December, Part 1 - Concerts, Parties, Abby's Birthday

December flew by to end out the year. The girls were busy with school functions, parties, and activities. I have pictures for each girl, so we'll start with Aubrey. Aubrey loves having her hair done. She usually chooses to braid it after showering so that she can have crimpy hair the next couple days. She also loves to have curly hair when there's enough time to do it. The curls will usually last a couple days in her hair as well. We took a picture of her in front of the Christmas tree on one of her curly hair days. At Fun Fit Friday, I took a lot of picture with Aubrey and her friends. Here she is with Kaitlyn and Riley.

We took some group pictures of the 4th graders as well. Aubrey loves her class and all the kids. They have fun playing together. Aubrey is her class representative this year and she loves making sure that everyone feels included. Her favorite thing to do during recess and PE is gymnastics. 

Taryn had her first grade performance in December. She was very excited to sing her songs. Every time she heard one of the songs on the radio, she'd sing along and let everyone know that this was one of her songs from her performance. She wanted her hair fancy to go with her fancy dress.

I took a few pictures before and after her performance with some of her friends. The first picture is with two boys from her class, Hector and Mason. And after the performance, we took this picture of Taryn with two of her closest friends, Alyssa and Isabella, who were in her class last year; but they have a different teacher this year. 

I loved that another parent put this picture on Facebook because all of my pictures from the actual performance were from the way back, so the pictures are blurry and grainy. Taryn was front row and did a great job singing all of their Christmas songs. 

These are the pictures I took while they were performing. If I looked just right between the arms of other parents, I could get a perfect view of Taryn. And I liked this second picture because of the First Grade sign. 

Tessa had to enter the Science Fair this year and decided on a project dealing with magnets and temperature. We took pictures while she ran her experiment and then got a picture the night before the whole board was due. She enjoyed running the trials and putting the board together, but she did not like researching and writing the paper. She also didn't like that her results were not what she expected. We were happy when it was all over; but she did it all on her own, so she was proud of her work.

Here's Tessa with her friend Seki who sang in the Fine Arts concert. This concert included the choirs, orchestra, and honor band. Tessa and I went to support both Seki and Abby who performed with the band. Tessa was sad because the beginner band had not had a concert yet, but her time was coming. 

Right before the Christmas break, the band finally had their Christmas concert where all the bands performed. Tessa's loving the percussion section and she loves that her grandpa comes to help in her class almost every day too. She's the only girl in the percussion for beginning band, but she's one of the best players. She played bells on all of the songs at their concert and did a great job. 

As I looked for a picture of Abby and Tessa together, I realized I didn't have any from the past year, so I made the girls take a picture together. When they were little, almost every picture was of them together, so I was sad it had been so long. I love these girls. My middle-schoolers. 

As usual, Abby was the busiest during the month of December. She had two concerts, the Fine Arts concert with the orchestra and choirs and also the Band Christmas concert. Here's the band and a close up of Abby during their Fine Arts concert.

And here's the only picture I got from their Christmas concert. She's still first chair and this is when they had all the students who made All-Region band stand up. 

Abby's club volleyball season had it's big start in December as well. The weekend before their first tournament, they had a team-building party that we hosted at our house. The girls came over after practice and made pizzas and had a spa night. 

We did some team building activities like the human knot and they got Christmas gifts. They had fun relaxing and hanging out. They also enjoyed taking pictures. This was one of their favorite team pictures.

The next weekend was their first official tournament. Here are the girls before they started to play and while they were on the court. It ended up being a two-day tournament this year, so Abby only got to play during their pool play on Saturday. The team went on to get first place in the silver bracket on Sunday. It was a great start to their season. 

Before the Christmas break, the girls also had a Secret Santa gift exchange. These girls really get along and just have fun whenever they're together. We're excited to see how the season goes. 

Abby's 8th grade volleyball team had one last hurrah on the last day of school before the Christmas break. It's tradition for the 8th grade team to play the Hornedo staff in a volleyball game every year. I caught the very end of the game. They ended up losing the first set to the staff, but they won the second set. There wasn't enough time for the third set, so it was probably better to just end it by saying they each won one. They had fun playing and Abby enjoyed being with that team one last time. 

