 My timehop took me on a walk down memory lane this week, with a photo of me 38 weeks preggo with Paxton Clay. 7 years ago this morning, at 4am, I woke up uncomfortable and rolled over to hear a POP POP sound. Apparently, I heard my own water breaking because by the time I got to our master bath, that became QUITE obvious. I am not going to re-tell the whole miracle story of this precious baby's miracle gestation and birth, but listen, I'd be super honored if you'd go read it here, on our old blog: The Story of Paxton  This photo *ALMOST* makes me wish for another. Ooo I just wanna kiss those squishy lips! Eeek! Say it with me now, 4 and NO MORE, 4 and NO MORE..... ;) Hugs, T 
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Isaiah 61:3b - "And they will be called Oaks of Righteousness, a planting of the LORD, a display for His splendor....  We are off to a great school year with a 1st, 3rd, 5th grader and a FRESHMAN! Goodness, time flies! After finding the photo below, I am seeing that my precious ones have already changed SO much from last year!!!!!! I am also seeing, that our lighting was WAY better last year then our cloudy start this year. Doggone it! Oh well, can't win 'em all! ;)  Destiny - Freshman I cannot believe Destiny is a FRESHMAN IN HIGHSCHOOL, I called her "Frosh" all day. She didn't get it. ;) Our little curled hair and lip gloss, earrings and fancy clothes gal last year, has settled into a more simple beauty routine this year. It's neat to watch her find her own look and style, and embrace it.....she recognizes more than I did at her age, that true beauty comes from within.  Tylan - 5th grade Even though Ty looks too cool for school in these pics, his glasses serve a purpose. He had a severe reaction to some sort of plant and his eyes are a wreck. He cannot even keep them open in bright light they water and complain so bad. Eye doctor says just give it some time, he'll be good as new in a week or so.  Avery - 3rd grade Our little fashionista, stayed up way past her bedtime last night, so mommy could put her hair in curlers for school today. She has such a sassy little style and has really changed and grown up a lot this year. She really wants to do well and tries hard with grit, determination and a little pink tongue that stinks out of the corner of her mouth when she is thinking REALLY hard. Too cute!  Paxton - 1st grade Pac-man is smart as a whip, when he wants to try! ;) He did all of 1st and most 2nd grade with his sister, when he was little, before boycotting reading half way through last year. We gave him a break, but now its HIS turn to do it, and he is ready to "disappear into other worlds" like his siblings do in chapter books. Sounds like a plan, Stan!  Sophie - old woman Sophie is an old old woman, and she sure loves her close quarters, RV traveling, family. She is never far from "HER" kids, and always keeps a close eye on them, even napping on the couch, or chair near them during school. She can hardly stand it when 2 are outside and 2 are in, who does she watch first?!   It wasn't our smoothest morning, we got a later start than I wanted, and still tried to squeeze in a quick photo shoot of each kiddo, before diving into our new school year. But we got it done, just not without some hollering and some tears, some rolled eyes and some outfit changes! Oh well, such is life!!!! I told them in the next photo, just relax and be yourselves.....  Ho boy.
Sooooo, are your kiddos back to school? How is it going? :) Hugs, T It's back to school time in the Ferguson rig! Today is our first day!!! Curriculum is safely tucked away in our school cabinets....this is our 3rd year of homeschooling and we are still using and loving the My Father's World curriculum!!!! We love the literature rich, hands on, Bible based, one room school house-style approach, perfect for bigger families! :) You can read more about this awesome curriculum on the 4 little Fergusons website! (our old blog site)
Every day, the diffuser is cranking out yummy orange peppermint smells for clarity, mental sharpness and HAPPY HEARTS! :)   Lots of other good recipes to try this year too!  The white boards are all written out, ready for checking each day.....I need to get one for Destiny yet. She'll work more independently this year, just doing Bible and History with us before heading to our desk in the back bedroom.
Here we go! Off to a great start for a great year......I'll have their "official" back to school pics ready for tomorrow's post.     Hugs, T
 We wrapped up things at our apartment as best as we could, and headed NORTH! We have some classes up in Wisconsin this weekend.  We had a day of R&R in Minnesota at this great little RV park, sun even came out so the kids could play on the playground while Dale threw a pole in. Just what the oil doctor ordered after a SUPER busy, exhausting month of apartment finishing.....
Sweet Dale took us all to our FAVORITE ice cream place.....Blast Soft Serve! Check it out, $3 for this bad boy. I always get Dole Whip frozen yogurt and yes, share with Dale. ;) We had to recreate the pic from our last time through here last year.  Next stop, Wisconsin, for some fun classes and cheese. Lots and lots of cheese!
