Our trip to Vala's Pumpkin Patch

We picked the MOST beautiful day to go to the Pumpkin Patch this year! It was INCREDIBLE! BUT....EVERYBODY else in Omaha thought the same way!! We couldn't park in the parking lot...it was full. Hmmm...maybe we should have skipped the pumpkin patch at that first sign?? NAH!!! You can't have "FALL", without the PUMPKIN PATCH!!! Although...since Vala's DID raise their prices to an UNBELIEVABLE amount...making it LITERALLY highway robbery...next year we will be trying something a bit more on the affordable side. BUT...I had been promising the kids all year we would go to Vala's...so I had to keep good on my word. Anyway, they rerouted us to the outlet mall, where we caught a bus. We actually GOT to Vala's at 2:30...but by the time we were rerouted and on the bus and GOT to Vala's AGAIN...it was after 4. Can you believe it??? INSANITY I SAY!!! THEN...as if that wasn't enough...by the time our bus got there...they were letting people in the lot!! UGH!!! There should be a law against making mothers with four children and a stroller go to that much of a hassle! Well...we did decide to NOT do the stroller because it rained for 4 days straight before that day, so I knew there would be mud in abundance. Instead, I used the backpack carrier...reminding myself that I need the exercise! So, at 4 when we got in the pumpkin patch it was still beautiful weather. We enjoyed our first couple hours there with tractor rides, haunted houses, storybook houses, a corn maze that we TRULY got VERY lost in...etc, etc. We watched scarecrows dance, we had a snack, then to the horses. The one thing that MaKenna waited ALL year for. I have to put in a side note here. In a MUCH earlier post this August I have a picture of MaKenna on a horse at Mahoney State Park. Those horses are the ones that go to Vala's. As soon as she saw Peanut, she said, "There's Peanut...that is my horse." I didn't think she really remembered...because I didn't remember. I just nodded my head like a good mother would. She rode it with a huge smile the whole time...

when she got off of, "Peanut", she hug her and the horse nuzzled her right back. The handler came over and said, "Ah...Peanut likes you, she doesn't like very many people." I said, "YOU MEAN THAT IS REALLY PEANUT!?" Apparently my daughter has an incredible memory. She is such a little horse whisperer! Remember another post...the one from camping, how she got the horses to come to her?? SUCH a horse whisperer that one!



Then we went over and saw the goblin and the cemetary. Notice the goblin with Jake in the picture below??

They even played miniature golf with black lights. Very fun! It was at that point that I had to feed Major and change his diaper, so I missed golf...but I watched the end!

I LOVE colorful mums...so I had to take the pictures below!

I got tired...so I passed Major off to Tini! By the way, Major was a little monster that day...notice the little spikes on his outfit! Silly I know...but oh so cute!!

Last stop was the hayrack ride. Time to pick our pumpkins. By then it was very dark. It was about 9pm before we caught a seat on the hayrack. We went out to the patch...Major fell asleep in my arms, so I carried him out there while everyone looked for pumpkins. We waited for the next hayrack to come back and pick us up. By then it was getting really cold. Once that sun dipped out of the sky the chill came out. Major was just plain pooped. When we got back to Vala's from the Pumpkins, Major AND MaKenna were both asleep, so the tractor driver had to help us out because I had Major in my arms, Tini had MaKenna in her arms, which meant the boys had to carry 5 pumpkins by themselves. So the driver helped us out and got us a pumpkin cart. The boys had to push that...it was very comical listening to "Curly and Moe" try to get along while "COOPERATING" in pushing this heavy cart.

We had to stand in line to wait for the bus...the bus FINALLY came and we were on our way to the outlet mall. En route, MaKenna, Major and Cam all fell to sleep...and/or stayed asleep. So...once we got to the outlet mall, we had to ask the bus driver to help us out...again. I failed to mention, Jeff wasn't with us. He had a hockey coaching clinic to go to...then he went hunting. No...he didn't get anything...again. He will though...I will just keep telling myself that...and him. Anyway, it was after 10 before we got home and we hadn't had dinner yet...so we stopped at Taco Bell for dinner. MaKenna and Major went straight to bed when we got home...and the rest of us chowed down hard on tacos from south of the boarder. Yum. So...that was our exciting day at the Pumpkin Patch. Aren't you glad you "tuned in"?

