Pictures of March

After Adalyn's birthday party the month of March went by with a blur.  We enjoyed the beautiful weather by spending a lot of time playing outside, had a visit from the Coppernolls, and  headed to downtown Chicago for a mini spring break get-away.  I can't believe how quickly the month passed.  For the sake of getting caught up and back in present time I am going to forgo the LONG description of the last three weeks of March and I will just post some pictures with descriptions instead.  I know some of you will think I'm being a slacker for not writing, but I also know most of you will be relieved that you don't have to read my long winded post just to see pictures of the kids.  Well, don't get used to it; soon I will be back to my long winded journaling ways!!

Snapshots of March

These two little guys loved spending time together during our play date with the Coppernoll family!

Addy and Charli checking out the view

Our "little stinker" at the Field Museum Children's Area

Both kids were big fans of seeing the dinos.

Admiring the museum's most famous dinosaur--SUE the T-Rex

Check out those chompers!

Playing in the huge atruim while Addy, Derek, and Grandma checked out the Egyptian exhibit

Posing at the American Girl Doll Store.  Addy loved seeing (and asking for) all of the dolls and accesories.  Derek mostly cringed at how much money could be spent there!  :)  Luckily we got out with only one outfit  and a personalized t-shirt for Lucy!

The Museum of Science and Industry had a Myth Busters traveling exhinit.  It has a lot of interactice exhibits and was a ton of fun for everyone.  Carter and Addy spent a lot of time at the house building area where you would try to build a house that would withstand tornadic winds.

Building a Strong house

They also had an exhibit where you could try to remove a table cloth from a table set with dishes. 
What this picture doesn't show is that Derek's dishes ended up on the floor.

Grandma;s dishes ended up on the floor too....

My dishes all stayed on the table!  I discovered a new skill that day and was darn proud.  I also may have bragged about it for the rest of the day. :)

We always knew that Derek would be a great clown!

This was the highlight of Carter's day!  The museum had a massive combine and tractor for visitors to sit in.  When I took Carter up to sit in the cab, he was on cloud nine and smiled from ear to ear the whole time.  He is definitely a fan of tractors!

Posing in the tractor tire

Fourth Birthday Fun

This year Addy's birthday fell on a Friday which was perfect timing for our families since they could make the trip to see us and celebrate with Addy on her actual day.  Her birthday was actually celebrated over a span of a few days and was filled with friends, family, fun, and lots and lots of birthday treats! 

On Friday (the big day) Addy was so excited about going to school because not only was it her birthday, but they were also having a pajama teddy bear party where the students got to wear pajamas and bring their favorite stuffed animal.  Since it was her birthday we let her pick a new pair of pajamas at the mall and she decided to take Minnie Mouse with her to school.  It was her day to bring in snack and she chose doughnut holes as her birthday treat.  After school we headed to Chuck E. Cheese to have a birthday play date with our mom's group friends.  Addy's eyes lit up when I gave her a cup full of tokens and told her to go use them all and trust me, she did just that!  It was great celebrating with everyone and watching all of the kids go crazy on the rides and games.  Chuck E. Cheese isn't usually busy during the weekdays, so we basically had the place to ourselves.  We brought Hello Kitty cookies to share with our friends.  By the end of the weekend we were definitely burned out on sweets.....well, at least Derek and I were! 

Addy woke up a balloon surprise on ber birthday

Dressed for her pajama party at school on the day of her birthday

Birthday Lunch with Chuck E. Cheese

 Later that day my family arrived to join in on the festivities.  Mom, Dad, Ashley, and Brian all came up together.  We are so glad everyone could come up to celebrate with Addy  Derek's mom had come up earlier in the week. It certainly made her weekend to see everyone. 

We continued the festivities on Saturday with a family birthday party. Cory, Courtney, Cameron, and Kerrigan came over  for the celebration. Addy chose Hello Kitty for her party theme this year and wanted to have tacos in a bag (walking tacos) for her meal.  We all ate lunch, let the kids play together, ate cake and ice cream, and watched Addy open her gifts.  She received a lot of wonderful gifts from everyone and loved every minute of the attention she received from everyone. 

Addy loved her Hello Kitty cake!

Blowing out the candles

Waiting to open her presents. Can you sense the anticipation?