Abby turned 14 on December 19th. She received a ton of gifts and treats from friends at school. Her friend, Emily from volleyball, secretly decorated Abby's room while we took her out to dinner and shopping. She came home that night to find this. Emily had set it up with me, so Abby had no idea that she'd find this. She was super excited and loved it. She even slept on the futon in the other girls' room for a couple of nights because she didn't want to disturb the decorations. 

For her birthday, her number one wish list item was a phone. We kept telling her that she probably wouldn't get one, so she was definitely shocked when she opened up her gifts and saw that she did get a phone. It was probably the best reveal and reaction you would expect. She just kept looking back and forth at Tyler and the phone with her mouth wide open. She loves it. 

Abby requested a German chocolate cake using my Grandma Jeanne's recipe. She also was quick to remind me how she didn't get a cake last year, so I'd better not jip her this year, so I made her the cake she requested. I can't quite believe I have a 14-year-old. She's so grown up, but I love how we're friends and we can talk about anything. She's a good big sister and great help whenever we need her. We love this girl. Happy birthday Abby! 

Here are a few last things from December before our Christmas travels. I was asked to play with the wind symphony again this season. And I was asked to play in every concert. Our first concert is always in December and is our Christmas concert. The older girls came to my concert while the younger girls stayed home with Dad who had a campout with his scouts in the backyard. But I loved that we were able to get a closeup picture of the horn section. I really enjoy being able to continue playing my French horn. We have a lot of fun. 

The young women in our ward had a Christmas activity to see the lights downtown. It was cold by fun. Abby ends up missing most Wednesday night activities because of volleyball practice, but I was able to go since my calling has me working with the Beehives. We have a great group of girls and wonderful leaders. 

Our ward Christmas party was a pajama party with Santa Claus this year. Abby decided her matching pajamas didn't fit anymore, but we did get this picture of the girls with Santa. I helped with the decorations and everyone had a great time as we had a breakfast for dinner with Santa Claus. I thought this picture turned out really cute. It was a great way to get into the Christmas spirit as the girls finished up school and got ready for the Christmas break. 

November 2018 - All-Region Band, Thanksgiving

Looking back through my pictures, I did not take very many in the month of November, so it'll be a short post. We start with a few pictures from Taryn's Fun Fit Friday. With the colder weather, we spent their PE in the gym. I grabbed Taryn and her friends while we waited to start a game. They had to have a silly picture after the serious one. Here's Taryn with her friends: Elene, Gabby, Alyssa, and Isabella.

Tyler joined Aubrey and Tessa for their annual Daddy/Daughter Activity Days activity. The dads learned how to do hair. They learned how to do a braid, a regular ponytail, and a flipped ponytail. Tyler had to work quickly since he had two daughters, but he stayed caught up and they had a great time. Abby and I were very impressed with the girls' hair when they came home. Tyler was very proud of his handy hair-work. He even did Taryn's hair in the flipped ponytail on another occasion.  

Abby auditioned for the All-Region band at the beginning of the month and she found out that she made 2nd chair in the top band. Her school had the most students who made the All-Region band for the entire area. Abby was just ecstatic that she got a higher chair than last year, which was 3rd chair. She was really hoping to get 1st, but she was happy that she placed so high. She had a week of rehearsals and a long day of rehearsals and the concert on the following Saturday. They played some really good songs, and we enjoyed her concert. 

The rest of November flew by, and before we knew it, the girls were out of school for the Thanksgiving break. Tyler worked the first couple of days of that week, and on Wednesday afternoon we headed down to San Antonio to spend Thanksgiving with Scott and his family. My parents were already there, so we had a full house. We love being with family and the girls love seeing their cousins. I wish I had taken more pictures, but here's what I did get. Abby's buddy is always Nadia. The only person that Nadia loves as much as Abby from our family is "Uncle Tyler," who she constantly asks about. "Where's Uncle Tyler?" is what you hear multiple times during the day when she's not already hanging out with him. It's so cute! 