Halloween pics coming up soon!!!!

From Tuesday morning bible study

Most of you know that I am the childcare coordinator for our Tuesday morning Bible Study at our church, and I let the 90+ kids we have dress up on Tuesday. I snapped a couple pictures from the day. The one below is of MaKenna's best buds....from left to right, Sydney, Hannah, MaKenna and Oliva. MaKenna was a mermaid...she pulled her tail up for the picture though so you can't really tell she is a mermaid in the picture! And...not just ANY mermaid...she is Ariel!


Here are the cutest two pumpkins around!! Nehemiah on the left and Major on the right. No..Major was not a pumpkin this evening....Jeff wouldn't allow it...but Jeff is not with me on Tuesday mornings, so I let Major be a pumpkin Tuesday morning!

Here is Nehemian and their crazy, cowgirl mamma's, Deana and Tonya!

We had a great Halloween. I will update the blog with Halloween pics and Vala's Pumpkin Patch pics sometime this weekend!! Hope you all had a Happy Halloween!!!

My Nine Names

I have to admit...this was fun...do it...and then post your names in comments so I can see them too!!! I am partial to my soap opera name...although...my witness protection name is fun too!

My 9 names
1. YOUR REAL NAME: Tonya Filleman
2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of real name plus izzle.): Tonizzle
3. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color and favorite animal) Pink Horse
4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (your middle name and street you live on/or neighborhood if it's a number) Suzzette Stonybrook
5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 3 letters of your first name): Filton
6. YOUR SUPERHERO/CRIMINAL NAME: (your 2nd favorite color and favorite drink); Purple Daquiri
7. YOUR IRAQI NAME: (2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, 1st letter of your last name, 2nd letter of your mom's madien
name, 3rd letter of your dad's name, 1st letter of a sibling's first name, and last letter of your mom's name): Olfasre
8. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (parents' middle names): Kay Jay
9. YOUR HOOD NAME: (first 3 letters of your first name and add -iqua): Toniqua

Such a tacky picture

I had to post it...it is so tacky...yet, the "bad" Tonya from years past resurfaced. So sorry....so...here is a new picture...a bit more on the tasteful side!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

Cat Bowling

This was such a hoot! Yup..."hoot" is my latest word for Halloween season in case you were wondering. :-) Anyway...try it...it was fun. The kids absolutely LOVE it!!

Click here on Cat Bowling.

Ahhh...sweet MaKenna....

MaKenna...she is either a really funny little girl...or it is just that age. Sadly I don't remember a lot of the silly things the boys did...and I didn't record it, but now I have this opportunity to record MaKenna's "funnies".

Funny number one:

She woke up...."mommy...I had a bad dream." I responded with, "oh...you did honey? I am sorry...what was it about?" She told me, "It had monsters and dinosaurs in it...you were there mommy...do you remember?"

It took me a second...but then I could hardly contain my laughter!

Funny number two:

Her face is SOOO dry right now. It is so bad that I have actually been putting Mary Kay Emollient Cream on her face at night. So the other night, it was especially bad. Jeff and I were in the living room chatting about the day, she walked in and I said, "OH MY...what happened to yuor face?" To which she tried everything in her power to see her face! She stood perfectly still...made her eyes as big as saucers and attempted to SEE her face by moving her eyeballs around in every which direction...trying to manuever her nose out of the way, etc. It was very comical!

What a hoot!

How many jobs do YOU have?

