Hawaii 2009

Recently we were blessed to spend 10 days taking in God's beautiful handiwork in Hawaii! Please enjoy this slideshow of pictures from our trip that attempts to capture the glorious sights we took in during our Hawaiian vacation.


Hawaii 2009 from Jamie French on Vimeo.

Still Kickin'

Just in case you happen to wander onto our family webpage and think we've all but closed up shop-- it's not so! We've gone 'private', but would still love to have you along for the ride for our overseas adventure! Just e-mail me at jamie@thefrenchfamily.org and I'll send you an invite to our blog. Here's one of our most recent posts:


If you haven't had one of these in a while...


...we highly recommend it! ;)

Last night Rob and I enjoyed our first, official 'date night' since we left the states!! The evening was courtesy of our sweet friends SJ and Gloria who offered to watch the little ones.

It was a simple dinner and a movie night. We dined with friends at a really nice Italian restaurant complete with garlic bread and lasagna. After dinner we walked through downtown to see the movie, "MaMa Mia" which we both thought was a lot of fun! Hopefully we'll make this date thing more of a habit!

In other news...

Look who graduated to pigtails!

You. Go. Girl.

Shake, Rattle, and Roll!

TREMORS!

Well, I guess it officially takes a natural phenomenon for me to post on our blog nowadays! For those who don't live nearby and didn't feel the tremors, the midwest experience a 5.2 earthquake at about 4:30 this morning. The epicenter of the quake was about 120 miles east of our location and, yes, it literally shook me out of my sleep! As I lay there a snoozin' I was suddenly awakened by a very loud rumble. I jumped out of bed, checked the crib-- Sadie was fine. Next I ran to William's room thinking maybe he woke up early and may have knocked something over. Sure enough it wasn't my two-year-old rocking the house!! My mom, also startled by the event, ran to William's room, too! After about 15-20 seconds or so it was over. That's when my mom and I said to each other, "Do you think that was an earthquake?" And, sure it enough, it was! Thankfully each of my babies were just fine, but needless to say everyone was awake and stayed that way! Oh well, I guess that means early naps for all of us today! Thank you for your protection, Lord!

GOING PRIVATE

Now about my 'blogging procrastination'. Lately I've been toying with whether or not to make our family blog private. While I love making new friends and the idea of knowing that an old friend/acquaintance could happen upon our blog-- we've decided to go private, at least for the next year as we are overseas. My friends and dear readers, there is so much more I want to share about our lives that at this time and, for good reasons, I just can't. So, if you'd like to join us on our overseas adventure--and we'd LOVE it if you would-- PLEASE e-mail me at jamie@thefrenchfamily.org or leave a comment. If you do, I'll be sure to send you a personal invitation. It doesn't matter if we're old or new friends, Internet buddies, or you've read our blog and never left a comment--it doesn't matter-- just drop me a line and I'll add you to 'the list'. We'd love to have your join us and look forward to hearing from you! And, by the way, I promise I'll update more frequently! :)

HAVE YOU EVER GOOGLED...

Before I go, a quick question: Have you ever had to google this ? Well, I did this past week after William woke up from his nap looking like this:

Yes, Will had found a container of Vaseline and rubbed it in his hair. After a good laugh and a photo shoot, I realized that getting this jelly out of his hair wasn't going to be a piece of cake. After looking at this site, I was a little depressed! Needless to say, after rubbing a good bit of baby oil in his hair (I know it sounds crazy!)...

Three washings with Dawn dishwashing soap (he loved this part)...

And an ice cream sandwich...




William's hair was Vaseline-free and as soft as I can remember. Shoo! Never a dull moment! I hope you never experience this, but if you do I hope this helps!

I'll leave you with some other recent pics-- Enjoy! And again, PLEASE join us as we go private! Just leave a comment or e-mail me at jamie@thefrenchfamily.org As a fantastic blogger once said (Rachel!), your comments are like Christmas morning to me! It's true!! :):)

Love in Christ,
Jamie

America's next...

American Idol!?!

I don't know...it looks like we have some competition!

Yep, better start reaching for those high notes!

Checking out elephants at the zoo!

Sweet One-Sock Sadie!

