Yard Work

It has been beautiful weather here these past few days.  I told the kids that daddy was coming home to work on the yard, so the boys wanted to get a good start on it first.  

Liev mowing the lawn...

 Keen found the biggest rock he could carry and threw it on top of the green box.  Very helpful.

 And they helped weed the flower beds.  What more could we ask of our boys?  Such good helpers!  And so excited for spring and summer to be here!

Mr. Liev

Here's Liev showing off his new haircut and his new favorite shirt.  He's been learning how to say all the animal sounds lately and one of them he's learned is the frog sound.  He was so excited that I got this shirt for him.  Also sporting his favorite toy in hand - Lightning McQueen.  It's a sad day when this little car is lost.  We try and keep good track of it so we don't have a sad boy.  Love this kid!

BYU Volleyball

Josh's siblings all came to town this week and spent the weekend at our house.  We had a really fun time together and loved having everyone together!  One night we went to a BYU Volleyball game and then had dessert after.  So fun!  It's not too often that the whole Beutler family is together, so we love taking advantage of the time together when it does happen.  Thanks for coming to visit!

Rhen turns 5!

Our sweet Rhen turned five!  She has been so excited about her birthday these past few weeks and has had a countdown every day to the big day.  Her birthday fell on a Sunday this year so we had family and close friends over for cake, ice cream and presents.  It was fun, simple and best of all Rhen was happy that we were finally celebrating her birthday!  

She chose  to have a pony cake this year, so that's what I did.  She was very happy with it, so I was happy!  

Rease's present to Rhen was this sweet little note and picture.  These girls love each other (even though they have their moments of fighting) and love playing together.  I'm so glad they have each other as a best friend.  

The next night we celebrated some more.  She chose to go to Kangaroo Zoo which is one of my kids' favorite places.  It is full of bounce houses and slides and they can't get enough of it!  We were there for about 2 hours and they kids were happy and exhausted by the end.  Josh and I had fun watching them run all over and have a good time together.  We love that these kids love playing together!  

 Our little family (that keeps on growing) on Rhen's Birthday.  Happy birthday 5 year old girl!

My favorite things about Rhen at age 5:

1) Rhen is my helper during the day now that Rease is gone to school all day.  Since she is the oldest one home, I rely on her help a lot doing things around the house.  She has become very willing to help out and is so sweet to do what is asked of her.  Her favorite thing to do right now; when she notices that the gallon of milk or orange juice is gone, she runs out to the fridge in the garage to get more.  She always reports on how many more gallons of milk or juice are left out there so I know when I need to buy more.  What a big helper she has become!

2) Rhen is a night owl.  No matter if she has had a nap during the day or not, she is always the last one up at night.  She'll lay in her bed and just hang out for an hour or so while Rease and the boys are sleeping.  Most nights she appears at the top of the stairs about an hour after I've put her to bed asking for a drink, or just wanting to chat a little bit more because "she's bored" in her bed all by herself.  I never really know what time she actually falls asleep but I know it's always later than the other kids.   What a crazy girl.

3) Rhen is the best dressed girl around.  She has loved being able to choose her own clothes lately and most days I'm fine with what she chooses.  Most days she comes downstairs with either a dress or skirt on.  She loves to dress girly.  It's not very often that her clothes actually match, but that's what makes her Rhen - stripes and flowers, plaid and print, anything goes for this girl.  But best of all, she usually has at least one thing on backwards whether it's her underwear or her shirt.  And when we try and tell her she just says, "oh it's ok."  She's the best!  So glad she is happy with herself and whatever she chooses to wear!

5 year stats from Dr. Erickson:

Weight: 43.43 lbs - 73%

Height: 46.1 inches - 97%

BMI: 14.4 - 24%

We love this girl of ours and can't wait to see what this year brings for her!

Skiing

Rease has found a new favorite hobby - skiing with her dad.  She has been 3 or 4 times this winter and can't stop talking about when she's going to go next.  Her dad and Uncle Andy took her to Park City this weekend and had a great time.  Josh says she is doing great and has a lot of confidence when she skis.  Good for you girl!  I hope she keeps it up - this will be a great thing for her and Josh to do together since I'm not a skier.  Doesn't she look so cute in her snow gear and goggles!  So proud of my Reaser girl.

Sick boy

Keen woke up yesterday with the beginnings of a cold.  Today this is how he woke up.  Poor thing with the goopy eyes and all.  The best thing about Keen is that nothing gets him down.  Runny eyes and snotty nose - no big deal.  He keeps on smiling!  

Settlers anyone?

Josh, Andy and I have been playing a lot of settlers lately.  The kids always joke that when they go to bed, that's always what we do.  Keen got into the game the other day and I caught him trying to mix all the cards up.  Luckily I caught him before he could do too much damage.  I'm sure he just wants to join us one of these nights!  What a boy!

The Boys

Our boys are crazy.  And with another boy on the way, I know it's only going to get more wild around our house.  We love it though and don't mind the chaos most of the time!

Josh had the kids the other night while I went to a play.  I set out pjs for all the kids just to make it easier on him.  When they woke up in the morning, I noticed that the right pjs didn't get put on the right kid.  Not sure how Josh didn't notice, but somehow Liev ended up with Keen's jammies on.  18 month size on a 3 year old?  Whatever works I guess.

 Keen came across Josh's glasses yesterday.  He was so proud that he could put them on all himself.  I just love this kid.

