Lights...Camera...and Olive the other reindeer

This weekend was quite eventful and full of holiday fun. On Saturday I headed out early in the morning to do some Christmas shopping. In the evening we took Addy to the East Peoria Festival of Lights. It is a really neat festival that takes place all around the city, but the highlight is the Christmas light display in the park. Addy got to meet Santa, which was not a happy time for her. She was crying before she hit the lap. The only pictures we managed to take were all of her being held by Derek and crying. After the Santa visit we headed to the park to see the lights. It was great! We had never seen so many neat light displays. The line was VERY long and we crept in the car through the park. Since we were going so slowly, I was able to hold Addy in the back seat on my lap. She loved looking at all of the light displays. She did a lot of oohhing and awwing and dancing to the Christmas music on the radio. She got a little cranky toward the end due to the late night and the need for her bedtime bottle, but all in all it was a great success! I see it becoming a holiday tradition for the Freihaut family in the future!

Scenes from the Festival of Lights--East Peoria, IL

This weekend we also had Addy's Christmas pictures taken. You can certainly tell that she is beginning to be leary of strangers because the photographers had a terrible time trying to get her to crack a smile. They had to work very hard. In the end, they were able to get several good poses. Adalyn also got her first visit from St. Nick this weekend. She wasn't quite sure why there were toys put in front of her in a bright red stocking, but she enjoyed them once she figured out how to get them out. She took a liking to the new walker toy she got and was walking around the house and pushing it in no time. She hasn't mastered steering yet, but she's working on it!

We also had a very special visitor this weekend--our friend Kim's dog--Olive. She stayed with us from Friday until Sunday evening. Although Addy really likes Olive and thinks she is really neat, Olive spent most of the time running away from a tail pulling, poking, hitting, bone stealing nine month old. Addy kept pointing and laughing at Olive and at one point tried to give her a kiss on the nose.
We had a wonderful weekend! It is so much fun watching Adalyn experience her first holiday season! I wish that we could have a few more days in the weekend to spend together! Oh well only 2 more weeks until Winter Break! That is if I survive the crazy month of December with 24 second graders..please pray for me:)