Christmas Letter

In lieu of attaching a letter to our Christmas cards, I am simply writing a blog note. First of all, we would like to wish everyone a safe and joyful holiday season. We will be traveling to Texas to see family, and we are very excited (except for the 17 hour drive).
It has been another busy year in our house, and we don't foresee it ever slowing. We added one family member and lost 2 this year. Lily, our labradoodle, was born in January and came to live with us in March. She is a red-chocolate color with a silver face. She is a bundle of energy, and she loves to play. Fred, our crazy cat, passed away in May from a blood clot to his lower body. He was joined in heaven today by Lady, our Australian Shepherd, She was suffering from severe arthritis, and her pain was too much to endure. We are saddened by our losses, but Lily will keep us on our toes!
Jaxon is in preschool at Country Day, and he has lots of friends. All of 'his boys' run up and hug him whenever he arrives. His teachers say he is quite popular, and there are many fights at lunch over who gets to sit by him. His Spanish teacher even said he is the class clown and most interactive one in the class. That's pretty amazing since he has always been so shy. He is currently only taking Spanish class, but he claims he wants to try soccer again this spring (and, of course, baseball in the summer). When you ask him what he wants to be when he grows up, he replies, "A Gator football player." Who knows - he could be the next Tebow.
Gracie is in 1st grade and loves it. She is still very social and friendly to everyone. She is in the school chess club, and she takes Spanish class once a week. She also does tap and sings in our church children's choir. Last but not least, she is in Brownie Girl Scouts. If anyone is looking for Girl Scout cookies, she's your girl! She, too, wants to play soccer this spring and possibly softball this summer. She has an awesome memory, and she doesn't let us forget a thing!
Brandi left her job as a Nursing Coordinator at Shands this fall. Her decision to leave was based entirely on family. She took a role working at UFfor a pediatric endocrinologist (Dr. Stalvey is actually Gracie's endocrinologist, so we have known him for 3 years) as his Research Coordinator. She works part-time and is off when the kids get out of school. She gets to work and be Mom at the same time. She is busier than ever, but she is extremely happy. A portion of her salary comes from Gatorade royalties; therefore, drink more Gatorade!!!
Kevin is still the Turfgrass Breeder for UF. He considered a job offer from a seed company in Arizona, but he wasn't ready to leave academia. Tenure is in sight, and that's too much to leave. His first graduate student, Nick, received his Master's this fall. Brian will be finishing up his Ph.D. under Kevin sometime this year. We're not quite sure how we'll make it without Brian & Susan, but we're very proud of the opportunities that await their future as well as Nick's. Nick and Brian will both be missed - they were great guinea pigs for a brand new professor!
We hope you have a blessed 2008!

Love,
The Kenworthys

Lady

Today was absolutely horrible. We put Lady, our 14 year old Australian Shepherd, to sleep. Kev and I adopted her in 1999 from the Ft. Worth Humane Society; she was 6 at the time. She was a sweet, wonderful dog. She never played much, but she was the nicest pooch you could meet. She had been suffering from pretty severe arthritis in her hips and back legs for the past couple of years. Initially, we had been treating her with arthritis medicine. She was doing fairly well until this summer. At that point, the vet put her on pain medicine to keep her comfortable. She seemed to be okay until the last 2 weeks. She started looking miserable, and that isn't fair. We made the decision to end her pain before we leave for Texas (tomorrow). We brought her home and buried her beside the house. In Gracie's eulogy (this will make you smile), she basically said 'Lady, you were a great dog, we love you, and I'm sorry my parents did this to you.' It's okay if we're the bad guys; at least Lady isn't suffering anymore. She has surely found Fred by now (our cat we lost in May), and they are probably giving heaven a run for its money. She will be deeply and forever missed.

Santa

Do you think Jax is a little intimidated by all the women (Jax, Sidney, Kate, Sierra and Gracie)

The kids visited Santa with some of our friends last weekend. Gracie asked for a science kit that makes rock candy, and Jaxon asked for the same thing (he probably just wanted to make sure his sister got what she wanted). We are all very excited about Christmas!

Bikers

As I mentioned in the previous blog, my children are quite the bikers. Here is proof of the 'speed racers'.

Weather

There are many things that we can complain about, but the current weather here in Florida is not one of them. The last 2 days, Jaxon has ridden his bike (yes, he's a 4 year old without training wheels, and he holds his legs wide-open and obviously off the pedals when he's going down hills...scares me to death!), and I have pushed Gracie's from our house to Gracie's school. Gracie and Jax then ride their bikes home with me chasing after them (those kids are fast). We are all hot and tired by time we get back. Of course, Florida isn't Texas, but it's not too shabby. If only our immediate family didn't all live 1000 miles away, life would be almost perfect.

Tebow

As most of you know, Tim Tebow won the Heisman Award this past weekend. He is the Gators quarterback and the 1st sophomore to ever win the trophy. Needless to say, the Gator Nation is very proud. Not only is he an amazing football player, but he is also an incredibly strong Christian and very family-oriented. We think he is a wonderful role model! With that being said, the kids were playing football yesterday with a couple of friends. The first thing I heard was Jaxon saying, "I'm Tebow; catch me if you can!" He then proceeded to run and dodge Gracie, Renae, and Coleman (who is 8). It is so funny to hear the kids talk about Tebow all the time (Gracie references '#15', and Jax looks for him in every football game). We were at church Saturday night, so we didn't get to watch the award ceremony live, but we recorded it on TiVo. When we got home, we all cuddled up in our bed and started watching (luckily, we didn't know the results, so it was a very pleasant surprise). Unfortunately, the kids had to go to their beds before the winner was announced. Bet you can guess how we woke them up for church Sunday morning..."Tebow won!"