Freeman Family

Bits and Pieces

2012-02-15T19:24:00.001-06:00

CARTER

He has been a very busy boy! The "regular" wrestling season is over with 3 end of the year tournaments still to come in March. He ended the season with a 38-5 record and will participate in the state AAU tournament, the state grade school tournament and the Golden Corn Cob tournament sponsored by USA wrestling in a couple of weeks. He has improved so much over the season and his only loses have come to older kids ( 1st or 2nd graders) He hasn't been beaten by a kindergartner all year. It has been so fun to watch him and I think I will be sad when the season is over. As Jeremy says, the season is never over, to be a champion you practice year around. Yes Mr. Freeman! Now if I could only find a spot to put all the trophies and medals he has won! We are so proud of him!

When he isn't wrestling he is still doing Taekwondo and if he keeps up the pace he is at, he should be a black belt in 3 short years.

He is doing great is school too. We couldn't be more proud of him! Here he is displaying his hat with 100 stickers to mark the 100th day of school a couple of weeks ago. He continues to be in an extended learning program for math to challenge him and he is reading chapter books now! What a smartie pants! At least I can still help him with his homework, I have a feeling in the next couple of years he'll be on his own because I won't know how to do it!

CLAIRE

Claire continues to be the life of the party! She is so funny but yet so set in her ways, especially with her clothing. Around the house she must have on a dress or a swimsuit and some sort of jewelry. It is struggle to get her into pants to go to daycare and she must have pink or purple on.

Cheering on big brother at his wrestling tournaments!

She decided she wanted to color her hair green and used a marker for "makeup"

We finally got the "big" snowstorm everyone was wishing for except me! We got 7 inches in Waukee and Claire took full advantage of it!

She continues to be the BEST big sister around and probably takes better care of Case than I do! They are best buds!

Making sure he has enough toys to play with!

CASE

Our sweet baby is 4 months old already! I don't think it gets much cuter than this! At his 4 month check this week he was 14.2 lbs ( 33%) and 28 inches (99%)

He has found his feet and keeping socks on him is impossible these days!

He is such a great baby! He just goes with the flow and nothing seems to bother him. I love his baby kisses and nothing makes you feel better when he starts flapping his arms and legs in excitement when you walk in the room!

One day he will be mortified at what his sister has done to him, but for now, he makes a great model for her jewelry.

Sweet baby blues

2012-01-24T17:32:00.000-06:00

Just a few of my favorites...thanks again to Julie Glasgow for taking time to capture these precious moments for me!

3 months old!

2012-01-10T17:57:00.000-06:00

Our sweet boy is 3 months old today! I stole the idea of these cute onesies from a friend to mark his growth each month. He is now bigger than bear! He is such a great baby and we are so blessed to have him in our family!

Catching up..forgot to post these of his first couple of months!

Christmas 2011

2012-01-10T10:42:00.001-06:00

We had a really nice Christmas this year. It was our first big event being a family of 5 and it went off without a hitch! It was especially nice that both Jeremy and I were home the entire Christmas break so it was great to spend some family time together. Christmas eve we attended an amazing service at church, although, as you can see by Case's mood before we went, I ended up spending most of the service in the hall with him :(

After church, we had our traditional Christmas eve dinner, complete with appetizers, prime rib, crab legs, rolls, crock pot corn, a little wine and some birthday cake.

After dinner the kids got to open their gifts from each other. Carter got a new scooter, new slippers, Husker football gear and a star wars remote control jet fighter.

Santa came during the night and brought Case a Bumbo. How cute is he? He also got some new bath toys, and some cute clothes.

Claire got some accessories for her dollhouse, a pink computer, lots of princesses, coloring books, games, and some new dress up clothes.

After the kids opened their Santa gift and dumped out their stockings, we headed west to Griswold to have brunch with Grandma Freeman, then to Cumberland to Grandma and Grandpa Berry's for dinner. Lots of good food to fill our bellies!

The annual family Christmas picture!

All this Christmas has wore me out!

We decided to take the kids to a water park over break for some fun and gave the Washerbahn water park at the Amana Colonies a try. It was the perfect size for the kids and despite the COLD water we had a blast (luckily I didn't have to get in :)

Christmas??

2011-12-21T16:06:00.001-06:00

Can you recognize what is wrong with this picture? No, it isn't one of those optical illusions where you see a hidden picture if you stare at it long enough. What is wrong with this picture is.....

NO SNOW!! ZERO!! ZILCH!! NADA!!

No one writes songs about a brown Christmas! Looks like that is what we are getting this year. No snow in the forecast for the rest of the week! I am so bummed by this. It just doesn't feel like Christmas without any snow! Yet, the festivities must go on!

Sam, our resident elf continues to show up daily. He has been getting himself into some pretty interesting predicaments around here!

Tree by Claire!

All 4 Christmas trees have been assembled and decorated

Santa has been visited. No prize winning photo this year! As we were waiting in line, Claire suddenly becomes very shy, hiding behind my leg and states, "Sometimes I like Santa, sometimes I don't. Today, I don't think I like him" She did get close enough for a picture with Santa but drew a blank when it came to telling him what she wanted, so luckily Carter did the talking for her.

The stockings have been hung!

And cute pictures of babies in Santa hats have been taken!

Can you tell which one is Case and which one is Carter?

School is out tomorrow for 11 days, presents all wrapped, supplies for Santa's cookies bought, groceries for our special Christmas eve dinner purchased, Christmas music playing in the background, now if we could just get some SNOW!!

Family Pictures 2011

2011-12-06T09:34:00.000-06:00

My Champion

2011-11-28T10:51:00.001-06:00

Wrestling season is in full swing! Carter had his first ever tournament 2 weekends ago in Martensdale. He came away with a shiny gold medal! We are so proud of him! The wrestling mat in the basement and practice 3 times a week is paying off! I am not sure my nerves can take 12 years of this! His first match the opponent forfeited, he pinned the second opponent and won the third match by a technical fall (16-1) to capture the title.

