Holidays To Get Us to Summer

Every time my computer turns on, I see the last post on my blog. For months now I've been staring at Tessa's birthday post and thinking every time that I need to update, so finally I am trying to catch up a little now that we're half way through June. So the best way for me to do that is a post about the recent holidays: the ones between Tessa's birthday in March to the end of the school year in June. These holidays are Easter, Mother's Day, and Memorial Day. I'll then do a post about the girls' school years and then we'll be caught up to the summer!

 

So we start with Easter. We went to our church ward's breakfast and Easter egg hunt at the park. The girls had fun and even Taryn got the concept of finding eggs this year.

We dyed eggs as a family using food coloring this year. We thought they turned out really bright and colorful.

 

We also had Easter baskets that the girls woke up to Easter morning and our own family Easter egg hunt. It was fun this year to hide some of the eggs because as the girls are getting older, we can make the hunt more challenging for them.

The next holiday, that I have a picture from, was Mother's Day. As we came home from church, I made Tyler take a picture of us girls. It was pretty sunny, so it was harder than it should have been to just get one picture, but I love it anyway.

 

Since Abby and Tessa will each have their own post about school, I wanted to add these two pictures for Aubrey and Taryn. Some of Aubrey's closest friends moved right as the school year ended. One was her friend, Elle, who's dad just graduated from medical school here. They were best buds because we always saw them at exercise classes and volleyball even though her family was in a different ward from us. We had many play dates, but were super sad to see them go. I got a picture of them the last time they were over to play. And Taryn had the fun opportunity to go to a birthday at a Build-a-Bear store for one of her friends from nursery. She fell asleep on the way to the party, so she spent the first half of the party kind of dazed and grumpy in her stroller. When she finally woke up enough to participate in the party activities, the only pictures I could get of her were of her silly face. At least she knew I was taking a picture I guess. Her choice of a build-a-bear was a dog that Abby and I helped her name Cheetos. (still her favorite food.)

 

I also want to mention our weekly music class since I took a picture from our last one this year. We've had a pre-school music class during the school year and we'd sing songs based on a different theme each month. It was also another thing that we did with the Billings so it was one more picture with our kids together. The girls loved the class and would sing the songs all month long and teach the older girls sometimes too.

 

That finally brings us to the last holiday before the end of the school year - Memorial Day. We took the long weekend and drove down to San Antonio to stay with Scott and Nevla and Chloe. We had a blast. We had a few mishaps on the drive down with Taryn getting carsick, but once we finally made it, everyone was fine and had a great time. We spent the majority of the weekend just hanging out and playing games.

 

 

We did a little shopping and I got to pick dinner (it was my birthday that weekend too), so we got to eat at the Cheesecake Factory which was delicious.

 

 

We took an outing to a park where they had some pretty trees, so this was where we took the most pictures. 

 

 

They had a tree stump shaped perfectly like a seat, so we took pictures of Taryn there and Abby had Scott take pictures of her there too. 

 

The girls enjoyed dancing to YouTube videos and we couldn't pass up a picture once all the girls started climbing on Scott.

 

We also took a trip to the Bass Pro Shop. We did this last year and the kids had a fun time, so we thought we'd go again. Once we got there we saw that they were having a free kids activity day, so we picked the perfect time to go. They had a scavenger hunt to find pictures around the store, a sandbox where they could use metal detectors to find a prize, a gun shooting range, and after all the activities were completed, the kids got more prizes. It was really fun. We've been watching Diggers on tv so the girls were super excited to try the metal detectors.

 

We kind of had to talk the girls into trying the gun range, but the older three each took a turn with Dad's help and they really enjoyed it after being able to hit the target. 

 

 The prizes they got after completing the activities included a water bottle, a reflector clip, and a whistle. We could barely keep the whistles quiet while we finished in the store and as soon as we walked outside they went to town on those whistles. They blew them every time they were outside for the rest of the weekend. A couple of them had to be "lost" because we adults couldn't take the noise anymore - thanks for that Bass Pro Shop! But the kids did love it.

