Ella brought this home on Wednesday. Love.
(Especially how God is peeking out from over me and James in her picture!)
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| “I love my dad 100 percent, and my mom, but most of all God.” |
Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Matthew 22:37
Well, you know spring is here when you see this on the side of the road:
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| Families everywhere gather together for the Texas tradition! 🙂 |
I took my three (plus my nephew!) out to the local bluebonnet field to take our annual pictures. I have some of my other favorites on my photography blog.
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| this picture captures Asher’s personality well |
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| how much longer will they be stair stepped? |
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| these two have a special bond |
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| sisters |
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| Caden with his cousins |
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| best buds with a lot more matching outfits in their future… |
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| who doesn’t love running through fields at full speed? |
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| showing off their muscles! |
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| I think these two really look alike! |
And this last picture melts my heart. While I was taking pictures of Caden, I caught Ella taking pictures of Rilyn with her cell phone (my old cell phone that doesn’t call out). So sweet-I love how Rilyn is posing too!
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I had my first newborn photo shoot today! The little beauty peed on my backdrop in the first 30 seconds! Right there I knew newborn photography is no joke! We had to turn off the air conditioner so the baby would be comfortable naked…after 2 hours of sweating and 3 nursing sessions, we came up with some angelic shots of this full haired sweetie! Click here to see more!
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On Saturday, my kids woke up to Lucky Charms cereal (a special treat which only Rilyn liked!) We finished the St. Patricks Day countdown and then headed out to Asher’s 3rd soccer game. Asher scored his first goal-unfortunately the other team had about 25 goals and we had 3. They even took one of their players off the field so we could be more evenly challenged. We were the Bad News Bears out there, but it was still cute to watch! Go Rolling Stones!
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| top row: Malachi, Xander, Halle bottom row: Asher, Kian, and Caden |
After the game, my dear friend Jen made the cutest St. Patricks Day cupcakes for all to enjoy!
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When the kids got home, the girls started enjoying the spring weather with new bubbles from grandma!
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| picture through a bubble! |
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We also had cousin Caden at our house all day. Asher and Caden know how to get dirty, so into the bath they went!
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We ventured out to the Austin rodeo on Friday for our last official day of Spring Break! I made Asher wear his sisters’ boots because they technically are “unisex”, and he can finally fit in them, (I bought them almost 4 years ago), and I thought it was cute that all of my kids have now worn the same article of clothing! No matter that he only wore them for about 2 of the 5 hours we were there, I got a picture of him wearing them, and that is that. 🙂
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| I make this fence look good! 😉 |
We headed into the petting zoo first, and like I thought, my dear son who is deathly afraid of dogs, did NOT like the idea of going into a giant cage with gnawing goats and deer. (Even Rilyn is still unsure of how she feels, but hides it a lot better!) Here is Asher hanging on daddy for dear life…
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| hold me daddy! |
Ella-same old Ella, she tells the animals who she will feed, and who she will not feed!
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| “I will NOT give you any food, you are rude!” |
Finally, we headed to the carnival side of the rodeo, which is really the only reason we go each year. I grew up going to the Orange County fair every summer and have fond memories of all the fun houses and crazy rides. It is neat to see it through my kid’s eyes now.
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Fun House #1:
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Fun House #2:
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| the floor was so hard to walk on throughout this one! |
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| I love how James swooped Asher up before falling into my camera out of the spinning exit! |
Fun House #3:
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| I loved the mirror maze when I was a kid! |
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| I could audibly hear Ella’s head thumping against the mirrors as she smashed into them! |
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| Can you see Asher sliding down the yellow slide? |
Fun House #4:
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| Ella sliding down! |
Ella was finally tall enough to ride the swings this year. I rode with them, and James used his iphone to take pictures from the ground. We cover all angles in this family! 😉
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| wheeeeeeeeeeeee |
This is how I must always look everywhere I go with my kids…camera in front of my face! Can you see me between the girls?
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We tried a “haunted house”! (It was SO LAME!!)
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| but the kids were still scared! |
The girls had to do the potato sack slide! (One of my favorites when I was a kid too!)
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| Ella is screaming of course! |
Asher’s favorite ride was the ferris wheel!
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| momma’s boy! |
Ella’s favorite thing was the cotton candy, I’m sure!
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| treat time! |
But then daddy took her on some fast rides and she had to keep her mouth closed “in case the throw up would come out!”
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| love how Rilyn and Ella have such opposite expressions! |
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| about to fly! |
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| Rilyn loves fast, spinning rides! |
The chaos of the day was all worth it for James when he got this:
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| mmmmmm |
Last stop was the pig races which is pretty cheesy, (Brad PIG vs. Kevin BACON vs. Justin BeiBOAR), but the kids love it.
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| these pigs are racing for an oreo as their “prize” |
And after 5 hours at the rodeo, Asher was ready to go. Not even a picture with the Rodeo pig would cheer him up! Can you tell?
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Spring break is officially half way over!
On Friday I left for my mom’s house for a mother/daughters weekend! We shopped, ate bad for you but yummy food, and got shellac manicures (I’m officially always getting this at salons from now on!)
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| my sister, mom, and me! (cell phone pic) |
The kids came on Sunday afternoon and had a great time at grandma’s house! The girls were pampered…
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| in grandma’s jacuzzi tub! |
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| gotta make the bubble beard! |
Cousin Caden came too, and the boys together, as always, enjoyed each others company!
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| watching grandpa’s fish! |
And the boys had the best time in their underoos and socks! It was so cute to watch them strut their stuff! Here is Asher showing Caden his muscles!
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And here is Caden showing Asher his tummy! I love Asher’s face, he seriously looks impressed (as he should be!) 😉
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And then the boys really partied it up like rock stars when they took the Step 2 Up & Down Roller Coaster
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After a beautiful springish weather week, we are being hit with a burst of winter weather. I don’t mind, because it technically is still winter, even though my kids start “spring break” this week. So, once again, in the name of photography, I let Asher outdoors in the cold, to enjoy the rain, so I could get some fun pictures of the rain falling! He cried when I told him it was time to come in!
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His red nose was a sign that it was time to come in!
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This morning was the Dr. Seuss parade at the girls’ school. Ella has been waiting for this day for a year! She clearly remembers last year when I first gave Rilyn the “Cindy Lou Who ‘do”. Happy 108th birthday Dr. Seuss!
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Here is last year!
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Our inspiration photo:
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| from The Grinch Stole Christmas |
Asher had his second soccer game today! James’ parents came from Fort Worth, (and surprised our kids), just to watch the game! Asher touched the ball once, so he still has a ways to go with his skills, but he really seems like he enjoys running around the field following the ball! He was so tired after the game, that he fell asleep while we were eating ice cream at a restaurant! There was a lot going on today on the sidelines with Oma and Papaw here!
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| Papaw playing “king” |
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| Rilyn riding her horse |
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| half time (I love Papaw’s flower behind his ear) |
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| encouragement from daddy and Oma |
I did manage to capture Asher’s one touch of the ball on camera today!
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| he kicked it! |
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| I like this one of Asher chasing the ball with his buddy |
The best part of the game for Asher, (besides the snacks of course!) is the parent tunnel at the end where everyone is giving out high fives!
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| yay!!! |
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| Thanks for driving 3 hours just to watch me! |
the paquettes 