Halloween 2015

This year for Halloween, the girls picked separate costumes and decided on their own who they wanted to be. We had a ward party and trick-or-treating, so they had multiple opportunities to wear their costumes. Here they all are at the Ward Trunk or Treat party. I really liked the picture spot they had available for us to use.

Taryn picked Elsa this year and she wore Elsa's coronation dress instead of the more well known ice castle dress. Lots of people thought she was Anna. The funniest story was when an adult said she was Anna and her kid corrected her and told her she was Elsa. Of course all the girls Taryn's age knew the difference in the dresses! 

Another reason Taryn decided on Elsa was because her best friend Teagan was going to be Olaf. At the ward party, the Kasallis's were out of town, so I took a picture of Taryn because she kept saying "where's my Olaf?" I sent the picture to Teagan's mom, and she replied with a video clip of Teagan singing Let it Go because they were currently at a Frozen sing along in Disney World. They at least got to hang out together when we went trick or treating on Halloween night.

Tessa decided to be Merida from Brave because we had the new dress. We looked for an orange curly haired wig, but ended up just coloring Tessa's hair orange instead. It turned out really cute. She posed in the first picture like she's using her bow and arrow. Tessa wanted a picture of her face painting before she had to wash it off. She picked Olaf to be drawn on her face.

Abby's choice this year was pretty funny. She wanted to be a scary ghost specifically based off of a character from one of the Disney shows that the girls watch. On the show, the ghost's name is Abigail and she normally has her hair in front of her face the entire time except for one scene where you can see her creepy eyes and teeth. I was going off of what Abby told me since I hadn't seen their show, but as I described it to one of my friend's, she realized that it was probably based off of a real scary movie called The Ring. I finally watched the kid show that has "scary Abigail" on it, and realized my friend was right. Oh well. We just stuck to telling everyone that she was a ghost. We did face makeup and she picked out her own crazy teeth from the dollar store. 

Aubrey wanted to be a cheerleader, but we had given away all of our cheerleader costumes, so she picked this gymnastics dance outfit instead. We still said she was a cheerleader. The funny thing about her was that she originally wanted to be a zombie cheerleader, which I thought was fun when we told people what she was planning on being before Halloween came. However, as we planned the actual outfits, I tried showing her some pictures of zombie face paintings to see how she wanted her face done, and she decided from those pictures that only boys are zombies so she didn't want to be a zombie cheerleader anymore. Just a regular cheerleader. She did go for a little hair color though after she saw how much hair color we used in Tessa's hair. It worked out and everyone was happy with how their costumes turned out. And I was happy because besides a few dollar store items, our costumes were free this year!

I took one picture on Halloween night as we trick or treated around the neighborhood with the Kasallis boys. They had fun and we got entirely too much candy, but with all the walking we all did, it was okay. It was a great Halloween! 

Taryn Turns 4 and Runs a Book Fair

Taryn turned 4 on October 14th. She is our baby who's not quite a baby anymore. We love her so much. She sometimes talks and acts like one of her older sisters, so it's more like she's 4 going on 14, but she still lets us snuggle with her and she loves to be held (especially if it's to go up or down the stairs!) Here's a little bit about our Taryn:

Taryn has lots of friends. Almost every day she asks whose house she's going to play at today. Her closest friend is Teagan who lives down the street from us and from how often they're together, it's like they're brother and sister. Teagan and his mom went with us to Chic-fil-a for lunch to celebrate Taryn's birthday. Sometimes people mistake them for twins when they're together with only me or Audrey. It's pretty funny.

Taryn is still our pickiest eater, but she loves pizza and for her birthday dinner, she requested pepperoni pizza. She even helped me make the crust. I decided to be creative and write a "T" and "4" to honor the birthday girl. Some of Taryn's other favorite foods: chocolate milk (still), guacamole, eggs, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and cheetos.

All Taryn asked for, for her birthday, was pink gum. She would even tell the grandmas on the phone that's what she wanted. We had to make her think of other things to come up with so we'd have more options. When she talked to Grandma Gibbons on the phone, she named every pink thing she could think of like a pink teddy bear, a pink necklace, a pink barbie, a pink ring, etc. So they sent her an entire package of pink objects for her birthday including a huge pink Care Bear which she sleeps with now and carries everywhere. At one point, Taryn told Tyler that she wanted a pink shirt with an owl on it. Tyler found some dresses online that he purchased for her birthday including this one, complete with the owl. The tub in the first picture is full of pink gum, but she's very good at sharing. We picked out a light up and singing Minnie Mouse to be from Grandma and Grandpa Black since they're in China and can't send presents. She was so happy with every present that she opened.

