Battling the Blahs of Ol' Man Winter

100 posts!!

I want to begin this post by pointing out that this is post number 100!  Woohoo! It took a bit longer to get there than I would have liked, but we have finally hit the century mark! So if you have been a reader from the very beginning, thanks for sticking with us.  If you're a new reader, welcome and I look forward to celebrating our 200th post with you!

Enjoying the Big Snow of 2011

The past few weeks the Freihaut Family has been battling cabin fever.  As most of you know, a giant snowstorm attacked the Midwest during the first week of February.  It was given many names...Snowmaggedon, Snowpocalypse, Snowpalooza, Snowzilla, etc., etc.   Although it didn't live up to its hype, we did get 13 inches in central Illinois and as far as I'm concerned the only name I needed to give it was a Royal Pain in the Rear!  In anticipation of being snowed in for days on end, I headed to the grocery store on Sunday with all the other crazy people who were stocking up on necessities. 

On Tuesday the snow began and went through the night and into Wednesday.  Derek was home on Wednesday, as our roads hadn't been plowed and subzero temperatures prevented us from attacking the mountain of snow in our driveway.  At about 10 a.m. we lost power.  The bad news about loosing power for an extended period time at our house is that we also loose water because our water source is a well with an electric pump--bummer!  We filled the day with lots of book reading, puzzle doing, napping, and good old family bonding time.  Addy wasn't quite sure why we couldn't watch cartoons or why we had to layer on tons and tons of clothes, but she liked the fact that her daddy couldn't work on his computer, she got her very own flashlight, and that we were planning to camp out in the living together.  Just as we prepared our bed (at 6:00) on the floor for bedtime the electricity came back on--thank goodness.  The main floor of our house only dropped to 63 degrees, but the upstairs and basement got a lot colder.  Addy was upset when we made the decision to no longer camp out, but after a day of having no electricity we decided each of us needed our own beds! Derek and I were excited that the electricity came on just in time for us to watch the second half of the IU game, even though they lost in the last few minutes.

The first of several puzzles completed by Addy and Derek throughout the week

The dining room table became puzzle central

Testing out the hill in our new yard

Addy loved sledding!

On Thursday one of our wonderful neighbors came through our neighborhood with his trusty backhoe and plowed our driveway!  We were so thankful for his kindness, but Derek was the most grateful of all because he was not looking forward to shoveling his way out before work.  Needless to say, our neighbor saved Derek several hours of work. 

The ball pit has gotten lots of use throughout the past few weeks!

My parents had planned a visit to deliver our new couch over the weekend.  After much debate, they decided to go ahead with the trip.  They came up late Friday evening after work and stayed until Monday.  Saturday was Dad's birthday and we were excited to have the opportunity to celebrate it with him by going out to eat and having an ice cream cake!  Sunday we headed to the Chinese buffet and Addy always asks to go eat at with Mamaw and Papaw.  We ate there the last time they were visiting, so now every time we pass it on the way to the grocery store she asks if we can eat there with Mamaw and Papaw sometime.  They have a ton of ice cream to choose from, so Addy always proclaims that she wants to go to that restaurant with Chinese ice cream.  We also watched the Super Bowl together on Sunday evening.  None of us had a strong allegiance to either team, but I was glad to see the Packers come away with the win. 

Happy Birthday Papaw!



Enjoying cartoons together

 Although the last few weeks have been a little tough with the frequent snowstorms and frigid temperatures.  We have worked through our share of cabin fever and have managed to keep busy and stay somewhat sane in the house.  There is good news in the horizon as the forecast for this week is predicting several days in the forties/fifties....talk about a heatwave! We are looking forward to it! Come on Spring...we're ready for you!


Our Little Guy is Eight Months Old

Carter turned eight months old last Thursday (January 27th).  I can't believe that he is already eight months old!  He started crawling on January 14th and hasn't stopped since.  He is into everything and anything.  Addy is quickly learning to put away any toys she doesn't want her brother to get his hands on.  Carter especially loves to pull himself up to the train table and wreck the track and everything else on top of the table. 

