Easter

The Easter Bunny found us!!  The kids all get pretty excited when they find their basket - actually - they get pretty excited when the find anyone's basket!

 Luke didn't give 2 cares about the toys in his basket at first.  This little boy is all about the sugar!

 All of the girls got new swimsuits and the neatest mermaid tails!

 One of everyone's favorite Easter treats is the peeps.  Smart kids!

 Caleb got the new Jumanji on DVD and we had to watch it immediately.  It cracks him up.

 Rylee didn't waste any time getting into her new swim stuff, finding a comfortable spot and reading her new book. 

Easter Sunday fell on General Conference, so that was actually quite nice!  The following week the kids got to wear their new Easter clothes.  Everyone really liked their new clothes and Taylor & Rylee can't keep their hands out of their dress pockets.  The dresses didn't come without stress though!  Thanks to Grandma Mona's fabulous sewing skills, it all worked out.

 If you look in the picture above, Taylor's cheeks are swollen and red.  She was dressed and I was just about finished with her hair and she told me that she wasn't feeling good.  Poor girl got all dressed up and ready to go and ended up staying home with Casey.  BUT - she got a Slurpee.  That always seems to cheer up my sick littles.

Annual Anderson Picnic

Easter in March isn't my favorite - but somehow the weather cooperates with us 90% of the time! It was a great day for a promontory picnic!

And come one.  How cute are these??!!  It shocked me how many peeps were tore off of these kabobs and placed back into the tupperware.  Unamerican.

The Easter Bunny had managed to get all of the eggs hidden yet again!

Caleb had camouflaged eggs.  Hmmmm....that silly rabbit might have to rethink that one.  They were hard to find!  He got some practice in driving a 4-wheeler around and got to scare all of the girls with a lizard.  Successful day in any 10 year old boys head I would think!  He had just spent all of his money on his new Carolina Panther's hat.  He told everyone, "Now I'm broke!"  It was pretty funny.

The girls were are each other's little helpers during the egg search.  They are pretty dang cute when they get together.  Eva is LOVED to say the least by my 3 ladies.  Each of the kids got a whistle in one of their eggs.  That was F U N.

Luke, Luke, Luke.  He was pretty excited this year and each year he gets a little less whiny!  After he was told he had found all of his eggs, he wandered back to the picnic table and proceeded to open each and every one to see what was inside.  Magic!  This little boy loves a good campfire as well.  It seems to hypnotize him for a moment as long as the smoke is traveling in the opposite direction.

The girls started the day out with their cute bunny ears, but by the end of the afternoon they looked more like sheep.  My Alexa Loo is a little diva through and through.  Sour patch candies are always a good time with the little people.  And I think she liked the attention she got from Angela and Jeff exploring her Easter finds.

Guess who else came to the picninc??!!  PUPPIES!  Ashely and Derrick are on puppy duty every year!  Talk about cuteness overload!

Happiness is a warm puppy!!  As long as they don't breath directly into your face.

Jordon and Dylan are so awesome that they both wore them Choot Em shirts.  I bet they called each other and planned it.  I love and hate that my mom has to wear 2 glasses to take a picture.  Jackson is just a stud muffin.  And Rylee & Eva enjoyed watching each other open their Easter eggs.

Blake.  This kids smile has me feeling all of the feels lately.  Whenever little Blake has a sincere happy smile, I seriously melt.  And my dad has a way of cracking him up pretty much every time they see each other.

The day ended with a show.  "Let's go fly a kite"  Starring Grammy and Blakie.  It was the best show EVER.

March

Taylor and Rylee got to experience their first dance competition.  They LOVED that they got their very fist trophy! 

 This time they requested to have pictures taken ALONE.  Break my heart!  Just kidding.  I guess I just love that they are twins and they get annoyed by it sometimes.  Taylor struck a pretty cute pose for her picture.

  I had already taken Rylee's picture and when she saw Taylor vouge-ing it up she was upset and said, "I need to pose!  Will you take another one?"  Of course girlie!

