A twelve-year-old young lady in this house!

My word.  Count those candles.

 

 

And look at that "I am going to eat ALL this steak and not share with anyone" face.

 

This girl is TWELVE!

 

 

And this girl is one I also find amazing for so many reasons!

 

She is beautiful!

 

 

 

She is FUN!

 

 

She loves trying new things, like skateboards!

 

And driving a stick shift.

 

And BOWL roping.  Which she thinks is hilarious because it sounds so much like BULL roping.

 

 

She is a GREAT friend who makes new friends and cherishes the old ones!

 

She works hard at every thing she does and it shows!

 

 

This bareback picture makes me laugh.  She FELL OFF during the competition and STILL took fourth place!  Out of SIX! 

 

She is the best big sister a bunch of siblings could ask for!

 

Even if you can tell which is which because they seem to be all mired in the muck!

 

She may have been the ring leader here.  Notice the dog is actually the only smart one in the bunch?

 

She helps the little ones.

 

 

And is intent on finishing what she started. 

 

 

Even if it takes all day and a change of scenery since I sent her outside to ride her horse.  Because if we have them, they are GOING to get ridden!

 

 

 

Well, that isn't exactly what I meant!  But I will take it I guess.

What?  You didn't mean sit on the horse and read for hours???  Oops.

Did I mention she likes to try new things??  Like getting her horse accustomed to a rope.  Bareback?  Crazy kid.

 

Happy Birthday to the awesome-est almost teenager I know!

 

 

Keep smiling, my beautiful girl.  Life is good!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This boy is a HANDFUL!

In more ways than one this boy is a handful.  Particularly after today since he just turned FIVE!!! 

 



 

 

Yes, this little cowboy was very excited yesterday when he realized that "TOMORROW IS MY BIRTHDAY!!!!"

 

 

You have no idea how many times I heard that as he danced around the house chanting it.  Bouncing off the furniture and walls.  Literally.  And to tell you the truth, I have no idea how many times I heard it either.  Or how many times I have told him to stop bouncing off the furniture and the walls.  

 



 

 

You also won't believe the list of things he wanted for his birthday.  One of his most requested items was a pair of spurs.  He even knew which ones he wanted.  But, his father and I decided that spurs for this boy would not be making the cut this year. 

 

However, this black cowboy hat did.  I had a friend stop by today and we gave it to him while she was there.  Her favorite thing about the whole evening I think was how big his eyes got when he opened that hat. 

 

He may sleep with it on tonight.  And it would be great if we could find his new cowboy boots. No idea where those went 

Oh, and being the terrible mother that I am, I didn't get his cake made today.  But being the loving, sweet, forgiving boy he is (at least when he isn't antagonizing his sisters, which may be one very big reason why spurs didn't make the cut this year), he let me stick candles in his pizza and we sang to him before dinner. 

 

 

This kid is a handful. He is smart, sweet, fun, funny, passionate, loving, kind and just an all around great kid.  I am so glad he is my boy. If I only get one, he is a great one to have!

 

Did I mention that he is a handsome little guy, too?? 

 

And he is excited to start some school this year.  Maybe he will even start wearing his hat the right way.  At least his cowboy hat. 

 

 

I love this boy.  So does everyone else in this family.  He is an easy kid to love! 

 

Happy Birthday to my little man! 

This girl had a BIRTHDAY!!!

See this pretty girl??  This morning I asked her how my favorite seven-year-old was.  She looked at me like I was crazy and told me she was SIX. 

Apparently we need to work harder to make her birthday memorable.  Though I thought we did a pretty good job considering the fact that we had kids and horses involved in fair this week.  And grandma and grandpa and grandma were here. 

I mean seriously, how can you not remember these faces?!?!?!

And this:

 

The girl won't ride a bike and she got it in her head that she wanted a scooter.  So what better place to have a party than a park in town?  We took a few hours out of the fair and grandma and grandma and grandpa made sure we had food and everything.  It was a great little party and the birthday girl had a really great time I think.  I mean, look at that smile. 

 

I love this girl.  Her blond hair and her blue eyes and her little bird legs and her spunk and her giggle and her toothless grin.  She is awesome.

