General Conference Sunday

On April 3rd was our annual General Conference of our church. This is when the Prophet, some apostles and other general authorities speak to the whole church. If you are able to, you can go to Salt Lake City and see it in person at the huge conference center. Or you can watch it on TV or the internet on a live stream. We do not get the TV channel that broadcasts it, so we watch it on the internet. I always love General Conference, they are always so inspiring and uplifting! It builds my testimony of Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father every time!

We let the kids put up tents to listen to conference in, just like the people who listened to Kin Benjamin. King Benjamin was a righteous king and prophet who lived in ancient America. When he was really old, before he died, he called his children to him and blessed each one. Then he asked that all of his people be brought together to hear him speak. All the families set up their tents with the doorways facing him, he climbed up on a high tower and spoke to his people. He gave a beautiful sermon and gave the people wonderful advice. Because of king Benjamin, his people lived in peace for many years. This story can be found in the Book of Mormon, in Mosiah chapters 1 through 6. If you would like to read a brief summary with pictures for the children follow this link. http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=7447c106dac20110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=e36d5f74db46c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD You can also click on the little scripture reference under each picture to read the actual scripture out of the Book of Mormon. It is perhaps one of the greatest lessons on discipleship ever given. And it is one of my favorite scripture stories!

So here are the kids in their "King Benjamin" tents all ready with their General Conference coloring and activity packets I printed off for them.

After Conference, Andrew took a little "Sunday nap". How cute!

Looking foreword to next General Conference!

Fun With the Bloomfields and a Suprise Party!

March 31st-April 3rd was a happening time here at the Tolmans! Our very good friends, Jim and Chauntelle Bloomfield and their four kids, came for a visit! The live in Idaho, we use to all live in Hillsboro, OR (up near Portland) together and that is where we became friends. Chauntelle and I met when our oldest kids (only kids at the time) were 3 and 4 months old. Her daughter, Regan, is a month older than Nick. And now Regan and Nick are 12 years old and in Young Mens and Young Womens! Wow! Where has the time gone?!? Now we have four kids and they have four; Regan, Lisa, Grayson, and Tanner. They are all so cute! Ben was so excited, for weeks he was telling everyone he met, "My Bloomfield cousins are coming to visit!"

We took them to "Wacky Bounce" in Corvallis. The kids had a blast and even Chauntelle and I had some fun and got a little exercise in too!

Lisa, Tatiana, and Tanner.

Nick, Regan, and Andrew.

My sista-from-anotha-motha, Chauntelle, and me!


Chauntelle teaching Lisa and Tatiana how to do a Rubix Cube. She was actually doing this outside so that the Regan and I could quickly decorate and get things ready for a surprise birthday party for Lisa and Tatiana. You see, Tatiana was born 4 1/2 weeks early ON Lisa's due date. Then Lisa was born 2 days later! I remember calling Chauntelle from the hospital reluctantly telling her that our baby was born and asking her if she was mad at me that mine came first and she will be over her due date now. She laughed and said of course not. She was actually happy that my ordeal was over and that Tatiana was healthy. It was a high risk pregnancy and I was on bed rest for the past month. Chauntelle, even though she was also pregnant and had a little two year old, would come over all the time to help me out. She is such an AMAZING friend! We have been through a lot together. I love her!!!

Anyway, back to the surprise party! The girls were totally surprised and had no idea what we had up our sleeve. Success!!!

Look at our sweet not-so-little-anymore girls! We say that they have been best friends since in the womb! Chauntelle and I are trying to figure out if we can get Nick to marry one of her daughters so that Lisa and Tatiana can officially be sisters! Hee Hee!

So fun!

Knowing their birthdays were coming up, we had already gotten presents for the girls. They didn't know there was going to be a party attached though.

For the cake we had everyone decorate their own cupcake. They were quite creative...

and messy!

Make a wish!

After presents and cake we had a fun and rowdy night of "Minute to Win it!" Here is a picture of all the kids doing the challenge entitled, "Face the Cookie" (although we are using Ritz crackers, they already had too much sugar!)

The morning that the Bloomfields had to leave...Nooooo!

We miss you all! Thanks for visiting and we will see you soon! Love you!

What do you do on Sunday?

What do your kids do on Sundays? Every Sunday is a little different around here. Sometimes they do crafts, sometimes play games, sometimes watch church videos and their "Living Scriptures", read, prepare a talk, etc.

On this particular Sunday, March 27th, I had to take a few pictures of my kids' cuteness.

We got the two little boys ready for church, left them to play while we got ready. I came out of my room to this scene. Andrew preforming a puppet show for Ben while Ben colored on a makeshift "desk" using the kitchen chair and stools. I imagine Ben wanted to color and Andrew didn't, Andrew wanted to play puppets but Ben didn't. So they compromised! How cute are they? Usually they get along really well.

The puppeteer...

The artist...


After church and after lunch the kids wanted to play with "Peanut Butter Play-dough". It is fun to play with, nutritious, and delicious! Ben was asking me on Saturday, but we were busy and never had time to do it. So on Sunday I made up a batch and they had a great time. Good snack too!


Peanut Butter Play-dough recipe...

