Giving Thanks

This is the time of the year when I begin to get sappy about things and beginning the Thanksgiving week with Adalyn's preschool program certainly put my sappiness at an all time high.  Yes, it was only 5 songs and a grand total of five minutes long, but  I one proud mama watching my little girl and all of her classmates put on one heck of a Thanksgiving show.  They sang songs about fat turkeys, squirrels with bushy tails, and pumpkins.  But my favorite song was the one at the very end.  During the first four songs the kids had motions to go with their words and mostly watched their teachers and copied what they were doing.  The last song was about being thankful and included no motions.  However, Addy decided that it certainly needed some movement and did what she called her "slow motion dance moves" throughout the entire thing.  Now this wouldn't have been as noticeable in the back row, but Addy was front and center and was dancing for all to see.  At one point her neighbor's turkey hat went flying off her head and we're pretty sure Addy may have had something to do with its flight!  I guess I should have asked more questions that morning when she told Derek that her favorite song of the program was the "Thankful song" when she gets to do her slow dance moves.  I had no idea that it was her own choreography!  Needless to say, Derek and laughed through the entire performance and we are still chuckling about it today!

So proud of our little performer!

Enjoying the cookies after the performance



Addy in her turkey hat from the performance

Addy had the day off school on Wednesday and we spent the morning running errands and getting last minute things that we needed for hosting my family for Thanksgiving.  Mom, Dad, and Ashley came up on Wednesday night.  We were all so happy to see them and were excited to host our First Thanksgiving at our house.  We woke up early on Thursday to put the bird in the oven and prep some of the other dishes we were going to eat.  We ate our Thanksgiving meal around noon and then spent of the rest of the day spending quality time together, napping, and finalizing our Black Friday shopping lists. 

The bird (pre-oven)

The centerpiece that I made..I was so proud:)

Around 9:30 Thursday night Mom, Ashley, and I headed out to a few stores.  I have always enjoyed going on Black Friday.  I guess I kind of think of it as a sport.  I didn't really have any big "must have" items on my list, just small bargains.  Mom was hoping to score a few things for the kids at great deal and Ashley was starting her holiday shopping.  We headed to the typically "less busy" Wal-Mart in town and actually found many of the things we had on our list.  After that we went to Target and after seeing the line that wrapped around the store, we decided not to attempt to make our way in.  We finished up our evening at Toys-R-Us.  We had planned for it to be our first stop, but decided against it when the line to get in at 9:30 went all the way around the store. 

Overall Mom came home the big winner and scored some great deals for the kids.  We had a great time going out and get in about 1:30, which isn't bad considering we heard many people that were in lines around us talk about how they were staying out until 6 a.m. when the other stores opened. 

On Friday Derek and Dad worked outside and hung a lighted wreath above our garage.  Derek and I headed out to a few stores to score a few more deals for the kids.  In the evening the girls went to paint pottery at the art studio in town and the boys went to Farm & Fleet to browse and pick up supplies for Christmas lights.  We all met for dinner and headed home.

Saturday we loaded up in our vehicle to go to dinner and check out the Christmas lights around town.  Anyone who knows my Dad knows that he loves to put up lights for the holidays.  We took him to see several crazily decorated houses so he could be inspired.  Let me tell you, we have quite a few crazy houses!


My family left early on Sunday to head back to Indiana.  We had a fabulous Thanksgiving holiday and are so thankful for so many things.  We had a wonderful year and are so blessed to have so many wonderful family and friends in our lives.

**I apologize for the lack of pictures!  For some reason the camera didn't get picked up as much as I would have liked it to!

Princesses Live

On Sunday, November 13th Addy and I headed to Peoria to meet our friends Kristi and Charli for Princesses Live. Kristi and I had been talking about doing something like this together for quite a while, so when tickets went on sale for the show last summer we jumped on it. Before the show we ate lunch at Panera. The girls were both wearing princess dresses. Addy was Snow White and Charli was Belle. Naturally, they made beautiful princesses and get a lot of looks from Panera patrons. After lunch the girls were so excited to get to the theater. We arrived at the theater, hit up the souvenir stand and found our seats. The show featured the stories of Snow White, Cinderella, and Belle. Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald also made appearances. The show was very well done. The girls were a bit frightened by the villains, especially the evil stepmother/witch in Snow White. Addy had to hide her eyes, and I have to admit..she was pretty scary! We had a fabulous time singing the songs and watching the stories of the princesses play out to their "happily ever after." Afterwards we took the girls out to the theater's lawn to let the girls run off some energy before our car trips back home. It was so cute watching the girls run all around in their dresses. Towards the end Addy started to get a bit cranky, but she was going on no nap and it had been a long day. It was a fantastic day and we are so glad we got to spend it with our two wonderful friends!

October in a Nutshell

O.K. so I haven't exactly been "on the ball" with updating the blog lately.  Quite frankly I have dropped the ball on keeping it up to date.  I wanted to wrap up October in one post, so that I can begin November posts  before we turned our calendar to the December page.  Here are some of our October highlights....

• New Playset--After a ton of research and contemplating what we wanted in a playset we finally had one built in our backyard in October.  It was finished on October 6th and we have already spent lots of time enjoying it.  Carter climbs the ladder to get to the upper deck on his own and will go down the slide over and over again.  Addy enjoys the "big kid" swings and loves to pretend she a pirate sailing on a ship while she's playing on the top deck. 
















