December

As I got through my pictures each month, it amazes me how much goes on!  I'm so thankful for pictures.  They make me happy.

All of these kiddos had a dentist appointment at 8:00 one day.  8:00 AM.  We made it right on time and I was told they were the best group of 5 siblings that the office had ever had in!  I do have really good kids.  I'm so grateful for that.  The dentist did tell me that I need to start saving for the orthodontist.  Caleb is missing a tooth, Taylor has a small mouth, Luke has a massive under-bite and Lexi is a nighttime thumb sucker.  We'll see if Rylee ends up being the only one not needing work done.

So...we have 3 kindles and 2 TV's.  But this particular moment all 5 of my munchkins were watching 1 kindle.  It must've been quite the show!  (notice Lexi's fancy shoes?)

I had a birthday.  I was surprised with so much love!  I thought I was just going to a craft night with my Bunco group and their kids but they also surpised me with gifts and Angela had made me a rainbow sprinkle cake!  Casey even surprised me with balloons and my kids, parents, siblings, neighbors and in-laws gave me some gifts.  I felt the love for sure and my heart was so full!

Caleb game home one day with his school Christmas craft.  I LOVE it.  Brad and Mona gave me a thermal laminator for Christmas and this was my first laminating project.  I want to keep it forever.

During Christmas break I took my 3 big kids, RJ, MakLayne and Addison swimming at Crystal Inn.  They were non stop crazy for 2 straight hours and still weren't ready to leave!  They had so much fun.

My girls made themselves some earrings one day.  Silly sisters.  And they still like to dress like it is summer time!

Casey & I went to see Juanito Bandito with some of my family.  I have a cold sore.  I bet I get one every Christmas from here on out.  It's fun, but stressful too!!

This little Lex and her lips.  She loves lipstick like no other!  I don't even know where she found this tube of lipstick.  I will tell you it did end up in the garbage though.  And let's not even mention that she's wearing a crown and a pretty skirt.  She's going to be one fancy gal when she grows up!

Angela stopped by one afternoon and Lexi was coloring and Angela shows her how to trace her hand.  She admired it for a bit and then looked up and said, "But what about my feets?"  It was adorable.

What is this??  Lexi month?  I couldn't resist taking this adorable picture of her.  She is the biggest spit fire I've ever met, but look at how soundly she sleeps!  So cute!

Taylor & Rylee are always wanting to help me in the kitchen.  I was making a couple of things for my parents Christmas party and had the idea for them to make some mini toothpick fruit kabobs.  They LOVED making them.  I took their picture and Rylee said, "Be sure you send that picture to Grammy"  They were a hit at the party.  They were the first thing gone.  Good job girlies!

On Christmas Day we had a beautiful snow storm.  The kids loved it.  Luke & Lex were so funny.  They would take a few steps and then flop right onto their bottoms.  They'd stand up and do it all over again and again and again.  It was hilarious.

Christmas!

Eddie kept us busy all month long.  Caleb cracked up when his toy dinosaurs had him.  I love getting a sincer chuckle out of that kid.  With the light bright one night, he made the "Eddie Rules" sign.  Meaning of course...that he is awesome.  The kids were so confused.  "What are Eddie's rules??"

Eddie brought magic seeds back from the North Pole one night.  The kids were so excited to plant them!  The most delicious cookies grew overnight!

Casey's family came over on Chirstmas Eve afternoon and we exchanged a few gifts, visited, and ate and ate and ate.  After they had all gone home, we started our cookie decorating!  I made the cookies a few weeks ago and put them into the freezer....smartest move ever!  All of the kids love doing this kind of stuff.  It's fun to watch all of their creativity.  Caleb insisted that we had some shark cookies in with our Christmas ones....wish granted.

After the cookies were all cleaned up, we headed into the front room to open their Christmas Eve gift.  Caleb has me figured out - he knows what's coming.  Look how cute they are!!  

Christmas morning...they were all racing up the stairs to see what Santa had brought them!  I had to make them go back down until I had my cameras ready.  They were so patient!

Santa brought all of the girls a barbie dream house to share!  And they each got their own barbie! Caleb lucked out and got an awesome velociraptor Lego set and a xBox Jurassic world game.  Rylee went straight for her stocking before her presents.  She is my daughter.  I love my stocking!  I love Taylor's sweet smile as Rylee is showing me her lotion.  We got so much snow on Christmas Day...Luke and Lexi were loving watching it out the window.  They were more interested in it than their gifts!  

Casey & I got the kids the cutest blanekts for their gift from us this year.  Caleb couldnt' sit up for the picture because then you couldn't see how awesome his blanket was.  Luke was cracking me up.  He would step all the way into his blanket, put the teeth over his head and then flop onto his belly and attack Casey.  It was so cute!!!

Anderson Christmas Party

We started the evening with food...because, it's fantastic.  Caleb couldn't believe that we were eating before we got to open any presents.  Ashley brought some fun photo props to play with.

Someone got this little lady her very own makeup.  She knew what it was the second she opened it.  It was gone within a week.  She was a happy, sparkly little girl.

