A Tonsager Tribute: The Year with The Tonsagers

A Look Back at the Tonsager 2011-2012 school year.....

1st Day 1st Grade

Have a Good 1st Day

Zach's 1st Day of Preschool @
Lil' Broncs Learning Center

School started all too soon as usual in 2011 with Wayne in his 3^rd year of teaching at Belle Fourche High School and Andy in 1^st grade with Ms. Brenda Cupp, whom he had had as one of his first preschool teachers in the 3 year old room at Rising Kites Academy in Spearfish. We were excited. Zach and Luke were with me once again at Lil’ Broncs Learning Center. We had 2 babies ages 2 and 4 months old start at the end of summer to join our two 1 year olds, Ms. Cupp’s 2 year old nephew and the couple preschoolers we had. We had so much fun doing Letter of the Week Mondays and Wednesdays and themed Tuesdays and Thursdays and Freeplay Fridays.

Luke's 1st day of Preschool @
Lil' Broncs Learning Center

Patio Picnic for our last lunch together before school starts

Talia & Andy after 1st Grade Open House

Teacher's Kid wears a No Homework shirt

AJ & Zach on Gameboys while siblings are at school

Andy & Miss Cupp 1st Grade Open House

Football Potluck & Scrimmage.

Football season found the Broncs and Lineman Coach Tonsager with the following record ending on Halloween night in the quarterfinals.

The Broncs finished the 2011 season with a record of 6-4.

2011 Playoffs

First Round: Belle Fourche 17, Hot Springs 6

Quarterfinals: Tea Area 48, Belle Fourche 0

　On Parents night for Bronc Football I had the most difficult time staying awake and keeping moving to get the boys ready to go. I finally put the events of the past couple weeks together and decided it might be time to give in and take on of those tests you use in the restroom……
　
　
　
WOW! We were a little ahead of schedule on that one as Dr. Mike had suggested waiting 3 months after loosing the last one and it had only been 2. This was t be our last “planned” attempt for Tonsager #6. I was so incredibly nervous it would end like the last two. Prayers were quadrupled.

　
Other Fall events:
Luke turned 3 with a Dr. Seuss’ (Cat in the Hat) Carnival birthday. I had planned all these “booths” for the backyard and it began to drizzle 2 hours before hand so we had to rearrange the living room and set up inside!! Such is life in the fall in the Upper Midwest. We made it work and had a blast.

We started the party with Cat in The Hat Tricks followed by a Thing 2 and Thing 1 Cupcake walk.
　

Then we did Stations with passport books for....

Fox in Socks sock decorating

Red Fish, Blue Fish fishing pond

Horton’s Who Toss

Lorax Literature

Hop on Pop bounce house

And… then had some fabulous food before unwrapping presents.
　
WHAT A SUCCESSFUL BLAST!!

Luke's Birthday Breakfast....

Then in October Wayne turned 30 a few days before our neighbor. Both are absolutely ridiculously competitive and had a battle of the birthday bashing with car window paint, signs in yards and on houses and gag gifts.
Wayne also tried the local sports bar, The Stadium’s Macho Nacho Challenge. It was an epic fail but still fun to route him on.

We also held our first Murder Mystery Party for their birthday,. We went with the High School Reunion theme. The thought of dressing up and acting was very unnerving to me, but it turns out that’s not what it was at all and it was a very good time.

　
Then the next day was Zach’s Birthday of course! There are many pros and cons of having your birthday the day after your dad. You do have to share the glory, however, usually, there is more glory. This year Zach and Wayne got a picnic in the canyons with Grandpa and Grandma Tonsager.

Zach got a new green HotWheels Bike (the training wheels came on it and were removed upon getting home….he hasn’t had those since shortly after turning four). He LOVES it!

