The Tolberts

Three days of Birthday for Brynnli

2012-02-09T17:30:00.000-08:00

Our little princess turned 4 this week. She had three days of birthday celebration and am I a bad mom if I say I"m glad it's over? We had cake with the family a day late and Rick got these two pictures that are pretty awesome (and should be with his expensive camera.....)

The day after Brynnli's birthday was the day we had designated to officially celebrate all day since Rick was working on her birthday....but things didn't go quite according to plan. More on that later. We took the kids bowling.....and they had a blast. Cole was trying his hardest to get down the lane to the pins.

Brynnli helped me decorate her birthday cake (well really just watched and ate frosting while I decorated.....)

We had a picnic lunch at the park.....by the way did I mention how many different outfits Brynnli wore in three days time? At least ten to twelve. She's such a diva.

Brynnli at bedtime in her new matching jammies

Brynnli's actual birthday was action packed from the very beginning. Carson went off to school, Rick went off to work, and I told Brynnli I"d take her to this bounce house place with her little friend down the street. So we get all ready to go and I am literally opening the front door to leave when I hear Brynnli screaming and running out of the bathroom with blood on her chin. SEriously? Apparently she had climbed on the counter in the bathroom to check herself out in her new bday outfit and slipped. So, long story short, we took a side trip to urgent care and two stitches later, we were back on our way. Oh, and did I mention our little princess has her dad wrapped around her finger and he felt so bad for her getting stitches on her birthday he came home from work for a few hours to be with her.

The pictures are out of order, but I have no idea how to move them, so that's the way it is. After urgent care me and Brynnli and her friend Brennan went to the bounce place. I was paranoid the whole time she was gonna bust her stitches out but I let her go anyway.

She had dance later that afternoon and then we met Kim, Jada, and Kalle at our favorite pizza place for dinner. The kids got to sit at their own table, which they thought was pretty cool.

Then off to Dairy Queen for dessert, because Rick was supposed to be gone and we were supposed to have cake the next night......so that's why we had TWO days of celebration. Lucky girl, that is if you discount the trip to the urgent care.

Sleeping beauty watching her cartoons.......

Eating her chocolate chip birthday pancakes......

Opening her presents.......

And having cupcakes with her friends at school.

Oh how we love our Brynnli. Here's a few fun facts about her at age 4:

-She's 32 pounds, and 39 inches tall.

-She LOVES clothes and changing three or four times a day

-She LOVES her brothers. She is very sweet about playing with Cole during the day, and can't wait for Carson to come home from school to play with him.

-She knows all kinds of stuff I"ve never taught her. She learned to write her name all by herself and knows most of her letters and numbers. She loves to learn and read books.

-She LOVES the TV, computer, and playing games on my phone. If I let her, she'd do it all the time.

-She is as girly as they get, but rougher and tougher sometimes than both the boys. I love that about her.
-She loves to talk and can talk all day to me about all kinds of things.

-Her favorite toys are My little pony, barbies, squinkies, and anything princesses.

-She has the FUNNIEST facial expressions when she is telling stories or just talking. I love them.

Happy Birthday my Brynnli!!!!

Our Old Man

2012-01-27T10:28:00.000-08:00

Rick's Birthday was last week! I am way behind on pretty much everything in my life, so that's why this blog is late:) We had an awesome day though!

We had cake with the kids and Gma/Gpa T. the night before

I told Rick he could sleep in but he was up at 7 and wanted to go workout....

WEIRDO!!!

We took the kiddos to the mall and let Rick pickout some new stuff he's been wanting at the Sports store (and I watched the kids while he shopped whereas it's usually the other way around.....)

That night we left the kiddos with Grandma and went out with our best friends the Wernlis. We've been wanting to try this place called 15th street fisheries where you can eat seafood on the intercoastal.....it was a fun experience. We took the water taxi along the intercoastal to dinner, spent a little time searching for a shoe store...(poor Kim), and then ate the the restaurant, which happened to be out of king crab (poor bday boy) and to say we were unimpressed with the restaurant is an understatement, but we had a great time. Then we headed to our FAVORITE place Jaxons for ice cream, if you're ever in Fort Lauderdale, this is the yummiest ice cream ever.

I am so lucky to be married to this fun, easy going, hard working, intelligent, and amazing guy, Happy Birthday Rick!!!

Strawberry Picking

2012-01-26T20:19:00.000-08:00

Love this time of year!!! This is the time of year I LOVE living in Florida. Great weather and lots of yummy strawberries!!! This is an annual trip for us, this year we combined it with a trip to the zoo, which made it even better!

Third aisle from the right in the field was pretty much full of half eaten strawberries by the time we left.....courtesy of Cole, who was seriously loving it.

Carson and Brynnli are old pros:)

Utah and the big day

2012-01-06T10:30:00.000-08:00

So like I said, on the 27th (which happened to be my brother in law Chris' 30th bday.....good sport that he was!) we all caravaned from Boise to Utah. Luckily, due to some intense fasting from my family (not us because we actually wanted it to snow) the road conditions were awesome for the whole trip for everyone.

The night before the wedding was the wedding dinner at Thanksgiving Point, it was really fun to hangout with all the adults and meet Richard's family (and Rick met Richard for the first time). We had a roomate of Nicole's babysit the kids for the dinner and the temple and she was AWESOME!

My sister Jenny and her husband Chris

My parents

Nicole and Richard-the couple of the hour

The wedding day: The Draper, UT temple

My little brother Ryan, who is on his mission in Hungary, was missed big time, we so brought his cardboard cutout with us:) (borderline cheesy I know....)

The Reception:

The cute little girls

Kate, Brynnli, and Macy

I love how all the kids are looking at Nicole in this picture, very cute, especially the girls. I was very thankful for my kids to be able to see Nicole when she came out of the temple, and they LOVED getting to go inside the foyer of the temple and hangout in the visitors room while Nicole got married.

The kids LOVED getting to be part of the reception, and I LOVED this kids room right off the reception ballroom that they could escape to if they needed to be kids. There was movies, snacks, and lots of room to run around.

Richard's neice and Carson dancing together, I was secretly glad I had to bribe him with candy to dance with her:)

My grandparents-so cute!

The Ryan cutout made it's way out on the dance floor courtest of Jenny and then later Carson. The dancing, as always, was my favorite part of the night.

And they were off.......such a cute and happy couple. So glad we got to be a part of their day.

A Boise Christmas

2012-01-02T17:37:00.000-08:00

Happy 2012. I'd love to say one of my new years resolutions is to blog more, but I'll be honest and say no. It's been a super crazy month. We headed off to Boise a week before Christmas and had lots of fun there. This was the extent of the snow we saw while we were in Boise and Utah. THe day we left Boise for Utah it lightly snowed (not even enough to stick on the grass) but we let the kids play in it while we packed the cars.

We took the kids out to see lights in the neighborhood.....it was a little chilly!

Grandpa, and the dads took the kids on a tour of the recycling center. Carson got to sit in the garbage truck, and pretty much had the time of his life (or so I heard).

Carson and Brynnli had some quality storytime with Grandma before bedtime.

GRandma wanted to make sugar cookies with the kids, which proved to be a little more exciting than I think she guessed, but she did a great job. The kids had a great time. Macy (my sister's little two year old) was cracking us all up because she was definately eating more of the cookie dough than making cookies with it. LOve that girl.

Cole hungout around the table trying to snag any peices of dough that ended up on the floor or close to the edge....he was really excited.

We acted out the nativity story. Starring: Brynnli as Mary, Carson as Joseph, Cole as a shepherd

Macy as a donkey

And Kate as an angel

Christmas Eve we had dinner at my Aunt and Uncles but came home and the kids opened presents

Cole was so excited about opening presents that after he opened his present he went into the room with the Christmas tree and started bringing out more to open, it was so cute to see that he was excited.

We put out our AMAZING sugar cookies that the kids made for Santa, with some carrots for the reindeer.

The kids checked out what Santa left them (I"m really good lately at making awkward faces in the background of pictures....)

Opening presents.....

The best part of the day I can't find my pictures for. We got to skype with my little brother on his mission in Hungary. It was so fun for the kids to see him and for him to see them. We felt very blessed to be able to see him and talked to him for so long.

Having hot chocolate

THe day after Christmas my Grandma and Grandpa Brown flew in from Seattle for the wedding, but wanted to spend some time with the great grandkids first. THe kids had a blast getting to know them.

The next morning we took off for Utah for my little sister Nicole's wedding! Stay tuned!

Cousins and Disney

2011-11-18T18:47:00.000-08:00

I am still struggling to blog. We went to Disney before Halloween....Rick's sister Trisha and her family came in town and Grandma and Grandpa T. took us all to Disney for the week! It was so fun. We stayed in a big house with a pool and ran ourselves ragged but had a blast doing it.

I missed this but, apparently when cousin Matthew (13 mon.) saw Carson for the first time this trip he went crazy and wouldn't stop hugging him. It was very cute.

Before we left, Cole took his first pony ride at Grandma/pa's neighbor's house. The other kids went too, but they've all been before. From what I heard, Cole wasn't a huge fan.....

We wanted to take the girls to the "Bibbity Bobbity Boo Boutique" to get their hair, makeup, etc. done at Disney, but it was booked. So Trisha and I decided to do the girls up ourselves. As much as it saddens me, Brynnli doesn't last more than about two minutes with me doing her hair...

Cole and Grandpa, his BFF

One of the days after we got home from the park at 6 it was raining and we decided to go swimming. The pool was heated, big plus, since it was pretty chilly for Orlando that day! (Ok, like 80?)

The kids got their faces painted at Sea World

I ended up going on most the kiddie rides at Sea World since I couldn't ride most of the cool ones at the other parks, and it was so fun. One of these days I will end up at a theme park not pregnant, and not with a baby strapped to me.......maybe in five years????

Race cars at Magic Kingdom

Cole and Brynnli's favorite, Carson finally is getting too old to like the same rides as the little ones most the time...so he got to go on lots of roller coasters with Daddy!

These boys were super good sports at sitting in the stroller lots waiting while the rest of us had fun....don't they kind of look alike? And Grandma and Grandpa were good sports about staying with them so we could do the fun stuff......THANK YOU!!!

The girls in their matching dresses sewn by Grandma T. They really thought they were royalty that day.....super cute. Carson got a kick out of Cinderella saying he was the handsome prince:)

These girls had a love/hate relationship this visit....they LOVED playing together, but fought over EVERYTHING!!

The boys had matching shorts.....this was our best picture....after the third full day at the park....think they were done????

It was a fun trip, I will call it a trip and not a vacation, like my mom says, going places with kids, even though fun, is a trip, not a vacation. They had a blast though, and that's what the trip was for. We had fun watching them have fun, and boy were we tired when it was over!!!!

Halloween all Week

2011-10-31T19:53:00.000-07:00

We had Halloween all weekend long like I'm sure all of you did. We had our Trunk or Treat party at church....Carson stayed consistent and picked another blue collar job (last three years: garbage man, fireman, ups man)

Brynnli dressed up as Belle for the church party, Snow White for her school party, and five minutes before we left tonight for Trick or Treating decided she wanted to be a ladybug. Luckily, we had all these costumes already! Except for her ladybug antennae which I made as we were leaving.....

Cole was a pirate:) He wasn't a fan of his costume at the church party though, so the hat came off, and his vest ended up around his waist like a skirt:) He did pickup a cute little strawberry though!

