme song every time it opens. This went along nicely with his Chicago Bears PJ's and flag football set.
Tanner may be getting older but it did not stop him from being really happy to see this under the tree. He and Mark - the other big kid - had a blast racing cars.
Tate with his I-Dog, just one of his many favorites of the day!
Brock with a new football - not in the house PLEASE!!!

The Attempt to get a Christmas Eve Picture!

Looking Pretty for Church!

Pretty Princess Reese on the Sunday before Christmas. She LOVES to dress up in pretty dresses and immediately starts spinning around as soon as she got her dress on! She was quite bashful when it came to taking her picture though! (Better than her brothers who were up and changing their clothes before I could even get a picture of everyone. Maybe next Sunday - their outfit doesn't exactly change like her does... shirt and tie looks the same every week!!!)
A few posed shots - Reese will stop for just a second and then will say " Wanna see, Wanna see" She loves looking at the images on the digital camera after I take them.
Waiting for Santa to come... hurry, hurry! Ming Ming the elf is going to go nuts around here! Have you called our voicemail lately??? He gives a weekly Kenison Elf report that is well worth listening to!

Times almost UP!

The clock is ticking till we have all the boys out of school for Christmas break on Friday afternoon!!! Time to hurry up and ban myself from blogger and facebook so I can get some wrapping done and the last minute shopping. Oh and we will have a wonderful house full of family for Christmas! HOORAY!!! Nana, Papa, Andrew, Grandma Dee and Papa Joe will all be here. Let the party begin!

Happy Anniversary!!!

Fourteen years ago today I married the greatest man on earth!!! It's so hard to believe that it has already been that long. What a lucky girl I am to have such a caring and helpful husband. He even spent the evening with me tediously wrapping caramels one by one.... I know we celebrate big at our house! Mark actually had to go and talk with the youth tonight for their Christmas party and was gone all evening... with Reese not wanting to let go of me tonight, my plan to have all the candy wrapped before Mark came home backfired and I was in desperate need of his help by 9:00pm when he walked in. Thankfully we plan on going out this weekend to celebrate and we'll just call today really low key!

Mystery Moon solved!

It's amazing how fast you can find things on the internet! It's caused by ice crystals in the high clouds! Interesting... sounds like a good science report topic for some boys in the future. It is very common to see - although I've never seen it... ever! But AnnaMarie saw the same thing in Mexico on Thursday night! Hmmm. You learn something every day!

Did anyone see this the other night???

O.K.... This is not some crazy picture that the flash messed with on my camera. This is EXACTLY what the moon looked like on Saturday night when Mark and I got home. It had the most amazing and almost spooky ring around it. Or was it a shadow - but how and of what?... the moon or the earth? It last for about a 1/2 hour or so and then faded away. Anyone have an idea or a theory on this one??? Did anyone else see this. It was truly an amazing sight!

Tree Farm SUCCESS!!!

Let's GO!!!! What a beautiful day to be in the cold, crisp air of the mountains. Let this be a warning.. this trip planted some REAL seeds in our minds... WE ALL THINK WE WOULD LOVE THE MOUNTAINS!!! PERMANTLY! Let's just say that there was a LOT of talk of how great it could be for our family to live in the mountains and have some land.... grow some trees on the side for the kids to have a business to be a part of... and enjoy this gorgeous part of the country. Not to mention - dirtbike riding, skiing / snowboarding, rock climbing, hiking... Possibly more on this thought later... Hmmmm????
Well we made a last minute final decision on friday to still go to the mountains to find a tree. And.... it was a GREAT trip!!! We were all so glad that we did. Apologies to everyone who is going to get a late Christmas card and chocolates for New Year's... but it was worth it! We met some people at the hotel in Boone who told us about a farm in the country called Clawson's so we thought we'd give it a try. What a great time... FREEZING cold... but fun! It was about 20 degrees when we got to Boone on Friday night and SNOWING! The boys were in heaven... how bad we feel that they never get to experience the snow like we did growing up. And they don't let us forget it either. Here are some pics from the adventure! Don't mind the crazy, mismatched winter attire! It was much needed!!!
The hay ride up to the trees... this farm uses as tractor, but if you want to pay a whole lot more you can go to a farm that will take you up by work horse on a sled and all the fancy gift shops at the end. I think we will stick with the real farm that was not so commercialized... We went in the shed for hot cocoa at then end!
Tanner was in charge of measuring the tree so that we kept to somewhat of a budget. We were a little off on our estimate for the tree we cut... but hey.. it was an extra $10 more. Whoops... Sorry Mark! We did shop the field that was discounted because they wanted to clear the field to plant new trees next year. This is why it looks a little sparse in the pictures but they have thousands of trees there! 1750 trees per acre to be exact... and they have several acres!
Mark and Reese scoping out the best trees! She thought it was all pretty exciting!!!
But we want that one and they was this one! Time to take a family vote.
Brock decided that some weapons were in order... "Hey Brennan... watch me while I whack you with this branch!!!"
The final decision... isn't she a beauty! Too bad we had to cut her down...

