Turning 30

Posted on July 29, 2011 by Mom of 4

Well, this is the start of the last weekend of my 20’s. Yup, Monday I turn the Big 3-0!

Dale turned 30 back in April, and he says 30 doesn’t make you old; 4 kids, 2 car payments and a mortgage make you old! WELL SAID!!!!! On the bright side, we paid off the Tahoe this year, and Dale’s car is a mere $600 away from being paid off too, PTL! Woo-hoo, I feel younger already. 🙂

So back in June, my best friend and her hubby invited us out to dinner in Wichita, to a FABULOUS European Bistro called Yia Yia’s. We were super excited for a “real” date night, as opposed to our usual couch-snack-movie date that has become our norm. I thought it a bit weird that Kasey asked me to grab my camera, but whatever, I love taking photos so I brought it along without question!

Right away the guys had us in stitches, teasing about how they had planned their outfits to match etc.

Ready to hit the town!

When we got to Yia Yia’s, we were led to this back room. The dining room was pretty full, so I assumed we were being taken to overflow. When they opened the door….. “SURPRISE!”

A room full of our friends! Dale turned to me with this smug grin, since he had guessed what was going on. You can imagine HIS surprise when they announced the party was for him too! 🙂 They had split the difference and had a party in the middle of both our birthdays. How fun!!!!

Kasey remembered that (before things got tight) we had planned to throw a huge Luau out at our place, in celebration of both our 3oth birthday’s, so she did a Tiki-Hawaiian theme. Perfect!!!!

The food was delicious, so of course, I got too busy eating and forgot to photograph the main course. Typical.

Dale had this amazing roast chicken. I had a killer salmon with homemade crab filled ravioli’s and roasted asparagus. Mmmm!

Thanks to the Master minds behind this great party! We are so blessed with friends like you!!!!

A big thanks to Johnny and Tian, too, for helping Kasey pull it off in such a big way!!! (Their cute photo was taken in RAW format and is now stuck on a memory card, so they are not pictured, sorry guys!!!!)

After dinner was through, a few of us decided to go bowling. I quickly announced I had not been bowling since I was a 5th grader, but that deterred no one. Little did they know what was in store for them……

You know how some things are like riding a bike, it just comes back to you?

Bowling is NOT one of those things.

I pretty much stunk it up the whole time, eventually going to a Granny-style bowl, just to get the darn ball in the right direction. This was decided for everyone’s safety, after my pink ball, with too large of holes, went flying south instead of north! LOL 🙂

Good things my friends love me despite my aversion to bowling.

Monty=Mr. Rogers Kasey=Kaseylicious

Johnny=Rambo Tian=Shikera

Dale=Captain Tootypants (boy does he ever live up to THAT name!)
Me=Princess Sparkle

Above: The guys being guys. Johnny digging for treasure?

Below: Tian’s FABULOUS “I’m Not Mommy Tonight” Date Night shoes. I want!

I shouldn’t even post this next pic and forever lock into history, my shameful score, but here it is:

Capt. Tootypants won, followed by Kaseylicious, Rambo, Mr. Rogers and Shikera. P is for Princess. Yup, I bowled a 41 first game and a 65 the second time around. So, do I get the prize for Most Improved Player?!?! LOL 🙂

Next we moved on to the arcade, thank God because my arms were about to fall off!

I may not be a bowler, but I cleaned house on Deal Or No Deal, winning 100 tickets, thank you very much!

We pooled our tickets to take home something fun for all of our kiddos, 9 of them between us.

This made all the Mommy’s ready to head home and kiss their babies. Besides, it was past midnight, we had an hour drive home and kids don’t get the “Sleep In” memo. But where were the guys??????

At the nearest Shoot ‘em up game.

Go figure!

We finally dragged them away, kicking, screaming and throwing a fit….ok, not really.

Thanks to Kasey & Monty and Johnny & Tian for a GREAT birthday bash!