Our annual visit to the pumpkin "patch..." aka the parking lot filled with straw and pumpkins:)

Brynnli had a school party today and got to swim afterwards!!! Only in Florida in October!!

Carson had his school party today too and got to wear his costume and do all sorts of fun things!

Tonight for Trick or Treating! I was solo, so I walked most of the neighborhood with Cole on my hip dragging Brynnli in the wagon and with Carson running ahead. Carson couldn't get to the doors fast enough, Brynnli was set after about ten houses to sit and eat candy in the wagon, and Cole sat happily in his favorite spot on my hip and ate lollipops and pointed to the next house mumbling (I'm pretty sure he was saying more candy or trick or treat...). We had a great time!! Love these little guys.

All that walking made me hungry....HELLO Halloween candy!!!

While mom and dad were away.....

2011-10-29T20:59:00.000-07:00

Oh how our kids did play! They had a blast. I'm pretty sure the boys spent 90% of their time outside, which is what they love best.

Sweet Brynnli not afraid to get dirty or wet.....

Our two future recycling men in action....

Brynnli getting her hair "done" by the vaccuum

Carson organizing the recyling....

The gang outside riding around....
I was pretty nervous about leaving Cole, he's in his clingy phase now and he's so little. Luckily for me, his BFF is grandpa. In fact, most the time Grandpa's around, he'd rather have him than me. Very cute really. I think they're just two peas in a pod. Notice that ear right under Cole's little tushy? That's grandpa:)

Carson playing school....

The two outside boys riding on the lawnmower. The kids had so much fun. Poor Grandma and Grandpa had fun too (I hope) but were absolutely wiped out, and understandably so, these guys are busy!!!

We certainly appreciated the much needed break though. It was nice to have a conversation without getting interrupted every two seconds!!!

Gotta love Grandpa T. though. We told them we were pregnant last week at Disney. His first comment (with a smile and I"m sure remembering how much work it was to watch THREE) was "well you're certainly not going on anymore cruises anytime soon!!" I agree. Four is quite a handful. We will have to wait awhile:) But we have our whole lives to do those things, right now we get to have little kiddos filling our home, and what better blessing than that.

It's been awhile....

2011-10-29T20:18:00.000-07:00

Oh blog friends....have you given up on me? I hope not. I have been struggling to stay up past nine lately, and have been exhausted during naptimes....and when I do have a little energy I am cleaning my disaster of a house...why you ask???

We are pregnant! A surprise for sure, but a great one! Fourth and last....due in May. In any case....that's why I've been a lame blogger lately.... but we went on this amazing cruise last month for our anniversary/my belated 30th bday....it was so fun. Especially because it may be our last for quite some time......

We went with our BFFs the Wernlis, and had a blast!!! The last day we stopped in Key West and ate at this hole in the wall, but oh so yummy place. We rented this set of wheels to cruise around.....

(This pic is of Rick and Chris pretending to fit in in the Keys.....)

Another day we stopped at Coco Cay, a private island owned by Royal Carribbean and lounged on the beach.....

But the best day was the first day of the cruise, when we stopped in Nassau, Bahamas, my favorite because of so many reasons.....we at at this yummy place Rick and I visited last summer when we were there with my sister's family...

And spent all day at Atlantis using their pools and waterslides. Seriously, I think we spent like four hours alone on the lazy river....and I'm pretty sure I haven't laughed that hard in years. It really was the best day....although I"m pretty sure most of the other people there thought we (okay especially the boys who were dive bombing eachother with tubes) were high schoolers based on our behavior.....

I found out I was prego about a week and a half BEFORE the cruise, and luckily it wasn't until the last day or so that the nauteousness started....although it may have been the gross amount of food I consumed.... (and by the way still have a little pouch to show for it....but I"m blaming it on being pregnant)

Also, the day we got on the ship we entered a spa raffle and out of three prizes given away, we won one and our friends the Wernlis won one....so awesome. I got my hair highlighted and got a massage.....SO AMAZING!!! First time for both!!

Can't wait until we can go again! In about ten years......

Meanwhile, our kids were having a little fun of their own at Grandma and Grandpa T.'s....

Minor League....

2011-10-04T17:46:00.000-07:00

Carson started his first season of baseball. Last year we tried soccer.....Rick and a good friend of ours coached and Carson was less than enthused. Rick was pretty much angry for a good hour or two after every practice and game because Carson wasn't even trying.

So this summer Rick took Carson and Brynnli to a Marlins baseball game with some other dads in our ward. Carson LOVED it. Ever since he's been asking to play. The hilarious part is that Rick not only never played baseball (but did somehow manage to play almost every other sport...) he pretty much HATES the game.

Carson LOVES it. So funny. He told me today on the way back from Brynnli's dance class right before t-ball practice...."mom, I just love baseball, it's so fun!" Too cute. He got a hat tonight to go with his uniform and didnt' want to take it off to go to sleep.

Too cute. In any case, I'm just glad he wants to play some sport, because Rick is pretty much obsessed with sports (in a good way....) and I want them to have something to do together:) I kind of love that Carson picked the one sport Rick could care less about....too funny. Unless that means I have to start watching baseball on TV too in addition to football, basketball, hockey, and soccer........Yikes!!!

Yay for Preschool!

2011-09-12T18:02:00.000-07:00

Brynnli had her first day at her new preschool taught by two wonderful ladies from church last Wednesday. It was amazing. We went the Friday before for a little "meet the teacher" time and Brynnli was so excited after that she asked every second until Wednesday when Carson would get on the bus and leave for school "do I go to school today?" She loved it. The bonus is that she gets to do swimming lessons after preschool with the same lady in her pool, which she loves too (and which gives me 45 extra minutes to run errands, workout, or shower).

She walked right in, waved goodbye, and had a blast. That's Brynnli though. Miss independent. Cole and I went home, broke out the jogging stroller (which I haven't used in at least two years thanks to the Y) and went for a run, then he went to sleep and I got stuff done!! Hooray!!

So proud of her.

NINE

2011-08-23T21:01:00.000-07:00

That's the number of years we've been married today! Nine years ago in August, in Dallas, it was 104 degrees. If you look closely you can see we're both a sweaty mess:)

It's been quite the ride. The other day I was showing the kids pictures from our wedding and all of a sudden i was like.....whoa, we don't look the same anymore! I feel like up until now I thought we still did (maybe because my mental age is still stuck at 21...). Crazy. Rick looks like he's twelve!!!

Ten or eleven years ago when we were dating, we went through a lot to be together (what with a year of long distance, Rick getting baptized, and me trying to date other guys) and It's been well worth it. We have tons of fun together still, and I"m so thankful I get to be married to my best friend.

Happy Anniversary!

Kindergarten!

2011-08-22T18:01:00.001-07:00

Carson started Kindergarten today. I was so proud of him. He wokeup excited, knew right where to go to his class (even though Brynnli and I walked with him), and sat down ready to start the day. I was lingering behind and I asked him...."do you want me to stay a few more minutes?" He said, "no mommy, I will be home after lunch ok?" He was so excited. I was devestated. I put on my happy face until Rick picked me up in the car....and then I started my ugly cry. It was a sad day for me today, but I am so excited for Carson.

I was most nervous about Carson riding the bus home by himself today....but he has been looking forward to riding the bus since he was like two. He did great and has tons of new friends already. My little guy doesn't need me all the time anymore! Luckily, I have two more who still do.....:)

Staycation

2011-08-18T11:48:00.001-07:00

Summer is almost over. School starts next week. We have a kid in school, and now I feel like I am committing to something for the rest of my life! Making lunches, waking up early, homework, should I be excited about this? You know how some people get the pre-wedding jitters, fear of committment? I feel like I have the pre-school jitters. I digress.....so all of a sudden on Saturday I freaked out a little, feeling like I needed to get all the fun out of my system before school started...so we tried to plan a fun getaway this week. I researched all the hotels and we WERE going to stay on the beach. Then, Sunday Cole was miserable, teething, sick, or something. I was adament we were still going, and then I checked the weather. Rain, Rainy, more rain. That's all it said. I gaveup. I was bummed. Two weeks ago our vacation to the keys got cancelled by the tropical storm....me and weather are not on good terms. The worst part? BOTH times, the weather prediction was wrong. The tropical storm disappeared right after we cancelled our reservations, and the rain here for this week.....nonexistent. COME ON!

Ok, moving on. Since I'm married to Mr. Optimistic, we decided to make "lemonade out of lemons" (those were his exact words). We headed out and had the most fun we could at home. We went bowling, which was a blast, and out to eat every meal (part of my request so I didnt' have to do dishes or clean.....like I was on vacation), and then we setup our tent inside and watched a movie, had cookies and milkshakes, and slept under....the ceiling fan. Well, Cole slept in his room, and the rest of us slept in the tent. It was a good time. It was cute listening to the kids tell people we were on a "staycation." The best part, no unpacking!

Any by the way, Cole is officially the cutest bowler ever. Here's a video. You had to be there, but still can't remember when I've laughed so hard.

Sandbar

2011-08-18T05:34:00.000-07:00

We went out for a day on the boat with Rick's parents last weekend. We let the kids get in the water and "snorkel" for shells and help Rick catch a lobster. They loved it. We stopped by a sandbar on the way back in to swim, I was slighty distracted by the ominous storm that appeared to be heading our way.....but the captains of the boat (Rick and Grandpa T.) knew better, it missed us entirely. It was a great day.

COLE'S ONE!!!

2011-08-10T04:57:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to our little "Cole-man!" It was his birthday yesterday and we had such a fun day celebrating with him. We kept it lowkey and just let him do the stuff he loves to do. We started off the morning with a visit from one of our friends, the garbageman. He's seen Carson and Cole growup, so it was only fitting for him to head up the day. Carson is training Cole to be a garbageman just like him, so it looks like I"ll be in for another five or six years of watching the truck. Yay. We swam, played outside, and played with Cole's new toys.

I was looking through Carson and Brynnli's books to see how they compared at the same age to Cole, and discovered that for Carson's first birthday we had a party with 35 people, Brynnli's had 15, and Cole's 7 (our family + Grandma and Gpa Tolbert). I guess if the pattern continues, if we have another kid we'll have to only invite half our family:)

Cole had a ball themed party because that's what he's into, anything he can carry or throw.

He LOVED eating his cake.

Cole has a blocked tear duct, which he'll have to have surgery on later this month. Most days it looks fine, but today it looked especially bad, like he got punched in the eye. Poor guy.

Swimming at Grandma and Grandpas

Cole's bday present, a firetruck ball pit

Cole's stats at 1 year:

Weight:22lbs

Height: 31 in.

Walked at 9 3/4 months

Waves, dances, loves music, playing outside, and anything with a ball.

Talking: Shakes his finger "no" and says "na na"when he's doing something hes not supposed to do. Mum, Da, "NUN"-Carson, maybe a few other words only we understand:)

He sleeps 8-7 FINALLY, and has two naps for 1.5 hours.

He's a happy guy and loves to follow the other two around.

Other than the morning when we swam, it rained all day. Cole woudl rather be outside than anywhere else in the world, so before bed I finally caved in and let him go out in the rain. It was just drizzling. He was so excited.

Can't believe my little baby is one. I really can't.

