We Joined the YMCA

I'm trying to stay caught up before school ends and I have to post about each of the girls' school years, so here's an update of April and May. Taryn and I have great fun while the girls are in school. We go to the park weekly, exercise classes where she gets to play with her friends, and a mom and me music class. Her best friend right now is Teagan and they love to play together. They are so excited when they see each other and when they are apart they ask about each other all day long. Here are a few pictures of them when they've been together lately.

The Kasallis family is our good friends and even though they have four boys and we have four girls, our kids get along great. Our two oldest, Abby and AJ, are almost a year apart in age but they are good friends. I embarrassed them and made them pose for a picture after church one Sunday because they unknowingly matched and it was too cute to not take a picture. 

The girls' school this year has done a lot of fund raisers through restaurants, so anytime they have one, we go for dinner and the school gets some money. A couple weeks ago, they had a fund raiser at Whataburger so we went and the girls got a picture with Whataguy. Aubrey was too nervous to get that close, but the other girls didn't mind. I thought it was a cute picture and even though it's school related I didn't know whose post to include it in, so I thought I'd include it here.

As for my post title, I also wanted to include some pictures of the girls after starting classes at the YMCA. We joined for the summer and the girls immediately picked out three classes they wanted to do. Abby decided on tumbling, cheer, and hip hop. Tessa and Aubrey both picked tumbling, gymnastics, and ballet. Taryn is doing a parent/child gymnastics class and ballet. They are all so cute and seem to enjoy them all. Here are a few pictures I took from their first week.

They've all learned so quickly. Tessa has even been asked to join the next level of gymnastics for June. After three weeks, she's already doing front walkovers by herself and almost doing a backbend by herself. Aubrey is doing cartwheels much better and all three girls know all the ballet feet positions.

Abby and Tessa learned a cheer that they performed at a YMCA fund raiser and this month Abby was the only one signed up for her hip hop class. It made her a little nervous, but we told her having one on one lessons is awesome. We'll see what they change or keep doing for the next month, but so far they are staying busy and enjoying it. We've entered the realm of after school activities so twice a week, we are running around town and having late dinners, but I'm hoping once school's out, it won't seem too hectic. Abby will also be playing volleyball at the Y once school is out. She has been waiting to do that for over a year, so she's really excited about that.

Tyler and I were hoping to get more use out of the YMCA classes, gym, and racquetball courts for ourselves, but so far the girls' classes have taken up all our time. Maybe this summer it will be a little better. I've had to come to the terms that this YMCA membership may just be more for the girls than for me and Tyler. But the more classes they have and the busier they are, the more we are getting our money's worth, so we're all happy. :)

Finally, for an early birthday present for me, Tony and Audrey Kasallis bought us all tickets to a dinner theater show at UTEP. We saw Mary Poppins and had a yummy dinner of chicken cordon bleu complete with dessert. The show was good, but a little long. We had a good laugh at the intermission because both boys thought it was over and they were shocked when we told them it was only half way through. We did know that getting our husbands to do something like a play would not be easy; but Audrey and I figured if we all went together, at least the boys would have each other to make it through the entire night and they did. They even said besides the length it wasn't that bad. It was a fun night out and our girls enjoyed having a babysitter, so it was a win-win for everyone.

Easter Celebrations and Tessa's Baptism

The first weekend of April this year was Conference weekend plus Easter Sunday plus when we scheduled Tessa's baptism, so it was one busy weekend for us. But even before that weekend, our ward had their annual Easter Egg hunt and auction fundraiser. I took pictures of the girls as they searched for their eggs.

The youth also do an auction and we ended up bidding on a few things this year. Tyler and I got new sunglasses which I seriously needed, so that was fun. We also bid on and won babysitting, car washes, and a volleyball lesson for Abby which she was super excited about. It was a fun morning with so many people there like usual, so we all had a great Saturday.

In preparation for Tessa's baptism, I made her a white dress. She picked out the pattern and helped me pick out the material. It turned out so cute and we had a little fashion show once it was complete so I could have some pictures in her dress for invitations and announcements. I had fun taking pictures and luckily Tessa didn't mind too much either. She did refuse to let me do anything with her hair though. Oh well, that's Tessa so I guess that's how she should be remembered from her baptism. Here are some of our favorites starting with a close up of our cute Tessa and one of the entire dress.

I always love Tessa's cute princess poses and she had the cutest gap-toothed smile. 