Then we met Grandpa and Grandma Walker in Chadron at the State Park where we stayed in a cabin for the weekend. It was rainy and cool all weekend, keeping us inside the duplex cabin with no cell service or tvs all weekend together. We had a blast coloring, playing agility ball, reading, playing Halloween bingo, cards and hockey. We also ate at Grandpa Boo and Kandi’s favorite restaurant in Chadron, Angela’s Mexican eatery. Then Grandpa and Wayne went to the sports bar to watch the Nebraska game while Grandma and Kandi took the 4 boys to Dolphin Tail at the theater. Then Grandpa Boo had to get some exercise in before the 5 hour drive home and took off on his bike for a couple hours. We were beginning to wonder if we should send a search party after him in the dense fog when he finally resurfaced gloating about his epic ride including a couple of tumbles down the slippery trail. I swear the man will still do this in 30 years in his 80s!!

Zach’s traditional Birthday Breakfast this year was not so traditional. Instead of the chocolate chip MM pancakes we usually make, he demanded brownies with chocolate on top. After some small consideration, we decided it wouldn’t be all that much more sugar and possibly easier to make, so we went with it! It is HIS day after all.

AND FINALY… Zach wanted a John Deere GREEN birthday this year at a FARM. Oh boy. After some searching I found that other than private farms, all the others had been closed for the season. Finally a dozen calls later, the Spirit of the Hills Wildlife Sanctuary was willing to give us a special private tour after season. It was great. Mike, the guy who runs it, gave us our tour after we were late due to a little mishap and a parent who had RSVP’d but never showed. Anyhow, Mike had lots of stories to tell about each animal and how they ended up at the Sanctuary and some little known facts……

this calf really liked the balloon

camel kisses

llama, llama

Uncle Dee & Dayna

Mike starting our tour

wolf dog

grizzly twins

emu

this one was abused by a family with blonde kids & now dislikes blonde kids......notice all but 2 in our party were blonde kids, not a happy tiger

Mike had us do an "experiment" with the male lion... notice he doesn't even look at me...

But when Wayne walks over to the fence, he is MAD and starts to growl and face off

Then he charges the fence and rubs against it. They can sense the testosterone & prove dominance.

so pretty

this cougar got an infection and now only has 3 legs

look up

Zach is a brownie man

he got lots of cool tractors

Before we left for the Wildlife Sanctuary, we were all talking in the grass in the front yard while the kids played. Devin did a handstand and then started crying. He actually wanted to go to the doctor. Turns out he had a spiral fracture in his arm!

　
　
Wayne & Borah say this was the BEST birthday party ever. It could have something to do with the special treatment they were given at the end of the tour. We were invited back to volunteer anytime though.

Annual Canyons run…..

The weekend we went it was still in the 80’s and peak leaf color weekend so it was so busy that the line of cars waiting to get into Bridal Veil Falls went halfway back to the mouth of the canyon. We ended up just pulling off on some random vacant dirt road for our picnic and cake we had. It was a breathtaking view as always.

Wolverine, Captain America, Iron Man

roasted pumpkin seeds

cornbread and chili

Halloween, as previously mentioned, I was solo. Wayne was coaching the quarterfinal football game which was a blowout, but at least a home game. The boys and I did our traditional run of places in Spearfish and Belle Fourche. We got in our Chili before heading out and did some door to door as well as our church’s harvest carnival which is always fun. The boys were superheroes this year. Wolverine, Iron Man and Captain America. It was before the Avengers movie came out or I’m sure we would have had the whole set. I was a Mommy Mummy as usual but this year with a bun in the oven.
　
Our pumpkins were awesome as always too. My surprise pumpkin carving for the boys this year was an angry bird busting through bricks. Please remember I freehand these, no stencils. It was my first attempt at scraping and they didn’t turn out to bad. Then Andy wanted the red bird also. You will never guess which one was Wayne’s ;) 　

Playoff football game for the Broncs, Dad was here coaching.

Andy's potato from "Grandpa Sherm" who likes to be different

Mummy Mommy 11 weeks pregnant

November brought one significant snowfall which just so happened to be the day Wayne decided we needed to go out in the boondock’s to one of his secretaries house’s t buy a snowblower. It ended up needing some repairs and we couldn’t use it for the only real snow storm we got. Wayne did take it out for the next skiff we got though.

