February!

The big kids had a presidents day picnic!  (Yes...that is a dryer in my family room.  And yes - it is still there.  I feel like I live in a junkyard sometimes.)

Lexi was in love with the toys that Grandma & Grandpa gave Taylor & Rylee for their birthday.

This tiny thing treats me.  She is so smart - so spunky - so small - so sweet!!

Hats, pajamas, and a backpack.  It really doesn't get much cuter.

Well - this might be cuter.  This boy LOVES his farm!

Valentine's day happened.  After church we gave the kids their valentines.  Luke & Alexa got some leapfrog learning DVD's and the big kids all got dream catchers.  Casey surprised me with a really pretty blue topaz necklace - but I couldn't get a good picture of it.  I got him some Bluetooth headphones and some specialty peanut & almond butters.  Grandma came by the next day with adorable little robots made of treats.  She loves them a 'BOT'.

I was feeling totally guilty one night.  When Caleb, Taylor & Rylee were little, I was doing my little daycare so I always planned crafts and activities.  So - I let these 2 have at it with some finger paint one morning.  They had a blast.

Cute girls all ready for school one morning.  They were excited to take their posters and treats!

~Princesses~

These little ladies got to have a princess party!  All of the lovely maidens were invited to attend.  They invited their cousins, Eva & McKenna, Eva came, but McKenna was sick.  They also invited all of their friends from pre-school and church.  I thought about trying to get all of their dance friends invited also - but that would've been at least another 10 girls!  I just didn't have the space for all of them.  They were so cute getting ready for all of their friends to come over.

They were all so well behaved!  We made bedazzled princess crowns, opened presents, played kiss the frog, and had a sing/dance party.  Eva was the absolute best singer there!  She was adorable.

Taylor & Rylee had to go in to get a couple of shots before they can start Kindergarten this fall.  It was so sad.  Rylee was so brave and went first, well - she cried and wailed and then Taylor started FREAKING out because she didn't want to do it, but I had to hold her down anyway.  It was heart breaking!  When I take Luke & Lexi in for their 5 year shots, I hope I remember to ask for 2 nurses so that they can get poked at the same time.

 

My Taylor bug.

Weight - 51.5 pounds

Height - 3 ft 9 in

20/20 vision

My spunky Rylee Roo!!

Weight - 48.5 pounds

Height - 3 ft 9 in

20/20 vision

These cute pictures were of course taken by my fantastic cousin, Amber.  We had intentions to go to Wheeler Farm, but it didn't happen.  After an hour or so drive to SLC (with all 5 of my cuties) I pulled into the parking lot at Wheeler Farm and it started to sprinkle.  I wanted to chance it - but Amber & Sandra pretty much thought I was crazy.  So - we ended up at Hobby Lobby of all places!  By the time we left, it was a crazy downpour!  I'm glad that we didn't attempt pictures at Wheeler Farm!  My mom thinks that I'm crazy for even trying - but if I didn't try, the memories wouldn't be made.

I'm so glad that I have these 2 little girls.  They are so sweet!  I've started to sing, "When we're helping we're happy and we sing as we go!  Cause we like to help mother because we all love her so."  Rylee always says, "MUCH!" at the end of the song.  It's so cute!!  She is full of energy.  She is also full of drama.  She loves to sneak into bed with me and Casey almost every single night.  She is always thinking of her sister.  If she gets to draw, "TAY!  I'm going to draw something!"  If she gets a taste of whatever I'm making for dinner, "TAY!  I'm tasting the cheese!"  If I'm getting her a snack, "Hey...what about something for Tay Tay?"  She also LOVES to pose for the camera.

I've never met a sweeter spirit than bug-a-boo's.  She loves hugs.  One night I was listening to her and Rylee have a conversation  Rylee said she's going to marry hiccup from Train Your Dragon.  They are going to kiss in front of everybody!  And then she is going to be a mom.  Taylor said she's not going to kiss anybody when she gets married.  Just hug them.  She said that mom's kisses are the best because dads are scratchy and Caleb's are too wet.  She will ask me if she can do something and if my answer isn't no, I will usually say, "I don't care"  She will go so excited and say, "Care means YES!!!"  I guess I just need to say yes more.

