MERRY CHRISTMAS

OUR CHRISTMAS CARD


I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas! We certainly did. I think nothing is better than living Christmas through the eyes of my children. Their excitement gets ME excited! I also have to say that Rob is awesome at surprising me with things that I mention throughout the year and then forget about. He got me something that I REALLY wanted, even though he hates my crafty stuff. :) Big SMOOCHES to you, Rob!!! I hope he got things that he really wanted, too.


Jason kept thanking us over and over and the kids were heard to say, "This was the BEST Christmas EVER!" Now that is a compliment since we felt we didn't get them that much. :) With nine kids we try to get them ONE big present that everyone can use and then one individual present. We also have our children draw names and be a secret santa for someone in the family. They get soooooo excited they can hardly keep it a secret! LOL


MOST importantly, I love Christmas because it reminds me of the Greatest Gift we have ever received. We feel so extremely blessed!


*Alot has happened in the economy and some of the banks have had to close. We feel blessed that Rob works for Wells Fargo, a bank that is doing very well.


*We feel blessed that I haven't had to work outside of the home so I can teach my children.


*We feel blessed that McKenna is doing so well. I didn't ever think that she would be as healthy as she is. She will be baptized next year!


* We feel blessed to have had the twins come safely into our family! Their spirit touches this home everyday and blesses our other children.


*We feel blessed to have such a beautiful home that fits ALL of us and has some land for the children to run on.


*We feel very blessed to have friends and family that provide the love and support we need. My parents moved closer to us, and our dear friends, the Krons, moved to the same town as us and we are sooooo HAP-HAP-HAPPY to have them here!





I know I could go on and on, but these are the blessings we feel most thankful for this year.


May God bless each and every one of You! And may you feel His love throughout the following year as times may get harder. WE LOVE YOU!

IS THIS FOR REAL????

http://www.1065.com/pages/videooftheday.html?feed=306394&article=4493178

You have GOT to see this! Does anyone know if it's real or a set-up? Real or not, it's prrrItty darn funny!

BOOK CLUB LIST 2008

I've updated my book club list. Check it out for new ideas and let me know if you read any of them. There were some fun ones and a few with very serious subject matter. ENJOY!

WE ALL ARE MORMONS....by Rabbi Shifren

WE ALL ARE MORMONS....by Rabbi Shifren
We are living in an era of insanity! Witness the latest attempt to remake the nature of our country, founded and established on certain principles that have been the envy of the entire world. The latest assault on our country and its values comes in the form of vicious and criminal violence against the Mormon church in Westwood, California
Interesting how the selective self-righteous indignation on the part of the radical Gay activists is played out here: they bewail the blow to freedom and justice! But I thought we just had elections, where the majority of Californians expressed their views in a free and open manner. Are we not a nation of laws? Dare we relive the McCarthy era, where Americans were harassed and threatened with the loss of their jobs for believing in a certain way? If the Gay radicals should have their way, untold numbers of Americans would live under the threat of the Gay-Lesbian "thought police," where individuals that reject the Gay lifestyle would be sought out and have sanctions brought against them.
It's bad enough for those working in the entertainment industry here in Los Angeles, where a fog of political correctness and a bending over backwards to accommodate, even promote Gay lifestyle is in full gear. Let none dare say that this type of activity is anathema to our country, our morality, and the debauchery of our young people.
Let it be stated unequivocally: The radical Gay attack on the Mormons is the shot over the bow against the United States of America. There was a time when what a man did in his bedroom was sanctified between himself and G-d. Now we are being served an "in-your-face" smorgasbord of smut and licentiousness as being between people who only "want their civil rights."
Hogwash! We are dealing with the equivalent of a moral takeover of the country that has as its bedrock a belief in G-d and His promise for humanity. They don't want civil rights! What they desire is quasi Gay/Lesbian hegemony, where a huge "bookburning," reminiscent of the Nazis, will purge any remnants of the "Christian, White, mainstream America" that has given ALL AMERICANS the most profound scope of freedom, liberty, and justice that Mankind has yet to experience.
People have perhaps wondered: why the Mormons? Answer: they are a small, yet vocal Christian minority. They have been selected by the mobs as vulnerable, a group that might not have such massive support among America's Christians.
We who are friends of the Mormons, their patriotism, their family values, will not falter in our continued support of these dear Americans. Let us recall the Christian minister Niemoller, whose admonition during those dark years of Nazi Germany moved us to our core:
"When they came for the gypsies, I said nothing, because I wasn't a gypsy. When they came for the homosexuals, I said nothing, because I wasn't a homosexual. When they came for the Jews, I said nothing, because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I said nothing, because I wasn't a Catholic......then they came for me, and there was no one left to defend me."
My fellow Americans, in the coming battle for the heart and soul of America and everything we cherish, may this call to arms be the mantra of every concerned patriot:
"WE ALL ARE MORMONS!"
=====================================
Rabbi Nachum Shifren
Lecturer and Author, "Kill Your Teacher: An Expose of Corruption and Racism in LA Schools" & "Surfing Rabbi: A Kabbalistic Quest for the Soul"
http://www.surfingrabbi.com/
http://www.surfingrabbi.com/surf_blog.html
http://www.killyourteacher.com/


