Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
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| Last year, Asher fittingly ‘ate’ a green marker to celebrate! |
Author Archive for Julie Paquette
17
Mar
10
St. Patricks Day!
16
Mar
10
changing seasons
As the weather starts to change around Austin, life in the Paquette household will be changing too. (That sentence sounds way more serious than what this post is actually about!) For almost 6 years, we’ve had a crib in our house. I remember the day we bought it like it was yesterday, full of excitement and new parent nerves! And now tomorrow, we will take it apart and move on to the next season of our life. It provided warmth, comfort, and safety for my three babies and I’m honestly sad to see it come down. (Now there are certainly some things about raising babies that I will NOT be sad to see go-I will throw a party when my last diaper is bought and I don’t have to carry around a diaper bag anymore!) Please humor me as I take a trip down memory lane with our beloved crib. But rest assured, our crib will ‘live’ with us still…we thankfully bought a convertible crib so it will be ‘reused’ as a full size big boy bed for our ‘baby’.
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| Rilyn’s nursery looked exactly like this but with the “Rilyn” over the crib. 🙂 |
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| From February 2005 |
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| Rilyn |
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| newborn Ella |
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| Ella |
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| sisters playing in the crib before Asher was born |
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| last night in his crib |
15
Mar
10
sweet to my soul
This is what I found on Rilyn’s desk today.
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Wrapped up like a scroll, Rilyn had copied Bible verses from Genesis while I was resting with Ella.
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| The creation story… |
Rilyn has been drawn to His Word increasingly in the past few years. Her favorite ‘books’ to listen to are Bible stories; her favorite movies are Bible stories; in the morning, she wants to read the Proverbs instead of us reading to her; and her memory and knowledge of the Bible is amazing for someone of her age. God is drawing her near to Him and it is such a joy to witness her passion!
13
Mar
10
sentimental Saturday
We hope to go to the Austin rodeo on Friday night! (And I’m talking the actual rodeo, not the rides and petting zoo!) But until then, enjoy this picture from Rilyn’s first Houston rodeo in March 2005. I was just getting into editing pictures then, so I did have a little fun with the picture! 😉
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| Could it be?!? Mommy and Rilyn on a LONGHORN?!? |
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| Now that is much better! 😉 |
12
Mar
10
flashback Friday- 1998
On this day in history, James was traveling down to Temple from Fort Worth to visit me during spring break during our freshmen year of college at Texas A&M where we went together, (by the way, Go Aggie basketball! Beat Kansas tonight!). We started dating March 1, 1998 and you know ‘young love’-a week apart was just too much to handle! 😉 So, here is one of our first pictures together. James and I sitting in my backyard, admiring his bouffant curly locks of hair. I look back at this picture and think, “did I even recognize that this was to be the father of my 3 children?!?” Crazy!!!! Back then, he wore a cross necklace, an earring, and he signed all his e-mails to me “Love, the Kid, James” (some nickname he had in soccer in high school he told me!?!) What a stud! 😉
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08
Mar
10
what about Asher man?
I realized Asher has been neglected a little in my posts lately so here is what he’s up to!
He doesn’t know it yet, but he will grow to love soccer because of all the games he is about to go to! 🙂
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| playing with Grandpa Erickson on the sidelines of Rilyn’s game |
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| Oma chasing him around the soccer fields! |
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| And apparently he is into kissing his cousin. This picture will come in handy one
day. I have a feeling! (Sorry James, I can’t not post this picture-it’s too funny!) |
07
Mar
10
the first soccer game!
Awww….doesn’t she look cute? All dressed up, with her daddy’s soccer number when he was in school, and ready for her first soccer game!
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Well, we thought, from this smiling pose, that we were going to have a great game! She was excited to wear all her ‘gear’ and I, (being a good soccer mom), even made her a matching hair band from my leftover scrapbooking ribbon! Our luck though, soon changed as we were driving to the game and I realized I was NOT a good soccer mom because I had forgot all the camping chairs, jackets, and our video camera! Then we started the game and this happened.
