Last Day at the Pool

We spent the last day in Rockport at the beach that morning and the pool all afternoon! Those swim lessons really paid off for all three kids. Bailey was much more confident and Connor didn't need someone to hold him at all.

Jack had a rough week. He developed swimmers ear the day after we got there. The normal meds we give him just didn't work and by Friday his lymph nodes were really swollen so we took him to a local doctor who gave us antibiotics and very strong ear drops. By Saturday with good ear plugs in he was swimming again.

He loved for Daddy to throw him in the air. He was also very good at practicing all his swim strokes he has learned. He is my little fish in the water.

I love this picture! They all really loved it when their daddy was in the water with them.

We let them stay in all afternoon because we knew we were leaving early the next morning and this was the last chance to enjoy the pool.

Rockport 2009 was an awesome vacation! Now, back to the real world.

Beach Photos Take Two

After a day of the guys fishing all day and the kids playing in the pool most of the day, we went into Rockport and had a nice dinner then changed and headed to the beach for some family photos. Here are some of my favorites...

Beach Photos Take One

After a fun day at the pool morning and afternoon we cleaned up and headed into Port Aransas to meet the rest of the family to eat at a yummy Seafood Restaurant. (Actually Jack and Daddy had a fun trip into Corpus to visit the USS Lexington, but since I didn't go there are no pics)
After dinner our family headed to the public beach at Port A and had Tamara take some pictures of us on the beach. I had found some Hawaiian type shirts for the boys and they looked really cute in them.

My annual walking down the beach shot! I've been doing this since Jack was one. It is fun to look at all of them and see how we have added people to the picture and how big the kids are getting.

The French Family- Rockport Vacation 2009

Jack-9 Bailey-7 Connor-3

Corpus Christi Hooks

Last year we took in a Hooks AA game in Corpus Christi and they were playing the Frisco Roughriders, and it was dollar dog night! This year same dollar dog night but no Roughriders. We actually decided it might be more fun not to have the Roughriders there because then we rooted for the home team. We got our outfield lawn seats and ate some dogs and watch the Hooks play the San Antonio team. Of course, Jack made a friend, as he always seems to do! He also got a home run hit ball. So did Terry, who leaped over a trashcan and a barrier to get it! There were over 6 home runs hit while we were there! Fun night of baseball and dogs!

Vacation Part 1

When we finally woke up Monday morning we decided to head to the beach. We loaded up our beach toys and towels and beach blanket and drove across the the beach. Our house is actually right on the water, but on a boat waterway not a beach so we drive a bit to the beach. The kids got right to work on a sandcastle. There were many creatures caught in the weeds at the edge of the water and the kids were not fond of them. Too many jellyfish for me. They did enjoy Uncle Terry casting his net out and catching lots of tiny fish and hermit crabs to enclose in their moat at the sandcastle. Connor did so well in the water. I thought he might still be hesitant in the waves but not so! He actually spent more time in the ocean water than the older two.

Jack still loves the water! He loved wearing his snorkel and mask and looking underwater, of course, it was too cloudy underwater to see much. He liked riding the waves out and floating back in.

Bailey, still afraid of the "things" in the ocean! We had a hard time getting her to venture out into the ocean. If daddy carried her or walked out with her she would go but complain the whole time! She did build one great sandcastle/moat thing! She is just not going to love the beach ever.

After a fun morning at the beach we headed back to the house to eat some lunch and jump in the cool pool!

Happy Birthday Jackson

The traditional wake up birthday picture! We spent 7 hours of his birthday in the car on our way to the beach so when we got there we headed to dinner at his choice, The Boiling Pot. After a really yummy dinner of boiled shrimp, sausages, potatoes and corn that they dump on your table and you chow down on, we headed back to the house to let Jack open some gifts.

Shopping for a 9 year old is so much harder than say a 3 year old boy! Everything is electronic and really expensive. He had a great haul in the gifts department this year. Everything from a personal DVD player to Target gift cards to a giant super soaker!

He had a really special birthday this year and being on vacation made him feel even more special.

Greg and I are super proud of our big boy. He is such a sweet, confident, energetic young man.

Here are some interesting things about Jack at nine:

*loves the outdoors

*great at school

*not a big eater, but we keep trying!

