Hello Holiday Break!

The past few weeks have been very crazy in the Freihaut household. I always forget how crazy the holidays get in second grade until they quickly approach. In addition to teaching our daily lessons, there are many extra projects to complete and events taking place that get the student super excited about Christmas. Managing their excitement while still trying to get things accomplished is very challenging. Our last day of school was the 18th and we will be on break for TWO weeks! If you can't tell....I'm SUPER excited!



To celebrate the beginning of break on Saturday we decided to take Addy to Shedd Aquarium in Chicago for a bit of a day trip. Adalyn really liked seeing all of the different kinds of fish and sea animals. She spotted her favorite fishy celebrity--Nemo on several occasions and got very excited! She also enjoyed seeing the dolphins, penguins, and playing the kids area. It was a fun day and just what we needed to kick of winter break!



This week Adalyn and I have enjoyed our time together. We finished Christmas shopping on Monday and went to lunch with Derek. On Tuesday we wrapped gifts and worked around the house. Tonight we made sugar cookies to leave out for Santa tomorrow. Adalyn really enjoyed making the cookies and did well with pushing the cookie cutters into the dough. She left her mark on each cookie she cut out by leaving thumb prints in the dough. It gave them real character.



Tomorrow we will spend our very first Christmas Eve in Illinois. Derek and I have always headed to Indiana to spend Christmas Eve with family. Since Adalyn is older this year, we decided to spend it together at home and then head to Indiana on Christmas day. We are hoping that Santa honors our request and visits our house very early on Christmas Eve, so that Addy can have extra time playing with her toys on Christmas Eve before we take off. Hopefull he will honor our request and work us in to an early appointment!



I know that lately I haven't been a punctual poster! One of my New Year's resolutions will be to post more faithfully on Sunday evenings. Hopefully I can stick to it. However, I'm not sure when our next post will be as we will be crazy busy over the next week spending time with family. We are looking forward to seeing everyone in Indiana and want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and wonderful New Year!!


**For some reason blogger won't let me upload pictures. Sorry! I'll try again at another time!

Wonderful Wedding Weekend

This past weekend was a very busy weekend for our family as all three of us were in our good friend Kim's wedding. Kim and Derek worked together at State Farm. In fact, Kim had to sit next to Derek, which I am sure was quite the headache for her:) In spite of Kim having to put up with Derek, we have developed a great friendship with her that has continued to grow. Kim loves Adalyn (and Addy loves her!) and we think of her as another aunt to Addy. She watches her often when we need a sitter and even took her to Relay for Life this past summer. We were honored that she asked us to take part in her special day and we are so happy for her and Nate.

The wedding took place at Starved Rock State Park, which is a little over an hour north of Bloomington. We pulled into the lodge late on Friday and got all settled into our room. After seeing Kim for a little bit and an attempt at painting Addy's fingernails, we got Addy to bed well past her normal bedtime. On Saturday our day began with a quick breakfast and then hair appointments for Addy and me at 9 am. I got my hair done first and then Addy sat on my lap to get her hair curled. The hair stylest curled her hair with a tiny curling iron and Addy sat very nicely the entire time. When it came time for the hairspray she asked the stylist to spray her again. She must have liked the smell!



After getting our hair done, we had a rehearsal and then a lunch. After lunch we managed to get Addy a short nap in the hotel room, which we knew was a must if she was going to make it down the aisle. While I was getting ready with the bridesmaids, Derek had the pleasure of waking Addy up from her nap and getting her dressed; which apparently wasn't too pleasurable. We started pictures at 2:30. After pictures we had a little bit of time to rest in the room and then the wedding began at 5:00. Derek was an usher, so he was able to walk Addy to the beginning of the aisle and then I stood at the end, so that Addy could walk to me. She did walk down the aisle by herself, which made us very happy. You never know what you're going to get with a 21 month old! Of course, Derek did tell her that Mommy had a piece of candy and that she should go to me to get it. Addy will work for Reeses Cups!! Derek and Adalyn hung out in a back room while the ceremony was going. We weren't sure how she would handle the actual ceremony. The wedding took place in a large room at the lodge in front of a giant stone fireplace. It was beautiful and perfect! Addy lasted through the dinner and dancing and headed to bed late again. She really enjoyed all of the attention she received from the wedding guests and made sure that she was noticed on the dance floor. Addy calls Kim--"Nim" because she doesn't quite have her k's. It was funny because frequently throughout the evening Addy would yell out "Nim" and expect Kim to drop everything pay attention. I guess she didn't quite understand that it was Kim's day!

Sunday we took our time waking up and went to breakfast at the lodge and then headed home. We made a few stops at several stores and at a friend's house to see a friend that was in town from Florida for the wedding. When we finally got home Addy and I took a nap and then Addy checked out her stocking that St. Nick had filled. Addy was happy to see a set of Mr. Potato heads and parts. Lately she had been very excited about Mr. Potato head!