Carter is a very happy and easy going little guy.  He currently has four teeth--2 bottom and two on the top just broke through.  He has been fussy for a few evenings, so I think there are more teeth coming soon.  He is becoming more and more interested in food.  He loves his veggies and still isn't thrilled about the fruits, although he is tolerating them more and more.  We have started giving him a sippy cup, but he hasn't quite grasped the concept of drinking from anything other than his bottle yet.

Carter has also settled into a sleeping/napping routine, which I am SO happy about.  He takes a morning nap that usually lasts about an hour and a half.  In the afternoon he goes down for about an hour and a half to two hours.  I am especially thrilled on the days when the two kids naps happen at the same time!  Carter's bedtime is usually around 8:15.  We have settled into a routine of diaper change and story before bedtime.  He goes to sleep with a Beatles lullaby c.d playing and his silky in hand.  He typically sleeps until about 7 a.m., which is fabulous!  Addy has also started sleeping later and also gets up around 7am. 

Looking for trouble...

All smiles

We are so proud of our little guy.  He is such a happy, fun-loving baby who makes us smile so many times throughout the day.  We are happy that he is hitting his milestones, but I would also like him to slow down just a bit and be my baby boy for a while longer!

Photographer in Training

Addy got a digital camera from her Grandma Freihaut for Christmas and has been taking pictures left and right.  She often becomes very "snap-happy" and takes pictures of anything and everything.  She's still learning about using the camera and doesn't always take pictures with the steadiest of hands.  Many times she takes the camera off of the subject as she is pushing the button.  I have included some of the best of the 150 pictures that were on her camera.  As the weather gets warmer (which is hopefully very soon) we'll take the camera outside so Addy can take a shot at photographing nature.  Stay tuned for future installments of our little photographer in training...

Finally a WINNER!

Yes, I am one of those people that mopes around complaining that I never win anything.  I'm not sure how many drawings and contests I've filled out those annoying forms for, but whatever the number is, I'm sure it's quite disturbing considering I never get anything out of the process.  I guess I shouldn't say that I've never won anything.  There was this time in elementary school when I won an inflatable bull named Buddy from the lunch ladies in the school cafeteria.  I know it's pretty sad that Buddy the Bull was a prized win of mine, but you have to take what you can get!  Well, I am happy to announce that the winless streak is over.  A few weeks ago while making dinner and listening to my favorite local radio station, BOB 97.9, I heard the deejay ask for caller number 6 in order to score Seasame Street Live tickets.  So I dialed the digits, with a fussy baby in hand, and to my surprise the deejay answered the phone.  I was caller six!!  Let me fill you in on a little secret....when people who win contests on the radio sound so smooth and put together and manage to remember the station's call letters, they've actually been edited to sound like they have it all together.  At least that's what they did for me, because I didn't remember the station's call letters (probably because I was so shocked that I had actually won something) and they managed to edit out Carter's fussing in the background.
So, last Tuesday we packed up the kids, plus Derek's mom who came to visit and use the fourth ticket and headed to Peoria.  We weren't sure if Carter would get anything out of it, but we knew our tickets were in the second row and that he would certainly be able to see the characters.  The show started at seven and was sceduled to be ninety minutes long, so I thought that Carter would be sleeping by intermission for sure.  Boy was I wrong!  Our seats actually ended up being the front row, since they didn't sell tickets to the first row and Carter LOVED the show.  His eyes were glued to the big, furry creatures from the minute the show began.  Addy loved the show to and did a lot of dancing and singing. She even got a wave from Cookie Monster! We knew she would really enjoy herself, but Carter really surpised us.  He just kept his eyes fixed on them the entire time and yelled at them.  We're pretty sure the yelling was meant to be terms of endearment as he was smiling and bouncing up and down as he was yelling.  It was a fun night and I am so glad that neither of our children were even the slightest bit freaked out by the huge Sesame Street characters dancing withing a few feet of their faces.  I was more freaked out than they were!

Add is focused on the show

Cookie Monster is one of our favorites!

Carter loved the show!

Dancing to the music

More of our favorites. 
Yes, Elmo's voice is just as high pitched and annoying in person as it is on t.v.!

I'm afraid that after being so attentive during the show that
Carter started to resemble the characters just a little.