Checking out her camera from mom and dad.  As she opened it Derek asked her is she is old enough for a real camera and she proceeded to take it out of the case and take his picture before he could finish his question. I guess she showed him:)

Addy, Kerrigan & Carter

Carter also loved all of the attention from everyone!  He especially liked playing with Uncle Brian

The birthday girl and Grandma and Grandpa Schum

Posing with Grandma Freihaut

Addy and Carter with Uncle Brian and Aunt Ashley

We were so thankful that we had the opportunity to celebrate Addy's birthday with our loved ones!  My family headed home on Sunday and Derek's mom headed home early in the week.  It was definitely a great birthday celebration that, like most of our celebrations, spanned a few days!  It's still hard to believe that our sassy little princess is four years old!  We sure do love our spunky little girl and are so proud of her! 

Addy received Hungry, Hungry Hippo as a gift, which led to some pretty intense games.

An Interview With a Four Year Old

On Addy's birthday weekend I decided to interview her about her current favorites and post her answers on the blog.  I hope to ask her the same questions each year to see how her favorites change throughout the years.  I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought it would be a cute addition to the blog.

1. What is your favorite color? purple

2. What is your favorite toy?  my Squinkies

3. What is your favorite fruit? strawberries

4. What is your favorite tv show? Phineas and Ferb

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? peanut butter and jelly

6. What is your favorite outfit? Hello Kitty shirt and tutu skirt

7. What is your favorite game? Hungry Hippos and Cut the Rope on the tablet

8. What is your favorite snack? Fruit Snacks

9. What is your favorite animal?  Zebras, elephants, and giraffes

10. What is your favorite song?  I Just Want to Be King

11. What is your favorite book? Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late

12. Who is your best friend?  Carter

13. What is your favorite cereal? Fruit Loops

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play on my playground

15. What is your favorite drink? lemonade

16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?   Minnie Mouse and my blankie

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Pancakes

19. If you could take a vacation anywhere, where would you go?   Holiday World

20. What do you want to be when you grow up?  "A Mommy and before I have a baby I'm going to work at a restaurant  at Holiday World."

Happy 4th Birthday Adalyn!

It's so hard to believe that today we are celebrating Adalyn's fourth birthday!  It seems like yesterday when Derek and I were two very excited (and frightened) parents  anxiously awaiting the arrival of our new little girl.  Fast forward four year and here we are...two very excited (and sometimes frightened) parents with a sassy four year old who is growing up WAY too quickly!!  We are so proud of our little girl and have cherished every day of these last four years.  Although we welcome each birthday with heavy hearts because our little baby is becoming a young lady, we also look forward to the exciting future that lies ahead of her.  We have a fun birthday weekend planned for our birthday princess and we look forward to celebrating with family and friends.  Happy Birthday Adalyn Grace!!  We love you to the moon....and back!


Addy was very cooperative for me when I took her four year pictures this week!  She really had a great time being goofy and just talking to me as I snapped away!  Hopefully her willingness to take pictures will continue!

This was the last photo I took because this is the exact moment that Miss Addy declared that she was "done."

A Blog Revival

I know, I know some of you are reading the title of this post, rolling your eyes and thinking...I've heard it before!  Well, I thought maybe if I deemed my jumping back onto the blogging wagon a "revival" that I would really stick with it.  I really do love having our memories documented and I hope that I can get back in the groove of posting on a regular (dare I say weekly?) basis.  We shall see!

Our little bookworms.  I find them together reading in this chair in Carter's room often. 

This past month has flown by much quicker than I anticipated.  Jan 1st marked the beginning of Derek's busy season at work which means late work nights and office hours on the weekends.  During the first month the kids and I have managed to keep very busy with activities and outings.  In early January Derek traveled for a week to Columbus, Ohio and Orlando, Florida for meetings.  Derek's mom came to visit during that week and we took the kids to IKEA on the Monday that Addy had off school for Martin Luther King Jr's birthday.  I had a list of a few things that I wanted to our house that will hopefully help me in achieving one of my New Year's Resolutions for the house--organization!  Later in that week Derek and I took the kids to the Illinois State vs. Indiana State men's basketball game.  This game has been on our calendar for a while because I went to both schools and Indiana State was a preseason favorite in their conference this year.  Addy proudly wore her Reggie Redbird kids' club shirt and I wore an IL State sweatshirt and an IN State t-shirt.  The Redbirds came out victorious and ran away with the game at the end.  We lasted most of the game and headed out with about eight minutes to go, which we considered a victory of our own! 

Working hard and a Valentine's Day craft

Addy, Reggie, and our friend Katie

Carter even took a picture with Reggie and he asked for a high five and fist bump.

