A Fun Filled September

Our month of September was filled with lots of fun and spending time with family and friends.  Here is a recap of the month:

Labor Day Weekend
My parents and sister came up to visit over Labor Day Weekend.  We were so excited for the to come visit over a long weekend. We sent time on our new deck, and the girls went out for lunch and a bit of shopping.  We also headed to Springfield to the huge sporting goods store, Scheels.  It is like a Bass Pro but with more sports things, games for the kids to play and has a Ferris wheel in the middle.  It was a great weekend and we were so glad that they came up to visit!

Ahhh a BEAR! 

Fun with Friends at Tanner's
We headed north to Tanner's Orchard on the second Saturday of September to meet up with our friends that just moved to St. Louis.  The Coppernoll's recently left Rochester and moved to St. Louis. However Phil's parent's live in Peoria so we met up with them at Tanner's for some fall fun.  The kids had a blast playing together on the playground and the adults had a good time catching up.  The kids rode the barrel train and ponies and loved playing on all of the play structures.  We also enjoyed apple cider donuts from the bakery and took home lots of goodies from their general store.  After leaving Tanner's we stopped by the Morton Pumpkin Festival on the way home.  We enjoyed some pumpkin ice cream browsed the craft fair and then headed for home.  On the way home, we decided to take a few back roads and ran into a small pumpkin farm, so we let the kids pick out their small pumpkins for the porch that they would paint.  By the time we got home it was well into the evening and both the kids  and adults were tired from a fun Saturday.

mmmm..Apple cider doughnuts!



Addy & Charli

Blake & Carter

Pedaling away

Carter called his horse "Bullseye"

Addy was so excited to get the zebra horse

A Visit Home
Later in the month the kids and I headed home for a long weekend visit with our families.  Our visit happened to fall on my mom's birthday, so it was great being able to celebrate with her in person on her actual day.  We had the opportunity to visit my grandmother for a morning and headed to Owensboro with my parents to check out the new playground on the riverfront.  The kids loved Smothers Park and we were all impressed by its design and size.  The kids had a blast playing on all of the equipment.  They ask to go back with Grandpa and Grandma to the "big" park about once a day.  It certainly made an impression on them!

The birthday girl blowing out her candles

Posing on the Owensboro riverfront

Best buddies

Boy in a Bubble

Addy was all over the playground!

Static Hair!

Sunday morning the kids and I headed to Grandma Freihaut's house and we spent Sunday and Monday with her.  We took the kids to an inflatable place and to a playground.  We headed home later Monday afternoon.  We had a great trip home seeing family and friends. 

Bounce house fun

Pre-K Open House
The last Friday in September Addy's school had an open house so that families could come in an see the students' rooms and shop at the book fair.  Addy was excited to show us her room and all of her work that was displayed in the halls and in the classroom.  She was very proud of the peacock she had painted and of the pictures of her class that were being displayed on the classroom's Smartboard.  Addy and Carter both enjoyed shopping at the book fair.  We loved visiting Addy's school and seeing her classroom.  I especially enjoyed watching her beam with pride while she was giving us "the tour."

Addy was so proud of her peacock that she painted

Addy's self portrait

So that's September in a nutshell. I apologize for the massive amount of pictures! I'm slowly but surely getting caught up.  Maybe someday I'll even get back to weekly posts! 

New Deck...Finally!

It took what seemed like forever, but our new deck was finally finished the Friday before Labor Day.  We decided on plans and made a deposit with the builder in April.  We were fifth on the list at that time, but the crazy hot weather and some unforeseen issues on the project before ours delayed our project for more than a month.  The finally arrived about the middle of August and knocked it out in less than two weeks.  We expanded the space on the top by a few feet and added a lower level over a section of yard that was basically useless to us. 

We have been getting lots of enjoyment out of it so far.  I love how it is an extension of our living space.  The kids take their toys out to play on the deck on nice days and we have enjoyed many meals outside on the lower level.  When people have come over, Addy always asks if they would like to see her new deck, so I guess they definitely approve of the new space!  Since the deck was finished so late in the summer, we didn't commit to new outdoor furniture this year, but it is on my list for next spring.   We are so happy with the finished product and it was certainly worth the wait!

Old Deck

No Deck

Deck in progress

Finished upper level

Lower level



Enjoying lunch on our new space

Balloon Fest 2012



On the Friday of the last weekend of August we headed to Lincoln for the Balloon Festival.  This is an annual event for us and began as something we would do when we lived in Atlanta, which was a bit closer but we have continued to attend even as we have moved farther north.  The kids are mesmerized by the sight of all of the balloons inflating, taking off, and then coming back at dusk for the glow.  I have to admit that I love seeing them too!  We usually take a blanket, lawn chairs, a small cooler, and make an evening of it.  Derek's mom attended with us last year and loved it so much that she returned for a second visit this year.  It was the perfect night for the balloons and it seemed as though there were more participants this year and they stayed out longer for the balloon glow because it was such a beautiful night.  I wasn't as prepared in the camera department as I should have been.  I forgot my memory card and had to swipe Addy's out of her camera and early in the glow my battery died because it hadn't been charged in quite sometime.  I did manage to get a few pictures, but not as many as I would have liked.  Oh well, there's always next year!