Jenn & Tracy Black Friday

11-11-11 Vets Program
Grand Opening Woman of War Shelter

On Black Friday this year I drug my neighbor Tracy out with me for the second year in a row, but this year without my bestie Sonya and pregnant. We made it through the all nighter. We met Gayle, Rhonda and Jenn at Perkins for breakfast in the wee hours then ended with a dip in the hot tub and present wrapping. We also gained a new niece over the holiday weekend. Miss Gabrielle Jean Rupp was born the day after mommy Tiff’s 24^th bday and Grandma’s 49^th. She almost made the third generation and exactly 25 years apart. Only weeks before some military baby stole the glory with a baby, mm, grandma and doctor all sharing the same birthday. Ironic. This was our first Walker side granddaughter. I was a bit jealous and she may be quite spoiled as a result.

Gabrielle Jean Rupp

One of Andy's 1st Friends, Evan's Bday
(5 year friendship at age 7)

our neighbor girl, Lexi's Gymnastics Bday

I look like my Dad

sitting in dino bday volcano

family movie night

indi

hormonal mean mommy sucking up

Middle School Carnival........

　

　Andy and Zach signed up for AAU wrestling for their first time in December. That was way cute and way time consuming but worth it. We only went to two tournaments this year, Spearfish and Hot Springs, where both boys medaled. Andy also won the sportsmanship medal at the Spearfish tournament. His good manners and sweet personality continue to be noticed, making us very proud. 　

Right before Christmas 5ths Disease went around the elementary schools like wildfire. That's the one that is harmful to fetuses and causes miscarriage. It would go around the year I am high risk pregnant! And of coarse, Andy caught it, followed by Luke and Zach. I started to show symptoms and was immediately put on bedrest for a week. This was pretty much the ed of Lil' Broncs for the pregnancy. Baby comes first though, we had worked too hard to have something like this take him! We got through it and all was well.

Christmas break was short this year leaving us little time for travel. We chose small gifts that were quite costly and budgeted for for a long time. The boys wanted handheld gaming systems or iPods. We spent a long time comparing Nintendo DSi’s and PSP’s finding both to not only be initially costly times three, but then each game to play on it was an added cost and not cheap. We ended up going for second hand iPods which cost less on eBay around the time the newest iPhone came out and everyone ditched their iPods for the iPhone. Not only was the initial cost less, but there are enough free and educational apps out there that the boys could use them as learning tools and for the ever idolized Angry Birds App at zero additional cost. Add that it’s a touch screen and the 3 year old had it mastered long before he had one so we could have our phones back. Santa spoiled them big time. Within a week we had a broken one L Luke had seen mom and dad use theirs for music while in the shower and thought he could do the same in his 3 baths a day. I didn’t realize this until it was too late. Then I did not leave it in the back of rice long enough as it started to turn on but then found some water and fried. I relisted it on eBay for parts and sold a few random other things to replace it with Luke’s one free pass. We haven’t had another incident yet (knock on wood).
We spent Christmas in Holdrege this year and the end of Christmas break with the Tonsagers.

Andy's 1st grade xmas program

2011 ornament photo

hanging ornaments on tree

making garbage mix

testing out the gift they got their cousins ata thrift store

Lil' Broncs gifts

Andy's piece in th newspaper

new electric fireplace

Advent Calendar

Lowe's Build & Grow Christmas Trains

Seeing Santa @ Storybook Island

And the stockings were hung

making ornaments

all our annual photo ornaments for family 2005-2011

At grandma Walker’s house we did the present snatch game and had a blast.
At Tiff and Shawns we did game night and hor dourves until mom got off for a late Christmas dinner. Also extremely fun.

Tiff & Shawn's

With the Tonsagers we had a fun and relaxing weekend fireside. It is always a nice escape in Hot Springs.

Santa!!!!

