Jacob at the Beach Part 1 ...

"Well I'll be darned, I think this here is the ocean!"
"IT'S GETTING MEEEEE!!"
The water was a little chilly, but obviously not that bad because Jacob kept running in to get his piggies wet!
Priceless ...

Jacob at the Beach Part 2 ...

Jacob does not sit at the beach. This is how he makes the best of it ...

He spins in the sand ...
He lays in it ...
He runs on it ...
He splashes in it ...
Ok, so maybe he does sit at the beach .. but it was just long enough for me to take this picture!
If you ask me, "forget the ball game ... take me out to the beach!"

Nice Pictures ...

I love my kids little sandy piggies!! But of course we had to find it in other places as well ...
Jacob's Photography ...

Jacob with Grandma and Grandpa Rayner. We were at the airport getting ready to fly home...
On Sunday we had family over at our house for pizza and brownie with ice-cream.
I hope each and every one of your wishes come true William Jacob ...To Infinity and Beyond ...

Congratulations Madi Ann ...

Madi set a goal for herself to get the 25 point award for the AR Reading Program for her school. She brought home two new books every day to read and then she tested on them at school the next day. As proud as I am for her, I am proud to say that I did not have to remind her once about reading and following through with her goal.
These are the awards that she received at school. Her teacher called me the night before to let me know that she would be getting these awards at the assembly the next morning. She was surprised to see her father and I there.
I love this picture of my sweet sweet Madi Girl. Her goal now is set for the 75 pointer. You Go Girl!!

Happy St. Patty's Day!!

No one can pinch these 3 ...
We didn't catch the Leprechaun, but hopefully next year when we use syrup that will work. He left is little foot prints in the honey and even got some on the rug. Silly Leprechaun. Even though he his pretty tricky to catch he was nice enough to leave us a note wishing us a Happy St. Patrick's Day. Oh, and thanks for the chocolate gold coins too!
For breakfast we had fried eggs (yellow), green grapes, glazed donuts and green juice!

Let's Go Biking ...

As soon as the sun comes out and feels warm for us .... we grab our helmets and take off on our bikes. I once heard someone say that "kids just don't ride bikes anymore." That is clearly not the case for the Tolman kids. We love to ride our bikes!! In fact when the weather was nice a couple of weeks ago, Ty took the kids on forever long bike rides. They loved every second of it! I, on the other hand need to get over my bike crash incident and get back on the dang thing.


Miss Madi is so good at following bike safety rules. You Rock D!!
Jacob loves to ride fast and then make skid marks on the cement. He also loves to ride down hill and then make sharp turns with his back tire. It's a palm sweater for me. =/
We need to buy Owen a bigger bike this year. When Ty takes the kids on long rides, this is how Owie enjoys it. How could you blame the kid? The best part is when they get home after a 20 mile bike ride and Owen will say he is tired.
We can't wait for it to warm up so we can take our bikes out again!

OWEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The kids were in bed trying to go to sleep when I went in their bathroom to clean up a bit. The first thing I noticed was the sink filled with water. I tried to drain it ... but oh no, it was plugged! I asked the kids what was wrong with the sink and Owen says, "I put toilet paper in it." I asked him why and he quietly responded .... "because" ....

Well that explains it! Awesome answer Owen ...

My Sweet Sweet Boy is Turning .... 6!!!

This is one of my favorite pictures of my Jacob! He was 3 years old. He will be turning 6 years old tomorrow at 4:08. He will be celebrating his special day in Sea World!!

There are so many things I love out Jacob. He has the best sense of humor and is constantly making us laugh. He is finally ok with people laughing along with him. He loves to ride is bike and can so FAST!! These past couple of weekends he has been going on bike rides with dad and will ride for miles. In one weekend he rode 17 miles. He has the best of time. He loves to make skid marks on the cement and likes to ride fast and make sharp turns. This boy LOVES speed. He loves boats, Nascar, big trucks and especially dirt bikes and motorcycles. He pretty much loves anything with an engine. I love to see the excitement in his face when he hears an engine rev up!

I love Jacob's heart. He is so smart and happy all the time. He melts my heart when he laughs. I am so proud to be his mom. I love his hugs and kisses.

I love you my William Jacob Tolman .... to Infinity and Beyond ... times a billion!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY BOY!!

How Crazy is THis ...

Owie Bowie has BEE'S IN HIS THROAT!!

Oh my, what should I do!?!

This afternoon Owen asked if he and Woody could go outside to play. I told him no because he has a sore throat. He said "Ya, I have bee's in my throat." He opened his mouth and said "but they all came out."

Amazing!! Bee's came out of his mouth without stinging him... whew ... that's incredible!

I love you my Owie Bowie!

Jacob, Jacob, Jacob ...