Taryn asked for bubblegum cake, but when we picked out the mix and frosting at the store, I was very surprised that she picked blue frosting instead of pink. I did my best to create a bubblegum-shaped cake. She was happy with it and she loved the bright colored, fishy-shaped sprinkles. We had the Kasallis family over to help sing to Taryn and to help eat the cake.

Taryn loves to sing and dance. She even knows some songs from the radio that she hears Abby sing all the time and she sings right along. She loves watching shows on Disney Jr, like Sophia the First, Kate and Mim-Mim, Sheriff Callie, Doc. McStuffins, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She loves to paint and color and she's getting really good at writing the letters of her name. She's my little shadow and goes with me everywhere. She doesn't even mind when it's my stuff like volleyball or zumba. She'll even ask, "are we going to exercise class today, Mommy." She plays with friends there and loves all of our activities.

I was in charge of the book fair at the girls' school this year. Taryn tagged along for most of the school trips, but I had set up some playdates so she wasn't dragged to the school every time. She helped me decorate and then posed for my pictures so I could send them to Grandma in China. The theme was Monsters and it turned out so cute. I loved all the monsters we created. 

We had monsters everywhere, from the walls and doors, to the raffle boxes, and even eyeballs hanging from the ceiling. 

One of the volunteer moms took Taryn for a walk to the office once, so Taryn began calling her "the Adventure Lady" because she had taken Taryn on an "adventure." Whenever they were both there together, Taryn would say, "the adventure lady is here." And then she'd immediately go up to her and ask if they could go on another adventure. It was so cute. Everyone commented on how cute the book fair turned out and on how great of a job we did. It was exhausting, but fun; and Taryn was a trooper for always being willing to go and hang out while we worked.

I had to reschedule Taryn's four-year-old well visit with the doctor because it was originally scheduled during the week of the book fair. We went the week after it was over and she did great at her check up. I had warned her that she was going to get shots, which she was not looking forward to; but she did awesome and loved showing everyone her sparkly and shiny band-aids. We got ice cream afterwards as we waited for the girls to get out of school, and by then she was happy again. We had to take this picture and send it to Daddy so he knew how brave she was after getting all the shots.

I still can't believe that my baby is four! She's not a baby anymore! She's my little helper and I love having her with me all day. I don't know what I'm going to do when she starts school and leaves me all alone. I'll just keep cherishing the days we have left together before that first day of school comes. 

Happy Birthday Taryn!

September Happenings

Time sure does fly once school starts. School activities, homework, and PTA volunteering has kept us all super busy. Here's an update of what went down for us in September. Of course, school started. I usually do a blog entry for each girl at the end of the year, but I like to at least include a first day of school picture in the blog at this time of year. So here they are. Abby - 5th grade, Tessa - 3rd grade, and Aubrey - 1st grade.

Over Labor Day Weekend, Scott, Nevla, and Chloe came to visit us. It was fun to play games, hang out, and visit. Chloe wanted to roast marshmallows, so when we started up the firepit, I finally took some pictures. This was the girls making silly faces while eating their s'mores. Scott and Nevla brought their dogs, Dozer and Shyla, with them this time and my girls loved it. We had so much fun with all of them.

Before the weather got too cold, Taryn and I met some friends at a splash pad on the east side. The water was a little cold, but the sunshine kept it warm enough. We even got to meet Tyler for lunch, so that was fun. The girls' school does an annual family picnic and this year it was on Sept 11th. We made it late, but I grabbed a picture while we waited in line for dinner as the firemen were taking down the huge American flag that they had flying for most of the evening. I really liked how the picture turned out.

The girls had picture day at school mid-September, so I always take my own pictures when they're all dressed up. I loved them all, but here are some favorites.

Even though Taryn is not in school yet, she has to have her turn as well. 

September 19th is National Talk Like a Pirate Day and if you dress like a pirate, you can get free donuts. We didn't have enough pirate garb to dress our entire family, so we just dressed up Abby and made her talk like a pirate to get our free donuts. She was all excited to do it as we got ready, but she almost got too shy to go into the store to actually do it. We talked her into it, and she was happy once she ate her donut. It was fun.