This past weekend we had our hometown tournament in Waukee. Again, he took home the gold, making his record 6-0. Two pins and another technical fall.

These meets are so much fun! I am learning to be a wrestling mom! This entails having bleacher butt, packing enough activities and snacks to keep a 3 year old entertained all day, enduring a loud, stinky gym full of sweaty little boys, attempting to learn the scoring system, jocking for position near the mat when your kid is up, and feeling bad when the losers cry. I am sure I will be a pro at this when the season is over! I just pray he continues to have fun, shows good sportsmanship and doesn't get hurt!

Big helpers and my sweet boy!

2011-11-28T10:24:00.000-06:00

I have the best helpers in the world (almost too much help at times) Carter and Claire have made the transition from 2 to 3 a piece of cake. Case is blessed to have such great big siblings! I have lots of help at bath time, arguing over who gets to give him a bottle, and Claire always makes sure he has his pacifier, his blanket and lots of kisses! Carter is very protective of him and Claire is the ultimate Mother hen. Now, if I could just convince them to change a diaper!

My sweet boy is 7 weeks old today. He is such a blessing and is the BEST baby! He is full of smiles and coos at anyone he meets. We just eat him up!

Special visitors

2011-11-28T09:53:00.001-06:00

Case got to meet two more grandma's this month!

Meeting Grandma Freeman! He is the 6th grandchild on the Freeman side and the 5th boy!

Meeting Great Grandma Mehlmann. He is the 16th great grandchild on the Mehlmann side.

Four generations! Ida Spieker Mehlmann (95) Phyllis Mehlmann Berry (62)Dana Berry Freeman(36) Case Freeman (5 weeks)

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-04T15:51:00.001-05:00

Isn't this a cool pumpkin?

Carter grew this in his pumpkin patch at Grandma and Grandma Berry's. He picked it especially for me because "it just looks like a mom pumpkin" Okay so now you all know what a "mom" pumpkin looks like! Once again we have pumpkins and gourds of all shapes and sizes coming out of our ears. I think Carter's pumpkin patch grows each year and we end up with more on our front porch each year! Luckily, we were able to donate some pumpkins to Carter's class for a science unit, learning all about pumpkins.

The kids each picked a pumpkin to carve, chose a pattern and ditched me to go play!

Carter dug out a handful of goo, Claire had nothing to do with it!

I made the mistake of starting these 2 pumpkins in the early evening, so after making dinner, feeding Case and baths for everyone, I finally had them finished 4 hours after I started them, only to have Claire remind me that I didn't do one for Case! Sorry buddy!

The kids headed out on Sunday night for Beggars night. We live in a great neighborhood full of kids so it was so fun to be out and see everyone dressed up. Jeremy and Case handed out candy and were out of loot in about 45 minutes!

LUIGI

PRINCESS CLAIRE

Claire was really cute, when someone asked her which princess she was, she replied, "I am princess Claire!" Of course! And last but not least

BOWL OF SWEETNESS!

Busy week!!

2011-10-23T16:47:00.003-05:00

3 trips to the Dr's office: 1 week and 2 week checkup and a trip to the urologist for a circumcision gone bad! We also found out he has a broken clavicle! Poor baby!
2 trips to the hair salon: Hair cuts for the kids and myself, plus a SOS trip to get my long nasty hair in shape for family pictures this week! For those of you who don't know, I have been growing my hair out to donate to Locks of Love and will be able to get it cut at the end of my maternity leave! YIPPEE! I am ready for a new do!
3 trips to the mall: Family pictures this week! Trying to find clothes for 5 people that relatively match is a HUGE challenge!
3 trips to the grocery store: This is SO unlike me! I usually grocery shop for 2 weeks at a time, but for some reason, have only been able to make little trips here and there for only a couple of things. I have my list ready and will tackle the store tomorrow!
2 trips to the pumpkin patch: We took advantage of the nice weather this past weekend and hit up Center Grove Orchard and last weekend Patches Pumpkin Patch!

1 trip to Costco: 2 trips to the park, 1 trip to Target and 1 trip to the toy store rounded out the week....whew! Okay so we have been a little "over busy" since Case came home! I am looking forward to a less hectic week this week with only 1 Dr appt, family pictures and a trip to the grocery store planned. He has been a such a trooper as I have toted him all over the past week and a half!

A visit from the tooth fairy!

2011-10-23T15:59:00.002-05:00

After weeks of wiggling, pulling, and the ever so too frequent hands in the mouth, Carter lost his first tooth! It was hanging by a thread so Jeremy finally convinced him to let him pull it out! I think we are all glad it is finally out! He made sure to secure it safely under his pillow in a plastic bag so the tooth fairy could find it (good thinking) and was up at the crack of dawn today to show off his crisp dollar bill!

I hope his "big" teeth are as pretty as his baby teeth have been! It makes me a little sad as this is just another reminder of how big he is getting!

Case Alexander Freeman

2011-10-16T15:15:00.001-05:00

And then there were 5! FINALLY!

Case Alexander Freeman

October 10, 2011

9lbs 1 oz

20.5 inches

3:14 am

This is what you look like after giving birth to a 9 lb baby without any drugs at 3 in the morning!

Grandma and Grandpa Berry

Aunt Darcie and Jill

Going home!

Patiently waiting.....

2011-10-03T17:55:00.003-05:00

As I go around the house today picking up, I just have to stop and smile at what good use Claire is making of all our baby stuff while we anxiously wait to put it to use it again! She is going to be such a good helper!

6 REALLY??

2011-09-12T18:42:00.010-05:00

Yes it is true, our sweet boy has turned 6. Six years ago today our lives changed forever with the arrival of this sweet baby boy. He has been a pure joy and true blessing to us ever since. We are so proud of the little man he has turned into. He is such a great friend to everyone, protector of Claire, helper of anything you ask of him, and has the kindest heart of anyone I know. He still holds my hand when we go somewhere and even thanks me every night for making him supper. Isn't he a handsome young man?