Have you ever sat down and figured out just how many jobs you have? Jeff has been gone a lot. It is hunting season...enough said. But, when he isn't hunting, he is at the ice rink with one of our children doing hockey....so that translates into "I never see him". So at dinner the other night...it happened to be one of our "no place to be" nights...Jeff was of course...hunting. Jake said, "Mom...can people have more than one job?" I said, "Sure...I have had more than one job at a time...in fact your dad has had three jobs at one time." He was amazed by that...then it dawned on me. Wait a minute...I have even more than three jobs at one time right now! So...Cam and Jake and I started counting all of the jobs I have. I am sure we missed some, but this is what we came up with:

1. Mom

2. Wife

3. Cow (I am still nursing...that alone is a job)

4. Dishwasher

5. Cook

6. Waitress

7. Housekeeper

8. Nanny

9. Mary Kay

10. Sell things on E-Bay

11. Childcare Coordinator for bible study at church

12. Finance for MOPs at church

13. Tutor

14. Piano teacher

15. Caregiver

16. Daughter

17. Niece

18. Sister

19. Friend

20. Laundrymat

21. Organizer

22. Youth of Ukraine Director

23. Spiritual Co-leader

24. Librarian

25. Pre-school teacher

26. Grocery Shopper

27. Clothing Shopper

28. Counselor

29. Head Room Parent for 4th grade

30. Bather

31. Dresser

32. Diaper Changer

33. Bedtime story teller and singer

34. Lawn worker

35. Oil changer (number 34 and 35 never get done if I don't do it...so I just do them)

36. Garbage taker outer

37. Recycling organizer

38. Carpooler

39. Hockey mom

40. Figure Skating mom

41. Coaches Wife

42. Nurse

43. Negotiator

NEED I GO ON?????????

The BEST and most IMPORTANT things that I do though...is that of being a wife, a mother and a child of God. I am not complaining by any means. Would I appreciate a life with a maid, a cook, etc.? Of course...but I am so thrilled to be the mommy to my four little precious offspring, and being a wife to an incredible man. Nothing is better than the hugs and kisses that those 5 people give me. Now...if I could just give Jeff a little bit of Estrogen so he might help a bit more...or at least see things my way! :-)

Major's first haircut!

I knew the day would come...but I was not prepared for it. I begged Jeff to wait until his first birthday, but his constant nagging me about it finally made me cave. So...not wanting to be present to see my baby's hair cut off...I gave specific instructions...JUST A TRIM!!!!! I DID NOT...I repeat...DID NOT want Major's hair cut as short as the boys' hair was cut when they were babies. I want a boy with hair for a change....I am not saying I want a girlie boy...I just want to know what a boy of mine might look like if he had hair...since my other two recently also got another buzz cut. Anyway, I came home to Jeff apologizing because...something about his hair color being lighter and it is longer than it looks...I don't know...I blocked out every word he was saying and rushed to my bald baby. :-( Okay...maybe not bald...but might as well be...here are pictures chronicling my baby's buzz cut/trim.

Looking at the mechanism that would destroy his hair....

Not quite sure what dad is up to....
GET ME OUT OF THIS CHAIR...WHAT IS THIS MAN DOING TO ME???????
My baby's precious baby hair.....
LOOK AT ME...I AM BALD...DAAAADDDDDD....WHHHHYYYYYYY?????????

Maverick Intermission

So, at Intermission of the Maverick game, Jake's team got to go out and have a scrimage. Jake is the black 7 in the picture below. They all played very well. The crowd LOVED it...definitely a crowd pleaser! They only get to play for 5 minutes...but it is 5 minutes of pure bliss for the kids!!

Matt and Tini came to the game also...here is a picture of Matt doing what he does best...picking on MaKenna. She loves it though!!!

Junior Maverick of the Night...GO JAKE!

First of all...I have to start out with this hideous picture of my evil Chihuahua, Nacho. He is just a mean booger...so I bought him this devil costume! It looks really funny on him. He wouldn't stand up and let me take a picture...so this is the best you get!

Okay...onward to MUCH better topics! We came back Friday night of our camping trip so that Jake could play in the UNO Mavericks intermission. They have always let the Gladiators skate during one of their intermissions. It is fun to watch! Anyway...a couple years ago, Cam got to be Junior Maverick of the night...well, two Fridays ago it was Jake who got that honor! So, Jake got to sit with the team before the game, and he skated out with them....was introduced with them...and then he got to drop the first puck! Very exciting for a 7 year old! He also got a nice sized goodie bag from the team, uncluding a UNO jersey. Tomorrow I will post about their intermission game. So, this first picture is Major waiting patiently for the game to get started....

