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.