We had a ball……

Love, Dale and Tonya

“The Surprise” Highlight Reel

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Mom of 4

Meet Dad & Drea:

As I mentioned in an earlier post, they arrived Friday, and surprised me with a random, totally un-expected, appearance from far-away Florida.

We have enjoyed 6 fun-filled days with them, just hanging out and catching up. It’s nice to have guests that “get” the difficulty of hauling around little ones. They were so respectful of our daily routine, being content just to hang out at home, and do whatever they could to help us stay on a normal schedule during their days here.

They are on their way to Arizona for 2 weeks of biking (not the pedal kind) in the mountains and desserts of the southwest.

We are trying to convince them to stop back through “on the way” back home, but I am not sure we have succeeded yet. 🙂

Without further ado, here is the Highlight Reel of an amazing week:

New bunks for the boy’s room brought from Florida…..

Slumber Party anyone?

A new to me dining set, again from Dad & Drea’s furniture store. Happy Early 30th Birthday to me! I’m in LOVE!

Fun in the sun!

Thanks for coming to see us, Papa & Drea! You guys always bless us with your generosity, laughter and fun-loving spirits. We miss you already!!!!!

Safe travels & all our love,

~ Dale, Tonya & 4 little Fergusons 🙂 XXOO

Surprise!

Posted on March 21, 2011 by Mom of 4

I had one of the best surprises of my life this weekend……

Before I tell you, let me give you a bit of a back story. All week Dale had been, um, needy?! Annoying. No, I’ll stick with needy. Super needy, which is way out of character! He kept saying things like:

“Babe, what do we have next Saturday, can you clear the calendar? I just want to be with you and spend some time together.”

“Honey, I really want to have lunch with you on Friday! Can you make that work?”

See, I was super-duper stressed trying to get ready for this private clothing sale followed by a garage sale for ALL my baby stuff this week.. I spent HOURS and HOURS, days and days, pricing and sorting at my mom’s house. You know I am super anal, so each table was organized by size, season and neatly arranged in rows.

I was honored he was seeking me out, but really?! This week of ALL weeks!?

I got done quickly Friday morning, with the finishing touches for the sale, (ready to start at 2 that afternoon) and called to say Yes, I was indeed going to be able to have lunch with him like normal, as “Family Friday” lunch at Grandma’s restaurant dictates. He was happy.

Well good for him.

I was stressed, but whatever, as long as it meant that much to him, I could make it work. I was semi-honored, semi-annoyed at this new clingly Dale.

I was standing next to our table, cutting the children’s food, when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned and gasped:

“Drea?!”

A million thoughts flashed through my mind! Drea, here in KANSAS? But she belongs in FLORIDA?! What in the world?

I turned the other direction and saw my Dad, whom I affectionately still call, “Daddy”, and promptly screamed.

Loudly.

I then burst into tears, jumped up and down, still screaming, then going back and forth between Dad and Drea, hugging them, and basically bawling my eyes out.

It was the best surprise EVER!

When I finally got myself under control, I looked around to see who witnessed my scene and saw everyone wiping tears from their eyes.

I love people who have “never let anyone cry alone” policies. 🙂 They said it was very touching moment to witness. Dale didn’t have my camera to capture the moment, of course, so it’s all kinda a blur to me. He said it was just the reaction he was hoping for.

We sat down to a nice lunch, and I found out that Dale had known about this surprise for weeks. Thus the neediness! It all suddenly made sense. No wonder he didn’t want me to have a garage sale this weekend, our special guests were only able to stay through Wednesday, before they continued on the journey to their original destination. They made a 600 mile “jaunt”, just for us. 🙂

We enjoyed a fun weekend, and the garage sale went exceptionally well, despite horrible winds Friday, that blew clothes and entire clothing racks clear across the driveway, and bitter cold rainy stormy Saturday!

Destiny came after school Friday, to sell Butterscotch Oatmeal M & M cookies and rocks. (which she left at home, so cookies it was!)

She made $20 before tithing, saving and “overhead fees”. (meaning she has to pay for the M&M’s) We want her to learn to manage her money, as well as use this opportunity to teach her how a business works. She was so proud!