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CUTE to not so cute...

Okay, so my day started out great! The babies slept through the night, it was sunny out, I was in the christmas spirit...

Then while I was trying to feed the babies (it takes me about 1 1/2 HOURS)

JOSHUA DAVID STRUCK!

He was just tryin' to help me make lunch apparently. Here we have vegetable soup mix and

acini de pepe. He is mixing it with a wire whisk.
Here we have Bisquick. He is crying in this picture. That is what I felt like doing.


In theory, it sounded pretty good. I had to vacuum for a half hour and we will still be vacuuming acini de pepe out of the carpet for at least a year.

In the Christmas Spirit

I LOVE this time of year! We got snow FINALLY....We set up our Christmas tree....and JD woke up this morning with these cute reindeer jammies on.

I just couldn't help myself. He is sooooo cute!

TWILIGHT MOVIE

Okay, all you obsessed Twilight Fans! I want to hear your opinions on what you thought about the movie. Are you excited about New Moon being made into a movie?
I must give props to Robert Pattinson. He actually did a fantastic job, In my humble opinion. :) Did anyone catch Stephenie Meyer making a cameo? That was cool. I also liked how they worked the cover of Twilight into the movie...the hands holding the apple. I am seeing it again this Friday. :)

The NO SLEEP Blues...

I love this picture. I often find them lying in the same position when they are sleeping. I call it "Synchronized Sleeping". I just wish they would synchronize with ME! LOL Actually, they are doing a lot better. I usually put them down at 10PM and get up once around 3AM. They wake up at different times so Rob and I each take a child and if that child gets up more than once, too bad for you! I usually take Ty.... He sleeps better. :)

AND THE NEW LICENSE PLATE IS......

BLESTW9

Now here's hopin' we don't have anymore!

DUKING IT OUT

So Rob and I were trying to pose the babies for a picture we want to use for our Christmas card this year. Here are the ones we didn't use because it looks ike they are trying to punch each other! LOL

They were just yawning and stretching.

Here is a good puch to Bella's jaw.
She returns the favor with a punch to his nose and he punches her in the gut.

Here I am trying to "Break it up". They look so small when you compare them to my hands.

We did get a good picture of them, but you will have to wait and see when you get my Christmas card. :)

I-SCREAM Sundae Kit

Here is a fun halloween gift idea. The I-scream sundae kit, inspired by Papertrey Ink and Lauren Meader who is amazing at designing templates! You HAVE to check out her new Timeless templates line. This is one that she demonstrated on her blog.

http://laurenm.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/

I improvised and designed it to hold Ice cream toppings.

The toppings I used are Halloween sprinkles, crushed oreos, and Reeses Pieces. I found these cute little inexpensive vials online.

Here is the Hot fudge all decorated.

The bottom says, "Best if eaten before october 31st"

I used PTI's Spooky sweets II and Faux Ribbon.

