Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure

I have signed up for the Race for the Cure of Breast Cancer again. Below is the website address to get to our team page. If you feel so inclined to pledge, you can do so for the team on that page, or you can click on either Major or I and donate on one of our individual pages. The whole family will be walking…but we only got Major and I registered for now. If you are local and you would like to join our team, we would LOVE to have you…you can do so on the following website also…just click on “Join Team”. My goal is to have at least 50 people signed up on our team!!

http://www.komennebraska.org/site/TR/Race/General?team_id=1360&pg=team&fr_id=1000

As most of you know, our mom lost her battle to Breast Cancer earlier this year. The emotions are still raw, and now more than ever I have such an urgency to combat this terrible disease. It shouldn’t have happened to mom…and it shouldn’t happen to anyone. In fact, right now, I also have a cousin in law who is going through THE SAME chemo that mom started with. She has breast cancer, and she is my age with two little girls at home who need their mommy. This disease is not picky about who it picks. It could be you, it could be your mother, your sister, your aunt, grandmother…it is no respecter of persons…it could happen to anybody at anytime. Please consider joining our team or donating to the cause through our site. It would mean a lot to ALL of us. Our team name is “Mama’s Family”, because we all are part of a family…God’s family…and because I personally am doing this for my mama. LOVE YOU MAMA!!

Blessings, Tonya Filleman

P.S. Please forward this on to anyone who would like to walk with us, or help with our pledges.

At the Gate

The other day I took Cam with me to go fix dad's computer. It wasn't really broken...but somehow he loses things. I don't know how he does it...but he manages. Anyway, when we were leaving, dad's neighbor was outside walking his dog. I told Cam, "That man lost his wife the same week that Nana went to heaven." Cam said, "Hmmm...do you think they met at the gate?" It took me a second to figure out what he was talking about....but I thought that was such a grown up thought. What a big boy my Cam is becoming.

Golden Sowers Quiz Bowl!

Last week Cam participated in the Golden Sowers Quiz Bowl. If you click on the link you can see his picture. Cam is in the front row...in the middle with the red sweater on and the enormous grin! Anyway...the Golden Sowers is a book club that he joined early in the year. He goes to school every Thursday morning 45 minutes before school starts and they discuss books that they have read. They read like 1 book per two weeks or something like that. It is great. It has really made him dive into books...which as a book lover myself...I LOVE that idea! So, at the end of the year they have a quiz bowl. Not just anybody gets to go represent the school....they actually pick 8 students from each school to go...then the whole district has a competition. He was one of the 8 chosen from his school out of like 20 students. He did a great job! We are very proud of him!! They didn't come in, in the top 3...but they DID win all of their mini competitions. They just didn't have enough points to be in the top 3. They did GREAT though!! Daddy, myself, Jake, MaKenna, Major and Papa all went to watch him!! It was a lot of fun!!

Busy week!!

Let's see....where do I start....well....on the 17th, BMX was fun! Cam took first place in one of his races and qualified for the "Main Event". He got last in the Main Event though because of a fall. BUT...he still got a trophy! He is VERY proud of his trophy! EVERYONE seemed to be falling that night. There were broken bikes...broken bones (not our kids)...it was just a bad night. Right before the "Main Event", Jake had a fall in one of his races. Cam said, "I've never fallen and I don't think I will." I said...Cam...don't say that!!! And then he went and fell. Poor kid. He was very upset...until he got his trophy! Jake STILL hasn't made it to the "Main Event" yet, but he will. This past week he actually came in ahead of one kid! He was SO excited! He said, "Did you see!!???! I beat one other kid!" MaKenna came in second on the 17th in her little race, and she came in first this past week!! Cam didn't get into the "Main Event" this past week...but that is because there were no 10 year old racers except him, so they put him in a Moto with 11 year olds. He was at a slight disadvantage...but he still did very well.


Last weekend Cam, Jake, Jeff, Dad, Mike, Shawn and Kayla went to the Nebraska Cornhusker Spring Red/White game. They had a good time!! I think they really enjoyed themselves. They went down early and tailgated....then were back in time for dinner! Rhonda, Brooke, MaKenna and I went....where else? SHOPPING! That's always fun too!