I love this picture... team work at it's best!!! Only one problem... Tate was not in the picture because he was still wandering around the field in awe of the trees and the man with the chain saw cutting the remaining stumps lower! He had a great time picking up all the little stump rounds and collecting them.

What a wonderful day it was. It was really nice to escape just for 24 hours on a little family vacation and stay in a hotel, swim in the pool, watch it snow and spend some much needed family time together in the mountains. No phone, no computer, no cell phone calls and one totally relaxed Daddy. Let's just say that having Mark's office at home does not allow him to leave work very often. Work is about 18 hour days when your office is right at home. He has been under so much stress with the markets these past few months and spent hours upon hours in his office - all day and all evening. What a great escape for us all!!!

It's over!

Can I just say that I am SOOOO glad that this weekend is over and DONE!

We started midweek last week with Tate and Brock both getting strep throat and things just snowballed from there. Tanner had his birthday party on Friday night with 5 boys coming along to go rock climbing and then have pizza and a sleepover. Let's just say that it was our first and LAST sleepover for boys who are 12 year old and above. This is an issue that Mark and I have debated for years. We both felt like we did not want to let our kids have sleepovers for various reasons, but finally thought that the boys were old enough to have one and we would see how things went. Tanner and Brennan have both been able to sleep over at neighbors houses a few times this past summer, but never in a group setting. Man am I glad that had not happen yet. Let's just say that by age 12, they are beyond the magic age for fun at a sleepover and the pre-teen monsters emerge with many tricks up their sleeves. Let's just leave it at this... Tanner had a GREAT time rock climbing (he's a natural like his father) and then from that point on the rest of the party was not the greatest. These are the times when we wish desperately that there were more guys at church Tanner's age... it makes such a HUGE difference when others have starkly different values that sometimes don't show until you are with a group of your peers for the evening. Life lessons learned for Mom, Dad and Tanner... sorry Brennan, Tate, Brock and Reese, but this is one family rule that just got changed!!!

The ward Progressive Dinner turned out well after a ton of running around and crazy last minute planning. I am thankful to have that assignment out of the way and now look forward to finishing the decorating around the house that normally takes me 3 days and now we are going on 2 1/2 weeks! UGH! Hopefully I'll get the Christmas cards done before New Years! And the chocolates... well.. I hope they don't become Valentine's day gifts!

Off to clean, decorate and make candy??!!??!! Then again... the couch is looking awfully cozy and the fire is nice and warm.

It's the BUSY time of the Year!!!

Well let's just say that blogging has taken back seat to many other things at the moment. But here's a quick update on life in the Kenison NUT house!

- Tanner had a birthday.. shout HOORAY! Tanner turned 12 on Nov. 23rd and we were able to have a wonderful celebration shared with Nana and Papa from Pittburgh. What a special day it was too because Tanner was able to receive the priesthood. He's growing up SO fast!
- Brock had a Thanksgiving feast at school - we all loved the turkey songs and even thought about Thanksgiving carolling in the neighborhood. It would have been hilarious but not everyone was on board for that adventure!

