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!

Christmas Eve Take Two

After our family spent some time together around our tree, we headed over to Mimi and Papa's for some more Christmas blessings. We enjoyed a wonderful, yummy dinner and some fun with family. When dinner was over the kids changed into their warm pajamas and took a few posed pics for mommy. I love these kids smiles! I asked the boys to give B a kiss under the mistletoe and Connor was all for it. Notice Jack is not so into it! Connor loves to love on his sister. Jack not so much anymore. He's too grown up for that!

The cousins took some pictures with their Aunt Tamara.

The Three Silly French Kids!

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve at Mimi and Papa's. We were all five truly blessed and received more than we could have expected to receive.
Next, we headed off to hop in bed and wait for the big guy in the red suit...

Christmas Eve Take One

Christmas Eve after some last minute shopping by all of us, we cleaned the kids up and decided to have our family time that afternoon before heading to Mimi and Papa's house. We sat around our Christmas tree and watched out the window as it snowed a beautiful white all over our yard. It was truly a surprising blessing to have a white Christmas.

As a family, we were very grateful to ALL be healthy this Christmas. That hasn't happened in, well ever... Our sweet Connor has continued to remain healthy with his white cell counts staying up. What a blessing!

Our family tradition is to open our gifts to each other on Christmas eve. This year the kids all saved allowance and actually bought each other very well thought out gifts. The boys got together and got Bailey a Webkin that she really wanted. The older two found Connor the cutest Medical cart and Dr. costume. He loves to play Dr. because he has been worked on enough to have the routine down!!! B and C pooled money and got J a new Nerf gun he has been wanting. I was so impressed with the thoughfulness that went into each of their gifts for each other.

Then they each opened up the gifts mommy and daddy got them. Bailey got a new book, shocker, B wanting to read. Connor got a new Spiderman t-shirt, he loves Spiderman. He put it on over his clothes. Jack's gift was the best. Mommy decided to play a little joke on my jokester. He got Spiderman undies in his gift box from us. He tried so hard not to look disappointed. His face was too sad to keep the joke up too long. So, mommy pulled out another box for him. He was so relieved! He actually got a Florida Gators shirt. He really likes Tim Tebow and I couldn't swing a Tebow shirt ($120 ouch) so a Gators shirt did the trick. He loved it.

Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgramage. Ps. 84:5

Happy Holidays!

Be Joyful always. 1 Thessalonians 4:8 Love,
Jack (9 1/2), Bailey (8), Connor (3 1/2) and Princess Lulu Buttercup!

The Richardson Christmas Parade

The first Saturday in December was spent decorating the house, getting in the spirit and being in a parade in 20 degree weather! Both kids are in scouts this year so they were both in the city Christmas Parade. The theme was Texas Christmas. Our kids sang a song called, The Twelve Days of Texas Christmas. It was very cute. Here are Bailey and some of her girl scout buddies sitting on the float waiting for it to pull out. It was a beautiful day, but very cold!

Jack never got cold! He has too much energy to get cold. Greg walked along beside them and I waited inside Sears for them to get back! Mommy doesn't like the cold very much.

November Recap- A little late!

November was a fun filled month!
My sweet baby Connor had his Pre-School Thanksgiving Program the Thursday before Thanksgiving. Every age was something different. The two's were Pilgrims, the three's were Indians and got to pick an Indian name. Connor picked Porcupine Bear! He was the cutest Porcupine Bear! The four's were very cute turkeys. Connor had been singing his Indian songs to me in the car for weeks! I knew them forward and backwards! Sadly, I didn't know a word of my four year old classes songs:( It was so much fun to watch Connor sing and act cute on stage. Daddy got caught in traffic and missed the whole thing. We were so sad, but Connor didn't mind singing his songs to Daddy at home. Doesn't he have the cutest smile!

The next week, after Connor and I were out of school, the older two had their annual Turkey Trot. I got a good shot of Jack as he flew past me at the start of the first lap. He was about half way back in the pack at that point. By the time he came back into sight around the school he was in third place and he never looked back!

Jack moved from 7th place last year to 3rd place this year, and no one was really close to him! We were cheering so loud and were so proud of him.

Later in the afternoon Bailey came out to run. This is actually her right after she crossed the finish line. I couldn't get a picture of her running. She improved her finish from last year, and she never quit running! I was so proud of my girl who tells me all the time, " I don't like to run!"