All of our pictures were taken around our house. I liked the different backdrops we could use including our rock wall, bushes, plants, and tree trunks. I had fun finding new places and poses to take the pictures. 

I tried to get some action shots too, but most of those were a bit too crazy-looking because she jumped and spun making her hair fly up a little and she was laughing too much, so her face was almost too blurry. This was our favorite of that bunch. I loved how it captured her natural smile and bounciness though. 

I believe I saved a picture from Abby's baptism photo shoot where Tessa got in one of the last photos, so when Aubrey came out near the end of this photo shoot, I didn't mind her getting in on this last one. Maybe in two years I'll have another one of Aubrey in a white dress and Taryn trying to join the photo. :) It just made me happy.

That first week in April we just prepared ourselves and our house for guests. Both grandparents showed up Thursday during the day. The girls couldn't wait for school to be over so that they could be home for when Grandmas and Grandpas showed up. Scott and Nevla and Chloe also came but got in really late Thursday night. My parents stayed in a hotel, but Tyler's parents and Scott and Nevla stayed with us. We had so much fun with everyone together. I fed them all dinner Thursday night and we just visited that first evening while the kids showed everything new to Grandma and Grandpa. 

The girls practiced their musical number for the baptism since Grandpa Black played the piano for them. And Abby practiced the other songs because she was the chorister. She had been looking forward to doing that ever since her baptism. She thought it'd be fun to be the chorister at Tessa's baptism and since Tessa was fine with it, Abby did it and did a great job. Tessa's baptism was Friday evening, April 3rd, at 5:00pm. We spent the morning shopping and hanging out.We got to the church with barely enough time to take some pictures before we needed to start. We took some of the girls with Chloe and because I forgot to get one with our family when Abby got baptized I wanted to make sure I got one this time.

However, in doing that I forgot to get one of just Tessa with me and Tyler, so these'll have to do.

And here's our Tessa ready to be baptized. We're so proud of her and her decision to follow Jesus Christ and to be baptized a member of His church. My defining moment of the evening was right as Tessa went down the steps to join Tyler in the water. I had cried off and on through the talks and songs, but in that moment that Tessa walked down in the water, Tyler looked up at me and as our eyes met, I knew we were thinking the same thing - how happy we were and proud of Tessa we were and how we were in it together with our beautiful family and the children we had made and our love for each other. It was a sweet, special moment. And Tessa was so happy when she came out of the water. The first thing she told me as we went into the restroom to dry off and change was, "I want to do that again" with a big smile on her face. We then had a great discussion about going to the temple when she's older and doing baptisms for other people once she turns 12 so she can do it again then. It was a wonderful experience and I loved it!

After the baptism which finished beautifully, we took a few more pictures. Here is Tessa with her grandparents.

And then one with all the family who came to support Tessa. We had such a great time.

We ended up changing clothes at home and then going out for dinner. The Kasallis family joined us, so that was fun for our family to meet our closest friends. We were worried about finding a place that would take such a large group on a Friday evening, but since it was the Friday before Easter, many people were not eating meat, so our desire to get BBQ (Tessa's favorite) was perfect because when we called Famous Dave's they said it was surprisingly slow and they could take our group of 17 no problem. As we waited for everyone to park, this was the one picture I took at the restaurant. The girls wanted to dance on the rocks.

Saturday and Sunday we stayed home to watch conference on tv, play games, and do our Easter festivities like dye eggs and have an egg hunt. Tyler and his dad also finished making a turtle table which was the main present Tessa asked for, for her birthday. We went and picked out the tortoise that weekend too. Tessa already knew that she wanted to name him Buddy. We had been searching for the right tortoise for a couple weeks now. The funny story is we thought we had found one at Pet Barn when we saw the cutest little round tortoise there a couple months ago. I think that was one of the first things that got Tessa so excited about wanting to own one. Then when Tyler went back to possibly put one on hold for this particular weekend, the workers told him they could put it on hold, but wanted to know if Tyler knew this particular tortoise was a Sulcata tortoise and did he know that they get to be 100 pounds! Tyler came home from there and decided we needed to do a bit more research. It was pretty funny. So we found a more kid-friendly tortoise at Petsmart that only gets to be about 8 inches in diameter full grown. It's a Greek tortoise and Tessa loves it. We all love it actually and the table Tyler and his dad made is awesome and has the perfect viewing window to watch as Buddy roams around and eats his food. It's been a blast, although with our fish, guinea pig, and now tortoise, sometimes I really feel like I live in a zoo! Tessa says she wants to be a vet when she grows up so I guess it's all good practice for her. 

