Aubrey and her dance team, Vortex, had their very first performance during halftime of the 8th grade football game. I was there to watch them perform and we were able to get a picture of their entire team after they performed. They did a Pom routine and Aubrey was so excited to perform. She had fun learning the routine and working on it at home by herself and over FaceTime with her friends. They all worked really hard and you could tell from how well they performed.
Aubrey was excited to tell me where she was during the routine. She spent the first half of the number in the front row. They all looked really good and they worked well together. This second picture was during one of the kicks from the routine.
It was really fun to see them dance and they got a lot of cheers from the crowd. The girls were so excited leading up to their performance. They all did each other’s makeup and they looked so pretty. This kind of thing - sparkly outfits, Pom-poms, and makeup - is right up Aubrey’s alley; and she was so excited to be apart of the group. I love being able to watch her do something that she loves.
Abby spent a day doing paintball with her friends for Caleb Deca’s 17th birthday party. Abby was so excited to go paintballing. She’s wanted to do paintball for a long time, so when she got the invite to his party, she counted down the days until they got to go. Here’s the fun group of friends who went to the party.
Caleb’s mom, Niki, is one of my good friends, so she got some great pictures for all of the moms. Here’s Abby with paint splatter on her face. She came home with quite a few bruises on her legs, but she said they were totally worth it. And here she is with the girls that were at the party - Anna, Abby, Amelia, and Braelinn. After they finished at the paintball place, they went back to Caleb’s house and hung out. It was a great group of kids, mostly juniors, which I was happy to see. Abby has a lot of senior friends and sometimes I worry about her when they all graduate next spring; but seeing her with this group of kids who will still be together next year, I realized Abby’s going to be just fine. She has plenty of friends and I love getting to see all the fun things they get to do together.
Tessa’s marching band had an exhibition performance at the Sunbowl at UTEP. I went along as a chaperone and I followed the pit crew and drumline around helping to haul equipment and frontline instruments. The drumline warmed up away from the stadium on the top level of the parking garage. I took this picture as they warmed up and I loved how the mountains and sunset are behind them. I love listening to the drumline. It reminds me of my dad and of my childhood as I went to so many football games and marching band performances growing up. They just look so cool.
They warmed up some more with the frontline and then we headed down to the stadium for the actual performance. I was able to go onto the field with the rest of the parent volunteers, so I took a quick picture of Tessa in her full uniform with her drum after they finished on the field. They looked and sounded good even though they are still only performing a portion of their entire show. It was good for them to practice in the huge stadium and on the field where they would have their area competition later in the season.
I love seeing them all perform and watching Tessa. She gets very excited about performing and takes her marching and playing very seriously. She is very exact with her marching spots and visuals and I love being able to hear her specifically when the drumline gets going. You can pick out her top drum sound as you watch them perform and I love how confident she looks as she’s on the field. And I love how much she loves marching band.
Abby had an away game at Socorro HS. They won in two sets. The other setter, Andrea, got injured, so Abby had to play a 5-1 and set all the way around. She did well for having to change up their usual routine and she really does love setting. I think she missed being able to hit, but with some long stretches of serves and her good assists, they won the game pretty easily.
Our chickens that we hatched ourselves last Easter laid their first egg in the middle of September. The exciting news was that it was a blue egg. Aubrey wanted blue eggs from when we first started raising chickens. We ended up with Hattie Bob, the rooster, because he was a blue egg-laying breed, but since he was 50/50 hen or rooster, we took the chance and ended up with a rooster. Tyler figured that was ok because if we hatched our own chickens with Bob as the rooster, any of those chicks would have the blue egg gene. We didn’t know if it would work, but when we got the first egg, and it was slightly blue, we were all so excited. Aubrey decided to hold her first blue egg next to a regular white egg so you can see the difference in color and that it really is “blue.”
September brought a week of Homecoming events. The parade was one of the first events of the week, and all three of the older girls were in the parade. Abby was happy to tell anyone that she could have been on three different floats. She rode with her volleyball team, but she could have been on the STUCO float or the CDL, preschool float. She found Aubrey before the parade started and got a picture with her. Aubrey was on a float with her Hornedo volleyball team. They were actually the very last float in the parade. Tessa marched with the marching band and Audrey took a picture of her and Logan after they finished the parade.