　
　
　The 10^th of January we went in for our 20 week ultrasound…. A huge milestone and incredibly exciting. Dr. Mike who’s son was a wrestler and often spoke more about wrestling in the room with Wayne than anything else, was doing an in the room ultrasound before the big one, so HE could be the one to tell us the gender (something I was not going to find out but compromised with Wayne). After a lot of hover over the area and not wanting to bust my bubble,, Wayne finally blurts out “Is that a nut sack?” Leave it to Wayne. This won’t surprise you if you know him well. Anyhow, dr. Mike’s neck snapped around with a big grin, “yes, yes it is.” I loose. Just like that, FOUR BOYS!!! Don’t get me wrong, I was happy with a healthy baby just the same. In the big ultrasound it was neat to see that perfect little baby and all his little parts. An experience you can never get enough of.

18 weeks at Christmas

Picture we announced gender with

yawn caught on video

Soon after that appointment Dr. Mike had a large stroke and went to Arizona for recovery. We were transferred to the care of Dr. Anthony Diehl. At first I was very disgruntled with the change in personality and style of care. In the end though, he pulled through for me.

At the end of January Andy wanted a Harry Potter birthday at Watiki Water Park, his favorite place in the whole world. He had been begging for two years and after a friend had hers there for fairly cheap, we decided to oblige. In January you can get a king suite for less than $80 plus a 5 pack of waterpark passes for $25. So for around $100 we had a waterpark sleepover birthday!!! Okay, I lied…… We also spent $10 at McDonalds after the Lowe’s Build and Grow free clininc on castles….how perfect!
We swam, had leftover Christmas goodies for snack, swam some more (or rather floated in the lazy river and looped the slides a dozen or so times), then went up to the room for sloppy joes, chips, dip and a homemade cookie cake that Andy picked out. After eating we went on a Hogwarts Scavenger Hunt in the hotel room with 19.5 people! After presents we swam some more then lined sleeping bags on the floor and crashed before a final morning dip and sack lunch before heading out.
Another Birthday SUCCESS!　

Delivered By Owl

We built castles at Lowe's!!!

Our Suite

Welcome to Watiki

Our table

Hogwart's Castle Playset by Polly Pocket Brand sold only in Europe, found on Ebay

Hogwart's Scavenger hunt back in the room

I made up some funny clues & they did awesome guessing & finding them with a room full of 22 people!

Some things they got were"Quills" (pens), "parchment" (paper pads), "scabbers" squishy rats,
bouncy ball spiders, gummy eyes, "luminos" glow straws & WANDS!!!!

Homemade wands. They were lots of steps, but turned out way cool!!!

Andy wanted a cookie cakewith Harry Pottter stuff on it, I enjoyed decorating it much more than a cake!!

Wayne took head wrestling coach at the High School after resigning. It was great to see him do something he enjoys, even if he swears its only for one year ;)
Here is the article in the Rapid City Journal about him….　　
http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/communities/belle_fourche/tonsager-enters-first-season-as-bfhs-head-wrestling-coach/article_caf21cce-1f9b-11e1-be64-0019bb2963f4.html　

Valentine’s Day……　

making valentine's mailboxes at Lowe's

Lil' Broncs Vday gifts "I love thiiiiiis much!"

Wayne surprised me with a sitter so we could go out for supper,
afterward he bought a scratch ticket while filling up with gas & won $100!!

We got the boys new iPod chargers & Eric Carle books which ended up in the nursery

In March we had our second Murder Mystery party on St. Patty’s Day weekend. We chose the Vegas Casino theme. I was very pregnant but it was still a good time. 　

We also went to Disney on Ice...

April Showers....

Watiki Reunion.....

they all LOVE the slides now

Jenn & Gayle

We all decided to go check out the new Runnings in the old Sam's Club building. They had ducks and chicks and rabbits!! Zach wouldn't quit picking them up and Andy was affraid to touch them. Luke obviously wasn't affraid either.

36 weeks....had major contractions this night and got up to
get ready to go in and see if I was progressing past a 2 and they stopped :(

Picking out flowers

Cabela's Buff Buff

Favorite toys....

We foud out Zach is severly allergic to penicillan and amoxicillin like mom and Grandpa....

