Brownies Deliver to the Hospital!

Tatiana's Brownie troop delivered their collected donations from the school of 65 new stuffed animals and 62 used children's magazines to the hospital on Wednesday! And because of the article in the paper (front page ABOVE the fold!) the have received over a hundred other stuffed animals and a $100 check to be used for magazine subscriptions and more stuffed animals! They were very excited to go and deliver these and receive their little tour. And everyone there kept saying "thank you" to the girls as they saw them. It is a small town hospital and EVERYONE knew of their good deed. It sure made them feel pretty important and good about their hard work!

Here they are meeting one of the Board of Directors with all their boxes.

Sorting through the animals...

Getting a tour of the ER and seeing where the stuffed animals will be stored so they can be handed out to children...

Setting out some children's magazines in the waiting area...

Our whole Brownie troop (plus one Daisy sister). These girls are learning how to be leaders and how to make a difference in their world! Way to go girls! I am so proud of you Tatiana!

Ben's Photography

Here are some pictures BEN took with my camera. I thought it was sweet that he was actually taking pictures of something he thought was "pretty". If I had another camera handy I would have taken a picture of him taking these pictures. The focused look on his face was priceless! And the fact that my three year old can effortlessly figure out my camera better than me is quite amazing as well!

An afternoon with the "boys"

Ben and Andrew enjoyed a sunny afternoon in the back yard with mommy. Ben showed off how he could climb on the toys, "Be careful Buddy!"

A little brotherly love, "Ahhww!"

Andrew wants to help with the strawberry patch. "No, we don't eat the leaves....No, we don't pick the flowers....Why don't we move you over here sweetie..."

Andrew LOVES balls! Now he's having some fun!

Ben wanted to help me plant some flowers. "Dig here mommy?" "Yes, Benny, you can dig there." "Oh Tay!" And I must say, he does a good job digging!

Thanks for the nice afternoon boys! You both bring sunshine into my life!

P.S. - Nick and Tatiana were at school. They also bring sunshine when they are home!

Family Bike Ride

We went on our first family bike ride last weekend. The weather has been very nice. Andrew tried out the baby seat on my bike and really enjoyed it. Ben was pulled in the bike trailer behind daddy. Nick and Tatiana both did really well, even though we discovered at the END of our bike ride that Nick tires were a bit flat! Poor kid! Oh well, fun was still had by all.

A kids' night party!!!

Nathan was out of town Friday night so I let the kids invite a few friends over and we had a party. We played in the backyard for a while and then came in for a movie night. We watched "BOLT" and I think each kid had at least three bowls of popcorn! It was a very fun evening for them. We had a total of NINE children here, my four plus five others! The best part? They got to stay up late!

Photos from Mother's Day

Nick wrote me a BEAUTIFUL letter from the heart that made mine want to burst! He also gave me some mom coupons, a bookmark with his handsome picture on it and he used his own money to buy me a stuffed dolphin. What a thoughtful young man!

Tatiana made me a GORGEOUS beaded necklace, drew me this WONDERFUL butterfly picture, and gave me some mom coupons. So thoughtful! My sweet Angel!

Ben made me this ADORABLE card in Primary with his SWEET little hadnprint. Such a sweetheart. (You can see Tatiana's necklace in this one.)

Andrew gave me lots of BABYLICIOUS smiles and loves! Thank you sweet baby!

My four beautiful children, what more can I ask for?!?!

Tatiana in the newspaper!

Tatiana's Brownie Girl Scout troop is doing some wonderful service in our community and she got a front page story! Here is the story... CLICK HERE

Happy Mother's Day!

I had a wonderful Mother's Day filled with lots of love, homemade cards, gifts and pictures, and some store bought gifts as well. I felt very loved. I had breakfast made for me and I was able to read on the couch while the family took care of dinner and kitchen clean up! What pampering! I also got this via e-mail from my good friend Dianne. Thank you Dianne! This puts a smile on my face!

Check out my newscast here!