It was certainly a busy weekend and we had such a blast sharing Kim and Nate's special day with them! We wish them lots of love and happiness as they begin their marriage!I have posted a few pics from the wedding, but if you would like to see more Addy wedding pics be sure to visit our picture site, which is bookmarked in the sidebar.

Oh My... Pumpkin Pie!!

Over the Thanksgiving holiday we headed to southern Indiana to visit our families. We headed home on Wednesday evening and stayed with my parents until Saturday morning. Addy loved seeing everyone and made the most of all the attention she received. She enjoyed the Thanksgiving feast. She had her first piece of pumpkin pie and devoured it in record time. Friday morning my brother, Brian and I headed out very early to brave the Black Friday chaos. Although my shopping trip was toned down from its normal craziness, Brian and I did manage to snag a few deals and see quite a few crazy people along the way. Friday evening my family headed to Santa Claus (which for the IL readers is a real Indiana town) for the Christmas celebration. The town has organized a celebration for the weekends leading up to Christmas. It was a lot of fun. We drove through the light display at the campground, which Adalyn really enjoyed. Her eyes were glued to all of the lights as she and grandpa danced to the Christmas music on the radio. She also really enjoyed the huge light tree in the parking lot of the shopping center. We visited Santa and Adalyn "tolerated" him much better then last year. Although she wouldn't let me go to far, she didn't scream or cry. I consider that progress!

Addy and Mommy at the Christmas Celebration

"Mom, I'm not so sure about this guy!"

Writing a letter to Santa to let him
Grandpa and Adalyn checking out the tree of lights.

Saturday morning we headed to Derek's mom's house to celebrate Thanksgiving with his family. Adalyn's cousin Cameron and his parents were coming to town to visit and we were very happy to see them. Cameron is 5 months old. It was interesting to see Adalyn interact to Cameron. Although at times she wasn't so sure about sharing the spotlight with him, she did take an interest in him and even gave him a few kisses and hugs. In the evening we went to a few stores and to the mall to check out a few sales. We are in search of bedroom furniture for Addy's "big girl" room and think we may have found it. Adalyn had a lot of fun eating and playing at Chik-fil-a and riding on the carousel at the mall. It was a crazy busy Thanksgiving weekend, but we are so thankful for the time we got to spend with both of our families. Adalyn loves her trips to Indiana and was asking to go back as soon as we got home.

Kisses for Cameron

One of the many books read by Grandma Freihaut

As far as Addy news goes, she is doing new and exciting things everyday. She is becoming much more independent and is vocalizing what she wants much more frequently. When we drive past any type of restaurant she yells "Eat, Eat" and then proceeds to request a hotdog and/or pizza. She still loves to eat her vegetables and fruit, but doesn't always want to eat meat. She also loves her Dora fruit snacks and could eat them all day if we would let her. Addy started to identify many of the basic colors and numbers. She still loves to color with crayons and has recently started to pretend more when playing. It is a lot of fun watching her treating her stuffed animals like babies by changing their diapers, feeding them, and pushing them around in the baby stroller. We have had our Christmas tree up for several weeks now and Addy loves it. When the lights aren't on she lets us know and won't stop until they're turned on. She also notices all of the lights and blow-ups in yards. Her babysitter, Patty, has a blow-up Santa on her porch and Addy loves seeing "Danta" when we pull into the driveway in the morning. It looks like Christmas is going to be tons of fun this year!!

Thankful Thoughts

This holiday season Adalyn is thankful for so many things…
She’s thankful for hugs from her mom and her dad;
And for her silky to hug when she’s feeling sad.
Addy’s thankful when her grandparents come to stay;
And for her aunts and uncles who LOVE to play.
Addy’s thankful for these things and many, many more,
But she’s most thankful that we will soon be a family of 4!

Yes it is true….Freihaut Baby #2 will be making its appearance on or around June 10, 2010!
We are very excited!



Be sure to check out the "better late than never" Halloween post!

"Tick or Teet" and a Beautiful November Weekend

I know it has been quite a while since I last posted, so this post will be a combination of the past two weekends. Halloween weekend was a lot of fun in the Freihaut household. My parents and brother came to visit on Thursday afternoon and stayed until the following Sunday. So their visit meant lots of attention for little Miss Adalyn. On Friday mom, dad , and Brian took Adalyn to Bloomington to eat lunch with Derek. They also took her to play at Chuckie Cheese. Much to everyone's surprise she wasn't into riding the rides, so they played many games with the many many tokens Granpa had already purchased. Before the Halloween festivities on saturday evening we went to Peoria to eat at Logan's and show my family one of our favorite fall spots--Tanner's Orchard. It was a chilly day, but we had a lot of fun. On Halloween Saturday we took Addy trick-or-treating in our neighborhood while my parents and brother passed out candy at our house. After Adalyn relaized that she got candy at each house we visited, she was really loving the whole trick-or-treating thing. Adalyn liked to call it "tick-or-teeting." We pulled her in her wagon through the neighborhood and she even started yelling and pointing when we passed houses that didn't have their porch lights on. She wanted to leave no house unturned! At the end on of the last houses we visited a nice man out a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup in Adalyn's bucket and Addy proceed to look up him and say "nother one." So walked away from several goodies from that house. It was a fun night and a great weekend spent with family.

