Cottonballs

Desh discovered the cabinet in our closet that has all our extra supplies.  His favorite thing to do is clear out the bottom drawer and sit in it while he tears apart the cotton balls.  Nice buddy.  Thanks for the mess.

Christmas Day 2017

Christmas Day came bright and early for us!  But I think Santa had just enough time to get to our house before the kids woke up!

 The kids know that they can't come upstairs until we are awake and have everything set.  So they were patiently waiting for us but were barely holding in the excitement!  We lined them up in order on the stairs before we let them come up one at a time.

 Once we all gathered in the front room, everyone found their stockings and started to dig in.  We love to see each of the kids open up their gifts so after stockings are done we take turns opening a present at a time.  It makes it so fun for everyone to see and enjoy every gift! We started with the sibling gifts which are always the most fun for each of them to open.  Then we got to Santa's and mom and dad's gifts.  It was a fun, easy and magical morning for all of us to be together! Hightlight gifts: Rease- rollerblades, Rhen - Harry Potter books, - Liev - baseball glove, Keen - Operation the game, Beck - magnet tiles, Desh - toy motor scooter.  We also got each of the kids a hammock to use in the basement and for the summer time.  They were super excited about that!  Josh got me a pair of Bose earphones which I love!!  And I got josh a new backpack that he has been wanting.  All in all, we had a great day with awesome gifts being exchanged.  

 Each of the kids got XL beanie boos which are super cute and huge!!!

 And we also got the boys a lego table with a huge bin of legos.  When we bought them, this was the exact picture we had in mind...Love all of them working hard on building an awesome creation!

Later in the day Grammie and Papa Losee came to visit and see all our fun gifts.  And then we enjoyed watching a basketball game, playing dodgeball at the church and eating lots and lots of pie and leftovers.  Most of all we loved being together and enjoying family time!  We love our Savior and always remember that it's His birthday we are celebrating.  Merry Christmas to you all!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve this year was on Sunday which was kind of special because we had a special Christmas meeting at church all about the Savior.  It was such a good way to start off our Christmas Eve.  That night we gathered at Hayley and Caleb's house for dinner and festivities.  We snapped this family picture before the kids got too crazy.

 It was fun to get together with everyone and just hang out and eat yummy food.  And of course we got new Christmas pjs!  The girls all matched this year.  

Aunt Hayley had a cookie decorating station all set up for the kids.  I think more of the frosting got in the kids mouths than on the cookies but...oh well!  

 And then we got a surprise visitor at the door!  Who knew that Santa would have time to visit us on Christmas Eve!  He had a present and treat for each of the kids and spent some time with all the kids as a group.  It was such a fun and surprising visit and the kids loved it!

 After our fun night together and seeing Santa, we headed back home to get snuggled into our beds.  The kids love sleeping together on Christmas Eve and this year they all slept downstairs in the boys new room.  I'm not sure how much sleep they actually got, but it finally did get quiet down there so Santa could come.  

Chess

My boys have recently learned how to play chess.  It must have been one of their sisters that taught them because I don't even know how to play!  But these cute boys have attached themselves to this chess board and love playing together.  Even Mr. Beck knows how all the pieces move which is pretty impressive for a 3 year old.  I'm going to have to learn - maybe my boys can teach me!

The Bra

Liev thought he was so hilarious putting my bra on and wearing it around the house.  Ha Ha...

Liev's Family Book

Liev made this family book as a Christmas present for Josh and me.  It is the cutest thing with darling pictures and a great narrative.  I love this boy and his creativity.  What a fun christmas gift for us!

Christmas Cards

Desh and Uncle Andy

Desh and grown to love Uncle Andy and gets so excited to have him over.  Tonight was no different.  Instant hug when Andy walks in the door!

Girls Nail Night

Brysan Hammer's wedding is this week and Melissa wanted to have a girl's night to get our nails done.  Shelley, Melissa and I took our girls and the 7 of us got our nails done for the wedding.  I think these cute girls had a fun time picking out colors and designs for their nails and they all turned out really fun and different!  Love these cuties!