Easter we spent at home as usual. We did the egg hunt at our church in Spearfish, which is always fun and provides more than enough candy to get us to parade season.
The Easter Bunny visited with color coded areas for each boy. We came up one egg short in Andy’s area…. I’m not sure it was ever recovered. Good thing they weren’t real hard boiled ones like what once happened at my house when I was little, to be fund a year or so later in the ripped lining on the outside of an old entertainment center. Peeewww.　

The boys tried soccer this spring.....

BEST INVESTMENT!!!!! Sports umbrella.

possibly the only rain we got all year was durring soccer

We began to prepare for baby soon after Easter. The Easter Bunny had provided the boys with materials to make big brother shirts. We all had a hand in designing them. They turned out great.
Grandpa and Grandma Tonsager took the boys one weekend and Wayne and I painted the nursery and the following day I added the mural…..

Maternity Photo Shoot.....

By 38 weeks everything was ready and so was I. The pregnancy was difficult and my body went through things it never had to with the others. I also had gestational diabetes again and was very very swollen.

My last appointment was May 14^th. The nurse came in and took my vitals, and got a concerned look on her face. She said she was going to have me sit a while before taking my blood pressure again. I thought SIT! That’s all I have done is sit. Sit in the car on the hour ride, walk to the waiting room, sit in the waiting room, walk to the exam room, sit on the table, sit, sit, sit. Anyhow, she took it again and said it was quite high, keep my feet up. We scheduled an induction the day after the day I thought we had already scheduled it and I left very very worried and frustrated. The next morning I slept in and woke up with eyes nearly swollen shut, numb hands and fingers and an overall drained feeling. The baby was quite sluggish too it seemed. I called and left a panicked freak out message on the nurse’s voicemail. She called back within 15 minutes (around 10:45am) asking me to come in at 1pm to get my blood pressure checked again or if I felt I needed to , I could go into the ER before that!?!?!?! So now I was freaked even more and had about an hour and a half to get ahold of Wayne in class, find a sitter, cancel the prenatal massage I’d finally gotten him (Wayne) to agree to, get dressed and go. Thank goodness the hospital stuff was kept in the van at this point including toiletries because when we got there my blood pressure was even higher than the day before and the change in demeanor and movement in me and the baby led to Dr. Tony calling the hospital to see if they had an open bed. If they hadn’t he was going to monitor a couple hours then make them make a bed.
　
　
They had a bed ready and I was made to ride in a wheelchair from the front desk of the hospital through the elevators and through the emergency entrance by an elderly woman volunteer who looked like she could use the wheelchair more than me and who kept urgently expressing that she had an emergency here please move out of the way, let us on and off the elevator first and yadda yadda. It was very comical and Wayne and I desperately tried to keep serious face.

Then there was the issue of this NMN (Military must have middle initial listed so if you have no middle they write NMN). This poor kid had no first name either. I had joked at how picky Wayne was on names and how we fought about Luke’s middle name until the night before, that he was just going to have to pick the next one’s name. Well then he was so hard to get, I said I was back in for the fight. We fought until the end. Then Wayne decides as we get there and I get poked that he now wants to discuss it! Are you serious?!?! Right now it has all just sunk in that they think the baby needs out immediately and we are actually here getting hooked up for the process, I am not in the mood to do it now. I wanted to wait until after when we saw him but he was persistent. So I through my phone with the list on it at him and he immediately threw out my top 5 list. He did pick one off the list that had been my number one for a prior pregnancy (which he didn’t like then). So no one actually knew his name until he was born. It ended up pretty fun that way.

I was hooked up to the not so lovely, but make you have a baby fast, pitocin, at 3pm. Dr. Tony broke my water at around 7. At 9:30pm I was feeling quite like having a baby. The nurse said I was only at a 6-7 and was I sure I didn’t want my first ever epidural? I said she could check on it. She returned half an hour later saying that there were lots of babies getting close all of a sudden and the anesthesiologist was in a C-section (I not meant for those long scary needles and the good lord knows it). I asked if she could check me out again and I was at an 8 so she frantically began getting the room ready and paging people. A few minutes later Dr. Tony, who was on call that night, came in the room. At 10:13 after a few short pushes there was a 9 pound 19.5” baby boy. Jacob Michael Tonsager.