I can't believe that they are 5.  I can't believe that grade school is right around the corner.  I can't believe that I am lucky enough to call them mine!



Free Zoo Day!

November 2014.  Blog post titled December Randoms.  I quote, "The day before Thanksgiving I took my kids & Blake to the zoo.  It was free day.....we will NEVER do that again.  That place was a zoo!"  My reasoning for going in November 2014 was, "It's the day before Thanksgiving.  No one will be there.  They will all be either traveling, cleaning or cooking."  Well...come to find out Hogle Zoo has a free day 4 times a year.  The last Wednesday of November, December, January & February.  Well - we went as a family on the last Wednesday in February.  My brain said, "It's the middle of the school week.  It won't be that crazy.  It isn't right by a holiday, so people won't have work off like they did last time.  It's February for crying out loud.  It's still only 40-ish degrees outside." 

 

All of the kids really enjoyed themselves.  Luke really liked the seals.  He would make a cute little "arr arr" noise every time one would swim by.  Luke & Lex were so cute looking at the cute little twin cat things.  And we got pretty up close & personal with the tiger.  What a beautiful creature!!

I love when I get the opportunity to see a peacock with it's feathers all spread out!  What a fascinating animal.  Bald eagles are pretty awesome as well.  Do you see all of the people??!!  Seriously?!?!  What are they all doing at the zoo!?  The small animal building was insanity.  I got mad at some guy for putting his kids in front of mine and we only did 2 out of the 3 sections in the building.  Casey went to walk into the desert animal part I said, "I can't do it.  It is shoulder to shoulder people in there.  Besides - we live in the desert.  We're good."

The polar bear was so active!  He was probably loving the warm-ish weather.  Luke & Lexi loved being up close & personal with him right up next to the window.  The bear came right up to them & nuzzled right in front of Lexi's face.  She was in love!  Luke on the other hand said a quick hail-Mary and jumped right off of the ledge.  If I hadn't been paying attention, he would've hit the concrete!  I'm glad that I caught him & that he was so smart!  No one wants  to get eaten by a bear!

There was so many people.  So many strollers. So many newborn babies too!!  BUT - the elephant was playing around and we got to see 2 wolves (which we hardly ever see!)  The line for the train & the carousal were crazy long, so we skipped that fun this time.  I hope my kids are making some memories.  And I hope that I don't forget the memories that I made with them.  I don't anticipate that I will go to free day at the zoo ever again - but who knows.  Maybe I'm a liar.

I have two 5 year olds!

I cannot believe that I have such beautiful girls!! 

These lucky ladies got to go to Idle Isle with Grammy, Papa Don, Great Grandma Babe & Great Grandpa Carlos.  I wasn't even there, but I bet it was non-stop entertainment.  I treasure that they got to go.

After they ate, it was party time.  Grandma Mona & Grandpa Brad came over and brought the girls a cute new summer outfit & a purple Pegasus and a pink unicorn!  They were in love with them.  So were Luke & Alexa!  Casey & I got the girls new scooters, helmets, some summer clothes and some ADORABLE cabbage patch kids.  I LOVED my cabbage patch dolls when I was younger...but neither one of them want anything to do with their darling dolls.  It kind of made me sad...Caleb was sad that I was sad too, it was cute.  Rylee decided that Lexi could have her doll just the other day.  Crazy kid.

I need to stop asking my kids what kind of birthday cake that they want.  They keep testing my skills.  They wanted a unicorn cake.  After google searches and browsing through pinterest pictures they cupcake unicorn was made.  They were delicious!

They were so excited to take their posters to preschool.  I let them pick out stickers to decorate their posters.  They were both so careful placing their stickers in just the right places.

