Golfing with my Boys!

This week Jakob is in a golf camp. He is having a great time and learning a lot. Last night we all went to the driving range so Jakob could practice a little more. We all hit a couple buckets of balls and had great time!

Jakob is doing really well and hit some really great shots!

Levi is just starting to get the hang of hitting.

Even Zack hit a few balls with his little clubs.

So Excited!!

I just returned from Salt Lake City where I attended the Stampin' Up! convention. It was amazing!! Back in the spring I entered a contest that Stampin' Up! opens to all of their demonstrators. I was required to submit 5 cards, 3 scrapbook pages and two 3D projects. They then go through all the submissions and select 10 winners.  I was VERY excited to be selected as one of the 10 Artisan Award winners! Not only did I win a fantastic prize, but I will also be on their Design Team for the next year!

The rest of the 2012-2013 Artisan Design Team:

All of the finalists projects were on display, here I am standing next to mine!

What an amazing experience! I am really looking forward to the year ahead. 

This coming year our blog is going to take on a bit of a different look. I will still post about the boys and what is going on with the Bollmans, but there will also be extra posts with Stampin' Up! projects as well:)

Zack's Art

I was busy cleaning, doing laundry and washing dishes. I could hear Zack playing with his toys in the next room, he was talking to himself and "driving" his cars. I went and checked on him every so often and everything was fine. My mom called and so I thought it was a good time to check on Zack again, just too make sure he was OK. I came around the corner and this is what I found:

 Some how he had found a very large permanent black sharpie marker. 

Upon further inspection, I located 2 more areas that had been "decorated", the back hall and the stairs going to the basement. I don't know how he managed to do so much damage in so little time.

I did manage to remove most of the marker. The fabric toy box is probably going to have Zack's signature on it for life, but the doors and the walls are fine. 

Just a little tip if this ever happens to you: Magic Erasers work ok, but take forever. Rubbing alcohol is a miracle worker, one swipe with it pretty much removes it completely.

Happy Birthday Michael!!

Happy Birthday to an amazing husband and father! We love you so much!!!

Our Week at the Lake

We love the lake. Every summer as soon as school is done we head out to the lake for a week of relaxing. Like always, we had so much fun!!

The boys spent the majority of their time in the water.

 

They loved swimming to the yellow dock. They swam back and forth several times a day.

Jakob and his friend out for a tube ride:

Alex had the hose and was splashing around, occasionally getting the other boys wet. Uncle Jordan joined in and it turned into an all out water fight!!

 

Cousins!

Oma & Opa and all the boys!

 

 

Michael and the boys went fishing with some of their friends and Jakob caught a fish! He was very proud of his little fish!

 

My Dad was trimming some of the trees in front of the cabin and in one of the branches that fell was a little robins nest.

 Zack was very concerned for the poor baby robins. My Dad put the whole branch back up into the tree and the mommy robin found her babies again. Zack was very happy that mommy and babies were reunited.

Our little curly locks!

 

Opa & Zack out for a ride.

 Zack was Opa's big helper. He hauled branches and helped load them onto the trailer.

Relaxing after a busy day:

The view from our deck, beautiful.

Chocolate Raspberry Banana Bread

I love raspberries, so when I came across this recipe on Pinterest, I knew I had to try it. Last week I made this Chocolate Raspberry Banana Bread. So yummy!                                                                                                                             

(I did not take this picture, I forgot to take a picture so I used the one off pinterest. Mine looked exactly like it though)

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup granulated white sugar

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 large eggs
 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)

1/3 cup plain low fat yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chunks or chips
1 cup raspberries, tossed in 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

 Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9x5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.
3. In a separate large bowl, beat the sugar and butter with an electric mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the banana, yogurt, and vanilla; beat until blended. Stir in the flour mixture; just until moist. Don't over-mix. Stir in the chocolate chunks and then gently stir in the raspberries. If you want, you can sprinkle a few additional chocolate chunks and raspberries on the top to make it look pretty.
4. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes in the pan on a wire rack. Remove from pan and cool completely on the wire rack.

Levi's First Missing Tooth

Levi lost his first tooth! Unfortunately it didn't fall out normally, he had to have it pulled because the other tooth was coming in behind. He braved the dentist and was happy with what the tooth fairy left him. He's a pretty tough little guy!