So last night while finishing up dinner Jacob says, "I'm out" and starts to pull away from the table. I'm far from Leaver it to Beaver's mom ... but really? While I was telling Jacob what he should say when he is finished eating, Ty is over there giving him knuckles. Ty thought it was funny!

I do have to admit it was kind of funny ... I just don't want him to think it's ok. It's not polite. What if he was at someone else's home? Who would that reflect on? ME!!!! ...not knuckle giving dad!

Oh, Owen is crying. Madi says he has a splinter ... I'm out. Ha!

Simple Things that make us HaPpY ...

Jacob: He can swallow macaroni and cheese without chewing it .... eXciting!

Owen: The new Cinnamon Toast Crunch commercial! He has the best belly laugh.

Madi: The FIBER in Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal! She likes to the say the word.

Me: My self entertained children. We held Owen's play group at our house today and the kids were great ... but nuff said!

Ty: His newly organized closet that I cleaned out for him last night. He's thrilled about it ... just overjoyed!

Get a load of this ...

So this afternoon after taking a cough drop to Madi at school, I pulled in the drive way, got out of the car and as I was helping the boys get out I could hear air coming out of one of the tires. Rear tire on drivers side. I run in and call Ty and he tells me to immediately take it over to the Shop. I tossed the boys back in the car and drive, ever so carefully to the Firestone. I leave the car there and walk home. As soon as I arrive home I get a phone call from the guy telling me he found a SCREWDRIVER and a whole lot of other things in my tire. WHAT??? I call Ty and he hardly believes me and to be totally honest, I didn't believe me either when I was telling him this. Ty asks for the number, calls the dude then calls me back ...

Drum roll ....

TWO SCREWDRIVES AND A PIPE were found in my tire ... now that is AMAZING! Tell you what.

My World's Record ...

A few weeks ago while making pancakes for breakfast ... and without realizing this ... I was making history! What began as making a simple pancake, ended with me making the smallest pancakes ... EVER! Every time I'd make a cake for one of the kids, I would serve it to them smaller than the one I had served before. The kids would laugh and kept asking me if I could make an even smaller one ... and of course I so did. It was a Saturday (our lazy day) so we had all the time in the world. By the time the batter was gone, we had pancakes the size of teeny tiny little dots. The ducklings thought this was amazing! We offered them to the birds by tossing them out the backdoor. It was fun.

So today Cole came over to play and while the boys were eating lunch I over heard Jacob say (in his proud loud voice) "My mom broke the world's record and made the smallest pancakes in the WORLD!!!"

Had I known all this, I would have taken a picture first ... hello!

Ty is Home ...

Today was a lazy day for me. I finally got caught up with laundry though so that's a plus. The boys were awesome for me. It wasn't until 4:00 that I discovered that Owen had no underwear on. He said he took them off when he was playing in the basement. That was hours before, but thank goodness he kept his comfy pants on to cover himself. Becky came over to visit with me this afternoon. She is a very sweet friend! I could tell that Madi had a better day at school today because she burst through the door with a smile on her face! Just to make today even better ... DADDY CAME HOME!

My Tuesday!

This morning we all got out of bed a little later than usual. I need to be better in the mornings. Last night Owen went to bed late, so of course I did too. He wanted to chit chat about a whole lot of nothing. For example he said this: "blood comes out of noses." Anyway, he woke up feeling a lot better today. I think he is all pooped out, if you know what I mean. All he wanted for breakfast were pancakes. He loves syrup so much, I think he just wanted the syrup more than the cakes. Just out of the blue, he will go grab the bottle and lick the top of it just for the heck of it. For dinner we had spaghetti, garlic rolls and corn and he had the bottle of syrup next to his plate trying to figure what he could dip the syrup with. I made him put it away. Silly boy!

Side story: He was sad at the Zoo on Saturday because they weren't selling the kettle corn or "popcorn syrup" so he calls it. He loves anything resembling syrup.

I helped Jacob carry his construction paper filled with cotton balls to his class. The kids loved it. His friend Talon belted out "that rocks!" So cute. I stayed for a minute to watch him show his class his work of art. I could tell he was very proud. I love his little excited but bashful smile. Oh, that boy is yummy! After I picked Jacob and Avery up from school, we went over to Jamie's house for lunch. Thanks Jam, it was delish! The boys stayed and played for a awhile this afternoon and had a blast. Poor Madi had a bad day at school. She made some mistakes on an assignment in class, got kicked and slapped in the face by a friend on accident, had a disagreement with her best friend and then felt left out at her Activity Days. The only thing I felt I could do besides listen to her was to: (1) offer her a chocolate bar (good thing I had her favorite one on hand) (2) let her cry it out (3) tell her how much I love her (4) reminded her that I was her best friend anyway! I'm so happy that she had a fun time at dance tonight. I think that made up for today. Tomorrow will be a better day for her! The kids are fast asleep so therefore ... I'm off to bed myself.

