Tatiana preparing for baptism...

I can hardly believe it! Our sweet baby girl is getting ready to be baptized! She is very excited for this special day. She has taken lessons from the missionaries. Has had her interview with the Bishop. She has made the decision to be baptized as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We have her white dress ready. She looks like an angel!!! She IS our angel! We love her so much and are so proud of her. I just couldn't wait, I had to share these photos of our beautiful baby girl!


Here is the invitation we have been handing out to friends. She will be baptized this Saturday, May 2nd. She is so excited! She told me, "It's the most important day of my life!" Oh, she is so sweet! I can think of only one other day that she will say that and mean it with the same feeling, her wedding day.

I need to mail some out to long distance relatives. But we made the invitations 4x5 and I am having trouble finding envelopes to fit! I may have to cut down the invitation or make envelopes. So for all you long distance loved ones...please stand by!

The Portland Temple

After the wedding reception we stopped at the Portland temple to look at the beautiful flowers in bloom and take some pictures. It was so beautiful! There is a special kind of peace and reverence when you are on the temple grounds that if you haven't experienced it then there are no words to describe it and if you have then no explanation is necessary.

When we first arrived, Andrew was sleeping in the van so I decided to take Nick and Tatiana into the temple. We couldn't go past the recommend desk but just in the foyer waiting area and the beautiful garden. It was an AMAZING experience to share with our two oldest children. They were in awe of the beauty of the temple and the felt the spirit like they have never felt before. Nick said he wants to visit the Temple as often as possible and asked how old he had to be to go past the desk and see the rest. Tatiana said if felt like Heavenly Father was in the next room. It is His house after all. I am so glad they were able to experience it and that they recognized it as somewhere they want to be worthy to enter often.

Here are some pictures of our sweet time on the temple grounds...

Here is our oldest young man, Nick, standing at the reflection pond. He is growing up fast!

Our beautiful daughter, Tatiana, enjoying the beautiful flowers.

After waking up, Andrew was all smiles. Such a happy and joyful baby!

Our three oldest enjoying a few moments of quiet reflection as they watch the fountain. They sat here for a very long time. I have never seen Ben that calm for that long!

The calm didn't last for too long, however. Our sweet, energetic Ben. Before we could get a nice picture of him, he fell into the reflection pond and then Nathan snapped a few of these pictures quickly. I still giggle when I think about it. "Ben get down, we don't climb up there." "Kay Mom." And he gets down and walks around a little. But a few minutes later he cannot resist and wants to see his reflection in the water again so he climbs up on the ledge again. The same words are exchanged. This goes on a few times until the peaceful quiet of the temple grounds is abruptly interrupted with a splash and a scream. Ben is scrambling to get out of the water and stands there dripping wet and sobbing. We couldn't help it, we all were laughing. Well, Nathan took Ben back to the car and stripped him down and put a pull up we happened to still have in the car on him and he rode home "mostly" naked. Oh, the memories!

A wedding!

We went to Nathan's cousin's wedding reception in Hillsboro last Saturday. They got married in Idaho but the groom is from Hillsboro so they had a reception here. It was a lot of fun to see family and to congratulate Jessica and Scott. They were married in an LDS temple and seem so happy! We are very proud of them and are excited for them!


Andrew enjoying some crackers on daddy's lap.

Tatiana wearing a daisy crown and posing with the beautiful bride. Isn't that dress GORGEOUS!

Nick gave Jessica a handmade gift. A "bride" out of flower petals and twigs. Very creative!

Our cute, chubby, adorable, (drooly) baby boy Andrew!

Ben blowing bubbles...heh, I feel an Alphabet book coming on! So cute!

Wacky Bounce!

Thanks to my good friend, Jen, we have discovered a new cool place to go hang out at! We went to Wacky Bounce on Friday, April 17th. The kids had a blast! Definitely a new favorite place!
Can you see Andrew in the fenced in baby area? My battery died so I didn't get good picture of all the kids. Oh well, life goes on.

Tatiana's birthday party

We didn't have school on Thursday and Friday of last week so we had Tatiana's birthday party with her friends on Thursday. We went to our friend's home that Nick had his birthday party at. The one with the fun tunnels and slides in the playroom and the indoor pool. The girls had a LOT of fun!

They played in the playroom. Oooed and Awwwed at the baby chicks they have. Swam in the pool. Made crafts...little charms to put on a bracelet or zipper pull. And of course we had presents, and ice cream cake!

I made her ice cream cake and I must say it turned out really good! A lot cheaper than Baskin Robins or Dairy Queen and just as good! Her theme was High School Musical.

Snakes at Cub Scouts!

I found out about a herpetologist (snake expert) that gives free presentations about her snakes. So naturally I had her come to Cub Scouts! Boys + snakes = fun! I asked Tatiana if she thought the girls at Girl Scouts would like to have the snake lady come and show her snake friends, I was

answered with a vigorous "NO!" LOL!