So...surprise...surprise....I got sick again last weekend. Yup...a cold this time! Ugh! I wasn't sure if it was a cold though or allergies at first. Then I was sure it was a cold...but I think allergies mixed in with it. I had been busy spring cleaning the house for the past couple weeks and the dust was awful! Which...I DON'T understand because I clean the house every couple weeks...which includes dusting. However...I was pulling furniture out and cleaning the vents, etc. I cleaned on top of the cabinets....inbetween the cabinets...you name it...I cleaned it! So...the house has been spring cleaned and it is done for the year! Whew! I am sure everyone is thrilled that mom is done with that!! So...it was a quick cold/allergies though.

So the 24th, was BMX night again. Aunt Holly was supposed to be here, but got stuck in AZ due to flight issues...so, she was unable to come this weekend like she had originally planned. :-( Sometime soon she will come though! So, Dixie and Tanner met Jeff and the kids and I up at the BMX track. The kids enjoyed having someone other than us watching them! That morning though MaKenna was WWWAAAAYYYY busy!! She had a zoo class early in the morning called Animal Babies. We got to walk around the zoo with the instructor and see all of the new animal babies! She really enjoyed that! Then we rushed over to the Y for her gymnastics class! I forgot to take my camera though...so no pictures of that yet. Sorry. I will bring it this week! She did really well! She seems to enjoy gymnastics so far!

The 25th was a busy day for me. The kids went to Lowes and built hang gliders with daddy! They did an AWESOME job! I went to Milford with Rhonda and met dad there for Uncle Alvin's auction. It was very neat! I have never been to an auction before. I couldn't understand a WORD he was saying though! In fact, I went to bid on Uncle Alvin's picnic table....another guy was bidding against me...so when it was my turn to bid higher, I finally said to Brian the auctioneer...."I-CAN'T-UNDERSTAND-WHAT-YOU-ARE-SAYING!" He was very sweet. He put his arm around me without missing a beat and said in his auctioneer style..."IS THIS BETTER....WE ARE UP TO $35 DOLLARS...DO YOU WANT TO BID..." He almost sounded robotic...but I understood!!! Needless to say, I got the picnic table for my babies for $35! I also bid on an OOOLLLLDDDD sewing machine...I got it for 1 dollar! Apparently there were no sewers there. Then I got an OOOOOLLLLDDDDDEEEERRRR sewing machine in a sewing table for $2.50! I did pretty good I would say!! Anyway, check out Brian's website! He does a great job...and for those of you here in Nebraska...you might like to go to one of his auctions....he sells some really great stuff for great prices! http://www.nebauction.com/

While I am "plugging"...I have to put a plug in for Taco Bell, http://www.tacobell.com/. We had their family meal the other night. YUM!!! It was perfect for our size family!! Just FYI!!

Yesterday Tini came over and helped me set up my Spring Dinner table. Dixie helped me with the idea and showed me how I should set it up, then Tini and I implemented it last night. It turned out really nice! Pictures to follow! Again...I forgot my camera....but here are some pictures from BMX night!!

Waiting for the races to start, they like to watch the dogs at the dog park that is right next to the BMX track!



This is Cam.

Did I fall off the face of the earth?

No...I did not...but I do know it has been awhile since I have blogged. So sorry! I have been SOOOO busy...and yes...not feeling well again. Started with a cold...ended with allergies...and now I can't tell if it is allergies or a cold still...again...whatever! I am not used to allergies...I RARELY have allergy problems...so this is new to my bod...I don't know what to think! :-~

Anyway....I have spring cleaned the ENTIRE house. It has taken me almost two whole weeks...but it is DONE! I do clean the house about every other week...but I REALLY deep clean every year around this time. It was ready! EVERY spare moment I had in the last week or two has been spent cleaning, cleaning, cleaning! So...that is why I have been MIA! I have pictures I need to post from the last BMX race, and a few other fun things!! I will do that soon! Promise! This weekend and the first half of next week are CRAZY busy still...but after that, it will be slowing up a bit. Whew....so...hopefully I can blog before that, but just to let you know. I didn't want anybody to think that a tornado blew me away!! Although some days.......

JUST KIDDING!

EASTER SUNDAY!!!!

