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Field Day!

Field day today at the boys' school was tons of fun!!! I volunteered to help out with the second grade from 9-10 this morning. So, MaKenna, Major and I walked up to the school and we manned the popsicle table. So...we were favorites among the second graders. I did get a few pictures though! They didn't HAVE to do any of the sports...they got to choose, or they could just run around on the playground. It was SO different from when we did field day in the "olden days"! :-) Major was loved by all the second grade girls. In fact, here is a picture with Major flanked by two of Jake's classmates...then Jake is over on the right hand side with a hoop essentially playing horseshoes with hoops! He is in the blue.Here is Jake's class in line for tug a war. His class had two competitions and they won BOTH!!!! GO MRS. KORVES-GUNNINKS class!!!! Jake is in the blue third from the back.
MaKenna spent a lot of her time running around on the playground.As did Jake....
After their field day, MaKenna, Major and I walked home. We went potty, got snack and at 11 we walked BACK to school...I really got my exercise today! I volunteered to help with the fourth grade field day. Once again, I was the popsicle lady...loved among all the fourth graders!! It's soo good to be loved! :-) MaKenna ran around with Cam mostly this time...Major hung out at the playground. He was followed again by many little fourth grade girls. Luckily they were within distance of me so I could see what was going on the whole time. He was in hog heaven though because they just followed him around and let him do whatever he wanted to...within reason of course. Anyway, Cam did a lot of the sporty things. He even let MaKenna join in on a few of them!Here is a picture of MaKenna in the jean capris and pink shirt...next to Cam in the black shorts and brown shirt...about to run an obstacle course together! She won!!! Of course she is so little she could get through the hoops faster!Here is Cam's class waiting for their turn at Tug A War. They had two competitions...they lost one and won one! Cam is in the middle of the picture.

After field day at noon, MaKenna, Major and I headed over to the park across the street and had a picnic with Cam and his class. That was fun. Last week was Jake's class picnic and we did the same thing with Jake. But...as soon as the food was eaten, we had to leave because Major was ready for nap. It had been a BUSY morning. He fell asleep on the stroller ride home, then slept for an hour and a half longer in bed while I mowed the lawn! He was really sleepy!

Tomorrow (Friday) is the last day of school...they get out at noon. I plan on taking them somewhere for lunch to celebrate the end of the school year. Don't know where yet. Any suggestions? Thank you SO much to any and all of you that sent postcards to Jake's class. He got to bring them home today and he had SO many of them!! Thank you to ALL of you!!!

Amish Love, book review

Some of you know, I am reviewing books for Multnomah Publishing...also known as Waterbrook. Anyway, here is one book that they asked me to post about. I have not read this book yet, they just wanted this posted. Stay tuned for books that I HAVE read and review for you! I am an AVID book lover and reader, so this is right up my alley! These books posted about below sound AWESOME too! I can't WAIT to read them!!

Amish Love

What’s all the hubbub about Amish fiction? Major media outlets like Time and ABC Nightline are covering it, and authors like Cindy Woodsmall are making the New York Times bestseller list regularly. What makes these books so interesting?

Check out the recent ABC Nightline piece here (http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=7676659&page=1) about Cindy and her titles When the Heart Cries, When the Morning Comes, and When the Soul Mends. It’s an intriguing look at Amish culture and the time Cindy has spent with Amish friends.

And don’t forget that Cindy’s new book The Hope of Refuge hits store shelves August 11, and is available for preorder now.

Tim Wildsmith

One of my best friends Emily Jackson, has a little brother named Tim Wildsmith. He is a singer and he also was Mrs. Hoskovec's (Cam's teacher), student in the 3rd grade. Once we figured out the connection between us, Mrs. Hockovec and Tim, we thought it would be fun for him to come in and sing for the kids. He has two CD's. His first one is Christian. From what I understand he is working or about to start working on his third album. He sings at places throughout Omaha and travels at times as well. He travels with a band and is a great performer. He was a HUGE hit with the kids. They had TONS of questions for him...mostly, "Have you ever met.....?" They are very intrigued with famous people out here in the midwest! They live a sheltered life! :-) Anyway, the girls were swooning, the boys all wanted to be him. They even wanted autographs at the end. Here is a picture of Tim singing.


Cam is sitting on the floor in this picture. He got to introduce Tim. The kids call him "Uncle Tim" because that is what Olivia and Brighton call him (he IS their uncle).
Here is Tim and Cam.

Here is the mad 72 kid mob wanting autographs!

Here is Cam, Tim and Mrs. Hoskovec.
MaKenna and Major see Tim from time to time...they weren't as thrilled....they here his music on my ipod...so they just looked at the fish....