Aunt Dixie got to join us for the game also...so here is Aunt Dixie and Major.
Kayla came back with us to watch Jake...and then she stayed the night with us too...so here is MaKenna and my niece Kayla.

Here is the first picture of Jake out with the big boys!
Look how little he looks next to the goalie!!! :-)

Here he is dropping the first puck!! He did a VERY good job!!!

Camping

So last week was fall break and we went camping with my mom, dad, sister, brother in law, their three kids and my four kids in my mom and dad's fifth wheel. My sister also has a camper. It was tons of fun though. I took 5 of the 7 kids for a hike one day...but it was muddy...and my tour guide, (my nephew Shawn), didn't REALLY know where he was going. Okay...maybe he did...but it took 4 different times of walking back in the woods with no trail before he found the right spot. I was walking through very high weeds with a ten month old baby on my back. I just kept saying, "It's okay Tonya...look, you just lost a quarter of a pound...there goes another one..." Positive reinforcement is often needed for me...the below picture is on the road before we headed off into the woods.

Jake in a tree.....


MaKenna...doing some sort of dance...

Cam in a tree....
Aunt Rhonda and baby Major....

Major napping on papa...plum tuckered out....

Friday, Major, MaKenna, Jake and Kayla (my niece) went back to Omaha. Cam stayed with Nana and Papa for one more night. We had to get back though because Jake was Junior Maverick of the Night Friday night!! I will post more on that later!!!

Great Video

This video is great! It is a group using only white gloves and a black light to illustrate a song! BEAUTIFUL! Click below...

Great Video

Just a splattering of things...

So...the other day, we went to my mom's house to celebrate their 44th wedding anniversary and my brother in laws 44th birthday. It was a beautiful day out...as you can see on Majors face...he was thrilled!

It ALSO happened to be a Nebraska Footbll day...my dad is a die hard Nebraska fan....we are not. Oh...don't get me wrong...I like Nebraska...unlike my husband...but, I just like Texas better. So, I tease my dad quite often about that...I decided to tease him with a new flag....

Okay...so on Wednesday nights, we have family night. It is usually our Awanas night...but this year, we are SO crazy busy, if we did Awana's, we would literally, NEVER see eachother. So we reserve Wednesday night as our family night. Last week we played Wii with the kids...Major was given a Wii controller that didn't work, so he got to "play" too. But, I just thought this was so cute. Nacho is SUCH an evil dog, but he LOVES babies. He LOVED MaKenna when she was a baby, and would sit in her lap...let her yank on his ears, tail, and...um...other thing...and he didn't care. Now he snips at her...but boy, when she was a baby, he LOVED her. He is the same way with Major. It is the strangest thing. He could do ANYTHING to that dog and Nacho wouldn't care. Weird....

Oh Jake....

Jake's rendition of Iron Man. Hey...the kid has an imagination...right???

McCain/Palin and Peek A Boo!

We have had a CRAZY last couple of days!! Fun...but crazy!! First off, the boys had Wednesday through Friday off of school this week because of Fall break, so Wednesday they went camping with my mom and dad out at Mahoney State Park! Thursday after MOPs, MaKenna and Major met them there and camped with them. But before we left, MaKenna and I painted some signs! We seem to have some sticky fingered Democrats in our neighborhood. We had up the nice, political signs for McCain and Palin...as well as other Republicans. Would you believe they actually got stolen?? And they wanted to make a point...they left the holders...but took the signs! We also recently had a Texas Longhorns stake taken. Sooo...in retaliation...because those of you who know me, know I can't go without some sort f payback, no matter how big or small...MaKenna and I made our own Texas Longhorns sign....notice MaKenna's fingers in the normal Hook 'em Horns position....