Easter Sunday was a good one. It was a bit chilly, but no rain like the forcast had suggested. We got up...I was feeling better, but by far not 100%. Checked out what the Easter Bunny brought everyone, got everyone dressed pretty and off to church. We got home and I made a couple quick and easy desserts for the kiddos and Jeff got lunch ready. I wasn't into food and smells on this day...so Jeff graciously took over. We didn't have the traditional ham like I had wanted, but instead he cooked out with hamburgers, chicken and hot dogs. We had 5 different dips, 5 different chips, a veggie tray thanks to Tini, an additional dessert (Carrot cake) thanks to Dixie, lots of fruit, baked beans, just a great spread! We ate around 1:30, then after, my sister, her husband and their kids came over for an Easter Egg hunt. They hunted...they ran...they played...and then they jumped! They LOVE to jump!!MaKenna loves to swing in the tire swing...and as you can see...she got a little stuck, but she wasn't complaining...she just kept going around in circles! Here is Kenna getting some help from "Uncle" Matt to get an egg out of the tree!

Kenna found all the tall ones! Here she is getting help from daddy!

Major wasn't sure at first what he was supposed to do...but once he caught on, there was no stopping him!

Here is "Uncle" Matt and Jake.

Here is soon to be Uncle Tanner, who came with Aunt Dixie! I just realized I don't have any pictures of Aunt Dixie from Easter! Well...when I was taking these pictures outside, she was cleaning my bathroom. I know...so unfair of me to make her...but I didn't know she was doing it. Apparently Jake put too much toilet paper in the toilet again. You do the math.....

Here is Kenna, Major and "Aunt" Tini. My Camera is still foggy from the Jungle. I gotta clean the lens...sorry....

Jake trying to be an acrobat to get that darn egg!

My babies......aren't they beautiful???

The Nebraska Fillemans!!

Saturday the 11th

Guess who got the stomach flu next? Yup...you got it....me, MaKenna AND Major, all on Saturday! The boys were supposed to go build bird houses at Lowes, and I was supposed to take MaKenna to an Easter Egg hunt....but, nobody did anything but lay around. :-( The only good news was since it was just the 24 hour flu we would be okay by Easter!

Friday of Spring Break, the 10th

Friday we got up early to meet my MOPs group at the Zoo at 9:30....Jeff was going to join us, since it was Good Friday and he had the day off. Alas...it was his turn to have the nasty 24 hour stomach flu. So....poor guy...had a day off of work and STILL couldn't spend time with us. :-( Off we went. It was a chilly day though...but we met 3 other moms and their kiddos from my Mops group. The only problem? I have two older kids that wanted to do their own thing and didn't want to hang out with a bunch of moms and their 3 year olds. :-( So...we did the Desert Dome together then we parted ways. We had a great time though. Major's highlight of course was the birds. Any birds...Penguins...Peacocks...ducks...you name it...if it was a bird with feathers he was lovin' it. He HATED the gorillas. They scared him to death! Poor guy. Here is a picture of the kiddos on the O! at the Aquarium! Sorry for the bit of fogginess in the corners of all these pictures. The Lied Jungle was SOOOO humid that it messed with my camera all day
Here is MaKenna, Major and I outside the Butterfly Complex.

The Giraffe Complex was great. They didn't have the Skyfari going yet, which goes directly over the giraffes...but we went inside the complex and nobody else was inside...so I just let Major run to his hearts desire and he LOVED it. PLUS there were two birds inside the giraffe complex....you can imagine where he spent all of his time.

Major loved the birds so much that in order to get him to look at the giraffes, Cam had to put him on his shoulders.

Here is Major looking at one of the birds in the giraffe complex. He was so funny standing on the little ledge. One of the birds was BY FAR the UGLIEST bird I have ever seen. It was SO funny. When Major saw it, he did a little full body shiver! PRICELESS! I wish I could have gotten it on video!Getting up close and personal with peacocks. I told them not to.....

Checking out the African Penguins by the Giraffe complex.

