Welcome the Furnis

Well, since we've sent out the blog address to everyone in the Christmas cards I should probably update it.

Donnie and the girls  have finally made it to Maryland, although Skyler has to have nebulizer treatments every four hours.  Typically everyone has t

o sing to her to get her relaxed enough to enjoy the mist.  Check out the Mobile Me account to see video of "Little Bunny Foo-Foo."

Daddy giving Skyler her treatment.

Sophia and Ella decorating cookies...you can never have too many sprinkles!!!  ELLA LIKE SPRINKLES...mmmmm

Nice and calm with Uncle Al, ahh.  Shh, don't read too loud you might distract them.  Just give me a second to clean the house, just a second....please!  Oh come, on~

Baba Bevy comforting Skyler after a treatment.  

The epic battle continues, Godzilla vs MegaGodzilla.  Who will win Skyler's love?

Skyler loves MegaGodzilla, but don't we all...until he turns on us and then we'll be looking to Godzilla to save us all again.

Happy Thanksgiving

Natalie spent weeks planning out Thanksgiving and I spent several hours taking apart a table trapped under the stairs and then putting it back together in the kitchen.  Check out the highlights of the day...

We started off with crab dip in a bread bowl, meat, cheeses, crackers and nuts for appetizers while we watched the worst Thanksgiving Day football games every!  Eventually Ella and I went outside to play football...she likes to throw and tackle.  When you throw it to her, the ball often bounces off her head.

Ella started to direct where we were going to sit and what to put out.  She set out a pack of "chewies" for each person too.  Soon she'll be able to run the whole thing and Mommy will get to sleep all day...like she wants to do.

Natalie's turkey came out awesome!  How could you not love the useless parsley to decorate it.  I did a turkey on the grill too, but it wasn't done in time.  Arg!!!  At least we were able to send plenty of left overs home with everyone.

Natalie insists that for the amount of time that goes into planning the meal, eating just flies by.  Ella said Grace and we enjoyed what Papa said was one of the best Thanksgiving meals he has had.  With a sick as Natalie has been the past few days, she was very grateful that the baby gave her a break today.  Speaking of which, can you believe how much there is to be thankful for this year!  We truly feel God is taking care of us day after day!

Afterwards we cut into the Thanksgiving Princess cake, it is one of the most treasured traditions that every family looks forward to.  

Check out the rest of the pictures at our Mobile Me account.  

Visit to Kentucky

This past weekend we travelled the l-o-n-g 11 hours to Meade County, Kentucky to watch Alex be honored at the football Senior Night and to watch him play in his last home game of the regular season. We had a great time. The Meade County crowd was extremely friendly, as always, and Ella was a great big hit with everyone, especially Uncle Al's girlfriend Claire and her rather extensive family (Ella became immediate BFFs with Claire's little sister Jo-Jo). So a great time was had by all. Above is a picture of the parents getting ready to meet Alex on the field for Senior Night. Can any of you believe Alex is graduating high school? I sure can't.

Alex waiting to meet Mom and Dad.

I also got to meet up with some old friends Jackie and Jenn and her daughter Madison and new cutie-pie baby boy Corbyn (hope I am spelling it right!). Corbyn is the lump under the bunny blanket. To see more photos and video of Ella cheering her head off at the the game, visit the new link "Dennison online photos" on the "favorite websites" portion of the blog. This is a link to our new mobile me gallery which we will be posting all of our new photos and video. Enjoy!

Race for the Cure

On Sunday, October 19 I will be running in the Komen Maryland Race for the Cure to support Breast Cancer with several friends from school. Breast cancer is something that has touched everyone of us is some way, if not directly. I am running the 5k race as a member Harford Countys Pink Dazzle, sponsored by Kelley Wettig. Kelley works with me everyday in kindergarten and is vital to the great things we try to do each day. She is a breast cancer survior and lost her mother to cancer. She is an amazing person and works hard to rally for the cause.
If you would like to make a donation or sponser our team check out the link below. If not, just your prayers will do. Thanks!
https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=262076&lis=1&kntae262076=D7661C85AE184D7A9A1C41889E2FE274&supId=93166045

Beauty Salon Party

Last weekend Ella went to a birthday party for one of her friends at school. What was special about this party was that it was at a beauty salon and all of the girls were given manicures, pedicures, had their hair done and even got a little glitter make-up. The girls' mother actually owned the salon but I don't know if that makes it any less insane!!!