My mom was babysitting Luke & Caleb so Casey & I were able to take our girls out to lunch.  They were cute and LOVED sharing dessert.  We got 2 desserts and 5 spoons and they thought that was fun.  Lexi loves her kitty sweater and headband.  We were headed out the door and she said, "Wait mom!  I need a bow like my kitty."  Again - granting wishes wherever I can.

These two love to paint!  Paint books and play doh aren't my favorite things - but the experts say "let them be little"

Making fruit loop rainbows for St Patrick's day with my babies!

Making a tie dye rainbow cake with my kids and a couple more for St Patrick's day!  All this and I'm not even Irish.  Where's my pitcher of  beer??

Easter was coming early this year!  I got a little crafty.....

 and I want to get better at glazing sugar cookies so I had a little fun with my peeps.

March snowstorms are wonderful.  The snow only lasts about a day.  We didn't get much snow this winter so I helped the girls with a mini snowman.  I couldn't find a hat - so it got a unicorn horn instead.

Somebody loves this kid (me...yes, it's me) and ordered him a Carolina Panthers tie for church.  He loves it.

This girl melts me.  It can take her an hour to paint a picture.  She is very particular and patient.  She actually enjoys it too!  Luke & Caleb get so stressed out with this kind of stuff.

Caleb's class made some cool fossil things at school one day.  An activity right up this kids alley!

Enjoying the rain storm!

Miss Thing got a new swimsuit and worked it for 3 days straight.

DANCE PICTURES!

Went to Walmart one morning with Casey and the little twins.  Got out of the truck.  And then got pooped on.  I had just showered and dried my hair....I'm so glad it missed that!

Me and my littlest waiting for Casey one morning.  I'm going to miss my 4 year olds.

I want to start teaching the kids a little more about cooking.  Caleb helped with chicken roll ups (that's what we call them).  He REALLY hates to have his fingers dirty.  He would wipe them off every time anything was on them.  Taylor helped with spaghetti.  Rylee got to help with take & bake pizzas!  She did get to prepare a salad, so some lesson was learned.

February

SEVEN!!!  I really can't believe it.  How can they be 7 when I haven't aged a day?  It really doesn't make a whole lot of sense.  I love these girls so much.  I hope that they know that!

 Pizza and salad for their birthday dinner!  I hope that they know that I love when they pick Pizza for their favorite dinner.  Happy birthday girls!  You are amazing!

The got to go out to dinner and then to get some ice cream with Grammy & Papa Don!

Ashley headed to Brigham City one day so we could take the kids to the peak to run off some energy.  We called Angela and she met us for lunch.  We all loaded up into our separate cars after lunch and ended up in line at sonic for a beverage.  Gotta love Happy Hour!!

My kids sure get emotional when a tooth needs to come out.  Rylee lost another one!  I wonder if the tooth fairy gets sick of coming to the Freeze house.  She sure seems to have to visit a lot!

I made cornbread and chili one night.  It was a tasty recipe, so I figured I'd document it.

Serves 12-ish

8 hours crock pot or 2.5 hours stove top

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds ground beef, turkey or venison
• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 yellow or white onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 2 jalapeño peppers, finely chopped (optional)
• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black ground pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 46-oz. can tomato juice
• 28-oz. can diced tomatoes
• 15-oz. can tomato sauce
• 16-oz. can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 16-oz. can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• Shredded cheese and sour cream, for topping
• Instructions:
• In a large skillet, cook ground meat over medium-high heat until no longer pink. Transfer the meat to a bowl. Drain excess grease from skillet, but do not clean.
• Add the olive oil to the skillet. Add the onion, green pepper, garlic, parsley and jalapeño peppers (if using) and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft and fragrant (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat and add the chili powder, cumin, sugar, oregano, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Stir until combined.
• If cooking the chili stovetop, add the cooked meat back to the skillet. If using a slow cooker, add meat-veggie mixture to the slow cooker. Add the tomato juice, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, kidney beans and pinto beans to either the skillet or slow cooker, depending on which you are using. On stovetop, bring to a boil, dial back to medium-low and simmer for 2 hours. In slow cooker, cook on low for 7 to 8 hours. Serve warm with cheese and sour cream.