MaKenna, Jake and Cam with daddy....OH I MEAN a gorilla! :-)

Thursday of Spring Break, the 9th

Today was a down day. Jake felt much better...it must have been the 24 hour flu. But...Cam woke up feeling horrible stomach pains. So....I left him at home, while Jake, MaKenna and Major and I headed to church for MOPs. I GO to Mops on the first and third Thursday of every month, and I WORK at MOPs on the second and fourth Thursday of every month. So, this was the second Thursday, so I dropped MaKenna off in her room and I took Major to his room, which also is the room that I work in. Jake decided to help me out with the little guys. So we hung out in there all morning. Went home at lunch time, checked on Cam and made an appointment with the doctor for Major and MaKenna who had been having a runny nose with green goo and a terrible cough for the past 2 months. They have treated them for various things during the past 2 months, but nothing had seemed to take care of the nose and the cough. I was tired of it, and since we weren't going to do anything because of the stomach flu, I thought that would be a good day to get them in.

I also needed to get blood work done...I have been gaining weight and trying to lose it, I have terrible acne and lots of fatigue....so after I got their appt., we went to the hospital, did my blood work and took them in. Major has a raging sinus infection...gee, ya think?...and MaKenna has a raging ear infection. I tried to tell the nurse something was going on while I had her on the phone, but she argued with me about whether or not we needed to go in. HA! I guess I showed her! :-) Anyway, so they are on antibiotics AGAIN! I am on antibiotics for my face prescribed by my dermatologist, my blood work isn't back yet though. Major will be on antibiotics for 21 days this time since he had been treated so much and doesn't seem to get much better. They said his sinuses were kinda small....so if he still has recurring sinus infections we need to go in to the ENT. I guess he inherited one of my things...faulty sinuses. Sorry kid.

That night I had piano students coming over...then we watched more movies! Such fun!!

Wednesday of Spring Break, the 8th...

This is the day we chose to do out of town things. My dad went with us on this day. We all had a great time...until the end, but I will explain that later!

First off we headed to Lincoln at about 9:30. We went to the boys' FAVORITE museum, the Morrill Hall Museum on UNL's campus. First let me say...I don't know why this is underlining everything I write. I didn't tell it to and there is no where that I can see to correct it...so just deal with it for this post! :-) Anyway, here is a picture of Major looking at some of the Nomads of Nebraskas past!

This museum is great! It has dino bones, all sorts of animal bones and reproductions of ancient animals, etc. Most of the bones in the museum were found somewhere in Nebraska, which makes it that much more interesting! Here is Major with some beavers.

Here are all of us...except for Papa in front of some deer...remember...all the animals are stuffed...or reproductions anyway.

There is a little hole down there that if you look inside it, there is a badger inside. That is what Major is about to do...look in the hole. He has looked several times, but he just couldn't stop.

Major LOVES ducks. This is just more proof that he is enamored with ducks!! We have SO many bathtub ducks that it isn't even funny anymore...and he dances with his ducks, he carries them all around the house...we have ducks EVERYWHERE! This duck in the picture is fake by the way...I wouldn't let my son get that close to a wild duck!

Papa and Major in the kids' area.

Jake and MaKenna seeing what it is really like to dig for dino bones!

Major wanting a piece of that action too!
Looking at more in the kids' area.

Here are papa and Cam playing the "What's that smell game". Tons of fun!

MaKenna cornered the boys into the tree trunk! That's my girl!!!

Here are all of them inside an enormous tree trunk! What is it with Jake? Is it the age? I mean really? He has to either make a face or do something with his hands in every picture. It is very disturbing! :-~After Morrill Hall we headed to Burger King for a quick, yet expensive bite to eat! The boys eat two of everything now. I shutter to think what it might be like when they are teenagers! Then off we went back on the free way to the Wildlife safari! I didn't get any pictures there! I know...bad mommy. But we had a great time! Saw lots of Elk, Deer, Bison, Pronghorn, etc....but the Wolves and the Bears refused to be seen. We even tried calling them...but no...they weren't going to humor us. Of course, we may have sounded pretty sad to their ears too! :-) Major's favorite part? Yup...you guessed it...the duck pond!! Oh...he got SO excited! He would take deep breathes every time he saw one and he would clap his little hands and jump up and down on Papa's lap! We took him out of the car seat while we drove through so he could see. That was all of our highlights at the Safari...watching Major's reactions to real live ducks!!!