We let Carter have his first "friend" party this year. He decided he wanted go to with a Star Wars theme, complete with light saber cake made by our wonderful neighbor Elizabeth.

Carter invited 5 friends, plus his sister to Warrior Lanes for a bowling party. The kids had a blast, enjoyed some pizza and Carter was showered with lots of gifts!

Claire was super funny at the bowling alley, always cracking us up. She would push the ball down the lane then put her hands on her knees and talk to the ball as it SLOWLY rolled away. She would clap her hands and yell, "I did it!" every time, no matter how many pins she hit!

The whole bowling gang! Notice the girls outnumber the boys? He is quite the ladies man!

Carter's birthday was on a Monday this year, so now that he is in school, we had to celebrate a little differently. Usually we let him eat his way through the day with whatever he chooses, this year we had to cut back and only splurged on supper at his favorite establishment, McDonalds. He did take ice cream sandwiches to school to share as his birthday snack.
Lastly, I started interviewing the kids on their birthdays, something I wish I would have started years ago. Here is what my new 6 year old came up with for answers!

1. What is your favorite food? McDonalds and ice cream

2. What do you want to be when you grow up? A police officer

3. What do you like to play with? My DS

4. If you could have any animal as a pet, what would it be? A gorilla

5. What is your favorite color? Red

6. What is your favorite thing about school? Learning

7. What is your favorite movie? Gladiator

8. Who is your favorite team? Iowa State ( I did not lead the witness!)

9. If you had a lot of money, what would you do with it? Buy a new house for mom and dad (ahh)

10. If you could go on a trip anywhere in the world, where would you go? To a hotel with a pool

11. Why are you special? Because God made me the way I am.

First day of school!

2011-08-19T09:20:00.007-05:00

The day has finally come! My baby is starting kindergarten. Although as I am posting this, it is the 3rd day of school, I still tear up just writing about it! I don't think either one of us slept much the night before school, Carter filled with excitement, me with sadness and worry. Carter was up at 6 am, dressed and teeth brushed on the first day, and proceeded to ask me every 5 minutes for the next 3 hours how long until the bus came! I am so happy he was so excited to go and tried my best to hold back the tears. He was so brave and didn't blink an eye when waving goodbye from the bus. This will be a moment I will never forget!

The neighborhood kindergartners plus Sophia! Carter is in the same class as 3 of these 4 girls!

Yes, I followed the bus up to the school to make sure he got there okay and found where he was suppose to go. He quickly found his group "yellow circles" and listened intently to the instructions. I got the sense he was a little nervous at this point and kept looking for me, asking for another hug (which is so NOT Carter!) I finally couldn't take it anymore and had to leave!
He made is home safely on the bus, right on time and actually had a lot to say about the first day of school! He filled me in on the room rules, what you do at lunch, the playground, rest time and even boosted, "Mom, Mrs White even told us we will learn how to read in kindergarten!" He was super excited to share his day which made me feel better. When I asked him his favorite part of the day, of course he replied recess and the worst part of the day was lying down to rest. Even though the first 2 days the kindergartens only went for half a day, he was super tired that night and nearly fell asleep at supper! I continue to pray he likes school, grows academically, meets new friends and this all gets easier for me!

The last hurrah of summer!

2011-08-17T16:53:00.012-05:00

Oh, summer, where have you gone? Although it went way to fast we made the most of the last couple of days of freedom before school started. The end of summer is somewhat exciting for me as it means IOWA STATE FAIR!!! This is truly what living in Iowa is all about and I wouldn't miss it for anything! Although we were bummed that the Sugarland concert was cancelled, my mom, Darcie, Jill and I still went out the the fair Sunday night to consume some food and check out the sites. On Monday, the kids joined us for a FULL day of fun. This was the first year Claire got to go, so Carter made sure to show her the ropes on the Little Hands on the Farm. We now have 2 more Pioneer hats to add to our collection!

This year marked 100 years of the Butter Cow and also a tribute to Norma "Duffy" Lyon the lady best known as "The Butter Cow Lady" . She sculpted the butter cow for 45 years, retiring 5 years ago. Unfortunately she passed away earlier this summer. In her honor, they had 100 of these little painted cows all over the fair that fair go-ers decorated for her.

Gotta love spin art!

8 trips down the big slide!

Claire and her new crown!

On Tuesday, mom and I took the kids to Blank Park Zoo to check out the dinosaur display that has been visiting the zoo this summer. These were super cool with moving parts and roaring sounds.

Thanks for a great time summer!

Claire is 3!!

2011-07-31T10:16:00.015-05:00

Our little princess is 3! Seriously 3 already? Seems like yesterday our docile little baby was sitting in the swing sucking her fingers without a care in the world! That sweet little baby has turned into Ms Princess Sassafrass and we love it! Claire had a really special week, full of lots of spoiling, lots of great gifts and so much sugar we are still feeling the effects from! She woke up on her birthday and said, "I'm not 2 anymore right? " The week of her birthday she was also "Star of the Week" at daycare which comes with lots of extra special attention! We had to interview Claire as part of her star of the week special duties so her teacher could share with her class. She has some great answers and this makes me think I should start interviewing my kids each year on their birthdays and add it to their scrapbooks. Here are her answers:

1. What is your favorite color? PINK ( no surprise there)

2. What is your favorite book? PINKALICIOUS ( again no surprise)

3. What is your favorite movie? PRINCESS AND THE FROG

4. What is your favorite thing to play with? MY BABIES

5. What do you want to be when you grow up? A PRINCESS

6. I am special because... GOD MADE ME!

7. What is your favorite food? CHICKEN NUGGETS

8. What is your favorite animal? CHARLIE MY DOG

On her birthday I was able to eat lunch with her and we celebrated with her daycare friends with princess cupcakes!

