the paquettes

1960s themed wedding!

Julie P. — Tue, 21 May 2013 20:10:14 +0000

James’ sister got married on Saturday, the 18th and it was a beautiful and unique wedding! She stylized it to be a Mad Men/Pan Am themed wedding because her husband works with planes and they both love the 1960s. Here are some pictures from my camera, although I will post more when the photographer posts her pictures. I was a bridesmaid, James was a groomsman, Asher was the ring bearer (a pilot), and the girls were flower girls (they carried vintage luggage down the aisle instead of flowers!)

Here are some pics of the rehearsal dinner!

The bride and groom with Asher!

Me and my girls all dolled up 60s style for the wedding!

Oma and her little pilot!

the first dance.

Ella dancing with daddy!

the beautiful bride

May!!!!!

Julie P. — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:34:25 +0000

May is usually the busiest month in our household! We’ve got my birthday, plus Mother’s Day, our anniversary, not to mention James and I have both our moms’ birthdays this month too! Oh, and James’ sister got married two days ago! LOTS of celebrating!!

Right at the beginning of May, I played a character in James’ 3 day staff retreat (from his work.) It was a Sherlock murder mystery theme set in the Victorian age, and I was a suspect named Charlotte! So fun!

This is my birthday/Mother’s Day in pictures!

Me and my momma celebrating!

First swim of the year!

Rilyn!

Angry Birds party!

Julie P. — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 20:40:46 +0000

Asher had an Angry Bird birthday party! It was so much fun to plan! Here is the link to James’ awesome short video he put together of the big day!

https://vimeo.com/65970036

Here is the party in pictures!!

I made Angry Bird balloons using a template I found online. Click the picture for a link. (I drew my own orange and green Angry Bird faces though.)

For party favors, all the guests got sling shots! Inside the golden eggs, they got rubber bird balls they could use with their sling shot!

I bought all these eggs at Easter time for his party!

You can get Rubber Birds Bouncing Balls (pack of 12) here. And sling shots here.

<”Foam “Wooden” Blocks“> found here.

While guests arrived, the birthday boy and guests jumped on the trampoline!

Asher’s sisters had an Angry Bird tattoo parlor too!

Before we started our first activity, James showed all the kids the golden eggs that they could win during a game. Little did the kids know who was behind them…

First activity was using “bird eggs” (Cascarones or confetti eggs) to throw at each other. I bought 6 dozen at Easter!

Next up was pinata time!

Then it was time for (Angry Bird) pizza!

After pizza, was the sling shot game! James and my brother built a 3 foot tall sling shot and we blew up 60 lime green balloons to use as “piggies”! James set up the boxes that the pigges were to be in with pins. I painted mini dodge balls with angry bird faces, and when a child slung a ball at the piggie balloon, the balloon would fall back on the pins and POP!

A pack of three mini dodge balls was $9 at HEB

Uh oh! The piggies are back and they’ve got our golden eggs!!!

Time to get those piggies!

See the blue Angry Bird flying?

Bam! Knocked out the top piggie!

Asher going for another turn! Every time a child knocked a piggie down, they got a golden egg with a prize inside!

We had a few crazy Angry Birds that had a little too much energy! LOL

It was getting hot outside, so we took a break for some cupcakes and ice cream!!

I love the sparkler candles! My kids are never too sure about them…

My kids always love the party blowers!

present time!!

After presents, the kids went back out to do some more damage to the piggies with the sling shot…this was what was left!

Piggie carnage! Lots of eyeballs and snouts!

Asher is FIVE!

Julie P. — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 20:18:54 +0000

Asher turned five years old yesterday! He is an active boy, who loves to climb on furniture and jump off of things. He tests his boundaries constantly, and actually got his clip moved down to yellow on his yesterday for kissing a girl (on the cheek thankfully!) He loves to cuddle, all things art, he is warming up to soccer (next up karate in the summer, and flag football in the fall!), has started to read, and still loves me the most in our family! (ask him, it’s true.) ;) I wouldn’t say he is an independent boy, but rather likes his sisters and I to do things for him, (and most of the time he gets away with it!) What can I say? He is the baby of the family! Here is his special day in pictures! (His Angry Bird party is Saturday, stay tuned!)
Traditional wake-up birthday donut!

Traditional “run through the crepe paper” on your birthday!

When Asher opened up his new mitt he said, “Look, I got a glove that holds a football!” And then he pointed to his new bat and said, “When can we play golf?”