Next stop...Aksarben Aquarium...also known as Schramm State Park. Here is a picture of Cam and MaKenna with a catfish. No....it is not real in case you were wondering. :-~ MaKenna wasn't so sure though!This is where things started getting a bit hairy. Jake started complaining of hunger pains at Morrill Hall...but I gave him snacks, then he ate a ton at Burger King. I thought all was well. You know where I am going with this don't you? By the time we got to Schramm, he was doubled over in stomach pain. Schramm is a VERY little aquarium and museum...it has just always been one of our favorites. Maybe that is why, there is hardly ever anybody there. So I sat him in a soft chair by the window with binoculars that he could check out the forest with. The rest of us went in. No one else was at the museum that day so I wasn't too concerned. By the time we came out, he was gone and standing by the bathroom...yup...you guessed it. There is tons of hiking around Schramm that we had planned on doing...but we decided that we would do that another day, Jake had thrown up all over their bathroom floor. Ugh. So...off we went. Luckily Schramm was our last stop. We dropped off Papa, and drove straight home. He rested the rest of the evening. Cam and Jeff tried to go BMX practicing...but the track was closed due to the snow we had the weekend before. The track was too soft. So we rented a few movies and watched a couple together.

One of the movies was Marley and Me. Very good movie...I encourage everyone who loves dogs to see it...but be prepared at the end...thats all I will say.

Another great movie we watched...it was from the 80's. I watched it when I was a kid...I loved it then, and the kids absolutely loved it now! It is called Mac and Me.

Tuesday of Spring Break, the 7th.

On this day we went to a place called "That's So Pottery". I remember my mom used to take me to Cristown Mall in Phoenix, where they had a similar place. We would do our pottery and we would shop. They would have it done for us when we were done shopping. Mom used to be an incredible painter. She used to love doing ceramics. Anyway, it only used to cost us a couple bucks....and I had a coupon for free fire, glaze, etc. So I figured, it would only cost a couple bucks per kiddo to purchase the ceramics...right? Well...I forget that mom took me almost 20 years ago and that maybe prices for ceramics have gone up. We are on a budget, so I was trying to find free things to do....or cheap things anway. OH! By the way...the stuff we did Saturday...the Home Depot stuff. It was free...they give you the kit and everything, absolutely free! So check into your local home depot and find out what days they do it. Our Home Depot only does it the first Saturday of every month. But Lowes does it every other Saturday. Last Saturday they were supposed to go to Lowes and make different bird houses, but they didn't end up going because I was sick and Major and Kenna kinda were too. Next Saturday they go to Lowes though to make Hang Gliders! FUN! Anyway, back to Tuesday....so I told the kids to pick the smallest ceramics that they liked and that was what they could paint. Cam picked an elephant for Nana's collection.....MaKenna picked a giraffed...because she liked it....Jake picked a shark, because we all know he LOVES sharks....and I picked a Breast Cancer ribbon. I am not good at painting...how could I possibly mess up a pink ribbon! Anyway...we had a lot of fun doing it...and Major actually did pretty good sitting there watching us. When I got up to the register to pay though, I handed her my coupons, etc. It was 48 dollars!!!!!! I said, "You did take off the coupons for EACH of us right?" She said, "Yes ma'am." I was completely floored. It is a bit more expensive now adays I guess! We had a good time though. We haven't picked up the finished product yet...we will pick them up tomorrow the 14th!

Then off we went to a fun place called Bounce U! I also had a buy one entrance get a second entrance free. Which means, I only would pay for two kids because Major and I were free. So we headed over there. It still cost us $18. I guess I am a tightwad...but that seemed a bit high for bouncing. Oh well...I keep telling myself, the kids are enjoying themselves and so am I! We bounce for the entire 2 hours that was for Open Bounce! We were all EXHAUSTED by the time the 2 hours were up! Mom's could bounce with the kiddos....so we all had a great time!
Major wasn't so sure at first. He stayed on his belly until the last 5 minutes that we were there. He finally decided to walk at that point.

They had a boxing ring with HUGE boxing gloves. They were SO HUGE that even I had a hard time picking them up let alone the kids! Then they had a dodge ball ring....an obstacle course and a huge slide!