This past weekend we took advantage of the beautiful weather and took Addy to the zoo on Saturday morning. There weren't many people at the zoo in the morning, so we had the place to ourselves. We took advantage of the empty walkway and let Adalyn out of the stroller to walk (or run). She really enjoyed herself! The weather was still cool enough for the animals to be very active. A lion came right up to the class to check out Adalyn, as Adalyn checked him out. We also ran several errands did some much needed work around the house. It was a very productive weekend!

Fall Break Fun

This weekend was fall break and an extended FOUR DAY weekend for me. Since, we had a long weekend we decided to make the trip up to Wisconsin Dells for a few days. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Dells, it is the self-proclaimed indoor waterpark of the world. Derek's mom had been up during the week to help us out while Derek was out of town and I had a few late night school functions, so she came along for all for the wild and wacky fun. We stayed at the Wilderness Territory resort, which has four indoor waterparks. Adalyn loved the water and had a lot of fun swimming. She also really enjoyed going down the "tame" waterslides with her mom and dad. It was great going down the slides with her because she actually laughed out loud the whole time we were going down them. Although at fist she wasn't so sure about the huge buckets of water dumping massive gallons of water on her head, she warmed up in no time and was soon running all around the water play structures.

Going down one of Addy's favorite slides

Lately Adalyn has been very interested in trains. We have train tracks that run through our very small town and we can hear the trains in the evenings as they pass through town. Adalyn often runs to the window and says "choo choo." She also goes crazy anytime she sees a train on t.v. and loves the book 'The Little Engine that Could." One of the tourist attrations at the Dells was to ride a small train through some of the scenic areas. Even though it was a bit colder that we would have liked, we braved the chilly temperatures and took her on a train ride. She loved it and we enjoyed it too. The train made a stop at a makeshift pumpkin patch, and she got to pick out a pumpkin of her very own. .

Before heading home on Sunday Adalyn participated in the resort's Halloween Duck Races. She chose a duck (a pumpkin duck) that was thrown into the lazy river with a bunc of other kids' ducks. There were several races and Addy's duck didn't finish in the top three in any of them. However, she did get to keep her duck, which she was super excited about. It was a neat activity! After the Ducky Derby we headed home and arrived in the aftertoon. Fortunately, I had Monday off to get back into the swing of things and run a few errands. It was a great family weekend!

Helping daddy pack the car

Adalyn continues to talk up a storm. She is adding more and more words to her vocabulary and knows several colors. She continues to love to color and put puzzles together. Just like her mom and dad, Adalyn loves to eat out. When we are driving through town, she will spot restaurants and yell--"eat, eat!" She also is starting to say more and more phrases such as "I love you" and "I did it!" Each day with Adalyn brings new words and new adventures. We are loving every minute of it and are so proud of our little girl!

This is a video of Addy making her animal sounds that I taped a few weeks ago. I have been unable to upload video to blogger, but figured out the glitch tonight. Better late than never, I guess!

A quick trip to Indiana

This past weekend was fast and furious.  On Friday it was Rochester's homecoming so Addy and I walked with our friends Kristi and Charli to the parade.  The girls rode in Charli's wagon and were decked out in their new Rochester orange and blue outfits.  Of course we also had to bundle them up, because it was a chilly fall day.  The parade was a lot of fun as several of my teacher-friends brought their toddlers to the same spot to watch.  The kids really enjoyed watching the action and of course getting the candy.  Adalyn actually got to eat her very first sucker, which she loved!  She loved it so much that on the way back from the parade she figured out how to open another and then preceeded to share it with Charli.  Who says that toddlers don't share:)

Heading to the parade

mmm....sugar!! --Charli, Landon, Addy, and Andrew

True friends share their suckers:)

Friday evening we headed home to Indiana.  We stayed at Derek's mom's house on Friday night.  This was Adalyn's first visit to her new house and Addy really enjoyed playing with grandma's toys and running around the new space.  On Saturday we headed to Spencer County.  My family had been planning on taking Addy to Holiday World while we went to our 10 year class reunion.  We had a few hours before the reunion, so Derek and I also went to the park.  It was a beautiful fall day and we really enjoyed the park.  Addy rode many rides and had a great time.  She also got to see Santa, which she wasn't so thrilled about. 

