Rilyn had her 2nd grade Christmas music performance on Thursday evening. She was so excited (and a little nervous too.) Of course, she did great! Her favorite song to sing was Feliz Navidad, probably because she thinks she knows Spanish now. 🙂
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The next day was Rilyn’s class Christmas party! I am the home room mom this year which is super fun! I got the kids fun foam gingerbread houses to make!
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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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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! |
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. 😛 |
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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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! |
We spent Thanksgiving afternoon at a local park in Temple. The daddies were going to the Aggie game. (So, so sad.)
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| cousins. |
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| This park had the old school dangerous merry go round. My kids loved it! |
And I mean what I say when I say “dangerous”.
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| rilyn! |
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| ella |
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| They had a high merry go round that the girls could sit on and spin!!!
They loved it! |
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| Asher jumping off a “climbing wall” |
We celebrated Thanksgiving with my side of the family on Wednesday! I believe this is our first posed group shot since Jessica’s wedding 2 years ago.
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| Eric, Jessica, James, Julie, Jeff, Becca
Ella, Grandpa, Caden, Grandma, Asher, and Rilyn |
Of course, we always do the “around the dining room table” shot!
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| Thanksgiving meal |
Grandparents with the grandkids! I love Asher and Ella’s faces in this picture!
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The girls had movie night Thursday evening at school. They loved going to school at night in their pjs to watch Rio with all their friends! Asher loved it too!
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| Rilyn watching the movie |
This afternoon, the girls had Thanksgiving feasts in their grade levels. Rilyn’s was buffet style. Look at Rilyn trying to get Asher to come in line with her to try some food!
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| come here little brother! |
And this is what Asher was doing. Sigh. Is there hope for this one? 😉
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| Asher just being Asher |
And in the kindergarten wing, they ate “Indian style”! Literally, dressed as Indians and sitting Indian style! 😉
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Why does my child want to smell the deli meat?
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| She isn’t a fan of deli meat at home, so I was impressed when she took a bite! |
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| and I figured this reaction would be coming! |
Rilyn was lucky, (we have tried to obliterate that word from our vocabulary as we believe all things are from God!), blessed enough to be able to go to an Aggie game this season. It was Ella’s year to go, and she did, but there was an extra ticket this past weekend, and Rilyn got it! We had to stop at the bounce houses before the game started!
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| pre-game festivities |
Rilyn wanted to bring her beloved panda to the game who also shared in the Aggie spirit!
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We dressed like it was cold (when we woke up it was in the 40s), and it felt like 90 degrees plus because the sun was beating down on us the entire game! Ugh!
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We allowed Rilyn to whoop even though she is not a senior. 😉
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So, unfortunately we lost this game against Missouri in overtime! It was so sad, because the night before a certain Missouri baseball team beat the Rangers in game 7 of the World Series. The state of Missouri is not high on James’ “places to visit” list! 🙂
After the game, they open up the field to let the fans take pictures on it, play football, etc. Rilyn never got to do this yet and really wanted to, even though all we wanted to do was leave this crummy game!
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| Rilyn throwing the football with James! |
the paquettes 