Jack's Baptism

There are no words to describe how truly amazing this felt. This is something you think about from the time they are born. I felt like I was going to burst with joy as I watched my oldest give his confession to one grandfather and the other say a wonderful prayer over him. Then to watch as his daddy baptized him was awesome!

Jack-

Mommy and Daddy have prayed for this day since you were born. We are blessed to be your parents and are so very proud of you.

My Last Soccer Player!

I love soccer, and I love watching my kids play soccer. I've been a soccer mom for 7 years now, Jack started playing when he was 3. Well, now my baby Connor is playing. He is on a team called the Tigers and they have orange uniforms. His favorite color so he loves wearing it. I think he actually enjoys running around the field and playing more than he enjoys playing soccer. He does look really cute in his uniform

Back Tracking, Way Back

I am so behind...
This is Connor on his first day of preschool. He is now upstairs in the 4's. He is such a big boy. He is just beginning to like all things school and this makes me a happy mommy. This is Connor with his teacher Mrs. Stephanie. Such a funny boy!

A Day All For Connor!

The other two are fully back into the swing of things at school. Connor came back from his big trip to Memaw's and G-dad's house last night and decided mommy and Connor needed a day to themselves! He is such a funny little boy. Or I guess I should say big boy. I think he grew an inch while he was gone. So, we named today Connor Day. First, he had yummy waffles for breakfast then we did some school practice, then off to visit with his Mimi and Papa, who hadn't seen him in over a week. After playing with the doggies at the clinic we headed to his favorite restaurant, Old McDonald's. After we got home we went out back to practice soccer. He is playing soccer this fall and is very ready to be a soccer star! He is actually pretty good, I guess having an older brother who plays and plays well has helped him. After soccer and a Popsicle we headed in to watch a few cartoons and rest before we have to pick the other two up. He doesn't want Connor Day to end but I'm guessing the other two won't be as patient as mommy with Connor picking everything we do!

School Again...

Yesterday was the first day of school for the older two. Jack started 5th grade and Bailey started 3rd grade. It is so hard to believe that my sweet kids are that old! We spent the beginning of last week on one last trip to the lake. We swam, played and had a great time with Memaw and G-Dad. When we left on Wednesday we also left Connor to play a bit longer with them. It gave me a chance to get J & B ready for school and to spend some quality time with them.



Here they are on the first morning with our new backpacks and new clothes.

Bailey with her 3rd grade teacher, Miss Bradley. She is new to our school but I think Bailey will have a wonderful year.

This is my big 5th grader with his sweet teacher. He was so excited when we got the letter telling us who he had. Mrs. Petrini is going to be a wonderful teacher for Jack. And somehow I still managed to get him to let me take a picture, I was afraid that this would be the year he told me no.

Greg led us in a family prayer before we sent them to their first day of school.

Then we had our traditional donut shop trip and gave our teachers a fun first day treat.

They both had a great first day and actually got up easy the second day too! I know that will wear off soon!

4th of July...finally!

We spent the 4th out in the country with Greg's family. We saw a fun small town 4th of July fireworks show and it was so good! We ate great grilled food and just hung out and rested. I read a whole book and watched the kids play the Wii. Finally we had our own fireworks one night. It was a fun weekend.

Museum of Nature and Science

The Museum of Nature and Science at Fair Park had special rates on every Tuesday in June. Finally the last Tuesday we made it. The hardest part was getting the kids to wake up in time to get there by 9:30 for the cheaper tickets. We started in the science building first. The museum has a special exhibit called Water. It was really interesting and the kids enjoyed the information and fun games. The next room was the dinosaur fossils and fossil dig. This was, of course, their favorite room and we could have stayed there for the rest of the time.

