We'll be home for Christmas

It's our very first Christmas to stay at home and do our own thing (which we're pretty excited for) and I'm planning on doing plenty of documenting. Here are a few pictures I didn't post earlier.
Our annual Christmas card, this year we just set the camera timer and ran for it. Not our best work, but if everyone's looking in the same direction I consider it a small Christmas miracle.
The official Santa Claus picture - Kaydree hated that I mohawked Carver's hair, she screamed at me "I just like it BALD!" It turned out great though...I didn't even have to bribe them to smile.
We've been doing some pre-Christmas cleaning to make a little room for the new stuff. Carver loved that Ryan was carrying him around in this box...
Last night we had Ryan's Uncle Jim, Aunt Sandy, and cousin Meghan over for dinner. They recently moved to the otherside of the metroplex from Arkansas, and we're lucky to have them so close. We really like hanging out with these guys, they're the kind of relatives you'd hang out with even if you weren't related!
Dinner turned out pretty well, I tried my fabulous cousin Alicia's recipe and it was a big hit. If you're not a fan of shrimp or olives then this one's probably not for you, but otherwise try it...you'll thank me later.

Vista Del Mar (it even has a fancy name)
-2 tbs. butter
-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
-3 roma tomatoes, diced
-1 can whole olives, cut in half
-1/4 c. lemon juice
-1 c. salsa
-2 or 3 avocadoes, diced
-1 sm bag precooked shrimp, thawed
-shredded monteray jack cheese

1. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add cubed chicken and cook through.
2. Add the next few ingredients one at a time stirring, mixing, and heating through before you add the next - tomatoes, olives, lemon juice, salsa, and avocadoes.
3. Finally, add the shrimp and mix. Heat on medium heat for about 5-10 min. until warmed through.
4. Spoon into a casserole dish and sprinkle with lots of cheese.

We served this with rice, refried beans, and tortillas so people can eat it however they like (over rice or in a tortilla). It's pretty easy and SO good, thanks Alicia!

Tis the Season

We had a super busy week last week and a busy and fun weekend. I'll start with Kaydree's last day of preschool for the year...
Thursday was Kaydree's preschool Christmas party, and she was so excited to bring gifts for all of her friends. Ms. Rachel sewed us the most adorable Mommy/Daughter aprons and chefs hats with our names embroidered on them. Rachel and I had so much fun doing preschool together but I'm sure it'll be just as fun in January when we add more kids and more moms.
Next we headed to Jeffrey's (my brother's) basketball game. I think it's his first varsity game that we've been to so it was pretty exciting. I thought Carver would be all over the place but he actually sat and watched the game, it was awesome. My dad kept Kaydree happy by getting her popcorn and throwing a ball around with her...


Sunday we got all dressed up for church and Kaydree finally got to wear her Christmas dress (which she has been trying to talk me into letting her wear for weeks, not just to church but around the house, to preschool, etc).


Check out my all grown up baby sister and brother...

Me, mom, and my 20 week belly...

Later, Chris, Emily, and the girls came over for Christmas dinner and the annual Carver Nativity. It was especially hillarious this year with Kaydree as Mary, Jeffrey as Joseph, and Carver as the Baby Jesus. The little kids took over the costume department: Annalee really wanted to wear Caitlin's old candycorn costume, Addalynn chose a pioneer-ish costume, and they made Ryan wear this hairnet thing on his head that made him look like a lunch lady (which he has forbidden me to post pictures of). Everyone else had random towels on their heads as usual...


Then we opened gifts, and the girls went crazy for Nana's princess themed baskets...

We can only hope the real Christmas will be just as memorable as our early Christmas was!

Freedom!

Today we made the final payment on our student loan. It was seriously the best feeling, I've been smiling all day. We have been scrimping and saving for like 18 months straight, paying every extra dime to the loan and we're FINALLY 100% debt free! Now we just need to get a bigger car...

Dear Santa...

Our ward Christmas party was Friday night and it was lots of fun. We've been trying to prepare Kaydree for Sunbeams a little bit (since she'll be going in in January) so she loved watching the primary kids do their Christmas program and she kept saying, "Next year I can do that." Of course her favorite part of the evening was when she got to see Santa and tell him what she wanted for Christmas. She never stops talking about the Barbie with pink sparkling wings that she wants, but her new thing is that she really wants new food for her play kitchen. Being as shy as she is with strangers, especially Santa Claus, she couldn't exactly articulate what she wanted for Christmas. The first part came out so quickly that I don't think Santa really caught it, "I want pink wings with a Barbie..." and then for the next part she slowed down a bit and it came out really clearly, "and I really want some food!" So you can imagine the look that I get from Santa when all my kid asks for for Christmas is FOOD.