Saturday evening we headed to our 10 year class reunion.  I can't believe it has really been 10 years since graduating from high school.  It was great to see so many people that we hadn't seen in a very long time.  We got to catch up with many friends and see what everyone is up to. 

On Sunday we took Addy trick-or-treating to my grandma's house and went to eat with my parents before making the trip home.  Even though it was a crazy and chaotic weekend, we had a lot of fun and look forward to our next visits with our families. 

Addy's newest obsession--coloring!

Adalyn Needs Your Vote:)

I entered Adalyn into a radio station photo contest where they are looking for "Central Illinois' Cutest Baby."  Please visit http://www.bloomingtonmagic.com/poll?sid=2571 to place your vote.  She's the first picture and you can vote as many times as like:)  Voting ends this Thursday.  Addy says "thank you" or your support!


Be sure to read the following post from this weekend!

Jam Packed Weekend

We took advantage of the wonderful weather on Saturday and went to the Morton Pumpkin Festival parade and to Tanner's Orchard.  At the parade we met our friends Mel and Kristy, Phil and Charli.  Addy and Charli go to Patty's together and are best buddies.  The girls had a good time at the parade.  Adalyn enjoyed watching all of the interesting floats and people pass by and waved to many people.  She was a bit scared of the sirens from the firetrucks and reached for her mom.  After the parade, we headed over to the food tents to have some pumkin inspired food.  The line for the actual food was forever long, so we ended up heading to the dessert line.  Derek loves the pumpkin ice cream a the festival and got his traditional sundae.  Of course Addy got several good licks and loved it as well, although she ended up wearing quite a bit of it!

After the festival we headed to another favorite fall destination--Tanner's Orchard.  Last year when we took Addy she was pulling herself up to things, but wasn't very mobile.  Wow, what a difference a year makes!!  This year she was all over the playground.  Addy loved going down the slides over and over again.  She also go a chance to ride her first pony, which she loved.  It was funny watching her reaction when I first put her on the pony.  Her eyes were huge and her expression looked as if she was saying "is this thing real?"She kept patting the pony's mane saying "neigh, neigh."  She ended up getting a chance to ride the ponies one mroe time before we left.  Addy also rode the barrel train all by herself, which made her mom a bit nervous.  It went on a route through some of the apple trees and at times all we could see of her was her two bouncing pigtails.  She loved it!  I absolutley love our weekends with our little girl.  Each day brings new laughs, words, and experiences.  Addy is a very happy and spunky little girl and I look forward to every weekend we get to spend together!

Lots to talk about...

We certainly have had a busy and productive last few weeks.  As previously stated in a post at the beginning of the summer, one of my summer goals was to select a new front door and get it installed.  Well, after lots of problems and issues with Lowes, we finally got it installed.  We are very happy with the way it looks and are excited that it is finally done!

Before

During

After

Over Labor Day weekend my parents came up for a visit.  Mom and dad were very excited to see Adalyn and she was excited to see them.  Dad brought his power tools and helped us complete many projects around the house.  He and Derek worked very hard at cleaning and organizing our garage.  They hung many things on the walls to clear up some much needed floor space.  It looks great!  Thanks Dad for all of your hard work!  We are so glad you brought those power tools:)  While Mom and Dad were visiting we also had a picnic at the park and went to Miller Park Zoo.  The park was surpisingly not very busy and Adalyn really enjoyed having the equipment to herself.  She also enjoyed seeing all of the animals with Grandma and Grandpa and loved riding the carousel with her Dad. 

Playing golf in the monkey house

This weekend Derek's mom came up to visit to visit Addy and lend us a hand while Derek is on a business trip this week.  On Saturday I had to take a few certification tests, so that I can be a certified Reading Specialist.  My Master's degree qualifies me to be a Reading Specialist and these are the final two hoops I have to jump through. Derek, Adalyn and Grandma Freihaut went to our small town's parade on Saturday.  Derek's mom made fun of it for being so short....I guess it was no Dale Fall Festival parade!  Derek though it was just long enough for Addy's attention span!  Sunday we did a lot of work around the house, went grocery shopping and got Derek ready to leave for his trip.  We have dogsat for our favorite dog, Olive for the past few weekends.  Addy loves it when she visits and has even started saying her name. 

Adalyn continues to add new words to her vocabulary everyday.  She continues to love to give people (and occasionally dogs) hugs and kisses.  Each morning she greets her best friend Charli with a big hug.  Recently Addy has loved to color with crayons.  My mom sparked her interest by buying her a her a big coloring book and new crayons.  Although she doesn't stay on a single page very long, she sits at her table or desk and colors for extended periods of time.