We had an egg hunt in our front and back yard for all the kids. They loved finding their eggs and seeing what candy they were filled with. They also loved that some of the eggs had money in them, which is Tyler's family's tradition.

 

I took one last picture of these cute girls before putting my phone away to play games and watch conference. I love taking pictures of Tessa and Chloe because they are so similar in looks and build. We were so happy that Chloe came for Tessa's baptism and they all had so much fun with their cousin, staying up late every night and finding fun things to do together all weekend. We were so happy that both sets of grandparents came too. We also got nice messages from other family members who had been thinking about Tessa during her special time. We have such a wonderful family. We love them all! 

Tessa's 8th Birthday

Tessa turned 8 on March 24th and as we planned her baptism, I kind of hoped that her actual birthday could be a quiet one. However, she remembered that we had originally said that on every even birthday they can have a party, so Tessa really wanted a party. I tried to explain that with her baptism and family coming into town, maybe we could forgo the party. She quickly replied that Abby had a party when she turned 8. Of course she was right, so we planned a party. Luckily, Tessa had been dying to have a party at Peter Piper Pizza, so when their school had a fundraiser there the week before her birthday, Tyler and I got all the information to have a party there and even booked it that night because the prices were reasonable. Plus, I was happy with having the party somewhere besides my house, so I didn't have to worry about decorations or clean up. That was the best part! So the final weeks of March and the beginning of April were all in celebration of Tessa's birthday and baptism. Here's the birthday girl on her actual birthday before leaving for school.

That night, we had the Kasallis family over to help celebrate her birthday. We had steak kabobs and meatballs which are some of Tessa's favorite foods. She chose a lemon cake that has a pudding/cool whip frosting. She's my lemon lover, just like me!

The Friday after her birthday, we had scheduled the Peter Piper party. She was allowed to invite 8 friends, most of who she chose from the girls in her class at school. She has some close friends who are boys: Sam (see picture above) and Santiago who lives two doors down, but when I asked her if she was sure she didn't want to invite either of them she just stuck up her finger and said, "No, this is a girls only party!" Okay, so girls it was. We had the party right after school and it was the perfect time because it wasn't busy. They had fun playing games, eating, and buying prizes.

Between all these pictures, I tried to get all her friends in at least one of them.

Tessa's sisters of course loved to be included in all the birthday festivities. I love this picture of Aubrey because she was on the little carousel and I took the picture while it was going. I love how she's pretty much in focus, but you can tell from the fuzzy background that the ride is moving. Abby and Taryn are riding the roller coaster ride together. I think it even vibrates their chairs, so they always have funny looks on their faces.

We took a picture with everyone from the party, and the hostess even gave us a framed picture of this one. I thought it turned out pretty cute.

Since we did birthday cake at home, we opted for cupcakes for the party. The cupcake was the perfect size to fit the one huge number 8 candle. It was also picture day at school so a lot of the girls were in their fancier clothes and dresses like Tessa was. It made for a perfect girly party.

A few fun facts to remember about Tessa being 8:

She has lost 6 teeth and as they all grow in at different times, she currently has a pretty awesome gap-toothed smile.

She is in the GT program at school and loves all the things she learns there and at school. She picks up things quickly and is so smart. Her teacher always comments about how much of a help she is, even with other students as they learn new things.

She reads to Aubrey and spells words for Abby. Taryn still loves playing with Tessa and can usually get Tessa to play with her most easily.

She really, really wants to be in gymnastics which we're hoping she'll start this summer. Even without official classes she can do cartwheels and perfect round-offs. We spent one day having her try all these exercises around the house like getting into a handstand against the wall and then doing pushups while still in the handstand and she can do them no problem! She's close to doing a back walkover and loves to flip over our couches as part of her "practicing."

We love this girl and are so happy to have her in our family. Her baptism post will be coming shortly, but we're so proud and happy that she's made that decision to be baptized. She's so grown up! Time goes by so fast. We love you Tessa!