The Ladies Man

So here I am all worried about poor little Carver being surrounded by sisters, and Ryan is like "are you kidding? this is great, he's going to be dating all their friends!" At least we have one boy, right? And he sure is fun. Here is a quick 10 (almost 11) month update about Carver:

-he loves cruising all over our house (but isn't walking yet)
-his main form of communication is squealing, though he does say hi, mama, dada, baba (for bottle), and bye bye.
-he gets into EVERYTHING. He has even managed to figure out how to open the little child locks on our kitchen cabinets and lift up the toilet seats to splash around. Gross, right? I have to watch this kid like a hawk.
-he loves to give high fives
-he still takes 2 pretty long (2 hour) naps each day - thank goodness.
-he is eating tons of table food and he actually likes veggies more than fruits.
-the kid hates clothes, even in the winter. He wiggles out of his pants on a daily basis, takes off shoes and socks faster than I can put them on, and would probably be naked all the time if it were up to him.

Here are a few more cute pics:
Eating like a Big Boy
Pants...who needs 'em?
Watchin' football with Dad...notice he tried to wiggle out of the sweater
He loves to get inside the toy bin...We love this boy!

More bows and princesses...

Today we found out we'll be adding 2 more girls to the Anderson Clan. I was secretly hoping for boys (less drama) so I was pretty sure I could count on getting the opposite. I am so excited for girls though, they're way more fun to dress!

Here are the stats:
-they both measure 18 weeks gestation
-they're almost exactly the same size (about 1/2 pound each)
-there is a membrane dividing them (2 sacks)
-it looks like there is only one placenta (tmi?)
-both the Dr. and the ultrasound tech are pretty sure they're identical (identical twins don't always share the same sack, but if there is only 1 placenta that means they're identical...it's almost impossible to tell for sure until they are born and the Dr. sends everything to the lab).

Here's another fun fact for you: Identical twins are NOT hereditary, they are considered a random act of nature. But my mom has an identical twin, Ryan's brothers are identical twins, and now we're having identical twins...that's an awful lot of randomness, don't you think?
And just in case you were wondering if I was just making this whole thing up, here are the pics to prove it.
Here I am at 10 weeks (somewhat normal looking)...
And here I am this morning at 18 weeks (there HAS to be more than one baby in there)...
So look out Mary Kate and Ashley, because here come the Anderson girls...
(Baby A chewing on her hand)
(Baby B and the cutest little profile you're ever seen)

Thanksgiving Week (aka the longest post EVER)

I am SO behind with the blogging. We've been really busy lately...I guess I've been out living life instead of sitting in front of my computer reading about other people's (imagine that). Anyway, I still need to catch up with the pictures from my Utah/Idaho trip but we had a super busy week last week and I don't want to get behind with that. So here's the play by play:
Sat: We decided to kick off the holidays by going to the Christmas tree lighting in Southlake. It was free, fun, and not too crowded so I think this will be a new tradition for us (we always try to go downtown to Sundance for their tree lighting and the traffic's a nightmare so this was much better).


Sun: We went over to Chris(my bro.) and Emily's to see their new baby Mavery and to celebrate Annalee and Emily's birthdays. The baby is SO cute - tons of dark hair and chubby little cheeks. We love her!
Mon: We got a jump on the Christmas decorating and did it all on Monday night for family home evening. The boxes were way more fun than the decorating...
Tues: We had a slammin' preschool party at our place complete with cornbread and construction paper hats and collars (Kaydree, however, wouldn't let me take her picture). Tuesday night David (ry's cousin) and Jami came to stay the night with their little boy Joseph. We always love when they stay on their way to Amarillo. We love hanging out with David and Jami and Kaydree really loves to play with Joseph.



Wed: Caitlin and Jeffrey came to stay the night and party!
Thurs: From here on in I forgot my camera so you'll have to take my word for everything. We had Thanksgiving at Chris and Emily's with my parents/fam and Emily's parents/fam. It was probably the best food for Thanksgiving we've ever had...everything was SO good! We played a fun new game with Emily's mom (I think it's called "would you rather...") and hung out all day. That night we headed down to Cleburne to my parent's place for some more food and cheap movies. Ryan and the guys saw Australia and Caitlin and I finally saw Twilight (my mom stayed home with the sleeping babies).
Black Fri: Every year we say we won't...and every year we do it anyway. We were at Wal-Mart at 6:00 AM - why, you ask - for the ridiculous "butterfly barbie with pink sparkling wings, not purple!" and let me just say that I totally understand why people get trampled there, we are lucky to be alive!
Friday night we hit the Dallas Stars game while my mom watched the kids and it was SO fun. They lost, but we had great seats and then went up to the box to eat tons of free food and hang out with Ryan's work people. Again, wish I would've brought my camera so you could see how close we really were.
Sat: We headed up to Rockwall to visit Ryan's uncle and family. Ryan hasn't seen his cousin Nick and aunt and uncle for like 10 years so it was really neat. Kaydree loved playing with their cute little boy Jack.



This week promises to be even more exciting than last (if you can believe it) because #1: my sister is in labor right now with her new baby and #2: our ultrasound is tomorrow and hopefully everyone will cooperate and we'll find out what we're having!

Double the Fun!