Cole's Birthday dance party

Road Trip

2011-07-12T17:34:00.000-07:00

Cole was supposed to have some minor surgery done at the beginning of July and it ended up getting cancelled because he was a little congested, which is risky because of the anesthesia. Anyways, we decided instead to head out on a last minute road trip to North Carolina where Rick's parents have a house in the mountains. I begged Rick to fly me there.....the 11 hour drive with three little kiddos didn't sound like a great start to a vacation to me.....but he said it would be fine (which if you know Rick is pretty much his mantra for life), and it was. The kids were great. Here's the pics, in no particular order....but it was a great time, and well worth the drive.

No vacation would be complete without a stop to visit the local recycling center.....so that's what we did.

Cole spent the night on our way up to North Carolina in the bathtub of the hotel.....we didnt' have a packnplay and I wasn't shelling out 15 dollars to rent a nasty one....

We went on pony rides and to a petting zoo....

At some point on the trip, Cole decided it was time to get into EVERYTHING. He was in the cabinets....climbing on chairs....I guess he decided he was officially a big boy. Did I mention he starting walking about a month ago? Maybe I"ll blog that eventually...

The kids, especially Carson, LOVED putting out corn for the deer. When we left, Grandpa said he was going to have to put the deer on a diet becasue we'd fed them soo much corn. Needless to say we made lots of deer friends.

We took the kids mining for gems....they loved it. Brynnli wasn't so sure for five minutes or so about putting her hands in mud, but after that....

Once she found a pink gem in the mud, she was hooked.

We roasted smores and had a fire.....

We hiked a waterfall.....which was beautiful. We brought the kids swimsuits and they had a blast playing in it.....I was however a complete and nervous wreck....

I left Cole with Rick for two minutes to be brave and walk around with the kids in the waterfall, and this is what I looked over to.....my sweet Cole who I had been trying to keep dry (the water was freezing!) was soaked and chewing on a tree.

We were so excited this hummingbird stopped to drink long enough for us to take tons of pictures (usually they fly so fast you can barely see them)....until he was there way too long....we're not sure but maybe he got drunk and nectar and passed out....because he was still there the next morning (not with us anymore)....until Rick "helped" him fly back down below.

The kids had fun playing on the playground below the house and riding on the paddleboat....what is wrong with this picture? The only one who CAN'T swim is the one without the lifejacket.....I promise he was wearing one until I walked away for a second....RICK!!!

Carson learned to play horseshoes with Grandpa and daddy, and was pretty good.

Kids watching the deer (it's down there, just in the shadow...)

Watching the bats at night....

Cole getting into trouble....confiscated a Krispy Kreme doughnut off the table and LOVED it! We were there over the 4th of July too, but that will be it's own post. It was such a refreshing trip, and nice to have fun together. We might have to make it an annual thing.

Yay for Visitors!

2011-06-28T11:29:00.000-07:00

My parents came to visit us last week and we had a blast. The kids were so excited for them to come. Carson wokeup with a HUGE smile on his face the morning they were flying in. I struggled to remember my camera when we were just hanging out here...but we went to jaxsons ice cream, the pool a bunch, church, Chic-fila, and then we headed to Orlando to Sea World for a few days. We stayed in a suite with a couple bedrooms there and the kids thought it was so fun for us to all be together. We showed Grandma and Grandpa who have never been to Orlando all kinds of fun stuff to do at Sea World like feeding the dolphins and Sea Lions (Brynnli opted out of the dolphins), petting Sting Rays.....Since we only have a double stroller and we have three kids who need to rest sometimes....there was a lot of this going on. We won't be getting a triple stroller anytime soon, so this will just have to do. We spent plenty of time eating too at Cici's pizza, Friendlys for ice cream, and Tony Romas. And we rode lots of fun kiddie rides at Sea World too. I wasn't so sure about letting Grandpa take Brynnli on the teacups but she kept laughing the whole time saying "Grandpa you're going really fast!" Carson and I took a non-spin approach which I liked better.....Cole was so excited to finally get to do something and not watch everyone else! (I"m standing behind him)

And we got to meet the "real" Shamu himself:)

It was a fun trip and of course went by too fast as usual. We miss you!

Fast Forward 13 years....

2011-06-07T18:30:00.000-07:00

H'll be graduating from high school before I know it. That's what I kept thinking at his PRESCHOOL graduation on Saturday. Time really is just flying by too fast for me these days.

I am so proud of this sweet little boy though. He really accomplished a lot this year in preschool. I couldn't believe how much he learned. At the beginning of the year they gave me a printout of all the things he'd need to know by the time he started Kindgergarten and I thought....wow.....no way he'll know all this stuff! But he does! Thank goodness for good teachers, because despite my best efforts, he doesn't think I know anything:) He LOVED his school, his friends, and his teachers this year. So much so that his favorite thing to do is play school....ALL DAY.

The night before graduation Carson got sick with a really bad cough. He has been so excited for weeks to do this dance for graduation and was so upset Saturday morning when he was coughing like crazy and I said he probably couldn't go. He asked his dad to give him a special blessing, and was cough free the whole time. It was amazing, nothing short of a miracle in my mind.

I"m still trying to figure out how I am old enough to have a kid starting Kindergarten in the Fall....(since I"m only "19" in my head....) Congratulations Carson! My big sweet boy.

Big Girl Month

2011-05-31T18:59:00.000-07:00

May was a BIG month for Brynnli at our house.

It marked 11 months since we started potty training and are FINALLY finished.

She got a new big girl princess bike with training wheels and can ride it all by herself.

Brynnli took swimming lessons and is now swimming all by herself!

And...she graduated from preschool....oh wait...did I mention she was in preschool? Since September I have been telling Brynnli that as soon as she would poop in the potty I would let her go to big girl school like Carson does. So finally....end of March she was potty trained enough to start in April. So for two months she went to preschool. It was awesome. All her friends were in her class, taught by a friend from church. She absolutely LOVED it. I'm so sad it's over. This was the first day of school and then the next.....I don't think there was a day when she didn't wear a dress or skirt to school....this girl is fancy. Day of graduation, Brynnli came out so shy and was nervous you could tell but too cute singing all the songs with her class. Brynnli was so nervous she kept playing with her dress and effectively flashed all the parents at least six or seven times. Her teacher in this pic is whispering to her to put her dress down...

Brynnli with her teacher and her best friend Izzy

What a big girl. We're so proud of her.

Slumber Party

2011-05-22T19:43:00.000-07:00

We had the Wernli girls over this weekend for a slumber party while their parents went out of town for a wedding (and for a much needed break from twin babies and toddlers...). The kids had so much fun. We played outside, ordered pizza, watched a movie, went swimming.....they are so cute. And where was Cole may you ask? Maybe someday we'll do this again but with his two friends, the Wernli boys (in five years or so...) but this time he mainly hungout in his highchair or crawled around after the kids and had a blast.

I said to Rick at one point this weekend, "see, we could have two more kids....." I'll let you guess what he said.

Meet Our little characters

2011-05-11T18:53:00.000-07:00

"Mommy, come meet the characters."This is what I"m asked pretty much on a daily basis or multiple times a day when we have characters at our house from Disney, Superhero world, or anywhere else you can think of. Our kids love dressup. I love their imaginations, not so much the mess the imaginations make sometimes.....Want to meet them?

"Movie stars"

"Snow White and her prince" (Cole wasn't in costume, but has a promising career as one of the dwarfs I think)"Tinkerbell" at the front of the parade....doesn't she look familiar? Sometimes I get bored of just watching....."Mickey and Minnie" (and Cole sitting on their lap)Just tonight we were visited by "Rapunzel and Manpunzel"(sidenote: the costuming department aka. daddy tied pajamas together to create this look of long hair)

The characters are sleeping now, but will be back tomorrow for sure!

Mom's Day

2011-05-09T18:11:00.000-07:00

Ahh Mother's Day. Dreams of a day off, sleeping in, breakfast in bed, perfectly dressed and behaved children, a clean house, just to name a few. Dreams, that is exactly what they are. The reality? Sick kid up all night before, kids up at 6:30 (husband still at work....), total disaster of a house........need i go on? I just laugh it off because as an adult, there really is no day off.

All joking aside though, I couldn't find more joy doing anything else. These little sweeties are what makes life great. Okay, them and my wonderful husband who cooked and cleaned for me today so I could play with them, which is really all I wanted to do for mother's day. I've been having fun finding matchy match clothes for Brynnli and I lately while she'll still let me. I feel like I owe it to her since she might not ever have a sister to match with.....so I made us some matching skirts to wear...hehe (she was excited about the skirt actually, just not having her picture taken...EVER)
We had Rick's parents over in the morning for breakfast before church, Rick cooked and did a great job!

And of course I"m so thankful for my awesome mom, I can't imagine what kind of person I would be without her example. Yay for moms!!!

Breakfast with Carson

2011-05-03T18:53:00.000-07:00

Carson's preschool had a mother's day breakfast today, which was so fun. It was so special to spend some quality time with him, what a sweet boy. They sang us a cute little songwe ate breakfast together and Carson made me a cute little necklace.

Can't believe this little boy starts Kindergarten in the Fall.....does anyone know how to freeze time?

Easter and Egg Hunts

2011-04-25T19:20:00.000-07:00

I spent so much time this month thinking about how excited I was for us to wear matching outfits to church and what we were going to eat, and then I realized I had completely lost the meaning of Easter itself. I LOVED talking with my kids about Jesus and all he has done for us, and hope I can teach them to remember what's really important in addition to all the fun stuff. It was a really nice day, good family time, good talks in church, and good food and family.

Then of course there were the usual festivities leading up to Easter, egg hunts at school, and at the park, which Rick got to come to, which was so nice. Last year me and my prego self lugged the two to the Easter stuff solo....not nearly as fun.

30?

2011-04-25T18:03:00.000-07:00

When did that happen?

It's funny how in my head I'm still stuck at 21, like when I see people and I'm like, they're not that much younger than me, but yep, they are. I remember when Rick and I first got married we had some friends who were approaching 30 with three kids and I remember thinking....man are they OLD. They were so fun, but I thought their life was over. They went to bed early, rarely went on dates.....oh wait....that's my life NOW. Except, oddly, I am very OK with that. I don't feel sad that I'm 30, I feel like, well, I am married with three kids, it's about TIME. Now maybe all those moms at preschool won't look at me like I"m CRAZY when I say I"m 29 with three kids:). I"m ready for 30. And most the time I secretly like sitting around in my jammies watching movies on the weekends....

Anyways, so for my 30th we had a lowkey day. I got up and the kids opened my presents.I went and got my nails done and then stopped by Brynnli's school to help with her Easter party (did I mention Brynnli started school? That will be a another post....)We had a blast at the pool and had strawberry shortcake for dessert (my favorite....since I dont' actually like cake much)It was a great day.

The next night Rick and I headed out to see the play Wicked and have dinner at Chima, a Brazilian steakhouse. Rick's parents rushed back from out of town to babysit, since I'm too neurotic to trust any teenager with all three of our kids:) Thanks Tolberts! We had a blast, but forgot our camera....so we took this one when we got home. What a great birthday! Did I mention Rick got a cruise for his 30th birthday? Just sayin..... mine will be coming soon I'm told....once Cole's older and...We're waiting for our cruising buddies the Wernlis who just had twins to come!!

Spring Break

2011-03-26T19:38:00.000-07:00

This was the first year we had a real Spring Break because Carson was actually in school and got one (even though it's still just preschool....) It was so nice not having to be up and dressed by 8:30 to take Carson to school last week, I am dreading next year when he goes at 7.... anyway....

We went to the beach, the water was still a little chilly......but we had fun anyways!It was Cole's 2nd time at the beach, first time in the water and sand, he LOVED it. Brynnli was trying desperately to rinse the sand off in this little bucket....

