One year old

Today our little Austin is one! I can't believe it's been a year. At times, I didn't think I would make it to this point. But here we are, and I feel extremely blessed to have been given this little boy. He is such a sweetheart, always smiling and melting my heart. He loves to play with balls, trucks, cars, anything he can push or throw. He loves to say bye bye, mama, amen, dada, lily (our dog). He is learning to walk, still kind of scared, but he does pretty good. He has the most infectious laugh, and you can't help but laugh when you hear him. I am so grateful for him, and even though he came a little earlier than we had anticipated having another child, I can not be more happy and grateful that he's in our family! We love you Austin! Happy 1st birthday!!

p.s. more pictures to come on Saturday after his birthday party!! :)

Our little "2" year old

Today Addison turned 2. I can hardly believe how fast time has flown. She had a great day. We had some family and close friends over for cake and ice cream tonight. She also shares her birthday with Matt's mom so we had cake for her too. Her shirt says "birthday girl" and the skirt she got from Aunt Amy!!


Aunt Afton crocheted this adorable hat and scarf for her. Cousins Andie and Aly are helping her model them.

Singing Happy birthday. She loved it when we all sang to her and she even blew her candles out all by herself!!!

She really enjoyed her birthday cake and ate the whole piece.

Matt and I got Addison the cutest table. One side is for sand and water and they you put the cover on and it's a picnic table. She absolutely loves it. She loves playing with sand so I foresee lots of time with this table. We do however have to leave the water part out, otherwise she will be putting all the sand into the water.

The cute cake we got for her. She loves Minnie Mouse.

Addison brings so much laughter and joy into my life. She makes me laugh constantly. She loves watching Barney and has started singing "I love you, you love me we're a happy samily." HA.. She loves to dance and sing, she loves playing with Austin, "bubba", she loves to play outside. This girl is so determined in everything she does. The other day she wanted something in her brothers crib, I told her she couldn't have it and went to do something else, a few minutes later I heard her calling for me. She had climbed into the crib and back out to get what she wanted. When she wants something she is sure to get it. She is very bossy to her little brother, which I guess is part of being a girl!! :) I love this girl so much and am very excited to see what is to come with this wild one!! Happy 2nd birthday Addison!!

Victory Ice Cream

Last night I saw Addison in the corner giving "the look". Well lately she has been very interested in sitting on and flushing the toilet. So I asked her if she wanted to sit on the toilet, to which she replied, yes! She sat there for a minute or so and I could tell she was tense so I started singing Twinkle twinkle little star with her. I could see her relax and then all of a sudden.... SUCCESS!! She went #2 in the toilet! I was so excited I screamed and I think I scared her a little. But I let her flush the toilet and she was pretty excited. Then I asked her if she wanted ice cream for her reward! Off we went to Baskin Robbins! I am sure we still have a long way to go, but I'm excited for her anyway!!

Following in his Uncle's footsteps

The kids and I got back last night from a long weekend at grandma and grandpa Tolman's. Addison loves it there. She follows around my mom saying, "Dama" (grandma). It was very nice to spend some time with my brother Jordan who just returned from his mission to Africa. Libby took this adorable picture of Austin and Jordan. We did pictures of the kids for Christmas cards and since I have yet to get a good one of both kids together. They came out cute, so when I get those from my sister in law, Libby, I will post some! I would be very pleased if Austin followed in his Uncle Jordan's footsteps. Jordan is such a wonderful young man and I am very proud of him!

Halloween

Dorothy and the cowardly lion

Austin, the cowardly lion

Miss Dorothy (Addison) would not pause to take a picture. She was too busy playing Wii with her cousins.

We had a very busy Halloween weekend. We headed down to my parents on Saturday for my nephew Tanner's baptism followed by family pictures with all 32 of us! (yes 32!) Then we went to Trunk or Treat with all the Tolman cousins. Addison had a great time. She kept trying to get the candy as soon as it would hit her bucket. On Sunday my little brother gave his missionary report at church and then after church we had a carnvial for the kids. It turned out so fun. We had bobbing for apples and donuts, balloon darts and balloon toss, the fishing game, face painting, fish ping pong, and a pinata. The kids had so much fun and it was fun to watch them! We had such a fun time with our family.

Pumpkin carving

We had a fun time carving pumpkins this year. Addison was old enough to help clean the pumpkin out but she got bored when daddy was actually carving the pumpkin. So I gave the kids a bath during that time and when we were done the pumpkin was finished. She loved it! She kept wanting to go out on our porch and see it. And she would say, "punkin". This girl has got some crazy hair! Here she is helping clean out the guts. Which she tried to eat several times!! :)

I have a picture of Addison and I last year just like this one, so I thought it would be fun to have one of Austin and I. Although it looks like he's pushing me away!

Addison showing off her pumpkin.


The finished product. Matt is really good at carving pumpkins. He usually does the really hard ones that are spooky, but he thought something simple would be better for Addison. It turned out really cute!

Pumpkin Patch

We enjoyed a fun trip with my side of the family to Bishops Pumpkin Farm. It's always so fun and gets you in the Halloween spirit. (Even though it was like 90 degrees!) Addison LOVED the animals and slides. She also loved the pig races. She keeps telling us, "go piggy!" Austin didn't really care too much. But next year we will have our hands full with both kids running in different directions I'm sure. We are getting SOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited for my brother Jordan to come home on Tuesday. He has never met either of my kids. When he left I was pregnant with Addison, so it should be fun to see him.

Waiting for the pigs to start racing. Max, Tanner, Benson, Blake, Jaxson, Chase, Tyler, Karsyn, Addison and Josh

Addison riding the train. She wasn't so sure about going through the tunnel. She grabbed my leg really tight. Her cousins were a few cars up screaming through the tunnel so that may have been what scared her.

Our two little munchkins. We are lucky to get them together for a picture so I don't worry about trying to get them to smile.

This little guy is 8 months old now. He just recently has gotten two teeth, one on top and one on bottom. And he is mobile, crawling ALL over the place. He loves his big sister and smiles really big when he sees her. He is such a sweet boy and we love him!

Here is Miss Addison playing on the hay trampoline. She is now 20 months old and is so smart. She can count to 10 and can say some of her ABC's. She can say most anything you ask her to say. She loves the Wiggles and Madagascar. And she loves to boss around her little brother.


She loved feeding the goats.

I am lucky enough to have my sister Afton live about 15 minutes away. Her daughters are always babysitting for me. My kids LOVE them. Everytime we get in the car Addison asks, "Aly?" Here is Aly holding Austin.

She was so brave. I didn't think she would do so well. Karsyn helped her out

I can't believe how tall my little girl is getting!



Austin, Karsyn, Addison, Tanner, Brady, Blake and Chase