So good I did it twice

If you are a follower of my other blog sorry about the repeat, but it was so good I had to do it twice!

Everyone loves a good binge...

If you are anything like me, you love a good baking binge as much as the next person. Some people prefer to get their baking binge needs fulfilled at an actually bakery, while I tend to turn my kitchen into one.

I generally get into my little baking/cooking sprees when I have long breaks from school (Thanksgiving and Christmas mostly). This could probably account for those holiday pounds that always seem to linger over my head. I wish I could just wrap up those extra pounds in pretty wrapping and gift them to my skinny friends. (You know who you are!)

Well today, oddly not during a long break, I started my baking binge at about 5pm. As a result I ended up with Yellow cupcakes, so yummy!

I'm not a huge frosting fan so I usually do the bare minimum, but it is chocolate frosting after all, and I just cant give that up.

Then I went on to MONSTER chocolate chip cookies!

I guess you can't really tell by the picture but these are MONSTER cookies. They are super thick and perfect. Feel free to be jealous now :)

The funny things about these baking binges is I really don't even eat much of the stuff I make. I usually send a lot with Ben for the guys he works with, or the kiddos are always in line for them of course! If you want the recipe for them just let me know! In the mean time, control your drooling....really though, nobody wants to see that.

A bountiful life...

About a year ago, I was introduced to a wonderful produce Co-op called Bountiful Baskets. If you haven't hear of this, that's so sad :( .
Through this co-op I order a basket of produce for $15 and pick it up at a local location, I usually go to my local high school.
I get 50% fruits, 50% vegetable, and it is usually a random group of produce, so you never know what you are going to get. This makes it fun and forces me to cook with things that I normally don't and my kids love trying all the new varieties of food. Here a couple pictures of baskets I have gotten in the past!
I get apples and bananas in almost every basket, but I have also gotten fresh strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, oranges, peaches, plums, and pretty much any other kind of fruit you can think of.
The vegetables are always fun to get because the only constant one that I always get is lettuce. Everything else is pretty random and it's always exciting to see what will be in my basket when I pick it up!
If you want more information about how to get involved check out their website www.bountifulbaskets.org

I love doing this for my family, it is an inexpensive way to get us eating healthy, and support local produce! Enjoy!

As of late...

The boys started a new day care (and LOVE it!)

Ben is preparing for his shoulder surgery next week

Adam got a new bed

Wyatt has been moved into his new "big boy bed"

I colored my hair (darker brown with caramel weaved in :)

Finally got our heated seats fixed in the Aspen! I know it's about time!

We have a new niece Alysse!

We are all happy and healthy!

The simple things...

This weekend the kids and I had a chance to go to SLC where my mother in law was visiting my new niece. It was so great for the boys to visit with her and by the end of the trip, Adam was wanting to go back to Florida with her! But really, who wouldn't want to go to Florida.
I know some people gripe a lot about their in laws, but I just can't say the same about my Mother in Law. Laurie is probably the sweetest person you could ever meet, and being from the South she could never insult anybody! She just says "Bless her heart" and all is well.
Just wanted to do a little shout out to the greatest Mother in Law a girl could have! Love you Laurie!

Kids do the darndest things...

Lately my boys have been waking up earlier than normal, like 5am early! And being the busy, and exhausted mom that I am, I generally know they wont get into too much trouble, so I let them watch cartoons, or whatever until it's time to get up.

Well this morning, it was really quiet when Wyatt was awake, so I knew something was up. I walked into the hallway to see Wyatt in the reflection of his bathroom mirror, stark naked.

At first I was going to laugh, until I noticed that he was practically covered from head to toe in poop and shampoo. (No I didn't think a photo was appropriate here, plus I was too mad!)

He had done #2 in his overnight diaper, and instead of coming to get me, he decided to take matters into his own hands. Attempting to remove his own diaper (getting it all down his legs and hands.)

Then knowing that he was dirty, thought that the shampoo would clean him off. So he dumped almost an entire bottle of kids shampoo all over him (and the floor of course) and began to rub it in when I interrupted his cleaning session.

I was mad, he thought it was funny, and lets just say that he had a very bubbly bath right after.

This boy get's into everything!!!

But at least he is super cute, I just can't stay mad at that little face!

No more Pretties..should I go on?

Well I finally finished Pretties the other day, and I liked it, but I don't think that I LOVED it. I felt like it went a lot slower than the first book. Although I liked the parts that seemed to go quickly, all the buildup was just too long, and almost repetitive to me. So the question I have is if it is worth it to read the last book Specials? I probably wouldn't be able to for a few weeks since my school work is starting to get my attention (mostly unwanted).

So is it worth the effort to read the last one, or not?

Graduating...well sort of!

So Adam has been in the extended Kindergarten program since September because he was a little behind in his reading and stuff like that. Extended Kindergarten means that he would go to his normal class in the morning, and then go to an extended class the second half of the day. At first I was apprehensive to place him in the program worried that he would get sick of school so early on (because let's face it, that shouldn't happen until at least middle school). Well I am really glad that we decided to do it. He loved his teacher, made great friends, and learned so much. He has always been able to pick things up very quickly and we worked very hard in helping him get up to the other students.
Drum roll please.......