Carson brought his dump trucks...

Brothers

We did something last minute and decided to go to Sea World...we literally decided and left in a matter of an hour. I was so proud of myself.

The kids have never been and loved feeding the seals, petting dolphins and stingrays, and watching the shows. This was their favorite show the seal and otter show, we watched it twice.

Brynnli struggled the second day to be in a good mood at times....as you can see by her refusal to take this picture that she begged me to wait in line for. Love it.

It was a fun week!

Friends and Family

2011-03-20T18:33:00.000-07:00

Okay, last blog from our trip LAST MONTH to Utah. Rick's family left after the first week and we stayed out there to visit some family and old friends and hang around Provo and remember when we were young and irresponsible....

We stayed at my aunt and uncles for a few days and had a big snowstorm while we were there. The kids had a blast playing outside AGAIN in the snow. Cole really hadn't been out to play in the snow at all until this, he was mostly excited about it:)
I think he liked the snow, but wasn't a huge fan of his marshmallow suit.....

We started and ended our trip with a visit to urgent care with Cole. He slept awfully pretty much the whole trip so I was convinced both times he had an ear infection.....the jury is still out on that one...I think he just likes his own bed.My parents drove out for part of the weekend to see us and that was so fun! We went bowling, out to Kneaders for breakfast, and back to the Brick Oven for dinner, and just played. The kids were so excited to see their Grandma and Grandpa.

And my sister Nicole goes to school in Provo so we were able to see her lots, which was so nice. We went to Cafe Rio, Red Robin, shopping, and got to see her apartment.

I very possibly look intoxicated in this picture, but it was the last day of our trip and I think 15 days of sketchy sleep had finally gotten the best of me.

The kids LOVED bowling, so much that Carson decided that's what he wanted to do for his birtdhay party.

You know how there's those kind of friends you can not talk to or see for awhile and then just pick right back up with when you get together? That's how we felt when we got to hangout twice with some of our best friends from BYU days, the Adamsons. Our kids seriously had a blast with their kids, and we had a blast with them.

We met up with my cousin Elise and her hubby and sweet little girl. I guess I wasn't super good at pictures this day, but did happen to snap this one while the kids played ring around the rosy. Did I mention this trip made me really want a basement? None of those in Florida. We also met up with two of my other cousins Janelle and Joel and their families (I haven't seen Joel since I was in 9th grade!) Somehow I forgot to take any pictures...lame.

Of course we hit a few things we miss from Provo too.....mostly food. In and out, Tucanos, Cafe Rio (multiple times), and the mall. This was the coolest train that just cruised all over the mall. Love it.

All in all a fun trip. Can't wait to go back!

Utah...Temple Square

2011-03-13T21:36:00.000-07:00

Temple square in downtown Salt Lake is one of my favorite places in Utah. We went on a Sunday morning and a few of us went to watch and listen to The Spoken Word in the old tabernacle while the rest of us watched it in the visitor's center. The kids LOVED the visitor's center and Brynnli asked to go back all day to see the Christus. They were also interested when we pointed out where President Monson's office was.

I wish Carson wasn't wearing this hat in this picture...but oh well.After the Spoken Word was over, we let the kids go in and check out the tabernacle. My favorite part and the kids of the day was the Church history museum. It was seriously awesome upstairs where they had a fun kids exhibit.

So fun!

Too much Birthday

2011-03-10T18:22:00.000-08:00

Carson's birthday was earlier this week....I've been trying to post since then but blogger and I are not getting along right now.....

Anyways....has anyone read the book The Berenstein Bears and Too Much Birthday? It's one of our favorites around here and I feel like it was pretty much how Carson's birthday went at one point. I'll get to that. We started out the day opening presents, and went out for breakfast to our usual birthday place. Then Carson was off to school. We showed up with sugar cookies (Carson's request) and juice boxes for his class. He was so happy....but didn't like the sugar cookies (not sure why....) and ate one bite. He didn't care though and smiled the whole time. There went two hours of my time wasted:)

After nap time (Brynnli and Cole's) we took him and his two best boy friends bowling (his request again). The boys and Brynnli had a blast and it was all going great until halfway through the game when Carson had a full on meltdown...."because he was hungry." This is when the too much birthday story came to mind. As a side note, all the kids did well, but Brynnli kicked some serious butt (due to the ball roller thingy I think...but still she got two strikes) It was too funny too that Carson's friends were helping her carry her ball and put it on there.....who says chivalry is dead?And Cole....he had a blast in the stroller for a good while, until Grandma and Grandpa showed up and he realized he had options....

Then we headed off to Carson's favorite pizza restaurant (yes with all FIVE kids...but that's what Carson wanted) where things magically improved again. I think he really was hungry.

We went back to our house for cake and to play for awhile. We won't talk about how Carson also didn't eat any of his cake......

Woody and Jessie even made an appearance!

And then Carson got to play school, which he wanted to do most of all. Here's what he asked for for his birthday:

His own stapler, his own tape, and his own camera. He loves to play school right now. He also wanted some lego things and trucks....he's not totally crazy:)

Here's what he's up to at five: (this is for my journaling...so skip ahead if you want...)

He can write his first and last name without any help, knows all his letters and numbers through 15, and how to write them and can count to thirty. He also knows how to count in Spanish. He knows how to add with his fingers, and about ten sight words. THANK YOU PRESCHOOL!!! I can't take credit for much of this because he won't ever let me teach him anything! Thankfully his preschool teacher "knows way more than me" and he listens to her. He is a very good boy at school and listens to most everything his teacher says.

He loves garbage trucks still, trains, trucks, playing school, playing outside, and riding his bike. He has an incredible imagination.

He is 45 inches tall and 33 pounds. He requires only minimal sleep.....

We are so thankful he's around!

Utah trip Part 2

2011-03-05T20:17:00.001-08:00

I'm so behind at blogging the rest of our trip to Utah, but here it is anyways. The days we weren't skiing were spent doing all kinds of fun things.

Rick and I went out on the town in Park City for Valentines (but a day late...i.e. no crowds)

We took the kids to the heated pool for a Polar Bear Swim....which they LOVED!

Cole was too little for the swim but came to watch:)

Fun snow time

And of course, for all of us to enjoy skiing, we had to take turns watching the kiddos. It was a fun time. But man, watching two infants, two three year olds and a five year old was busy!

Carson helped us out a lot! I love this shot of him having a heart to heart with cousin Matthew

Grandma and Grandpa T. definately did MORE than their share of babysitting too....I just wasn't around with my camera to get a picture!

The Cole-man

2011-03-03T18:21:00.000-08:00

That's what we call him. So when you're the third kid, sometimes your mom might remember you are six months old that day while you're flying on an airplane....which is what happened to Cole. Happy six month birthday kiddo....spent sitting on a plane flying to Utah for eight plus hours! These types of posts are just for me and journaling...so skip ahead if you want:) Here's what Cole's doing at six and a half months....

-Sitting really good, and reaching, and rolling, and up on all fours trying to crawl with his bum in the air.....I really don't want him to crawl yet.....too many choking hazards around in our house on the floor....

-Eating baby food...although he doesn't LOVE it. What does he love? Anything we're eating. Soon enough...smart boy.

-Says ma ma and really means me. He looked right at me the other day and said it. He says all kinds of other things too...dadadada....and babbles to himself.

-He's a mammas boy....for now...until he realizes daddy is way more fun. But I've got the food.

-Loves paper (and ate a huge pink peice the other day....it came out...just as it went in..in case you were wondering), loves putting everything in his mouth, and LOVES the bath and water

-He's our chunker weighing in at around 18 pounds, the same weight Brynnli was at over a year old.

-He sleeps good for naps....he goes to bed super easy.....but still isn't sleeping through the night....too hungry I guess.....

-He is just the sweetest tempered little guy....we are all smitten. If I knew I'd have another just like him I'd go for another kid for sure....

Park City!!

2011-03-02T18:41:00.000-08:00

For Rick's dad's 60th birthday this year we celebrated by all flying out to Park City, Utah to go skiing. It was awesome. The day after we got there we headed down to BYU to rent some skis. All of us getting fitted was a little crazy.....

But oh was it worth it. The first day we took Carson and Brynnli and Rick's sister and her husband took their Kaitlyn. It was so fun. The kids were really good, actually that first day they might have been better than me......I was a little rusty. Not that I was ever very good to begin with.....They were both going down mostly by themselves that first day, Carson would just fall down when he got going to fast. He was so cute. We tried to stay with Brynnli but she kept saying "don't help me, I do it myself." She is fearless. I wish I was like that. This was the second time we took the kids, had to stop for snacks and to eat snow. And of course, the lodge for lunch.

Since I prefer to stay on the easy slopes and Rick loves to go really fast, one of the days (Valentines Day) the girls (me, Rick's sister Trish, and his mom) stayed home while the Rick and his dad hit the slopes. They had so much fun. Isn't it beautiful?

And one day we got to go skiing by ourselves, which was awesome. The last day we brought Grandma so she could watch the kiddos in action.

Grandma and Grandpa

It was so fun! My favorite moment of skiing? Watching the kids of course, but a close second...watching Rick crash (for the only time on the trip)on the easy slope while trying to take a picture of me (going really slow....)

Hehe.....

Happy Birthday Fancy Brynnli

2011-02-24T19:46:00.001-08:00

This birthday post is a few weeks late sadly..... Brynn's birthday was the day before we left for Utah for two weeks. She was such a cute fancy birthday girl though! We asked her what she wanted for her birthday and she said clothes!!! Fancy clothes to be exact.....we definately in trouble in a few years. I can't even count how many times she changed her clothes on her birthday.....

In the morning we opened presents and went out to breakfast

Then while Carson was at school, we picked up Brynnli's best friend Izzie and went to ride ponies, they had so much fun together!We stopped by the house first though and the girls couldn't help but try on some dressups first....Then we picked up Carson and headed to Chicfila for lunch, and headed home to take naps!Then we brought out the bounce house and ate pizza and Fancy Nancy cake for dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Tolbert
Fancy Nancy herself even made an appearance:) Great idea Grandma!

It was a great day!!

Just a few of my favorite things about Brynnli right now:

First.....she's finally potty trained!!! This has been a LONG time coming.

She loves to be girly and dressup, and have her nails done, and play dolls and barbies.

She can count to fifteen, and knows a few numbers and letters.

She LOVES to dance and LOVES dance class.

She's still napping everyday......(fingers crossed)

She's fiesty, which she gets from me, and I am constantly reminded of my mom saying "someday you will have a daughter just like you..."

I'm so glad though, because as Brynnli likes to say, "mom, we're girls!" I love having a daughter.

Park Day

2011-01-29T17:38:00.000-08:00

We've had a nasty week over here of sick kids and parents....we needed to get out of the house. This was exactly what we needed!

Cole went on the swing for the first time....we'll have to perfect it I think....he liked trying to eat it....:) Hoping next week will be a little better!

Another year older.....

2011-01-22T17:51:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Rick! (ok...a couple days late)

Last year Rick and I were on a cruise by ourselves.....this year was still fun but less crazy.

