Liev's Art

Liev really loves to color and draw and has also become really good at sounding out words and writing them.  I love seeing the way that he writes and realizing he is writing words just as they sound.  Cutest thing ever.

 This is probably one of my favorite things I've seen from him.  He made a checklist for something (not sure what it was exactly) but he had boxes that he could check off each day when he got his things done.  The best part is the days of the week that he wrote.  Love "Toosday"  And I couldn't figure out why there were two Fridays until I realized one was Thursday - pronounced Frsday because that's how he actually says it.  Oh I love this boy.

 Pictures of rainbows are always a favorite because he can use all his colors.

A cute color by number he did at school.

And also learning math along with coloring.  

Liev is a bright kid and has learned to love school which is awesome!

Snot

Don't you hate it when you can't hold a sneeze in?  And then everything comes out with it?   Besides that - look at those cute teeth coming in and those long beautiful eyelashes!

Two Babies

Baby Desh and Baby Kinley have grown up side by side.  From the minute they were born, they have been dragged to anything and everything that we have had going on.  Life didn't really slow down much for either of us after having a baby.  Most of the time these two get left to themselves while everything else is going on around them.  They are two happy, content boys that haven't seemed to mind being together just the two of them.  That's what you get when you're the cabooses of the families I guess.  Sweet babies!

Snow Camp with the Scouts

Josh and the other Young Men leaders took the boys on a snow camp last weekend.  I'm not sure what is fun about camping out in the cold, but for some reason they keep doing it year after year.  Josh did say they had a blast even if some of the boys weren't quite prepared for it to be so cold.  They all survived though, snow caves and all!

Sleepy Sunday

Oh church is so hard sometimes!  We have 12:30 church this year and some of the kids haven't quite adjusted to a day without a nap.  Sleeping straight up though is quite a feat!

Skiing

We have had a BLAST skiing together this winter!  The kids had 5 weeks of lessons every Saturday and have really learned a ton.  The boys' lessons are just in the morning then we pick them up for lunch and ski together for the afternoon.  The girls' lessons are all day so we don't get to see them or ski with them much during the day.  They usually try and sneak in one run with dad after their lesson and before the lifts close for the evening.  But really they have all come a long way since the first lesson and have all become good little skiers.  The girls especially have gotten really good and love to go fast just like their dad!  They bust down the mountain like they have no fear.  Me, on the other hand, am a very cautious skier and don't like to go fast especially because I don't like to fall.  So I take my time and usually ski by myself which is totally fine.  I have taken a couple of morning lessons too and I think that really helped me get the basics down.  Most of all we have just loved being together and doing something we all love!  Here are some of our favorite pictures from this season.  

Buddies

These 4 kids are such cute little buddies.  Cache and Casen have lived across the street from us for 3 or 4 years now and the 4 of them have been good friends since they moved here.  They are usually at our house or theirs a couple times a week, walk to and from school together and usually have some class or activity together at school.  We love having good friends so close!

Liev Counting

Liev reached this awesome milestone this week at school!  Hooray for learning!

9 Months

Desh is growing up so fast!  He is the cutest thing right now and is so fun.  He's sitting up like a champ and loves to eat.  Some of my favorite pics of him the past couple weeks show his chubby cuteness and the good times he spends in his high chair!

9 month stats from Dr. Erickson:

Weight: 21.27 lbs. - 63%

Length: 28.94 inches - 74%

Head: 18.7 inches - 96%

Activity Days

I have been the activity days leader for about 6 months and it has been so fun to be with my girls.  (Rhen is just a month away from officially being in our group, but she joins us each time anyway!)

This week we wrote letters to each of the missionaries in our ward and sent them off.  It was a really fun day to let all of our missionaries know how much we appreciate them.  Love these girls!

(Back row: Kenna Gunderson, Sadie Peacock, Izzy Hecker, Shelby Brown, Rease Beutler

Front Row: Delma Robison, Aspen Fonger, Maddie Burk, Kara Ottley, Rhen Beutler)

Chapstick

I keep a tube of chapstick in the car right by the drivers side so I always know where it is.  Beck usually sees me put some on and then asks if he can use it too.  Most of the time I let him have it for just a couple seconds and then give it right back to me so I don't lose it.  Today though, I handed it back to him and was distracted for a little bit.  When he finally gave it back to me it was noticeably smaller - I wonder why?

