Rease's Book - The Soda Can Mystery #1

Rease wrote this darling book this year at school.  She is so creative!

A minor surgery

Josh has had a cyst on the back of his neck right near his hairline for a long time.  As long as I can remember he's had it but it has started to get bigger and bother him more over the last couple years.  He finally decided he wanted to have it checked out and removed.  When the dermatologist took it out, it ended up being much deeper than he thought it would be.  He also had to go in one more time and have more of it removed because she had found traces of squamous cells that she wanted to make sure and get out and get tested.  I turns out that everything is fine, but he ended up with a pretty large incision because of it.  I'm glad it's out and ok and that he finally got it taken care of!

Crazy girls

I took the girls with me to a consignment sale that I volunteer at every year.  They had a great time and found ways to entertain themselves while I was working!  They are such crazy good friends and I love it!

The cousins

This is the main reason why we got our van - so that we could have friends, family and whoever else ride with us and fill up all our seats!  We had all the little cousins one day and I was so happy to be able to haul everyone in one vehicle!  Super fun!

The Boys

I get to spend a lot of time with these three boys of mine.  We get the girls off to school and then we get to spend the rest of the day together.  They are a crazy bunch and keep their mama running, but they are the best!  Always doing funny things and making silly faces - and always jumping, climbing, hitting, punching, wrestling and whatever else boys like to do.  Beck has joined in with his brothers and does whatever they do.  With new baby Desh on the way I know my life is going to get even crazier - but I guess I wouldn't change that.  These boys make me tired - but I sure love them!  Bring on the years of raising crazy boys!

Out with the old...in the the new

We have been thinking a lot about our vehicle situation since we found out #6 is on the way.  Our Odyssey has been a great van for us and technically would be able to seat all the kids with the middle seat in the back.  There are a few concerns I had about it though:

#1 - The van has almost 200,000 miles on it and though it runs great now, will eventually need to have a lot of work done on it or replaced with a newer, lower mileage van.

#2 - With all the seats filled in the back there is no room for anyone else to ride with us - which means carpools, friends, birthday parties, etc are out of the question for us with all our kids in the car.

#3 - We will have 4 kids in carseats/boosters when the baby is born and with 3 of the carseats in the middle seat it makes it really hard for the other kids to crawl over the seat into the back.  

These are concerns I have that can definitely be worked around but we started looking at our other options just in case.  

We have toyed around with the idea of getting a large 12 or 15 passenger van and just have tons of space and seats.  Josh really liked the new Ford Transit vans and we briefly looked at them last year when they were brand new.  The problem was the price.  Since 2015 was the first year they were  made the were still outrageously priced.  Plus I wasn't sold on the huge van.  It seemed like such a long and huge vehicle to tow around when we didn't really need all those seats.  So that went on the back burner...until now.  We started to revisit the idea of a big van and once again started looking at the Ford Transit.  We looked here and there and then one day I was looking on KSL and came across an ad for a 10 passenger, leather interior Transit.  I'd never heard of a 10 passenger model and wanted to check it out and see the set up.  So early Saturday morning when Josh was at the gym I called the dealership and found out where it was and told them we wanted to come see it.  I texted Josh and told him I would pick him up from the gym and wanted him to look at a van with me.  He didn't know I had been looking seriously and really didn't know that we were headed to the dealership.  Anyhow, he was a good sport and came with me to look.  We took it for a drive and decided to think about it.  We both really liked it for the fact that it was a smaller version, had leather and the price was almost $15,000 less because it was a year old now.  So we took the weekend and talked and thought about it, test drove it again and brought it home to make sure it would fit in our garage, talked some more and Josh did some negotiating with the dealer, then finally decided that this was the van for us and our growing family!  The kids were super excited and I was too.  It was a great option for us but not too big to feel overwhelming.  

So here we are with our new Ford Transit!  We can't wait to take it home!

 This is what the interior is like.  Seats 8 in the back which is just a perfect size for us.

And one last picture of the kids with our Odyssey before it went to another family.  It was a great van for us but we are glad to have some more space and such a fun new vehicle!

Rease's school picture

Our darling 3rd grader!

Rhen's school picture

Our cute 1st grader!

Liev turns 5!

Liev turned 5!  Can you believe it?  He requested a superhero birthday this year so I got to work thinking about what I could do that would be fun and simple.  I found a couple ideas for cakes and this is what I ended up doing.  Liev was really excited about it so I guess that's all that matters!

 And there has to be cupcakes along with the cake of course!  Spiderman, Superman, Batman, Thor and Ironman were the superheroes of our part!

 The boys all had on their superhero shirts and capes too which was really fun!

 Liev was so excited that it was his birthday and that all the attention was on him.  Who doesn't love their own birthday?  Especially at that age!  We all sang Happy Birthday and paid a lot of attention to this special guy!

 We had a few presents and he was most excited that he got bike helmet so he can start riding his two wheel bike that he got for Christmas.  

And Rhen drew Liev a bunch of pictures for his gift - she is so sweet.

 This is our little family at this stage of life.  I'm hiding my belly behind Rhen but believe me it's there!  One more crazy boy to join this family soon!  

A few of my favorite things about Liev at this age:

1) Liev is about as boy as you can get.  He loves anything that has to do with dirt, cars, trucks, climbing, punching, hitting, jumping and just overall making a ruckus.  I wouldn't change it though - he makes our life super fun!

