It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

"5 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS MOM" was my wake up call this morning! My first thought was, ugh, only 5 days left? Why does Christmas sneak up on me every year? I know when it is....you think I could be prepared. Am I the only one frantically trying to get every last detail right? Every morning I make a list and never seem to get it all checked off! Here's what we've been up to!

We decorated 2 trees this year, one in Carter's room for the kids, and our family tree. We put the tree in Carter's room at the foot of his bed and he put all the ornaments on one side (near his bed) and then moved his pillow to the end of the bed to sleep closer to the tree. This makes me smile as I type this, as this is what Christmas is about! Claire has been busy undecorating the trees. She brings me ornaments and says "uh oh"

Carter and his "Santa socks"

Claire decorating herself!

We visited Santa today and it went just as I thought it would. Mind you I did not intend to be in the picture, but that is the only way Claire would even get close to the guy in the suit. The picture lady asked me if it was okay if she had her fingers in her mouth...just take the picture already! She was much better after having some ice cream!

I was going to boycott Christmas cards this year as I simply was running out of time. But, the guilt got to me and decided at the last minute to order some. So, they really won't be Christmas cards but Happy New Year cards by the time everyone gets them! I love putting our cards up to display. I save the cards each year and go through them when I get out our decorations out.

The second weekend in December I was able to get away for a couple of days to help my friend Kirsty celebrate her 40th birthday. A group of 8 of us met up in Breckenridge. It was an AMAZING time! We lounged in our pj's around the fireplace, ate ice cream, drank a lot of baileys and cocoa, laughed and cried. It was a well needed break. I could not have gone without the help of my hubby and sister! Thanks guys for letting me get away!

We will definitely have a white Christmas here in Iowa. We were buried with snow a couple of weeks ago and still haven't found the bottom. It was truly a snow day as we could not get out! Word is we are going to get another round this week.

My attempt to make it to work. I got stuck 8 feet out of the garage!

My men heading out to save us all!

Making a path on the deck for the doggies!

This was the first round of snow, you can still see the grass!

Luckily I only have to work 2 days this week! The kids and I are going to spend Thursday baking and decorating cookies. Once Jeremy gets home, we'll have a special dinner followed by church, then back home to open presents. Christmas morning Santa will come, then we head out to visit both sets of parents then home that evening. We will head back on Sunday to spend Christmas with my grandparents at the Allen House, then back to mom and dad's to spend Christmas with my dad's family. Everyone catch that? Crazy I know!!! We hope everyone has a safe and Merry Christmas!

GOOD BYE NOVEMBER!

Um..can someone tell me where November went? I have a feeling December will go even faster. Here is a quick Freeman family update!

The first weekend in November I had my annual B&B scrapbooking weekend at PJ's & Pigtails. It was once again a weekend to remember. This year they added a massage therapist to work us all over and TV's in the workroom to watch movies as we worked. The food and fellowship is amazing! It was a productive weekend for me! I was able to get Claire's baby book finished! Now that I am sorta "caught up" I have to decide if I want to go digital or continue with the traditional scrapbooking.

We enrolled Carter in his first extra-curricular activity at the start of the month. He is taking TaeKwonDo at the local martial arts school. He goes twice a week and looks so stinkin cute in his little outfit! So far he has earned 3 "tapes" on his belt, one for good listening in class, one for being kind to another in class, and one for bringing in something he was thankful for. We are really happy with the purpose of the class, learning discipline!!

Dress as silly as you can day at school!

Claire continues to grow like a weed. She had her school picture taken at daycare this month. I was surprisingly pleased how well it turned out! No snot on her face, no fly away hairs and most importantly her fingers weren't in her mouth! She did sneak them in her mouth for the class picture though! Can you imagine trying to get 8 one year olds to sit still for a class picture? Kuddos to the photographer!
Claire continues to make us laugh daily with her personality. She will make fun out of anything! She is totally content playing with a wrapper or in the cupboards looking for treasures. She can be a little diva ( I have NO idea where this is coming from) playing in her purse with her sunglasses and bracelets in her fuzzy pink slippers talking on her cell phone, or her more favorite personality is growling at us with the Hulk gloves on!

She shakes her head no to everything and has expanded her vocabulary to "Hi, night night and bye" She is so smart and now knows 4 body parts! She also will go get her shoes and point to the closet for her coat when we are getting ready to go somewhere. She will also bring me hair bows to put in her hair before we go anywhere. Her hair is getting pretty long, thus her bed head after nap and in the morning is pretty bad!

Thanksgiving has come and gone and we filled our bellies full of good food at Jeremy's mom's on Thanksgiving day. I am so thankful for my little family!

Although I had to work on Black Friday, I ventured out at 4am to get the buy of the year!! I thought I was beating the crowd at Walmart but come to find out some of the things went on sale at midnight ( our Walmart is usually NOT open 24 hours at day) So, instead of being early, I was actually 4 hours late! I went to get a Cricut Expression only to find out they were already gone. I was so bummed out! I walked the mile back to the car pouting. I called some friends to check other Walmarts but no luck! My mom made a last ditch effort to check the Walmart close to her and lo and behold they had ONE left at 11 am!! My new pride and joy! Yep, it says $188! Merry Christmas to me!!

We are starting to gear up for Christmas! Our elf, Sam, has arrived! Carter talks to him all the time and his behavior has been SUPERB since his arrival! Thank you to however created The Elf on the Shelf! I am hoping to start decorating this weekend! Pictures to follow!