I love the pure excitement on her face in this picture!

Making a wish!

Every princess needs a special birthday crown!

On her birthday she opened up gifts from very special friends and family, including a new stroller for her babies, new books, sticker earrings, Hello Kitty watercolor book, and a fish named Bubbles from Carter.

On Sunday, we continued the week long celebration with a picnic in her honor with our family. Once again, we are so spoiled to live next door to the best baker and cake decorator EVER! Elizabeth created a pink masterpiece for Claire with accompanying frilly cupcakes decorated in edible pink glitter. The cake was white almond with raspberry filling and as always to DIE FOR! I know people will always come to my kids' parties just so they can have some of her cake! Thanks Elizabeth! YOU ROCK!

Showing off Snow White and Cinderella dolls!

The GRAND prize, a pink princess bike that just screams Claire! It is complete with front basket and baby carrier in the back. It is full of pink and frill, just like Claire!

Second cousins Maddie, Maycie, Makenzie and Nolan help Claire celebrate!

Happy birthday Claire bear! We love you!

Summer craziness!

2011-07-19T09:44:00.017-05:00

It has been one crazy summer so far! So crazy I haven't posted anything in a long time! Between 2 seasons of t-ball, wrestling, VBS, trips to the zoo, 2 town celebrations, and of course as much pool and beach time as we can squeeze in we haven't had much down time. For some reason I have in my mind summer is over once Carter starts kindergarten in 4 weeks and we still have a July birthday, swimming lessons, another wrestling camp, a quick trip to Minneapolis, Iowa State Fair and a camping trip to fit in. Our calendar is full and I love it! Here is a quick rundown of our adventures!

Carter finished his first season of t-ball mid June and started the second season the 5th of July. Luckily even though his team name changed from the Brewers to Cubs ( yeah) for the second season, he had the same coaches and many of the same teammates. The second season is coach pitch and they add a few more rules to make the game a little more challenging for the kids. It is amazing to see how far his team has come since the beginning of June!

At the end of June, Jeremy and Carter spent a week in Michigan with Uncle Al, Aunt Nancy and cousins, Ben, Nick and Sam while Claire and I had some girl time alone at home. Carter was able to participate in Uncle Al's wrestling camp while Jeremy got into the action as well helping out the older kids. In preparation of the upcoming wrestling season, Jeremy turned part of our basement into a wrestling room. Not exactly what I had in mind for that space but they did a great job decorating it and it is truly a wrestling room, complete with stinky boys! Carter did a great job at the camp even though he was the youngest guy there! They got to take in a Detroit Tigers game while they were there and Carter had fun hanging out with his cousins!
One of our favorite summer pastimes is the Blank Park Zoo! It is a great little zoo, perfect for little kids. Carter was able to go last week again with his preschool class and raved about a new dinosaur display they have and told me "You just have to see it mom..it is SOOOO cool!" So I see another trip to the zoo in the next couple of weeks!

Claire isn't so sure about the train!

Happy red, white and blue! We celebrated independence day with all the festivities Waukee has to offer! We joined our friends the Froehlichs for the hometown parade. Claire did not want to take a plastic sack to the parade, insisting on taking her purse! She held it open in hopes some candy would just fall into it I think and never really caught on that you have to pick it up! Carter and Lilly did a great job helping pick it up for her and filling her purse! Following the parade the kids enjoyed inflatables at the park followed by fireworks.

I just had to post this picture of Claire! She is officially potty trained as a present for all her hard work, we got her a pink scooter. Notice her get-up? This is what you'll find her in 95% of the time. Princess dress complete with gloves, ballerina shoes, earrings, and necklace. She has to take her crown off to wear her helmet and set her magic wand down!

Lastly, we have been keeping cool with frequenting our favorite watering holes, Ashby Park wading pool, Splash Park, and Raccoon River. Even the sprinkler in the front yard is great fun!

Joys, Sorrow and Mixed Emotions

2011-05-28T06:54:00.036-05:00

Joys

Mother's Day! I have the best job in the world, and no it isn't that place I drive to everyday to get a pay check! I am always treated like royalty on Mothers Day by these kiddos and their dad. The last few years we have had a Mother's Day tradition. I am lucky enough to live within a couple of hours of my mother and grandmother so I take the kids and head out to spend the day with them. We have a nice lunch at a local restaurant while Jeremy stays home. Now when we first started this routine I was thinking, but I should be the one who gets to stay home all alone

for an ENTIRE day! However, part of my present is to return home to a SPOTLESS house! Laundry done, bathrooms cleaned, floor scrubbed, carpet cleaned, etc. I mean what better gift can a mom get? I know he busts his butt to get this all done, meanwhile I am having a nice dinner with my favorite gals! On top of this, I always receive a gift that is the BOMB! This year it was a Kindle! Who hoo!

Baby Freeman! We had a 20 week ultrasound last week and everything looks great! We decided again not to find out what this babino is, although I have to say I was a little more tempted this time to find out! So far we are right on track for a due date of October 8 even though I feel like I could deliver this baby tomorrow as big as I am! Carter is hoping for a boy, Claire for a girl so someone will be disappointed. Carter is doing a great job coming up with names for this baby that start with "C" We actually really like a couple of his suggestions so it would be fun for him to say he "named" the baby.

Sorrow
Death. The Tuesday after Easter we lost my grandpa Mehlmann. I feel so blessed we were all home at Easter to see him. He spent 96 years here, was married to his sweetheart for 72 years and spent 94 years on his beloved farm. It just doesn't get much better than that. He was laid to rest next to his parents in a plot that overlooks his farm. My sister and I grew up only about 10 miles from my grandparents so we spent many summers with them while our parents worked as well as every holiday, birthday, etc. I am so thankful of this. As I got older, I loved talking to him about the changes he has seen, especially in farming, going from pulling a team of horses to the huge machinery we have today. He and my grandmother raised 6 kids on the farm and told stories of when they first got electricity in the house, their first TV and their first phone. I am so glad to have these memories. Thinking of his life it humbles me to think that I work hard when I have all these luxuries sitting around my house. We should all take away some life lessons from our elders. RIP Grandpa!