We took the kids out for breakfast before schoolRick and I snuck off to eat lunch by ourselves at an old favorite restaurant of Rick's, Rustic Inn. Notice how Rick has crab legs and I have chicken fingers....I told him he's lucky that I'm a cheap date:)Rick wanted to take the kids camping for his birthday, so we did. We went around the corner to a park by our house and set up camp. Cole was excited about his first camping trip.The most memorable part of the trip was that after dinner it started pouring rain. We jumped up and huddled together under the lifted up gate in the back of our caR. We were going to just head home and do cake there, but our camping neighbors invited us to come over and use their trailer awning, so we had birthday cake over there and made new friends!!
I was up in the air as to whether or not Cole and I would stay the night, but we decided to be adventurous and do it. He was a trooper like always, and slept great on his packnplay mattress in the corner of the tent. The other two had a blast telling campfire stories at bedtime and playing in the tent. In usual Tolbert fashion, the kids wokeup bright and early (notice its still dark outside) to cook breakfast on the fire. It was a fun trip! Our tent is getting a little small though, it seemed much bigger last time we used it when we just had Carson! Happy Birthday Rick! Rick was lucky this year and got an new Canon T2i camera for his birthday, so our pictures should start to look much more amazing!! (or so you'd think at least....)

Our little big boy

2011-01-13T19:20:00.000-08:00

Love this sweet little smile!

Cole turned five months old this week! I can't believe that he's growing so fast! Here's what hes up to at five months.... (mostly just journaling for me)

-Coles been loving the exersaucer....although it took the ladies putting him in it at the gym to remind me he was old enough for it!

-He just started eating baby food and rice cereal, he LOVES it, he had peas first, sweet potatoes, carrots, and loved them all. I waited with the other two until they were a little older, but Cole's a chubbier guy and has been waking up more at night.... so I thought, he's probably hungry!

-He also just started sitting up (he's still a little wobbly) and is rolling all over the place

-He is such a happy and smiley guy as long as someone is around to look at him, he loves to just catch your eye and smile

-He LOVES water and the bath

-He loves his brother and sister and loves when they play with him

-He has two blocked tear ducts... which make his eyes look goopy a lot...hope they clear up soon!!

What a fun little guy...we love him so much. And those kissable cheeks....so glad to have a chubby baby finally!!!

Christmas

2011-01-04T19:41:00.001-08:00

We wokeup bright and early and opened presents at our house first before we headed over to Grandma and Grandpas for more. We kept these two in the hall while we got our cameras ready .... Brynnli loved the present Carson got her.....I loved this cute hug.Cole slept through all the present opening and wokeup at the end

Then we headed over to the Tolberts (sr.) for more gifts... Does this guy resemble the big guy just a little? Minus the beard? Ho Ho Ho!!

I'm sure there's tons of kids out there who got recycle cans for Christmas....totally normal:)

We suprised Grandpa with a family ski trip next month for his 60th birthday. We're all headed to Park City Utah! Wohoo! Rick headed off to work overtime Christmas night....but it was a great day.

Christmas Eve Florida style

2011-01-04T18:25:00.000-08:00

This was our year to celebrate with Rick's family and it was great because we didn't have to pack or fly, we just hungout and had a fun time.

We started a new tradition this year (Rick's sister Trisha and I decided to make it one) of going to the beach on Christmas eve. It was too chilly for us Floridians to swim (probably in the sixties), but we played on the playground and in the sand and had a blast! The kids may have ended up partially in the water......

Maybe next time we'll go in the water!

We came home, took naps, unwrapped our one Christmas eve present, and then headed to Grandma and Grandpas for dinner with Cuban food and Christmas caroling. The kids had a blast singing Christmas carols, Brynnli was especially cute belting out the words so loudly, even though she didn't know all of them. After caroling the kids acted out the nativity. At one point the "Marys" (played by Brynnli and Kaitlyn) got into a bit of an argument over baby Jesus....who was played by.....sweet "Coleman" No Christmas is complete without putting out food for Santa, but more importantly, the reindeer, afterall, how else do they know where to land? And then, the matching jammies!

We left Grandma and Grandpas to do secret Santa duty.... my favorite memories of Christmas as a kid were of our family helping out another family in need. The kids loved this, and thought it was so funny to watch Rick sprint to the car afterwards!!!

Twas the night after Christmas.....

2010-12-26T12:09:00.000-08:00

You know how being an adult means that days like Christmas and your birthday aren't quite the same anymore?

This is what my house looked like last night when I got home from Rick's parents house at bedtime by myself with all three kids (Rick was working overtime....)For a second I thought we'd been robbed.... but then I remembered in the two hours we'd been home that morning, WE had actually made this mess.

Who knew that three little cuties could make such a mess? THREE hours I spent cleaning it all up. Merry Christmas to me. It was worth it though. What a fun day.

Countdown to Christmas

2010-12-22T12:19:00.000-08:00

Christmas is in full swing over here in Florida, despite the lack of snow. I love traditions at Christmas and have been trying to continue on with some of the ones I remember from my family growing up. Rick's sister Trisha and her family have been here and we've been having a blast. Last night we went to a drive through lights place and left Cole and their new baby Matthew with Grandma and Grandpa and went to dinner and to look at lights. It was fun.The kids liked being out of their seatbelts and Brynnli liked driving the carWe decorated treats and have been having fun delivering them all week to our friends and neighbors

And we had our fourth annual Tolbert/Wernli Christmas on Sunday. It's nice to have friends who feel like family. Grandma and Grandpa T. joined in on the fun too.

Carson was just as excited to clean up the garbage as he was to open his gifts:)The kids had so much fun playing together, I can't imagine that next year there will be two more boys joining in (Kim is pregnant with twin boys due in March). Then we will have more boys than girls! We got to reinact the nativity with some of friends too, it was really cute and a Carson and Brynnli always love to dressup. Carson was a sheperd, Brynn an angel, and Cole was baby Jesus.

This is my absolute favorite time of year, for so many reasons, but mainly because the kids get so excited. I have loved trying to teach them what it really is about also, and have loved the story The Last Straw. The kids have been having fun trying to do secret nice things for eachother. Love it!

Christmas at Preschool

2010-12-18T11:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Carson's class at preschool had their "holiday party" and Santa came. Brynnli, Cole, and I snuck in to watch and Brynnli was so excited she got a present too from Santa.

The whole class with Santa

We stayed after for a party with pizza and yummy treats and presents, I'm so glad Carson has loved school so much this year! But how nice will it be to stay in my jammies past eight for the next two weeks!!!!

Idaho Snow

2010-12-07T18:44:00.000-08:00

I'm still catching up from vacation.... two weeks later. While we were in Boise they got the most snow they've gotten in awhile and we loved it! Little Cole hungout with Grandma and Grandpa inside while we went out and had a blast!We did drag Cole out for two minutes for a picture, but he was miserable, so we scratched that. We built a snow tunnel.....

I built (with a little help from the kiddos) a giant snowman

We took the kids to the park and they had fun playing on all the equipment covered in snow.

Sledding in the backyard was a hit too.....so many fun things to do in the snow.

Carson could've stayed out there for hours shoveling....Brynnli was the same once we figured out how to keep her fingers warm.

Random pic of my mom and I cooking on Thanksgiving. We were so thankful to be there with everyone. I was very thankful that we don't live in a cold place....it's a lot of work with kids to keep them warm to get out of the house! I think I'd never leave!!! But it was a blast to visit!!!

We've actually had really chilly weather here since we got home and Carson keeps asking me when it's going to snow.....poor kid. I agree though, if it's going to be cold, you might as well get some snow! Won't be happening here anytime soon.....

Thanksgiving in Idaho

2010-12-05T20:38:00.000-08:00

We just got back from our trek across the country to Idaho for Thanksgiving. We had an awesome time. The kids keep asking to go back there. Cole got to meet all kinds of new people and ride on his first plane. He was a champ.

My sister and her family drove from San Fran in some pretty nasty weather to get to us and we were so grateful! The kids had a blast together.

All the cousins, ours would be the ones not smiling (except Carson)
Grandpa took a day off of work while we were there to take Carson and Brynnli on a "date" to the garbage truck transfer station and to get milkshakes and french fries at Sonic, they loved it.

Cole got to meet his uncle Ryan, who he won't see again until he's two! It was a rather bittersweet "see ya in two years" for all of us. Sniff..... but we are so PROUD of him.We were so excited to get to go to the temple with him for the first time too, while Aunt Nicky stayed at home to babysit the FIVE kids. Thank you!!!

Sweet Ryan seriously spent awhile trying to build this lego car for Carson that had eight bazillion peices....

Cole and his Aunt Jenny

Aunt Nicky

While we were there they got like nine inches of snow one day and it was awesome! Those pictures will be coming next.......

Tiny Dancer

2010-11-19T21:11:00.001-08:00

I'm going to be honest, it has been a really tough month for me. Life has just been a little too much sometimes to handle. So today I am thankful for little things that make me happy. Today I got to go watch Brynnli dance in dance class (which we only get to do once a month) and it made me happy. She is such a happy girl at dance class. I am so thankful for her.

Brynnli and her best friend Izzie

I am also thankful for Grandma who came to watch (which made Brynnli's day) and took pictures for me, since my hands were full with Cole. Thank you!!!

Suprise! and Fancy Nancy

2010-11-14T19:43:00.000-08:00

So....we went back again one more time.... to Disney. We couldn't help it. The Christmas decorations were up.... and Rick came home at six from work and I had secretly packed all the stuff and after dinner we told the kids we were leaving for Disney. It was really fun suprising them. That's all I'll say about it, since we've gone a bazillion times....but our passes are officially expired now and we're going to take a year off.

My friend Kim's parents introduced us to fancy Nancy on Halloween, and ever since then I keep spotting her at our house......couldn't resist.

Football

2010-11-08T17:36:00.000-08:00

Rick got free tickets from a friend for the Miami Hurricanes game this weekend, so we decided to take Carson and Brynnli and leave little Cole man with the grandparents. It was beautiful weather due to our first "cold front" and the kids loved it!

Brynnli's favorite thing: The "duck" otherwise known as the Ibis and mascot, and of course, the cheerleaders who, as she put it, kept "shaking their bum like I do in dance class."

Carson's favorite: watching the football game. He wanted to know everything about how the game worked, and was very disappointed when we left mid third quarter to put Brynnli down for her nap.

My favorite thing was that we all had matching shirts (not that you can tell by the picture....) which was so fun to me. Little Cole was all bundled up for the first time and had a blast with Grandma and Grandpa! I have to say though, the kids (and me...) were very sad about leaving Cole behind to go to the game at first. We love the little guy.

Halloweenish

2010-11-02T19:48:00.000-07:00

We did our usual stop by the pumpkin patch a few days prior to Halloween.... we went to a different one than usual and boy were we glad we did...............Who knew that the kids could get a wagon ride from none other than Michael Jackson himself (we weren't sure if he was in costume or not.....) Brynnli was pretty suspicious and looked very relieved when the ride was over. Since Halloween was on a Sunday this year we layed pretty low. We carved our pumpkin and then headed over to our friends the Wernlis so that the kids could hand out candy together. I really think they had more fun doing that than they would've trick or treating....and those kids that came to the door lucked out...Carson was pretty generous (to say the least)

Here's the little Colester....poor guy had a double ear infection this weekend....what a trooper. And in case you're wondering.... Brynnli is extremely unexcited about sitting still for pictures....we do love her just as much as the other two:)

Trunk or Treats

2010-11-02T17:38:00.000-07:00

We took the kids to two trunk or treats at church this year. The first one was in our friends Chris and Kim's ward. Up until that night I was under the impression that Brynnli was dressing up at Snow White and Carson as a fireman.....but they ended up as...