The Birthday Girl

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord...
So this year Bailey turned eight! I still find it really hard to believe that my sweet baby girl is already 8! Everyone knows Bailey loves birthdays and has had hers planned for a least a year. She actually got to celebrate for 3 weeks!!! First, the weekend that we all got sick around here her Aunt Gretchen took her to the American Girl Doll Store to have brunch with one of her dolls. She loves doing this and it is the second year her aunt has taken her. Then the next weekend on Sunday her Memaw and G-Dad came into town and brought cupcakes and presents and she got to celebrate again. (No, she doesn't wear glasses, she loved wearing them with her costume and continues to put them on for fun)

Finally, after all of that celebrating the day was finally here... I always take a picture of the kids in bed before they get up on their birthday and she was ready to get up this morning. Usually I have to drag her out of bed, not a morning person.

She got dressed for school and then got to open her gifts from us. The boys got her a new Webkin (Connor's idea) and a new book she wanted (Jack's idea). Mommy and Daddy gave her new black boots, a new necklace, a cute nightgown and a cute new shirt. She loved it all.

Here are 8 fun facts about Bailey...

1.She loves school. She loves anything school, reading, writing, math, science...

2.She is a very loyal friend.

3.She is very helpful around the house. She loves to clean!

4.She is a planner. She is always making lists, wonder where she got that, hehe.

5.She has the biggest heart. I love her sweet spirit.

6.She worries too much. Another thing she probably got from me!

7.She loves clothes and shoes. She is such a girlie girl.

8.She is beautiful, inside and out!!!

Happy Birthday my sweet Baileybug!!!

Halloween Fun

I am really behind in my blogging! The week before Halloween our family was hit hard by the swine flu! It was not a fun week to live in the French household. By Halloween night all of us had been fever free for over a day so we decided to celebrate with some pumpkin carving and dressing up! They all three loved carving the pumpkin, but for some reason I didn't get one picture of our carved pumpkin. It was so cute this year. Jack made up the design and daddy carved it out for us. As usual, Bailey and I are the only ones that got our hands dirty. The boys detest pulling the seeds and gunk out.

After carving we got our costumes on. I love, love, love Connor's costume this year. If you know Connor at all you know he loves horses. He actually still calls them Neigh, Neighs. Too cute! He was the cutest cowboy on a horse ever!!!

Jack was Harry Potter and had been growing his hair out just for his costume. A few days after Halloween we took him to get a hair cut. He loves to read the Harry Potter books and this costume was a good compromise for a mommy who isn't ready for him to be a gross character.

Bailey was a cute 50's girl. Her Memaw made her this adorable hot pink poodle skirt. She loved it. It was too big on her and will probably fit her for many years to come! After we trick or treated our street we headed over to Mimi and Papa's for a good scare and a fun "gross" dinner.

Papa always comes up with some fun way to scare the kids each year. This year he came out from behind a tree as they rang the door bell dressed as a ghoul with glowing red eyes. I don't think the older kids were scared this year but Connor and Brooke were not happy with Papa! I took pictures outside but they didn't turn out at all. Mimi made us a fun dinner complete with scary foods! Heart parts, monster brains, tombstone cupcakes and other spooky foods.

Aunt Tamara brought pumpkins for them to decorate and they had a blast. About this time of the evening Jack and I were getting very tired. It took the two of us longer to get over the flu.

Connor went over board with the stickers! He really loved Halloween this year. Not just the candy, he loved the decorations dressing up and helping Jack and Bailey make bats, and jack o lanterns to decorate our front window. Sometimes I forget he is 3, he is growing up so fast.
After a long, eventful day, we headed home exhausted to fall into bed and gain an hour of sleep!

Pearce Mustangs!

Last Friday before all this swine flu happened around our house, another blog, we spent a fun, crisp and cool night at the football field. Bailey attended the Pearce cheer clinic a few weeks ago and one of the perks is they get to cheer with the Varsity Cheerleaders at a home game. It just happened to be the same Friday that Greg was out of town and the same Friday that Jack started acting sick but we made the best of it and had a good time. Bailey and her friend Bella got flowers from their super sweet teacher after they performed. They love their teacher and I love that they have a teacher who would take time out of her Friday night plans to come and watch them and bring them a surprise. We are truly blessed.

I couldn't get a good shot of the girls cheering and they wouldn't look my direction, they were too busy looking at their teacher in the stands!

This is the third year that we have done this camp and probably the last, but it was fun to watch B on the big field cheering her heart out!

Pumpkin Patch Adventures

These are the children God has given me. God has been good to me... Gen.33:5 I love, love, love this time of year. The cooler weather, the warmer clothes, the beautiful colors, the pumpkins and leaves and football! When we finally got a little break in the rain, we headed to our local pumpkin patch to pick some pumpkins for our yard. Jack looks so old to me all of a sudden. He is really growing up this year.

This was my favorite picture of the afternoon. I am truly blessed by three wonderful children. After they all gave me their best smiles we ran around and picked out our pumpkins to take home.

Bring on Fall!