Grandpa and me at a family picnic in 1978

Grandpa and Grandma on their 65th wedding anniversary

Mixed Emotions

Graduation. Carter graduated from preschool this past week. I have been an emotional mess over this. The pregnancy hormones don't help! I Can't believe in a few short months he'll be off to kindergarten. He has had amazing teachers and met so many friends. I remember the day I first dropped him off there. He had just turned 3 and was terrified! I was on maternity leave at the time, so he only went for half a day. He wouldn't eat, wouldn't participate in any activities, would sit by himself with his blanket and wouldn't tell anyone when he had to go to the bathroom, so needless he was pretty miserable there for a couple of weeks. It broke my heart leaving him there, crying, begging me to take him home. Now, he is upset when I pick him up early! He has done a lot of growing up in those 3 years! I am so joyful for this wonderful place! I know it is time for him to move on, now I just need to. A big SORROW happened during his graduation ceremony as I videotaped the whole thing without pushing the record button on the camera! ARG! I'll remember this moment at his high school graduation!

Carter and his BFF's, Mya, Summer and Abby. He is quite the ladies man! All 4 of them will go to the same kindergarten in the fall.

Carter and Ms Robin

We are so proud of you!

HAPPY EASTER!

2011-04-25T15:32:00.015-05:00

Happy Easter! He is risen! What a fun filled weekend! We started the celebration on Saturday afternoon with an amazing church service. The kids got to participate in the sermon and sang "Jesus the Messiah" in front of a packed house. Don't they looked enthused to be all dressed up?

After church we tackled coloring Easter eggs. Luckily we all love eggs so we will be feasting on them for days!

Sunday morning the kids were up VERY early to hunt Easter eggs.

The Easter bunny spoiled them rotten with all kinds of goodies!
Claire had fun opening her eggs and didn't care what was in them (I really tried to limit the candy) Carter on the other hand was disappointed when some eggs were as he called them "dud's" meaning they were empty!

Once the eggs were all opened, we headed back to Griswold to spend time with our family. We were able to use the community area at the assisted living facility where my grandma lives to have our potluck dinner. We were able to see some family we hadn't seen in a long time! My grandpa who is in the nursing home part of the facility had been down with the flu, so wasn't able to join us for dinner, but we were able to visit him briefly. After the kids opened yet another Easter basket the Easter bunny left at G&G Berry's we headed out to visit Jeremy's mom. As I was leaving, I ran into an old classmate who I hadn't seen in years! It was so fun to catch up with you Jenny Schroeder sittin in the motor!

When we got home, we had a surprise! I had left the kids Easter baskets out on the living room floor in our haste to get out of the house in the morning. Charlie had a guilty look on his face as I opened the door. He had helped himself to ALL of the candy in the kids baskets. Just image chocolate, marshmallows, and jelly beans smeared all over your living room carpet. I still can't figure out how he got some of those packages open but I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to see what fun he had! The kids stood in awe then realized what had happened and started to cry! It was almost a blessing to see all the candy gone! Luckily, Charlie didn't have any reaction to eating all the sugar and chocolate! Now, I just have to figure out how to get this carpet clean...I am dreaming of laminate floors in my near future!

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS WASHINGTON KANSAS?

2011-03-21T15:02:00.025-05:00

So when most people think of spring break, they think of Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Texas, etc. Nope, not the Freeman's! Although we did head south a little ways, the kids and I ended up in Washington Kansas, population 1,200 for spring break. The crazier part to the story is we met up with our dear friends the St. Clair's ( who actually live in Phoenix) for part of the week. They were going to be in middle America picking up the newest member of their family, Aspen, a 2 year old yellow lab! So, the kids and I took the opportunity to meet up with them and hang out a couple of days! It was so amazing to see them and their kids, Ellie (7) TJ (6) and Owen(3).I got to hang out with Kirsty for her 40th birthday in Breckenridge a few years back, but hadn't seen her husband Chris or the kids since before Claire was born. So we jumped at this opportunity to see them! Now for those of you who know nothing about Washington, Kansas, it is actually a pretty cool town with amazing hospitality. I felt right at home in this "spot in road".

Washington is home to KSDS (Kansas Specialty Dog Service) Munchkinland Park (built in honor of the mayor of Munchkinland from the Wizard of Oz) and also, the best part, one of the 8 wonders of Kansas, MarCon Pies! We toured the pie factory, well actually more like a pie garage, that employees 14 people who make 500 pies a day! All from scratch! We got a free sample at the end of our tour (peach pie) and feasted earlier in the week on chocolate peanut butter cream pie to celebrate my birthday! YUM YUM!

The kiddos at Munckinland Park..notice the dusting of snow on the ground? The St. Clair kids were gaga over the snow, Freeman's not so much!

We are so thankful we got to spend time catching up with our very special friends! Miss ya already!

CHESS CHALLENGE!

2011-01-28T19:29:00.015-06:00

Carter has been working toward a goal for almost a year now, learning how to play chess! Carter loves to play games and Jeremy thought teaching him the game of chess would teach him some valuable characteristics like patience, problem solving, and strategic planning! Jeremy made a goal chart for him and once he finished a "level" he got to pick out a new toy, game, etc. He finished all seven levels a few weekends ago so we had a little graduation party for him. It was complete with graduation cap, a fancy new chess board, a membership to the United States Chess Federation, his choice of supper and the big treat was a weekend at the indoor waterpark! It is amazing how good he has become at this game! He has played some people online and actually beats them! He always wants to play me because I have no clue how to play! He is now working on a new chess challenge, level 8-15. I think we may have a Bobby Fisher on our hands!

Supper choice: Chocolate chip pancakes and sausage!

Christmas!

