February 2018 - Aubrey's Birthday, School Program, and More Volleyball

February went by quickly with more weekends of volleyball and school events that kept the weekdays busy too. Taryn's picture starts out our February because on February 2nd, it was their 100th day of school. The Kindergarteners had to wear a t-shirt that they had made with 100 things on it. We picked Perler beads, which we glued on to her shirt in the shape of "100." The hot glue may not have been the best option, because the beads popped off pretty easily, but it was the fastest option and the shirt did last for entire day without losing too many beads.

Aubrey's birthday was the biggest event of the month. She turned 9 on the 10th February. The sad part was she was sick for most of it. The week before her birthday Taryn had been home sick with a fever. Aubrey caught it and wasn't feeling well by the end of the week, and she missed a couple days of school. Luckily it was just a fever and not anything worse. Aubrey's actual birthday was on a Saturday and she woke up that morning feeling better. And because Abby's volleyball tournament that day was scheduled for the afternoon, we were able to go out to breakfast to celebrate. She opened her presents which included a lot of accessory items which are her favorite. She got chokers, magnetic earrings and a super soft blanket among other things. Here she is when she talked to Grandma Gibbons on the phone and the picture I used to post her birthday on Facebook. 

She had also received her birthday card from Grandma and Grandpa Gibbons and when she opened it and saw that she got a lot of cash, she was determined to use that money to buy the one thing that was on the top of her wish list - her very own pet! She kept saying that since Abby had her own fish and Tessa had her own tortoise, it was her turn to get her own pet. She said she would have been happy with a bunny, a lizard, a snake, a guinea pig, a hamster, a gerbil, or a chinchilla. I even had her research what she really wanted and made her tell us how she was going to take care of whatever she got, if she got a pet. Well, Tyler and I quickly vetoed the snake idea, but we've done hamsters before, so that morning of her birthday after breakfast, we went to the pet store and she picked out her very own pet. Meet Blizzard, the dwarf hamster. She even used some of her own money that she got from Grandma and Grandpa Gibbons so we had to send pictures to let them know what their birthday money went towards. He's pretty cute and tiny and the girls love to watch him run around, climb the walls, and race through his tubes. 

During Abby's volleyball games the afternoon of Aubrey's birthday, Aubrey's fever came back and she spent the last couple hours sleeping on the hard floor of the El Paso Convention Center. We went home that night and took it easy and let her sleep. At church the next day, Abby spoke in sacrament, so we all went for that first hour, but Tyler took Aubrey home afterwards. She was so sad to leave because she wanted to stay for all of church, but we didn't want her fever to come back like it had the day before. They went home and made a dessert for her birthday since we hadn't had any birthday cake yet. We had the Kasallis's over that night to sing to Aubrey and wish her a happy birthday. It wasn't the most exciting birthday ever, but she said she was happy because she had gotten everything she had asked for, including her very own pet. 

Because Aubrey had missed school the day before her birthday, we waited until the following Friday to take treats to her class. Their program was coming up, so they spent most afternoons practicing with the entire grade in the cafeteria. I had to find them there to give her class donuts. Her teacher, Mrs. Rader, who's in the back, had everyone sing to Aubrey as they rushed to grab their donut and leave for the day. I had spent that week and the following week at the school every day for the book fair. It was a crazy busy month when you added in the sick kids, but having my parents here helped. Aubrey spent two of her sick days hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa Black's house and she thought it was the best thing ever because each day she watched a new Harry Potter movie. By the end of her sickness, she was begging to miss one more day of school so she could watch the next movie, Harry Potter 6. I was just glad she was feeling better and she had a good birthday week. 

One night while I was reading in bed, I looked over and saw Aubrey next to me who was also reading. She looked so pretty, I took a picture. I love this girl. She's spunky, adventurous, outgoing, and super friendly. She loves to meet new people and she's very good at befriending anyone and everyone. She is our drama queen with the loudest voice, but we love her for her personality. She still loves dressing up fancy and would choose dresses and curly hair every day if she could. She loves the knee high black fancy boots she got for her birthday too. Happy Birthday Aubrey!

The 3rd grade school program was about two weeks after Aubrey's birthday. Their theme was about friendship and they sang some current pop songs about friendship like "Fight Song" and "Count on Me." The kids loved singing the songs and doing the actions while singing. One of Aubrey's favorite things to do is sing, so she loved practicing for the program and singing loud for all to hear.

After the program, we grabbed a couple pictures of Aubrey with some of her friends. Here she is with Milan, and then with Kaitlyn. They're all so cute!

As for volleyball, Abby still has games every weekend. They also have been playing league games on Friday nights as well. When they wear these black t-shirts, we know it's a league game. I recorded the majority of this game, so I remembered to grab some pictures while they played. 

Getting pictures of Abby while she serves is my favorite because that's when she's the closest to where we're sitting, but I try to remember to get some of her on the court or with her team as well. Abby usually plays middle which is a spiking position, but she sometimes plays outside which is also spiking but from the sides instead of the middle. She's getting so good, it's so fun to watch her play! 