I was a little nervous about  Addy beginning of the second semester of pre-K because it seemed as though she had become very comfortable with staying at home and sleeping until eight each morning.  Well, it turns out that she was super excited about going back to school and that I would be the only one sad about her going back.  She is really excited about this semester because they are focusing more on letter and their sounds, which is something that she is really interested in.  Her teacher also started a new format of show and tell that requires the students to give hints about their item and then their classmates try to guess what they brought to school.  It requires more practicing and preparation but Addy LOVES it and wants to make up hints for items around the house all the time.  It has become a new game around here.

We got to enjoy some unusually beautiful weather this month!

Carter loves getting wagon rides from his sister!

Addy continues to go to her gymnastics class at Jump Spot and also started taking swim lessons at the Four Seasons.  She really enjoys both classes and loves that she gets to go swimming in January. She is now floating on her back on her own and is practicing pushing off the side of the pool and floating to her instructor.  I am really amazed at how confident and comfortable she has become in the water.  I'm looking forward to taking her swimming this summer!

Carter's personality shines through more and more everyday.  He is still a basketball lovin' little boy and also loves playing with all of the new cars he received for Christmas.  Carter's talking has really taken off during this past month.  Some of his recent words and phrases are bee-ball (basketball), ooh-ahh (uh-oh), dud you (love you), and thank you.  He also jumped off the floor with two feet for the first time on Saturday (2/4/12) which is a big deal because he has been admiring the way Addy can jump for several months and desperately wanted to get some of his own air time.  Carter's sleeping habits have also changed drastically since Christmas.  During the month of January he has been waking up 3-4 times at night and won't put himself to sleep unless we're in the room.  I did a google search of sleep difficulties at 19 months and found a lot of info on the 18 month sleep regression.  I am not a fan of this stage in Carter's development and I am very ready for him to start sleeping normally again.  Carter has also been having difficulties with separation anxiety.  It plays a part in his sleeping difficulties and it also causes us to be paged by the nursery at church within ten minutes of dropping him off.  We're hoping that it is a stage that will pass quickly for him. As far as his eating habits go--well, they're really non existent.  He still won't touch most veggies and meats but continues his love for taco meat, spaghetti, and bananas.  Carter's pickyness makes it quite a challenging to cook for him.  I mean who doesn't like macaroni and cheese?  My kid, that's who!

Bball fanatic

Check out the hand in the "cookie jar"!  I'm so proud!

A boy and his basketball goal

Enjoying an ice cream treat

Carter has taken a liking to removing his shirt.  He even took it off in Wal-mart one day!

Cars and blocks have quickly become some of  his favorite things!

Derek gained two more clients at the beginning of January when someone left the firm which resulted in some unexpected travel. This definitely put even more on Derek's plate during his crazy time.  He seems to be handling the stress of the work load quite well (much better than I would!) and looks forward to spending quality time with us on weekends.  He has been going into the office for at least one day on the weekends and the firm works until eight on Monday evenings. The kids and I really miss him but we are so proud of all of his hard work.  We will be so excited when March 1st rolls around! He has really enjoyed watching Indiana basketball this season and loves it when his kids do the IU cheer. 

As for me, I feel like the month of January zipped by and left me with my head spinning and wondering where those days went.  I have been going to the gym on a fairly regular basis and have been reunited with my old friends--the elliptical and treadmill.  When I first began going they were happy to see me, but I certainly wasn't happy to see them.  As the weeks have gone on, I have grown to accept them although I don't think I'll ever love them.  I have also been working on my photography by attempting to learn more about my editing programs and taking more pictures.  Hopefully I can get behind the camera even more this month!

Delivering pizzas at the children's museum

Fun at Monkey Joe's

So with the publishing of this (very long) post, I deem our family blog officially revived!  Hopefully this will be the first post of many.  Be on the lookout for more frequent posts from us and thanks for sticking with me during my hiatus!  Hopefully I can also update the blog template as well.............stay tuned!!

Ringing in 2012...

On New Year's Eve our family was still recovering from the nasty flu bug we caught over Christmas break, so we elected to have a nice quiet evening together at home.  We snacked on pepperoni wheels, cheese and crackers, and other snack foods and spent time together playing with the kids' new toys.  The kids headed to bed around 9:00 then Derek and I watched a movie.  We missed the ball drop because it was going to happen right at the end of the movie and Derek didn't want to stop the movie.  Needless to say, he's not a fan of watching all of the ball drop hype.  So I guess you could say that our New Year's celebration was pretty dull and boring, but it was the perfect evening for us! 