We pulled an extra table in and squeezed the whole family in the same room while we had our Thanksgiving meal. Besides eating yummy food and lots of pie, we kept ourselves entertained by playing games and playing with the kids in the backyard. 

We also had an outing to the Bass Pro Shop to see the fish, animals, and Santa! Our family went and we took Chloe and Nadia with us. I was a little nervous about Nadia seeing Santa since her parents weren't there, so I asked Chloe if she thought Nadia would be ok or if she would freak out. Chloe's answer was hilarious. She immediately said, "oh she'll be fine. Nadia loves men." I just laughed and figured that's good since we wanted a picture with Santa. I thought the picture turned out really cute. Taryn and Nadia were both happy to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas.  

We also let the kids play at some of their activities like the shooting range and a little sand box. The girls also went up on some of the boats, so I grabbed a picture of that too. It seems like it's become a tradition that whenever we visit San Antonio we're going to make a stop at Bass Pro Shop. 

Daniel was very fun to play with. He loved throwing a ball to you and he's adorable to watch as he walks around since he's just gotten the hang of walking. He would also get in some kissing moods, and just keep kissing your cheek by slowly moving his whole face to yours until he made contact with your cheek. I tried getting a picture of him kissing Tessa, but my camera was too fast and I got the leaning in picture instead of the actual kiss. We love these kids so much! 

We also drove down to a park to play outside for awhile. The kids had fun running from one playground to the next. There was a balancing log that challenged them and the girls made up all kinds of games to entertain themselves as they played together. I was happy to grab a picture of all the cousins before we loaded up to head back to the house. 

On Friday night, Taryn showed me this list that she had written of all the things she wanted to do on our last day in San Antonio. She would get very sad every time we talked about having to go home. The weekend was not long enough for her. After the other girls saw Taryn's list, they all made a to-do list and they spent all Saturday doing everything on their lists. All the games and activities that they wanted to make sure that they did one last time while they were together, and I think they managed to check everything off their lists. My favorite part of Taryn's list was her Sunday schedule, which was the day we drove home. She wrote that after breakfast, we would leave from "Sand and tonyo" and go to El Paso. So cute! I love that girl so much!

On our drive home from San Antonio, we made good time, so we stopped as we got close to El Paso and ate dinner at Cattleman's Steakhouse which is in Faben's TX, right outside of El Paso. Their steakhouse has yummy, fresh steak and a small zoo that you can walk around. We got there in time to grab a picture on the way in to the restaurant before the sun went down. But by the time we finished eating and walked around the zoo, it was dark. There were still deer, goats. rattlesnakes, and an ostrich that we saw. We didn't get to walk around the lake or stay for too long since it was dark and cold, but now we can say that we've been there. We'll have to go back when we have more time to explore. It was fun. 

Finally, Abby's best friend, Braelinn, had her 14th birthday. They had a party and her mom created an escape room for them to do in their house. The girls had fun and they took this picture at the end of the party. Abby wanted me to save it. It's a cute picture of all of her friends. They had a great time. 

October, Part 2 - End of MS Volleyball, Halloween

Abby's 8th grade season of volleyball at school went by so quickly. She started as the setter, but like I mentioned before, was moved to libero half way through the season. You can see her better in the pictures because she's in the different color jersey than the rest of her team. Here is the game they played against Brown MS which is their biggest rival. We beat them in the first set in a very close match, but ended up losing the next two sets. Abby had awesome serves and dug a lot of hits, which is the main job of the libero; so she said it was a really fun game.

We took a picture with her old Stars coach, Denise, with the Brown players who were on their 13s Blue team: Selma, Sophie, Reggie, Denise, Andrea, and Abby.

We took this picture of the wall in the Hornedo gym where they had hung up all the 8th grade player's photos. Abby is center right below the top picture. We are so proud of her and the way she played. She was a strong player and great teammate. Many of the girls went to her with questions and problems. She really held the team together.

They played against Magoffin for their final home game. It was also their parent appreciation game so the girls gave their coach a rose and their parents a flower and candy and notes they had written. Here they are as they lined up to be announced before running to their parents. They won their final game of the season. Abby served a ton and it was a fun game to watch.

