Liam's Early Bouncing Birthday

Liam's birthday falls in early August it is sometimes hard to get school friends to come to his summer birthday celebration as families are busy with summer vacations and getting ready for back to school. This year we decided to have his party early so we could invite his friends from school. He decided he wanted to have his party at Bounce Planet and indoor inflatable bouncing wonderland and they have a Chuck E Cheese kind of game area (on a smaller scale) that allows you to win tickets. He thought this was perfect jumping and bouncing and games life couldn't get better so we set plans in motion for his party. Me being room mom for his class thought it would be fun to have it on the last day of school and invite his class. I hoped that some of the kids would be able to attend before vacations got started.

He wound up with 19 kids at his party (of course 5 of them were from our house) and they had a blast bouncing themselves silly. The party includes 70 minutes of bounce time and before the end of the time I had kids coming up to me saying they were so tired could they be done now and go sit down. I couldn't believe that 7&8 year olds were whooped in 70 minutes but I who was I to argue with a bunch of tired kids so we head to the party room. Where it seemed a few sips of cool beverages revived them and they were suddenly full of energy and loud as all get out. Luckily food quickly arrived in the form of yummy pizzas. They consumed their pizza and then we moved on to cake. Jason was able to get a great night sky cake for our space themed party adventure. After ingesting sugar laddened cake it was getting close to the end of party time and they had to decide if they wanted to watch him open presents or play games. They picked playing the games and off they went. Kids were every where collecting tickets and picking prizes and they all looked happy, tired and busy. Soon parents started to arrive to collect their children and our party came to an end with lots happy tired kids. To wrap up our space themed event we had each kid sign Liam's big inflatable alien and gave them a good bag containing an inflatable space ship, a sticky alien, a squishy earth and of course some candy and what goes better in a space gift bag then Starbursts and Milk Ways. We came home with 5 tired, happy kids and lots of fun memories.

Welcoming in Summer and saying goodbye to Kindergarten and 2nd grade

It's officially the last day of school and the beginning of summer when you get off the bus and break the banner. Here is this year's Welcome Summer Banner. I read about this last year in Family Fun magazine and thought it was a great idea. Because I am a bargain nut I of course had a huge roll of yellow paper that i got really cheap all ready to go last year so we just used that again.

The last day of school was a busy day in our household. We start out the day with a picture marking the last day of school. Once the kids were on the bus and the little kids were safely stowed at school I head out for my last day of volunteering. I went and helped Liam's teacher last year ( I love this teacher and have been helping this school year) for a little while.

Liam's Last day of 2nd grade


Then I head off to help in Lexi's class. Her teacher got engaged during the school year and is getting married over the summer. The class was throwing her a surprise bridal shower so I went to help with that. A few of the parents came in and decorated the class in red, white and blue because she is getting married over the 4th of July. We have cake and ice cream for the kids and had some gifts for the teacher. While the class was out experiencing the thrill of the big kid playground for the first time we snuck in and set up the surprise. I think she was really surprised and very happy. The kids loved having cake and ice cream but didn't really understand the point of the party.

Lexi with her teacher at the party

After the party I decided to surprise Liam in the cafeteria during lunch time. I don't plan enough in advance to actually eat with him but I enjoy sitting with him and his friends while he eats. However those kids are a loud bunch in the cafeteria but they have a good time. They love it when people come to visit, however it kind of feels like feeding time at the monkey exhibit at the zoo. Even though I can't carry on a conversation with him it's still fun to spend time with him and he even though he acts like he doesn't love it that I am there he often asks if I will come in for lunch again sometime. Now if I could just get DaDee to go in for feeding time, that would really surprise him.

Liam and his lunch room pals

After lunch with Liam I headed home to get the banner ready for the official break through to summer. Last year DaDee had the pleasure of hanging the banner but this time the pressure was on me. I made it work it wasn't beautiful but it worked. After getting off the bus the kids got to bust through the banner in to their summer vacation. Liam went first and surprisingly paper banners stretched tight from porch post to porch post are hard to bust through. After Liam went DaDee held up the broken side and Lexi put her head to the banner and made it through. Hard or not they busted through and summer began officially in our land.

Liam busting in to summer

Lexi busts through to summer

Storming the dentist office with all 5 kiddos

For spring break excitement at our house Mom had the pleasure of taking all 5 kids by herself to the dentist office so the older 4 could see the dentist. I was suprisingly not worried about this endeavor as my kids LOVE the dentist office. They get excited when they find out we are going and when we get there they go running in. Now I have to admit if I was a kid and this was my dentist office I might be a tad excited to go too. The waiting room looks like an island. It is wonderful. They have 3 tv's with video games set up on them to keep the kids happy and busy. Then for routine cleanings they have 6 boat shaped chairs in a beach decorated room and they kids get to pick a boat to sit on. All 4 of them are in the same room so I just wander from child to child or boat to boat. The kids love it so much that I never hear a peep from them and to my surprise Brenna even went with the technician to get her first set of xrays with out me. I was talking about one of the kids to the Dr and she just went with them. It is just off the main room so after I was done talking I walked over to watch her and she was sitting in the chair like she was hot stuff. I was able to grab a few picks with my phone to share of our amazing dentist. I just wish they would take adults so I would be more happy about going to the dentist.













Thanks for joining us on this trip to the dentist. Hope you had as much as they do when they go visit.

