Update on Brennan

Brennan is turning more and more colorful as the days go on... and now has the diagnosis of a CONCUSSION to go with it! After an eventful trip to the pediatrician yesterday to check his eye... where he passed out during the exam for motor skills... he was refered to a specialist in Charlotte today. He has a mild concussion and will have to lay low for the next week while his brain settles down! We are soooo glad that he is o.k.!!! We found out a little more about the story and things were a little more intentional than accidental with the ball hitting the back of Brennan's head. Boys will be boys, but sometimes a little... or a LOT... TOO RUFF!!! We are SOOOO glad that it was not more serious than it was!

The Princess Copies Her Brother...

I just couldn't resist snapping this picture the other morning when Reese woke up. She was determined to wear Brock's PJ's to bed the night before and promptly found his old shoes to put on in the morning too. I just had to laugh as she walked around with crazy bed head, her little tomboy outfit and then the sweetest little mothering talk to her Baby. She kept on telling her baby that she needed to go and change her BUM! "Let's go change your bum baby... it's o.k."

Church Ball Takes a Turn!

This picture was taken about two hours after the injury.... it should be quite pretty by morning! Looks like we are headed to the Dr. in the morning for a possible round of stitches in the face. Par for the course this week I guess. Brennan was playing basketball at the church tonight and was hit in the back of the head which forced his face into the metal edge of the room divider handle. Under that lovely bandage is a pretty ugly deep gash. Hopefully it will be o.k. if we wait until morning since the ER at this time of the night is hours of waiting. We hope we have enough time to wait to get into the Dr the morning so that he doesn't have a HUGE scar on this face! Poor kid... and to top it all off his other ear is where the swimmers ear is... he hopes that he can fall asleep tonight!

Oh JOY - Off to the Clinic we Go!

Today, I am VERY thankful for the invention of CVS Minute Clinic!!! It had to be a MOM that decided an inexpensive walk-in clinic was needed in every neighborhood! So now... with four out of five kids feeling under the weather we have... one with swimmers ear (Brennan), two with ear infections (Tate and Reese), and one kid with the stomach bug (Poor Brock)!!! YUCK! What a joyful day it is... oh an did I mention that Dad is out of the office all day today meeting with clients in Hendersonville. Trying to get all the kids to the Dr. has been a chore! I'll be glad when bedtime comes!

Happy Birthday Reese!!!

Make a Smilebox photobook

School's Out for the SUMMER!!!

The Teachers That We Love!

Brennan and Mr. Vincent... What a great teacher he was with such a strong emphasis in reading! He was a perfect fit for Brennan this year... Brennan also had two other teachers since they change classes but this was his homeroom teacher... Mrs. Glenham for AIG Math and Ms. Hardaway for Science and Social Studies. What a great bunch!

Mrs. Rinebold and Brock... we were SOO lucky to be blessed with her as a teacher again this year and now for Brock. You have never seen a better Kindergarten teacher ever... she does the most amazing things with her class and NEVER raises her voice. The respect she has with her students is like no other!!!

Ms. Schulte and Tate.. the Big Second Grade. We just loved Ms. Schulte too... she was so great to work with Tate and was such a great influence on him. She really encouraged him and helped him to really make great strides this year. We found out today that she is moving on to third grade next year and there is a chance for Tate to request to move up with her. That would be GREAT!!!

Tanner is a little too cool for pictures with his teachers at the middle school... and frankly some of them may not be smiling in their pictures! Ha ha ha!!! Tanner did great this year despite his dislike of the lengthy class time ( 90 minutes each!!!) and boredom. It seems that he found other ways to entertain himself while he was bored... most of the time helping others in the class to have a fun time... which can come at a price! hee hee!!! A special thanks goes out to Ms. Darbe, Mr. Stone, Mr. Earwood and Mrs. Dantism for teaching Tanner this year... even when he seemed unteachable!!!

Off ot the big MIDDLE SCHOOL!!!

Brennan looks so serious here... hmmm...contemplating life in the middle school I suppose. He was waiting in line for the graduation ceremony to begin and Brock and I passed him in the hallway. He begged to untuck his golf shirt... Mom, please PLEASE can I untuck my shirt??? It was quite funny to see all the girls dressed in their fanciest dresses and the boys were lucky to be convinced to wear golf shirts and nice shorts. Their were only a handful of boys that had shirts and ties on in the class of 150! Brennan was SOOO glad that I did not make him wear his nice pants, etc.