After 30 minutes of digging for fossils I made them leave to go look at other things. After exploring that building for a while longer we finally made it over to the nature building.
After exploring the animal exhibits downstairs we made our way to the dinosaurs and prehistoric exhibits upstairs. See a pattern here. My kids are fascinated with dinosaurs and fossils. When we walked into the Dallas Ocean room we met a sweet older gentleman who walked around with us and gave us detailed information about all the fossils. He suggested we head to the basement to watch the fossil/paleontologist lab because he could tell from all Jack's questions that he is really interested in paleontology.

All in all it was a really fun, educational day!

Baseball and Swimming

Other than our vacation, June was taken up with baseball and swim lessons. April, May and June were filled with baseball games. Jack's team is the Rangers and they were so awesome this year. Here is my little "Kinsler" about to hit. He loved to wear his red socks pulled up just like the Rangers Ian Kinsler, who is his favorite. He ended up with about a 600 batting average and played catcher and 2nd most of the time.

Our Rangers won there division and were headed to the final game but all the rain messed us up and we still haven't played a final game.

The rest of June was spent in swim lessons with Bailey and Connor. I was amazed at the progress that both kids made. Jack had leveled out last summer and didn't need lessons. Bailey really shocked us. She has never loved swimming, playing in the water,yes, but not swimming. She is doing so well. Swimming and jumping in and swimming and she even went down the slide and swam to the side! I am so proud of her.

I never remembered the camera when Connor was swimming so no pictures of him, but he was in this beginning 4's-5's class. He did really well. His teacher told us that he was shocked he was barely 4, he was swimming like a 5 year old. Whatever that means we were really proud of him. I debated putting both kids in the next session for swimming but decided we needed a break more than we needed lessons. So for the next few weeks we will be relaxing, going to movies, hanging out with friends, playing outside and in general just hanging out!

More Vacation pics

One afternoon we went to the beach to hunt for shells and I took a few pictures while we were there.

Part Two

After we got out of the pool we cleaned up and headed into Corpus. On our way to the game we stopped off at Corpus Christi beach and saw this funny shark to take a quick picture under. Next, was the Corpus Christi Hooks game. It was dollar dog night. We love our dogs! We always sit in the outfield so the kids can run around and play.

No balls hit to us this year.

Rockport Part One

Our family heads to Rockport (outside of Corpus) every summer. This summer we left the Sunday after school ended. As soon as the kids woke up on Monday morning they couldn't wait to get into the pool. We are very fortunate to stay in a rather large house that has a pool attached to it. Jack is an excellent swimmer! No worries when he is in the water. He has a really pretty swim stroke and can swim all day if I would let him.

Their favorite thing was for daddy to get in with them and then to have water gun fights.

Bailey has always been much more timid in the water then her brother but this year she really took off and learned to swim without holding her nose.

Connor is like a fish in the water. He was very comfortable and happy just floating around and playing.

The kids love the pool and we were very happy to just sit around and play in the pool with them.

We did stay out a bit too long and all of us had some pink somewhere on our bodies when we finally got out.

Pretend it is April 11th!

So, yesterday we celebrated our oldests birthday. Today, I need to go back to April 11th and celebrate my youngests birthday. This past April Connor turned 4! In his 4 short years he has been through a ton. This year he wanted to go to a bounce place and have his party. So we had a BIG pirate party at Jump Town.

Here are 4 things about Connor:

1. He thinks he is as big as his brother! He actually plays a mean WII game!

2.His health is awesome! No hospital visits in over a year. What a blessing.

3.Connor has what we like to call a Connortude. He gets in a bad attitude at the drop of a hat. He loves to frown at people.

4. He has the quickest wit! He has a comeback for everything we say.

What a blessing this little boy has been to our lives. We pray to God everyday and thank him for keeping him healthy. It is so hard to watch your baby grow up and this one is growing up way too fast.

We love you Connor Reid French!!!

My 10 Year Old!

Yes, I know I'm months and months behind!
Today is my sweet Jack's 10th birthday. We have been so blessed to be your parents. You constantly amaze us with your quick wit, your kind heart, your knowledge and your adorable smile! I thank God daily for allowing me the honor of being your mommy. Happy Birthday, Jack!