Then we made a McCain/Palin sign...and under that I put God Sees You..in other words, think before you take my signs again booger!!!

Don't worry...we have since gotten all new signs and they have yet to be stolen. We haven't gotten a new Texas LongHorns stake though...so now you know what Jeff needs for Christmas! :-)

Major also has started with Peek A Boo! He LOVES it...so I thought I would share. He started doing it in the tub using the shower curtain to hide behind...below is a picture and a video. Now though, if you say, "Where's Major?", he puts his hands up and hides his face. He will giggle until he lets his hands free and smiles real big...at which point it is your cue to go, "THERE HE IS!!!!"

I have quite a few more pictures to upload...and a few more stories...camping stories and hockey stories....so, I will do that another night. It has been a busy last couple of days...tonight we had parent-teacher conferences...the boys are doing great by the way! Both teachers just want both boys to slow down when they do their work...the rush and sometimes miss important directions, etc. That is easy to do though...I am guilty. Anyway, they had those, then the boys had hockey practice and I stayed at the school and worked the book fair. Then I went and picked up the younger two and none of us got home before 9. By the time we got everyone in bed...well...you know. I am tired...eyes are droopy...so the next photos and stories will just have to wait.

SO MUCH

I have tons to say...but it's late...as usual...and my eye lids are droopy....I guess you'll just have to wait....sorry!!!

Pleasantly Piano by Tonya Filleman

Beginning Piano Lessons

Where: 6012 S. 149th St., Omaha
When: Mon, Wed, Fri Days and Tue and Thu evenings
Cost: $15 per half hour, per person; $25 registration fee includes books and first lesson
Contact info: 733-2369 or jtfilleman@cox.net

SESSIONS OPEN NOW!!!

About the teacher:

I am a mother of 4, ages 10 months to 9 years. I have played piano since I was 5 years old. I am a percussionist as well; set, snare, bass, quads, cymbals, bells, etc. Competed in marching bands as well as drum corps. Music has always been a great love of my life and a huge part of my life!

SIGN UP NOW!!! :-)

A few funny things...

I have been so behind on everything...but since this blog is like my private (public) diary, I wanted to let "it" (the blog), in on a few funny things...so that some day when I print this out, the kids and I can laugh and laugh and laugh about it...and maybe Jeff too! :-)

First funny...I am nursing...most of you know that. I wear breast pads because my son is quite the eater and I still..."leak". One of them dropped out of the laundry the other day...MaKenna...bless her heart...picks it up and ever so politely says to me, "Mom...you dropped this...here is your boob." HA!!! I thought that was SO cute!!! If only we could take "them" off and put "them" back on when needed!!! :-) Then I got one of those dreaded clogs...enough said...problem taken care of...don't need to relive pain.....

Next...Major is having a problem keeping his iron up. So we have to take him in and get him poked in the finger every 3 or 4 weeks to check his levels. He is so funny. Do you think he cares? Nope! He just watches them and laughs at them. He laughs so hard that he often makes the nurse laugh which makes it difficult for her to continue her job of drawing his blood! It is almost like he deals with pain by laughing. Gee...I wonder whose kid he is! He may have come from me...but he has his daddy's "pain laugh"!

Then there is Duke. Precious, precious Duke. Duke has suffered from a little bit of doggy depression since we had to put Mickey down. So I smile when the kids come home from school with a bunch of neighborhood kids and play with him in the backyard. Not Nacho...no...that dog is pure evil. Duke...Duke loves everyone and wouldn't hurt a fly...unless that fly was trying to hurt one of us. Anyway, purely on accident, Duke's snout collided with our neighbor kids face. They were jumping on the trampoline and Duke likes to jump too. They just collided. Dukes mout was open...and one of his teeth kinda went into the kids skin. The wound was merely a quarter of an inch long, but they took him in for a couple stitches. The parents, the doctor, everyone knew it was an accident. It didn't look like a dog bite, it was honestly a collission, but they have to go with protocol and the Humane Society had to be called in. They have him on house arrest now. He is up to date on his shots, so that wasn't a big deal...and even the Humane Society guy came in the backyard and Duke tried to lick him silly....so he even said, "Clearly this dog is not a threat...we know it was an accicent,", but they have to do what they have to do. So house arrest means he has to be in the house, and he can only go outside for 15 minutes at a time...in our backyard and he has to be on a leash...IN OUR BACKYARD! I thought that was a bit silly...but rules are rules. Then he has to be seen by his vet after 10 days. THEN he can go back to normal. So, tomorrow (Monday) is his tenth day. THANK YOU LORD!!! Poor baby is sad that he can't be out in this wonderful weather we have been having! No more accidental collissions though. I won't be able to let Duke get all excited with the kids anymore. He will just have to sit with me when the kids are jumping. :-( Poor baby....