I just LOVE that witch! I made a circle template and sponged on the moon.

I gave these treats to my piano students for my Halloween Recital, which was postponed for a week because I had the babies earlier than I thought. :)

Pictures

WIDE AWAKE

Only Rob
Ahhhhh. So sweet!

Everyone taking a turn.

HOME with the BABIES!

This is just to let you know that I had the babies on Friday at 2:08AM and 2:09AM. They were 5'13oz -19.25" (Isabella Rose Tolman) and 5'15oz.-18" (Ty Alexander Tolman). I had a doctor's appt. scheduled for Friday morning at 9AM that I thought I might make it to. During Jay Leno I decided that the pain was too much and I had better go to the ER. I was a little nervous about waking Rob up because he had only gotten three hours of sleep the night before and I thought I was being paranoid. But the pain won out. We got there at midnight. They checked me and I was dialated to a 5. An emergency came in where someone had their baby right after walking into the hospital and couldn't stop bleeding so they had to take care of her first so I labored a little more, all while cursing the lady who took precedence over me, I mean how dare she come in and steal my Thunder? :) They could see how much pain I was in so they called an emergency back up team and away we went! The babies were big considering they thought I was only 34 weeks along. Their lungs were perfectly developed and there were no complications. I did find out while they were stitching me up that Isi's placenta had detached from the wall and there was a lot of blood in her sack, which might explain why she hadn't been moving very much a few days before. I KNOW God was watching out for us. The c-section was the weirdest experience ever. The funny thing is I hurt WORSE from all the labor than from the incision! My muscles and hip bone are very badly bruised . We are so HAPPY to be home and we feel VERY BLESSED that all went well and we are all healthy. I just have to say Thank YOU! to everyone who has been praying for me. I have felt your prayers strengthen me. I know that is the only way I made it through these last couple of weeks. God is Good!

Meet the Tolman Basketball team!

Ty Alexander

Isabella Rose

Update

I didn't mention that I have been in labor for about two weeks now. The doctor gave me some medicine to stop the contractions, but the side affects sounded dangerous to me so I haven't taken it. Both babies are breach which means that I will need a c-section. The doctor won't do the c-section unless I am dialated to a 4. I am already at a 2. I don't know how quickly things can progress if the baby isn't head down. So at my appt. this Friday I am hoping that he will just schedule me for the c-section on Monday! My mom is coming this weekend which will be nice since my kids are on their Fall break. :)

BY THE WAY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MCKENNA!!!

SCARY!

Here I am at 34 weeks pregnant with the twins. Everyone keeps telling me how small I am! HA! The babies are measuring about 6 lb. each. That is a lot of baby plus all the other stuff that goes with it. I can't wait to be done.....

Cute, huh?

HALLOWEEN SWAP

I was in charge this month for my card swap so I chose the theme Halloween Goodies with a note that it didn't have to be candy. The ladies in my group are so creative! Here are a few of the things they came up with. (Click on the image to enlarge it) Ghost Poop

Don't shiver, don't shake

It's not a mistake. The ghost was afraid.

He just couldn't have stayed!

So he left on the stoop his white ghostly poop!!

Happy Halloween

Here is a mummy that would hold candy inside. You could use a toilet paper roll and cover with strips of torn muslin. Then glue on the eyes and put on a bottom. Very cute!

These are tic tacs wrapped in cardstock with a little window.


Here is a bracelet in Halloween colors wrapped around the cats neck. I never would have thought of this.

I did Spooky Slime. It was a flubber recipe I found. It was so fun to make with the kids and it has been a HUGE HIT! They play with it all the time. I decorated a 2.5 oz clear top tin to put it in.

Here is a picture of the "slime". I used Papertrey Ink's stamp set Spooky sweets II. I LOVE this set.

