Where have we been?!? Well, the past two months have been a whirl wind of packing, moving, living in hotels, moving again, and unpacking, with Spring Break and a birthday in between. I'll try to catch everything up and figured I'd better just go month to month since it's been over two since our last post.
So the highlights of March would have to be Spring Break Adventures and Tessa's birthday. We were supposed to be moving into our new house (same neighborhood, just buying instead of renting) on March 1st, but we had a fiasco trying to finalize paperwork and loan stuff, and it was pushed all the way into April. We were out of our rental house by the end of March, but luckily the girls still had a fun break from school during the week of Spring Break. My mom flew out the weekend before Spring Break started because, again, we thought we'd be moving that weekend into the new house; but no such luck, so she just hung out and played with us instead. We went to a kid's festival in downtown El Paso while she was here and met our friends there too. Lots of vendors, food, music, and free activities, so we couldn't pass it up. After taking a nature walk, the kids got free t-shirts and ice cream. We took pictures by these monster trucks.
Tessa even fit in the tire! They made rainbows in test tubes, and while walking through the Museum of Art, we stopped for a demonstration of African musical instruments where the girls got to help make music. Grandpa Black would have been proud!
During Spring Break we took a trip to the zoo. The girls had been once already when we first came to El Paso looking for houses a year ago, but it was my first time. We went with our friends again and had a great time. The sea lions were some of our favorites. They kept swimming right by the window and entertaining all the kids.
There were some different learning stations that we stopped at. Tessa really liked the wolf and had to have a picture by it. Aubrey had to have a picture of her sitting on the bench with the bear.
We took a lot of pictures by the merry-go-round with this tiger and the elephant (to the left), but the kids were a little sad that they couldn't ride the merry-go-round because the moms didn't want to pay the extra fee. Taryn stayed in her stroller for all the picture stops, but she loved seeing the animals. We also saw an exhibit where the animals painted the pictures. It was pretty cool. Paintings done by all kinds of animals - elephants, monkeys, snakes, sea lions, etc.
Tyler even took a day off during Spring Break to play with the girls. No pictures though. We just went to a park, shopped, and ate out. Our final day during the week was spent at an indoor splash park. The girls really liked the warm water. Taryn was totally happy in the water, but she wanted me to hold her, not Abby, so she was not happy that I was trying to take pictures instead of holding her.
I don't get many pictures of Tyler with the girls, so I always like to add them whenever I have them. Here's Tyler snuggling with Aubrey and Taryn.
Finally, the other big event in March was Tessa's birthday! She turned 6 on the 24th. She was supposed to have a birthday party with friends, but we talked her into waiting until we were in the new house, thinking she'd be able to have a swim party and everything. However, with all our holdups, we were still in the rental house for her birthday and in the middle of packing up and trying to figure out what we were going to do for the next couple weeks. So her birthday, unfortunately, wasn't as grand as we were planning it to be, but we had a fun family day filled with her presents, her favorite foods, and a new treat.
Her birthday fell on a Sunday, so we let her open all her gifts before church. She got things like a Figit (just like Aubrey's but a new color), a Lego Friends car, a whole book created for her by Abby, and a cake ball maker to name a few.
We attempted the cake balls for the first time and although they were not professional looking by any means, the girls had fun helping and they still tasted very yummy. I decided after the fact that her birthday theme this year could have been "balls" because besides the cake balls, we also ate meatballs for her birthday meal because that is one of her favorite foods.
Tessa dressed her doll up to match her for church, so I had to take a picture because she already looks so much like her doll, that the matching dresses just put it right over the top in cuteness.
A few other things about Tessa for her birthday update is that she is an awesome reader. She's almost finished with her Kindergarten year, and she is doing great in school. She has lots of friends, and everyone (teachers, parents, other kids) always comment about how cute and funny and sweet Tessa is. She rides a bike and scooters with ease, and loves to follow Abby around and do whatever she is doing. She's great with Taryn and can make her laugh easier than anyone else. She's very independent (still!). She picks out her own clothes and likes to make all decisions herself. She still hates to have her hair brushed and will never let me do it. I'm lucky if she'll even wear a headband. However, she's a joy in our family and we love her so much!
Happy Birthday Tessa!!
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