In case you haven't heard...Ryan and I are having twins! We found out about 6 weeks ago but have been keeping it sort of quiet until our trip to Idaho so we could tell Ryan's family. We had to do it in person so we could see their reactions and it was well worth the wait. I have some video of everyone's reactions but I'm still trying to figure out how to get it on here, so for now here are some ultrasound pics.
Here they are at 10 weeks...two little beans:

Here at 14 weeks you can see their two heads:

Here is another at 14 weeks, it's so hard to get a good shot of one without the other baby popping up in the background:

So come April we'll have 4 kids under the age of 4! By now we're pretty much over the freaked out overwhelmed feeling and we're just excited to be part of it all. Dec. 4th we are suppose to find out what we're having so stay tuned for that and also for pics of my Utah/Idaho trips.

My Little Pumpkins

Ryan has been working long hours and traveling in Utah for the past few weeks, so I did as much as I could to keep busy with the kids. We had so much fun. Not pictured is our awesome pumpkin carving...Kaydree really wanted a spider on the pumpkin and it turned out pretty cool. We had a great time keeping busy but we're SO glad Ryan is back home!

Tagged!

Guess what? I have never been tagged before...I love reading random facts about other people but when it comes to me I just think I'm boring. I don't know it kind of reminds me of email forwards...or chain mail, remember that? Anyway, there's a first time for everything and I take comfort in the fact that no one really reads this (especially if I don't post any pictures). So, here it goes:

I am- in dire need of a good haircut. Any ideas?
I want- The Cricut...have you ever seen that infomercial? Well I got sucked in the other day and now I just really want one.
I wish- I never had to drive a minivan...ever!
I dislike- bad grammar
I fear- for the future of our country
I hear- my phone ringing
I search- the clearance rack at Ross regularly
I wonder- what my kids will look like when they're older
I always- eat breakfast, I just feel awful if I don't
I usually- remember to send thank you cards...sometimes I forget...sorry!
I am not- always on time. I really really try to be but now that I have kids that's pretty much over
I dance- with my kids all the time, they probably think I'm crazy. Kaydree always wants me to be the boy now, and I can't wait for Carver to be old enough to assume that role
I sing- all the time at home...I sing commercials, I sing to my kids, and I sing to the radio...it's one of my more annoying habits I'm sure
I never- go a day without brushing my teeth in the morning - gross!
I rarely- am ready to get out of bed in the morning. I know that sounds bad, but it just always seems way too early. What can I say, I'm just not a morning person.
I cry- way too often, I'm an emotional woman. Don't worry, they're not always sad tears.
I am not always- prepared. Despite my best efforts to foresee every possible baby and toddler disaster, I always seem to forget just what I needed.
I lose- my keys, checkbook, cell phone, and sunglasses on a regular basis (they're always somewhere in my house).
I'm confused- about how socialism fits into the constitution. Does it say life liberty and the pursuit of happiness only up until a certain income level and then the government can take some of that and give it to whomever they like? I must have missed something...don't even get me started.
I need- to get my kids some new socks, they're feet grow overnight...I think they're going to be giants!
I should- call people back every time they call and leave a message. I'm SO bad at this, seriously!
I dream- of $0.99 per gallon gas. There was this gas station in high school...it literally cost me 10 bucks to the fill the Saturn, those were the days.
I TAG- Elizabeth (because I know she'll do it), Tiff, and my sister Nicole, now it's your turn!

This and That

First of all, I don't think our trip to the BYU vs. TCU game deserved it's own post since BYU got totally trashed (I won't even mention the score). So I am clumping those pictures in with some others that I have been meaning to post for a while...
We made up for the bad game with good company, this is the first date Ryan and I have been on in a while (thanks to Emily and Chris who watched our kids)... My friend Sharon suggested that I take a picture of the team while we were still in the top ten (now a distant memory)...
We went with some friends from our ward and had a really fun time talking with them. You can't tell our utter embarrassment from the smiles...

You wouldn't believe how many BYU fans were there, I was impressed with the turnout (way more than stake conference). We ignored the "mormons don't belong in Texas" signs during the game and the "BYU sucks!" yells after the game, and even had a good laugh when a girl behind us shouted after yet another incomplete pass "DON'T WORRY, THE CHURCH IS STILL TRUE!" All in all, we had a good time.

Now, for some thank yous. We have gotten some really great packages in the mail over the last little while and I wanted to give a shout out.
This is from Ryan's Aunt Delia and family, who live in Connecticut. It also came with a cute little book and snuggly rattle that both of the kids LOVE!

This cute little outfit is from Ryan's Aunt Sylvia and family, who live in Washington, we love it!

Ryan's parents also sent some really fun stuff for Halloween, I meant to take a picture of the kids in their matching shirts the other day but I missed it. Thanks so much! We love being remembered way down here in the Lone Star State.

And finally, here is little Carver thinking he is SO big. He loves to pull up on everything and try to walk just like his big sister.

Super Saturday

Last Saturday Emily (my sis-in-law) and I went to her ward's Super Saturday and did some crafting. They had so much cute stuff there, I just wanted to do everything. And while most of the other domestic and selfless mormon mommies were making crafts for other people as gifts, I just picked out the cutest things and made them for myself! What do you think?
These are just cardboard letters painted, mod podged, and embellished.
This one is crackled but you can't really tell from the picture.
I haven't found the right frame for my A yet, so more pics to follow...