Tessa is 6!!!

It was Tessa Girl's birthday yesterday. She is now 6 years old!

Tessa is such a spunky, sassy, quick-witted girl. She loves to have fun and laugh. Her happy personality draws people to her. 

She is also very sweet and caring, which makes her a really great friend.

Tess is adventurous. She enjoys trying new things and being active. There isn't much that scares her or makes her nervous. 

Tessa is boy crazy!! When Al picked her up from school a few weeks ago, she got in the car, asked Al why she was picking her up, and then said, "So, has my mom told you about the new boy I love?" She plays with her friend Brian every day at school, and says she loves him now instead of Bryce. 
 
I was reading Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day to the kids the other night. It says, "There was kissing on tv, and I hate kissing." Rockwell said, "Same as me! I hate kissing." To which Tessa responded, "I love kissing!" Haha! I'm very curious to know what she's going to be like as a teenager. And I hope we can handle it. :)

Tessa loves to draw and color, swim, read, play with her brothers, ride bikes, and watch tv. The way to her heart is to sit down and read books to her. She needs a little alone time every day, and I love that she'll tell us that's what she needs.

She is so generous and thoughtful. She loves to share and is always willing to. Her brothers adore her and have so much fun playing with her.

We sure love you Tessa Girl!! Happy birthday!!



Paul took the day off work for Tessa's birthday. As soon as Rockwell got home from school, Tessa opened her presents.

She didn't have one idea of what she wanted, she just said she wanted to be surprised.


She was excited about her barbie, ballet skirt, fuzzy socks, paint set, beanie boo bag, and notebook and pens. She's had fun playing with all of them.

She's already painted pictures for me, Rockwell's friend Flynn, and our babysitter Acacia.

She wanted to go to Hang Time with Hallee for her party. They had a blast!

Tessa loved these ropes.

We had cupcakes after dinner and then Tessa got to stay up late with us. I think she had a wonderful day and felt special and loved.

Halloween

This year Rockwell was Ash from Pokemon.

Damon was a Ninja Turtle.

And Tessa was Elsa from Frozen.

She had dance that day, and decided to be Tinkerbell so she could move around in that dress better.

Rockwell and Damon enjoyed playing on the playground with Wyatt during dance.

Tessa decided to be a witch for trick-or-treating. She was a lot warmer that way. I love that she could just choose what she wanted from the dress up drawers, and it didn't cost us anything. Paul was the Mall Cop again, but I didn't get any pictures in his whole costume this year. He added his police badge and pixie stix at school.

Grandma Ham came down for the costume parade at the kids' school. Damon loved playing with her at our house afterward.

Everyday Adventures

The kids' favorite thing to do lately has been coloring pictures that they print from the computer.

Rockwell couldn't choose a favorite for the picture. :)


Al showed up one morning when we were leaving to take Tessa to school. She asked if Damon could play for the day, because she wanted to give me a day to do whatever I wanted. It was so incredibly nice of her!! She took Damon to her house for the morning, picked Tessa up from school, and got them both lunch before bringing them home. Damon absolutely loved playing with Aunt Al!


I used the morning to prepare my relief society lesson. It was a challenging one for me that took a lot and a lot of preparation. I had been really stressed about finding the time I needed, and that was a huge blessing to have that time to work on it by myself. Thank you SO SO much for that Al!

Rockwell finished his soccer season. They had a great team and Rock loved playing.

Brent gave us his football tickets when he and Kristene were in Texas for a business trip. It was fun to go to a game again. BYU played great!

Rockwell loves playing video games. Damon always wants to play too. His remote doesn't work, but he sure thinks he's playing and gets super into it, yelling at the tv the whole time. :)


Damon, Tessa, and I went to Kenzie's birthday party. These three had fun playing restaurant after all the other kids left.


We got a hot tub in September and we have loved it!



Tessa went to her friend Layla's birthday party last month. It was in American Fork, so I took the boys to lunch and a haircut while she was there. It was fun to spend the afternoon with my boys.

They have been having a lot of fun together lately. They love to wrestle. And Damon loves it when Rockwell reads books to him.


It's always fun to check on the kids and see how they're sleeping.


The shells that the kids have collected over the past few family vacations have just been taking up space in the mudroom for a couple years. I grabbed some vases we're not using from the storage room and they each got to fill one with their favorite shells, and the rest were thrown away. They thought that was fun.





Damon and I went walking up the canyon with Mel and Al. It was sure gorgeous with all the fall colors!


Damon had had enough of the stroller halfway down, but we wanted to keep walking quickly for our exercise. I carried him as long as my arms could do it, and then Mel took a turn. My kids really are spoiled with amazing aunts!


Rockwell and Tessa had their primary program last week. They both did great saying their parts and singing the sweet songs.

My parents came to the program, and Tessa loved sitting with Grandpa Ham until she had to go up on the stage.

I took the kids up the canyon after school one day. It was the last warm day on the forecast, and I thought the fall colors would still be there. They were definitely gone, but the kids had a blast throwing rocks in the river and walking on the trail.


I went to Alexys' dance show at Cottonwood. She's a great dancer, and it's clear that she absolutely loves it. I love watching my nieces and nephews do what they love.