Well, I decided to move the blog to a different location.  I've been wanting to for a while now, but just never had the time to do so.  I am hoping to now be able to post entries from my cell phone at the new location since it is almost impossible to get computer time anymore.  LOL!  Shawn will come home and ask what all we did today and usually my response is "took a bath (and that is huge!), played with the kiddos, watched Bob the Builder, ate lunch, picked up a little."  We are at the end of July and still no routine down...unless you call waking up from 9-10 am a routine...pathetic I know!  I am still loving being at home and spending precious time with Jase and Allyson.

Back to the blog!  Our new site is http://sjfrenchfamily.blogspot.com/.  I am still working on setting it up and do not know all of the ins and outs, but hope to figure it all out soon.  Thanks for following and hope to have more posts more frequently.

Leaving you with a couple of pics from a recent Astros game for Father's Day!

Howdy!  Things have definitely been busy here at the French Farm!!  Ally is 9 months, weighing in at 17 lbs and has 5 teeth.  Jase celebrated his 3rd birthday, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse style.  Shawn is a travelling man and Jessica has less than 48 hours of teaching left.

On Tuesday Ally officially turned 9 months and she has been such a great baby.  She rarely cries and is talking up a storm.  She is also crawling everywhere!!  Anyone care to come over and clean some hardwoods?!?  LOL!  Ally now says Dada, Momma, and Nanny.  I also think she says night night. We are working on some sign language as well, but I do not think she has signed any herself, but she knows what they mean.  She and Jase have started playing together too...it is too sweet.  She can make her way into the playroom now on her own and they will just sit in there and play.  Jase looks after her and you can definitely tell that he loves her.  And she completely lights up when he looks her way.  He can make the most annoying sound and she will start laughing.  I hope they grow up to be best friends and look after one another.  I almost forgot...last month Ally got her ears pierced!

Jase turned 3 at the end of April and we celebrated with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  He loves Mickey Mouse and he will be the first to tell you that he is Mickey Mouse!!  I'm Minnie, Daddy is Goofy, and Ally is Daisy.  He has become such a big help too.  Tonight I was putting candy into clear containers for my students to guess how many pieces were in each and he was right there in the middle of it.  At one point I had said 31 and the next thing he said is 32.  WOW!  He knows how to count almost up to 20 on his own and we have started working a little with after 20, but he really surprised me.  I can't wait to have the time to work with him on a daily basis...what a blessing.

In the past few months Shawn has travelled to Alaska, Brazil, and Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates).  Hopefully this is the last of the work trips for a while.  We have a family vacation planned to New York for a couple of weeks over the summer, so it will be nice to relax together as a family.  In April Shawn completed a sprint triathlon down in Kemah, which consisted of a 750 meter swim in the bay, 20 kilometer bike ride, and a 5 kilometer run.  He did an awesome job and we are so proud of him...guess I am next!

As for me, Friday is my last day at Keller Middle School.  I am very excited about finishing up my second year of teaching and taking care of the kids for a while.  With Shawn travelling, two little ones at home, and working full time, it has been very crazy lately.  I pray that I enjoy staying home with the kids and do not get stressed out.  I plan on having a structured schedule during the week, with activites planned for the kids.  I am so excited about taking Jase to the library; I have yet to do that.  We read books at home, but I have never taken him before.  And if we're not at home, we will be swimming!  Speaking of swimming, Ally swam for the first time on Monday at the Popes' new pool.  She did great!!  She was already doing kick-kicks in the water and really enjoyed it. 

Time to hit hay for me!  Here are some recent pics of the kiddos!!

I promise...we're still kicking and screaming over here!  Things have been nothing, but busy since the beginning of the year.  Little Ally is now 6 months (WOW!) and Jase is about to be 3 at the end of April.  Crazy!!  As you can tell, I did not post anything about Christmas, but we had a wonderful one.  Santa brought Jase plenty of Mickey Mouse things and Ally received some new toys.  As for Shawn, he got a waterproof digital camera and I got a ruby (birthstone) necklace and matching earrings.  Shawn was able to take off the last two weeks of December and we really had a nice time together over the Christmas holidays.

Here are some high lights from then until now...

12/30/2009 - Trip to Brenham to tour Blue Bell Creameries...Ally had her first taste of ice cream at 4 months!