They tested the classes of Kindergartners when they came back from Christmas break, and not only is Adam able to Graduate from the extended Kindergarten, he is ahead of the majority of his classmates! I was so excited and proud of my little guy for working so hard. I am a proud momma!

Check this out...

Ok so going between blogs is proving to be a little difficult to find enough stuff to share with the class (that's you, you are the class) But I posted something the other day on my superwoman blog that is so funny. It's called In a Dumb and Dumber day. You will understand when you read it

superalli101.blogspot.com

It's sad, but so funny at the same time! Enjoy!

Uglies no more...bowling please!

In my weekend of book reading I was able to finish Uglies. Such a good book and I can't wait to start the second book Pretties! I probably would have finished earlier but Ben felt a little neglected on Sunday, which I don't blame him, so we took the family bowling!
Adam's eyes are all red from crying because he thought that he was going to get his own lane. It was really busy there for a Sunday afternoon.
I love this picture! This was the one and ONLY time that he used the little ramp to help guide the ball, but he is just so excited when he sees the pins falling down. He's got the fist pump action going!Cute little Wyatt holding his ball. They had these little 6lb balls that were perfect for the boys. And he would get so excited when they hit a pin!
Ben has an awesome form after he throws the ball...and I don't mind the view from behind :)

Me and Wy waiting for our turn to bowl. We had such a good time with the kids, they love bowling but I realized that we just don't go enough. I need to turn them into pros like me! Just kidding! I just need to get them to be better than their dad! Hope everybody had a good weekend!

6 years in the making...

Happy Anniversary to Ben and I today. We have been through so many adventures together in the past 6 years that we have been married. It sure has been a crazy ride, but I wouldn't have it any other way! I love you Ben, more and more every day!

January 8, 2005 Our Wedding Day!

6 years later And we still kind of like each other :)

Better late than never...

Wow my Christmas break has flown by! A few weeks seems like a lot, but I had a ton of stuff that I wanted to get finished over the break, and I have barely scratched the surface. I also wanted to read a really good book over the break, and I kept putting it off thinking I had tons of time. Well I start school on Monday, so I picked up a couple books today. Uglies and Pretties by Scott Westerfeld.

My sister in law Sarah had read Uglies for a class at BYU-I and said it was really good so she kept reading the other books in the series. Sarah seems to have around the same tastes in literature as I do, so I thought this would be a good read for me. I know it will be a tight squeeze getting hopefully 2 books finished in just 3 days, but I have faith that it can be done! I will let you know how they go. I've already started Uglies and I am already sucked in after only 50 pages.

Game night or Bust...

Well it turns out game night was a bust. But we had a great time talking with some of our best friends and catching up. New Years day/night is not the best time to be hanging out with friends if you stayed up until 2am the night before.

During the previous nights festivities we did a sort of "white elephant gift exchange" with Ben's family. Ben got a really old, and I mean REALLY old electric pencil sharpener that had never been used. First he tried to look it up on Ebay with no success, then he just decided to keep it because it was just so awesome!

Back to the night with friends, Ben brought out the pencil sharpener, talked it up about how much he liked it, then about 10 minutes after our friends left for home at about 9:30, I found him like this...
He really loves that pencil sharpener! haha, gotta love it!

The New Year brings so much joy...and chaos

The first week of the new year has been anything but boring. Ben's family got together for a New Years Party in Pocatello. It's basically the Tolman Family Reunion. We had so much fun, playing games, eating food, and just goofing around. Adam even went swimming on the first day of the year.
Unfortunately just a few minutes after this cute photo was taken, I also went swimming...fully clothed. Adam isn't the greatest swimmer and didn't listen and jumped too far away from the ledge where he couldn't touch...Mommy to the rescue! Don't worry Adam was fine after a few minutes of calming him down, unfortunately Mommy was soaked to the bone, in her only pair of clothes, a water damaged (and unrecoverable) cell phone, and grumpy at the start to the new year. But better my phone than my baby. I guess my other blog superalli101.blogspot.com is becoming a bit of a reality. Hopefully I just don't have to do any more rescue missions like this one.
On a great note, my sister in law Jennifer had her baby on the 2nd in Provo! It is the first girl to come from Ben's family (immediate family anyway!)
Welcome to the world Alysse Evalyne Tolman 7lbs 1 oz 20 inches long! She is so beautiful and such a good baby, or she was while we were there anyway. I am so in love with this girl!
She slept through the two times we visited and made the sweetest little noises while she slept. I forget how little babies are, my boys are GIANTS compared to her. I don't think I was even holding her for a minute and Ben says, "NO! We are not having another one!" Of course he means right away, right? We may be a couple years away from planning another little one, but it sure is fun to snuggle with this little one! Congrats Josh and Jenny! What a great way to start the new year!

The Superwoman Blog!

So I had a dream last night that I needed to start a new blog about mommy hood and all the busy things that come along with it. It is a blog to tell people my little tips and tricks to keep your sanity while raising children, dealing with school (or work), being a wife, mother, house keeper, and cook. I hope you all can check it out!

Superalli101.blogspot.com

Enjoy!