Cramming it all in here

Hi friends. 

So I know that this blog has been loaded with just crafty projects lately. It's been a very exciting few months for our family and if you have me as a friend on Facebook, you know that we are expecting our third child in September. We are crossing our fingers we will know if we are having a girl or a boy sometime very soon. 

So with that, I have been hit by morning sickness BIG TIME! I had a hard time for the first trimester. If I was not sick, I was super tired and sometimes I was both. Yuck! To top that, I was still trying to manage being a mommy, a crafter, a business owner and a student. Yeah, not so fun! That's the reason why this blog has been neglected. I have learned that when you are trying to survive, you put energy in the most important stuff and at the end of the day, sadly, blogging wasn't part of the list. 

Anyways, since we are passed the first trimester, I'm feeling back to my old self again and so I finally decided to go through some pictures from the last few months and share with all of you what we've been up to. Some are a little grainy since they were taken with my little IPod touch but I still count them as priceless as they were evidences of memories I don't want to forget. 

January was a rough one for us as my dad was admitted to the hospital for breathing problems in the middle of the month. His health quickly turned for the worst and there was even a scary time when the doctor said that if we wanted to see my dad alive, we would have to travel right at that second. Thankfully we had prayers being said for him in all corners of the world and he lived to tell his tale. He was in the ICU for over a month and is still connected to respirator to this day. Despite the health challenges, he is making progress. Just a couple of days ago my mom reported that he was able to sit up. It's a big leap being that he's been lying on a hospital bed for almost 3 months now. 

(picture was taken of me and my dad in the summer of 2011) 

On the last day of January we had a good snow storm. The following day was a Saturday and the family decided to test out the new sleds we bought at Costco. We went to a nearby park and when we got there it seemed like every single family in the area had the same idea. Mitch and the kids still managed to find a good spot to slide down from. I took these photos in the first five minutes of them sledding and then I went back to the truck to keep warm and refrain from fainting or worst, throwing up! 

February was also the month where Marcus presented his Science fair project this year. This is his last one as an elementary student and he chose rockets. He picked three kinds of rockets that he will make and test which one had the better engine. 

Here he is during the actual fair. He didn't place (he was bummed about it) but I believe it's because he didn't even bring his rockets to show. I wanted him to take responsibility for this and he decided (against my persistent advice) to leave the rockets home. I think a little disappointment doesn't hurt a kid, especially if he realizes he would've made a better choice with it.

One thing I've noticed with this pregnancy was that I was craving a lot of Filipino food. It was very hard to fill that craving as there are no Filipino restaurants in the area. Luckily my mom and dad gave me enough recipes and knowledge to make my own at home. During those times where I had a burst of energy (or I just couldn't stand not filling the craving) I'd cook something. This Pansit (Filipino noodle dish) was made sometime in February. 

A good friend of mine introduced me to these mints. I told her of my struggle with the nasty "pregnancy" after taste and how Tums just didn't seem to calm my stomach down. She gave me some of these mints and from then on, I was hooked! Apparently these are "British" mints. They are bigger than a lifesaver and have quite a strong mint flavor. It was one of my "survivor" necessities during the first trimester. I couldn't leave the house without it. At one point, I had a roll in my purse, by the computer, on my craft table, on my nightstand and any other place in the house where I might need to quickly pop them in my mouth. Thanks Heather, you and these mints were a lifesaver. :)

Also in February we got our first glimpse of baby #3. I had my first ultrasound at about 10 weeks and this is our first picture of the baby. 

In March, the cub scouts in our stake had their annual Pinewood Derby car race. Mitch and I let Marcus design his car. We are slowly giving him more opportunities to make choices and also accept the consequences of them. Our big lesson for him these days is "taking ownership" of things and choices. We want him to be ready for middle school. Yikes, that's in the fall! 

Anyways despite the lack of creativity in his car design and very little effort in painting his car, he still managed to rank second in all of his races. At the final scoring, he was in the middle of the pack.

After the race we treated him (and the whole family) to dinner at Steak and Shake. The kids love that place cause of the shake and as you can see in the photos, it's a pretty good size treat.

Also in March, Maddie started borrowing kid cookbooks at the library. I'm not sure why but I'm excited for her and her new found enthusiasm for cooking and making things in the kitchen. Who knows maybe she'll be the next chef in the family (My dad was a professional chef for many years). For our Family Home Evening treat this one particular Monday she (with some help from me) made a no bake cheese cake. We had to substitute some of the ingredients as we didn't have them on hand. So instead of a berry topping, we used fresh mangoes and a little bit of my homemade pineapple/zucchini preserves. It sure was delicious! 

The kids had their Spring break in March and one of the things we did was walk (2 miles round trip) to a local duck pond. We brought all of our old crackers and chips to feed to the ducks. It seemed like the ducks and geese haven't been fed in a while cause they were all excited to see Marcus and Maddie throw the crackers their way. 

I started feeling well about halfway through March and I had more energy to be a "better mom" to the children. I know that I've neglected them in one way or another in the past few months so to "redeem" myself, I searched Pinterest for cool activities to do for General Conference weekend. We did conference cash where the kids got to earn paper money during the sessions if they were listening, participating in the singing parts and being reverent. Mitch and I were in charge of handing them out and if we found them not following the rules, money was taken away as well. I went to the dollar store to grab a few items but as you can see in this photo, I just went through my home and tried to find what items I can put in the "conference store". Most of them were food but they did save up enough "cash" to get the big ticket items like a bug catcher bought at the $ store. 

I also found this cool idea where the kids can move the picture of the apostle behind the paper podium so that they can familiarize themselves to who is speaking at that time. I only found pictures of the presidency and quorum of the 12. I didn't have a big enough egg carton to name all the seventies and the other general authorities.

and finally, something to remember the growing life inside of me. I never did a progressive belly shot with any of my kids and I thought it would be fun to do it with this one. This was taken at 17 weeks of pregnancy. We just started second trimester on this one so I had the energy to get myself looking 'somewhat' put together. :)

So there you have it. A post, that hopefully gets everyone updated on what's going on at the Tolman home. Know that we appreciate family and friend that check up on us through this blog and Facebook. We feel of your love and support. 

Till next time,

Grace