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!!