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup nonfat dry POWDERED milk (do not use the kind that looks like tiny balls, your play-dough will not be smooth)
2/3 cup powdered sugar

Mix well. Add more peanut butter is too dry, add more milk if too sticky.

Use things like chocolate chips, pretzel sticks, cheerios, KIX, to make things with the play-dough. My kids love to make snowmen using chocolate chips for eyes, KIX for the buttons, pretzel sticks for the arms. It makes a cute and delicious snowman!

Andrew's Bathtime Fun

Naked Boy Alert!!! Andrew was being SOOO CUTE the other day in the bathtub that I had to grab my camera and take some pictures of him! He was LOVING having the water pour on his head! I was trying to rinse out the bubbles in the tub and he gets all cute in the running water, so I let him have fun for a minute and that turned into a whole photo shoot. But look at that face, can you really blame me???







This picture reminds me of the newborn head shot. When their hair is so new and the top of their head smells oh so good!

"City Farmers!"

Okay, so you have noticed that we now have four chickens and a bunny rabbit. You probably already know that we have a strawberry patch, a blueberry patch, and a good size garden. With the addition of our new animals, we have now become "city farmers". I do not know if that is an actual term or one I made up. But I think it is funny. Really we are only about a block away from the city limits even though we live in a well-established neighborhood. There are horses less than a block away and cattle, llamas, and other horses within a half mile of our home. I love it!

Bonuses of having the animals? Well, the rabbit is mostly for fun and to teach responsibility, but also to help fertilize the gardens. The chickens are to teach responsibility, get fresh eggs, fertilize the gardens, and have fun. I love it!

Tatiana's new bunny!!!!

Tatiana has been asking for a bunny rabbit for a few years. We always said "no" because we had our dog and it was just one more thing for a little girl to try to take care of and her mother to end up doing...you know what I mean. But our dog passed away last spring and Tatiana became more frequent in her request. Nothing too abundant, not annoying or spoiled-like, just asking.

She has decided that this is her last year in Girl Scouts and because of that we felt she could have the bunny and join 4H to learn how to take care of it and to gain that experience. She is older now and has shown a lot of responsibility and we think she is ready. She will be in 4H with her bunny for at least one year, after that is up to her if she wants to stay in 4H, but the bunny will be with us until the end.

On March 24th we took her to a "bunny farm" about 20 minutes from our home and let her pick out a rabbit. This lady breeds rabbit and has been in 4H for most of her life so she knows what to look for in a rabbit. The ones that are not quite right by 4H standards she sells to the pet stores to use, the "good ones" she keeps for either breeding or selling to 4H kids. Tatiana fell in love, almost instantly, with this adorable little Tortoise Dutch bunny. She wanted something small and after reasearching we narrowed it down to a few breeds we though would be a good match. After deciding to not go with one breeder, we found this breeder that was close by and we are so glad we found her! She knows her rabbits!

Here is Tatiana with her choice. It was love at first sight! We love her coloring! It is called "tortoise". It is a pretty light brown with gray shading around the edges. She also has the white Dutch markings.

She is learning some basic care tips, including how to trim the nails before she even gets to bring her home. We really like this breeder!

That is one happy little girl! She had her rabbit named before even coming home..."SWEETIE"! I think the name is perfect for a sweet little bunny!

Our sweet daughter with her sweet bunny, Sweetie!

She has done a great job in caring for and bonding with Sweetie. We also learned that Sweetie LOVES the leafy tops of celery! It is her favorite treat so far.

A visit to the A.C. Gilbert House - LOTS of pictures!

WARNING! This post contains an insane amount of pictures containing adorable children. If you have an overwhelming urge to "ahhh" and wish you could just reach out and grab their cheeks, you may have to leave your computer screen and come back in a few minutes. (HeeHeeHee!)

On March 21st we went to the A.C.Gilbert House in Salem. It is four old Victorian homes turned into a children's museum with a huge playground right in the middle. It is VERY cool and the kids love it! This time I had Trish and Angie with us (yes, they go on all kinds of adventures with us!) and they took this pictures of us sitting in "the big chair"!

These rooms are posted in the exact backwards order of when we visited them. My mistake, I forgot the blog puts the picture you load first, last. Weird. It throws me off all the time.

Here is the train room! The boys loved it. Say "hello!" to Ben, Tatiana and Trish in the bubble.

The rain forest theater room. It had a very cool stage, lots of puppets and dress up things. Nick the puppeteer.

Andrew playing peek-a-boo through the bamboo with his wolf puppet.

The bubble room is always one of our favorites!




Everyone, even strangers, were oooohhhing and aaaahhhhing over Nick, the master of bubbles.
Check out this HUGE one he made! He got it all the way out into the hall!



Practice milking a cow in the Northwest room. Tatiana's a natural!

The kids LOVE the huge outdoor play area! I think they went a little coo-coo over it this time!






The Grocery Store room is always a lot of fun.


The Chinese room was a new one. I found out my kids are very good an writing Chinese characters, and Ben makes an excellent imaginary Chinese soup! You really should try some!






There you go. I told you there were tons of pictures, and this is just a few of what I took that day! Until next time...