Over Spring Break, Abby and I donated blood. It was Abby’s first time to donate. She was nervous, but determined to do it because she had been wanting to donate blood ever since turning 16. She did great. She got a little lightheaded towards the end of the donation, which they said is pretty common for first time donors. They were glad she told them so they were able to elevate her feet, and give her ice packs to cool her down before she passed out or had other complications. She found out she is A+ and she’s excited to do it again as soon as she’s able. Also during the Spring Break week, I was able to get my first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. They had a registration for all EPISD employees who wanted the vaccine, so I was able to register and go. I went to one of the hospitals downtown and waited in a line, but it moved quickly and I was home after only one hour. My arm hurt that day and was very tender to the touch, but I luckily did not have any other reactions to the first shot, and it was totally fine by the next morning.
Grandma and Grandpa came to visit for the end of the spring break week. They wanted to see the girls and some of their sporting events and then they headed up to Arizona and Utah to see their mothers. We were happy to have them for a couple of days on their long trek to visit everyone.
They got to come see Taryn’s last basketball game of that season. Because it was spring break, we didn’t have all of our players and the other team only had one. Luckily, a couple girls from the previous game were still there so they played again, and one of our players also played on the other team so they had enough players to play a regular game. Taryn did awesome as usual and had fun showing grandma and grandpa that she can play. It was a fun game to watch and see how much they had improved since the beginning of the season.
Tessa joined a running club for the month of March. She went with some girls from her cross country and track teams. She really enjoyed going. They met three times a week either at a park or at the coach’s house where they would run through the neighborhoods. After getting their cross country sweatshirts and wearing them at the same time, the girls got this picture together one day after a practice.
Tessa wanted a fancy hairstyle for church one Sunday, so she let me do my “Barbie” hairstyle that I learned when they were little. I took a picture before leaving for church, and besides the fact that it’s called a “Barbie” hairstyle, she really liked it. Taryn got to dress up for Culture day at school. She dressed up like a Mormon pioneer. We were able to borrow the bonnet from Audrey and I thought her outfit turned out super cute for the day. She was able to tell some of her teachers about her pioneer ancestors.
Unfortunately, we had some bad news in March as well. Our three bunnies had been moved out to the front porch once the weather warmed up and there they stayed for the last month of so. The girls would take them out to play when they cleaned the cages weekly and since they would try to fight or mate when they were together, they were each in a separate cage. Well, one night some neighborhood dogs got into our front patio area and ended up getting into Panda’s cage and killing her. The owners were friends of ours and were very apologetic for not getting to their dogs in time, but there was nothing they could do for Panda. We ended up burying her in our old garden. Aubrey was very distraught and would get sad or cry for the next couple days. Panda was our only female bunny and she was the fattest, cutest bunny. She was the biggest of her litter from the very beginning which was why Aubrey loved her. She was named Panda for her black and white fur, but also because of her size and we’ll miss her. The kids marked the stone above her grave so we’ll always remember. I also included this cool picture of the full moon in March as we were outside one night as the sun set and the moon rose over the mountains. I thought it was really pretty and I love the bright orange colors that indicated the beautiful sunset behind us.
While Grandma and Grandpa were in town, we ate out at Five Guys. It was yummy. Aubrey and Abby shared a shake and tried to recreate a picture from when they were littler. It was cute and I love their beautiful eyes. They’re nice to each other when they want to be and this was a good day when they got along just fine. Grandma and Grandpa Black were able to go to one of Abby’s tournaments while they were in town. It was supposed to be the big El Paso Bid tournament that’s normally played in the convention center, but since the convention center has been turned into a vaccine center, the tournament was played at the club locations around town. Abby’s games were played at Stars.
They did not do very well in their games, only winning a couple of sets all day. The issue was that they were missing a lot of their regular players. They had a lot of girls who had stopped paying their monthly fees, so they ended up quitting the team. So Abby’s team had to bring up three girls from the 16s team to play with them for this tournament. They only had about a week to practice and get used to each other, so they did good considering all the changes, but they did not play as well as they had in the past with their original players. While playing this green team, the green team had a professional photographer taking pictures during the game. We found some cool shots of our team once he posted his pictures on Facebook. I liked this one of Abby as she got to hit the ball, and we laugh every time we see this second picture because it was taken as the green team cheered after making a point. That point was after a good hit that Abby dove for to try and return, so in between their cheering team, you can see Abby laying on the floor after her dive.
On March 24th, Tessa turned 14. I took a picture of her on her way to school that morning. She wanted her hair curly so we spent the morning getting her hair just right. As I posted pictures on Facebook, this picture of when she turned two came up on my memories. I had to post them together because her hair used to be naturally curly and I thought they were adorable pictures side by side. My blonde, blue-eyed beauty!
Tyler got up and made Tessa a birthday breakfast of waffles and fruit. He also made Tessa’s birthday cake that turned out beautifully. She asked for a white cake with strawberry filling and frosting and chocolate ganache. Tyler made it all from scratch and was very impressed with himself for even making a strawberry reduction that he used in the filling. It was a delicious cake and so pretty.
Since her 13th birthday was right when the quarantine started last year, Tessa was able to have a real birthday party this year. We did our usual family party with the cake and presents, but the weekend after her birthday, she and 10 of her friends got to go to Bob-Os to play. Their awesome group of friends from church and school get together almost every weekend. So for her birthday, Tessa wanted all of them to come to her party. It was her first boy/girl party and they had a blast on the rides and doing go-carts and laser tag. I don’t have any pictures because Tyler took her to the party and was the chaperone who basically sat with all of their belongings. I thought he’d have more fun hanging out with the teenagers, but he said he didn’t get to do very much besides sit at the tables. But Tessa said she had fun and she loved all of the gifts that her friends had gotten her.
For our Kasibbons dinner, we were able to celebrate not only Tessa but also Grandma V and Tony who share a birthday the day before Tessa’s. Audrey made three separate desserts so they each had something to hold when they blew out the candle. There was a strawberry cheesecake dessert, a banana cream pie, and a lemon blueberry dessert. They were all super yummy and it was fun to celebrate all of the birthdays together.
I took this picture from a post my mom was tagged in on Facebook. When my parents left El Paso after visiting with us, they headed to Arizona to see my Grandma. They also got to see some of my aunts, and while they were together, they took this picture and I loved it. My Aunt Karen took the picture and it has my mom, my Aunt Denise, my Aunt Bonnie, and my Grandma Jeanne. I love all of these ladies. My final picture for the month of March was just a fun decoration we did at work. Our Assistant Principal is about to become a grandma, so for her birthday (which she shares with Tessa), we decorated her office door in a Stars Wars theme because she loves Star Wars, and one of my coworkers found these adorable baby onesies. I added the saying, “Age matters not, celebrate you must” on the door and we decorated a little inside the office too. Mrs. Clay was very surprised and happy when she saw it. She kept it up for a couple of weeks and everyone who came into the office admired the awesome decorations. I really like working in the office and I love the ladies that I work with.
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