2011 was a great year for our family. After the chaos of last years move during the holiday season, we have made progress in getting settled in our new home. For our family it's a slow process, but noticeable progress has definitely been made! We have also started to set our roots in the area and have found new friendships along the way.   Derek continues to be very busy work and was promoted to Senior Consultant in December. We are very proud of him! Addy started school in the Fall and is loving it! Watching Addy and Carter learn and grow this year has been so much fun!   2011 was a fabulous year but we know that 2012 will be even better! Bring on 2012...we're ready for you!

Christmas 2011

Christmas for our family this year was an especially exciting time because the kids simply couldn't wait for all of the excitement to begin.  It is the first year that Adalyn really understood most of what was taking place.  She has been learning so much about the true meaning of Christmas in Sunday School and has been really interested in giving to others.  She took more of an active roll in shopping for her family and even insisted on choosing her own wrapping paper to wrap the gifts in. 

This year we sent a note with out Elf on the Shelf--Jingle to ask Santa to come on the night before Christmas Eve so that Adalyn and Carter would have more time to check out their toys. Santa cooperated and the kids for to open their gifts on Christmas Eve morning.  We spent most of the day wrestling toys out of their seemingly impossible packaging and playing with all of the fun new stuff.  We headed to church at 3:00 and then returned home for more playing.  Both of the kids had several small things on their lists, which made Santa's job of shopping and wrapping much more difficult and time consuming than years past.    Santa also brought the family a Toshiba Tablet which has been a huge hit with everyone.  Addy has really taken to it and loves playing several games including Fruit Ninja and Alphabet Car.  I have already read a few books sing the Kindle App and am addicted to the word games. Unfortunately I introduced my mom to Word Pro while we were visiting and I can't beat her high score!  I WILL be at the top of that leader board again....eventually! 

Addy made sure Santa got his cookies and milk and the reindeer got their carrots!

Carter was not a fan of all the packaging that held his toys hostage!

Addy was very excited about her Mobigo games!

Carter is Car CRAZY!

These Lil' Woodzeez playsets have about a bazillion pieces with them.  Santa will be receiving a letter of complaint from me:)

Addy is showing her Dad how to play with the tablet.  She thinks she's a pro since she get to use the Ipads at school!

We headed to Indiana to celebrate with family on Christmas morning.  Although Addy and Carter were excited to visit their grandparents, they were also a little sad about leaving their new toys.  We did let them bring a few small items, but most of the new stuff had to stay behind.  We made awesome time on our drive to Ferdinand and made it in a little over four hours.  We ate breakfast before we left home and only stopped once for gas.  We got home just in time for a yummy Christmas dinner that my parents had prepared.  We spent the rest of Christmas Day exchanging gifts, playing with toys, spending time together, and admiring Papaw's Christmas lights!  It was a great day.

Ashley, Carter & Frosty

The kids wanted to join in on the manger scene

We were in Indiana until Friday, so we had a lot of time to spend with family.   On Monday night we went to the Heilers' Christmas (my mom's family).  It was great seeing so many family members. The kids really enjoyed seeing their second cousins and had a great time playing with them.  On Tuesday we headed to Derek's mom's house in Evansville to spend some time with her.  The kids got in some valuable play time with Grandma's toys and we headed out to a few stores and out for dinner. 

On Wednesday, Derek and I dropped the kids off at my parents' house and we headed to Louisville to eat at the Cheesecake Factory and do a little shopping.  It was great to be on our own for a little while, as that doesn't happen too often.  We like to take advantage of Grandparent babysitting services while we're visiting:)  Carter became sick while we were in Louisville, which began the streak of sickness that plagued us during the rest of our visit.  Apparently the bug was spread at the Heilers Christmas earlier in the week and caught hold of our family.  Carter and Derek were the first to fall victim and then Addy and I came down with it.  As we left Indiana on Friday my parents weren't feeling so hot and Derek's mom was feeling a little woozy.  It was a mean little bug and spared no one.  Thankfully it only lasted about 24 hours!  The drive home on Friday was a particularly interesting and nerve wracking one, but I'm happy to say that we made it home puke free:)  We were supposed to stop on the way home to visit with Derek's brother and his family and exchange gifts, but we decided it wasn't in their best interest since we were carrying "the bug."  We were bummed that the kids didn't get to play together, but plan to head over to Terre Haute for a visit soon.

We had a wonderful Christmas filled with family and memorable moments.  As I gear up to take down the Christmas decorations this week, I'll admit that I will be a little sad that the holiday season is already over.  It was so much fun watching Christmas through the eyes of our children this year.  It truly is a magical time of year!  We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with their loved ones!  We sure did!