Have a great day everyone!

OH MY! Just as I was about to post this...another small quake! CRAZY!!! I think that's my cue!

This just in...

Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt your regular programming to bring you this late breaking news: Miss Sadie Katherine is officially walking!! As I was finishing my last post, I looked up and saw Sadie stand up on her own, without pulling up on anything, and simply start to walk across the room, like it was no big deal! Now, her 'walk' is a little like a drunken stupor, but she is definitely walking and very proud of herself, at that!!

Way to go, little lady!

Happy Easter!

From our family to yours...Happy Easter from the French family!

The Lord is Risen! He is risen indeed!

After church we had a little Easter egg hunt. Will really 'got it' this year and Sadie was less than thrilled that her basket had less eggs than her big brother! Ha. As a matter of fact, Will is napping as I type and Miss Sadie is in heaven-- playing with all the eggs and race cars big brother got in his basket. Shhh- I won't tell him if you won't either! :)

Enjoy!

They really were happy to get their baskets!



Pretty girl!



"Hey, how come his basket is so full? I want that one!"




'Da girls!



'Da boys!



"Hey, I'm getting good at this!"



Sadie's first egg hunt was a hair raising experience!

Back in the Saddle

Sheesh, I get out of the habit of blogging for a couple weeks and it's hard to get back into it! SO MUCH has happened over the past several weeks, my friends! Where in the world to start? At the end of February we enjoyed a great visit with Rob's parents during which time we...drumroll please, sold our HOME!!! Praise the Lord. We 'put it on the market' on Sunday night. That is, we placed an ad on the free advertising site, Craigslist.com, and within less than a week, God allowed us to sell it! Again, praise Him. I could got into more details, but the bottom line is-- GOD IS GOOD.

After that HUGE weight was off our shoulders, the kiddos and I flew to St. Louie for a wonderful visit with family and friends. Unfortunately, most of us dealt with some form of sickness, but all in all, it was great to be with everyone. A special thanks to my Mom and Dad for taking care of their grandbabies while I was under the weather. And to my sweet sister, Katie, who took the entire week off to spend with us. How could I ask for more?! :):)

Okay, okay, on to pictures! While we were there, my Mom and Dad hosted a fantastic first birthday bash for our sweet Sadie. She loved spending time with her extended family and really hammed it up when it came time to open up gifts. I was so glad that Sadie was able to have a big 'ole party like her big brother did for his first birthday. Thanks for the party MiMi and PaPa!


The birthday girl, hamming it up!




A tower of sweets for our sweetie!



The cake had little chance of survival!



Big brother obviously approves!



Sadie celebrates with her future BFF Riley! ;)



It's true, Miss Sadie, your future's so bright you've got to wear shades!



Methinks she likes this one!



Oh, yes, how could I forget? I celebrated a birthday, too...the big 31!! Sadie girl, I pray you'll be blessed with a table-full of dear friends as God has blessed your Mommy!

Happy Birthday Miss Sadie!

Sadie's pre-birthday celebration
Originally uploaded by French Family

Oh, my sweet baby girl! Your Mommy is so busy right now that she doesn't have all the time she would like to share all of the wonderful ways you have blessed our lives this past year. We are so thrilled by your sweet, sunny disposition and the joy you bring to everyone you meet. God has amazing plans for you, Sadie! Keep that beautiful smile all your days!

Happy First Birthday, Sweetheart!

Love,
Mommy

Do I love you? Need You? Use You?

These three simple questions are helping me declutter our home. Do I love you? Do I need you? Do I use you? If I can't answer "yes" to any of these questions about an item- it's gone! Oy vey! What a task. It's an even bigger task when you know you're MOVING---VERY FAR AWAY--- and SOON! Ahhh! Yes, for those who haven't heard, the Lord has opened amazing door of opportunity for our little family. I'm still debating how much info to share in the 'public domain' of bloggerland as of yet, but shoot me an e-mail if you'd like some details! ( jamie@thefrenchfamily.org )

Meantime, please pray that this frazzled Momma will stay motivated to get 'r done!!!

(By the way, I can't take credit for coming up with the three question rule- Kelly over at flylady.com gave me that precious advice.)