Here are two other weekend tournaments, but I just didn't get very many pictures. The one with the girls in red was from when they played in the El Paso Convention Center on Aubrey's birthday. The one where she's in white was from a weekend tournament at Stars. I took it right before she served and only realized that night that it was the only picture I had taken during that day. 

There was one weekend in February where no games were scheduled. Abby's coach had promised the girls a movie night for playing so well, so they spent their free Saturday hanging out together as a team. I love that they all get along and love spending time together on and off the court. 

Here was the final tournament of February. I took more pictures as they played this one. These first two pictures are still from Abby serving and you can see her "donkey kick" that's her signature serve that everyone talks about. 

I took one picture while she was on the court too. I also decided to grab a picture of Abby close up off the court so you can see her cute face. Here's Emily and Abby while they had a break. I love these girls so much. 

And one more close up while Abby was on the court. I tried zooming in which is why it's kind of blurry. That number 6 is our girl! As a part of a birthday gift for AJ Kasallis, Abby had me take a picture of her showing her number. We photoshopped "GIBBONS" on to her shirt too and she framed the picture to give to AJ. It was a joke because a couple Christmases ago, during one of our $1 gift exchanges with the Kasallis's, Abby ended up with AJ's gift which was this exact picture but with AJ showing off his numbered football hoodie. It was pretty hilarious, so now they each have a picture of the other one in their sporting attire. 

For about 4 months, I watched my friend Dani's baby while she went back to work. Dani and her husband are here in El Paso for medical school, and they had their first baby, Evelyn, last summer. She wanted to go back to work part time while her husband finished school, and I offered to keep Evelyn with me. It was like I was paying it forward because that's what Jennifer did for me when Tyler was in school and Abby was a baby. It was such a blessing to us how it all worked out back then, and I was happy and excited to be able to do that for someone else in the same situation. I didn't take many pictures of her, but here's one on one of the last days that I watched her. She loved this emoji pillow and she was such a cutie. The girls loved that I watched her too and enjoyed the days I had her when they were off from school which wasn't very often. 

And finally, to end the month of February, we have to include this picture. Never say that Tyler's not an amazing and involved dad! He went with Tessa and Aubrey to their Father/Daughter Activity Days Activity which the girls decided was going to be a makeover party. All of the dads let their girls put makeup on them! I was pretty impressed. We loved seeing the pictures that they sent. The dads were such good sports. Activities like these are ones that the girls will never forget. I love my family! 

January 2018 - Volleyball Trips, Phoenix Visit, STEAM Night

With the new year, I've decided to update our blog a little differently. I'm going to post each month's events together and see if I can't keep on top of our year this way. It may not work if our months get really busy, but for the beginning of the year, it's what I'll try. So for January, we spent every weekend at a volleyball tournament. And two of them were out of town tournaments, so this blog is mainly about Abby's club volleyball team. But to start the year, I have a picture of Taryn and Aubrey who looked so cute together snuggling on the couch. They are my early risers, and they can usually be found like this on mornings when we don't have school and everyone else is sleeping in. 

The first weekend in January, there was a volleyball tournament at Stars, which is Abby's home court. Abby's team played really well, but ended up losing to a Wildfire team and earning second place in the tournament. Cindy Renee, one of Abby's friends from Hornedo, was on the Wildfire team. I got a picture of the two girls together after the tournament was over and the medals had been awarded. 

Abby likes to take selfies and she sometimes sends me the ones she really likes. She took this one while waiting for me and the other girls after school one day in my van using my phone. She turned it black and white and claimed it as a keeper. 

During the long weekend over Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Abby's tournament was in Tucson, AZ. We drove out late Friday night. We met up with the team at IHOP for a late breakfast because their pool play didn't begin until 2pm on Saturday. Here's Abby ready for her first out of town tournament, and Abby with her team at IHOP. Eating out with the whole team is a little crazy, but we have it down to a science by ordering each family under each girl's number so that the waitresses can keep it all organized. I thought that was pretty clever.

After breakfast, we still had time to walk the mall to keep the girls moving and work off their large meal. We took some pictures outside the mall while we waited for everyone to show up. This was the first time that the girls had their warm up suits, so we took pictures in all of their different clothing options.

 I'll include the girls' names with their numbers here since you can almost see everyone with their numbers on their jerseys, so from left to right it's Coach Dawson, Regina (7), Bella (1 - her jersey says 18 but it was incorrect), Sopie (4), Alex (12), Andrea (5), Emily (10), Abby (6), Allison (8), Memoree (9), and Coach Denise.

All the younger siblings of the players had fun hanging out too. I followed them around a little and grabbed some pictures as they played too. 

I only got one good picture of their first pool play games. They played three different teams and ended up beating two of them. It was fun to play some teams from all over the place. This first pool had a team from AZ, a team from New Mexico, and a team that had come all the way from Mexico. 