The Mummy and The Monkey

What a week! We made the most of Halloween! Carter was able to dress up 3 times this week in his mummy gear. I think I finally perfected it on the last try, Beggars Night. We started the week off trick or treating at the Omaha zoo to help celebrate our friend Tosh's 5th birthday. We didn't get to the zoo this summer so this was a great excuse to dress up and catch a glimpse of the animals before they all hibernate for the winter!

Riding the new skyglider!

Monday Jeremy and I headed to KC to see Bruce Springsteen for the 3rd time in 6 months. I think this means we are officially groupies. We stayed downtown in the Power and Light District. This is a super cool place to hang out if you ever head to KC. As we were heading up to the sprint center we noticed a bunch of people milling around with their mouths open. We too joined them after reading this posted on the Sprint Center's ticker "DUE TO A DEATH IN BRUCE'S FAMILY, THE CONCERT IS UNAVOIDABLY CANCELLED. BRUCE AND THE BAND APPRECIATE YOUR UNDERSTANDING AT THIS TIME AND WILL RETURN AT THE EARLIEST OPPORTUNITY." Needless to say we were disappointed but we made the most of it and hung out with all the other Bruce fans in the Power and Light District. They played Bruce on the loudspeakers all night, so we just pretended we were actually listening to him live.

Wednesday the kids and I carved our pumpkins. I always get so excited for this thinking it will be a great family event and everyone bales on me! I wasn't feeling very creative this year so our pumpkins are a tad on the boring side. I love these pictures as it shows one of the many differences in my kiddos. Carter HATES to get dirty. He daintly uses a LONG handled spoon to dig out his seeds. Claire on the other hand, gets both arms elbow deep in the pumpkin, pulls out seeds and goo and runs it through her hair as she is giggling! Carter is tattling on her for making a mess! Too funny!

Check out all the goo on my kitchen floor!

Friday Carter had a party at preschool and got a head start trick or treating at the downtown Waukee businesses. He took special treats to share with his friends (thanks for the idea Megan!) as well as gave everyone a small pumpkin from his pumpkin patch. He came home with his bucket completely full! Luckily, he only had to wear the mummy costume for a couple of hours at school as it is not an easy costume to get out of if you have to potty! Claire wore her costume to school as well, but was less than enthused about it. I dressed her up the next day just to get some pictures of her in it. She was just as enthused the second time around!

Lastly, we braved the typical Iowa Beggars Night ( cold, rainy and windy) on Friday night. The Froehlich's trick or treated with us again this year. Luckily Carter and Lilly didn't care how yucky out it was and made the most of it. Claire hung out with dad handing out candy and waving at the front door to all the kids. Despite the weather, we had almost 200 kids stop!

Hope you all had a spookactular Halloween!

Tis the season

Fall is my FAVORITE time of the year! Although I must admit I am a little disgusted with Mother Nature this fall. I feel like we have been jipped this year!! For example, this is what we woke up to on October 10th..yes October 1oth!

I was completely unprepared! Carter was dying to go outside but I had no hat, mittens or boots for him yet so we had to dig into the depths of the closet for his rain boots, one of Jeremy's hats and some mittens I had gotten at a garage sale that would likely fit a 10 year old! Luckily my 4 year old doesn't have a fashion sense yet! We had plans that morning to hit the Covered Bridge Festival in Winterset and then Howell's Pumpkin Patch but got a rude awakening instead. The weekend before the snow hit we did visit another one of our favorite spots, Center Grove Orchard. They had a new attraction this year, a GIGANTIC slide that you rode down on in a sled. I lost count how many times Carter hoofed it up that hill dragging that sled behind him.

We attempted the corn maze this year and were bound determined to find all 10 hidden things in the corn maze. After a little over an hour of looking and still missing one item we threw in the towel. Carter wanted to keep looking but I bribed him with something sweet from the gift shop so I could get him out of the maze.

Come on mom..I KNOW it is this way!

To top off the maze from HELL Claire fell asleep while I was carrying her. Nothing like lugging a 20 lb kid around lost in a corn maze! Oh yeah, did I mention it had rained for 3 days straight before that so we were covered in mud too! Poor Claire toughed it out even with double ear infection and 6 new teeth...the pictures say it all!

I can FINALLY reach the pedals this year!

Jumping pillow

Apple sling shot

Last Monday we finally got a nice fall day and the kids and I hit Howell's pumpkin patch with the Rhodes family. This is such a great place! We took a hayrack ride to the pumpkin patch, played in the corn pit, rode the wiggle cars, petted some animals, and climbed the huge hay bale stack.

Claire's pink wiggle car!

This pumpkin is heavy!

We are gearing up for Halloween. I have been busy working Carter's costume. He decided a long time ago he wanted to be a mummy. I did some research and many websites suggested staining ripped sheets in tea to give it a "old" look. Well, as I didn't have any tea, I soaked the rags in coffee. BIG mistake! After washing them and drying them with numerous dryer sheets they still REAK like coffee! Obviously there is a reason for using tea! I tried to wrap him up in the rags to try out the look and he plugged his nose the entire time! So, I may be starting over! I am hoping airing them out will do the trick. This "easy" costume has eaten up way too much of my time! Claire is wearing Carter's hand me down monkey costume. I'll post some pictures of my little ghouls next week! Happy Halloween everyone!