September is also our yearly ward campout when we travel to Cloudcroft, New Mexico to go camping with our church ward. We always love going and this year was no exception. We worried about the weather like we always do, but the rain stayed away and we had a fun time. The girls of course loved the zip line and I took pictures as they waited in line to take their turn. Even Taryn took a couple turns and loved telling people all about it.

I also took individual pictures of the girls. I had to get this closeup of Taryn because it shows the huge bump and bruise on her forehead from when she fell on the blacktop at the school when we were there for Aubrey's PE class. She scraped it pretty good. It didn't bleed but left some wicked red scrape marks, so that when we picked the girls up early to leave for camping that day, Tessa asked if that was her brain. Luckily, it wasn't too painful and Taryn didn't seem to be bothered by it at all. 

Here's Aubrey and Tessa as I grabbed them to take pictures while they hiked, explored, and played with friends. 

Besides the zip line, the girls also liked playing at the playground where there is even a seesaw. I also wanted to post that Abby is in the orchestra at school this year and is playing the bass. She is only 1 of 5 who chose the bass of all the 5th graders and she's the only girl. I'm so proud of her and I love to hear her practice.

One of our final September activities was the General Women's Broadcast for church. They now have it for all women ages 8 and up, so Abby and Tessa get to come with me. This is the second time that some friends and I have gotten together afterwards to get a treat and I took some pictures this time. All the girls had so much fun together and I love being able to do these special outings with my girls.

End of Summer and Some Family Gatherings

Before I move on to beginning of school posts, I must finish out the summer. We had one picture-worthy event from this summer that I haven't mentioned yet. There was Dress Like a Cow day for Chic-fil-a in July and we did it for free food! I thought that we'd just be given a basic chicken sandwich, but when we got there, we were pleasantly surprised that we were able to choose anything from the menu. It was awesome. We went with the Kasallis family, so the girls weren't too embarrassed to be the only ones dressed like cows. We actually saw a lot of people dressed as cows, so it was fun.

We even got to meet the chic-fil-a cow. They commented on our "zebra" impersonating a cow, but they still let her get her free meal. The girls even got to take pictures with the cow signs. 

It was a fun break to the rest of our busy summer schedule.

I really like taking pictures of my girls randomly; so one Sunday in July, we had extra time before we had to leave for church, so we did a quick photo shoot. I love having pretty pictures of my beautiful girls.

We also took a couple turns watching the Kasallis's dog, Roscoe. He's our buddy and when they moved from one neighborhood over to two houses down from us, Roscoe had a hard time adjusting. The Kasallis's went out of town, so two days in a row, Roscoe got out of their new backyard and walked to their old house. Tyler had to go get him both times. We kept an eye on him after that and even took a family walk with him once. I think a dog in our family may be in the future. I'm trying to hold off as long as possible though (I don't need another family member to clean up after), but the girls, and Tyler, really love dogs.

My parents stopped by our house twice during the summer before they left for China. They retired at the end of the last school year and are now teaching English in a Chinese university in Jinan, China. We are so excited for them to have this adventure, but it was hard saying goodbye. They stopped by the end of July on their trip around the US to see all the family one last time.

The very last weekend before school started, we ended up driving to Wichita Falls for a long weekend. It happened to be over Tyler's birthday, so after celebrating a day early with friends, we drove out to Wichita Falls to be there before his actual birthday. That way he didn't have to spend his birthday driving in the car all day. We went to Wichita Falls to participate in a baby shower for Matt and Taylor, my nephew and his wife. It was also going to be the last family get together before my parents left for China the following week. For Tyler's birthday, he got to go fishing (although he didn't catch any fish) and he and I went out for lunch which was fun. While fishing the girls ran around the lake and I took some pictures. They had an awesome y-shaped tree that was perfect for pictures.

Here are the girls with Rebecca on one of the bridges by the lake. We also took them across the street to a playground while the older kid stayed with Tyler and Paul to fish. My parents met us at the park and I had to get a picture of Grandma and Grandpa pushing the girls on the swings.

On Saturday, we had the baby shower at the log cabin at Lucy Park. We got there early so that we could take family pictures. Here are the ones I took of the individual families. First, Paul and Melody's family with Matt and Taylor and Grandpa and Grandma.

Next, we have Scott and Nevla and John and McKaye. 