Feels so good to be back on the road again....... Hugs, T   ONE month ago, we came home to start working on our apartment. It was sheet rocked only. WOW. What a difference a month can make!  We worked on more tiny details then I can list, day and night, night and day. The important part is, it's getting done and we even got to SLEEP in the upstairs before we left town for our Wisconsin trip! It's going to be SO fun to have a place to come back to and spread out and chillax for a few weeks between adventures. Everyone can appreciate each other more when we get back in the RV for our next trip! We plan to still travel full time, but this gives us a stopping point to swing through, and a mailing address for taxes, homeschool laws etc. Everyone wins! Papa and Grammy stopped in to help for a few days on their way to Colorado, and they brought the OH SO important, orange 1952 restored fridge I bought, along with the matching stove and a dishwasher painted to match them both! EEEK! :)
They parked right in the driveway! It was perfect since we have dual full hook ups! Eventually, our RV will be pulled inside, and they can back up and use the outside spot!  They did a ton of painting and it was so nice to have an extra couple sets of ADULT hands to help! Haha :)
Now that ceiling is in, its looking SO nice and all the hard work of painting it feels worth it! :)  I have also been painting some extras like black lamps turned silver, and cream phone box from our old place, into a blue on ready for our new....orange end table etc. 
Once the upstairs carpet went in, it started to feel like a home. So awesome, its really happening! Someone pinch me, am I dreaming?    We brought in all the mattresses and dressers we saved. And Dale got the upstairs bathroom functioning for the kids to use. They spent the night inside about 2 nights before we got to join them. I have yet to find our comforter, but I know its in there somewhere! ;) 2 years of living out of boxes and shuffling them around has taken its toll....
Kids mattresses are on the floor until we can get them some loft beds.....but they still thought it was SO SUPER COOL to be in their new rooms. :) 
Last but not least, we installed the backsplash, floors, the island and started trimming out the main floor.....by WE, I mean DALE. Haha, but I try to find jobs to do the whole time to help though! :)  Goodness, we had such a time finding floors that didn't turn BEIGE, green or PURPLE in our grey space. Grey is tricky you all! I had NO idea! Check out this GREY floor we brought home..... Beige anyone?! So back to the flooring stores we went! SEVEN more times......
We finally, on the 7th try, found Mannington vinyl floating floors, and I have to tell you, it is by FAR, the best quality, nicest floor we have ever ever had. Wow. Cleans like a dream!!!!! No fog, no smudges or streaks, no scratches. Easy on the feet, kind of soft. Despite Dale's thumbs down in this image, after a long afternoon on his knees installing, he did admit it went in easily and is super high quality.  Since the floor was done, we got to start moving in some fun stuff....like the table and chair set I got at an Amish auction 2 years ago. 
And the kitchen island! LOVE it!
Lots of baseboards, doors, and building projects left, but we got WAY further than we thought we would in our ONE month and ONE week stop in!  Lots more to come, we hope to be back, finished and moved in in the fall and spend our first Christmas here. BUT, we have to beet the first freeze or bail to Florida! Hugs, T P.S. Are you in the Medford, Wisconsin area? I am teaching classes there this weekend if you'd like to join! :) Message me for details!   In the midst of apartment finishing, Avery and I had a birthday! I love sharing my special day with this sweet little lady. 08-01-81 and 08-01-08 :) Since moving in the RV, we have stopped doing actual gifts and have been focusing more on experiences, out to eat, bowling, a movie, queen of the day, picking the dessert etc. But this time, there were actually a couple things that made sense to give her gift wise....  She was at camp on her birthday, so she opened her gifts early, while Papa and Drea were here!  
 She got a Kindle fire to read books on, a bonnet she BEGGED for at a museum and we said no to, and some play food. She wants to create a little house under her loft bed in the apartment! Right after she opened the food and pots and pans from Grammy and Papa Clay, she says, I sure wish I had a little kitchen to use this stuff in.......out walks Daddy with a KITCHEN!! I bought this for her 3 years ago, during a huge sale, knowing she'd want it. Well, that was right about our RV move time, so it never happened. How PERFECT to unearth it in storage and be able to give it to her now. God is good! :)
Once we find loft beds, it will tuck underneath!   Oh her big day, she headed off to church camp. Camp Kanakuk was an AWESOME experience for our kids! It they ever come to your local church, be sure to check it out. Tons of hype, excitement, Bible learning and adventures like rock climbing, bungie trampolines, ziplines and more. Since it was her bday, Avery got to give a pie in the face to her counselor and go up on stage! :)   After camp was over for the day, we went out to a restaurant called The Barn, with amazing plate sized chicken fried steak and homemade mashed potatoes, rolls and pb pie. YUMMO! I share a birthday with my best friends husband too, so we all went out together! :) SUPER fun!
