twelve

this little girlie went and turned 12 on me last week.

TWELVE!!!

I swear she was just a toddler like 3 days ago.

It's pretty safe to say that Gracie HATES getting her picture taken, even more than her dad does.

She's definatly my hardest to get pictures of.

But I bribed her with a friend party this year if she let me snap a few.

A few things about my Gracie:

she LOVES to read and is pretty much always attached to a book of some sort, usually the 600+ page ones.

She brings books everywhere she goes: restaurants, hockey games, car rides, you name it.

We've actually had to ground her from reading a few times.

I guess if that's the worst of her problems, she'll turn out ok.

As a result of the massive amounts of reading, she does great in school and is kind of a teacher's dream.

She is a great babysitter.

I can't even tell you how nice it is to have kids that can babysit.

It's life changing.

Gracie is the definition of a FARM GIRL.

But that pretty much goes without saying.

This picture pretty much sums her up.

She LOVES horses.

And she takes such good care of them.

And is such a great rider.

I would have to say she is her daddy's dream daughter.

She could spend hours, and she does, just playing out in the barns with the animals.

We're quite relieved that she (kind of) grew out of walking on all fours. She did that for years.

Not only would she walk/run on her hands and feet, but she would set up jumps and jump them on all fours. It was actually quite amazing to watch - kid has skills.

We were worried for a while.

I still can't believe I have a 12 year old.

I'm so not ready to have a teenager yet:)

Oh how I love this girl!!

And while I'm already blogging, I might as well add the token halloween pictures.

I was slackin' this year and got only a few pics of the kids in their costumes. 

That's ok because we pretty much just recycled old costumes this year, except for my cute little (unhappy) security guard.

he was just playing the part

here's the only group picture I got.

Gracie was a cowgirl (super original), Sadie a jailbird (gracie's last years costume), Ryder a rodeo clown (same as last year), Maysa a bumblebee (same as last year).

Yah we put a lot of thought into our costumes this year.

rodeo

Ok, so this post is like 2 months overdue but I'm doing it anyways.

Maybe someday I'll actually be caught up on my blogging.

But probably not.

So anyways, the 3 older kids have been doing a mini rodeo circuit

the past couple of years,

and they love it.

Other than the fact that our horses are young and inexperienced in the patterns, 

they do pretty good.

This little girlie will start rodeoing next year.

And she CAN'T wait!

They do events such as barrel racing, pole bending, flag picking, goat tying/untying, and cattle sorting. 

I can't tell you they're the most exciting rodeos I've ever seen.

Because they're not.

It's definately NOT the NFR.

But the kids enjoy it and are getting pretty good.

And yes, we have since bought Gracie longer wranglers.

I swear this kid grows out of jeans every 5 minutes.

At this rate she's gonna be 7 feet tall!

And I can't end a post without a picture of my little 

heart Breaker. :)

3 months

Look who's 3 months

it kinda makes me want to cry

but he's getting so much fun

I can't quite get enough of those cheeks

just chillin'

 blowing bubbles

Maysa is SOO in love with Breaker

he has the cutest X belly button

this was the point at which he told me to take a hike

and stop taking pictures

I realized the other day that I have hardly any pictures of

me and my baby

so I had sadie snap one of us.

And I love it.

1st day

The first day of school

I realize this post is a month late, but that's life with a newborn for ya.

these 3 were beyond excited to start school.

Gracie is now a grade 6-er, which is considered middle school.

I'm not sure how I feel about that.

I swear I just sent her to preschool.

But she LOVES it, especially having a locker.

Sades started grade 5.

She was probably the most excited - especially to pick out her school supplies. 

I'm not sure what it is about new school supplies that they get so excited about.

But I remember being the exact same way when I was that age.

Ryder is a big grade 3-er now. He is excited that he is in his Auntie Brett's class this year.

And he is pretty dang excited for hockey season to start.

Me - not so much (refering to the hockey, not brett:)

I always get a little sad seeing them walk out to the bus.

They all look so grown up.

But I am looking forward to much quieter days :)

Now this little gal.

She started preschool the next week.

She was SOO excited.

Being the lucky fourth child

I let her choose out of the vast array of hand-me-down backpacks.

And of course she chose the pony one. 

They always choose the pony one.

This backpack has gone through all 3 of my girls 

so I kind of like it.

ok this picture makes me want to cry!

Where did my little baby girl go??