Abby Cadabby--Addy's favorite

For those of you wondering if I still own Buddy the Bull, I should let you know that Buddy led a short life in the Schum household.  The very night that I brought him home my sister, Ashley, rode him like a horse and popped him.  Needless to say, she hasn't lived this down and hears about it every once in a while.  Ashley--you didn't think I'd let you off the hook by not mentioning your roll in this story...did you? :)

A Year in Review and Goals for 2011

A few weeks ago we said goodbye to 2010 and welcomed the new year.  For us 2010 was a year full of big decisions and life changing events.  Here are a few notable events from 2010 that the Freihauts won't soon forget:

• In March we headed to Florida for Spring Break.  It was Adalyn's very first plane ride and she did great!  We spent most of our time at Daytona Beach.  We also made a quick trip to Disney to take Addy to the Magic Kingdom for the first time.
• In May we welcomed Carter to the family and had a blast watching Adalyn getting to know and love her new little brother.
• I resigned from my teaching position at Rochester and decided to stay at home with the kids.  It was a very difficult decision to make, as I loved my jobs and co-workers, but it was absolutely the right decision.
• Despite lots of resistance Addy became fully potty trained over the summer, which was a huge relief for everyone!
• We also moved into our new house in November.  We started looking in August and had planned to get serious about buying the following Spring.  However, we found a house we couldn't pass up and made an offer in September.  We love our new home and look forward to decorating and making it fit our style and family needs.  We also look forward to breaking in our new backyard as soon as the weather warms up!

It's amazing how one big event leads to a chain reaction of events.  If we wouldn't have had Carter in 2010 I could very well still be making the drive to Rochester with Adalyn in tow and we would probably still be living in our house in Atlanta.  It's funny how things work out and we feel very blessed that things worked out the way they did in 2010!

As we begin 2011 I have created my annual list of things I would like to accomplish and/or improve on.  I am calling this list my goals instead of the dreaded word  resolutions in hopes that it will make it less daunting.  Here are a few of my goals for the new year:

• Bring more organization to the Freihaut household--this is a very broad statement that encompasses many areas!
• Get in shape and run a 5K (or possibly a few 5ks).
• Improve my photography skills.  I am taking a photography class at the local community college in April.  Hopefully the class will teach me more about using my dslr camera.  I also want to purchase a few more accessories and experiment with my kids.  The goal is to be able to take more of their milestone pictures on my own and make less visits to the local picture studio.  So if any friends and family want to volunteer themselves, children, or pets for me to practice on, give me a call :)
• Work on decorating and unpacking our new house.  I will be sure to post pictures of the house as progress is made on this goal.
• Improve the documentation of the Freihaut Family on the blog.  This year the number of posts is way less than in previous years.  I am going to try to do a better job documenting important events and information about what is going on in the Freihaut Household.  I may not post every week, as some weeks aren't as interesting as others, but I want to do a better job with the posting. 

Christmas 2010

Addy posing with the cookies and milk she left out for Santa and the baby carrots she left out for the reindeer.



Santa found us at our new house!


   Our Christmas celebration began at our house in Illinois on Christmas Eve morning.  Earlier in the month we wrote Santa a letter asking that he come early on Christmas Eve, so that the kids could open their presents before we left to visit family in Indiana.  Not only was Santa accomodating, he came overnight on the eve of Christmas Eve.  Addy was so excited to see the packages Santa left and loved her gifts.  Of course Carter loved the wrapping paper and packaging from the gifts and wanted to taste everything.  The kids got to open their gifts and had a great deal of playtime before loading up and heading to Indiana.  Our trip home didn't go as quickly as we would have liked, as the falling snow slowed us down quite a bit, especially in southern Indiana where it looked like they had done nothing with the roads.  Six and a half hours later we arrived at my parent's house safely and were so glad to finally be in Indiana for the holidays.  We arrived on Christmas Eve and left on New Year's day.  Since it was such a long trip with a lot going on, I decided to do a list of some of the highlights of our visit.

Making cookies on Christmas Eve
 

Checking out his brand new chair from Santa

Addy loves her new princess dolls from Mom and Dad

She was so glad to get the train table she was asking for from Santa!