30th Anniversay

Photo taken by Ella, not bad...

For Grams and Pops' 30th Anniversary we treated them to an amazing meal at the Capital Grill in Baltimore. It is the best steak house in the city! It was great to just enjoy each other and try something very special. It is not often you have the opportunity to have almost the whole family together while someone else takes care of you. We very much missed Shawn, but his mini clone was there.

Although Ella started the night eating fancy Mac and Cheese (which everyone loved), she eventually remembered how much she loves steak!!!
Ella loves to "do cheers!"
Those are some pretty cute grandkids!!! Yes, Ella is wearing her singing Ariel seashell necklace...it was her "jewelry."

After dinner we went across the street to the ESPN Zone in the Harbor because Ella wanted to do some racing. She played every racing game we could find: boats, snowmachines, street cars, race cars, etc...In her race against Mommy, Mommy found it too touch to keep up with Ella and actually lost. Not "I'll let my daughter win" lost but "ahhh, she's beating me" lost!!!
Uncle Chuckles wasn't going to let her win...although Daddy didn't either. She loves to shift and push all of the boost buttons.

Welcome Home Grandpap

Just wanted Grandpap to know how thankful we are that he is coming home from the hospital and that he is in our prayers. Take care of yourself Great-Grandpap:-)

The King

Our 14-year-old cat Elvis, was hit while sleeping under a car last week. We have had Elvis since our first house in North Deitz on Fort Knox. At some point or another he has lived with each one of us and always adapted. He was an outdoor cat in Kentucky but became a house cat when we moved to Maryland. He lived with Natalie and I in our first Maryland apartment along with our other cat Ohio, who has been renamed Missy and now lives in Kentucky with Rog and Bev. Elvis also did stints in Virginia with Jenn and Shawn and lived with Charlie in his apartment.

Elvis and Ohio in our Cranberry Run apartment. He wasn't interested in the camera.

Dad relaxing with Elivs and Otto, they kind of make themselves comfortable.

About a year ago he moved from Mom and Dad's house across the street with us to give Thor (Ella's Cat) someone to play with. In just the past 2 weeks he was really pushing to go back outside to play with Hercules (Mom and Dad's outdoor cat). The 2 of them patrolled the area together, one following the other. Every neighbor knew them, loved them and fed them.

It has always been our fear that we would lose Hercules in this way and are now looking for an outdoor home for him. He is a very loving cat who just has to live outside. Despite not having his front claws he still brings us birds and mice. We are confident that he could live safely on a farm somewhere. If anyone knows someone who has this sort of safe home for him please let us know, we would hate to loose Hercules the same way we lost Elvis.

Ella was in Virgina Beach with Grams and Pops when this happened so I told her today. I told her that a car didn't see him and he got hit. That he is in heaven with Otto and Grandpa Bob and that we won't see him until we go to heaven. It told her how sad it made me and that I now have a special box (with his ashes) to remind me of him. She said, "that's okay Daddy, you and me can share my cat Thor." Then she ran to Natalie and told her about what happened and about my special box.

Rock Star

Our favorite new show to watch is the Backyardigans and our favorite episode is "The Mighty Knights." We also jam to the soundtrack constantly! This episode just so happens to be the one we saw live a few months ago. On Wednesday Ella and Daddy sang "The Goblin Song" over 20 times. The Goblin is Daddy's favorite character while Ella jumps around from the Flighty Fairy to Knight Uniqua.

Check out Ella singing the "Grabbin' Goblin" song.

Happy 4th Birthday

Well, somehow 4 years raced by and our daughter is now really freakin' old! We will be having her bowling party with friends and family on August 3, but we still celebrated on her actual birthday.

When she woke up she had a jelly donut and a Hanna Montana balloon waiting for her. She was so excited, she had clip it to her pants and take it to school.

Before heading out to school Grams and Pops called from Boston to sing Happy Birthday to her.

She took cupcakes and gifts to school for her friends.

When Daddy picker her up from school all of the Backyardigans were waiting for her in her seat. She only needed Pablo and Tyrone to complete her collection and was so excited to have all of them.

Then we went to get her hair fixed and her pictures taken, something we do every year. She was so excited about her Backyardigans that she got pictures with all of them too.

Then Uncle Chuckles and Aunt Chel joined us for her birthday dinner at Friendly's...she wanted ice cream.

After dinner we came home and there was a message from Baba and Grumpy singing Happy Birthday to her.

Then she blew out candles on some cupcakes and she opened her gifts from Mommy and Daddy.