My mom and dad celebrated 44 years of marriage this past Friday! WOW!!! 44 years!! That is SUCH a testimony!! I have learned so much from them regarding marriage and other things of course too...but they have a solid marriage that they should be very proud of!

I cleaned the house the other day...I asked the boys to vaccuum the upstairs. One vaccuums, while the other moves things in the way. I told them to cooperate. I overheard Jake tell Cam to cooperate. Cam said he was. Jake said, "No you're not...I see that frown on your face!" It was funny at the time...you did have to be there though. Then...Jake decided to clean the vaccuum out. It is a bagless vaccuum. He decided to empty it in the itty bitty trash can in his bathroom...that I JUST cleaned. I was livid. The bathroom was FULL of dirt and dust! ALL OVER!!! I will admit...I yelled....and I later DID apologize and explained why I yelled...but how many out there can understand my pain????

Laminin

Laminin

What is it? Well..it is the protein that holds us together. Literally...look it up in any medical book or journal. I am in a group called MOPs. Mothers Of Preschoolers. At our first meeting, they showed us a video clip made by Louie Giglio, where he talks about how big and awesome our God is and then explains Laminin. You might wonder, Why would a pastor start talking science. Well...let me explain...using another persons blog. This person wrote it so eloquently that I am borrowing what he said...so here he is....

M51 or the whirlpool galaxy astronomers call it the "darling of astronomy." last year, Louie Giglio show us two things about this galaxy in the deep reaches of space.

1.) Every second there are new stars being born. Millions of star incubators are found within the whirlpool galaxy.

2.) Not only that, but at the center of this galaxy is a black hole which the Hubble Telescope took a picture of...and wow, check this out...

The entire universe displays God's fingerprint and this is just one example...the cross of Jesus was on the mind of God even as he was creating the universe.

Putting that picture back in our heads, Louie continued in the universe focusing on the stars with the purpose of showing us just how small we are and how BIG God is. We serve a BIG God!!Louie took us to a few stars and put it into perspective:If the earth was a golf ball...The sun would be 15 feet in diameter. Another star would be the equivalent of 6 empire state buildings, Or 2 golden gate bridges. We are so very very small...Our significance is in our insignificance. God cares for us so much that his same fingerprint can be found within us.

Louie then looked within the human body and showed us just how great our God is. When we are developing in our mothers womb...just for the eye to function a million nerve endings start to travel to the eye and another million from the eye to the brain, these nerve ending meet up and have to find their EXACT match in order for the eye to work...that is AMAZING to me. Though he went into more details the "finale" of the talk was this...LAMININE. Every living creature has laminin inside of them...the purpose of laminin is that it basically keeps our bodies from falling apart. It holds us together as one united whole. Wanna see what laminin looks like??? I know you do....check this out!

The cross is EVERYWHERE...it casts a shadow over the entire universe...constantly reminding us of what Jesus did for the world. words escaped my mouth the moment Louie put this on the screen so I will leave you with that...Laminin. wow

Thank you to the nice man I borrowed this from. I felt the exact same way after watching the video...perfectly speechless...and those of you who know me, know that that doesn't happen very often. Go to GodTube.com. Just click on that link that says GodTube there and it should take you to the video and you can watch it for yourself. It was an incredible video. I felt like I really needed to share this with you all.