It makes me wonder where my daughter comes up with these things but, alas, here is one of her recent creations. A robot that guards mommy’s door so I can sleep. She told me what words to spell for her and obviously she wrote them herself and then taped the robot to my bedroom door all by herself. Now I finally feel like I can sleep in peace. Thanks Rilyn.
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| From December 2008 |
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| Momma is sleeping. Don’t go in there |
Apparently he is actually quite boring to some, but to babies he is quite interesting…(what is that white curly thing?)
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| From December 2008 |
Some just think he is sweet.
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| From December 2008 |
Today’s Santa meet and greet was really quite uneventful. Asher was a pro and Ella acted like she sits on big men who wear red suits and have long, white, curly beard’s laps all the time. Yawn. Rilyn told Santa she wanted a pink dress and Ella looked at him blankly when he asked her what she wanted for Christmas as if she was thinking, “You don’t buy me presents, grandma does, so why are you asking?” Here are some more pics to document the magical 5 minutes.
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| From December 2008 |
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| From December 2008 |
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| apparently it was bright in the room From December 2008 |
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| From December 2008 |
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| What do you want from Santa this year? From December 2008 |
Today I hosted the 2nd annual Austin Stone Community Church neighborhood Christmas party. Last year, we had 7 kids (4 families) in our neighborhood that went to the Stone. It was so manageable that we could take a picture like this:
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| Halle, Cole, Rilyn, Ellie, Ella, Malachi, and Anna From December 2007 |
This year, however, we had 21 kids(from 9 families)!!! And yes, we all live within 5 minutes walking distance from each other and we all go to The Austin Stone. Crazy, I know. I guess we could be considered a commune of sorts. Anyway, we had a great party! We had lunch, crafts, decorated cookies, heard the Christmas story, and had a book exchange. Sadly, we could not get all 21 kids into one shot this year so this is the best I got of the Christmas party chaos.
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| Christmas book exchange game From December 2008 |
Amidst all of this fun(remember 21 children) there was, however, one casualty at my house. (Warning! This picture is graphic.)
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| From December 2008 |
My girls and Santa don’t really get along. I guess maybe because we don’t emphasize him at Christmas time. The other day, Rilyn’s hairdresser asked what Santa was going to get her for Christmas and Rilyn asked her, “Who’s Santa?” The hairdresser looked at me a little shocked. I was too. But, I think she would of recognized his name if she would of said, “Santa Claus.” (She is really into ‘last names’ right now. She told me that Jesus’ last name is “God” the other day.)
Hey, nothing is wrong with the fake man, I always take my kids’ picture with him each year so I do give him a little props. I just rather talk about baby Jesus. So, now we are in countdown for Santa pictures…3 days left. Will Asher continue the ‘Paquette pout’ with the big guy? I’ll be sure to post!
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| From December 2005 |
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| From December 2006 |
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| From December 2007 |
I was putting laundry away in my room this afternoon and as I was walking out, I thought I heard a crackling sound. I knew Rilyn was asleep, but Ella could of been awake, so I tiptoed in the kitchen to see if that was her. I grabbed my camera when I saw her (she didn’t see me) and I quietly whipped around the corner of the kitchen island where I saw this:
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| From December 2008 |
Oh yes, she took a candy cane off of the tree and was eating it ever so sneakily (or so she thought). I love her ‘deer in the head lights’ look in this picture. She very quickly gave me the candy cane when I asked her “what are you doing?” and then confessed her sin to me.
You know those darling, handmade ornaments you look forward to getting at Christmas when your child enters preschool? Well, in 2005, Rilyn was 18 months old and in a Mother’s Day Out program. I couldn’t wait to open that white paper bag with Christmas stickers all over it when she brought it home. I just knew it was going to be the sweetest, cutest, Christmas ornament ever! (That is truly one of the things I looked forward to when I found out I was pregnant with my first child-homemade gifts from my children.) As I pulled out the ornament, though, I didn’t quite feel the “oooooh awwwww” that I thought I would. Here’s what I got.
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| “You don’t want to mess with me!” |
Not exactly the best picture of my daughter who yes, had a hair growth issue. So, it’s not how I would picture angels looking in heaven, but it’s my girl, and as I pulled out the ornament this year to decorate our tree, I will forever cherish my “halo from the ‘hood.”
Oh how I love thee biter biscuits! Thank you for letting my family have a peaceful Thanksgiving meal today. Thank you for providing teething relief for my boy (4 teeth and counting!). Thank you for letting him enjoy delicious graham flavor. I could do without your clean-up but I will sacrifice 30 wipes for 30 minutes of a somewhat, (don’t forget we still have 2 other kiddos!) peaceful meal.
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| From November 2008 |
| From November 2008 |
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| From November 2008 |
We went to South Shore park on Lake Bastrop for Thanksgiving with James’ parents. What a beautiful hideaway-and only 30 minutes away from us! The girls had so much fun with Oma’s canoes! (Rilyn actually got to spend the night in the cabin with her Oma and Papaw last night.) We had a Thanksgiving feast, only complete with the Cowboys game. This, of course, was courtesy of James bringing the TV into the great outdoors where he carefully placed it at the head of table, (where only Tony Romo is fit to sit.) Thankfully the Cowboys won-(we won’t mention our other team that played yesterday and royally stunk up their whole season.
Aunt Mandy made the girls Indian costumes the night before.
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| From November 2008 |
Here is Asher’s first Thanksgiving (breakfast):
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| From November 2008 |
Time to get dressed!
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| From November 2008 |
Girls at the park.
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| From November 2008 |
Here is Oma trying to teach them a lesson in rowing.
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| From November 2008 |
Time to eat!
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| From November 2008 |
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| From November 2008 |
Who doesn’t love Charlie Brown holiday specials?? I thought we just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving with our community group kiddos! So, just like the cartoon, their plate looked like this:
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| From November 2008 |
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| From November 2008 |
But at our Thanksgiving feast we had a little more guests!
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| From November 2008 |
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| From November 2008 |
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| From November 2008 |
Happy Thanksgiving from the Paquette’s!
Asher turned seven months yesterday. He is such a good baby! He just got his 3rd tooth so maybe my laundry will go down for awhile from all the bibs he soaks with drool. He is about to crawl too. The little guy gets up on all fours and rocks-he just can’t figure out how to propel forward yet without doing a face plant. I would prefer he hold off until after the Christmas tree goes down but he has other ideas. It looks like we won’t be decorating the bottom half of our tree this year. Here he is showing off of his new skillz.
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| From November 2008 |
And here he is with one of his best buds-Malachi. I think this friendship may be one-sided right now but I’m very confident they will grow to one day be bros. 😉
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| From November 2008 |
the paquettes 