Our Tessa Bessa is 12 years old!!
It has been 12 years of laughs with this girl. She still cracks us up all the time with her quick wit and perfect timing. I love love love listening to Tessa and Damon laugh their heads off whenever they play together. Rockwell had some friends over the other night and Tessa hung out with them too. Rockwell was telling me how Tessa had his friends laughing so hard and that they all loved having Tessa hang out with them, Rockwell included.
Tessa still love love loves gymnastics. She's on Gold level this year with Morgan, Lexi and a couple new friends. I met one of her new coaches at Open Gym yesterday and she said, "Oh I love Tessa!! She's always so positive and so sweet. She's always cheering on her teammates and encouraging them. We all just love her!" She also said she works hard at practice and has beautiful form. Her competition season starts in February and we're so excited to watch her perform! Tessa really enjoys being in choir at her school and even wakes up early to go. She loves to sleep in, so you know she really enjoys choir if she's willing to get up early for it! Tessa still loves being in Young Women.
Tessa is starting to say she doesn't enjoy school and can't wait for the breaks. It's certainly not because she's not doing well in school, or that she doesn't have friends there, I think it's just a sign of her age. :( Mr Welch has such positive things to say about her. At a parent teacher conference he was showing me a project they made about something that inspires them. She had put a couple scriptures on hers and he thought that was so impressive. He also showed her reading and math evaluation scores and she's excelling in language arts and a little ahead in math too. She has been working hard the past year and a half to understand math better, and it was so sweet to watch her surprise and joy at seeing her score beyond where it's expected for 6th grade. It was so rewarding to see her feel some pride at her hard work paying off.
Tessa is such a thoughtful, sweet girl. When she and Damon were walking home from school there was a 1st grader who tripped and fell and hurt her leg. Damon told me that Tessa checked to see if she was okay and offered to give her a piggy back ride to her house. I often see younger girls at school and at gym running up and hugging Tessa when they see her. I remember Mrs Eldredge telling me at a parent teacher conference last year that a trouble Tessa often had in class was that everyone wanted to work with her and sit by her and it was hard for Tessa to be everywhere her friends wanted her to be. She said, "Tessa is very loved!" I was in Tessa's room the other day and told her that her Christmas tree is very beautiful. She said, "Mom, your face is very beautiful." I think people love the way they feel around Tessa. She makes people feel good about themselves, and feel cared about, and makes them laugh. She's the kind of person people want to be around!
Tessa requested crepes for breakfast and loved getting a mouth full of whipped cream!
She wore her cute little Beam Queen tiara all day. :)
She wanted to open presents right after school.
She was really happy with new rollerblades (she and Evie love to rollerblade around the park!), a book, nail glue, What Would Jesus Do bracelets, slippers and 3 Musketeers.
She wanted Pizza Pie Cafe for dinner.
And she wanted to decorate the house for Christmas that night.
We had dessert at Pizza Pie Cafe, so we just used one of the cupcakes left from her friend party for a picture of her blowing out candles. :) It was a great day for our Tessa Girl!!!
For her friend party this year, she invited Hallee, Morgan, and Emily. They decorated cupcakes to look like turkeys. It was a fun activity, plus it provided their dessert. :)
They opened presents and all her friends were so sweet and generous!
Then I took the girls to Lowe's Xtreme Airsports.
Tessa and Morgan are sure in their element there!! It was a really fun party!
Grandma Clark took Tessa out to lunch and shopping on Black Friday. She got lots of stuff from Bath & Body Works, a sweater, and a couple pairs of pants. Grandma always spoils the kids, and Tessa sure loves eating and shopping with Grandma for her birthday!!