Flubber recipe
Container 1:
1-1/2c warm water
2 cups elmers glue (4 bottles) You can find this on sale at walmart or target
food coloring (a few drops) I did 6 blue and 8 red to get purple


Container 2:
1-1/3 c warm water
3 tsp Borax (laundry isle at Walmart)

1. Mix ingredients in each conatiner thoroughly. What do they look like? How are they different?
2. Pour container 2 into container 1. Gently lift with your hands until it absorbs the liquid. This takes a few minutes. What do you observe? What does it feel like?
3. Place on a cookie sheet and flatten a little. Let the excess liquid drip off, if there is any. Cut into desired sizes.

Have a Happy Halloween!

BABY SHOWER THANKS

To get a better look, click on the picture. (Sorry, they are kind of fuzzy up close) Some awesome friends of mine threw me a baby shower today. These are the thank-yous I made.

This is the thank-you card that I will send to everyone who got me a gift. It is made using the nestabilities and Bitty Baby Blessings from Papertrey Ink. Doesn't it make the cutest bib card?

Here are the little gifts I made as thank-yous for my hostesses.

First is the gift bag. You might recognize this idea from my SU! Convention pictures. Way easy and so stinkin' CUTE! I used Nesties, once again, and the tag is the new square punch from SU!

Here is a Pumpkin Pie candle from Walmart that I just decorated with SU! rub-ons and SU! designer papers. I embossed the flower from SU!'s True Friend stamp set in white on Close to Cocoa cardstock and used a bigger brad in the center. The rub-ons were a little tricky to use on the candle. I think it turned out cute and it smells sooooo YUMMY!

Next, I decorated Hersheys nuggets with stamped labels using Limitless Labels from Papertrey Ink. That set is a MUST have! I used the same colors as the SU! papers. I used a frosted tin tie bag to put them in and then used the other flower from SU!'s True Friend stamp set to decorate the bag and used the Nesties. I put a pearl in the center of this flower.

The gifts are nothing special, but I hope they know how much I appreciated all that they did for me. I will hopefully have pictures from the shower to show you. There are some talented people in my ward and they made the cutest cake and diaper cake!

CRUISIN'

My two boys, Parker and JD, are the only ones at home right now. We inherited this little jeep from Grandpa Grout and they can't get enough of it! Aren't they the cutest?

Fortunately for me they get along very well. Parker is 3 going on 14 and quite the little man. This jeep is perfect for him. He feels so grown up.

Today I needed them to take a stinky diaper to the garbage but it was at the top of our driveway because today is garbage day. So off they go in the jeep to deliver it!

LOCKS OF LOVE

I am so proud of Emi. She has been growing out her hair to donate to Locks of Love, a charity group that makes wigs for people who have lost their hair due to cancer and other illness. She constantly asks me, "Is it long enough yet?" So today we went and got it cut!

I was a little worried that she might freak out after it was done when she realized it was really gone, but she was so happy. She LOVES it!

When her brother, Bryce, saw it for the first time, he said, "Wow, Emi! That looks GOOD! All the boys are going to like you at school." What a sweetie. :)

For anyone who is interested, check out http://www.locksoflove.org/ They have the guidelines and other information there. The address is :

Locks Of Love

2925 10th Avenue North, Suite 102

Lake Worth, FL 33461

DISPLAY BOARDS

Click on any image to enlarge it. There was so much inspiration to be found. These are just a few of my favorites. I took tons more pictures......

This was an example of what you could do with the new sizzix dies that SU! carries. This isn't the finished project.

I loved the simplicity of the one layer with Lovely as a Tree and the shadowing in the background.

I focused in on the misty tree background. They added sparkle to make it look like it had just snowed. STUNNING!

Some awesome Artisan of the year award winner projects. I loved the shirt and the purse.

Some cute bags made with our 12x12 CS and using a cornflake box as a template. The giant cupcake is AWESOME! They took some white craft ink and added some reinkers to make it look like real frosting swirls. Too cute!

This one shows a vinyl bag made with the jumbo eyelets and interchangeable papers to coordinate throughout the seasons of the year. The onsie gift bag is so stinkin' cute and easy. Now why didn't I think of that?

Two more artisan projects. I LOVED these scrapbook pages. Actually, I would probably frame these. They are too gorgeous.

So hopefully these tickle your creative bone like they did mine!