Ben was very interested in the snakes but would NOT touch them.


Here Nick is helping hold up a very heavy anaconda!

I cannot remember what kind of snake this is, but her name is "Crystal", just like our dog! She was Nick's favorite.

And, yes, I held a snake too. How could I say no with all the boys and leaders asking me to. I couldn't lose their respect. Now I am "cool" because I am not afraid of holding a snake. Defiantly do not like them though...eeewwww! But don't tell the boys! Shhh!

Tatiana's 8th Birthday!

Tatiana had her 8th birthday this past week. I can hardly believe my baby girl has turned 8 years old! Where did the time go???

I took heart shaped brownies that she helped make to her classroom for her birthday snack. Here is a picture of her and some of her friends in her class. What a cute bunch of girls.

She opened her presents when Daddy got home from work. We did presents before dinner because she couldn't wait to see what she got. Oh, the excitement! Then we had her favorite thing for dinner, chicken enchiladas! She requested my homemade, labor-intensive, authentic ones. Yeah, they're pretty good. I must admit!

After dinner we went bowling. Tatiana really wanted to go bowling for her birthday and has been asking for weeks if we can. It just happened to be dollar bowling night too! Lucky us!

Afterwards we came home and had her brownie treat for her birthday. She requested brownies for her birthday and then homemade ice cream cake for her friend party. You'll see that later.

What a fun birthday for a fun little ...uh, I mean "big" girl. Happy birthday Tatiana! It has been an absolute joy and pleasure to have you in our home. We love you so much! What a blessing to have a daughter as wonderful as you!

Andrew Video

Here is a hilarious video of Andrew giggling and having fun with Nick and Tatiana. Ben is in bed and the kids are winding up Andrew when he should be winding down for his bedtime. But the giggles were too precious so instead of stopping them, we took video!

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter here in the Tolman home. We felt the love of the Savior as we remembered His atoning sacrifice and celebrated His Resurrection!

Andrew enjoyed the egg decorating as much as the older kids. (That is a hard boiled egg with the shell on, in case you were wondering.)

The Easter eggs turned out beautiful! Good job guys!

The children woke up Sunday morning and played an Easter version of Connect Four while the waffles were getting ready.

Then they went on a scavenger style egg hunt. They found little paper eggs with clues on them that eventually led them to their Easter baskets. Nick and Tatiana took turns reading them and they let Ben find the eggs. It was fun chasing them around the house on their hunt.

Their baskets were hiding under Andrew's crib.

They each got a fun game and some Easter candy. Yum!!!

Nick, Tatiana and Ben all decorated our traditional Easter bunny carrot cake for dessert. Oh, so good!!!

We had the missionaries over for dinner. They gave Tatiana her first lesson in preparation for her upcoming baptism. She is so excited! Then the Elders and kids made the "Resurrection rolls". They are so good! We had our big ham dinner. Then after dinner we did our Easter egg hunt. I hid plastic numbered eggs. Each had something inside about the Easter story. The last egg was empty to represent the empty tomb...He is Risen!!!

Happy Easter!

Tatiana Ice Skating

On Friday, April 10th, Tatiana went ice skating for the very first time! She and her Brownie Girl Scout sisters had voted on what they wanted to use their extra money from cookie sales on and they decided on an ice skating trip. So we took the girls up to Sherwood (an hour and a half away) to go ice skating for the day.

She did really good! Especially for her first time.

I didn't do too bad either, especially considering it has been 18 years since the last time I've been ice skating!

They all had so much fun and afterwards we treated them to McDonalds ice cream cones! Yum!

Spring Break - Part 2

We also went to Salem and enjoyed a full day at the A.C Gilbert House. We took Nick's friend, Nico, along and his sister Katie. Nick and Nico are our twins. They are both Nicholas, same size and build, blond hair, blue eyes, and glasses. People always get them mixed up, it's pretty funny and cool that they are such good friends.

Here are just a few snapshots... fun in the supermarket...


bubble room...

outside playground...

After the Gilbert House we went to the Salem Riverfront Carousel. The kids had fun.


Even Andrew got to ride a pony, he was all smiles!

Ben hung on pretty tight!

Our Spring Break - Part 1

We stayed close to home for spring break but we still had loads of fun! We went to Portland and spent a day at OMSI and then we stopped at the treehouse at Woodburn on our way home. Lots of fun!

My nest of kiddos...so cute!

Ben playing in the sandbox...

Nick showing Andrew the balls...

What a cool tree house!

The next day we spent some time at daddy's office getting our check-ups and cleanings. Ben had fun pretending to be daddy's assistant. Tiana was a good sport. What a nice sister!