It's official, the Wubba will be officially joining the Family

Just wanted to let you know some very exciting news in the French Household today. Today I went down to DCS (Department of Children Services) to meet the caseworker and the kids' birth mother. She agreed to sign consents for us to adopt the Wubba man. The birth father signed previously so we now just have to find an attorney complete the paperwork and wait for an official court date. Stayed tuned for that information. For all of those that are anxiously awaiting the big announcement of what his name will be after the adoption is final. Wait no longer. With out further ado we are proud to announce the impending adoption of Rogan Wayland Charles French. Rogan is just a name Jason and I both liked. Wayland was Jason's grandfather's (on his Dad's side) middle name. Charles is my father's middle name, my great grandfather's first name (Isn't that right dad?) and Jason's uncle's first name. Thank you all for your love and support even when you thought we were crazy.

A reversal of things

At night when it is quiet my mind always seems to wonder while I am getting ready for bed. I always come out from putting in my contacts to share some strange info or thought with Jason. I am not sure why winding down the day always brings on strange thoughts for me but it does and Jason has to endure my ramblings. Last night I was thinking of how school has changed since I was in elementary school and I was sharing that with Jason as he watched family guy on TV. Then it dawned on me that there has been a reversal of things over the last 20 years and I found it rather interesting.

When I went to school the world wasn't all rainbows and roses. They didn't worry so much about you feeling included and part of every group and having your feelings hurt was just part of the reality of life. We got to enjoy having Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine's day parties at school and even got to bring in yummy stuff to share with our class that if you wanted it could even be homemade. When we went to gym we played dodge ball and got creamed by the big kid in class but still managed to get up the next day and make it through another round. In the cafeteria we ate what they gave us or what mom put in our bag. There was not 3 options of what to partake in each day you either brought or bought. I also recall that they actually cooked the food at school when I was in school, it wasn't brought in already prepared just to be reheated for the lunch crowd. I remember being excited when it was pear day as we usually got little green jello frog on top of our pear half. I loved those little green frogs so much I rarely ate them I just would hold them in my hand and admire them and then wrap them in a napkin and try to take them with me. Jello frogs don't usually survive being wrapped in a napkin much to my dismay.

After school if you played on a sports team only the kids on the team that won got trophies, or at least they got bigger trophies than the teams that got 2nd and 3rd and they knew who won because they kept score. If you didn't play sports you went outside and played until your mom yelled at you to get back in the house now. We rode our bikes in the streets with out helmets, roller skated with out knee and elbow pads, fell down and bled and got stitches. If you watched it was happy shows that if there was a problem it was easily solved with just a pleasant chat with mom and dad who sometimes slept in separate beds in the same room but separate beds none the less. Sometimes we watched after school specials to learn how to deal with the reality we faced in dealing with other kids at school.

We send our kids to school in the land of rainbows and roses and then we watch reality on TV for entertainment now. I wonder how things will be different for my grandkids when they go to school. Will they stop parties all together? Will they stop using grades so that no one does better than someone else? Or will things be totally different and be more like what it was when I went to school and kids lived in reality and we used to TV to visit the fantasy world of rainbows and roses.

The Worm Rescuer

Liam the Worm Rescuer


On Wednesday morning it was raining when we went out to wait for the bus' arrival to whisk the elder youth off to another fun pact day of learning or well at least a few hours as it was early release day. Upon our arrival to the driveway the kids discovered the worms have invaded the driveway. I loaded the wee youth in the vehicle for the required trip to school for the day. While loading the vehicle the eldest youth came to the conclusion that if the worms stayed in the driveway that the van would drive over them and squish them. He set out on mission to save the worms of our driveway. While waiting for the bus he picked up the slimy wigglers and airlifted them to the safety of the yard. Alexis wanted to help but couldn't figure out how to pick up the worms. Liam informed it was easy, "Touch them and then they make a U as they curl up, just grab that part" She still wasn't convinced. Liam rescued several before the bus came and he dropped of his last survivor and headed out to the bus.

Have you ever wondered why earthworms come out of the ground when it rains. I use to think it was because they would drown in the ground when their holes filled with water however I had to go research this because I wasn't certain this was the right information. Turns out I was very wrong. I found this information

Worms don't have respiratory systems like humans. They take in oxygen through their skin which is covered in tiny mucus-secreting cells. For this reason, a worm's skin needs to stay moist for it to survive. Dry skin means death to a worm.

When it rains, worms leave the ground because the wet ground is much easier for them to navigate, plus they don't have to worry about drying out in the hot sun. Most often when they come to the surface they are doing so because it's easier to find mates on the flat open ground as compared to underground in their burrows.

Gardener John Mertus said it best in his article on earthworms: “To an earthworm, the wet ground is a wild singles bar.” For more information, see The City Naturalist - Earthworms

I wonder now if Liam's rescue of the worms was helpful or a hindrance to their love life, eithe way I am sure they were happier in the grass then in my tire. Hopefully they were able to find a good singles bar in the grass since the driveway was being evacuated.

On your next rainy day when you see those worms inching their way along the sidewalk or driveway, smile and know they are on a mission of love.

Landon meets a Butt Freckle

DaDee had fun introducing the kids to the new Buttfreckles we got today. Unfortunately the Butt Freckle was a little nervous.