I finally let these 2 discover the miniature carts at Smith's.  They loved them.  I wasn't quite ready for them to each have their own so they had to share and take turns on this trip.  Side note....I wish I didn't live so close to grocery stores.  I think I would prefer to live 30 or so minutes away to make it less convenient.  I think that I would be better prepared meal wise and not go to the store for 5 things and leave with 20.

Someone is developing a drinking problem.  I think watered down root beer sounds disgusting - but to each their own!

I learned some tips & tricks at Relief Society one evening about fresh flowers.  Tip #1 that I liked was go to the store (Smith's is where I went) the day after a 'flowery' holiday (Valentines, Mother's Day, Memorial day) and find some fabulous clearance flowers.  I got all of these for only $9.  Tip #2, cut your flowers stems under water.  That way when you cut them they take a breath of water instead a breath of air.  Tip #3, change your water daily & add a capful of bleach.  It makes your flowers last so much longer!  I did this tip with only 2 of the arrangements I played with and they lasted almost a week longer than the others!  You're welcome.

This mini man came home from school one Friday so dang mad!  He was almost in tears.  When he could finally compose himself he said that they played 'Olympics' at school and his team got 1st place and they didn't get anything!  But every other winning team throughout the week got recognized over the loudspeaker and got a medal.  He said, "Everybody always get stuff like that, but nope.  Not Caleb Freeze!"  I told him that they probably just ran out of time or something and they would be recognized later.  Guess who came home with a medal on Monday??

My little bug!  She managed to break her collar bone.  While I was napping after a graveyard shift one Saturday morning Casey took the kids to the park.  He was pushing the merry go round and some how Taylor managed to tumble off of it.  It wasn't a big break and the Dr said to just have her wear a sling for a couple of weeks.  I've never said it out loud, but I always kind of knew deep down she would be the first of my kids to break something.  She's so funny....she'll fall or trip or stumble and just bounce right back with a, "I'm okay!"  My parents surprised her with a cute stuffed animal puppy with a sling on it's arm at school shortly after it happened.  That made her so happy! (and made her twin sister so mad)

Day of Love

The Anderson girls stepped out of their comfort zone and went to a Galentine's party.  It was fun to do something different...Ashley cried because she wanted a burrito (pregnancy is so fun!)...and we have social issues I've decided.  But at least we like each other!

I signed up to help with Caleb's valentine party at school and Luke & Lexi were looking pretty cute, so I wanted to take their picture.  They love their miniature Ty stuffies, so they were in the picture as well.  Lexi's Ty is named Miles and Luke's is seaweed.  I asked them to pucker for a picture.  We'll just say that they tried!

Each year is different when it comes to Valentine boxes.  The girls got to make one last year, but not this year.   This is the first one that Caleb has ever had to make!  I'm glad that he got the experience before he was out of grade school.   Panthers vs Bengals stadium.  One happy little boy right there!

The kids with their Valentines after school!  I was in charge of the craft at the class party.  They all made cute string art hearts.  I took a picture of the girls and told Taylor to open her eyes a little more...she cracks me up and Rylee laughing cracks me up too.

The kids LOVE to decorate sugar cookies.  Luke is always so proud of himself.  Look at that smile!  Look at all of their smiles!!!!  CUTIES!  I LOVE THEM!

I got everyone a little gift.  Chokers for Taylor & Rylee, mega block cars for Luke and Alexa and Caleb got a Cam Newton (Panthers Quarterback) key chain.  I got Casey and new body pillow and he got me a darling charm bracelet from Hallmark that I hung from my rear-view mirror in the van.  He got me 3 charms so far - a witch hat, a sparkly seashell and an I Love You!