It's been a while...

Wow.  I cannot believe how fast this year has flown by.  We have had so much happen, and been so blessed.  This post is going to play catch-up on the past few months, so please just bare with me.  


First of all the kids have done an awesome job so far in school.  Jacob got all A's on his report card, and is loving his gifted class.  Everyday he comes home and "quizzes" us on the info that he learned in gifted that day to test to see if we are as smart as he is.  We usually don't pass.  :)  Brooke got all A's and B's and we were so proud of her!  She worked so hard, and is really enjoying school as well.  She is such a sweetheart and really does her best.  Katelyn is loving kindergarten, and is quickly picking up on all of her sight words, and has the best handwriting that I have ever seen from a kindergartener.  We are so proud of all of them.  

Halloween - We had a an awesome Halloween!  We went trick-or-treating for the first time ever, and the kids had a blast.  We had a Harry Potter, a zombie bride, and a Katy Perry bride (don't ask me, that was Katie's idea).

Brooke turned 9 years old on November 25th!  I am so blessed to have her as my oldest daughter.  She is so helpful to me, and always willing to go out of her way to help with the cousins, or do any housework that I am lacking on.  :)  I am so proud of the young woman she is turning into.  I am so lucky to be her mother.  

This is from her birthday party at the mall.  We had a mall scavenger hunt, and all of the girls said that it was the funnest party they had ever been to, so I think it was a hit!  Brooke actually had about 3 parties, one with us, one with her friends, and one with her grandparents in Cortez.  Lucky girl!


Tony also turned 40 this year!  I had a candlelight dinner and  fun night out planned for him and I, but that didn't actually end up happen because that day wound up being a bit of a rough one for my family.  Instead we came home, cleaned up the candlelight dinner, and watched a movie on the couch together.  It worked just fine.  Love you baby!  I'm so glad that I will always feel young compared to you!  Ha ha!


Here is a song that Brooke wrote and performed for her dad for his birthday.  Her second attempt at writing a song, and her first "rap" song.  She is very embarrassed that I am putting it on my blog, but I want to remember it.  :)

We had a great Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We were able to spend time with my family and Tony's family for both holidays, and it couldn't have been nicer.  I am so grateful for all of them, and look forward to it every year.  

Finally, Brooke took a few months off from piano/voice lessons, but her amazing teacher still let her be a part of the recital.  Here is her performance.  

( I know there were a lot of posts about Brooke, but she just had the most going on the past few months.)

As for me, well I became a college student once again this year.  It was definitely challenging, and is going to take me a long time, but I am excited. 

 It has been a great year for us.  We have been very blessed, and we are all looking forward to 2012 and the adventures and places it will take the "Bodacious Bartley's!"

My Amazing Little Man

Jacob turned 10 years old on the 7^th of September.  I don’t know what I would do without this young man in my life.  He has been nothing but a complete joy to me since the day he was born.  Okay, that’s not completely true, but I feel that way most of the time.  J 

Jacob is such a smarty-pants.  He is in the gifted program at his school, and could tell you everything you would ever want to know about bugs, snakes, lizards, and all things creepy crawly.  He ran for the safety officer at his school last year and won, and loved doing his “job.”  He is very kind and caring, and always willing to help around the house whenever he sees it is needed.    He makes friends easily, and doesn’t discriminate when it comes to friends.  He doesn’t care if your boy or girl, big or small, slow or fast.  If you want to play with him, then you’re his friend! He loves money and will do odd jobs for family until he saves up enough money to buy whatever it is he is wanting at the time.  Most of the time that is another animal for us to take care of.   I am so proud of the young man he is growing into.  I love my little man and am so blessed to have him in my life. 

Every year for the kids birthdays they get to choose to have a party with their friends with games and food and fun, or spend the day with Tony and I doing whatever they choose.  Jacob chose to hang out with me and Tony this year.  That made me happy.   Anyway in the morning we went to the lake and fished, and caught crawdads.  Then we went and ate at the mall and played games in Tilt.  Then we went to Bloomfield and hunted bullfrogs and played at the park.  It was a long fun filled day.  Jacob had a blast, and so did Tony and I.  I am so glad that he chooses to spend the day with us.  It probably means more to me than it does to him, and I don’t look forward to the years when he “outgrows” us and just wants to hang out with his friends, so I will take what I can get for now. 

I love you Jake!

Has it really been 13 years?

Yesterday Tony and I celebrated our 13th Anniversary.  I honestly can't believe that it has already been 13 years!  I feel so blessed to be married to this man.  He is a wonderful husband to me, amazing father to our three children, and incredible teacher and writer.  I love you, baby.  Thanks for 13 fabulous years!

Singing Cowboys

Our kids love to go see the "Singing Cowboys."  Otherwise known as the Bar D Chuckwagon.  This is a summer tradition for us, and we really look forward to it.  This year, (as they do every year) my parents take some time to have the grandkids come and visit for a week.  More on this later -  but one of the activities that they did was take the younger grandgirls to the Bar D.  Tony and I and our the two oldest kids decided to join them.  The kids had a blast with each other, and pure fun ensued.  Here are some of the pictures...