12/31/2009 - Attended Texas Bowl at Reliant Stadium

1/4/2010 - Jase and Ally began staying at a friend's house, which was much closer than driving to Fairmont...which is a huge blessing.  Both Ally and Jase seem to be doing fine there.

2/13/2010 - Shawn ran in a 5K here in Deer Park

2/14/2010 - Ally's first Valentine's Day!!

2/15/2010 - We both signed up for weight loss challenges at our work...it is time we get this under control.

3/2/2010 - Told my principal that I would not be coming back to school next year...we decided that it was in our family's best interest to have me at home with the kiddos.  Even though we will have to cut back financially, I know that the Lord will bless us for this decision.  We all are very excited about this opportunity.

3/6/2010 - Jase went skating for the first time at Emily's birthday party!  He was very timid about it at first, but after it was all said and done he did not want to leave.  Shawn's 31st birthday!!

3/12/2010 - Took Jase and Ally to Chuck E. Cheese...he loves this place!  And not to mention that me and Nanny are hooked on one of the games there!  LOL!  We ended up winning over 1,500 tickets and he got a t-shirt, basketball, big lollipop (which he ate when we got home), and of course some stickers.

It is now Spring Break...YEAH!!  I woke up this morning very relaxed and did not have a worry on my mind...which was a relief.  I am very ready for the TAKS test to pass (April 6th for those of you praying for my sanity...lol).  Even though I am not teaching next year, I have an utmost respect for teachers now.  Their job is never done from grading to planning to analyzing data to meetings to dances to teaching to parent conferences.  It is by far a full time job and the breaks/holidays are definitely needed or I think you would completely break down from the stress/pressure.  Just my 2 cents!

Ally is getting so big and is rolling all around.  She weighs about 15 1/2 lbs and is such a happy baby.  We are working on her sitting up right now.  She can hold her own for a few seconds, but shortly after that she topples over.  About 3 weeks ago I decided to start making her baby food.  We are trying to eat healthier as a family, so I thought it would not hurt Ally to do the same as well!  I always wanted to make Jase's, but never took the time to figure out what to do.  So far, it has been working out pretty well.  I boil fruit and veggies on the stove, let them cool, puree, and then freeze them.  The only thing I do not think she has cared for is peaches, but other than that she loves apples, bananas, pears, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, carrots, and avocado.

And Jase, he definitely has a mind of his own these days.  For example, I got a new phone and he always wants to play on it.  Well, he went poop in his diaper and I told him that he could play a game after I changed his diaper and he did not need to sit in it.  He looks at me and says "it's ok, I'll just sit on my knees!"  NICE JASE!!  Then last night after Chuck E. Cheese he went to HEB with me to pick up some groceries and when we got home I thanked him for going with me and he looked at me and said "no problem."  It was cute!  He has been doing a great job potty training lately.  Aside from nap time, he only pottied in his pull-up one time today.  We even ran errands and ate out and he told us twice that he needed to go potty.  I am so proud of him.  He starts a 2-day preschool program this fall and has to be potty trained by then, so my goal was to really work with him over spring break.  Here are some pics in chronological order!

I know, it has been over a month since I've last posted.  You can say that we've been a little busy!!  Ally is now 12 weeks old and weighs 12 lbs.  Although she not real thick, she is a strong one.  Last week she started rolling over from her back to her stomach.  She is cooing up a storm and is a quite a doll if I do say so myself.  Jase has definitely hit the terrible twos.  He is using some of the lines I tell him "don't tell me no" and "do want me to spank you."  So that has been nice dealing with it.  Shawn and I are praying that it is just a phase.  As for me, I went back to work 3 weeks ago on November 2nd.  It has not been too bad, but very very busy.  The night time has been purely survival mode with feeding and bathing the kiddos.  Glad to be off for a week during the Thanksgiving holidays and hope to get caught up on everything.  Below are some pics from our current happenings.  First two pics are from fishing in Livingston.  It was so funny; Alisha would catch the fish, but would not touch them!

• October 24th - Sunday School activity at Bay Area Park & Paige's 2nd birthday party at The Little Gym in Clear Lake - Jase loved the dog park at Bay Area!
• October 31st - Fall Festival at Central Baptist - Jase and Shawn were runners and Ally was my little pumpkin!
• November 1st - Dedicated Ally to the Lord
• November 8th - Dynamo Soccer Game: Shawn, Jessica & Jase

We gave Ally her first bath at the house on Labor Day.  She actually enjoyed it and did not cry much at all...which was not the case wtih Jase.