 

We had a fun time all weekend and the trip home was uneventful so that was nice too. We've really enjoyed making family memories every year and our own family traditions as we celebrate holidays together.

Tessa is 7!

Tessa turned seven back on March 24th and she finally had a birthday party. She hadn't had one since she turned four. We were going to have one last year (we do them on every even birthday), but since we were in the middle of homes during her 6th birthday, we kind of skipped the party thing. So we planned a party this year and she got to invite seven friends. We did an outdoor, water party hoping it would be sunny and warm enough to swim in the pool. The kids were super excited about trying, but they pretty much just dipped themselves in the water, then would jump out and screech about how cold it was. They had fun doing that, so it turned out fine.

 

 We also did water balloons, sprinklers, and of course driving the little motorized bug car, so the kids had a blast. We cooked hotdogs, had chips and other snacks, and even did the fire pit to have s'mores. 

 

I kept trying to get pictures of everyone who was at the party. I thought this picture turned out cute, even after Tyler came out laughing saying he had photo-bombed through the window.

 Tessa wanted a pink cake and originally asked for a triple layer cake, but at the last minute, she decided on a bundt cake, which was way easier for me. She helped me put in the candles making a seven with seven candles. (That's how we always did it in my family growing up.)

 Tessa got some really fun presents that included a dog and book that when you say certain phrases, the dog barks back. It was really fun. She got Frozen dolls, a Frozen book, some dress up shoes, a bracelet and other jewelry and makeup items. She was super excited about everything.

 

It turned out to be a really fun day and party. We love our Tessa!

We had her party the Saturday before her birthday, which was the next Monday. On her actual birthday I took pictures before school.

 After school, she got to pick our place for dinner. She originally wanted BBQ, but she didn't care for the places we were suggesting, so she opted for Applebee's. We even told the waitress it was her birthday so they came and sang to her and gave her a hot fudge treat. She was hiding under my arm the whole time because she was a little embarrassed, and this was the best picture I could get as she huddled by my leg. It was still fun and they did have a ton of workers singing, but she was smiling by the end and she enjoyed the dessert.

 Tessa opened her presents from the family after dinner. She got Disney Infinity for the Wii including the two Frozen dolls which they play with all the time. She also got this game called Fibber, that we had to try right away. I thought they looked pretty funny so I had to take a picture. It's kind of like the card game BS, and it was funny to play with the little girls because I was helping Aubrey and she'd whisper a little too loudly after I'd suggest a card something like, "but that's not a ghost" giving away that we were trying to fib. Oh well, she'll figure it out eventually.

 

The most exciting gift came in the mail a couple days after Tessa's birthday. Grandma and Grandpa Gibbons sent a bounce house. And if we move enough furniture around, there's room in our living/dining room for it to fit inside. The girls have a ton of fun bouncing on it and they would have it up every day if they could. It was the perfect gift for Tessa who loves being outdoors and basically doing anything active.

 

Which reminds me of a few things I want to mention about our Tessa. She now rides a two-wheel bike without training wheels. She's been doing it for a couple months already, and Abby gets all the credit for teaching her and working with her. She loves riding around the street with all the neighbor kids and she's really good at it. She learned super fast. She's an awesome reader and speller. Sometimes I even have her sound something out for Abby when Abby wants me to spell a word because Tessa is so good at it. Tessa loves school and is doing great. At our most recent conference, Tessa's teacher said how much of a helper Tessa is with the other kids and how nice and friendly she is. It makes us really happy to hear, but we already knew that. Tessa's bubbly, happy, friendly, and outgoing. We love her and can't imagine life without her. She brings all the fun!

Happy Birthday Tessa!!