Next week she is so excited to do riding lessons just like her two older sisters. I can hardly believe how she handles that horse.  Watching her grow has been so fun.  And we are looking forward to continuing to watch her grow.   

We love you V!  Happy Birthday!!!

 

 

My Valentines

The husband came home with individual invitations to a Valentines Day celebration on the day before Valentines Day.  He put them on our plates before dinner.   Those of us who could read opened them and commented on the "formal attire" line.  

"We get to dress up!" I said.  

"I know EXACTLY what I am going to be!" Violet said.

"I am going to be SPIDERMAN!" Carsten said.

Ummm .... that isn't exactly formal, I thought to myself as the husband and I were laughing.

We did manage to get the kids dressed in their most formal attire, including a fun hairstyle for each of the girls.  

Except for the shoes.  Apparently they objected to shoes.

This whole thing was the brainchild of the husband.  He decided he wanted to do something fun and memorable.  I am going to spoil the story here and say that it was the best Valentines Day EVER!

We had fancy clothes, fancy jewelry, a fancy menu ...

 and a fancy order of events. 

See how fancy we are??

 He even let me crash his fancy bar-b-que and demand a selfie of our fancy selves.  Isn't he handsome in that hat and tie??  I think his daughters swooned over his handsomeness.  His wife most definitely did.  Even if he hadn't gotten me those fancy new earrings that I love I would have swooned over his handsomeness.
 

Fancy table complete with fancy flowers and fancy place cards.

 The sky even cooperated and showed off its fanciness. 

A fancy boy with sour cream on his face.  I don't think he is wearing shoes here either.

 A fancy girl with curled hair and fancy new earrings.

 Another fancy girl ... oh wait.  That is the crazy one.

 Here.  Another fancy girl with curled hair and a fancy dragonfly necklace.

 The oldest fancy girl with fancy hair and fancy new earrings.  When did she get so grown up?!?

And a fancy grandpa.  What?  Who invited him??  

Oh, that's right.  They were driving through and stopped for that fancy tie to wear with that "fancy" shirt.  At least that is what I think they meant when they said they were stopping for some appropriate attire and would be here for dinner.  The man makes me laugh. 

And look!  A fancy girl has captured the heart of the husband.  This kind of thing just makes me melt a little.

This was hilarious.  I couldn't seem to get the Heart and Soul duet thing down.  And I had only had one glass of wine.  So grandma took over.  What does Grace do??  She starts playing double time!!  Of course, grandma is good, but she tells Grace it is too fast.  

Grace, being the smarty pants that she is, started playing in SLOW MOTION and just gave grandma this classic look like she is daring her to try to keep up.

I don't know where she gets it.

Oh, wait, maybe this is where.  That guy with the red tie! 

 

I didn't know that there was a slide whistle part to Heart and Soul.  Apparently he is quite musical and I had no idea.  This picture was right before Grace got laughing so hard she just put her head down on the keys because she couldn't play anymore for laughing.

We cooked, we ate, we laughed, we played piano, we listened to poetry, we danced (Violet had to dance with Olaf and made a big show of dancing down the stairs with him and then was just dancing to whatever was in her head while the rest of us swirled around her), and we laughed some more (when grandpa just picked Calla up to dance with her and Calla declares that dancing is really easy).

And then we laughed some more.

All because of this handsome guy.  He managed to pull it all together and then, with a little help, we were all able to pull it off.  

 

I must say, it is SO nice to be back together and functioning as a happy family again.  I don't think I can describe it.  But I know that it feels really, really good.  And I know that this guy and I are a team.  That is what made this Valentines Day so great.

And these people.  I love that the two adults in this picture are close enough to just stop by.  I love that they do.  And I love that the four kids in this picture say things like, "I hope grandma brought grandpa!" when they hear they are coming. 

Best Valentines Day ever.  Because we are all together in one place.  And because we all care enough to make it work.

And because we are not above having a ton of fun!

This guy ...

I love him.  I know what life is like without him.  And it is SO amazing to have him back! 

Best Valentines Day EVER!!!