Reading Time

Rease has become an excellent reader and loves it.  Part of her homework is that she has to read 15 minutes a day.  Even if this weren't homework, I'm sure she would do it anyway.  She takes time to read with Rhen when Rhen has a book from school.  And today I found her sitting with Keen and each of them reading a book.  Such a cute older sister!  I love these kids of mine!

Rease's report card

We had parent teacher conference and got Rease's report card this week.  She is such a good student and has really liked school this year.  Her teacher said she is doing "excellent."  She is in a group called "School of Rock" for math and reading.  It's an advanced learning group that is chosen by the teacher to participate in.  She says that it is hard but I'm so glad she is able to do it and be pushed to learn more.  We love our Rease and are so proud of her and her good grades!

Springtime?

It may not officially be spring yet, but the weather has been nice enough lately that we've been able to spend some time outside.  Hooray!

Caleb took the boys to feed the ducks.

 We pulled the bikes out of the garage and the kids had a blast riding around our cul-de-sac.

 We went to the park just down at the end of our street.  We went just as Rease was getting out of school and met her there on her way home.  Keen especially loved the slide and went over and over.  

We love this warm weather!

Sushi

Josh and I love sushi.  It is our favorite treat when we want to go out to dinner.  Lately the girls have been interested in having sushi with us.  They have tried the samples they have at costco or the grocery store and said they like it.  So we decided to take them on a movie and sushi date with us.  We ordered some pretty simple rolls for them to try.  In the end, Josh and I ate most of them and the girls decided they didn't like sushi instead.  Oh well.  It was worth a shot!

Ultrasound pics

We had our 20 week ultrasound for Baby #5 today!  It was so fun to see our little guy!  The ultrasound tech was really great and said that everything is looking good and normal with baby.  We are always glad to hear that the baby is healthy and growing.  We feel lucky to have this special  little guy coming to our home! 

Sleepy

Josh gets up at 4:30 to leave for the gym and then to work.  He snapped this picture one morning when he was about to leave.  I guess Liev got out of his bed and didn't make it farther than the stairs before he fell back asleep.  I love that his Lightning McQueen is right by his side - like always!  What a sweet, sleepy boy!

18 months

Keen is 18 months old now.  Guess what that means?  Nursery time!  And some peace and quiet for mom and dad during church!  It also means that my baby is no longer a baby.  I can't get over this kid and how much I love him.  He is such a big part of our family and adds some spunk and craziness to our days.  

My favorite things about Keen at 18 months:

1) He has started saying a few words.  Mama, dada, thank-you (tay-too), please (meese), uh-oh, sucker (cuck-cuck), baby and binkie are the main ones.

2) He is such a big kid for his age.  You'll see in his stats coming up what I mean.  But what's crazy is that he is only 4 lbs lighter than Liev is.  I took both of them in to the Dr. for their check-ups on the same day and was amazed to see that Liev weighs 34 lbs and Keen is 30 lbs.  He is a solid kid.

3) Although he is into everything and crazy most of the time, I love that about him.  He keeps me busy and I am always trying to keep track of him.  Most of the time I can find him in the pantry hunting around for food.  We love a little craziness around here!

Stats from Dr. Erickson:

Height: 34.65 inches - 96%

Weight: 30 lbs - 90%

Head: 19.3 inches - 81%

Dinosaur Museum

We got a pass to Thanksgiving Point this year and the kids have loved going to the dinosaur museum.  There are a lot of things that are too old for them to understand but also lots of things that are perfect for their ages.  Rease has been off track so this has been a perfect way to spend some long days.  I'm sure we'll spend a lot of time here in the coming months!

Liev's 3rd Birthday

Liev is 3!  I can't believe it!

We had a construction birthday party for him and had such a fun time.  He picked out a tractor cake for me to make, so I built everything else around that.  

 Construction hats for the little guests.

 All the party food.

 We had mostly family over but a few close friends too.  It was a great group and we had a really fun time with everyone there.

 After dinner, the kids played a game of pinning a picture of Liev on the tractor.  It was simple and fun.

 Present time.

 The cake.  It took quite a bit of time to make, but wasn't too hard.  And Liev was really happy with how it turned out.  I guess it looked enough like a tractor to him.

 Such a cute birthday boy!

 We had a really fun party with lots of food and mostly lots a friends around to celebrate.  

Liev is my boy.  I love this kid so much!  

My favorite things about Liev at age 3:

1) He is a jabber box these days.  Once Liev started to talk, there was no stopping him.  He blabs my ear off all day and I love it!  He also loves to sing.  When it is bedtime we always sing the same songs before he goes to sleep.  I sing "You are my sunshine" to him and he sings "Jingle Bells" and "The Moon Song" back to me.  It's our little ritual and we love that time together.

2) Liev loves green.  If you can't tell by all the green at his party and his green outfit.  He wants everything to be green; the cup he drinks out of, the plate and fork at dinner, his green shoes are his favorite, green underwear is a must, anything as long as it is green.  

3) Liev is all boy.  He loves cars, trucks, rocks, dirt, climbing, jumping, making a mess, peeing outside, riding his scooter, teasing his sisters, and all other things that are boy.  But at the end of the day, he is not too cool to give me a kiss and hug and say, "I wuv you mom."  Wuv you too buddy.

3 year old stats from Dr. Erickson:

Height: 38.7 inches - 78%

Weight: 34.17 lbs - 74%

BMI: 16 - 51%

So happy you are 3 Liev!

Liev's seat

This is Liev's favorite seat while watching a movie.  He's such a funny kid and I'm not sure why he started doing this, but this is always his choice seat.  And of course, the movie of the month is on - Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.   Also his choice if he ever has one.