Anne Mae Tonagel

Ben's grandma Anne Mae Tonagel affectionately known as "Gang Anne" passed away this past Saturday. We are saddened deeply for our loss but know that she is with her Savior Jesus Christ.
She was so special to Ben, the boys and I. We miss her so much already. We only have fond memories of her and for that we are so thankful.


Just a warning that this is a long post but she deserves it. Here are a few of the pictures I have of Grandma from the last few years.

Here is the first picture we have of the four generations: Anne, Hugh, Benjamin and Charles Grady Tonagel- February 25, 2006.

Grandma was so proud to have a Great-Grandson named after her late husband- Charles. Ben has always said how happy he is that Grandma got to see his sons.

Grandma with Charlie as a baby.
For Charlie's dedication at church Grandma bought him this beautiful wooden rocking chair. He loves rocking and reading books in it by himself. Charlie's dedication at church. This is probably my favorite picture I have of Grandma. This shows her real smile. She loved Charlie so much. Here she is with Charlie on his first birthday. She and Grandma Gi Gi joined in the festivities and dressed up as pirates. Great-Grandbaby #2 arrives on July 4, 2007. Sawyer Benjamin Tonagel. I think this picture is hilarious. Both grandmas have the "typical" grandma expression ("ohhhh") on their faces while not realizing that Charlie is actually pinching Sawyer's toes. This is a picture of all the "Grandmas" at Charlie's 2nd birthday. If this doesn't make you laugh, I don't know what would! Here are both Great-Grandmas dressed up at Charlie's 2nd birthday. What party animals! Mother's Day 2008 at our house. Sawyer received his own matching rocking chair from Grandma for his birthday. Now he and Charlie don't have to fight over the only one. Meet Great-Grandbaby #3! Proud parents- Greg and Amy introduce Jace Gregory to Grandma this past fall. For those of you who don't know Grandma she is a die hard Republican. Look at her button in this picture. :) Here is Grandma this past Thanksgiving at our home. She indulged me and the boys and wore appropriate Indian and Pilgrim attire for dinner. :) Here are Grandma's 3 Great-Grandsons at Christmas. For Christmas this year, she and Hugh and Kathy got the boys this wonderful table to match their rocking chairs. This is them on Christmas morning eating at it. I hope they always remember that their Great-Grandma gave them their chairs and table set. She loved them so much. Grandma Anne left a wonderful legacy. She had 3 children, 8 grandchildren and 3 great-grandsons. This is the last family picture we have with her. It was taken this past October.

Not Me Monday

Here is a new idea that one of my sister's-in-law (Amy Tonagel)http://tonagelteam.blogspot.com/ found athttp://www.mycharmingkids.net/ . You basically confess all the wacky things you did this past week that you would rather forget or at least not admit but instead post them all for the world to see. Sounds like fun to me!

So hear it goes...

I did not secretly jump for joy when Ben headed off to school the first day back after Christmas vacation. How dare someone think that! I love my husband dearly but 2 straight weeks of him in the house! ugh~

I did not totally give up potty training Charlie and resort to changing his diaper forever. This stinks! Literally!

I did not give my husband the silent treatment for three days straight because he cut Sawyer's hair off while I was gone. Nope not me!

I did not let Sawyer run through the house with peanut butter all over his hands because it was just easier to sit at the table, eat my lunch and pretend that I didn't see him. I would never do that!

I did not sleep late on purpose for 2 mornings just to get out exercising before Ben leaves for work. This resolution stuff is overrated.

I was not actually thankful for the cold medicine that I took the other night since it knocked me out enough that I slept through the boys waking up repeatedly throughout the night.

Anyone want to confess anything that they "Didn't do???" :)

Brush 'em! Brush 'em!

I thought these few photos of the boys brushing their teeth together were really sweet. Something about Tooty Fruity toothpaste, two little boys and them standing on their tip toes at a sink make me smile.

enjoy,

a

So sad...

Yesterday I was able to spend a wonderful afternoon with some of my favorite girlfriends. When I walked in the door I was met with a very sad scene. Ben had taken advantage of me being gone for a few hours and sniff sniff... cut Sawyer's hair. I seriously started crying right on the spot. I couldn't help it. I was so devastated. For those of you who know me and Sawyer very well, you know that I loved Sawyer's long hair. I think it also fit his personality very well (Junk Yard Dog). I will admit that Friday night after spending the afternoon at a family party I didn't really want to claim him as my child. He looked awful! He was filthy dirty, smelly, bruises all over his poor little face (he falls on everything!) and his hair was all matted. But... none the less he was still sweet to me. I had agreed to get his hair TRIMMED. Not chopped! Apparently Ben didn't believe me. I hope it grows back quickly. I miss all his moppy hair. :(

I took this picture this afternoon. Ben claims he liked getting his hair cut.

Hmmm... highly doubt it!

This was taken when Sawyer woke up from a nap a week or so ago! Hah!

done venting,

a

Christmas at the Tonagel House

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the past few days. We had a wonderful time here at home. The boys loved playing with all their new toys.