My Monday!

This morning I woke up to Owie in the bathroom calling for me to help him. He obviously had some sort of stomach ache. Poor little guy. I kept him inside today, unsure of how bad he was really feeling. He was playing like normal, but kept having to go to the bathroom. Odd illness ... if that's what I should call it. He fell asleep around 11:30 and woke up around 2:00. He is laying right next to me as I type. I hope he falls asleep soon and wakes up feeling all better tomorrow!

This evening the kids and I glued cotton balls to construction paper. Madi made some beautiful flowers and Owen just enjoyed dipping the cotton balls in the glue. For Jacob's 100th day of Kindergarden, each child is to glue 100 items of their choice to a piece of construction paper. He chose cotton balls. I have a cute picture of him holding his masterpiece. It will be posted here shortly. He did a great job and we all had fun!

This evening we enjoyed dinner, baths and reading time. I love listening to Madi read to her brothers. She makes them laugh and is just a lot more fun to listen too. I actually find myself getting more in to the book when she is reading. After our reading time the kids nicely went to bed for me. I have a little bite of a headache, so off to sleep I go.

Weekend Fun ...

On Friday, Ty and a couple of friends headed out to St. George for some dirt biking. Ty's mom picked the kids up on her way home from work and took them to dinner. I had a baby shower to go to, so that was very nice of Julie to take them for awhile while I went to that. Later when I ran over to pick them up, I did'nt realize how much I had already missed them. We went back to Amy's and there the kids watched a movie. They were so tired and finally around 11:00, we came home and went to bed.

We spent Saturday morning being lazy and watching cartoons on my bed with feet and arms all over each other. At 11:15 the kids had swim lessons. (pictures will be coming) Owen loves to wear his goggles and dive for the rings. He is listening well and is finally dunking his head all the way under the water. At first he would just put his face under and call it good. He loves to jump in and float on his back. Jacob is just gumbie on crack! He is really trying to cordinate is arms and legs while swimming. What is it with boys? He loves to splash around, float on his back and of course, jump in. He is doing such a great job! The week before, he jumped in the deep end but was not sure if he liked it or not. Next time ... we think, I hope?!? Madi is doing great! She is swimming laps from one end to the other. She feels nervous about diving, but does it anyway. Her instructor is very incouraging and tells her she can do it and pretty much just makes her. Ty and I want all of her instructors to be this way. She wants to try out for the Murray Mac soon. We know she can do it! After swim lessons we came home to bathe and have lunch. Soon after that we were off to the Zoo for the afternoon. Being that the weather was so nice, everyone wanted to be at the zoo. I love having a zoo pass, because we never have to feel like we have to see every animal every time we go. As soon as I saw all the cars lined up along both sides of the road, I promised the kids a train ride and carousel ride, then told them to choose the animals they wanted to visit the most. It was just that crazy! For dinner we went to Chili's. We cannot get enough of their chips and salsa. Oh so yummy! The kids were so great at the restaurant and actually ate all their food. Hurray! After dinner we ran a couple of errands. Jacob needed 100 cotton balls for an assignment he is doing in class. Thank goodness I was finished with that because in the car on the way home Jacob's stomach started to hurt. I really think he just ate way too much. For some reason he felt that putting a cup to his mouth to breathe in would make him feel better. I just rolled his window down and had him take some deep breaths. I hate throw up and just wanted to make it home! But somewhere between State Street and Winchester or maybe even Clay Park, Owen decided to grab the cup from Jacob and throw it out the window! Finally we get home and he said he was starting to feel better. Soon after we got home, Ty came home and while the kids were helping him unpack, Jacob throws up in the garage. He runs in and finally makes it to the bathroom, but refuses to bend down to get his head closer to the toilet. Holy crap! So there I am behind him yelling at him to bend down and all the while he is just standing there straight up in front of the toilet while puck is splashing every where. I almost threw up. Ty told me he thinks the entire neighborhood could hear me yelling at him to "bend your head!" Then after that, I could see he had some throw up on his tongue, so I hurried and grabbed a paper towel to wipe it off. Bad idea, because he throws up again, but this time in the kitchen. Dang gag issue! So after those hellish minutes, the kids gave Ty loves and then went to bed! Goood Night!!!

Today Ty stayed home with Jacob. Owen had to pretend he hated Sunbeams and cried for me when I dropped him off. I just tossed him in anyway, and I kid you not, he immediately stopped crying. Amazing! I checked on him a little later to see that he was having a fantastic time! Tonight for family home evening, I wanted Owen to start out by telling us about his lesson in class. He wanted to make sure we all new that the Holy Ghost does not have a body. He quizzed Madi and Jacob by asking, "does Holy Ghost have body?" He was so cute and serious about it. After that I let him pick the lesson out of the box and he chose Ammon. Madi read it out loud and did a great job. Jacob and Owen did not listen. Suddenly when she read about arms being cut off and shown off, Jacob's eyes popped out. I guess that made us want to arm wrestle. Jacob beat Owen. Madi beat Jacob. Madi beat Owen. Now Owen is jumping over our backs and climbing on our shoulders. Ty beat all of us. At one point he thought he would just be nice and let me win. That made me mad, so I tried again. Ty just needs to loose for once! Thanks Madi for having my back ... and zero thanks to my boys!

