Christmas morning

I know there are a lot of pictures here, Christmas morning was very full. We feed the missionaries breakfast and then opened presents while on the phone with several of the gifters.


Opening stockings, got to love the dollar store, Nevan and Cyrus got their stockings this year even though there wasn't anything in Cyrus' at least I got it made this year.



Ready to open presents, the guys all got matching pajama pants and Keileigh wore her old Christmas nightgown.
Opening the presents from Grandma and Grandpa

Cyrus received four blankets and a big stack of burp cloths to match, they are such a great size

Nevan got a blanket that said "I make dirt look good", which if you know this little boy is perfect for him.


Keileigh received a pack of chalk and a custom chalkboard




Knut got a quiet book/photo album of Gospel ABC's


Keileigh also got Rosie the train, she loves to play trains with all of her brothers and it is important, at least to her, that some of them are girl trains

Mommy got music for her music maker all the way from Alaska


Daddy got a dvd on World War II and a pie plate




Then Mommy started talking more to Grandma and the kids got to play with another toy, they all got hobby horses, Keileigh named hers Emily Marie and Knut's was named June. Nevan just kept saying "pa-da" when asked about his


New veggie movies, at least for us they are new



While Nevan was opening this, Knut said "a box, that's awesome!" Nolan and I both remember playing with blocks like this when we were little and Nevan had fun for a few minutes stacking until he got distracted by something else.



Then Knut started to open his next rpesent and said "Wow, another box, that's so awesome!"


Inside were two speeder bikes with Luke and a storm trooper, he was really ecited


Cyrus was there, but not really involved, he slept for the most part



Keileigh got a lot of acccessories for her baby doll, we love DI, we got ehr a stroller, and changing table/bassinette, a carrier and a diaper bag, she had to get baby out and was pushing her around for a few days

Nevan snuck a few minutes checking out some of Knut's toys



Reading a book from the cousins while we take a few minutes to calm down after a disappointment


Yes Jared, Knut thinks it's a cool book too


We were visited once again by Santa this year and we were blown away by some of the gifts. Knut and Nevan got cars and puzzles and Keileigh got princess jewelry and a Princess barbie complete with horse. As a family we received the dvd "Up" and Cyrus got some more diapers, always a welcome gift.
If you made it all the way to the end, congratulations. We spent the rest of the day watching some of our new movies and then made pizza for dinner.

Ward Christmas Party

If you think about it a lot really did happen between my due date and when baby actually came.
At the ward Christmas party, there was a great presentation on the Christmas story from the bible with people acting out all the parts, but somehow we missed it. Nevan very badly wanted to see Santa and sit in his lap, Keileigh agreed to stand next to him and Knut refused to even go up on the stage.

Keileigh colored a picture of herself and her little sister, we didn't know what I was having and she was adamant that it was a girl.



Knut drew himself and his little brother.




Someone let Nevan lick the dessert spoon, what a mess.

Nevan's Birthday

We took the kids to Hop 2 It for Nevan's birthday and then had a nice family dinner out. Not to extravagant, but then again, I was just hoping the baby didn't come on Nevan's birthday.


Nevan's new outfit just for him with "choo, choo"s on it.



Nevan loved having Daddy all to himself to help him climb, slide and play.


Keileigh had a hard time at first because she didn't have anyone helping her and some of the other kids there were not being too careful of how rough they were being, but Knut soon took over as her big brother and helped her climb up the tall slides and into the bouncy places and even helped her get unstuck a couple of times.



Not photoshopped, just how weird my camera was being


Come on Daddy, I'm not done having fun!


At the restaurant, Nevan insisted on having Mormor all to himself



So we cheated and he got brownies, he was just happy to have something for the candles to go on so he could blow them out.

Catch up

So, Nolan finally got me set up with my own computer and now I can do some more updating and playing around than I was before so December will be a bit more in depth than some of the previous months, especially since a lot happened in that month.

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