I can't believe that itty bitty Griffy Poo and Blakie fill up an entire couch!!  Who told them to grow up??!!  Luke & Jackson got some pretty awesome ride on toys from my parents and all of the little girls got beautiful jewelry boxes.  Caleb loved his magic set and walkie talkies.

Griffen read us the story of the birth of Jesus.  They boys were listening intently as you can see.  Blake looks so cute in this picture...it makes my heart happy when he smiles.  Taylor & Rylee...they are so funny.  They each got a rainbow skirt for dance class and they loved it.  Rylee could hardly wait to put hers on.

After presents we played some games and waiting to see which kid was going to get bonked in the face with the Foosball table.  Luckily it was an accident free evening.  Poor little Jackson was so sick.  It was so sad!!

My mom bought a new game.  It was so hilarious!!  Caleb tried to read one of the cards with a mouth piece in and he was laughing so hard that he was crying and drooling!!!  Can you see my mom cracking up??  Her laugh is probably one of my favorite things in the world.

This is a darling group of little people.  I love them all so much!! 

Santa!

Casey & I loaded up the family wagon one evening and headed to Elwood to Mountain View Nursery.  They have a camel, donkey, sheep and SANTA!  They also had beautiful poinsettias!  I wish I would have had somewhere to display some at home, because I would've bought some!

Just a couple of hours before we left, I called and invited my parents and Casey's parents to meet us there if they wanted to.  Brad & Mona weren't able to make it...but after some scolding from my mother about not giving her enough notice, my parents managed to make it.  Luke was pretty timid at first about getting to close to the animals.  I'll miss his timid stage.  Rylee insisted on getting her picture taken with the camel.

Taylor was a little nervous about approaching Santa, but with Casey's help she made it.  Rylee apparently loved him, and Luke could've cared less.  He just wanted the candy cane. 

They asked the big man for the following:  Caleb - Jurassic world lego sets, Taylor - A barbie house, Rylee - paints, Alexa - a barbie, and Luke didn't ask for a single thing.  Casey & I asked for a new TV for upstairs.

Happy Birthday Caleb!

How is it that I have a 9 year old?  I'm not that old!  This boy can be the sweetest, most caring soul in the world - and the next day you get someone completely different!  The other day I had a terrible migraine and was sitting on the couch and he came over, put his arm on my leg and looked up at me and said, "I'm so sorry that you have this headache mom.  I hope it's better soon."  Talk about melt me into a puddle.

He is such a skinny boy.  Just the other night it took him over 30 minutes to eat a cutie and a string cheese.  He'll eat...but it takes him forever.  He is so smart!  His class has started learning multiplication and he is a whiz at it.  He is completely fascinated with dinosaurs and killer whales at the moment.  He is my best helper.  He sweeps the floor, empties the dishwasher, feeds the cat, puts his laundry away and helps keep his 3 year old babies entertained.  

His birthday dinner consisted of, "Mac and Cheese out of the blue box, red apple slices and garlic bread"  He's asked for this for the past few years, I wonder if it will ever change.

He had been asking FOR THE LONGEST TIME for a "Killer Whale Stuffy".  We had seen a couple at some stores, but they were so big!  He was so excited when he opened up his killer whale.  He's slept with it every night since he got it.  He requested a killer whale cake...I felt like this was out of my wheelhouse so I ordered one from Kents.  Ashley was eating it and said, "Brittni has mastered her frosting.  This tastes just like Kents!"

Some of my family and some of Casey's family came to celebrate our big boy's day.  Caleb also wanted our neighbors, Allie & RJ to come celebrate too.  He got some fun new toys and had a fantastic birthday.

November

Halloween is over!  These girls were just chill-axin' in their jammies one morning, enjoying some candy.

Casey & I got to go to dinner for our 13th anniversary.  It was our first time to the Prairie Schooner and it was YUMMY. 

Caleb told me he was bored one day, so I told him to go rake up some leaves.  He was NOT happy about that at all.  But he ended up with a fairly decent pile when it was all said and done.

Seriously...I get sick of trying to feed people all the time.  One morning Lexi had finished her applesauce pancakes and Luke hadn't.  (I know...I looked)  And I caught that little punk Luke putting his pancake pieces onto Lexi's empty plate and then he proudly announced, "I'm all done!"

Casey & Caleb got started on putting Christmas lights on the house this year.

Sharing with each other...loving each other...being complete adorable. 

I was starting to get my Christmas decorations out and Luke LOVED my trees.  He lined them up largest to smallest and stared at them forever.

Buddies!!

Where's Luke???  OH!  There he is!

Grandma Mona came to babysit one afternoon.  The girls were thrilled because she agreed to let them do her hair.

This little princess kept asking me the same thing over & over & over one morning and I had no idea what she was saying.  We were both getting so frustrated!  I told her to "show me"  so she brought up this dress and necklace.  On the kindle she had just watched a show...and it was about the Nutcraker Ballet.  That is what she wanted to be.  The Nutcracker Ballet.  Wish granted baby girl.