The fake diploma!!! Each kid was given a mock diploma when they shook hands with the principal and then in the classroom was given a nice framed copy along with a picture of them and their teacher. Speaking of the principal - oh my... the rules this man spouted off at the beginning of the ceremony were ridiculous!!!! No clapping... only stand in THIS spot if you want a picture of your child... no cheering for your child. Well we had a little secret weapon with us who stole the show in front of about 500 people. Reese would not STOP singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY at the top of her lungs... over and over and over again. Then when Brennan graduated.. she SHOUTED..."GOOD JOB BRENNAN!!!" Way to go Reese!!!!

Brennan and a few of his best friends from his class. What a great group of kids he was blessed to be with all year.

Brennan and Bailey - Best of Friends!!! Thank goodness Bailey lives in our neighborhood and they were able to have several years at the Elementary in the same class. Life was always good when you could look on the class list and see your best friends name on their with you!

Brennan, Mom and Dad... so proud of our little graduate! On to the BIG middle school next years with Tanner. What a blessing that will be to have them in the same school. They share a room and having Brennan leave for school an hour and a half earlier than Tanner made life a little interesting. Same schedules will be NICE!!!

All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth!!!

Hooray for Brock loosing another tooth... and this one he even let his Father pull out...well

sorta! This poor little tooth had been dangling for days, Brock came home from school in some real distress on Monday. He was very uncomfortable but refused to pull it out himself. So he went out to sell at his lemonade stand with Tate and bit on a Otter Pop... and it made it bleed... real good... but still wouldn't fall out. So Mark and I decided to take matters into our own hands and came up with a plan. I would catch Brock and start tickling him and wrestle him down to the ground, while Mark swooped in and pulled the tooth while Brock was distracted with the Mom fight. And the results were.. fabulous! He didn't feel a thing and was SOOO happy to have it out in time for dinner! Now if only we could do the same thing with the tooth Tate has had hanging literally by a thread for MONTHS now! He's very protective of it... would let you see it and even clamps his lips in a dead sleep during the night if you even touch his lip. Come on Tooth Fairy... Help us out one night!!!! PLEASE!

Tate's Baptism - It's Great to Be Eight!

There are some days in life that just shine a little brighter than the rest.... yesterday was one of them! Tate turned eight yesterday and was able to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He has waited a long time and prepared himself by making good choices and following the Saviors example. He was so excited to be baptized and had this beautiful smile plaster on his face all day long! How can you not smile when you see a child who is truly this excited about doing what is right.

What a handsome little man! Eight years have seriously just flashed before my eyes... how can it be that he is even this old already?

The whole family before the baptism... Brock's shirt is permanently un-tucked ... no matter what I do! Tanner and Brennan are quickly gaining on me too.. It won't be long at all before I look at them eye to eye!

This is one of my favorites... my two handsome men dress in white. There is nothing more precious than to see your husband dressed in white performing the baptism for your child. I am the luckiest girl on earth to be married to such a FINE man and to have four of the finest young men and one heavenly little daughter in my home each and every day!

It may be a LONG time before Tate has 100 people sing Happy Birthday to him again!!! What a bonus to have his baptism be on his actual birthday. We had so many people from the ward come to support Tate and the rest of our family yesterday. I truly feel very blessed!

Rise and Shine Birthday Boy!

Tate was very eager to open his presents on Sunday morning before Mark had to leave for meetings. Don't mind the crazy hair or PJ's , Tate was so excited to turn 8! What a great day he had.

Tate's new set of scriptures. Now we just need to order the Kangaroo scripture case - a tradition that Aunt Suzy started when Tanner turned 8 and now all the boys want one!

Let the Nerf gun wars begin - or continue is a better way of putting it. On the really hot days - several of the neighborhood boys all end up having a HUGE Nerf gun war upstairs. Tate is now a little better equip for the fight. It's a lot better than the smaller one he had that only held a few rounds!

Kindergarten Graduation... Way to Go Brock!

Her is Brock getting ready to sing at the graduation concert. The theme was "The Big Top Circus"... which explains the hat! Don't you just love the little girl next to him! I died laughing when I looked through the pics and found this one to be the best of Brock and unfortunately the worst of the little girl next to him! The songs were great and one of these days I will figure out how to post a video and share some of them with you all!

Sneaking a peak before the "Fashion Show" Brock dresses up as a basketball player for the event. Each student was asked to wear a costume of some sort, then as they walked out, they were announced. "Here comes Brock, he's our number one man. On one can stop him on the basketball court" It is a fun tradition that she does each year... Tate had the same teacher two years ago. We just love Mrs. Rinebold!