*very friendly

*still a momma's boy

*lots of friends

*really loves his video games

*enjoys thinking games like chess and checkers and card games

*very helpful, would do anything for anybody

*can't wait until he is old enough to go to Guatemala with his grandparents

*loves elderly people, goes out of his way to hold doors or pick up something they drop and loves to talk to them

*loves history, really into watching the History Channel, anything about wars or presidents

*reminds me so very much of his daddy!

Happy Birthday Jack, we love you tons!

Swimming and more swimming

All three kids took swim lessons at our local recreation center pools before we left for vacation.
Jack took a class that was really the last level they offer and did great! All they do is swim back and forth doing all the different strokes that they have learned in all the other levels. The only new thing that they learned was how to do an underwater kick turn while still swimming. He has really mastered all strokes and was the best in class at the side stroke and back stroke! His freestyle is awesome when he breathes correctly. He tends to just keep his head above water so he doesn't have to take a breath! He is really done with swim lessons, not much left to teach him. Bailey on the other hand...
still lots to learn. She did finally graduate to the 2nd level this year and did awesome in that level. She is keeping her head under water and actually swimming for the first time. She is really good at her back float and gained so much confidence this year. She did graduate from this class and we are so proud of her!

Diving off the board was a big part of Jack's class and he loves to dive and cannonball off the board. He is into trying "trick" dives too. His favorite is the back flip dive off the board. Not mommy's fav.

Bailey would jump off the side into the deep, but off the board was a little more than she could handle just yet. She would get out to where the handles end and panic. Maybe next year...

I have not one picture of Connor at swim class. We were a little disappointed in his class. Because of his age we have to get in with him and after a brief description of what to work on it was just us helping him in the water. Could have done that on our on without having to pay! We were happy with how confident he is in the water and with his floaties on we don't have to hold on to him all the time. I think next year he will be swimming around by himself. All in all it was a very successful year of swim lessons!

Seriously, 9!

It is hard to believe that Jack is 9! Seriously, each year just seems to fly by faster and faster.
I have always loved, loved, loved planning our kids fun birthday parties. I guess at 9 that stops! Jack didn't want a "cute" party, "I'm too old for that mom". So, we planned a small sleepover for a few days before his actual birthday, we were leaving town for the beach on his birthday this year. He had three of his best buddies over to play games, jump on the trampoline and watch movies. No cute games, fun crafts or decorated tables!( Well, I did put a few things on the table)

I made cute frog cupcakes and had a few of the boys frogs on the table for decorations. Ok, I couldn't give up the cute completely!

Our Ranger Baseball Player

Well, the Rangers Baseball season is over, at least our Ranger's season is over! It was a good baseball season but they lost in the playoffs this last weekend. Jack loves playing 2nd or catcher. His fielding is so improved. He threw many players out at 1st this season. Very few balls got past him and he was so much more intense and serious in his playing.

We are going to keep working on batting. Sometimes he would smack it into the outfield and others he just couldn't make contact. He has a beautiful swing to watch, but needs to keep his head down until he makes contact. Next year in 4th grade we begin to have player pitch instead of machine pitch so we will have to relearn how to hit.

Jack was excited, his sweet 3rd grade teacher came to his last game and cheered him on!

Aunt Tamara

For Aunt Tamara's Birthday this year we had lunch at a fun Mexican restaurant where we ate yummy food and then they surprised her with a slice of cake with a sparkler in it and sang to her! She is very special to all the kids and we love spending time with her. I got a cute picture of her surrounded by all the nieces and nephews.
This is a picture of her cake and special birthday song.
We love you Aunt Tamara!

Last Day of School~ Yes I'm Back Tracking

I had some cute pictures of the kids with their teachers on the last day of school and forgot about them until I downloaded some pictures today.This was Jack's teacher but Bailey loved her too.

Bailey will miss all her girlfriends so much!

But, she will miss her teacher the most!

Super Heroes

Connor has made up Super Heroes for everyone in the family. His stories completely crack us up! I am going to try to write them down here so when he is 16 I can show him this and get a good laugh.
Daddy is Mr. Yucky.
Mommy is Dr. Winky.
Bailey is Doggy Girl.
Jack is Strong Boy.
And Connor is Strong Man.
He says that Mr. Yucky is a bad villian! That Dr. Winky is a good guy. Doggy girl is sorta good. Strong boy is ok and Strong Man is a good guy too.
When I asked him what Mr. Yucky did to be a villian he said, "This" and threw his hands up and waved them. He loves to crawl into our bed in the evening and curl up with me and tell all these "wild and crazy" super hero stories. I love our time together making up fun stories.