(pictures from the zoo will be coming!)

Valentines Weekend ...

Madi and Jacob's class Valentine parties were a lot of fun. I was in charge of drinks for both classes. I bought those 8 oz. water bottles from Costco and took the Kirkland brand wrapper off and just glued cute valentine scrapbook paper around it where the wrapper fit. It turned out so cute and the kids loved it! Since I'm room mom for Madi's class, I was in charge of the party planning. We played freeze dance and pass the box. A couple of other mom's brought in fruit and dip for the snack. The kids in both classes were a lot of fun and of course adorable! I loved watching then proudly pass out their Valentine cards ... so funny!

For Owen's play group they had a cute little Valentine party on Thursday. There, he was able to pass his cards out to his friends and to some of our neighborhood kids. He pretty much attended 3 parties in 2 days. What a trooper!

On Friday night (late) the Enloe family came to town. It's always a treat to see them. That night Brenda and I set the table with heart shaped plates and the kids Valentine gift next to it. For breakfast we had orange rolls and cinnomon rolls with pink frosting and eggs and ham. It was delicious! The kids just played all day while the adults played a couple of rounds of Phase 10. That evening we had Cafe Rio for dinner at our house. It was delicious and far from romantic. After we put the kids to bed we watched a movie, but missed the last 10 minutes of it because the show Madi was recording came on ... dang iCarly!

It was a great weekend! Thanks so much for visiting us! Next time, let's just have a game plan for the guys and finish watching 21!

What A Day ...

Today started out pretty early. We had to wake the kids up to take Ty to the airport. The kids were great at just getting up and putting their sweaters on. They were so sad to see daddy leave. I told the kids we were only going to Sacrament Meeting and that made them pretty happy. You would think that since we were only going for an hour it would have been pretty smooth ... nope! Jacob wanted the entire row to himself, Owen accidently kicked Madi in the face and then he pulled my hair and took the clip out that was holding my hair together. Awesome!

After that lovely hour, we came home and had a fun afternoon making brownies for our dessert and putting Valentine cards together. I love spending time like this with my kids. We watched a movie and laughed all day. Later, we ran over to Ty's parents house so Madi could ask them some questions for her Grandparent Day Program. It's not until next month, but I guess they need as much preparation done as soon as possible .. chop, chop! Madi also called her grandparents in California and asked them the same questions. We filled out a Family Tree too. I'm looking forward to her Program. She said she has a part to read and songs to sing. I can't wait Miss Madi Ann ...

One conversation I had with the kids this afternoon that I thought was hysterical, was about them remembering me when I was pregnant with Owen. Jacob remembers ... Who? What? When? Huh? But Madi remembers ALOT. Almost too much. One thing she remembers the most was when I would be eating something, she said I always had another in my hand and said that if she would ask me if she could have it or some of it, I always said "no, it's for baby Owen." How sad is that, she was like 4 1/2 and I was eating in front of her and saying "NO!" It is funny that she remembers that though. Oh, she also said in a very shy and sweet eye lashy way that I was "really big!"

Anyway-

I have no idea what ingredient I put in the casserole tonight, but we have been all laughs tonight. Oh, wow! It started with Owen and Jacob saying their night time prayers. Jacob said his first "hfjdhfjkahfjkfhasjfhgdjfgdaskfcnufhewfjksafjkdsfhjdk." Then it was Owen's turn. He started out fine but then wanted to use his Darth Vader voice. Jacob could not handle it and yelled for me. That made Owen mad, so he lifted one leg up and farted. Nice! So then Jacob just yelled louder. I go in to supervise and as I'm kneeling down, Owen climbs up on my back and with both legs dangling beside me, he prays. This time with Owen voice. It was sweet, it really was. Then Owen wanted Jesse to sleep while dangling upside down from the rope on his basketball hoop. He wanted her hat to be on her as well (and I really just wanted a PEPSI), so I found the duck tape and taped her hat on. Madi and Jacob had a good laugh at that. While Madi was fetching the scissors for me to cut the tape, she yelled out for Owen to "improvise." What? So after more laughing and giggling it was finally off to dream land for the kids ... and the pepsi is tasting so dang good!

I'm Back ...

Check out this picture of Owen with gum stuck to his neck. I hate when that happens! Don't you?

More blogging to come as soon as my camera is all charged up. So much to blog about ... so much to blog about!