 My momma got me a gift card to my favorite local restaurant, and my bff got me darling earrings, which I promptly got the matching set to! I had the perfect occasion to wear the set because.......  Dale and I were privileged to take the first Diamond on our doTERRA Dorothy team, out to dinner with her hubby, while we were in town to CELEBRATE!!!!!!! Meet Amy, the momma of the Emerald City Rock Stars! She is the second Diamond in the state of Kansas, after Dale and I! Isn't that awesome?!?! Eeek! We are THRILLED for her!  Then it was back to the reality of apartment work, paint clothes and all! After a month of painting and construction dust, I don't even bother changing out of my paint clothes to go to town anymore. I NEVER thought that day would come, but alas, function over fashion. In the midst of it all, I even discovered I could fit not one, but TWO, toilets in my car. Impressive, right!? ;)
I'll give you an apartment update tomorrow!
Hugs, T :)  It's been a year since we have had family photos done for the doTERRA leadership magazine article, so while we were home moving, I had the genius idea to book family photos too. So yeah, we were all super tired and our photographer friend, Kalene from Blue Muse, had to work hard to get us all with eyes open and happy smiles, but we got it done! I am LOVING all the bright colors from this fun session and am adding them to this website as we speak!! :) 
  
    Soooo, today I was going to go back through all the comments you left on the A to Z series and pick some WINNERS for Mondays post.
They are gone. ALL GONE. Have I mentioned I miss my old blog site wordpress? Weebly has nothing on them. Sigh. Ok, so redo time. If you'd like to be one of the lucky winners, please comment below with: *What you learned *What you loved *What oil kit you want *What you want to see more of in the future oil posts COMMENT with something today, so hopefully I can get them and draw some WINNERS already! ;) Happy Saturday! Hugs, T Ready to bite the bullet and get your oils coming before back to school? Use the contact me form on this page, and I will be in touch :) Today I want to share more details about the awesome Loyalty Reward program I talked about at class, that helps Dale and I save 55% on our safe natural doTERRA products AND WE EARN FREE OILS EVERY MONTH!!!!!!  Let's get started..... doTERRA wants to make it affordable for you to makeover your home, to fill it with safe, natural, beyond organic products.  I don't know about yours, but my husband would freak out if I shopped my GIANT wish list all at once....... Enter the doTERRA Loyalty Rewards Program. I can tackle my doTERRA wish list, one month, one order, one bite at a time! And saved a TON of money while doing it! COOL right?! It's like frequent flyer miles for oil shoppers, the more you shop, the more you SAVE! AND, saves you a TON of money! The extra percentage OFF is determined by which kit you pick to start with. You can start at an extra 10% off future orders, or you can jump clear up to 25%!!!! Pretty awesome. Every 3 months you shop a certain amount, you go up a set of percentage until you reach 30%.  So Dale and I save 25% off retail, AND 30% off each order comes back to me in points to go shopping with, for a combined savings of 55%! Last month, I cashed out $298 worth of points you guys! IN FREE PRODUCT!! Oh my word, amazing!  I love that I one stop shop with doTERRA! It's SO convenient! No more placing 3 orders from here and there, and running across town, trying to get natural products like vitamins, toothpaste, shampoo & conditioner, body wash, amazing lotions, on guard laundry soap, cleaning products. Now, all those things simply come to me! I don't even have to GO to that side of the store anymore! Just groceries and home. Its niiiiice. :)  I one stop shop, once a month with doTERRA and my beauty and cleaning products, oils and vitamins, all come straight to my door, with paid back shipping, and free oils to boot! I am not asking you to budget MORE to shop doTERRA each month, I am asking you to take dollars you are already spending on the junk at the store, and replace it with safe, natural doTERRA...... You can do it, I can help! Use the contact me section of this page, and I'll be in touch right away! :) Let's get your kit picked, your oils coming, and start that home make over...... You are on the way to a healthier, happier YOU! Hugs, T Awesome EXTRA deal from doTERRA!!! The Life Long Vitality vitamins are AMAZING for energy, vitality, and heart, gut and brain health. I have never WANTED to take vitamins in my life, but I love taking these because of how I feel. I can go all day strong, no afternoon crash, when I take them, and YOU CAN GET THEM FOR FREE!!!! Joing doTERRA with a kit or 100pv order, shop this awesome rewards program above 100pv in September, and you get the LLV FREE!!!!!!  |
Tonya Ferguson
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