Happy Memorial Day!!!

MaKenna and Major have a touch of something so we didn't want to take them out today. I wanted to go to the Services at the Blue Mound Cemetary in Milford, so dad came and picked me up at 8 this morning. Jeff was kind enough to stay home with two sick kids and two "tween" boys. The service at the cemetary was really nice. They had the 21 gun salute, the fly overs, it was really nice. Mom's headstone was put out recently too and it was really nice. The flowers were beautiful as well. The sun was bright on the bottom line there but it says, "Parent's of Rhonda and Tonya." Then in the left hand corner it says "God's Care" and the right hand corner says, "Forever".

The back of the stone says, "Grandparent's of" and it lists all their names. Guess we can't have any more kids. :-) The picture didn't turn out so well because there is a barbed wire fence running behind it, so I couldn't get a good angle without sticking myself.

For Mother's Day, I had dad take this little bear, that got REALLY drenched, and Rhonda had bought a very nice stake.Here is a close up of the stake. Very nice.Before we left I took a picture of that area...the top left is my Uncle Junior (mom's big bro), the bottom left is my mom's mom and dad, the center is mom, then the top right is my cousin Shane.

We have quite a few other relatives in this cemetary, dad and I went through and picked up all the flowers that he put out last week for the great grandparents, great aunts and uncles, etc. Then we went to the Mennonite cemetary and did the same thing with my dad's families flowers, even mom's grandpa is buried out there. We had doughnuts with my dad's cousin and his son, then we ran into Lincoln and had my favorite...Cracker Barrel. Yum. It was a very nice morning, with nice talks, nice company...it was just a nice day.....then I came home to chaos. But honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way. :-) If chaos comes with my kids, then I will take it.

BMX Friday night...MaKenna's first REAL race!

Last Friday it had rained too hard for the track, so we didn't have BMX...MaKenna had JUST gotten her new helmet...her official helmet...and she had to wait a week. But this past Friday with all of us watching along with Papa and Tanner, she had her first OFFICIAL race...she started in the gates with Daddy helping her. They didn't have a division young enough for her, so they put her in with the 6 year old novice group. She held her own! She did very well for being 2 years younger than the other riders. In fact...she made it to the MAIN race and the end...and took 3rd place! She even got a trophy!! I will have to take a picture of her with it and post it when I think about it! Granted...there were only 3 racers...but still!! Her VERY FIRST TROPHY!! She was absolutely THRILLED!!!!!

MaKenna's last gymnastics class

MaKenna's last class was this past Friday. We may put her in another class...but we'll wait a little bit. Maybe in August or July we'll start her in another class! She seemed to really enjoy it. Major enjoys the little toys they have there too!

Woopsie Daisy!

This weekend was a very nice weekend. We let the kids play with the sprinklers a bit, and have water balloon fights. Well... poor Major slipped in some mud...in this picture Jake is helping him up....


In this picture Major is chasing me in tears and very muddy hands and tushie....

Here is his tushie....nope, it is not poopie...all mud. It was very funny...you really had to be there. I am SURE no one is laughing as they read this post like we laughed when he fell on his little tushie.

Then of course he had to rub his face. Classic. No worries...I took him upstairs and gave him a bath right after this picture....

Thank you for....

MaKenna is just such a sweet little girl. I may complain about her from time to time...her constant whining, or this or that or the other thing...but she really is quite a sweet little girl. She LOVES to pray before eating any and every meal and before bed. We always pray first and then she gets to pray. Her prayers are typically close to the same thing each time. She prays that God will bless....she names off all of us, plus Mickey, Duke, Nacho, Nana, Papa, Grandma and Grandpa and usually a friend or two gets in there who she has seen that day and is fresh in her mind. Then she prays for our health, "Please keep us healthfy, don't let us be sick". Then she says, "Thank you for this day, thank you for this food," Last night she thanked God for carrots and green beans...which she doesn't it without a fight....but the funny thing was when she said, "Thank you God for sin........(large pause...during this pause I am trying to figure out if I heard her correctly...when she said).....forgiving." Oh...I get it...thank you for forgiving us our sins! I thought that was so sweet! What a sweetie!!!

Planting an apple tree for Mama....

When mom died, some of my aunts and uncles got Rhonda and I both gift cards to Earl May so that we could plant something in remembrance of mom. I thought a Lilac bush would be great, because she LOVED lilacs, but we already have a Lilac tree in the back yard...then I thought a rose bush...but we actually have quite a few different rose bushes in front and in back. So we went with Apple Trees. We bought two apple trees. We put one in the back and one in the front.