Since it was their last home game, we took a lot of pictures after the game. Here's Abby with her friend Paulina, and then one of the entire team. We were so proud of these girls and loved watching them play.

The next week, they had games multiple nights for the end of season tournament. They had to play the #1 seeded team from the Division II schools, and we beat them! The girls played hard and looked really good. Abby had awesome serves again and played the back row like a champ. 

The girls were so excited. Last year they had lost the first game in the end of season tournament, so they were so excited to be continuing on this year. They sang the school song after their win.

Here's the team picture after that win.

Their second game of the tournament was the following night. They played against Lincoln who they had lost to at the beginning of the season. They were so far ahead in the first set but ended up losing that one. The second set they were behind, but Abby ended up serving 9 serves in a row to win the 2nd set and take it to the 3rd set. Unfortunately they lost that set, but played so hard. It was a great game to watch. The girls had fun playing and they had a great season.

Here are the girls with their Stars friends from Lincoln. It really was a good game. It's Kayla, McKenzie, Abby, Emily, Annette, Andrea, and Diane.

Along with school volleyball, Abby's been playing again in band. They had their pep rally for the Fall sports and Tyler and I were both able to go. It was cool this time too because my dad's been working with their percussion students, and he started the school's first ever drumline and they debuted at the pep rally. It was so good! Abby played in the band and ran over to be with her volleyball team when they were presented.

Here she is with the band. I didn't get any pictures of her with her volleyball team. They basically just ran down from the stands, did a cheer in a circle, and then sat back down. Tyler had the afternoon off, so we were both able to be there and we found Tessa and Bianca as they came in and had them sit with us.

Tyler had a free hotel stay that was about to expire, so one weekend we had a staycation in El Paso. We got a hotel room on the other side of town and spent the evening hanging out as a family. We ate dinner and played at Dave & Busters and then went swimming in the hotel. We went to a movie the next morning as well. It was fun to do something different and fun together but still in our own town.

With the end of October and Halloween comes dress up days at school. The girls had crazy hair day, so I made these hairstyles for Taryn and Aubrey. Taryn got the ice cream cone hairdo and Aubrey wanted cupcakes. It was easy and fun. Abby chose not to do her hair crazy, and we tried a unicorn hairstyle on Tessa, but it didn't last very long. Although people were passing by her in the hallways saying, "Whoa it's a unicorn", so I guess it worked for a little while.

Abby had her first band concert the night before Halloween. They could dress up if they wanted to, so Abby just wore some flannel and old glasses and went as her grandpa. She tried a fake mustache but wiped it off before leaving the house. The concert was good, but usually they have all the bands play; but this year Mrs. Allen only had the top groups play because she thought the beginning band students weren't ready to perform. I was a little sad about that because Tessa is in beginning band and I would've loved to hear her play. Guess we'll have to wait for the Christmas concert.

For actual Halloween, we had decided as a family to dress up together again and we came up with the S'more's idea. I think it was Taryn's idea this year. At our ward trunk or treat which was earlier in the month, we had our costumes ready. I had Tyler dress up as the boy scout, Abby and Tessa were the graham crackers, Aubrey the chocolate, Taryn the marshmallow, and I was the fire. I thought it was a really cute idea and once people saw us together they got it and loved it too. But since the girls are at different schools and can't really do work with big cardboard pieces hanging on their bodies, they dressed up as different characters for the actual school day. Taryn and Aubrey dressed up as book characters like American Girl characters, but Tessa found this cute outfit to dress up as a ballerina for the day. She looked super cute that I had to get a picture. My little ballerina doll.

On Halloween night, the girls were back in the S'mores costumes and we walked around with friends to go trick or treating. We had a large group and a fun time. It was a little windy which made it cold, but the kids survived and probably lasted longer than the moms did. 

We had to grab a selfie with all the moms too. I love these ladies: Niki, Jessica, Kristina, me, and Damaris. I love this picture, although I mentioned that it would have been awesome if Kristina (who's dressed up as Malificent) would've had a serious face in the background. That would have been hilarious. Overall, it was a great Halloween.