Run Brooke, Run!

This last weekend we went to Pagosa Springs to watch my dad and Brooke participate in a Duathalon.  Brooke did the Mini Kids Duathalon, (running 1/2 mile and biking 1 mile) and my dad did the half Duathalon (running 3 miles and biking 7 miles).  They both were amazing!  I am so proud of them!  The pictures are all jumbled together, sorry!

My dad- almost done with the running...

Just crossed the finish line!

They gave Brooke the #1.  

Right after finishing, with her ribbon

Biking away!

My awesome sister made shirts for us to wear.  This is the back.

Getting ready to start.

She was so cute, smiling away while running.

The front of our shirts.

The Duathletes!  You two were awesome!

Fun with Dad

I have a pretty amazing husband.  This past week he decided that he was going to take the kids camping for a few days, so that I could enjoy some time to myself.  I have to admit that I felt a little guilty for not going with them, but I really did enjoy my alone time, and I got a lot done.  

The kids had a great time.  They went fishing, hiking, animal watching, and even got to watch a movie on the laptop one of the nights.  When they got home, they were completely exhausted, and a complete mess.  They were smiles from ear to ear.  I am so grateful for a husband who understands how important it is to have alone time with our kids, and how vital it is for mom to have some alone time too.  :o)

Through the years...

Ok so since today is the first post in my 13 years of marriage and my 10 years of mothering, let me update you:


1998 - Married the most amazing guy.  He was an older man, (ahem, 26 to my young 19 years) and a school teacher.  He is thoughtful, smart, handsome, funny and I feel very lucky to be married to him. 
2001 - Had my first child, a boy named Jacob.  He was a difficult baby for the first three months, but as it turned out he was just STARVING.  Poor little thing.  Once he had his first bottle, he stopped crying, went to sleep and was the happiest little baby we ever did see.  Jacob is a very smart, curious boy.  Since he was about 2, he has been obsessed with bugs.  He began studying them and reading about them as soon as he was able, and has always said that he want's to be an Entomologist.  He is the resident expert on all things creepy and crawly and always knows exactly where to find them outside.  Jacob is going to be 10 soon, and he was just tested and accepted into the gifted program in his school.  He is learning guitar, and amazes me at how quickly he is picking it up.  I am so proud of my son.  He is kind, loving, and helpful and I am so glad he is my firstborn.
2002- Had my second child, a girl named Brooklyn.  She was such a beautiful baby, and by far the "easiest."  She is always giving hugs and kisses, and is very sensitive to people's feelings.  When she was almost three, she got in trouble and got sent to her room one day.   A few minutes later she came to me with a peice of paper and a pencil and asked me to write something on it for her.  Imagine my expression when she had me write "I don't want to live here anymore.  Please take me home with you."  She then proceeded to go sit by our front fence and hold up her sign as cars were driving by.  As I was watching from the kitchen window getting a kick out of the whole situation, I realized that she was sobbing.  She was so sad that no one would stop and take her home!  Eventually we made up and she decided to stay with us, which I am very happy about.  Brooke is 8 and going into the 3rd grade now.  She does great in school and brought home staright A's this last year.  She is still super loving and always wanting and willing to help me.  She is taking piano lessons, and is also progressing so quickly.   It is a wonderful sound to hear her playing songs on the piano.  I am so blessed to have this girl as my daughter. 
2006 - Had my third child, a girl named Katelyn.  Katelyn is 5 and going into Kindergarten this year.  She is also very smart and loving.  She went to preschool this past year, and he teacher always told me what a pleasure she was to have in class.  She really took to a small handicapped boy named Christopher, and you could bet that whereever Christopher was playing, Katie would be right beside him helping wherever she could.  I love my hugs and squeezes that I get from Katie.  Lately she has been very into fashion.  She puts together an outfit everyday complete with hair accessories and jewelry.  She also likes to "put on" makeup.  She does this by rubbing cheeks, eye lids and eyelashes with me so that my makeup rubs off on her.  She finishes it off with a kiss for some lipstick.  I love this ritual. 


As for me?  Well, I am pretty happy with my life.  I am working part-time as a Bookkeeper/Administrative Assistant.  Yes, I would love to be just a stay at home mom, but with my youngest going into Kindergarten this year I may as well keep working.  Something I am really excited about is that I am going back to College in the fall!  I am going to be working on a Special Education Teaching Degree.  It's been about 13 years since I attended school so I am pretty nervous, but I figure my teacher husband can always do my work for me.  Just kidding people. 


Well, that should pretty much catch you up.  Sorry it's so long, but I want things to be detailed when I am forgetting and looking back at this years later.  To all of you who are reading this:  Thanks for being a part of our lives!