We went to grandma’s house for some pre-Christmas baking last week! This was Asher’s first time to bake!
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| pressing the cookie cutter! |
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| frosting time! |
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Archive for the 'Asher' Category
26
Dec
11
baking!
25
Dec
11
Merry Christmas!
May your only excess this season be of LOVE and JOY!
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| photoshop fun! |
We chose this theme this year because we are going to be taking Rilyn and Ella to the Dominican Republic on a family mission trip in late July! We live with so much excess in our lives and we want the girls to see how truly blessed from God we are. We know He will do BIG things in the DR with each one of us. Break our hearts for what breaks His. Create in us a renewed love for others. Encourage us to go to the nations in the name of Jesus and spread His Love.
Here are some of the other shots that didn’t make the card, but still cute none the less!
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| my girls |
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| love Asher’s look here |
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| grrrrrr |
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| mamas boy |
21
Dec
11
Christmas parties for the kids!
We’ve been busy the last few days attending Christmas parties for the kids! Ella had a ballet Christmas party where she got to perform a short Nutcracker dance on stage!
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And last night, the kids had a Christmas party at our church, the Austin Stone.
First we watched a musical of sorts.
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Rilyn is mesmerized. I would be too when this is on stage, and he is rapping!
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Then the kids had a snowball fight outside with jumbo marshmallows!
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| I’m pretty sure Asher just got pegged in the back! |
There was cookie decorating, crafting, and of course, a dance party room!
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| James and Rilyn bustin’ a move! |
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| work it girl! |
Or maybe not.
But whatever it was, it was sure cute. Asher was dressed as a shepherd. He sang about 2 of the 5 songs, but he didn’t cry this time! He definitely has a habit of putting his fingers in his mouth when he is nervous! And we might of bribed him with a new car if he didn’t cry (like he did last year). 🙂
James made a quick video to recap the show for us!
This is my favorite picture because, well, it really speaks for itself. (By the way, he did this hand motion because it was the part in the 12 days of Christmas song when you sing “5 Golden Rings!”
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| what’s that saying? Speak no evil, hear no evil, pick no evil? 🙂 |
This is Asher walking down the aisle to go to the stage. Here he starts with the hands in the mouth and he just looks nervous!
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Almost a cry after the audience clapped loudly for them, but he kept it together. I’m pretty sure at this point James dangled the car in the audience so he could see it.
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| keep. it. together. |
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| wise men, shepherds, animals, Mary and Joseph |
14
Dec
11
Santa
Even though we don’t believe in Santa Claus in our house, I still think it’s fun to take pictures with him every year. It’s like taking pictures next to Mickey Mouse! When I told Asher we were going to take pictures with Santa, he immediately started freaking out and saying no. I showed him pictures from last year where he was smiling with Santa. He still wasn’t buying it. So, I bribed him with a lollipop. That worked. Well, it got him to walk in and go to Santa. However, it did not get him to smile. I guess I should of been more specific when I said, “Don’t cry.” Next year, I’ll have to say, “Don’t pull your face down.” Anyway, he was technically obeying me. He wasn’t crying. So, he got his lollipop after our visit!
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After our “all smiles” posed pictures, I let them talk to the big guy with the very fake beard.
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| Rilyn told him, “you can get me whatever you want to get me.” |
I love this next shot. You can tell without seeing Asher’s face that he is excited to tell Santa something. Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas and Asher responded, “a lollipop.” This boy has a one track mind!
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05
Dec
11
edible Nativity!
Tonight we made an edible Nativity scene! I saw this idea on another blog and couldn’t resist trying it with our kids! The ingredients can vary, but this is what we used:
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We used food coloring to dye the coconut flakes yellow for hay.
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We built our nativity scene on top of an empty box. This helped in that James could cut slits in the box so the graham crackers could stay up better and the toothpick/gumdrop people could stand upright.
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| Rilyn was pretty excited to use the decorating bag with frosting! |
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| finished! |
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| Mary, baby Jesus, Joseph, a shepherd, lots of sheep and 2 donkeys |
Fun family time!
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| yummy GOODNESS! |
05
Dec
11
sea world!
My dad and James took the kids to Sea World on Saturday. We told Rilyn she was sure blessed to be able to go somewhere so fun on her half birthday! (She is 7 1/2 now!)
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| James said Asher refused to touch the dolphins. |
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| my kids loved all the rides, but James said, “It was no Disneyland.” 🙂 |
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| I feel the need to say this is not my camera. 🙂 |
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| Asher refused to take pictures with any of the characters. He has lots of fears. 😛 |
02
Dec
11
lights!
I love Christmas lights!
We had hoped to add to our outdoor lights this year by getting a light up nativity, but the one I wanted sold out everywhere! Oh well, we did add “candy” hanging from one of our trees from an after Christmas sale at Target last year! 🙂
I love that I got flagged over driving in the neighborhood yesterday evening from neighbors that live blocks away, saying they were walking over to watch our house! I say, “watch” because it plays music and the lights blink on and off to the beat! Yes, it may be tacky and gaudy, but my kids’ expressions every year when we light it up for the first time is so worth it!
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| wow! |
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| Hopefully next year, the nativity will go right in the center of the yard! We have an angel announcing the Good News! |
The candy tree!
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Whoa! I caught a major hug (or kiss?!) between Ella and Asher!
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And true to form, we keep our tree gaudy as well! And I love it! I added 2 ornaments this year. One hula girl from Kauai and one Disneyland ornament!
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*Rilyn was feeling sick during these pictures. Turned out she got strep the next day! 😦
29
Nov
11
decorating time!
Last Friday, while we were in Temple, the kids and I helped my parents decorate their tree! We do this every year right after Thanksgiving. This year, it was finally Asher’s turn to put the angel on top of the tree!
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| grandpa lifting Asher up |
Thanks to my sister, I got in a picture!
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| Rilyn peeking at me |
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| ella |
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27
Nov
11
Thanksgiving x2
We hosted Thanksgiving for James’ family again this year. We celebrated on Saturday and had 15 people here! It was a great time had by all and I think we can call our dessert portion a success when we had 6 pies/cakes, cookies, and chocolates! We all ate some vegan dishes too, thanks to aunt Mandy and Allen! James said the vegan strawberry cheesecake made the list of the top 3 cheesecakes he has ever had!
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| yummy |
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| the kids table |
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| Rilyn’s beloved aunt |
Our guest of honor for 2 years in a row is James’ maternal grandmother. How special is it for my kids to spend the holidays with her?
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| great gramma |
I started a new Thanksgiving tradition this year at my house that I found on another blog. Here is the link if you want to print the banner flags for next year. Every year I plan on making another banner and so each year, I will accumulate another banner to decorate my house! Each banner will be full of all the things we were thankful for that year! By the time my kids are grown, my house will be FILLED with banners during Thanksgiving time!
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| I made each person write what they were thankful for . (Asher really told me those things!) |
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| 2011 Banner will be hanging up next Thanksgiving 15 flags long! |
the paquettes 