Spring Break and Other March Activities

In between Aubrey's and Tessa's birthdays we had a Spring Break which included fun activities almost every day while the girls were out of school. The only thing was I didn't take many pictures, so I'll describe our festivities, but include some other things we did (and I took pictures of) during the other weekends of March. However, I have to go back into the final days of February to start. We visited the Exploreum on its free night with our friends, the Billings. It's pretty much like a children's museum with lots of hands-on displays like a general store, a school, a bank; and also other features like a huge bubble maker, a news set, a music recording studio, etc. The kids had a blast and we could have stayed there for longer than it was open. The final room included an entire set-up of airport things, like a luggage tram, real airplane seats, and some airplane-like rocking toys. This is where I took out my camera. The kids had so much fun!

 

 On the 1st of March, which was a Saturday, we took a trip to White Sands National Monument. We went with the Billings again and had a fun time even though it was quite windy. Abby invited our neighbor, Remy, so she had a friend her age too. One of their favorite activities on the sand was somersaulting down the hills. It made me dizzy just watching them.

 The sand was pelting us all over from the wind especially when you were at the top, but it didn't stop the kids from trudging back up the hill and sledding down again. You can tell how windy it is just from the pictures.

 

 Everyone had a good time. We brought sand toys for the little ones, but even the 2-year-olds enjoyed riding together down the hill.

 

For Spring Break week, we went to the zoo where they had just opened their new treehouse play area. The kids had to wait in line to climb up huge tree trunks and slide down the slides, but they said it was worth the wait. With our season pass to the zoo, we'll look forward to going again when the newness wears off and the crowds taper back down. On another day, we went to a park, but we didn't stay long because it was windy, but I did think to take a picture while all four girls were swinging at the same time.

Our one activity with Dad who worked all week was to go bowling one evening. The girls had so much fun and did really well for their first time bowling. Tyler and I used to bowl more often when we were first dating and first married, but we realized we hadn't been in a really long time since it was the first time for all the girls. It was fun. We also spent a morning at an indoor water park. We went during spring break last year and that was the last time we had been. Abby was tall enough to ride down the slide this year, so she spent most of her time doing that. Taryn enjoyed it much more this year and even crawled around in the water all on her own in the very shallow part.

 

Grandma and Grandpa Black came out to visit us at the end of our spring break since their spring break was the week after ours. They got here Friday morning and they went to our preschool music class with us, which the school aged kids don't normally get to do, but really wanted to see what it was like. They all sang the songs and the preschool aged kids got to show off their stuff. We spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa, shopping, going to the Lego movie, and getting the backyard ready for Tessa's party which would take place the following weekend. Tyler finally got a chainsaw and he and my dad worked on our tree that had fallen over in a windstorm a couple months ago. They chopped it down and made a very large-sized woodpile.

Abby and Tessa talked Grandpa into playing RockBand on the Wii with them a couple times. Letting Grandpa play the drums made it easier for them to get him to play along. Once school started back up, Grandma and Grandpa spent their time with the two little girls and had fun shopping with them and taking them out to lunch at places like Burger King where they could play. The older girls also got a lunch visit at school one day from Grandma and Grandpa, so they were happy too. We loved having them here even though it went by too fast.

 

The final activity I wanted to post about was from the very end of March even after Tessa's birthday, but since it was still March, I decided I'd include it here. We went to El Paso's KidPalooza again this year which happens downtown and there are places for the kids to go to do crafts and activities for free. And what do you know, we went with the Billings. :) The kids had fun last year at the Palooza, so we went again this year. We took some pictures at some art stops along our walk between activities.

 

 The kids were able to do a painting craft, make some binoculars and jungle masks, and even some jungle mud (cornstarch, water, and food coloring). We also saw a fire truck and some monster trucks up close again like last year. And we had to take some pictures on those monster truck tires!

 

As you can probably tell from this post, we are very close with the Billings family. We've been getting all the time in with them that we can because they just found out they're moving to Japan in the next month or so, which we're very sad about. So we've had fun finding things to do with them while they're still here. Lots of fun memories were made this past March while we enjoyed activities in El Paso and the surrounding areas. We'll definitely miss them when they're gone. I finally got some pictures of their family with our family all together and of just us adults.