Cinderella and her handsome prince....if I'd only known I would've tried to coordinate Cole's costume (or lack of costume that night....)

For our ward.....Carson was a fireman, Brynnli was Snow White, and Cole was a Dalmatian

It was so much fun!! The kids were so cute !

Party of five at Disney

2010-10-27T18:26:00.000-07:00

We have tried for the last three weeks to go to Disneyworld. Each time, the night or day before we planned to leave, one of the kids came down sick. I wish I could say this time was different, but no.... this week was Cole's turn. His sweet little immune system held out as long as it could in our germ infested house....and finally gave in. One trip to the doctor and one packed nebulizer later we decided to go anyways. Our annual passes are about to expire next month. I wasn't sure what to expect with a sick two month old, but it was mostly awesome. The kids had a BLAST as usual, and Cole I swear LOVED the parades already. He was kicking and talking the whole time (when he was awake). Poor little guy is our youngest yet to have a breathing treatment though.....that's what you get when you're the third kid with a brother in preschool. And..... Cole slept through the night both nights in the hotel room....I wish that had continued since coming home.......

Carson loved the go karts as usual.....

Brynnli loved the princesses.......

It was a great trip. I was sort of hoping it would be a nightmare so that I wouldnt' be tempted to pay for those passes again next year........ we shall see.

My favorite Missionary

2010-10-15T17:28:00.001-07:00

Believe it or not, this is my baby and only brother Ryan (and my beautiful little sister). He's not a baby anymore, hes taller than all of us. He just got his mission call this week to serve a two year mission for our church in Budapest, Hungary. I must admit I had NO clue where it was. I'm awful at geography. I am so proud of him I could burst and absolutely cannot believe my baby brother is 19. He was nine when I left for college! Apparently, Budapest is a beautiful city and I am starting now to take donations so I can go pick him up in two years! I know he's going to do a great job.

Two months

2010-10-12T17:48:00.000-07:00

I'm a little late on this blog, but we're sick over here again (I promise no more complaining..) and I haven't had much spare time. I love this little guy.

Just a few fun facts about Cole at two months.....

Cole.... loves the bath and swimming, loves our ceiling fan, loves to look at Carson and Brynnli and smile, loves the swing, loves his paci (yay!) is our most split uppey baby, is finally getting over his nightime crying (I think...), and is still waking up quite a bit to eat at night. This was how my attempt went at getting a picture of all three:) I will keep trying.......

Carson's first soccer game

2010-10-06T19:17:00.000-07:00

Carson had his first soccer game and on Saturday. It was so fun. He was so excited since his last two practices and real first game had been rained out the week before. He was also excited that daddy is helping coach his team. He didn't really know too much about how to play an actual game since they only had one practice previously, so the game was funny to watch. He did very good though. Here's him doing a corner kick. There is no referree so Rick was on the field with the kids with the coach of the other team.

Brynnli, Cole, and I sat on the sidelines under the shade since even though the game was at nine a.m. it was still hotter than anything out. I had an ah hah moment while watching the game though. It may have had something to do with the strange looks I was getting, and funny questions like, "wait.... (upon examining the newborn strapped to me and my two year old holding onto my leg) and you have another one playing?" or "wow....you must like children." All of a sudden I realized, I am a soccer mom? Not possible, I am still 21 right? I don't have three kids under four....? I feel like just yesterday I was playing myself, or watching my siblings play....I am old! When did that happen?

For the grandparents

2010-10-05T09:35:00.000-07:00

Be warned, this is a cheesy mom video of Cole, mostly just for the grandparents. Really, the last fifteen seconds is the cute part, so here it is. Sweet baby.

Shakin it

2010-09-30T14:42:00.000-07:00

Brynnli thinks everyday is dance class, even though it's only once a week. She wears her dance clothes pretty much everyday to take Carson to school, she's hilarious. Her dance teacher had asked if we'd practice some steps with them at home so today when I dropped Carson off at preschool I asked Brynnli what she wanted to do and if she wanted to practice tap and ballet.....she thought for a sec and said "No mom, I want to shake it." I was curious what she meant so I got home and put on the music and let her go crazy....watch to see, it was really cute.

Living the Life

2010-09-21T19:10:00.000-07:00

This is what my kitchen counter looks like tonight. I would put the medicines away, but it's too hard to get them out every few hours, especially with one hand (Cole has claimed my other one). Thank you preschool for all the germs. The last week and a half or so has been consumed by this. We even had to visit the ER. Is it even flu season yet? I think not. Not good news for us. Lucky for Rick, he got to escape the madness two weekends in a row by going to some football games. I won't pretend I was a saint and didn't complain a little......but I'm glad he had fun.

We didn't do much while he was gone, because we are a walking circus, but we did watch the game and try to support our teams. I bought the kids matching shirts, but once again, Brynnli refused to wear hers. She is forever a princess.

My boys

Hopefully I will be able to clean off my counter soon!!

Sweet Cole

2010-09-11T10:37:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my little baby is one month old. He is so fun. He LOVES to eat....in fact I'm pretty sure he may be my one shot at having a chubby baby. He just started smiling today, and he has a cute little dimple on his left cheek that I love. He won't take a pacifier so far (any suggestions?) He isn't sleeping a bunch yet, but someday.

As I hold him I can't help but think that this might be my last baby. It might be the last time I hear those cute little baby noises and smell that cute baby smell.....and it might be the last time I spend 20 out of 24 hours nursing:) or literally running out of the store (last night I tried to take him shopping and left after twenty minutes) because my baby is screaming balistically. But who knows? We love the little guy and are enjoying him as much as is possible.Happy one month birthday little guy!

And to make it even, I had to add this picture of Brynnli from her second day of ballet/tap class. She is such the princess. Perfect for our only girl. She asked me every morning this week if it was dance class day. What a girl.

Super Star

2010-09-07T06:32:00.001-07:00

You know how before you have kids you always say stuff like, "when I have kids I will NEVER do that..." and then after you actually have kids most of those things happen...

Well, before I had kids and even until recently, I would get annoyed at parents who would brag obnoxiously about their kids achievements or whatever....and now I guess I am going to be one of them. I'm just really proud of Carson....he got picked for Star Student the first week they did it at school (I know it's just preschool....but I'm a proud mommy) The ladies at his school are in love with him.... when I go into the school I keep having these random teachers come up to me saying, "oh, you are Carson's mom?" I've officially lost my identity.

The funniest part really was the questionnaire they sent home for us to fill out....
My favorite question: What do you want to be when you growup? Carson's answer: a garbageman....well actually a recycleman. (with no hesitation.....) We are so proud.

All by myself.......

2010-08-31T10:29:00.000-07:00

My help has all abandoned me. I was feeling pretty good about this three kid thing with my parents here helping and Rick taking time off work....and then everyone went back to their real lives, including me. We're surviving over here on short amounts of sleep and a not to spotless house, but it was great having my parents and Rick home to help for awhile. Here's some pictures of the kids with my parents...... We went out on an airboat tour (I left Rick home with Cole and a bottle...) to see alligators...who were apparently all sleeping underwater that day...

We had to hit up Jaxons for their famous ice cream

And we even took the kids to a water park for a work event for the fire department (which was sadly how Cole got his sunburn under a lifeguard umbrella)

The rest of the time was spent playing at our house, swimming, and going to Chicfila.

Thanks mom and dad for helping out so much....what would we have done without you??? The kids have a countdown going now for Idaho and Thanksgiving......

Cole's Blessing

2010-08-25T10:08:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday we blessed Cole at church. It was so special especially because both our parents were there. My dad has never gotten to fly out for my other babies, so it was very special that he could help bless Cole. Our best friends, the Wernlis came too....love this picture.Sweet Cole had a rough weekend....he got pink eye and a mild sunburn. Welcome to the world!

Eight years

2010-08-25T06:48:00.000-07:00

Rick and I celebrated our eight year anniversary yesterday. We escaped and left my parents with the THREE kids while we grabbed dinner. Cole will actually take a bottle unlike my other two kids, so I can actually leave for a few minutes every now and then! It was nice to get out and spend some one on one time together:)We couldn't help but remember that just last year for our anniversary we got to spend a week on a cruise together......ahhh.....that won't be happening again for a LONG time.....it was a good time. I'm so thankful for Rick and for how much fun we have together!!

Preschool

2010-08-23T07:36:00.000-07:00

Carson started real preschool today. Sniff. In Florida it is free for kids to go to preschool the year before they start kindergarten. So Carson will be going everyday in the morning for three hours. He was a little hesitant at first this morning when he wokeup, but got over it by the time we left. HE was very excited to go with his backpack. I on the other hand was a mess. I held it together until I had to leave him there....and then cried like a baby in the car in the parking lot for awhile. Sniff....here I go again. Carson went right in and started playing... And then sat down on the rug when the teacher said it was time for the parents to leave....I would've stayed... :(

I can't believe I have a kid this old. I am so proud and excited for him though. I think. Sniff....

One Week Old (yesterday)

2010-08-17T06:24:00.000-07:00

Happy one week birthday to our little man. I started this yesterday and it took me a little longer than I thought to figure out the video....but here it is. I have a little more free time than before to blog while I'm stationed nursing half the day:) Hope you like it!

Hanging out

2010-08-16T06:48:00.000-07:00

We've just been enjoying our time together as a big new family of five while Rick is off of work:) Heres some pictures:

Cole checking out his activity center......

Cole's first bath....he loved the warm water!

One of these is Carson and one is Cole....same jammies....couldn't resist....which is which? Any guesses?

Top is Carson, bottom is Cole. So fun to compare them.

The Circus begins

2010-08-12T12:21:00.000-07:00

We're home! We are a little crazy.....getting no sleep....you know the usual. We came home yesterday morning and suprisingly actually got out of the hospital faster than expected, so the kids ended up meeting us at our house instead of the hospital. This poor woman who had to push my out of the hospital could barely walk....I was like....I can walk? The FIVE of us.....how weird that soundsCarson and Brynnli had so much fun showing Cole around the house....they are too cute with him.Pretending to sleep for a few minutes in his cradle....that was the last time he slept there I think...for more than five minutes....we're working on that.

And here's a few pics leftover from the hospital....

I am in love with this baby. He is such a little sweetie, I'm glad I didn't get a girl like I had thought I wanted:) He's perfect.

Baby Cole

2010-08-10T06:47:00.000-07:00

He's here! He came yesterday at 12:52 and weighed 7 lbs 6 oz. I was pretty much in labor all night at home and then got to the hospital around nine in the morning and out he came...I was sorta hoping to get a nap after my epidural before it all went down....but he was ready to come out. He's a sweetheart. You'll have to excuse the fact that I look AWFUL. A few days before having Cole I came down with a nasty cough etc. which turned into double pink eye by Saturday, right before having him.

The kids came over yesterday and were super cute him and wanting to look at all his fingers etc. Carson was also very curious about what I was feeding Cole.....

Love this last picture. We are so blessed.

Not to mention we got an awesome night of sleep last night. I'm sure we're in for it now though.....

Roughing it....

2010-08-01T18:31:00.000-07:00

Rick and I wanted to take the kids to do one last fun family outing before we have the baby and things are crazy for awhile. We decided to go camping an hour or so north of here at this place called Lion country safari. We did it last year and it was great. We went with Rick's parents in their camper, which is the only way I would ever camp in July 9 months prego. It was really fun. Eating smore's is a must

The kids helped Rick drive through the park to see the animals

We played at the water park

Fed giraffes

Went on rides

And hungout in the camper

The kids weren't too sure about eating dinner outside becasue they were soo distracted by all the flies! We'll have to work on that...