• On Christmas Eve we exchanged presents with my family.  Addy got to stay up a lot later than usual and loved every minute of it! 

• On Christmas Day we spent the first half of the day with my family and ate a yummy lunch.  The kids spent the majority of the morning playing with their new toys and with their aunt and uncle.  In the Afternoon we headed to Evansville to celebrate with Derek's mom.  When we got there we exchanged gifts and then got ready to go to church.  Addy really enjoyed church, as she was the only one in the children's program and got lots of one-on-one attention from the teacher.  Then we headed back to the house to play with the new toys the kids got from Grandma Freihaut. 

Breaking in her new shopping cart

• On Sunday we headed out to the stores for some after Christmas shopping.  We picked up a few discounted decorations and even a few super good deals on toys for the kids' birthdays. 
• Sunday afternoon we watched the Colt's game with my parents game.  This was an especially important game for us because the Colts were playing the Raiders, which is Derek's team.  Well, let's just say that the Colts came away victorious, and Derek was a little grumpy:) After the game we headed to my uncle's house for Christmas on my mom's side. It was great seeing everyone.  Addy and Carter were the only small children there, and boy did they soak up all of the attention from the relatives.  They put on a show for most of the evening, particularly Miss Addy.
• Monday Derek, my dad, and myself headed to Bloomington, IN to see Indiana play Penn State.  Carter and Adalyn stayed back with their Grandma Schum and Ashley.  This is the third time we've done this over the holidays and it has become somewhat of a tradition. Unfortunately the Hoosiers fell to Penn State, which was a big disappointment.  We still enjoyed the trip and hope to do it again next year. 

Derek and me at the new Cook Hall practice complex.



Derek and Dad in front of the 1981 Championship trophy



Addy is teaching Uncle Brian how to play her new Mobigo



A Pillow Pet!!



Christmas Day with Mamaw and Papaw Schum



Posing with Aunt Ashley and Uncle Brian



Now that is some "Addy"tude

• On Tuesday Derek and I headed to Louisville in the afternoon for a day trip.  We went shopping, ate at my favorite restaurant--The Cheesecake Factory, and went to the movies to see The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  We enjoyed our time together and the fact that we didn't have to worry about car seats, strollers, and fussy kids for a  day.  It's amazing how much more ground we covered on our own.
• We headed to Tell City with my family on Wednesday to eat at Chicago's Pizza.  Ashley works there on weekends and had a gift certificate, so she bought our lunch:)  After lunch Mom and Dad took Addy to the movies to see Yogi Bear.  They all enjoyed the movie and Addy was very well behaved (at least according to Grandma and Grandpa).

Playing under Mamaw and Papaw's tree

• Thursday we headed to Derek's mom's house to spend a few days with her before heading home.  On Friday we celebrated "Noon" Year's Eve at the Evansville Children's Museum.  They had a fun party for the kids to ring in the new year complete with party favors and a ball drop.  There was a large crowd, but Addy still really enjoyed herself. 

Making party favors with Mamaw at the Children's Museum

Having a ball with the raindrop lights

• Friday evening we rang in the New Year at Derek's mom's house.  Cory and Cameron made the trip down to get together for Christmas, so they also celebrated New Year's with us too.  It was a pretty low key celebration, but included an entertaining game of Pretty Pretty Princess with Addy, Derek, Cory, and Grandma Freihaut.  Derek ended up earning all of his jewelry and earning the Princess title.  It was a lot of fun watching the kids play.  Addy loves playing with her cousin and acts a bit like a mother hen when she is with him.  We headed back to Illinois on Saturday after going out to lunch with Derek's family.



Modeling the hat we made for Noon Year's Eve party



Playing with Cameron



The real princess and the wannabe...check out Derek's earrings!


We had a wonderful holiday week and were so happy to be able to spend it with family.  It was so exciting to watch Carter experience his very first Christmas.  This year Addy was especially fun to watch at Christmas because she was so excited about the season and everything that went with it.  It may take us a couple of weeks to wean her off of the Christmas carols and we will have to put her through detox from all of the sweets given to her by family members, but it was all worth it to see our little girl experience holidays with the family.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!