• A Visit Home--The kids and I made a trip to southern Indiana during the third weekend of October.  Derek was heading to Phoenix, Arizona for a conference, so I decided to take the kids to visit their grandparents.  We spent four days with Grandma and Grandpa Schum.  As usual, we packed a ton of activity into that time including a craft fair, the Gasthof for lunch, trick-or-treating to our relatives houses, and a trip to Mesker Park Zoo with Grandma and Grandpa.  Monday afternoon we headed to Grandma Freihaut's house to visit her for a day and then we headed to Terre Haute to meet Addy and Carter's new cousin, Kerrigan, who was born on October 13th.  We really enjoyed spending time with so much family and seeing everyone!  It was exciting to meet a new member of our family and Addy really enjoyed getting the opportunity to hold her new baby girl cousin!

Derek admiring his new niece!

Addy is proud of her new cousin!

• Tanner's Orchard--We have loved this place ever since our first visit with Addy as a baby and the thought of not making a trip there this year made us sad.  So, we packed up the kids on a warm Sunday in October and headed north of Peoria to check out Tanner's.  They have a super playground that both of the kids loved.  We also got to do the new pedal carts, which Derek loved.  Carter enjoyed seeing the goats and riding on the pony.  Addy enjoyed running  and play on all of the fun equipment.  One of the highlights of the morning were the apple cider donuts--yum yum!  We left the orchard with two perfect pumpkins and a box full of yummy goodies from the store.  It was a great day!
• Parent Teacher Conferences--At the end of October I met with Addy's teacher for my very first Parent/Teacher Conference as a parent.  It was a very interesting experience being on the other side of the table for the first time. Addy is doing a great job at school. Her teacher did say that she is a bit chatty at times.  Hmmm, I have no idea where she gets that from! :)  We were very proud of her for getting such a wonderful report from her teacher.


• Halloween--This year Derek officially dubbed this holiday as Halloween-a-palooza this year.  It seems like it was a marathon event this year.  We had several parties beginning with a Mom's group meetup of about 13 kids (all under the age of 4) and their moms at our house on Thursday morning.  Then later that night we attended our Mom's group Halloween party which was held at a local church.  Over Halloween weekend we hosted a weenie roast to break in the new fire pit that Derek built in the back yard.  We finished the Holiday off with an evening of trick-or-treating on Monday.   The kids got lots of candy, had a great time, and we were all exhausted when all was said in done.

Trick-or-Treat!

Addys pumpkin--she drew the face and I carved it out.

So, that's October in a nutshell.  In the next few days I hope to post several Thanksgiving/November posts and then I will deem myself officially "caught up" on the blog.  Hopefully I can post a little more regularly during the holiday chaos!  Bear with me!

Welcome Fall!

During the first few weeks of October we have welcomed fall with open arms by spending a lot of time outside enjoying the beautiful weather that found us at the beginning of the month.  We took the kids to the local pumpkin patch to check out all the fun activities going on.  It was a beautiful Fall day to check out Rader Farms.  This was our first visit to the farm and we had a ton of fun.  The kids loved everything they had for them to play on.  Derek and Addy went on the giant jumping pillow, which was a very popular attraction.  Carter enjoyed the grain bins full of corn that the kids could play in and the barrel train rides. 

We also headed to Wisconsin Dells for an extended weekend of family fun over the Columbus Day Weekend.  We had taken Addy there a few years ago and wanted to head back this year since she and Carter both love the water.  For those of you who don't know, the Dells is the self proclaimed indoor water park capital of the world.  There are ton of indoor water park resorts in the area and there all also many outdoor water parks that draw tons of visitors during the summer weekend, which is why we elect to visit in the less busy chillier months.  We stayed at the Wilderness Resort again this year which has four indoor water parks for their guests.   This year we lucked out on the weather and it was gorgeous.  I'm talking t-shirt and shorts type weather.  We were able to spend more time outside and took full advantage by going on a horse and carriage ride through a canyon and a boat ride through the upper Dells.  The scenery on both tours was beautiful and the weather made it that much more enjoyable.

The first night we arrived at the Dells we ate dinner at a restaurant that has model trains deliver your food to your table.  Addy and Carter really enjoyed watching the trains zip around the dining area.

Scenes from our boat tour

We certainly got our share of pool and water park time in as well.  Addy loved going down the water slides with us while Carter stayed poolside with Grandma Freihaut.  It's amazing how many more things Addy is willing to attempt and how confident she is in the water.  She is growing up so fast.  Sometimes I would like to push the pause button to slow her down just a bit:)  Carter also loved the water and by the end of our trip he was conquering the tamer slides in the kiddie areas. 

Each morning the staff at the Wilderness Hotel has rubber ducky races in the lazy river of one of the water parks.  Basically the kids choose a duck and their name gets written on the bottom.  Then the ducks are thrown in the water at one point of the river and float to another designated point.  Each morning their are four races with a total of 10 winners who win a coveted Duck whistle and the winner of the last race wins a t-shirt.  Well, our participation in the Kenducky Derby races all three mornings of our stay just confirmed the fact that when it comes to winning contests that involve luck, the Freihauts are simply unlucky.  We did however obtain a collection of Halloween themed rubber duckies to add to our growing holiday decor.  We also had a great time cheering for our ducks and congratulating the kid next to us who had also won the previous morning (I'm not at all bitter:). 

We headed home on Monday (Columbus Day), but stopped at the Dells outlet mall before making the trek back to central Illinois.  We had a great time in the Dells and will return for more family fun in future years.  It is great place to take the kids and we always enjoy our time there.  This year it was a fabulous official beginning to our Fall Season and a great way to take advantage of the last glimpse of summer like weather. 

**My camera broke on the Thursday before we headed to the Dells.  My lens got stuck on the camera and couldn't be removed from the camera body.  After spending a great deal of the morning on the phone with Canon tech support, it was determined that I would have to send it in to be repaired.  I was (and still am) very disappointed that I wouldn't be able to take pictures at the Dells or of all the beautiful fall leaves.  Thankfully I did receive it back this week in time for Halloween, but just after a big rain that took down the beautiful fall leaves.