Caleb's Baptism

   My oldest cutie patootie was baptized! 

     

   We had been reading books and talking about being baptized for the past several months.  I asked him a couple of weeks before his baptism if he was getting excited.  He said, "Not really."  I asked, "Why not?"  He answered, "Because.  Now every time that I do something wrong I have to pray about it and make it right." Cutest answer ever.  But, I replied to him asking if he was a kind boy, if he was an honest kid, and if he was a good person.  He said yes to all of the above.  So I told him as long as he kept all of those qualities, he wouldn't have to ask for forgiveness very often at all.

 

Luke was my little pocket pup all night long.  He wouldn't' let me leave his sight, and not very often was I able to put him down.  I only heard about half of the confirmation, but from what I did hear it was wonderful.  Casey is a crier.  When it comes to his kids, he wears his heart on his sleeve.

 

After the baptism and confirmation at the stake center, we headed to Crystal Inn for dinner.  I am bummed - but I didn't get a picture of the cute decorations!  Each table had a couple of balloons with a couple of pictures of Caleb through the years attached at the bottom.  We had taco salads, quesadillas & virgin margarita punch.  Look at him in this picture...I mean really...isn't he beaming?!

 My parents brought the kids a little table and I brought some coloring books and magnet tiles for the little kids to play with so that they didn't get bored out of their mind.

  We had so much love & support from both sides of our family.

The Anderson's

My cute grandparents and adorable little Jack Jack!

The Freeze's

It makes my heart happy that Caleb has the opportunity to be loved by these 4 wonderful people.

 My hope for Caleb's future is so hard to put into words.  Who doesn't want the absolute best for their kids?  I hope he remains honest.  I hope that he stays smart.  I pray that he will be able to stand up for himself when the decision between right and wrong arise.  I want him to experience so much happiness and joy that he can hardly stand it!



January

January is the longest month E V E R.  I don't know who is going more stir crazy, me or the kids.  I'm grateful for the snow - but I'm done!  But don't worry - I still managed to take plenty of pictures.

 

Caleb finally grew!  Just not the way I was thinking he should :)

 This kid and some of his answers.  I seriously love them.  Stay away from our garden this year - we don't like to share.

 These beautiful girls had their winter recital.  They get so excited to put on makeup.  Putting eyeliner on them is not my strongest talent.  I need to practice up!

 Dancing in the finale.

 Grandma Mona bought them each a beautiful rose.  They loved them.  Grammy & Papa Don also came & watched them dance.

 Giddy up!  These 2 love to tease each other.  They have started throwing their blankets and pillows into each others cribs at nap time.  It's all laughter and fun until Lexi won't give Luke his puppy back.  He FREAKS!

 These two were being adorable playing with blocks one day - I wasn't sneaky enough with the camera to just get them playing, but I snapped the shot and then -

 Rylee came running over and said, "Wait for me!!"

 Caleb, Taylor & Rylee built the cutest mini snowman with Allie one afternoon.

This picture quality isn't the greatest - but I took it with my phone.  Caleb & I had a movie night one night.  The kid couldn't have possibly sat any closer to me.  He had a million questions...wanted to shut it off, then keep it on, then shut it off.  He made it though.  Such a tough guy!

 Twinsies....twice.  Heaven help me.

 "Helping" shovel snow.  She LOVES to be outside.

 I'm worried about my kids.  I'm not saying that I had a bad childhood or anything - in fact, it was pretty perfect.  But I knew how to do chores.  The environment for my kids is so different than mine when I was little.  So I told Casey that we needed to start instilling some work ethic into Caleb.  He was in charge of shoveling the sidewalk the last few snow storms of the season.  He wasn't very happy about it - but each time he did it he got better at it. 

Casey & I built a hill in the front yard for the kids.  Taylor loved climbing on it.  Rylee didn't get to play because she was stuck inside with a nasty fever.  Poor girl.

 Caleb - 2 years old.

Luke - 2 years old.