Behind the scenes, Brock must have decided that he liked the white side of his jersery better!

The proud graduate with his diploma! We are so proud of you Brock!

Brock and Mrs. Young - the greatest Teacher Assistant ever!

Brock and Mrs. Rinebold... World's Greatest Teacher.. EVER!!! If only she could teach every one of our kids!

We are Empty Nesters!

Baby Bluebirds have fledged!!! I went out hoping to snap another picture and found the box to be empty the other day! They had left early that morning. I should have taken a picture before I took the nest out, but you can still see the HUGE mess they left. I quickly scrubbed it out and put it back on the pole hoping that in the next few weeks, Ms. Lucy and Mr. Blue decide to take a second honeymoon trip and renew their vows!!! Hoprefully we will be lucky enough to get eggs again. We are still anxiously waiting for the babies to get big enough to come up to the house for worms. We have seen them high in the trees behind our house, after Mr. Blue hurries back to feed them. Hopefully we can get some good shots once they come in!

Tanner's First Sacrament Talk

Tanner was asked to give his first sacrament meeting talk last Sunday. He did a fabulous job! We were all so proud of him! He thought I was nuts to take a picture of him before church, but someday he'll thank me! He had to speak on Courage and did an amazing job.. complete with a few jokes at the bishopric and some great stories too. Here's a clip of a little bit...

"Good Afternoon… As Brother Bryce said, my name is Tanner Kenison. This is my first talk and I spent a long time working on it so hopefully my Dad and Br. Bryce will stay awake long enough to hear it!

President Thomas S. Monson has said:
“Life’s journey is not traveled on a freeway devoid of obstacles, pitfalls, and snares. Rather, it is a pathway marked by forks and turnings. Decisions are constantly before us. To make them wisely, courage is needed: the courage to say, “No,” the courage to say, “Yes.” Decisions do determine destiny. The call for courage comes constantly to each of us. It has ever been so, and so shall it ever be.”

Last year my family and I went to Nauvoo, IL to be in the Nauvoo Pageant. Before the show we would walk around the seat’s and ask non- member’s if they wanted to know more about the gospel. At the time I was only 11 and it toke a lot of courage to be able to walk up to a stranger and talk to them about the gospel."

Tanner continued on with many other great stories and scriptures.. Much better than some adults in my opinion!

Way to Go Tanner!

Tanner the Magnificant Rides Again!!!

OK... so it's a little bit hard to tell that Tanner is up there on a unicycle, but that's him in the blue shirt weaving between the girls on the stage. Then he rode down the ramp and out into the audience... picture below. Against Mom's will, he rode without his helmet.. and much to the dislike of his little sister too. Reese proudly and LOUDLY yelled at him several times..."Where's your HELMET?" The audience of about 350... had no doubt who she was related to! His act was a HUGE hit and received several compliments from many of the audience... including several very cute young girls!!! "Nice job Tanner... You were really good Tanner... Can you teach me too Tanner?!?!" Oh my! And this kids thinks he wants to be homeschooled? I think he would miss the cute girls and fun times way too much!

The Neighborhood "Amazing Race"

Team Kenison!!! Those are some really HOT and SWEATY boys! They should be after withstanding 85 degree weather and high humidity, running from "country to country" and competing in challenges that were not for the faint of heart!

Patterned after the TV show, The Amazing Race, our neighborhood hosted a family event which involved teams with one parent and 2-4 children racing around the 'hood for an afternoon of challenge and SWEAT! (While Reese took a much needed and LENGTHY nap at home....) Mark and the boys ran the race, which was almost an 1 1/2 hours long, and sprinted to the finish line... above...but were a few shy of the medals podium. Those darn clues were a little challenging!!! Interesting though... the winning family happen to be the family whose Mom WROTE the clues... Hmmmm... Cheating perhaps? We would not accuse them of that... well maybe we would! The kids had to compete in mummy wrapping in Egypt... animal hunting in Africa... disgusting noodle eating in China... and many other feats! Our family stayed out of the real competitive group - those who made their children eat the noodles until the puked or yelled at their kids to "DIG DIG DIG... YOU'RE ALMOST THERE... DON"T MAKE US LOOSE... to a child that I thought was going to pass out from heat exhaustion! Let's say that it did not bring out the best side of some really really competitive Dads! For the most part...it was a fun time had by all and then was topped off with a down home pancake breakfast at the pavilion too. We had to skirt out early because it was on to the Middle School Talent Show where Tanner the Magnificent was riding his UNICYCLE... See next post! Everyone slept very well at our house that night!