Right before going to bed she got a call from Aunt Nenni.

It was a birthday that Mommy and Daddy really enjoyed with her.

Ella's School Celebration

Ella wanted to make cupcakes for her friends at school and Aunt Nenni was nice enough to send an entire box of cupcake supplies. Shocking!!!

We also made gift bags for each of her friends at school. We went to the Dollar Store and somehow spent over $50.00. She made princess bags and Superman bags, but said it was okay if boys wanted a princess and girls wanted a Superman. She took a Superman bag for herself!

Ahhh, Disney!!!

I can't do it...don't make me...the Disney blog is just TOO big!!!

We have 4gbs of videos and pictures. Stop by sometime and we'll give you the full show:-)

"I See So Much More"

Well, Ella finally got her glasses. After 3 separate eye doctors and 2 screenings at school she finally can see. It turns out she as 20/80 vision and a stigmatism. Since her eyes have been seeing in such poor quality they haven't been developing the way the should and have started to go a little lazy. It is not anything that we notice, but all of the doctors saw it. Her new doctor is hopeing that by just wearing glasses the eyes with start to strengthen themselves. If they don't, within the next few months, they will be patching one of her eyes for periods of time to help the muscles develop. Either way, the laziness will go away and won't be a problem. The rest however, is permanent. The doctor said, "she is a contacts or glasses girl the rest of her life." Just like her Mommy.

We tried on EVERY pair of kids glasses in the store and we all kept coming back to these. They just seem to look like Ella, we love them! She wakes up in the morning saying, "I can't see very well, I need my glasses." We'll see how it goes at Disney:-)

Talking to Aunt Nenny in Kansas...

Father's Day and the Big Mac

Who knew that the biggest Big Mac in the world was off the PA turnpike. It was actually invented in Uniontown.

It was awesome! There was a huge playground, museum style displays throughout the store, and souvenirs.

Wedding in Pittsburgh

Aside from having to drive through and be in Pittsburgh, we had a great time at Matt and Rachel's Wedding. Ella could dance all night!!!

A little Ohio pride in the heart of Pittsburgh!!!

5k Tabacco Free Run

This past Saturday was the Harford County Tabacco Free Run. There was a 5k run and a 1 mile walk. Despite being early in the morning, it was REALLY hot!!!

Charlie, Grams, Pops and Ella walked the 1 mile.

Natalie and Thomas ran the 5k together. Natalie did amazing! She pushed herself on every hill and never stopped. They finished it in just under 36 minutes.

Ella Travels

Over the past month has gone to:

Bowling with Uncle Cha Cha and Aunt Chel

National Zoo in D.C. - Uncle Cha Cha and Aunt Chel
(no pictures, what's up Uncle Cha Cha?!)

Baltimore Zoo - Uncle Shawn, Aunt Nenni & Johnny
Ohio - Wedding Shower at Uncle Matt's


Ohio - Baptism
Florida - Grams & Pops

Today she is going strawberry picking with Grams and Pops. Baba Bevy and Mommy are heading up to Rutgers for Bev's college reunion.

Next rest area: 13.1 miles

This past weekend, we flew to Louisville, KY so that Thomas could run in the Kentucky Derby mini marathon--his first ever long distance race. He has been training for it for months (though of course with his packed schedule, not as much as he would have liked). The day was a great day for a run--it rained in the morning, but cleared up by the time the race started, so it was just pleasantly cool for the runners (though a bit cold for we spectators!). Here are Ella, Baba Bevy and Grumpy Rog waiting on the sidelines for Thomas.

Thomas did an amazing job, finishing the race in 2 hours, 7 minutes. He was actually thrown off by a falty pedometer which told him his pace was faster than it ended up being, so I am even prouder that he was able to persevere through that disappointment and complete the race. Here he is at 6 miles:

Thomas pushing it out for the last 100 yards of the race.

Thomas, Nat, and Ella at the finish line. Daddy was exhausted but happy.

After the race, Thomas and Ed headed over to the Michelob Beer tent for their free beer (their race number actually had a drink ticket attached to it--I thought this was hilarious. ) Thomas said the icey cold brew was the perfect after-race beverage, so smart product placement on Michelob's part I guess. Look how happy they are!


Thomas' next half-marathon is in Virginia Beach at the end of the summer. Of course, all he can think about is improving his time for the next race, but the rest of us are just in awe that he accomplished this amazing feat. Good job Thomas!