2010-12-27T15:23:00.027-06:00

Well it has come and gone just like that! I was able to take a couple of days off right before Christmas to stay home with the kids and do lots of fun stuff like wrap presents, bake cookies, and watch Christmas movies with the kiddos all snuggled up on the couch with a cup of hot cocoa! The excitement of Christmas is almost too much for Carter to handle. I am so happy they are filled with Christmas spirit and I know soon enough they will grow out of it so I must treasure every minute of this time with them!

We spent Wednesday before Christmas making cookies for Santa. It is the one time of year I let them go wild in the kitchen! Flour everywhere, frosting everywhere, sprinkles everywhere. Carter kept asking me if it was okay to get messy. YES!! I have a big container of cookie cutters for the kids to choose from. Claire picked only hearts, and wanted pink frosting and pink sprinkles. Not too Christmasy but these cookies definitely have Claire written all over them!

Check out all the flour on his shirt!

We spent the rest of the afternoon wrapping up presents. Each year I have taken Carter to the dollar store and let him pick out a present for everyone in our family. He does a great job picking out thoughtful gifts! It's also his job to wrap them!

That night we went to church for an amazing service and drove through Jolly Holiday Lights at Water works park.

Carter snapped this picture of Claire and I after church!

Christmas eve we had our traditional dinner complete with prime rib and crab legs. We stuffed ourselves silly but were able to waddle our way to the living room to open some presents. Our tradition has been to only give 3 gifts. On Christmas eve, the kids get to open a gift from each other, and a gift from us. Then we are always blessed with gifts from friends and neighbors that we open then as well. Carter got a new game and a bow and arrow set. Claire got some dress up clothes and an aquadoodle. We stayed up late watching "A Christmas Story" and then hurried the kids off to bed so Santa could come!

On Christmas morning, the kids find one Santa gift under the tree and a filled stocking above the fireplace. Santa always leaves something for the big kids too! I got a new watch, a gift card for a massage, and an Amazon gift card! Jeremy got Bruce Springsteen's The Promise, coffee, and a gift card from Amazon too! Carter got a Nintendo DSi XL and a couple of games. Santa left Claire a bouncy house in our living room! Late that morning we head to Griswold to Jeremy's mom for more presents and lunch. Then we head to the country to my mom and dad's for more presents and dinner. We were able to spend the night this year at Grandma and Grandpa Berry's since the weather was so much better than last year! We were also able to stop by and see my grandparents on the way home Sunday. They were both doing good and so excited to see us!

Notice Claire is wearing the same dress up outfit from the night before? Yep, couldn't get if off of her before bed!

The kids again were spoiled rotten and it took two cars to get everything home! Claire got a My Loving Family Dollhouse from Grandma and Grandpa Berry with Aunt Darcie helping to furnish it. This thing is the bomb of doll houses and everyone is loving playing with it. The stove makes sizzling noises, the bassinet plays music for the babies, the minivan plays music! I love having someone to play house with now! It is much more fun than playing house for real! Claire also got a play tea set, new clothes for her babies, and new clothes for herself Carter got 2 huge army sets, complete with tanks, helicopters and more army men than he can count! He also got some new Husker pj's, a toss across game, transformers, and some legos. The each got a pillow pet from Aunt Nancy and Uncle Al too!

Claire intently watching Carter master Super Mario Bros on his DS

We all got an extra bonus this year as I entered Claire in a Bad Santa photo contest through a local radio station. After harassing everyone I know and many people I didn't know, we WON! So we have a nice little gift card to the local mall to spend! I am thinking through very carefully about what we want and need before making any decisions on how to use this! I'll keep you posted!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and wishing everyone many blessings in 2011!

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

2010-12-11T17:08:00.022-06:00

CHRISTMAS! The trees are up ( all 5 of them), the stockings are hung, Sam our elf has arrived, Santa has been seen on 3 separate occasions, gingerbread houses have been made, the Christmas cards are starting to arrive, Christmas cards mailed, the Festival of Lights and Trees has been visited, the first snow has fallen, and all the shopping is done!! Carter declined writing a letter to Santa this year because " The only word I know how to write by myself is CAT and I don't want a cat! Bless his heart! All that is left is the wrapping and baking....my LEAST favorite things to do!

Dress up!

2010-12-06T16:36:00.014-06:00

Just a few quick photos of Claire's new obsession...DRESSING UP! She has a big bin of dress up clothes in her closet she runs to first thing in the morning! I have to apologize to her daycare teachers for her get up's sometimes but this is a battle I have lost! Plus, isn't she just adorable? I love her fashion sense!

She actually wore this to bed one night, pj's, swimsuit, crocs, stocking hat and hello kitty watch!

Tutu, pink boa and ISU hat? Hmmm

Just chillin after a hard day of changing clothes!

Family Pictures!!

2010-11-02T11:29:00.008-05:00

Once again we were able to have the very talented Julie Glasgow take our family pictures this year. We had a perfect fall day and choose Waterworks park for the setting. The kids did great and we got a ton of awesome pictures to choose from. She also made the collage for our new blog header! Here is just a small sample of my favorites! Enjoy!

OCTOBER FUN!

2010-10-31T18:00:00.023-05:00

October is by far my favorite month of the year! I love the crisp fall air, changing trees and decorating for fall. We have been able to enjoy all the fun things that October brings..especially pumpkin patches and our favorite holiday, HALLOWEEN! Carter was able to grow his very own pumpkin patch again this year at grandma and grandpa Berry's farm. They tried a variety of "jumbo pumpkins" this year, with the biggest one weighing in at almost 40 lbs. It was a little bit of an ordeal getting it out of the trunk at home! My favorites from his patch are the gourds and baby pumpkins.

Mom and the kids and I tried out a new pumpkin patch this year called Patches Pumpkins. We also visited our favorites Center Grove Orchard and Howell's pumpkin patch.

