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!"