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| walking off the field |
Rilyn got so overwhelmed by the intensity of the whole game experience, she just lost it. Kids running at her, parents yelling/cheering, a ball flying around…it was just too much for this sensitive spirit. So she sat out on the sidelines and tried to collect herself. Believe me, it was not easy. We had to do deep breathing exercises. Really Rilyn?!?
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| daddy trying to encourage Rilyn |
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| a team time-out with Rilyn still not so sure of this whole soccer thing |
If you know James and I, you know compassion is not our strong suit and so we really didn’t get why she was so freaked out. After some serious encouragement from all of her adoring fans, (papaw, oma, aunt Mandy, Allen, grandpa, grandma, uncle Jeff, aunt Becca, cousin Caden, Ella, Asher, and of course mommy and daddy!!) she toughened up and got back in the game.
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| Evidence #1 of why Rilyn felt scared. If I saw this dude
coming at me like this I would be scared too! |
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| Evidence #2 of why Rilyn got scared. It’s called being aggressive honey. |
She did cheer up finally and I got some great shots of her having fun!
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| She is so excited to kick the ball in! Thanks uncle Jeff for bringing your video camera! |
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| Rilyn’s tongue out-the Paquette trait that means “I’m focused” |
And what really cheered her up? She ‘technically’ scored the team’s last goal! I say ‘technically’ because she kicked it and then the opposing team accidentally helped it in their goal! 🙂 Nevertheless, she was excited, and I got this picture from it.
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| score! |
05
Mar
10
stained
I wanted to share our family night this week because I really loved it. We love Family Time and used their lesson that I got e-mailed to me this month.
Here is the link to this family night.
Jeremiah 2:22 Although you wash yourself with soda and use an abundance of
soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me,” declares the Sovereign Lord.
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| Daddy drew the ‘stains’ on the shirt. Rilyn tried to use a wipe to remove hers. |
How is this verse similar to my trying to wash the stain out of my shirt?
I cannot get rid of the stain by my own efforts. I made the stain
worse.
It’s the same with sin. When we sin—doing something God tells
us not to do—we have a stain on our life. We are no longer pure and
holy. And, by our own efforts, we cannot become pure and holy again.
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| This is the shirt after we washed it in the washing machine. The stains still won’t come out! |
Hebrews 1:3 After {Jesus} had provided purification for sins,
he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
Only Jesus can take away our sins.
How does Jesus take away our sin? Through His dying on the cross. When we believe in Jesus and do what He says, He cleanses us from sin. He makes us pure and holy.
The scissors represent Jesus who takes away the stain of sin that we could not wash away by ourselves.
I John 1:7 And the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
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| The only way to remove the stains is to cut them out. |
The holes that remain represents the consequences of sin.
Jesus takes away the sin yet we will still need to deal with the
consequences of our bad choices.
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The stains are removed, but there is still a consequence-there are now holes in the shirt. (Ella is smiling because she just finished a blue lollipop! And, no, James did NOT do a good job with the placement of these stains! Sorry for the inappropriate cut-outs!)
03
Mar
10
ella’s turn!
Ella had her first soccer practice! Her still unnamed team has four boys and two girls! Luckily, her one girl teammate is her best friend, Anna Richardson. Ella’s first game isn’t until March 20th so she has lots of time to practice. She told me before practice that she was going to win and beat Anna. She obviously has yet to understand ‘team sports’!
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| teammates and best friends |
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| the girls running with their coach |
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28
Feb
10
it’s soccer time!
Well, it’s finally here! Soccer season! Rilyn had her first ever soccer practice Sunday afternoon. Her team name is the ‘Teenie Texans’. When I told her the team name, she wasn’t thrilled, but at least we aren’t the Longhorns, right? (You can imagine how popular that team name is in Austin!) Daddy had the honors of taking her and managed to get a few pictures for me (while trying to chase Asher!) I had Sunday school duties at church. When asked how she did, James said that she got a little ’emotional’ when they played the knockout drill and her ball got knocked out. Both girls will have a lot to learn about competitive sports! I’m sure they both will shed tears on the field!
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the paquettes 