I was trying to video the parade to send to my parents, but I didn’t get my phone ready in time, so I missed the video and didn’t get any pictures! So sad! Tyler was able to get a quick picture of Tessa as she marched by. We went to our usual spot near our house at the first corner of the parade route. We took Sam and Teagan with us to enjoy the parade because Audrey and Tony drove their truck in the parade and the boys decided getting candy was definitely more fun than throwing candy out if they rode in the parade like they had last year. We ran into a lot of church families on the corner we were at, so I got this picture of Taryn with Amber, Sam, and Teagan.
Abby helped decorate her volleyball float and she had this cute star with her name and number for the parade, but she lost it by the end of the route. I was just glad she got a picture with it so we could see it. She said she really wanted to go on the float with the preschool kids that she teaches in her CDL class, but her teacher made all the kids who were on teams go with their teams.
We cheered loudly for Abby as her team rode by and we cheered for her teammates too. Aubrey’s team came last in the parade, but it was fun cheering for her as well. They loved being able to be in the high school parade.
Another event of Homecoming week was preparing for the dance with the infamous Texas mums. We decided to make the mum for Abby’s date, Rand. What we found out the night before we were planning on making it was that senior mums only use white for the color. We were ready to make an awesome purple and black mum, but luckily we found out before we started. My coworker, Julie, who’s very creative and crafty, came over to our house to help us make the mum. Abby and her friend Gracie were there to help with the hands on labor and decision making. We were very happy with how it turned out and I took a picture of Abby holding it so we could show it to everyone. Rand made Abby’s mum at the school and he brought it over the night before they’re supposed to wear them to school. Abby loved how it turned out and took pictures wearing it so I could show it to everyone too. It had their names and a lot of volleyball-themed jangles on it and it turned out so cute. We all loved it.
On the Friday of the Homecoming football game, everyone wears their mums to school. It also happened to be the day I had signed up to feed the high school kids. Abby and about 20 of her friends came over for lunch. We fed them meatballs, chicken wings, and mozzarella sticks like a tailgate party in preparation for the big game that night. I was so excited to see everyone because I got to see all the mums that everyone wore. It was so fun. I just wished that they had had more time so I could’ve taken more pictures showing off their mums and their dates. I was just lucky I got these pictures. They were good sports about it.
We even had a group of kids that ate out on the fake grass in the front yard. I did make sure to at least get a picture of Abby with her date, Rand. I’m good friends with Rand’s mom, Tristan, so I sent the picture to her and she was so happy to have it. Moms of boys don’t always get all the information or fun stuff like pictures from their sons, so she thanked me profusely for making them pose for a picture together.
Abby’s volleyball game before the homecoming football game was against Coronado, their biggest competition. Abby had to set the entire first set since Andrea was still injured. They ended up losing that set, but it was close. There were so many fans there, which was fun, but it was such a stressful game. Andrea ended up coming in to play the second set, so Abby was able to hit and set. They won that set pretty easily, which had them go to the third set. Abby had been promoted to team captain, so I was stoked to get a picture of her doing her captain’s duties during the third set coin toss. They played the third set and although it was a tight, close game, we ended up losing that third set. We were so sad, but Abby played well and I hoped that since they had girls out because of injuries and bad grades, they would have a chance to beat them with a full team the next time they played.
Right after Abby’s game, the varsity game began. Since it was their big rivalry game against Coronado too, the drumline comes in to play during the warmups. It was fun to see Tessa and her percussion friends in Abby’s domain. I loved being able to cheer for them as they played their cadences. It really got the crowd pumped up and ready for the game.
Since I know all the drumline kids, I didn’t feel bad about following them around and getting up close to get a picture of them. They went straight from playing at the volleyball game out to the football stadium to get ready for the homecoming game. They played really well and had a good halftime performance. They were able to play down on the track again and I took a picture of Tessa down there. She had a lot of friends from cross country who were also cheering her on. I think she loves being able to show everyone what she loves doing.
After the varsity volleyball game (Franklin won in 5 sets), Abby was able to join us at the football game. She wore her mum and hung out with us for a little bit before running off to the student section to cheer with her friends. We usually sit towards the side of the stands closest to the band, but Abby gets right in the front center of the student cheering section. I did take this picture of her and Taryn while she was with us, and I love how happy they look. They are the most similar in appearance and everyone talks about how much Taryn looks like Abby. They are definitely created from the same mold. I love all of my girls and I love being able to see them thrive and enjoy school and all of their extracurricular activities.
No comments:
Post a Comment