Rease's Choir Concert

Rease has been going to choir every Wednesday morning before school all year long and they have been working so hard on their concert.  Tonight we got to see the final production and they did a fabulous job!  It was a 60s night concert and they each made their own tie-dye shirt to wear.  And they sang such fun songs that we all loved!  

They did each song with such fun enthusiasm and actions to go along with it.  It was a pretty fun night!

I was so proud of Rease and all her hard work!

School Artwork

The kids always work so hard on their artwork at school and love that it is displayed outside their classrooms for everyone to see.  We took a stroll around the school today and had each of the kids show us what they've done.  

Under the Bed

The days of putting Desh on the floor for a nap are coming quickly to a close.  He has been rolling and scooting and moving around like crazy lately and just doesn't stay in one place long enough anymore.  I found him under the bed after a nap one day when we were at the Hammer's house.  I guess this means that he needs to be in a crib from now on!  Silly boy is growing up too fast!

Valentines Day

The kids all made these cute Valentines Day cards and letters for us.  These homemade things are the best thing a parent could get from their kids.  

Not too cold for the sandbox...

Sure it's the middle of February.  Sure there's remnants of snow on the ground still.  And sure they have to wear coats and beanies to be outside.  But none of those reasons seemed like good enough reasons to stay inside.  Instead it's sandbox time!  Looking forward to warmer weather already?!

Church sleep...

I think Keen would agree with Elder Uchtdorf that "...church sleep is among the healthiest of all sleeps."

Rhen's Work

I have to brag about Rhen for a minute.  First of all, she loves to draw and has become really good at it.  She is constantly working on some sort of art project whether it's at school or at home.  

Also this year she has worked really hard with her spelling and sentence writing.  Some of her spelling lists this year have been really challenging and she has had to study quite a bit each week.  Some weeks she has some particularly hard words and I was so proud of her and her test scores!  Her hard work has really paid off!

Liev turns 6!

Our Liev turned 6 today and he wanted to have a pirate birthday party - so he became Captain Liev for a day! We were so excited to celebrate with him and he was excited to have all his little buddies over. 

 We played a bunch of fun pirate games:

Pirate bowling

 Walk the Plank

 And what's a pirate party without a treasure hunt?  Of course we had a treasure map to follow and it lead us to different treasure boxes.  The boys had a BLAST doing this!  The treasure map took them to Liev's bedroom, the van, the mailbox, the baby's bed and a few other places.  It was the hit of the day for sure!

All our cute pirates with their loot!  It was such a fun day with lots of treasure to be had!

Cake and ice cream time! 

And the best part of all...presents!  He was so excited to open gifts from all his friends and got some really cool things including these 2 light sabers.

Rhen made this cute card for Liev and gave it to him as her present.  She is so thoughtful!

We had a really fun day and a great time celebrating our 6 year old boy!

My favorite things about 6 year old Liev:

1) Liev has learned to love school and works so hard.  He had a few adjustment struggles at the beginning of the year but he has really come a long way and his teacher Miss Buker is so happy with his willingness to learn and work hard.  I am proud of this smart boy!

2) Liev is a middle child and sometimes may seem like he gets ignored amongst all the other kids and especially the little ones getting most of the attention.  But Liev is a very content kid and is happy to do his own thing.  He loves to draw and color and loves playing with legos.  Most of the time I find him doing something quiet on his own.  He is a pretty sweet boy and I appreciate that so much in this oldest boy of mine.  

3) Liev is a good friend to his buddies at school and loves having fun.  Most of all, he loves being with his brother Keen and having a good time.  Those two boys are best buddies and do everything together.  I'm sure as Beck and Desh grow up they will join the pack too.  I'm so lucky to have these 4 boys and especially to have Liev as the biggest brother to all of them.  

6 year old stats from Dr. Erickson:

Weight: 46.52 lbs - 55%

Height: 47.64 inches - 86%

Happy Birthday Captain Liev!