On Sunday, since we don't play volleyball on Sundays, we drove up to Phoenix to visit my Grandma Solheim for the day. My parents had come to Tucson to watch Abby play and we all drove up early Sunday morning to make it to church with Grandma. She was so excited to have us there and she loved introducing us to everyone in her ward. After church we went back to Grandma's house, ate food, and visited with family. My mom's brother, two of her sisters, plus some other more distant relatives were there to visit with us too. Before we left to make it back to Tucson, we took some family pictures. I love getting generation pictures, so we took one with all the girls, me, my mom, and my grandma. Aubrey loves to visit "Grandma Jeanne" because that's who she's named after. So I like to get the picture of Aubrey Jeanne with Grandma Jeanne. Aubrey wanted her grandma in the picture too because my mom's middle name is also Jeanne.

Here's a picture with my parents, grandma, and my Uncle Matt. Just outside of the picture is the grapefruit tree where they had picked a ton of grapefruits and sent them home with us. They were super yummy. We ended with a picture of everyone - my whole family, my parents, Grandma, and Matt. I love my family and that we were able to see each other, visit, and share stories. 

We drove back to Tucson so that Abby could be with her team for the evening. They had played that morning, so we got to hear about all their games while we ate at the Angry Crab which was right outside the hotel that most of the team was staying in. One of the other parents took a picture of Abby and her team. I took the picture of all the siblings outside the restaurant with the big blow up crab. It was a fun evening. 

Monday was the final day of the tournament. This was the day for the bracket play and based on the team's record after the two pool play days, Abby's team was in the top bracket playing for 1st place. I didn't get many pictures because we were so focused on watching them play. Here are a couple pictures, one when they did their pep chant before a game, and one of Abby before she served during one of the games.

They played really well. They lost one but won a couple before losing again to end their tournament, but they played so hard and beat some really good teams. I think we figured out that they ended up in 6th place out of 40 teams in their division. It was a really fun experience. They still got a little trophy and we took pictures at their photo spot. We were so proud of these girls. 

The next weekend was another tournament at home. Here are a couple pictures from one of those games. As you can tell, they have three different color jerseys - red, white, and blue - that they trade off each day they play. I really love watching Abby play volleyball.

During January, the elementary school had a STEAM night which was an evening of activities at the school that fall under the categories of science, technology, math etc. The girls made circuits using tiny light bulbs and playdoh. They got to stack cups. This was a huge tower that other people made, but the girls thought it was so cool until it got knocked down. They made light sabers and paper airplanes and even got to meet Darth Vader. (Star Wars is the theme at school this year.) 

Besides the STEAM event, most grades and classes had projects that the kids had completed on display. We went and saw Tessa's marble maze that she and teammate, Bella, had created out of paper towel rolls and duct tape. Aubrey and her team had made a candy cane tower, trying to build it as high as they could without it tipping over. They used candy canes and pipe cleaners. I love seeing how proud the girls are of their work. They really love school and learning. And their teachers are awesome! 

The final weekend in January, we were in Midland. The three younger girls were all traveled out, so they convinced us to see if Grandma and Grandpa wanted to keep them for the weekend. Luckily, my parents were happy to have them; so Abby, Tyler and I traveled to Midland by ourselves for the two day tournament. We played Saturday morning at an elementary school and these are the only two pictures I took. They played well, but the competition at this tournament was not very hard. I think they even won one of their sets 25-1. One of the teams they played was mostly 11 and 12 year olds and they looked really young. You could see them shake their arms after our girls served or spiked the ball because it was so hard and painful to them. Abby plays middle hitter and is really blossoming in all positions of volleyball. It'll be interesting to see where she plays on her school team next year. I love that she's learning all positions and improving in all her skills and abilities.

Because the pool play was in the morning for this tournament, we ended up eating together as a team for dinner. We left to drive home after that dinner since we weren't staying for the Sunday games. They keep us updated as they play, and sadly they lost their second game which took them out of the tournament. And they lost to Wildfire, the El Paso team that had beat them at the beginning of the month too. The sad thing is their ability is on level with that Wildfire team, so they always get to a third set where the game could go either way, and we just end up losing in the end. And always very closely. One day we'll hopefully get another chance to play them and win. But before we left to drive home, we enjoyed the bonding time over BBQ. Abby loves hanging out with her team. 

The girls all get along and really just have so much fun playing together. Here are some pictures we took before we headed out the door at the BBQ restaurant that we ate at. The first picture is of Coach with all the team on the 2nd floor landing. They were all wearing matching shirts that they had just gotten that say Stay Humble and Hustle Hard on it. The girls love those shirts. And one last picture with all the girls on the stairs. I'll include their names here again, so from left to right: Memoree, Emily, Selma, Sophie, Allison, Andrea, Abby, Bella, Regina, and Alex. With Coach Dawson and Coach Denise in the back.