Crazies

When you get your phone back from your kids and realize what they've been spending their time doing...

 

Ski lessons

The kids officially finished their ski lessons for the year and had such a great year with lots of improvement and success!  Beck did awesome and has turned out to be an awesome little skier.  He can totally keep up with the rest of the group when we all ski together.  I love it. Keen and Liev were in a class together and have improved their technique so much just since the beginning of the season.  They are fearless and amazing.  And Rhen and Rease were in freestyle lessons again this year and absolutely loved it!  They had great teachers and fun kids in their class.  They can ski anything and want to go everywhere on the mountain.  We have loved being up on the mountain together this year and have so much more ahead of us before the season is over!

 

Liev's 9th Birthday!

Liev turned 9 today and we celebrated all day long with this boy! He requested german pancakes before school and also wanted a Pokemon birthday cake.  That was a tall order but we figured it out and got Pikachu as the cake and some other characters as cupcakes.  He was so excited how it turned out! We celebrated with family this year and had a fun night opening gifts and eating cake and ice cream for our 9 year old.  We sure love him!

9 year old stats from Dr. Erickson:

Height: 4'8" - 84%

Weight: 69 lbs. 7 oz. - 62%

My favorite things about Liev at age 9:

1) Liev is a big helper around the house and is usually the first one to volunteer whenever I need a job done.  He takes out the garbage bags like a champ and runs back and forth to the storage room for me when I'm cooking.  He is a great help to me!

2) Liev loves to be the oldest boy and takes the responsibility seriously.  He tries really hard to be a good example to the other boys and also is quick to apologize when he knows he hasn't done something right.  He loves to help his dad come up with good ideas for projects and always looks forward to spending alone time with him.  He's a very sweet boy and we're lucky to have him as our oldest son.

3) Liev has gotten some special privilages as the oldest boy and has been able to stay up later than the younger kids this year.  He helps me get the other boys to bed and then when they're asleep he gets to stay up with me a little bit longer.  He loves to make a bag of popcorn and just sit and hang out doing whatever we're doing.  He has learned how to play Settlers and most nights he wants to get a game started as soon as the boys are asleep.  I love seeing him be one of the big kids.  He is such a fun boy to be around!

We are so proud of Liev and all he stands for and the person he is becoming!  Happy Birthday!

Gaming

Maybe it's because we don't have a gaming system of our own at our house, but this is exactly what happens whenever the kids get their hands on a phone to play games.  Completely engrossed.  

 

Super Dad Day

Liev's class celebrated Super Dad day to go along with the Super Bowl this week.  The kids all gathered with their dads and had food and games together and had a great time celebrating their awesome dads!

 

Babies

These babies have stolen our hearts...

 

Cup Tower

Once in a while we find a little surprise left for us as the kids go off to school.  It's usually Liev that does these cute things to help us remember him while he's gone...

 

Grammie's birthday gift

Grammie is always saying that she has a cold nose.  Well the girls took notice and decided to crochet her a birthday gift to take care of the problem.  Here they are with their nose warmers and Grammie trying them on for size!

 

Desh's 1st day of skiing

This crazy caboose joined us today for his 1st day of skiing!  He could not have been more excited to be there with us and get all his gear on.  I was a tiny bit afraid that he would get tired, bored, cold before the end of the day but that was not the case one single bit!  He could not get enough and picked it up so quickly.  We took a snack break halfway through the morning and that was enough to keep him going for the rest of the time we had.  And he ran into his big brother Beck at the lodge and thought that was the best thing ever to be able to see him!  He's just so happy to be one of the big kids that he had the best first day!

 

Tears

For the most part, Desh and Kinley are best buds.  Once in a while though, one of them gets their feelings hurt and they have to figure out how to make up.  Today Desh came to me in tears, but they were soon followed by this cute hug and apology from Kinley.  Quick and easily over just like that!

 

Protein stock-up

Whenever we find a good deal on protein shakes, we tend to stock up.  Today I was the lucky one to pick up the boxes for everyone.  I fit 28 cases of Core Power in the back of the van.  I think this may last us a while!