While the three kids and Jeff were digging, I was documenting and Major was...under the awning with Duke. This is one of Duke's "dog houses", and Major just climbed right in...Duke wasn't sure what to think...but like a good little puppy...he shared....


Obviously asking for a family picture is just too much...I don't know what happened in this picture...MaKenna is showing off a stuffed dog...Jake is doing...I don't know what Jake is doing...Cam looks pathetic and Major is crying for the scooter. All in a days work....

Out of the Blue Clear Sky

Jeff and my song is by George Strait called "Out of the Blue Clear Sky." It is our song because it was played ALL the time when we were together when we were dating, and we love George Strait and the lyrics are just so perfect for our relationship. He was still hurting from a relationship when we met, and I was still in a bad relationship when we met. Anyway, the night he proposed, he was talking to God...and though he knows he shouldn't have done this...he said, "Lord...if You feel that it isn't too soon and this is the right thing to do (propose), then let our song play next on the radio." Wouldn't you know it...that was the next song! So...that was the night he proposed....4 weeks after we met for the first time! So, for our anniversary, I made him some romantic book marks, downloaded a TON of Alistair Begg sermons (his favorite pastor), and put them on discs...with Tini's help....and got him the shirt below...I did mess up the song title on the shirt though...I put, Out of the Clear Blue Sky...instead of the Blue Clear Sky...woops!

I had this shirt made by VistaPrint. Great place! Great prices!! Below the picture are the lyrics to "our song".

Out of the Blue Clear Sky

By: George Strait

You said you've had enough

You're ready to give up

On that little lie they call love

Then out of the Blue Clear Sky

Walking right into your hands

Like rain on a desert sand

It's the last thing you had planned

Out of the Blue Clear Sky

Here she comes, walkin' talkin' true love

Saying I've been lookin' for you love

Surprise your new love has arrived

Out of the Blue Clear Sky

Ain't love a funny thing

One day you're giving up the dream

And the next your pickin' out a ring
Out of the Blue Clear Sky

12 years of marital bliss!

On May 17, 1997 my life changed forever when I went from being Ms. Tonya Suzzette Stutzman, to Mrs. Tonya Suzzette Filleman. 12 years ago. Wow. Has it been that long? It seems like just yesterday my mother in law to be was introducing her oldest son to me, one of her lab assistants. We went to Jamaica for our honeymoon and we vowed to go back every 5 years. Once we hit 5 years we decided to extend that to every 10 years....once we hit 10 years we decided to extend that to every 15 years....call me in 3 years, I'll let you know if it happened!! So...last year for our anniversary, he bought me a Yukon Denali. How was he going to top it this year? Just by being with me...that is all he had to do...."Aunt" Tini came over with Matt and they watched the kids while we went to Village Point and had dinner at Johnny's Italian Steakhouse, then we caught a movie (Angels and Demons) at the Village Point theater. After we discussed that movie over ice cream from Cold Stone. Then we just walked around a little bit. It was great. The togetherness is all we needed. Here's to 12 more happy years!

Jeff and Tonya THEN

Jeff and Tonya NOW Then there were 6....

Free State Parks and Fishing Day!

This past Saturday was Free State Park Entrance and Fishing Day!! We go to state parks anyway because we have a pass, and we usually go fishing anyway because that is just what our family does...but since Jeff has not yet gotten his fishing license, this was a perfect day to go!! It also was an almost perfect weather day to go. It was a tad bit chilly in the shade, the wind didn't help, but in the sun, it was really nice. We wore light jackets to stay warm by the water. The mantra that day was girls rule, boys drool, because MaKenna and I were the only ones catching...then Major started catching...but that was it. Cam caught one at the very end...only because we said we wouldn't go until he caught one...he finally did. Jake brought a friend, so they were off in the woods when they weren't fishing, so I didn't get any pictures of the two of them. The score was, Mom-1, MaKenna -4, Major -3, Cam -1. Let the records show I only caught one because I stopped after that to help others. I am SURE I would have caught more!!

MaKenna got the first fish of the day. But she was afraid of it...in fact, she wouldn't even reel it all the way in...she made daddy do it.Then Major started getting nibbles....

Daddy and Major reeled it in together....

Then...like any boy, he had to touch it...squeeze it...etc....
Then daddy let him have it a bit. It was funny...when he swings he says, "Weeeeeeee" almost the whole time he is swinging. So he swung the fish back and forth on the line and was saying, "Weeeeeeee". Any animal rights activists out there, we didn't let him do it long...the fish was released without incident. No worries!!!

Finally....Cam......