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!

January

Grandpa Carlos turned 91!  I love that everyone is actually looking at the camera, even Tippy was ready!

My little fashionistas.  Casey was going to the grocery store one day and the girls wanted to go with.  I was pretty hesitant to let them out the door looking quite so fabulous, but decided it didn't matter in the long run.  Taylor was getting her shoes on and could only find one.  I told her to just wear 2 different shoes.  She glared at me and said, "Come on mom.  I don't want people to think that I'm crazy."

I helped Caleb craft one Sunday afternoon.  He was quite frustrated while putting it together (muttering to himself, throwing his hands in the air, putting his head in his hands) but LOVED the end result!  My kids get so frustrated when they can't do something the first time.  Is it the 'instant gratification' world that they are already accustomed to?  Practice makes perfect...and sometimes you'll be practicing the same things over and over and over again and continue to learn!  I hope that they can realize this sooner rather than later.

I took my babies to Walmart one day and had to take their picture.  I love them.  I'm going to miss them when they start preschool this coming fall!

Griffen got a weekend job - so he has some extra time during the week.  He picked up old grist mill one afternoon and brought it over for lunchie.  Mother & son were taking little videos and pictures with their Starbucks.  They are addicted.

Casey loves camouflage and Mountain Dew.  Addiction at it's finest I guess.  And he is quite the selfie taker sometimes.

What??  A picture with sleeping little people??!!  That is so out of character for me.

We got Jenga for Christmas.  We've had some pretty intense games!

I always end up losing though.  One afternoon Brad & Mona were watching Casey & I play and Brad had to walk away because it was giving him to much anxiety.  It was funny.

My ladies had their winter recital.  They are all so fun to watch for so many different reasons.

December Randoms

This little fancy pants.  How did she not twist her ankle posing for this picture??!!

Trapping muskrats with dad....in the cutest holiday Hello Kitty sweaters from mom.

Birthday dinner with Grammy & Papa Don!  I bet that they love when the kids grow out of always wanting to go to McDonald's.  Caleb has found a new love for mozzarella sticks and ham & cheese sliders from Arby's. 

Rah rah ah-ah-ah!

Ro mah ro-mah-mah

Gaga oh-la-la!

Angela got us ladies all tickets to go & see Lady Gaga!  Even though Gaga didn't disappoint, Angela peeing in the parking lot was my highlight of my evening.

Happy Birthday to me!  I got 4 fabulous new bar stools put together by 2 of my favorite boys!  The other favorite boy was at school.

For my birthday evening we went bowling.  I love bowling.  My kids sure get upset when they don't do well.  Practice makes perfect kiddos!  No one starts out being fabulous at anything!  We ended the night with some Marie Callendars Lemon Meringue pie. Y U M.

Casey finally found someone else to enjoy eggnog with him.

Isn't this how everyone dresses for their Saturday chores?

At one of our trips to the library we found a science experiment book for kids.  We made some cornstarch goo and some layered colored water.  It was a fun little family activity.

My dad has a second job apparently.  He was pictured on the case of a gun vise that Casey got for Christmas.  Caleb is actually the one that noticed it.  It's not the spitting image of him....but glancing there are quite a few similarities!

Luke's hand....every single night.  This picture makes me want to sand and restain the doors...then I really think about it and I don't want to do it anymore.

Nucor Building Systems had a beaver problem.  Casey took care of it.

Pretty as a princess!

A few days after Christmas I decided it was time to put my babies in their bunk beds.  So Casey got to work putting them together one afternoon.  They thought they were awesome and the other 3 kids sure were jealous!

Caleb is REALLY into football ANYTHING lately.  He loves the Panthers and the Bengels.  He made a football stadium out of play doh one afternoon.

Luke & Lexi & I watch daily for the town turkeys.  We see them wandering around the neighborhood almost every single day!

Winter Break Getaway

While I'm working for Crystal Inn, I can get pretty good rates on rooms if the hotel I want to stay in isn't very busy.  So one Friday night I got adjoining rooms at the SLC location and it was a fantastic mini get away!  It was only $25/room!  

There is a Denny's right next to the hotel, and kids eat free!  We were able to get 2 free kids meal per paying adult, so our bill was only $26!  I love getting deals.  Can you tell?

I wanted to kids to see the candy window displays at Macy's, they were awesome!

While the kids were fascinated by the candy displays we got a few selfies in.

After we took all of the selfies above Casey said, we should turn around so it looks more Christmasy.

Casey wants the lights at Temple Square to be one of our Christmas traditions, which is fine, but I really hate people.  HA!  I'm thinking that this AFTER Christmas SLC trip might have to be one of our NEW family traditions.  We can enjoy the beautiful scenery and dodge the crazies!

Lexi's feet in this picture make me smile big time.

Kids and swimming pools.  They LOVE them.  Luke was so timid.  Alexa thinks she's a mermaid.  I know she'll be ready for swimming lessons this summer, and Luke won't.  And little Taylor bug.  She is so like me sometimes that it's crazy.  She stood and read the pool rules and made sure they were all being followed.  She said, "See Caleb...right there is says no rough play!"

Adjoining rooms=heaven.  Everyone slept really well.  I asked Caleb what was more fun, Christmas or the get away.  He said the get away.  I guess I'll tell Santa to tone it down a bit.