 

Grandson's movie night

Papa and Grammie had all the grandson's over tonight to watch a movie and have treats.  They watched a live version of Jack and the Beanstalk and were all completely into it.  Afterward Desh could not stop talking about the movie "Jack and the Beans."

 

The twins are born!

Hayley had her twins today!

Benson born at 5:41 pm 5 lb 7 oz.

Briggs born at 5:42 6 lb 0 oz.

Babies and mama did great and are still doing great!  They are on a little bit of oxygen right now but mostly just as a precaution because they are early.  Overall they're amazing and here at last!

 

Night skiing

Snow was in the forecast today and we couldn't resist...we checked the kids out of school early and headed up to the slopes!  It ended up being AMAZING with lots of new snow while we were there.  Every run was like a new powder run with all the snow that was coming down.  We had a blast!  

 

Cyclops

Desh got ahold of my headlamp today and wore it all morning just like this...

 

Liev's Legos

Liev finished his semi truck lego set today!  (With some help from his big sis) 

This set is pretty awesome because everything moves and works just like a real truck, including the engine, seats, wheels and all.  So cool!

 

DARE graduation

Rhen has really like being part of DARE this year.  They have learned a lot and had a big graduation ceremony today!  

 

Keen's Legos

Keen worked so hard on this Lego set he got for Christmas and just finished it today!  It turned out so awesome!

 

Calendars

 

Welfare Square

We had the chance to tour the Welfare Center downtown today as a family.  Dad has a patient that is one of the head guys here, so he hooked us up with a private tour.  It was so fun to see all the things that go on here and the process of getting clothes, supplies, food, etc out to all those that need it.  Such a cool place!

 

Christmas skiing

Josh has the week after Christmas off so we usually have a blast having him home!  This year, because the snow has been so good, we took an unusual trip to Brighton for a ski day.  We had such a fun, cold day together!  It was so fun to be there with (almost) all the kids and get them back in to the ski zone! Lessons start up next week and they are all ready.

 

Liev did not wasted any time getting started on his Christmas Lego set.  He got a really hard one this year - a techno semi truck with about a million pieces.  He is so good and patient though and gets things all done in order.  It's going to be amazing!

 

Buns

Oh how I love these little buns...

 

Christmas 2019

Christmas this year was fun, memorable and magical all rolled into two big days!  We all love the lead up to Christmas, but once it gets here we love actually doing everything together! Christmas Eve was a big party with all the Losee families gathered.  We had delicious food (french dip sandwiches and lots of yummy fingers foods) and a huge nativity production (featuring all the Losee grandkids).  What a crew we have when we're all together!  After dinner and the "pro-grum" the families all scattered back to their own homes for last minute Christmas Eve traditions.  Of course, we had to keep up our favorite tradition of caroling.  We love it!  Then it was PJs and off to bed!  The kids set up a bed together in the girls room this year and continued their tradition of sleeping together on Christmas Eve.  Love this!

Christmas morning is always a big rush of adrenaline!  Lined up at the top of the stairs, they each can't wait to get down and find their stocking.  We try and do things in an orderly manner so that we can see what everyone opens.  It's hard for the little ones to be patient, but we do love seeing what each of the gifts are and how excited the kids are.  It makes for a fun morning together!  Top gifts this year...

Rease: Lobster ski gloves

Rhen: Settlers of Catan expansion

Liev and Keen: Lego sets

Beck: Remote control car and a new bike

Desh: A big Mac Truck

Mom and Dad: A homemade quilt from the girls.  They crocheted each square and pathworked them together at the end.  Finished off with each of our names on the quilt.  It is amazing and priceless!

We also had one surprise secret santa drop off right towards the end of the morning as everyone was finishing up gifts.  A quick knock on the door and there was a stampede to see who could open it first. On the doorstep was a brand new mountain bike for Josh!  I'm happy to say that it was a gift that I was able to keep secret for the past few weeks.  And I believe he was truly surprised (and excited) about it!  

We know that he's going to spend lots of hours with this new bike and I'm so glad he's excited about it!

 Christmas is such a fun time to be together, give gifts, and share our love with one another.  I hope we were able to capture that this year and that it can remain throughout the rest of the season.  Merry Christmas one and all!

Christmas Cards