I love taking bluebonnet pictures! The blue in these wildflowers just pop in pictures, and reminds me again of the beauty and wonder of spring!
The bluebonnets were so thick and tall that the kids, (with their cousins), had to walk around like this! LOL
Rilyn loves her cousin, Eli!
my sweet, beautiful girls
My kid’s babysitter made this video and it’s so cute! Asher steals the show though…watch him “blow away!”
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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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 |
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
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| Last year, Asher fittingly ‘ate’ a green marker to celebrate! |
As I am writing this, I am flooded with facebook statuses, e-mails, and blog posts of how to help Haiti. My friend, JoAnna’s blog post particularly touched me (and Money Saving Mom) and this post is because of what I read.
For Christmas, we give three gifts to each of our children. One want, one need, and one gift for spiritual growth. This year the spiritual growth gift to our girls was sponsoring a little girl their age, named Keydy, from the Dominican Republic. We watched a DVD about where she lives and they understand she needs our prayers and financial support. Rilyn has already written to her and eagerly awaits a letter back in return!
Today, after reading JoAnna’s post, I took my girls aside and talked for the first time about the earthquake in Haiti. (I grew up in southern California and as a girl I experienced first hand major earthquakes and the fear that sets in as the ground shakes.) I told my daughters how scared the kids are in Haiti and how they need our help. How Haiti is very close to where Keydy lives and I showed them pictures of children who were hurt, stuck in rubble, and their crushed homes. Then I told them about Cayden and Deacon, their friends from their Sunday school classes. And their mom, Jamie, my friend from church. Their adopted son, Amos, is still there and he needs our prayers and support. The Iveys were featured on our local news and CNN today, and their story is touching.
So, today, I was challenged to give to Haiti in a real way that our girls understand. Especially in this material country we live in where everything they could ever want is at their fingertips. For Valentines Day for the past 2 years, we have given the girls tickets to the Sesame Street Live show. Today, I talked with the girls about giving the money for our family’s tickets instead to Compassion, the organization we use to sponsor Keydy. I’m not going to lie and say this was easy for Rilyn. The first thing she asked was, (with tears in her eyes), “Are we going to be able to buy anything else again ever?” We talked about shining the light of Jesus to our school, city, state, and world. I told them that Jesus sometimes asks us to do hard things. So, today, from our family, we donate $65 (the cost of all 5 tickets to SSL) to Compassion and ask that you would think creatively of something you can forego and donate to the children that so desparately need our prayers and support.
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Go Cowboys! Go Aggies!
James, Happy Father’s Day! I couldn’t begin to imagine a better daddy for our children!
My favorite thing to watch is when you lead our family nights/devotions and how the girls cling to every word you say about our Heavenly FATHER.
Rilyn’s favorite thing about you this year was when you visited her at her preschool.
Ella’s favorite thing is when you color with her.
And Asher, well, he told me he loves when you shoot hoops with him on his Little Tikes basketball hoop. 😉
We love you!!!!
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| From June 2009 |
Saturday night was Ella’s first dance recital. She had a great time and never was scared to go on stage and perform (or some would call it, ‘stand there and look cute’) Was there any real ballet moves being done? No, not really. But it’s all about the experience (at least that is what we tell ourselves and we pay $50 for each girls costume! Yikes!!)
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| From June 2009 |
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| From June 2009 |
God made me a mommy by blessing me with Rilyn FIVE years ago today. She is such a sweet little girl who simply desires to please others through obedience and kind acts.
She is artistic. One of the best gifts I could give her today would be a ream of printer paper! She sits for hours at our kitchen table creating art for her family and friends.
She is a girly girl! I asked her a couple of questions yesterday and her answers, I think, sum up her ‘girlyness’.
Mommy: What do you first think about when you wake up?
Rilyn: Princesses.
Mommy: If you had a million dollars, what would you buy?
Rilyn: a wedding dress (James, do we have a savings account started already for the girls’ weddings?!?)
Mommy: If I was a genie and granted you three wishes, what would they be?
Rilyn: First wish would be to be a beautiful princess. Second wish would be to be a beautiful queen. Third wish would be that all my friends would be my sisters.
Rilyn is a lover, not a fighter.
Mommy: What are you most scared of?
Rilyn: Ella hitting me.
I was interested in finding out Rilyn’s vision for her future in her wise old age of five.
She told me very matter of factly that:
When she is 10 she will be at Disneyland.
When she is 15 she will be graduating high school. (Sorry to burst your bubble, sweetie, but that’s not going to happen.)
When she is 20 she will NOT be taking naps anymore.
When she is 25 she is going to be married, a teacher, and a mommy with four kids (wow! A true mommy’s girl-minus one child)!
When she is 30 she will be cooking. (I hope she will be doing more than that at 30!) 😉
And when she is 35 she will be sitting in a wheel chair. (I told Rilyn that 35 was older than I am and I guess she thought that naturally old people sit in wheel chairs!) 😉
the paquettes 