It was really nice to get away for a few days and have an excuse not to clean and get ready for the baby.

Maid for a day

2010-07-19T11:02:00.000-07:00

Today the most amazing thing happened to me. I wokeup, played with my kids, took them to the pool, came home and my house was spotless!!! I"m talking about furniture being moved and vacuumed under, dust sucked out of secret places......it was amazing. How did this happen you ask? As a baby gift, my good friend sent her cleaning lady over here for the day.....I'm calling her my fairy godmother.....now if only she could do the same thing to me that she did to my house.....:) Thank You Maria!!!!

The Brynnlis

2010-07-16T18:56:00.001-07:00

Brynnli had her first sleepover tonight with a little girl from church, Brinnli.

It just so happens that the two Brynnlis were born about a month apart, and when me and Brinnli's mom found out we were both planning to name our girls Brynnli it was just too late to do anything about it. The funny thing was at the time Rick and I loved Brynnli's name because it was so unusual:) Or so we thought. I'm pretty sure now I've heard of dozens of them....

Our Brynnli, as we referred to her most of the night tonight to avoid confusing Carson, was hilarious and kept pointing to Brinnli and saying "mine wend (friend)" and "other nini". They really liked sitting together on this couch:) I couldn't help but think while Rick and I were sitting watching Carson and the two girls that actually our Brynnli was supposed to be a twin very early in my pregnancy, which ended up not happening, I can't imagine having two of her!!!!

Our project

2010-07-12T19:24:00.000-07:00

Another thing on my list of things to do before baby boy comes was to put get Brynnli out of her crib and into a toddler bed....and put her in Carson's room. I have been dragging my feet on this one because of her defiance in every other arena (ok...mainly potty training...which we have put on hold) and because I am secretly depressed about changing her cute purple girly room with butterflies into another boy room. So I decided to redo Carson's room to make it a little more fun....

Rick and Carson painted the room brown for me

The night after we painted the kids had a sleepover on the floor in Brynnli's old roomAnd then we put up her new bed in her "new" room. She was pretty excited.Her first night sleeping in a big girl bed went really well and so far so good. I made some comforters and curtains for their beds that are matching...but we are still waiting on a few decorations to come in the mail before I post a final picture. Onto the next thing on my list.....SLEEP!!!!

Together for the Fourth, Finally!

2010-07-08T17:36:00.000-07:00

It has been three years since Rick spent the fourth of July with us, he has worked the last three so we were so glad to have him around so we could do fun stuff together as a family. We took the kids to a parade on Saturday.... I must admit when we got there and we were parking at the beginning of the parade route and there was NO ONE there I was bummed, but I was wrong, it was an awesome parade! I was nervous the kids would be disappointed when they didn't get to see the princesses and Mickey like at Disney, but they got sooo much candy, even more than Halloween I think, and believe it or not, there were several princesses, awesome!!I decided I was brave enough to attempt fireworks with the kids since Rick was home.....they LOVED it. Brynnli just kept saying, "more daddy" and "whoa". Carson wanted to help light them all. Two little pyros in the making. It proved a little challenging since it was raining outside....I tried buying us all matching shirts to wear for the fourth....but was unsuccessful. I got to the rack of shirts and was pulling one out for all of us at Old navy in different sizes, and I got to Brynnli and handed her the shirt to which she looked up at me in disgust and said, "mommy, this boy shirt! I want that red dress!" So, the boys got matching shirts and Brynnli got a red dress (they didn't have the same one in my size.....big shocker:)She really is a princess in training.Her red dress was worn pretty much the whole week before the fourth....and then she fell asleep on the way to watch the fireworks and groggily watched a few before passing back out. What a silly girl. It was so fun to be together as a family.

The Dentist and Potty Training

2010-06-25T05:45:00.001-07:00

I have this long list of things to do before the baby comes in August, and one of them was to attempt potty training this crazy girl. I wish I had left well enough alone.

She caught on super fast and is peeing in the potty like a champ. Number two on the other hand.....well lets just say I have given up. She will probably be pooing in her pants until she gets married. So, one trip to the doctor, and several suppositories, treats, princesses, sticker charts, etc. later, I have admitted defeat. A month later....she won't go on the potty for number two..... she will hardly even go in her diaper. Anyone have any suggestions? Good thing she's so cute.......everything with Carson was sooo easy......

...Another one of the things on my list was to take Carson to the dentist for the first time. He was very good and sat still in the chair the whole time. The hygenist was very nice and it helped that they gave him stickers, a new toothbrush, and had Mickey Mouse on the TV.

He was a very good boy, and so was Brynnli who watched from the chair with me. Carson has been brushing several times a day since then without me bugging him, so I think it was a GREAT idea

What a good boy. We love him so much!

A three hour tour....

2010-05-30T18:29:00.000-07:00

So in the Bahamas the next day one of my brother in law's cooworkers took us on a tour out on a boat. We stopped by the straw market in Nassau, where Brynnli snagged a snow white purse and Carson got a shark tooth neclace....he was really more interested in watching the boats though...After the straw market we took a little ride over to this empty private island.....it was awesome. We felt kinda like VIP's. I'm not gonna lie though....I did feel a little bit like I was part of the Gilligan's island tour....The kids all had a blast on the beach. Brynnli was LOVING the water as usual, and Carson was digging roads on the island...One of the coolest parts of the whole trip though for me was that Carson went snorkeling with Rick (wearing a life jacket at my request) and loved swimming with the fish. We drove over to this other island after and he got in again and dove down with Rick to get conch shells off the ocean floor, it was pretty cute. The conch shells they got had all kinds of suprises in them though... like these baby hermet crabs (that Carson's holding in the picture) that started piling out by the hundreds, and this little tiny baby octopus...Later that night we got showered and went out to the beach for dinner. It was awesome that most the places we ate while we were there were right on the water....perfect spot for pictures....if only we had a super photogenic family:) Still...it was really fun.
This is my favorite pic of the Heyman fam....what cute smiles from their girls!

Preschool Graduation

2010-05-26T11:45:00.001-07:00

I had to interrupt my vacation blogging to include this.

Carson "graduated" from his little mommy and me preschool today, which was really cute and hilarious considering all but one of the kids in his class are going on to preschool again next year, but away from homes and moms since in Florida it is free the year before Kindergarten.

My friend Lindsey was amazing and made up these cute certificates and bags and a school bus cake for the party...it was really fun. After the party was over we had snacks and a swim party which was a blast also. We are so proud of Carson and all he learned this year and are excited (sniff.....sort of) for him to go to "real" preschool next year. I will miss him sooo much though....

And I couldn't help but including this picture of Brynnli on her new ride, given to us by our neighbors, she's a motorcylce mama, very fitting for her crazy personality:)

Bahamas Day One

2010-05-25T18:31:00.000-07:00

The Bahamas starting out excellently with a THIRTY minute plane ride, which is like the most amazing thing ever compared to our usual all day flight. I had to take a picture of us waiting outside the airport though with our suitcases because when RIck and I went there on our honeymoon we seriously sat outside waiting for our shuttle to Atlantis for like an hour while the driver ate his lunch on the curb..... not the case this time.We hungout at the house for awhile, got groceries, and then got all ready to go swim at the pool, and then as we finished applying sunscreen Jenny looked out the window and noticed it was raining. It didn't stop for the rest of the night. So we decided to venture out and find some authentic Bahamas food for dinner. We went to the Travelers Rest, which had decent food, but a really fun atmosphere. The live band was a big hit with the kids who spent most of the time dancing. It was the perfect way to spend the night.

This was how we rode in the car over there.... maybe......

Tourists

2010-05-24T17:23:00.000-07:00

Okay, so we really don't have people come visit us all that often, so we were thrilled that Jenny, Chris and their girls came to see us for a few days before we all headed to the Bahamas. We had fun doing tourist stuff along with them. We took them on an airboat tour in the everglades which was really fun. On the tour we saw one alligator and he was very cooperative and hung around our boat for awhile checking us out. He was next to Kate for quite awhile and she never seemed nervous or anything, just kept waving. The kids loved it.After the tour there were tons of animals and these little baby alligators that we could hold. None of the kids would hold them, but they were very interested.....I think at one point Brynnli tried to give him a kiss.

One day we hit the beach in Ft. Lauderdale, which was a blast.

Macy is such a smiler!

Jenny's husband Chris left a few days early to work in the Bahamas, while he was gone we hit the mall, and went to visit Rick at the fire station

And then we were off to the Bahamas....I have no idea how I will only pick a few pictures from this part of the trip to post... it was beautiful and so much fun. Stay tuned:)

Cousins

2010-05-23T17:26:00.000-07:00

We were so lucky to have my sister Jenny and her family here for the last ten days.... to say we had a great time would be an understatement. The kids especially had so much fun and were so cute playing together. Jenny and I have planned well and had our kids one year apart each, so it's Carson (4), Kate (3), Brynnli (2), and Macy (ten months), and then our little guy will be right in line. Our kids LOVED little Macy a little too much at times, but she was a good sport and such a cutie pie it made us excited for our little baby coming soon.

The kids had fun playing outside, swimming, and eatiang popsicles together.

This was what they spent most of their time outside doing, with Carson as chauffer.

Tons more pictures to come from all the fun stuff we did, but I'm still recouping from our trip to Bahamas......we miss you Heymans!

Girls/Boys Weekend

2010-05-09T18:51:00.000-07:00

Our church father son campout was this weekend and Rick was thrilled to take Carson. Carson was beyond excited.....and it went much better than two years ago when Rick took Carson for the first time and ended up driving the two hours home at midnight:) This time they had a blast! Carson stayed up late and wokeup early in true Carson fashion and was really excited to go on a canoe with dad..... Apparently Carson wasn't a big fan of the canoe..... could be for a few reasons.... the spiders they ran into that fell in the canoe, or the fact that Carson hit a bump and fell in the canoe and hit his head....or maybe he just isn't into canoeing....but apparently he pretty much yelled the last while of the trip....

He still had a blast with dad. It was fun too that he got to stay in the tent with one of his best friends Isaac.

Brynnli and I went off to the mall with her best friend Izzie and her mom and ate dinner, had smoothies, and shopped for clothes for the little girls. The girls got princess bracelets, rings from the quarter machine, and we let them loose for a little bit in the mall together. This is where they ended up. These two guys were playing music in a storefront and they had some little mini groupies. The girls seriously danced there for awhile and were so cute. It was so fun to have girl time. Saturday morning we did our nails, played and went to the pool. It was a great time.

Disney

2010-05-08T18:44:00.000-07:00

Yes, we went to Disney again. This will be the last time before the summer and the baby comes, it was pretty hot this time, we left the park midday both days to swim or cool off! But the kids didn't care, they loved it as usual. Brynnli really does think she's a princess.... seeing her face when she sees the princesses is priceless. What a girly girl. Carson was thrilled that sleeping beauty called him a handsome prince, and my favorite was when he asked Belle where the beast was. She said that he had gone to get more books for her library. They must have a class on what they're supposed to say to these questions.....the kids believed it though and repeated it all day:) We checked out Epcot this time which we've never done before.....this was us waiting for the Honey I shrunk the audience show....this was definately the cutest part of the show.

While we waited for the parade to start we played in the splash area and ate popsicles. It was really hot.

