Cyrus John Tolman

So, as many of you know, something totally awesome happened this past week in our family. Almost two weeks late, and just in time for my birthday, the latest addition to our family arrived. It took a couple of days for us to debate, deliberate and decide on his name, especially since we wanted to be surprised when he came as to what he was. It was another totally awesome waterbirth for me and the midwife says that if she is my midwife for the next one she'll let me get in the water sooner for relaxing than she did with this one. Once he decided to come there was no time for anything but greeting him. Cyrus was 8 lbs and 21 and 1/4 inches long with reddish blond hair at birth. The kids are slowly starting to warm up to him. Keileigh's first reaction was, "But Mommy, I wanted a little sister!' and today she has deigned to call him "Mommy's baby" and give him kisses. Knut is as excited as can be to have another brother and Nevan is not really pleased, but willing to try to figure out how to share Mommy. We will be taking more pictures this week as we work on incorporating Cyrus into our family with the Christmas traditions going on this week.

If I don't post before then, I hope everyone has an awesome couple of holidays coming up!


At 4 in the morning as we were preparing to leave the birthing center.

Just a day old




Taken this morning right before church so Daddy would have a picture on the camera to show anyone who was interested. And no that isn't a bruise, it's a birthmark and he does have the Parker pout.

November's Going's-on

Things keep rolling on here. We've gotten snow a couple times now, but just barely enough for the kids to get excited and to think that Christmas must be here soon. Nevan loves to go outside to play with it, but it's too cold for Mommy and Daddy gives up fairly quickly too. Knut has progressed so far in school he is going back to half day classes. It is great seeing how far he has come in just a few short months. He loves to write sentences and has started sounding out the words for himself to write out without asking.


I hosted a Shutterfly party and received a free 8x8 book and a set of Chirstmas cards. I did the book for Nevan of birth to 2 years, so of course I had to take some recent pictures and he is a ham when the camera comes out.



Life in a bucket




This was the cover of the book.




As we get settled in, we are getting more involved with different activities and at a local ham radio meeting we got to listen to a presentation by Idaho power about electrical safety. It was kind of freaky to see those sparks and definitely a good reminder to be safe and aware of all the potential hazards around us.




The kids have been having lots of fun earning game time with Daddy. The current favorite game to play is a driving/flight simulator. They don't really do too bad, just Keileigh keeps thinking she can take her hands off the wheel and still go in a straight line.



The snow didn't last too long on this day, but it was enough for them to get all bundled up in their new jackets and scarfs and go stomping. Nevan loves to watch it come down and will yell, "(s)now, (s)now, come see" and drag whomever is closest to the window to watch too.




Once there was a snowman, Nevan's most favorite song to sing in nursery


He loves to sing it over and over


Christmas pictures

Sewing Projects

So, I know that I haven't really posted much over the past summer, but I have been sewing and crafting and generally keeping busy. Here's some of the projects that I've started/completed.


I made three dress for Keileigh for this summer using t-shirts and matching fabrics with some slight variations to the skirts that she loved to wear for twirling.


Same dress pattern, the square was set straight on this one instead of on point like the pink one.



Here's the last of the dresses, plus the boys ties, they are so easy to make and so much fun with the different fun fabrics available.


One of Keileigh's friends had a birthday and knowing how much he liked dinosaurs, I made him a dinosaur carrier.


Windy-this was the quilt I was working on for so long. I did a different variation from the ladies in my ward quilting group. Theirs were more tree skirts with some interesting angles. I drew this out on paper and liked it so much I had to make it. Finding the right fabrics was difficult, I searched really hard for the center fabric, but I couldn't find any the right shade, so I did the stitches in pale shades of the same color as the fabrics on a piece of white fabric.





For Knut's birthday he got a new shirt, a tradition we've done for the past couple of years, that he gets to pick out the fabric.


Spoiler warning: Rick and Desi don't look at the next few pictures unless you want a preview
This is a Star of Bethlehem quilt with snowflakes embroidered in the corners.





For Knut's backpack this year we got a simple backpack and then he got to pick the designs that went on the pocket, in case you can't tell that's a knight and a sword.


My favorite pair of jeans developed a hole and I covered it with some great designs before it got too big too be saved.





For those that have been waiting for the pictures of this project, here it is. Knut got a new jacket and Nevan got one to match. Knut picked the fabrics, he says the fleece was fluffy, and we were able to get all of it as remnants so it was cheaper than if we had bought it on sale.









This was a project that someone asked me to make for them for their little girls and Keileigh got to model it so I could get a good picture. The fabric is Fancy Nancy and I embroidered their names on the aprons and hats.

Most of October

So now that I'm almost caught up, here's the highlights from October.


The first weekend in the month was Oktoberfest/Harvest Festival and one of the restaurants had a little train set up, the kids loved it and then they got to walk down the street and look at all the vendors and choose what they wanted to eat or do.



The Sunday morning of General Conference we woke up to discover that the predicted rain had instead become snow. The kids had to get out in it for a few minutes before the sessions started to play in the first snow of the season, at least for us.




Daddy has been having a lot of fun with the kids as we've been building up our K'nex and Lego sets through the thrift stores and ebay.



Having a little snack, they just looked really cute, and then they saw the camera flash and smiled.




Knut had official school picture day, so he showed the others how you were supposed to sit very still and then smile when you were told to. We decided to take our own pictures instead of buying the schools, way too over priced for such a simple thing as 1 picture.






Have you ever been this tired? He really did not realize I was sitting right next to him. He had refused naptime all day long and then just barely half an hour before bedtime decided that it was late enough for him.

Sewing Projects

So as many of you know, I love to sew. Keileigh decided yesterday that the princess dress we had would not work out for her. Her words were that Sleeping Beauty had three fairies to come and change her dress pink. I think she meant that she needed fairies to come help change her dress so it would be better. So yesterday we went looking online for ideas to make that we had on hand or that we could throw together because we thought our ward party was tonight. I went to one of my favorite web pages and found that two of the patterns I'd had my eye on were being offered for free this week to use for costumes. I was able to make her a fall/pumpkin fairy tutu with wand and crown for all of about $4. Not bad for making it in one day and then finding out the party was cancelled and she wouldn't get to wear it until Friday for the school carnival or maybe Saturday for the trunk or treat. So anyway, here's the link for the patterns if anyone is interested in these. They do have a lot of potential, especially for different holidays and even with the range of sizes they offer.

http://www.youcanmakethis.com/info/featured-products/Fancy-Filled-Tutu-BONUS-40-tutu-recipes-too.htm

http://www.youcanmakethis.com/info/featured-products/Festive-Vests-6mth-10yrs.htm

Catching September

So another county fair, and I forgot to get a picture of an elephant's ear again. Keileigh was being a bit pouty so she didn't get what she really wanted. Nevan was really excited for the trains and the horses.






Idaho Nachos anyone?




On a special day out with mommy and daddy we found a fountain while exploring that the kids got to explore.




This is a regular happenstance, they will hear the movies playing and just have to go sit down for a few minutes. Anyone want to join us in the movie aisle?