The lady gave me funny look when I asked if they had helmets for the kids to wear while on the horses!

Jumping pillow!

Giant slide!

Maybe next year she will be able to reach the pedals!

We carved 2 pumpkins out of Carter's patch. Neither one of the kids was too interested in putting their hands into the goo. Claire just pointed and said "yucky" Jeremy won the rock paper scissor battle and we carved an "N" for Nebraska instead of an "ISU" for the better team!

The kids got good use out of their costumes and each got to dress up at school/daycare and on Beggar's Night. Carter made a pretty handsome cowboy in his levi's and chaps.Claire was able to wear her belly dancer outfit to daycare and choose the much warmer lady bug costume for beggars night. We handed out a bowl of candy and once we combined both kids bags, ended up with more candy than we handed out! We celebrated Halloween with some special food, including a jack-lantern pizza and oreo spider cookies.

Ride em cowboy!

Happy Fall! Enjoy it while it lasts!

KIDDOS

2010-10-25T14:56:00.035-05:00

It's seems like a while since I have posted anything about the kids. So here is a quick update all about them!

Carter: Last week he got promoted to a new belt level in Taekwondo. He is now a gold/white belt and this also means that he is no longer a Little Dragon, but a Little Tiger. He is very excited as "tigers are much cooler than dragons mom!" Although I knew he would do great I was so nervous for him. At promotion, the Master didn't call his name out to test with his normal group, telling him that he wanted to test him with the bigger kids. My stomach was already in knots and this about put me over the edge! Then, to top it off, the Master asked Carter how old he was after the test in front of everyone and proceeded to tell Carter that if he keeps up the great work, he will be a black belt earlier than he (the Master) was. This was huge for Carter as he really looks up to Master Miller. We are so proud of him. This has been such a great thing for Carter as Taekwondo is a great way for him to get out some excess energy, but also it has taught him to be more focused and respectful as well as helping out others. We really see a change in him at home and especially with his sister! He is a great helper around the house and isn't afraid to play babies with his sister! He is doing great in school and asks for "homework" at night so I have been bringing some worksheets home for him from work. He has been doing single digit math, telling time, counting by 2's, 5's and 10's to 100, and has started to read some 3 letter words. He continues to love history and can probably tell you the life story of just about any famous historical person!

Practicing his escape moves under Master Miller's watchful eye

Receiving his new belt!

Claire: Challenging!! I am not sure where our quiet little baby who never needed anything went too! She always has us on our toes! Although she is very frustrating at times, I am so glad she is a girl to be reckoned with! She is strong willed. She is bossy. She is stubborn. She knows how to get her way! However, she also is my miss manners child, always saying please and thank you! Her vocabulary is EXPLODING FINALLY! She is putting 2 and sometimes 3 words together and that has helped us with our frustration of trying to decipher what she wants. She is a HUGE tantrum thrower and unlike Carter who could work himself out of one in a couple of minutes, she will go on kicking and screaming for up to 45 minutes sometimes! She spends a lot of time in time out, but this doesn't phase her the way it did Carter. She LOVES "Ca Ca" (Carter) and makes sure to give him a hug and a kiss each morning before we head out the door. So far he is game to this but I know the day will come all too soon when he won't let her do this! She is EVERYTHING girls are! She has to have something pink on, something in her hair, her purse and her babies. She has a cell phone to her ear all the time. She loves shoes. She has to have her fingernails and toenails painted. She is organized and always puts things in their place. She is a little lady and wipes her mouth off after meals!

Applying her lipstick!

Talking on the phone!

Check out the fuzzy pink slippers!

Every girl loves a bubble bath!

PROUD SISTER

2010-10-18T21:10:00.007-05:00

Time to brag! The first weekend in October my sister, Darcie, was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. She was honored at the Homecoming banquet along with 4 other inductees. She was also recognized at an alumni BBQ, during halftime of the football game and at private reception for her, family, friends and teammates. She was selected to the hall of fame in her first year of eligibility ( must be out of school 10 years) and is only the third softball player to be inducted in the 30 year history of the hall of fame. She was a first team NCAA Division II All American in 1999 and a four time first team all conference infielder. She holds the school career records for single season (15) and career home runs (48) She was chosen the Omaha World Herald State Female Athlete of the Year in 1999 and was named to the All-Century team in 2009. Not only did she excel on the field, she graduated summa cum laude and was twice named to the Academic All American team. After she graduated she played with a USA Select Softball team the toured Europe. I was so glad I was able to spend the weekend honoring her and her amazing accomplishments! Our whole family is so proud of her!

A MUCH NEEDED VACATION!

2010-10-12T08:34:00.012-05:00

On Friday Sept 17th, Jeremy and I boarded a plane in Des Moines for a BIG vacation to Greece and Turkey! Many people have asked us why we chose Greece. For those of you who know us, we have two very different ideas on what constitutes a vacation. Jeremy wants to see as much history as possible, I want to get as much sun as I can, read as many books as I can and drink as many fruity drinks as I can. So, we compromised with a few days in Athens for historical site seeing, and then went on a 5 day cruise for sun, and relaxation. We had an AMAZING time and saw some amazing places. It was hard to decide what pictures to add to the blog so I am working on a digital scrapbook I can share with everyone. For now, here is a brief rundown of our trip!

Saturday: Arrive in Athens FINALLY! Long story short, missed flights+36 hours of no sleep+lost luggage=HUGE meltdown in Athens airport by yours truly! We get to the Stanley hotel, wash out our underwear in the sink, go to bed! We pray our luggage shows up!

Sunday: We went on a sight seeing tour of Athens today. We were in a group of about 25 people with an amazing guide. The first stop was the 1st Olympic Stadium built in 1896. It is made completely out of marble and still looks brand new today! Next we went to the Acropolis Museum and took in a history lesson. This is where I ( Jeremy already knew all of this) learned about the history of Athens, the Acropolis, the Parthenon, Zeus, Athena, Apollo, Poseidon, and many other historical Greek figures. After our guided tour, we did some exploring on our own. We both agreed Athens was harder to navigate than Rome was but getting lost in a strange town is the best way to see the sights! We had a GREAT surprise when we got back to the hotel, our luggage arrived!

