I caught Santa!!

So Michael played Santa for a friend of ours... he had fun with it. I took pictures of him setting up our toys. It was around midnight and you know how when you are tired you either get grumpy or goofy? We were so goofy... I almost peed my pants laughing at Michael being funny Santa. .. It was a "you had to be there thing" ... but it was so hilarious.
We showed the pictures to Judson and I don't think he was buying it.. but he is hard to read sometimes.
The kid he played Santa for, Mario, is over here right now and I asked him about Santa and showed him the picture and he said "I suspect that Santa is Brother Tolman b/c I got a close look at the color of his eyebrows" hahahahaha Mario CRACKS me up! So Michael said "WHAT! I'm not Santa!" He isn't convinced. Dang kids are funny!

Check out my Slide Show!

Christmas is over.. now what?

This Christmas has been wonderful... long and wonderful. I have to admit that I wondered how it would be a couple of days ago and I was REALLY cussing everything about the holidays... and not one thought about the Savior. (PMS and Christmas stress DOES NOT mix well) I was grateful for the messages given at church and for the Holy Ghost for gently guiding me to remember the true meaning. Ever since then it has been much more enjoyable and I have let some things go.. (still have neighbor gifts waiting to be delivered and my house looks worse than usual. I KNOW, is that even POSSIBLE?? I will assure you that it is... it looks like my flour and sugar containers exploded.

Christmas Eve at the Tolmans is one of my favorite things about Christmas. It is a tradition that I love. We get together and eat cheeses and crackers, breads, veggies, fruits, homemade grape juice. .. all by candle light. I made homemade croissants... YUUUUMMMY! and Rons Artichoke and Chicken soup... also YUUUMMMMY... and both I will keep as a Christmas tradition as well.

The BEST part was when we read the Nativity story and the kids played the part (well, Jaren played the Donkey...hehehe). Judson played a shepherd and Carma played an Angel. It was so sweet when all the grandkids knelt around "baby Jesus"... SO SWEET. Then Larry had us all write a "gift" that we would give to Jesus and we opened the "gift" we gave Him last year... ummm lets just say that I gave the same gift b/c I didn't really give it last year... I didn't even remember what I gave.

Santa came ... actually we saw Rudolph's nose on the way home last night and heard the sleigh coming. We left chocolate and hot cocoa and carrots for the Reindeer. I even caught Santa drinking the cocoa and fixing presents under the tree, I have pictures to prove it. And when we woke up the reindeer took the plate and left carrots all over our porch and POOPED in our grass. (I threw some raisins around on the ground).

As we were driving home last night and heard the sleigh I remembered all the cute things my parents did for us regarding Santa. We got certified North Pole letters from Santa. Another time we had taken a family ride and on the way home we saw Santa and truly heard him! When we arrived home Santa had all of our presents set up in our living room. We were AMAZED! I also remember my dad making this AMAZING doll house. He worked on it for weeks... I think he told us that he was helping Santa make presents, he also made us the cutest doll beds and my mom painted them all cute and made tiny pillows and bed spreads... they were so cute. (even though our kittens spent more time in them then the Barbie's did). I also remember getting Barbie car and Barbie McDonald's... WOW, it was so fun being a kid! Thanks Mom and Dad for being so cute like that... I hope Judson & Carma remember and will cherish their "Santa" memories.

Another new Tolman tradition is that Jaren and April host a brunch at their house on Christmas day. It is cute and a good way to end the stressful "week before Christmas". April makes yummy Gingerbread waffles and crepes we eat ourselves stupid and then play games all day.

I appreciated, loved and ATE all the treats that were given, but I am SO glad that it is all over and hopefully my insulin level can go back to normal. I am SICK of eating.. did I say that??? I am sure when my food digests I will be ready to pig out again. But NO MORE SUGAR!! Starting next year.. hehe

Carma's eating noise

Ever since I can remember Carma makes this noise while she eats:
it is SO funny. The more she likes the food the more she mmmmmmms. Ice cream gets the loudest and longest mmmmmms.

December pictures

For more AWESOME pictures check out Dana's Blog. The FUNNY picture of Carma on Santa's lap is on there and her hyperventilating with excitement while opening her Cinderella present.

It has been WAY too long!

So much time has passed since I have last written. DANG IT! How does it go by so fast.

OK, Thanksgiving was fun.. too much food.. but is that different than any other day of my life.. not really. Just more turkey.
Dana came to visit.. FUN FUN FUN.. too fast of a visit. Hightlight for me was laser tag w/ Nikki, Levi, Judson and Dana.

We went to Lousisina for an early Christmas. We found a deal on Southwest WAY too good to pass up. (Even though we stopped at every airport from California to New Olreans on a "direct" flight") But still better than driving. The kids were great and very well behaved.

I cut my hair 10+ inches and colored it close to my natural color.

Hightlights of the trip:
Santa Clause coming to visit Maw-maw and Paw-paws house. Judson and Belle LOVED it. Carma HATED it and kept asking for Cinderella to come instead. WHY?? I have no idea. I think she just wanted the opposite of scary for her. You can check out the pictures on Dana's blog the link is to the right. The cutest was when she opened her present from Ben and Becky and found her Cinderella dress.. HILARIOUS!! A must see for sure!!
Christmas dinner at Dana's house. (Dana's new house is BEAUTIFUL btw!!) We had way too much food (Moms famous Artichoke casserole.. the BEST thing in the world) and played Apple's to Apples.. I WON!! But who is keep track?? hahaha
Went to the Mall of Louisiana to ride the carousel and take pictures with Santa. Carma REALLY doesn't like Santa.. again.. picture posted on Dana's blog. I need to get all of these picture for myself.
We had the BEST time at the Hammond Ward RS progressive dinner. It was so great seeing all my "extended family".
Then we had a combined ward Christmas party.. with DANCING. It was SOOO FUN. Michael enjoyed the dancing the most.. just kidding.
We also played A LOT of Guitar Hero on the Wii. I got it for Michael for Christmas and it really helped him not to get antsy and bored.
The trip went by so fast!! We didn't get to go to any of the restaurants I wanted to go to:( So I bought shrimp, crab and cream to make some of my favorite dishes.