Our kids decided they both wanted to drive the racecars with Grandma and Grandpa Tolbert (who met us at Disney on their way back from vacation) instead of us, so we got to ride together:)

It is always so nice to just have family time together, we had a fun time:)

Swimming Lessons

2010-05-03T09:37:00.000-07:00

We have had a very crazy month....I can't even begin, but I couldn't help but do a blog today about how good the two kids are doing with swimming lessons. They are so cute. Carson learned how to swim last summer, but I wanted him to get more confident etc. and Brynnli LOVES to "swim" but doesn't know how or understand that she can't do it by herself. Anyways, they did really good today, here's some pictures. Brynnli finally let the teacher hold her today, she wouldn't go anywhere near her before. She was bribed with chocolate.

It has been a little cold outside for swimming here for Carson, he is always cold I guess due to the negative amount of body fat he has:) Sadly, I have been plenty warm due to the opposite problem.

I love summer and can't wait to spend it in the pool! How else will I survive a summer pregnancy?

Belated Easter

2010-04-12T11:42:00.000-07:00

We're still working on getting a decent Easter picture over here..... we all dressed up in matching stuff yesterday, but it was pointless to take a picture because Brynnli fell down this weekend and smashed her face....its skinned up and swollen pretty good, so this is all I've got for now from our church Easter egg hunt last weekend. The kids were really cute and had a blast!

Strawberries

2010-04-01T10:49:00.000-07:00

I think we have finally recovered from getting rid of the paci and returned to afternoon nap/quiet time (for now anyways). Ahh... the joys. But this picture was taken in the height of the madness a few days after we kicked the paci Carson got a cold....which for him equals the nebulizer or he gets bronchitis. He must've been pretty wiped out, he doesn't EVER do this.

One of my favorite things about spring is strawberries. Last year we heard about this yummy place to pick strawberries and the kids have been begging to go back all year. It finally got warm enough so we decided to go. The kids ate lots of strawberries, and the best part was the strawberry milkshakes we bought afterwards, which I may have a picture of but refuse to post due to the fact that I look a little more pregnant than I'd like in it.....but enough of that.

Brynnli wasn't in the mood for posing this day.... she was too busy eating. Just like mom.

Sleepless in South Florida

2010-03-21T17:11:00.001-07:00

She may look harmless, but don't be fooled, she's crazy.
We need your help. Five days....no sleep....well, no naps....none of us. This may not seem like a big deal, but I am pregnant people. I need rest!

Five days ago I had a brilliant idea to get rid of Brynnli's best friend, aka, her paci. Why? This is the question I've asked myself everyday for the last five days around one o'clock at naptime. It was no big deal to get rid of Carson's around the same age, she's only had it at bedtime for months now, no big deal right? Not! Well, not true. She couldn't care less. We told her if she threw her pacis away we'd buy her a princess. She loved it. She's happy as can be not napping, playing in her crib, whatever. She doesn't miss it at all. Not me. I want it back. She's two, she still needs a nap, Carson just quit needing one for goodness sake.

So I need your help, any advice to help keep me from going literally crazy? I have tried everything I can think of. I will not surrender my naptime yet.......

We're outnumbered.....

2010-03-11T12:16:00.000-08:00

ITS A BOY! Me and Brynnli are outnumbered.... coming from a family where girls always outnumbered the boys this makes me a little nervous:) But I can't wait! We need name suggestions though because I had only picked out girl ones since I was 99% positive that's what it was. Shows what I know. Carson is thrilled and still is pulling for his new brother "garbage truck". It was fun though because we took the kids to the ultrasound which we haven't done before and they loved it! Even though I think Carson was a little skeptical when the lady was pointing at the "face" and telling him that was his brother's face.... he was like, are we having an alien baby?

Carson's Birthday

2010-03-11T10:53:00.000-08:00

Carson's actual birthday was on Sunday, and also Rick was on duty, so we just celebrated with the three of us that day by opening presents, playing, and going to church.I made cupcakes for Carson to bring to his little sunbeam class at church. Brynnli ate one discreetly in the hallwayWe celebrated with daddy on Monday by going to watch airplanes at the airport and having a picnic. That night we had Carson's two best friends over for a "party". I have been very lame at bday parties this year and caved at the last minute and let him think he was having a party.

Carson is obsessed with having parades at our house all day long.... so I thought it was fitting to make him a Mickey mouse parade cake.

Carson is growing up so fast and loves anything Disney still, along with garbage trucks (still), legos, airplanes, monster trucks, and anything using his imagination. We are so thankful for him!

Happy Birthday Carson

2010-03-07T12:50:00.000-08:00

Our little Carson turned four today! Rick sent him this card which he loved! I'll add some more pictures later. Happy Birthday to our little guy!

Brynnli's Disney Birthday

2010-02-21T17:51:00.000-08:00

This post is pretty late because we've all been sick since we got back from Disney pretty much. But we had a great time! We decided this year to forego the birthday parties for both our kids and just take them to Disney since we have annual passes. It was really fun and the highlight for Brynnli again was seeing the princesses.

We went with our friends the Wernlis and Carson had a blast walking around with Jada. Half the time they were holding hands, which was hilarious.

My favorite part was when the kids met Sleeping beauty and she asked if Carson was Jada's prince charming and asked if she could come to their wedding. They both loved that.
Fun times. We're going back soon so I won't include too many pictures.

Birthday Girl

2010-02-11T17:36:00.000-08:00

Our little Brynnli turned two this weekend, and we spent pretty much the whole weekend celebrating. Here she is after church on Sunday in her birthday princess dress. She loves to wear princess dresses that she can twirl in.

We had Grandma and Grandpa over for cake on Saturday and sang to her. She loved it!

We broke out the bounce house on Saturday and let the kids run wild, they had a blast. We decided no birthday parties this year for our kids, I am basically too wiped out to plan any...plus they don't need to be any more spoiled than they already are:)

Super Bowl Sunday was kind of a lame day for a birthday, which is why we celebrated all weekend, but here is Brynnli at our friends house watching a movie. She was the only girl with five boys including Carson, what great odds:)
We are so lucky to have this sweet angel in our family. She is so spunky and hilarious and girly and we just love her! Carson especially.......Happy Birthday Brynnli!

Third times a charm

2010-02-04T17:45:00.000-08:00

Who could resist having another one of these little angels?

Carson

Brynnli

Here we go again.... we're pregant:) I'm about 13 weeks along and due mid August. We're totally excited and just finally told the kids. I went to the doctor today and heart little "it" for the first time. I took Brynnli and she loved it! She kept saying "ow?" Last night Rick and I were talking about what to name the baby and Carson said (very seriously) "How about garbage truck or rescue truck?" We're considering it......:)

The second week of March we find out whether "it" is a girl or boy....what do you think??

P.S. Tell yourself this is why I looked chubby in the cruise pictures:)

Cruising to 30

2010-01-30T10:20:00.000-08:00

So I know that I didnt' make a big deal out of Rick's 30th birthday on the blog, but it was because we left the very next morning to go on a semi- last minute cruise to celebrate! We left the kids with Grandma and Grandpa Tolbert and headed out with our best friends the Wernlis.We spent plenty of time by the pool lounging, but our ship was awesome and also had an ice skating rink, mini golf, roller blading, and our favorite....shuffleboard. Until the cruise I always thought it was just for old fogies.....well Rick is 30....but it was really fun, and Kim and I tore it up, sorry boys!Our other favorite thing to do at night after dinner in between the shows and dancing til late was play games (Ticket to Ride and Settlers of Catan). One night we setup shop in the pizza place in our formal attire....and another night we hungout in our jammies. This night (below) was the midnight buffet and we had been playing games in our jammies and headed up to have a snack....there ended up being this dance party by the pool where everyone was totally decked out for clubbing (see lady to my left) except for us. We worked it in our jammies and had a blast! The best part was that the next night there actually was a pajama party at the dance club, so naturally we showed up again in our jammies (the same jammies to be exact...)to find we were the only ones again.... it was kind of embarassing, but we got over it and had a great time. Kimberly hurt her hand right before we left and had a brace on on the cruise, which didnt stop her from beating all of us in mini golf and shuffleboard, she's a trooper:)

Our only port of call was Cozumel, Mexico, and we spent the whole day there doing all kinds of fun stuff! Luckily, Chris speaks awesome Spanish and was able to get the downlow into where we could go for authentic Mexican food. Seriously, this was as authentic as you get, there were like animal carcasses hanging all over.......the old Allison would've never been able to handle it:) The food was amazing though, and luckily none of us got sick (we didn't drink the water).
The cab driver also told us where to go for snorkeling, and it was sooo fun! I'm a big wuss and was nervous about it, but luckily the gang was very understanding and it turned out great. One of my best memories from this cruise was me and Kimberly trying to get out of the water with our flippers on to take a picture....the rocks were really slippery.....seriously! We laughed sooo hard!

Happy Birthday to Rick!

We missed our kids of course, but this was the perfect way to celebrate Rick's big birthday! We wish you could've all been there with us to celebrate!

Happy 30th

2010-01-20T20:51:00.000-08:00

Happy birthday to the best husband and dad we could ask for!!! Thirty years,,whoa he's old!!!

Our Boise Christmas

2010-01-12T18:56:00.000-08:00

This post has been delayed due to our computer dying days after we got home....it has regenerated itself for the time being.....

Our trip got off to a rough start....we were stuck in Denver for five or six hours (after flying five hours) waiting for our plane to get through this..... our kids both had to sleep in the airport for part of the night since our flight didn't finally takeoff until almost 1 am (3 am Florida time). Luckily, after that, the trip was awesome!!!

We had Christmas eve with my dad's brother and sister and their families that live in Boise. It is fun to have family nearby when we visit them!

I couldn't resist buying the kids matching jammies to wear christmas eve....Carson was so excited I told him he could open a present christmas eve and then totally bummed it was pjs. Poor guy.

This was how I spent my Christmas eve. Rick and I went upstairs to wrap presents after the kids were asleep and I was obviously VERY helpful.

Our kids of course wokeup at least two hours before the rest of the family was ready to wakeup and open presents. It was all we could do to hold them off!!!
Carson got a new garbage truck from Grandma and Grandpa....he was sooo excited!

The kids dancing in their jammies... they played soo good together.More matching outfits...And on Christmas we replaced our usual Bible reading with a reading of the children's version. Our kids are obsessed with dressing up like Mary and Joseph....Grandpa did a great job narrating:)

Our PreChristmas

2010-01-05T18:06:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Christmas with The Tolberts before we left for Boise since there was no way we could pack our presents. The kids had a blast!They got these new adorable chairs from Pottery Barn Kids for lounging. Since we got new couches recently, they have pretty much been banned from eating snacks anywhere around them, so these have come in handly.Carson got a toolbelt from The Freels which he loved too! These guys are soo spoiled! Brynnli got a girlie makeup kit with a curling iron, mirrior, hairdryer, etc. from The Freels. She loved it, especially painting her own nails! She is such a princess.

Grandma and Grandpa Tolbert, our very own papparazzi

And they got the kids this new toy.....love it! Some part of me just can't help but fastforward 13 years to when Carson has his drivers license and Brynnli is loving driving around with him....yikes!!!

And then we were off to Boise! More pics to come!

Go Broncos!

2010-01-04T17:28:00.000-08:00

We just got back from our trip to Boise and couldn't resist picking up these shirts at the airport to support Boise State tonight. I feel like I'm part from there even though I've never actually lived there...... anyways, yeah for football and bowl games and excuses to eat lots of food:) Go Broncos!