2) Liev is very sensitive to his mama.  He always has something nice to say to me whether its "Mom I like your hair today" or "Your dress is so nice".  He is so sweet and kind to me and I hope he never stops!

3) Preschool has been so good for Liev this year.  He has really learned to love it and it's so good for him to be with 11 other kids his age.  His class happens to be a class of all boys which is kind of crazy but really fun for him.  It's pretty high energy all the time which is perfect for him and his teacher is so kind and patient.  Liev is learning all his letters in sign language and it's so fun to see him learning and loving to learn.  

4) Liev reminds me so much of what Josh would have been like as a little kid.  Tall and skinny with basically no fat on his bones.  But also kind and sensitive just like I'm sure Josh was (because he still is.)  If Liev could grow up to be just like his dad, I would be one proud mama!

5) Liev is at the age where he says the funniest things - whatever comes to his mind.  We've been talking a lot about the new baby that is in my tummy and I always try and have the kids feel when he is kicking.  The other day after I told them the baby was kicking Liev said, "Does Baby Desh have shoes on in there?"  So cute!  I love this 5 year old of mine!

5 year old stats from Dr. Erickson:

Height: 45.08 inches - 89%

Weight : 42.77 lbs - 65%

BMI: 14.8 - 28%

Tattooed

I bet you only need one guess at who did this to Keen.

Playing in the Snow

We've had quite a bit of snow lately and the kids have been waiting and waiting to get outside and play in it.  Keen helped Josh shovel the the walk and they made this huge pile of snow that the kids had a blast playing on.  Even Mr. Beck had a fun time in the cold!

Make-Up Gone Wrong

Rhen had a friend over to play and they decided to do makeovers for each other.  I'm not an expert on make-up but aren't makeovers supposed to make you look better?  Not scarier?

Provo Temple Open House

The Provo Temple is having the open house right now and we really wanted to be able to take our kids to see it.  They all did pretty good being reverent and loved being able to see inside the temple.  It is so beautiful!  We are so glad we were able to go!

20 week ultrasound

We had our 20 week ultrasound tonight.  It is always so fun and also really a relief to see the baby and that he's growing perfectly.  Our ultrasound tech was so awesome and took so much time with us tonight to let us see what we wanted and explain everything she was doing.  Even though I've done this multiple times before I always love going through each part of the baby and seeing that he is developing and getting so big!  She did find a little bit of fluid in his kidneys that she said she would pass along to Dr. Twelves.  She said most likely we will be doing a few more ultrasounds in the coming months to check it but that it wasn't enough to really worry about.  So we will see about that.  Everything else looks amazing and baby is doing so good!  We are so so excited to have another baby join us!  

In the shower

Beck got caught today playing in the shower with his clothes on.  He has developed a bit of an attitude and he knows when to ignore someone when he's in trouble.

Then when he does finally look at you, lets you know that you are really bugging him.

Then the attitude stare.  "Just leave me alone guys."

 Such a silly boy...

Word of the Week

In Rhen's class they do something called the Word of the Week.  They are given a word and have to draw a picture about it or bring something that demonstrates that word and then present it to the class.  She usually draws a picture because she loves drawing.  This week the word was Seasons and I thought she did such a great job on it!  She spent a lot of time and wanted to make sure she got every season right.  I love Fall how she is jumping into a pile of leaves.  And the winter picture is of her, Rease and Josh skiing.  So cute and creative!

The two Gregs

Uncle Greg and Keen Gregory have a special little bond.  Keen loves being with Uncle Greg and they have a fun time hanging out and taking selfies together.  I'm not sure Keen understands that's where he got his name from, but someday he will.  For now these are two special "Greg's" in our life!

Liev's Letter

It's always fun to get letters in the mail and especially as a little kid.  Liev got this cute letter from his preschool teacher Miss Melanie.  She has been so good for him this year and he has loved going to school.  

Cold?

I love this picture of Liev all wrapped up in this blanket.  I saw him and asked what he was doing.  He just said, "I'm cold."  Well I guess that's the right thing to do if your cold.  Wrap up buddy!

18 months

Beck is no baby anymore.  He is growing up before our eyes and showing us that he is a big kid.  He can even take his own pants and diaper off as he showed me today during his nap.  I'm afraid we're in for it with this one.  He is so cute and charming to me that he might get away with anything! 

One thing that Beck does and has done since he was a tiny baby - he passes out when he cries really hard.  When he first started doing it I would get really freaked out about it.  But he does it often enough now that I know he's ok and am much more calm about it.  I asked Dr. Erickson and he said it's something that he will grow out of eventually.  So...I guess we just wait and be patient with this crazy and sometimes scary thing that our little one does.  Love him anyway!

18 month stats from Dr. Erickson

Weight: 25.57 lbs - 46%

Height: 32.87 inches - 67%

Head: 19.9 inches - 98%

Josh and his boys

The boys love to snuggle with Josh in the mornings when he gets home from the gym and before mom wakes up.  This morning I caught these three boys all snuggled together on one chair.  So cute!  

Underwear heads

Rease and Rhen are the best of friends.  They laugh, play, fight, hug, and goof off just like any sisters do.  Mostly they love to have fun and be crazy.  Like this.  Underwear on their heads made for a morning of fun!

Dreamin

I love this boy so much.  And I love this picture of him.  So sweet and I can just imagine that he is dreaming of warmer days to come.  We're such a long way from summer, but we can dream buddy.  We can dream.