-Tanner is having his birthday party this Friday so we will have to add more after that evening is over. He is going to go rock climbing and then have all the boys back for pizza and sleepover. Wish us luck! UGH!!! Here he is giving Reese a ride on his new Power Wing... she has it SO good.
- Thanksgiving Day was wonderful... Reese is a new fan on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Yeah! I finally have a parade buddy! Dinner was yummy and we had way too many leftovers!!! What should I expect for having a 24 POUND bird and all the fixings and then making three pumpkin pies, pecan pie, chocolate cream pie, banana cream pie and apple cake!!! Thankfully we did invite two other families to share with us!
- Reese disappeared after Thanksgiving dinner... when we found her, she had climbed onto the dining room table and had devoured a piece of Chocolate Cream pie that Brock had not eaten... it covered her, and the table and her clean jammies... the picture says it all!!!

- BLACK FRIDAY - my favorite!!! Yup... it's the only day of the year that you will see me happily out of bed at 4:30am and on the road by 5:00am. I could never start a bakery! After six hours of shopping and the adventures of the bargaining hunting of black Friday, I returned home to find chaos and a mess... OH JOY!


Well some little munchkins need to get to bed... we heard the elves bells a little while ago and the boys are certain that the elves are here to report to Santa. 25 more days of one HUGE carrot to dangle in their faces!!!

A few minutes to myself!

Hooray for a GREAT show that Reese now LOVES to watch. She actually had an attention span of 15 minutes to watch and let me have just a couple of minutes to myself while she was actually AWAKE. This is a moment to celebrate for sure! Thanks Backyardigans! My new best friends!

Tree Farms in the Mountains???

Does anyone have any suggestions for a great tree farm in the mountains that we can go to cut our own Christmas tree??? The boys have been asking for years and this year maybe we will just plan ahead enough to actually be able to do it!!! PLEASE .... information ANYONE???

The Plane! The Plane!

The boys were thrilled to stumble upon a local air show on their way home from a primary program practice last Saturday. Mark let them watch for a little while but then they had to get home. Being a sucker sometimes, I decided we would drive by the airport on Sunday after church to see if any planes were still flying. Well.. they were flying alright. I pulled the Yukon over and parked in a field at the end of the runway and we watched for a little while again. It was so impressive, I told the kids I thought it would be o.k. if we went home and changed and came back with Mark after his meetings. Here are some pictures from the afternoon. It was about the most quiet and peaceful Sunday afternoon we've had in a LONG time!!! The boys all sat in awe on top of the Yukon and watched all the planes fly just above our heads. Reese was not as happy with the roar of the engines as they flew over, but soon got used to the noise.
Mark was as happy as the boys!!! He loves planes and would love it if I would ever let him take flight instruction lessons. Hmmm... maybe when he's 90???
Little Miss Nervous was not so sure about all the planes buzzing overhead!
This was a shot of one of our favorites... not sure what model this is, but he was great! All the planes were old wartime planes... no F16's or fancy planes at this show.
Another favorite! He was REALLY loud!!!
Reenactment of the bombing of Pearl Harbor called...Tora, Tora, Tora. This was a very impressive show done by a national group that goes around to air shows to perform. There were about 15 planes in the air all flying crazy everywhere. They would swoop down to drop the bombs and then huge red and orange clouds of flames would shoot into the air. They had amazing explosions and bomb droppings - dead bombs of course! But REAL fire!!! I am sure it would have been an amazing sight inside the airport where you could really see what was going on .
The kids thought it was awesome when the planes would spray the smoke!
O.K.... so the free seats on the roof of the car at the end of the runway had a little fence blocking issue, but this explosion was HUGE!!!

So much for the Flu shot!

Well... little Reese has got a fever AGAIN.... and it's not her ears... not strep... and they say it's not the flu. Hmmmm... it's either a result of the shot or our short one hour stay in nursery on Sunday to visit and get used to the idea of going to play with the other kids. HA!!! It's going to be a trip sending her to nursery next month... that is... IF we can avoid the sickness that always looms in nursery. Why don't people ever keep their sick kids OUT of nursery. PLEASE - let this be short lived and heaven help us that she doesn't catch something else!!!

Caught!

Another funny moment from Reese... Last week as I was cooking dinner for Mark's birthday, I hear her saying " Tank Ou... tank ou... tank ou (thank you)!" I turned around to see that she had gone into the pantry... found a wheat bucket to push up to the counter and was helping herself to the birthday cupcakes! CAUGHT in the act! She is very resourceful when it comes to getting what she wants. She truly takes after her mischievous brothers!