Tae Kwon Do Tournament #2

Nick and Tatiana competed in their second Tae Kwon Do tournament on Saturday, May 9th. They did AWESOME!!! Tatiana won 3rd place in flag sparring and 2nd place in point sparring! Nick won 3rd place in flag sparring and 1st place in point sparring! They each competed in all three of the events and were competing in their own age division so they didn't have to go against each other. That was nice. We are very proud of them and their hard work! They love this sport. It is a lot of fun!

Their instructor and the owner, Jack Burright (5th degree black belt!), and the kids holding their trophies and wearing their medals.

A night with Mommy...

Nathan took Nick and Ben on a Father/Sons camp out the same night as the school carnival so Tatiana, Andrew and I enjoyed a "mommy date" at the carnival! Complete with hot dog dinner, lots of games and some prizes. We had tons of fun! Tatiana was very sweet. She used her points to buy Nick and Ben prizes so they wouldn't feel left out. She is such a sweet sister!!!

Then we came home and after putting Andrew to bed we snuggled on the couch and watched one of Tatiana's favorite shows, Extreme Home Makeover, on TiVo. Then we both went to my bed and did some pictochatting on the DS machines. I was using Nick's, daddy said no electronics on a camp out. Then she got to sleep in my bed with me. It was a good night.

Butterflies and Baptism...part 2

When it was time for Tatina to be baptized we went to the church and she was baptized by her proud Daddy. We are so blessed to have a Daddy and Husband in our home who holds the priesthood and who honors it and is worthy of it's power. It is such a blessing in so many ways. I truly am grateful that Nathan was able to perform Tatiana's (and Nick's two years ago!) baptisms.

Here is our sweet angel with her daddy standing in front of the baptismal font before the baptism.

Tatiana and her proud parents. She is growing up so fast. From here on she is wearing her pant suit that she actually gets baptized in.

Tatiana with her brothers. What a cute bunch!

Grandma and Grandpa Tolman. We are so happy they were able to share Tatiana's special day with us. Thank you for coming!!!

About 40 people came to support Tatiana at her baptism and many more sent cards, letters, and e-mails wishing her well on her special day! Thank you to everyone!

Afterwards we invited everyone back to our home for an openhouse. I forgot to take pictures during the actual open house because I was too busy playing hostess, but I did get pictures of the table set up for Tatiana and her name banner I made. (In case you didn't know, she LOVES monkeys! That is why there is a little monkey above her name.)

Notice the wooden butterfly 3-D puzzle on the table? She bought that at the gift shop at Wings of Wonder and put it together before her baptism. And the Butterfly card and coin purse were given to her by a friend who had no idea we were going to see the butterflies! Oh and one of the talks given at her baptism was partly about how being baptized is like being a butterfly and emerging with new life and wings to fly. It was pretty amazing how many times butterflies came into our day. So from now on, every time I see a butterfly I will think of Tatiana's baptism.

Butterflies and Baptism...part 1

Tatiana was baptized last Saturday, May 2nd. Grandma and Grandpa Tolman were able to come and it was a very special day. Her baptism was at 4:00PM so we had most of the day to enjoy family time doing something else. We decided to go to a butterfly habitat called Wings Of Wonder. It was an amazing experience! Here are some picture of the kids (and adults) enjoying the butterflies...

Of course Nick found a lizard to check out! Cool!

okay okay, if I must be honest, Ben did NOT enjoy the butterflies! He was totally freaked out by them! And why are we wearing red? Because we were told that if you wear red, they will land on you. So we did. I am not sure if it worked, but we got plenty of interaction with them. Ben should have worn black, or some other color. He did not like those butterflies flying around him! Just look at that face... and the hold he has on Grandma!


Here is video. You can really see all the butterflies fluttering around us. It really was pretty awesome.

Running through the Sprinkler!

What?!?! Running through the sprinkler in April?!?! That's right. The first time the kids got to run through the sprinkler in the back yard this year was on April 20th. It was a balmy 80+ degrees out and they couldn't resist and of course I couldn't hold them back, not even on a school night. Have fun!