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! 
 |
| playing with Grandpa Erickson on the sidelines of Rilyn’s game |
 |
| Oma chasing him around the soccer fields! |
 |
| 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!) |
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!
 |
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.
 |
 |
| 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?!?
 |
| daddy trying to encourage Rilyn |
 |
| 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.
 |
| Evidence #1 of why Rilyn felt scared. If I saw this dude
coming at me like this I would be scared too! |
 |
| 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!
 |
| She is so excited to kick the ball in! Thanks uncle Jeff for bringing your video camera! |
 |
| 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.
 |
| score! |
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.
 |
| 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.
 |
| 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.
 |
| 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.
 |
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!)
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’!
 |
| teammates and best friends |
 |
| the girls running with their coach |
 |
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!
 |
 |
 |
 |
Uncle Ben, James’ brother, came to visit this weekend. We enjoyed a beautiful day at the park and Ben was able to give the girls’ their first fishing lesson! Nothing was caught, but Rilyn seemed to really enjoy throwing the line in and reeling it back! Ella, well she just wanted to feed the duck her crackers! What we love about Ben-he is such a kid at heart and the kids always have the best time with him!
 |
| Uncle Ben teaching Rilyn |
 |
 |
| throwing the line in |
 |
| Fishing that way will make your arm hurt fast Ella! |
 |
| Hello down there! |
 |
Ben makes Rilyn push him!  |
 |
| It’s the girls’ turn! |
 |
| hanging on to uncle |
We love when we get to babysit our nephew, Caden! He is so sweet and smiley and his cousins love to play with him! Asher, though…well, I’m not sure what he was trying to do to poor Caden! We’ll just say he was giving him a head ‘massage’.
 |
| “Do you ever get that feeling that something scary is right behind you?” |
 |
| Just sit back and relax cuz. I do this all the time! |
 |
| Not sure if this is what I call ‘relaxing’! |
 |
| Uncle James, drop the camera and rescue me!!!!!! |
 |
| You can’t fault Asher, who wouldn’t love this face?!? |
Ever since we took Rilyn to her first Aggie football game in the fall, (and we were playing t.u.), she has been very sensitive to the Longhorn symbol. Whenever she sees it, (which is a lot in Austin!), she always has to make a comment about how she doesn’t like the Longhorns. We are trying to teach her that Longhorns can be our friends too. We just don’t want them to win when we are playing them! (And later we will teach her how we really don’t ever like them winning at sports!) So this week in kindergarten, Rilyn had to measure different Texas ’symbols’ for math. Her packet included things like a boot, a cactus, the flag, the state, the Alamo, etc. The one thing she didn’t want to see though, was a longhorn. So she took it upon herself to make a sad face longhorn complete with a tear in his eye and wrote a declaration of her thoughts: Boo to the longhorns. Oh, and the pair of pants looking thing in the right corner? When I asked her, she said that was her two fingers pointing downward saying boo!
 |
| The black line across the horns is where she was supposed to measure the distance. |
Finally, Austin got some snow! Granted, in Manor we didn’t have a whole lot compared to other parts of central Texas, but still…snow fell from the sky and my kids got to see it and ‘play in it’! They were all so excited today. The girls were both at school so I didn’t get pictures of them when the snow was actually falling, but Asher got lucky!
 |
| From February 2010 |
 |
| the mini blizzard |
 |
| From February 2010 |
 |
| From February 2010 |
 |
| From February 2010 |
 |
| As soon as Rilyn came home from school she wanted
to make a snowman. Well, she got as far to make a snow head. Most of the snow had already melted! |
 |
| From February 2010 |
 |
| Snow melting off our slide in the backyard like an acordian! |