School's Out

This is a picture of the kids on the first day of school. And, a picture of the last day of school.

I can't believe that this year is really over! It feels like yesterday that we walked into 1st and 3rd grade to begin the year. Here is a recap of the kids year.

Jack has successfully finished 3rd grade. He was commended on both parts of the TAKS which means he did awesome. His final report card showed how hard he worked this year. This was the first year that they give number grades and he maintained above a 95 in all subjects. He even got a 99 and a 98 in two of the subjects. He joined an after school club that met twice a month. He loved it! He was nominated as the "morning announcement" person for the whole school. I always enjoyed the days I was there to hear him do the announcements, he was really good. He finished 5th in the Turkey Trot this year. He won the Science Fair and went on the the Regional Science Fair. He made some wonderful new friends this year. His teacher was the best! We love Mrs. Fox and will miss her terribly next year.

Bailey flew through 1st grade! When we got her last report card today it showed how much she loves school. She had a perfect report card all year. They only get E, S, N, U and she got E's all year in every subject. I don't think I helped her once all year with her homework. Her teacher would have to give Bailey her own harder books to read because she actually tested on above a 4th grade reading level. My kids do get their love of books and reading from me! She was chosen this year to be the "friend"and helper to new students to their class. She took her job very seriously. If her teacher got called out of the room for any reason she would ask Bailey to sit in her chair and read to the class. She really loved playing teacher. She made some great life long friends this year and has plans with each of them already this summer. We were blessed by her teacher too. Mrs. Collins was so wonderful to Bailey. She stretched and challenged her and was patient all at the same time.

All I can wish for my kids is that 2nd and 4th grade be as wonderful as this year was. We were so very proud of both of them!

We Have Moths!

All 7 of the moths that made it to the cocoon stage have now come out of them and are pretty white moths. It was really interesting when they started to "mate". Lots of questions. Which we were prepared for with good answers! Now they are laying eggs and soon will be with us no longer... This was a fun, interesting experience. It gave us lots of chances to look things up on the computer and to write and draw the cycle. Will I do it again...not anytime soon!

Summer Lovin'

Our trees have become so overgrown that our poor yard was suffering! So we spent this whole Saturday morning cutting, chopping, and dragging tree limbs to the curb. We all five love spending time outdoors so it wasn't too much of a stretch to ask them to help outside. Our curb is completely full, no room for anymore. And it is piled high. Thanks to the kids who drug most of it. Now my flowers and my grass and my flower beds can get some sunlight and will perk up.

We weren't all work and no play. We worked from 9 to about 2, ate a quick sandwich and then let the kids run around in the backyard in new swimsuits and play in the sprinkler. They love to get on the trampoline with the sprinkler coming up under it and jump.

Summer lovin' had me a blast...

Memorial Weekend

This year for Memorial Weekend we had NO sports events in our family so we took full advantage and had a family cookout. Jack and Bailey had gone to Oklahoma with Memaw and G-Dad for a French family reunion so we only had Connor for Saturday and Sunday. It was way too quiet! Connor had a fun birthday party for his best buddy Tedy on Saturday and Sunday we just let him play outside alot. On Monday the kids came back and we had Mimi and Papa and Aunt Tammy and Chris and Larry and Joy and Gretchen over to cook out burgers. After a yummy lunch, several of us headed up to Allen Outlet Mall to fight the crowd for a few things. After that we headed home and played a game called "Washers" that Chris had brought for the kids to play. We had so much fun that we played it out front for hours. Of course, we had to have some more watermelon to help us play better!

Ist Grade at the Dallas Zoo

Last week I got to go on a field trip to the Dallas Zoo with 1st grade. I didn't have to ride on the bus, Oh Drat!!! I got to ride with a mom of a boy in Bailey's class, and it was fun to get to know her better. Mrs. Collins class had so many parent volunteers that the groups were really small. I only had Bailey, her best buddy Isabella and another little friend. It was such a fun, easy going day with these three girls. We saw what we could see and didn't rush around trying to see everything. The penguins were being fed while we were watching them and they were so cute. They would swim right up to the glass and show off for the kids.

We made it to the new Ghost of the Bayou exhibit and it was worth it! The albino alligators are really spooky looking. Outside of the Reptile House we met up with two other friends and took some pictures.

These girls were all about posing!

Well, here we are at the end of another year. I can't believe my little girl is so grown up. She is more than ready for 2nd grade. I just hope that mommy is ready!