He loves his new Angry Bird!

I couldn’t go up to preschool to eat lunch with him (because of standardized state testing), so I did the next best thing! I wrapped up all his lunch items!

We went to Chuck e Cheese for dinner to celebrate with his BFF!

I caught them in their “secret hideout” doing their “secret handshake”!

His favorite thing to play at Chuck E Cheese!

Asher and Caden! Friends since birth!

Every birthday, we like to make homemade cards. This year, I used his soccer picture and his Angry Birds party theme to create this:

Easter celebrations 2013!

Julie P. — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:31:46 +0000

Some of the many ways we celebrated Easter this year!

Egg hunts at school!

A visit with the creepiest Easter bunny I’ve ever seen!

Another egg hunt with Asher’s soccer league! (I love how Rilyn ran like her life depended on it for the eggs!)

Rilyn was sick on Easter Sunday, so grandma came after school last week to bring her Easter goodies to us! Right after the kids got off the bus, they got to have an Easter egg hunt!

Grandma hides a “golden egg” that has a jackpot inside-a $5 bill!! This year Ella found it!

Asher was not too happy!

He started crying and refused to participate in the egg hunt! He wised up after a minute though when he realized his sisters were finding all the eggs while he was throwing a tantrum!

I wanted to include this picture of Rilyn because this is what she likes to wear to school these days in 3rd grade. A fake pony tail and high top shoes! Interesting trends…

After the egg hunt, grandma showered her grands with goodies!

Bluebonnets!

Julie P. — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 23:58:01 +0000

It’s spring! And spring in Texas means bluebonnet pictures!!

Blessing Basket Sunday!

Julie P. — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 15:08:26 +0000

Happy Easter! We finished our 40 days of sinning stones yesterday, and this morning the kids woke up to a blessing basket full of life! The tomb was empty! Hallelujah! He is risen!

The day before Easter. Our sinning stone basket is full. To see what sinning stones is all about, click here.

Easter Sunday. The stone has been rolled away! He is not there! He has risen! The sinning stone basket has been replaced with a blessing basket full of things of life because he took our sins away by dying on the cross and gave us a new life in Him!

Things I included in the blessing basket: bug catchers/viewers, mini potted plants to grow (found at the Target dollar spot), gardening tools, spray bottles (Jesus is the living water!), and a ladybug land to grow ladybugs soon!

*We made the tomb a few Easters ago using an old, clean can and pressed salted dough around it. We baked it and then painted it.

new photo shoots!

Julie P. — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 13:50:17 +0000

Spring is here (at least the weather, not the bluebonnets…yet!) Family portrait season has begun!
To see more click here!

To see more click here!

more carnival fun!

Julie P. — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 17:04:44 +0000

Time for bumper cars! Rilyn seems like she might develop road rage when she becomes a driver! Watch out!

look out!

oops! You bumped me!

Rilyn started going on the rides all by herself because me and James had enough spinning. She loved the enclosed space ship where you spin around so fast that you stick to the wall!

Rilyn exits, very proud of “big-girlness”

Dragon swing time!

me and the kiddos

Ella wanted to barf the whole time, can you see her hand over her mouth?

Check out Ella’s eye…sheer terror…get me off!

Rilyn sat across from us, much higher up, so she could experience more of a thrill!

This was the one ride that Rilyn did not like afterward. Probably because her stomach was DONE being dropped and spun all day!

And to finish off our busy day…COTTON CANDY!!!

As our kids get older, it is so fun to watch them experience the fair! We almost hit up every ride too! Until next March, Austin Rodeo!!

Carnival fun!

Julie P. — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 16:26:57 +0000

My kids’ favorite thing at the carnival is the fun houses! I grew up going to the Orange County fair, and I loved the fun houses too, so it brings a big smile to my face to see them enjoying the mirror houses and moving floors so much!
James made a really neat video of our day. You can see it here!

and they’re off running!

mirror maze!

Asher and Rilyn love fast rides! They would go on all of them together and it was really cute to watch. After each fast ride, Asher would get off and say, “I almost threw up!” and then laugh like it was the best feeling in the world!

I love his “Bluesteel” Zoolander face on this ride!

More rides with daddy! (Why do they have to airbrush seductive women on the rides?!)

More fun houses!

superman ride!

Love Asher’s face in this!

me and Rilyn!

After seeing this picture, I realize just how dangerous ferris wheels can be! Do you see Asher’s head hanging over the cart?!?