Checking out the balloons together

Addy's favorite balloon

Posing with Grandma Freihaut

Addy's First Day of Second Year Pre-K

Addy began her second year of pre-K on August 23rd.  She has the same teachers and classroom as last year and was so excited to go back.  She was a little sad that some of her friends from last hear had moved on to Kindergarten, but we reassured her that she would meet many new fun friends.  The first day of school this year was much more low key than last year mainly because Addy was so comfortable with her teachers and surroundings.  The teachers had visited our house a few days before and we went into the classroom for open house they day before school started, so she got to get back into the swing of things before school even started.  There were no tears from Addy (or her mom) this year, only lots and lots of smiles.  She had a great first day and was excited to come home and tell us all about what they did and about the new kids in her class.  We are looking forward to a wonderful year in second year pre-K! 

Ready for her 2nd Year of Pre-K

Backpack Shot

Carter REALLY wants to go to school too!

Cousin Camp and a Family Trip to St. Louis

Our second annual Freihaut Cousin Camp was held at our house during the last full week of July.  Derek's mom and our nephew Cameron came to stay for a few days to partake in the fun.  We packed a lot of outings and activities into three days and the kids were very worn out by the end.  The cousins made Cousin Camp shirts and wore them on our outing to the Children's Museum.  Addy still had t-ball and swim lessons, so Cameron and Carter played together while she did her activities.  We also went to a local nature center where there is a creek for the kids to play in.  Unfortunately due to the drought, the creek was bone dry.  There were a lot of other things to play on, including a super fun horse tire swing, so the kids had a great time anyway.  The kids also had a ton of fun playing together in the pool, on the bounce house, and in the yard.  It was so much fun watching them play together.  I am so glad we can provide them with these opportunities to play and bond for extended periods of time.  Cameron and Grandma Freihaut headed home on July 28th.  Addy and Carter were definitely sad to see them go and immediately asked if we could have another Cousin Camp very soon.

Modeling the shirts they made

Cameron and Carter hanging out at Addy's T-ball game

Working together on a puzzle

Singing on stage

Cameron dancing on stage

I managed to get a pic of them them all jumping in the air

Enjoying the awesome swing!

The weekend after Cousin Camp we packed up the car and headed to St. Louis to meet Derek's family for a fun weekend.  We stayed in a hotel in Illinois about 20 minutes away from the city.  The kids were so excited to be staying in a hotel with adjoining rooms with their cousins.  They had a lot of fun swimming in the pool on Friday night and playing together in the rooms.  Saturday we headed for the Zoo and Science Center later in the afternoon.  It was a pretty hot day, but the kids did very well and loved seeing all of the animals and exhibits at the Science Center. 

Petting the sting rays

Cousins!

A picture on the gorilla is a must on every zoo trip!

We built the arch!

Cory, Courtney, and Kerrigan headed home Saturday evening, but Cameron and Grandma Freihaut stayed to go to the Magic House on Sunday.  We got to the Magic House very early and before the crowds, so the kids had the exhibits to themselves for the first hour or so, which was wonderful!  The kids really enjoyed the kid sized town where they got to work as mechanics, cook pizza in a restaurant, go grocery shopping, and work in a hospital nursery.  After a few hours of play, we headed to a restaurant we had seen on the Food Network called Fitz's.  The restaurant bottles and distributes its own soda and you can watch the process as you eat.  The food was good and the soda was yummy.  We finished up our meal by splitting giant floats, which the kids loved.

 

 

Cameron the mechanic

Static Hair

Grandma and Cameron  (no one took of picture of me and Addy:)

Playing at the construction site

Our trip to St. Louis was a great time.  It was so wonderful watching the kids experience some of the sights of the city together.  It is definitely a trip they will remember for a very long time!

One Very Busy Girl

 

Addy certainly stayed busy with extracurricular activities this summer.  For eight weeks she played t-ball on Monday and Wednesday mornings and had two evening games. She really enjoyed her time on the field and loved to bat off the tee.  She also really enjoyed all of the fun games they played during practice.  It was a lot of fun watching her experience t-ball for the first time.  I laughed a lot watching her.  She wasn't always the most attentive in the field, drew a lot of great pictures in the dirt, and had a lot of very "important" conversations on the bench while waiting for her turn to hit. During the games she did have several good hits off the tee and fielded a few grounders.  The most important thing was that she obviously had a lot of fun and wants to play again next year. 

Hey Batter Batter!

All smiles while running the bases

Addy also went to a gymnastics class on Friday mornings during the summer.  We switched gyms this summer because she had been to a friend's birthday party at this articular gym in the spring and loved all of the equipment.  So she begged me to let her take classes there.  The schedule actually worked out better for us, so I let her make the switch for the summer.  She really enjoyed her class and loved the fact that Ella who is friend from school and lives in our neighborhood was in class with her.  Carter loved the fact that Ella had a little sister that came to watch as well.  Her name is Ava and she is Carter's new crush.  Every time we walk by their house Carter asks about the next time he will get to see her.  It was really cute watching them play together. 

Practicing on the bar

During the last week of July and first week of August Addy took swim lessons with the town's parks and rec program.  She loves the water and looked forward to going each morning, even though her lessons were at 9 o'clock and the water was always a bit on the chilly side.  During this session she learned to float on her belly and back and learned to push off the wall.  She also took her big leap of the diving board, which is always a moment of excitement for her!

Practicing back glides

Taking her big jump off the diving board

All in all, it is safe to say that Addy had her share of summertime fun and this post doesn't even mention all of the things we did around the lessons and practices.  I must also mention how proud I am of Carter.  During all of these lessons and practices he was a model spectator (most of the time.)  It wasn't always easy for him to sit back and watch his big sis having all the fun, especially during t-ball! He was a true sports through it all and he just kept reminding me that next year he'll get to play t-ball and take swim lessons.  Oh my, two kids t-balling and swimming may be quite the challenge!



Carter was a good sport all summer