5th Grade Store

Every year the 5th graders get to be a part of the school store.  It's a chance for them to be in groups and come up with a business and a product that they then market and sell to the rest of the school.  The other students and any parents that want to come, get to shop with "school cash" and buy the 5th graders products that they have made themselves.  It is a really cool opportunity for them to be creative and think business-minded.  Rease and her group sold mini notebooks and hand-crocheted ornaments (which Rease made all herself.)  She worked really hard for weeks and weeks to get enough ornaments made.  Then they displayed them on this little Christmas tree and filled the ornaments with candy.  Such a cute idea and very unique.  She made 32 ornaments and sold almost all of them!  

Mrs. Hernandez and her class

Liev has the best teacher this year - Mrs. Hernandez.  She is so good with the kids and they always do lots of fun learning activities.  She's also really good about keeping us parents updated on what's happening in her class and sending pictures.  Here are a few things from Mrs. H's class lately.

A Christmas Carol

Rease was the stage crew manager for the school play this year.  They performed A Christmas Carol for us tonight.  Rease and the crew have worked really hard this year with the set - they made all the houses that you can see behind them and all the things hanging on the wall as well.  She took her manager job very seriously and was great at getting things done!  This group did an amazing job with the play and Rease even got to come out between acts and change up the set.  Love this hard working girl of ours!

Dare Graduation

Rease and the whole 5th grade have been participating in the DARE program this year.  She has loved it and has really learned a lot about saying no to drugs.  They had a graduation and sang a song that they have been working on this year.  I was so impressed with the group and with the DARE officer who has taught them so much this year.

Orchestra

Rease has been the pianist for the orchestra this year at school and they had their Christmas concert tonight.  She has really enjoyed being a part of the orchestra and I'm so proud of her for working hard with her piano so she can accompany this group.  They did a great job tonight!

New Bedroom

We just got the carpet put in the basement and the boys did not want to wait any longer to sleep in their new bedroom.  So we hauled in a queen mattress and let them sleep together in their new room.  They are so excited to be downstairs and have a new place to destroy!

Girls' Piano Recital

The girls had their piano recital tonight and both did an incredible job.  They have been working hard on their songs and have made a lot of progress this year.  Rhen especially has picked things up really quickly and had her song completely memorized.  She played Fur Elise and it brought back lots of memories of playing when I was a kid!  So proud of both of these girls and their progress!

Scripture Reading

We've gotten into a good routine of reading scriptures as a family in the morning.  Each of the kids takes turns reading a verse and even Beck likes to follow along and pretend like he knows what's being read!

Family Dinner

Hayley hosted our monthly family dinner this month and I can't help but think how crazy it sometimes gets when we're all together.  I mean, look at all these little kids!  We have a fun time together even though it's a little wild.

TV Time

Desh has learned to be just like one of the boys and wants to keep up with them as much as possible.  I thought this picture of him watching tv with them was so cute.  He's growing up faster than I want!

Christmas lists

The kids are always so prepared and send their lists to Santa really early so he has plenty of time to think about what to get them.  I hope he comes this year!

Band-Aid

Beck believes that Band-aids make everything better.  Today he got poked in the eye and insisted that he needed a band-aid.  After he had it on he said, "Oh that feels better!"

Gingerbread Houses

This year I bought a kit for a "Gingerbread Village."  It came with mini houses to put together and make into a village.  It ended up being perfect that the kids each got a tiny house to decorate.  And the next day they ate the village, so what's better than that?!

Liev's Artwork

Liev has worked hard and done some really fun art projects this year in school.  These are some of my favorites...

Grocery Store

Grocery shopping with kids is not always fun.  But when you have a crew like mine...anything is fun! I bet you can't fit all 6 of your kids in one cart!

Snowman

We had our first tiny bit of snow that stuck to the ground today.  It was barely enough to get excited about but when I left the house today I saw that one of the kids had gathered up enough snow to make this cute little snowman.  First one of the year with many more to come!

Sandbox

Well I can say one thing...my kids love playing in the sandbox.  Yes it's December and yes its starting to get cold out, but that doesn't stop them from playing out there.  And Beck doesn't even need clothes I guess?

Rease and Desh

My oldest and my youngest love each other!  Rease is the best oldest sister to this little guy.  Caught them taking this cute selfie together.