I had to include this first picture because I can't look at it without seeing Tessa's evil-eye pose and laughing. So funny! I liked the lighting in front of the cabin, so I had them take more family pictures of us here. The girls were done by this point, so to get them to smile and have fun (and not suck their fingers or thumbs), we all made hearts with our hands.

 

Here's the good family picture that McKaye took for us on her high quality camera. I love it!

Here's the whole family. I thought it turned out so cute. I love my family so much!

This is where I found out the lighting was so great here. This picture with Nevla and Chloe and my girls is one of my all time favorite pictures ever. They all look so beautiful with perfect, happy smiles. 

I made Tyler take some pictures with just me and I finally got him to smile for one after a few silly faces. It didn't help that kids kept trying to photo bomb us from the window behind us. I still got a good one. Happy Birthday Tyler!

We took the girls down the parking lot to a playground, but we only stayed long enough to get hot and sweaty and messy and sticky after they talked Grandpa into buying them ice cream popsicles from the ice cream truck. Their favorite part was hopping into the back of Chloe's car to get a ride back up the parking lot to the cabin.

The baby shower went great. There were lots of people and a ton of yummy food. Matt and Taylor got so many cute things for baby Tye. I crocheted him a blanket using their nursery colors - orange, turquoise and gray. The rest of the weekend was spent hanging out, playing games, and helping Grandpa and Grandma with their final packing. We took a quick trip to Braum's at one point to get some yummy ice cream. I couldn't resist taking a picture because we took up an entire corner of their seating area. The girl cousins had a blast playing together in the hotel room. I took a quick picture before they fell asleep while they watched tv together.

After we drove back home to El Paso and after the girls started school, Grandpa and Grandma drove to El paso too to leave us my mom's car and to fly out of El Paso on their way to China. We enjoyed those last few days while they got their final bags packed and got ready to leave. Grandpa took some time to play with Taryn and her new playdoh one day while the older girls were at school. We're going to miss them so much. I drove them to the airport early Saturday morning on August 29th. I drove them in my mom's car and after saying our goodbyes with a few tears, I drove away. The hardest part and what I will remember the most about that time was the moment I drove away when the car indicated "phone disconnected" because I was too far away from my mom for the car to pick up her phone anymore. That's when I really started crying. We love them so much and are so proud of them. They'll do so great in China and I know they'll have such an awesome adventure!

I wish this is where I could finish this post, but there's more, and unfortunately it's sad. On September 14th, Taylor had her baby, four weeks early. Baby Tye had some breathing and heart problems and after some testing was diagnosed with Edward's Syndrome, which is like Downs Syndrome but with a lot more extensive medical problems. He was on machines for the first three days to help him breath, but after three and a half days, he passed away. We were so distraught when we heard. 

They had the funeral the following Monday, one week after he was born. We drove all day Sunday and stayed at Paul and Melody's in Wichita Falls with all my brothers. We got to skype with Grandma and Grandpa in China that night. It was great to see them and talk to them with all the family together, but it was sad too because they couldn't be there in person with us. Monday morning, we drove up to Oklahoma where they had the graveside service. It was so sad, but good too. The stories they shared and the love they felt for this baby after only having him for three days was so touching. They played songs that put their feelings into words and they had everyone sing Families Can Be Together Forever. The tiny casket was so small and watching Matt and his father-in-law fill the hole in with dirt after placing the casket down in was so heartbreaking. I just kept thinking no father should have to be burying his baby. I still cry just thinking about it. 

My girls had a hard time too, but we're glad that they were with us. They love Matt and Taylor too. We had some good conversations about church and heaven and where Baby Tye is now. Matt and Taylor were so strong. They talked about how much they had learned from Tye in their short time with him and how they know he's perfect now. They also plan to go to the temple soon so they can be sealed together and then have Tye sealed to them. Even when I hugged Matt, he kept telling me not to cry. I was just so glad that we could all be there to support them. After the luncheon, right before we left to drive home, Matt had all the boys in my family stand in the circle to give him a blessing. Paul gave the blessing, but I was touched like I always am to see Tyler in the circle with my three brothers. It's like I'm able to be a part of it through Tyler. It makes me so happy every time he stands in a circle for blessings in my family. I'm so thankful for Heavenly Father's plan and to know that we know Tye is in the celestial kingdom and he came to earth for his body, and that was all he needed and now he's perfect and with Heavenly Father again. I love my family and I love the gospel.