Spring Break 2015

Our spring break happened the beginning of March. We didn't have much planned since Tyler was working so it worked out when my mom called to ask for our help that we were available to help her. My parents are both retiring after this school year. They recently applied and were accepted to teach English in China for a year starting this fall, so they decided they would put their house up for sale. My mom called to ask if the girls and I could come out during our spring break so that I could help her organize and de-clutter her house to prepare it to go on the market. It also happened that the the weekend before our spring break, all my brothers were going to be at my parents as well, so it was fun to have the entire family together even if it was for just a couple of days. Tyler drove out with us to spend the weekend, but then flew back to El Paso Sunday night to work the rest of the week. We had fun playing games with family and going through boxes of stuff from when we were kids. We threw out a lot of stuff, donated a ton, and kept a few things. My girls loved going through Grandma's jewelry and picking out things they wanted to keep. I took home too much stuff and barely fit it all in the van. Some of the bigger things I brought back included my wedding dress, some of my high school formal dresses and my letterman jacket. Not sure what I'll do with any of it, but it wasn't stuff I could just get rid of. Besides all the work, we had to entertain the kids some too, so we did do some fun things. Of course, that's where the pictures are all from, so besides cleaning and organizing, here's what we did in Wichita Falls during Spring Break.

My cousin just bought a ranch with my Aunt and Uncle, so we drove out to their new land and saw their cows and longhorns. The kids thought it was pretty cool and loved riding in the back of the truck as we drove closer to the cows. There were a lot of baby calves too which was awesome. Some of them were really loud as they "mooed." The kids also enjoyed the rides on the four-wheeler with my cousin, Katrina. Her son Bert loved having the girls to show around his new house and new land. It was really cool. I just kept thinking, Tyler would love this!

The girls did get to take their usual trip to Jump for Joy, which is a room full of bounce houses. I didn't get any good pictures there though. We took another night and decided to try roller skating. Because our spring break did not line up with Wichita Falls' spring break, we were practically the only ones skating at the rink because they were all still in school. That made it a lot easier for us since the girls were still learning the basics of balancing and not falling down. 

After our somewhat successful attempt at ice skating last Christmas, I thought that roller skating would be easier since it's not as thin of an edge to balance on, but the skates were still pretty tricky for the girls. They did keep trying and never gave up and I think enjoyed it overall. Tessa was funny because she would catch herself from falling and kept her balance pretty well, but she couldn't control her speed. She would get going so fast and then almost fall, but then catch herself which would cause her to go faster still. I would hold her hand and try and keep her from going too fast, but it was like she was pulling me along instead of the other way around. Aubrey got the hang of it too as long as she was holding someone's hand. Luckily Grandma and Grandpa were there to help - Grandpa also in skates but Grandma in her regular shoes which thankfully they allowed on the rink if you were assisting someone else. 

That was pretty much our week. The girls and I were able to go eat lunch with my nephew and niece while they were in school. That was fun to see the differences between their school and ours. We met their pet guinea pig named Tex and loved petting him and feeding him carrots. He is way fluffier than our new guinea pig, Oreo, so the girls liked comparing the two and seeing new ways to handle and feed a guinea pig. We also found out that week that my nephew Matthew and Taylor, who got married a couple years ago, are expecting their first baby in October of this year. We are super excited for them. I also liked teasing Paul and Melody because they are going to be grandparents. And also teasing my parents who will become great-grandparents - kind of unbelievable. The day we left to drive home, the girls each had to take a turn on Grandpa's motorcycle. These two looked really cute with his helmet and glasses on too. 

Taryn could barely reach the handlebars while sitting on the seat, but she had to have her turn and give it a try.

We took an entire day to drive home, but we met up with the Kasallis family who was driving home from the Fort Worth area too. Since both of our husbands stayed in El Paso to work, we decided it was a smart plan to caravan home so we wouldn't have to make the long drive alone, but we also wouldn't have to pay for the husbands to fly back to drive with us. It was win-win for everyone. The kids took turns rotating between the two cars and riding with their friends, so that kept everyone happy and was less stressful for me and Audrey who had to do all the driving. It actually worked out really well. We met up with the dads for dinner as we pulled into town and that was the end of our successful spring break.

The week following our spring break, the girls were back in school, but our friends, the Cains, from church were leaving to move to Hawaii. We had a couple last game and dinner nights before they left and on our final one, we took some pictures. Here I am with Tovi.

 Here are all our girls. Even though none of our girls are the same age (they flip flop every year), they all got along so well and we loved hanging out with them. We're going to miss them a lot while they are enjoying the Hawaiian life.

Their youngest daughter, Lanie, was probably Taryn's best friend that's a girl. She, Lanie, and Elle had a play group every week. Even though Taryn was a year and a half younger than Lanie, and a year younger than Elle, they all loved playing together. This was the last picture I took on their final playdate - sweet girls.