Tessa Turns 11!!!!

 

Happy birthday to our Tessa Girl!!

Tessa is seeming so grown up these days. She is so excited to start Young Women's in January, she is getting more and more responsible by the day, and she's really getting into clothes and make-up. It's very fun to watch her turning into an almost tween. :)

I see times where Tessa seems almost torn between the two worlds of growing up and still being a kid. She still loves to enjoy an afternoon of care-free pretend games, and the next afternoon she spends learning trendy dances with her friends. She loved all her more grown-up birthday gifts she got, and towards the end of the day she said, "I kinda thought I would get a toy or something that I could play with today." She didn't ask for toys, but I think it felt weird to not get any for her birthday at the same time. It's fun to still see glimpses of a child in her. There's no need to grow up too fast!

Tessa still love love loves gymnastics. She's excited for meet season to start soon, and has loved learning her own unique floor routine this time. She loves school and seeing all her friends there every day. She still asks for a dog every day, and made a really great slideshow set to the song Puppy Love trying to convince us the other day. We were very impressed with her presentation, but the answer is still no. Haha. Tessa joined the choir at school this year and has really enjoyed that. Tessa is such a sweet friend and is kind to everyone. She has a great sense of humor and loves to recall funny family stories. She reads the blog books frequently, and knows all our family history. We're all so grateful Tessa is in our family. Life is just better with Tessa in it!!

Paul made belgian waffles for breakfast. The kids all love to get whipped cream sprayed in their mouths on their birthday morning. :)

She opened presents after church.

She loved it all. :) Her brothers got her treats, nail polish, and chapstick. She got a gymnastics sweatshirt, lotion, bath gel, and body spray from Bath & Body Works, a headband, pajamas, and some earrings from Kauai.

She had mac & cheese for lunch, we took her birthday pictures, and then I made a cake while she hung out with her brothers.

She was excited for the butterfly cake!

We had cream cheese chicken for dinner and then watched AFV that night. It was a great day celebrating our Tessa Girl!!

Grandma & Gramps came down on Friday and took Tessa out to dinner and shopping for her birthday. She was so excited to go to the mall with Grandma!! (Gramps was told to wait in the truck because he's no fun to shop with. :) Haha!) She picked out the cutest clothes, and loved getting that time with Grandma and Gramps!

Tessa decided to just have a day with Hallee for her birthday party this year. We picked Hallee up on Saturday morning and went over to Lowe's Xtreme Airsports.

They jumped for almost 4 hours!! I couldn't believe they made it that long, but they had a blast.

We came home and the girls made jewelry with the clay bead set Hallee gave Tessa. The earrings Tessa is wearing in her birthday pictures are ones she made with this set. So cute!

The girls played the rest of the evening and had a great time. Tessa wanted peanut butter play dough for her dessert. 

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