June and Adam's Birthday

Adam turned four at the end of June. I can hardly believe how fast this little boy is growing up. He is most definitely that - a little boy. He loves to run and play, and has such a tender side to him. Leslie adores him as her older brother. He loves to wrestle with his dad and brings so much joy and laughter into our home. He has developed the biggest imagination, which usually involves animals or dinosaurs of some kind. He wanted an orange dinosaur cake for his birthday. I am not a cake decorator - this was the best I could come up with, but Adam loved helping me decorate it. We celebrated with cousin Taya's birthday at Uncle Matt and Aunt Mel's house. Happy Birthday Adam!! We love you so much!

Taya got a cozy coup for her birthday. Leslie loved riding in it with her.


For our birthday present to Adam, we took the kids to the zoo. It was so fun to watch them. Adam was trying to go from on exhibit to the next as fast as he could and see as many animals as possible. Leslie would cry or grab onto the fencing every time we left an exhibit because she wanted to stay and watch each animal as long as possible.

The birthday boy - The morning of his birthday, I walked into his room with breakfast for him singing "Happy Birthday" . Adam threw off his blankets stuck his legs out and with a heavy sigh said, "I can't be four mom, my legs are not bigger".

Our cold spring finally decided to give up to summer. It is so nice to finally be able to say "It's hot outside". I love when these two play so well together.

I found this little gem at a garage sale for 10 cents. As you can see the only problem with it was a tie was missing - how easy is that to fix! The first night at home with it, Leslie loved pushing her babies around the driveway and sidewalk -and did so for over half an hour. That right there, was worth my dime. She is becoming quite the little "mommy".

May

Leslie loves to climb and play. She especially uses it to her advantage when she is hungry. When I take her picture - I also have to take Adam's. Can you tell he likes to pose for me now?
Leslie also loves to crawl into little cubbies and spaces.
As soon as the camera came out, Adam wanted in also.
I find her in some interesting places. She thought she might as well have a seat while she helped herself to some of the cantaloupe that was in the fridge. She moved all of the apples that were in the crisper onto the door. She's a thinker. Who's child is this? ..... Definitely, his dad's.
Adam dressed himself for the slightly chilly weather to ride the trike. We took the training wheels off his bike, so he is constricted to these little bikes unless he has mom and dad's help. He told us he wanted to be able to ride his bike without training wheels be the time he turns four. He just may make it. You gotta love the ski goggles, scarf and gloves - the whole outfit. Josh and I watched him riding up and down the sidewalk like a crazy child for nearly half an hour. We got in some good laughs.

Finally, some spring weather to play outside in - still a little chilly. We went to Boise for Max's baptism. Adam slept out on the tramp with Dad and the boys for the first time. He was sooo excited. Max caught a ride with Leslie as we went for a walk.
And what's summer without helping Great Grandpa Adam's on his tractor at the Dry Farm.

Leslie's first "Big Owie". She was climbing on the kitchen chair and tippe it over. The swelling ad goose egg around the bruise are hard to see in the picture - but they are there.

April

Easter - On Easter Eve, Adam told me that he and Leslie wanted to make cupcakes for the Easter Bunny - All by themselves! So, I let them! With as little help as possible and lots of supervision. Adam introduced Leslie to the art of licking the spoon and tasting the batter - she took right to it. They had a great time.

The Easter Bunny left clues and a scavenger hunt around the house to find the hidden baskets. Adam loved the game. We had scavenger hunts for days.

Easter at Grandma/pa Tolman's

Three cousins all the same age. The Easter Bunny's helper was scouting out the Easter Day route a week before Easter. Adam and the neighbor kids "found him out" when he was traveling through our backyard. They tried to catch him- but he was too quick.

Adam loves to play "Hide and Seek". He thought this was the most clever spot ever. His giggling and laughter gave him away long before any other "clues" did. Love it!What's April and springtime in Idaho without a few snowstorms. And finally some springtime mud and dirt. Leslie's first time getting into the mud this year and was totally in love. First real pig tails.

Conversing with a 3 year old

A few random conversations:

Sitting at breakfast eating eggs:
Adam: "Do chickens come from pigs or sheep? "
Dad: "Chickens come from chickens. "
Adam: Pause...smile..."oh!"

In the car leaving the church after Adam's first Sunday in Sunbeams. Adam is singing the verse to Follow the Prophet:
Dad: "Who is our prophet?"
Adam: "I am Dad.... (sigh) Adam was a prophet, first one that we know."
At least we know he is paying some attention in Primary. :) And, we have since had several converstions about who a prophet is, Adam and Eve, etc. He still claims he is a prophet (his singing teacher told him) but, is now willing to share the title with our other beloved prophets.

February

Adam spent the month of February in the YMCA Peewee Basketball.

I think this was the only time the entire month that he actually had the ball during a game. He was playing on a team with 4 and 5 year olds. He had no idea what was going on, but loved running around and being with friends. He spent a lot of his time doing this: trying to figure out what was going on. They were cute to watch regardless of the lack of ability.

Sadie's colt Shasta is finally old enough to have riders. Adam was the first one to ride Shasta - she did great and was quite tame with a rider on her back.
Sadie was hooked up to a sleigh with another horse. It is amazing how much two little ponies can pull. This isn't the greatest picture, but the only one I have. You can't even see the two little ponies.

Kitchen Cabinet Remodel:

We redid our kitchen cabinets, here is our before pictures. (I had already started to move everything out of the cabinets before I remembered to take our before picture - hence all the mess and chaos.)

Finished Product: We took out the soffit boxes and extend the cabinets all the way to the ceiling- love the extra storage space. We did an over-the-range microwave and added a bake center to the end of the cabinets where the micro used to be. We also added the extra cabinet on the side of the fridge. I love all my new space and places to store things. We got rid of the hideous blue countertops and did everything in more earthy tones. Now for curtains and to paint the back wall - color suggestions anyone?

Helpers: Adam and Leslie found lots of new little cubbies and fun places to hide during the remodel. I still cannot put anything in this lower cabinet as Leslie has deemed it as her own personal place. Even the shelf I put in there was quickly removed.

This became a favorie place for Leslie to sit and read books while the sink was out of commision.

As part of the remodel - we had no intentions of replacing the appliances anytime soon. Adam changed our plans. Adam decided to heat himself a pancake in the microwave. I had no knowledge of this until it was at this point:

By the time I had things take care of - the house was FILLED with smoke. It took a week of air purifiers, many loads of laundry, scented candles, plug-ins and febreeze sprays before I was able to be rid of the smell. It got hot enough that the glass turntable inside broke into several pieces. The timing, however, couldn' have been better, since we were in the middle of our remodel and were building cabinets so it would fit above the stove.

"ONE" derful Birthday

We had a Winter "ONE"derland B-R-R-Rthday to Celebrate Leslie's first birthday. I can't believe this little girl is already one year old. We love her so much and she has brought so much into all of our lives. We love you "Lessie". She does have quite the "summer" looking outfit for a winter party. It got so warm in the house that I took off her long sleeve onesie that was under the tank top and her tights (they also came off to keep from getting destroyed with cake).