(This pic was taken at 1:30 am on Christmas morning.)

Charlie's biggest surprise was his "Big Boy" bed. He was sssoooo.... excited! It was adorable. When he saw it he yelled, "I got a bed! I got a big boy bed! I can sleep on it! I can jump on it!"



The boys also got sleds, a "GeoTrax" train set, books and new pajamas from us.


My big present was a new camera. I love cameras! Surprise, I know. :) On Christmas Eve, Charlie came running up to me and said in a whisper, "Shh... Don't tell Daddy you got a camera for Christmas." (Ben let him help with the wrapping. Thanks Ben!) The next morning as we opened presents Charlie would bring me a gift and say, "Here is your movie. It's "Dancing with the Stars!". "Here is a ring Daddy got for you." (I lost my toe ring that I had worn for 8 years straight. Ben got me a new one.)

Here are a few pics from my new camera...




We spent Christmas Eve day with ALL the Tonagels. The boys got lots of nice gifts from their Aunts and Uncles. This is the boys' youngest cousin Jace. As you can see they are very excited about him. :)


I made the other Tonagel women matching aprons for their presents. I also made 5 sets of "Bozo Buckets" for all of the boys' friends and cousins. I already told Ben not to let me do that again next year! I am making a promise to myself to just buy gifts like normal people!


Ben's parents got the boys their own table. Charlie loves eating his meals at it. Sawyer doesn't get the idea of sitting still yet. Don't they look like such big boys!



My parents got Charlie a baseball set for summer and Sawyer his own wooden school bus. My dad also hand carved each of the boys their own wooden train set!




Overall it was a wonderful holiday. We are all exhausted and still trying to recoup (I stayed up till 2:20 am on Christmas Eve getting everything ready.) but are enjoying having Ben home from school for a few weeks.

Hope you all enjoyed our Savior's birthday!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Tonagels!

Calvin Klein has nothing on Charlie! (Day 2 update)

Today is our first official, no turning back day of potting training. We decided that the pull-ups just weren't working and we were just going to try going straight to underwear. Charlie thought he wanted to be potty trained last spring and we were so excited but the excitement only lasted about 2 days. He just doesn't seem to care about going in his diaper/pull-up. This is our last ditch attempt! Charlie's friend Luke got him some underwear for Christmas last night. Luke's mom Jessica got him his own pack of gum for when he goes in the potty.

So far it is 10 am and he has gone about 7 times in the potty since 7:45 am. He has peed once in his underwear and then gaged and threw up on another pair. We are now on our third set of underwear. We only have 6 so I hope we make it through the day!

Let's hope I survive the next few days. I have heard from friends that it takes about 3 days of hard work but it is worth it in the end. Let me know if any of you have any suggestions for us!

Thanks!

a

ps. Isn't that the cutest bum you have ever seen?!?!?! :)

Potty Training Update: 9:51 pm Monday night...

Day one complete. Not very successful. We went through all 6 pairs of undies. I have concluded after a few of Charlie's comments that his strategy was to actually go in his underwear so that we would have to change them. He wanted to wear all the different colors! Ugh... He said, "Yea, now I get to wear the green ones!" Oh my... anyone have any suggestions for this????? Please!!!!

Day Two Update: Much better today! He still messed in two pairs but that is a big improvement on yesterday's stats. We made a few phone calls today when he did well. He wanted to call his Papa Hughie and Cousin Ly-ly (Lyla) to tell them when he went in the potty. He also informed me today that it is ok to "toot" in your big boy underpants. :)

Deck the Halls!

Last week the boys and I put up all of our Christmas decorations. I just love having the house decorated. Everything looks so beautiful and smells sooooo good! (cookies, real tree and Cranberry candles burning) Yum!

Our Nativity set was a wedding gift from a family friend. My mom then added on to it for us each year so we have a packed stable. (Side note... Today while looking at a picture of Mary holding Jesus, Charlie asked me, "Where's Joseph?" I started to respond and he cut in and said, "Oh yeah, he went to get Mary some food." I said, "Yeah, she was probably pretty hungry after all that work." He said, "Yeah, Joseph got her some pizza.") :)

Here are some of my favorite ornaments.

This Tinkerbell was mine from when I was little. I got her on a trip to Disney World.

If you went to LPHS you have to have a "Slicer" ornament!

This pretty dove and bridal couple were wedding gifts to us.

I gave Charlie my old classroom tree and he had a blast decorating it. It took him a few days because he just kept rearranging all of the ornaments. He is very proud of his finished product.

I call this my "Tacky Tinsel Christmas Tree". I love it, I love it, I love it! (old SNL skit) :) This tablecloth was my grandma's. Hideous I know, but it is so fun at the same time! It goes perfect in our retro 40's style kitchen. The tree was in my toy room growing up.

Hope you all enjoy decorating your houses. Put on a Bing Crosby cd, a pot of cinnamon and oranges on the stove and get decking! (Not sure if that is correct. Probably not. Being a former language teacher I should probably know that. Oh well!)

peace out,

a