Monday: Our transfer picked us up at the airport bright and early and drove us to the port of Pireaus. We got checked onto the Aquamarine by 8:30 am and had the day to explore the ship, take a nap and sit outside and take in the beauty of the water. It is so amazing how blue water can be! We docked at our first stop, Mykonos, around 6:30. We spent about 3 hours touring this island, also know as "Little Venice" not so much for all the water, but the crazy winding streets and TONS of shops, bars, eateries! Back on the boat and lights out for these two!

Tuesday: We sailed overnight and ported in Kusadasi, Turkey. We didn't book an excursion here and decided to explore on our own. At first we were a little nervous here as the streets are lined with shops and the shop owners are VERY aggressive about getting you to come into their shops. Once we got past the "tourist" shops, we felt less harassed and enjoyed all the great shops filled with jewelry, leather, hand made clothes,shoes, soaps, olives and cheese. As we were getting back on the boat, we noticed someone with an ISU shirt on and after talking with this couple, found out we have mutual friends! Small world! We got back on the boat around noon, and headed to the deck for some sun and a much needed nap! That night we ported in Patmos and again explored on our own for a couple of hours. I had intentions of getting in the crystal blue water here, but it was FREEZING so we headed back to the boat for dinner.

Wednesday: We woke up this morning in Rhodes. This is the largest island we stopped at and it was amazing! It looks like it is straight out of a movie, as it has a wall built around the entire city. It has a castle in the middle with a fortress protecting it. It was so cool! We booked an excursion here to see the old city and Temple of Athena, Temple of Apollo and Philerimos. This is a religious center where priests/monks lived years ago. It is a very sacred place and very beautiful. This is also where Mussolini's summer home is located. This city if full of beautiful architecture. We did some shopping after the tour and noticed most shops here were filled with symbols/statues of Jesus Christ or of warriors such as Leonidas or Spartacus.....interesting mixture! After spending the whole day here, we boarded the boat around 6pm and got ready for "elegant" night on the ship! It was really fun to get to dress up! We had a nice dinner, but unfortunately the boat was super ROUGH!! The crew locked the doors and place "emesis" bags around the ship. Everyone walked around like a bunch of drunks. I get motion sickness fairly easily and this really affected me! I spent the rest of "elegant" night in bed or in the bathroom! Romantic huh?

Thursday: Today's morning port was Crete. We decided to sleep in and stay on the ship. We relaxed with some sun, good books and a nap! The afternoon port was Santorini. This place is completely AMAZING and I would recommend this place to anyone. We only had about 4 hours here but you could easily spend a couple of days exploring this beautiful place. This is the place you see in pictures with the white houses and blue rooftops. The scenery is unreal. This island is lucky to still be standing as it sits on a volcano and was hit by a hurricane years ago. It is only 26 miles long and at one point only half a mile wide. The only way to the city which sits high about the water is by cable car, donkey or walking! Part of Santorini has black sand beaches from the ash of the volcano. We took a walking tour here to make sure we saw the highlights since we didn't have much time here. This is definitely a place we will go back to someday!

Friday: We disembarked the ship by 7 am and headed back to the Stanley Hotel. We couldn't check in yet, so we explored a tourist area called "Plaka", meaning Plaza. We conquered the subway system to find it and we are so glad we did as this is where we ate our first gyro of the trip! I was a little leery to try lamb, but after a taste of Jeremy's decided this was the only way to go! It was SO good! Yum Yum! Needless to say, this was our diet and mission for the next 2 days, finding a new gyro shop indulging in it's goodness!

Saturday: Today we walked to the National Archaeological Museum, which houses some the world's most recognized sculptures, bronze and marble statues, and the history of different periods of time. Jeremy was in heaven when he found this statue of Augustus. We spent most of the day here before heading out to dinner at a recommended restaurant, "Alexander the Great'". Again, being the history buff, Jeremy was in heaven!

Sunday: Homebound! We arrived back in Des Moines around 8pm and were so excited to see the kids at the airport! It is amazing how much bigger they looked! Carter was so excited to see us, Claire gave us the snub and clung to my sister Darcie. She finally warmed up when she noticed Darcie wasn't coming home with us! The kids worked hard on a welcome home sign for us! It was so good to be home! We have to send a big thank you out to my sister and Jill and my mom who kept the kiddos for us while we were gone. We wouldn't have been able to take this trip without them!

Claire modeling her outfit from Turkey! Isn't she so cute?

Carter is FIVE!!

2010-09-12T20:49:00.014-05:00

Today we partied from dawn to dusk to celebrate our big FIVE year old's special day! The day started off bright and early with Carter coming in our room at 5:30 am asking if it was his birthday yet! He woke up to a room full of balloons and streamers from the "balloon fairy" He requested a toaster strudel and go-gurt for breakfast. We then hit DQ for lunch and indulged in "Husker" dilly bars, then hit Warrior Lanes for a couple games of bowling and video games. Carter actually legitimately beat me in bowling the first game!

We invited our families and close friends over to help Carter celebrate and eat some yummy cake. Our "theme" this year was Super Mario Bros. I can never take credit for my kids' cake as I am lucky to be the next door neighbor to a professional cake decorator! Basically Carter tells Elizabeth what he wants and she somehow finds time to come through for us each time! Thank you Elizabeth!

Carter got some really cool stuff! His friend Sam sent him his first Lego set and that is all he has been asking for! He got a few more sets to add to his collection as well as a marshmallow shooter, a new set of bases, a nerf rifle, transformers, a Zhu-Zhu pet, and Mario and Luigi and of course some green stuff for his wallet. Carter's request for supper was steak, green beans, potatoes, and bread all served on the special "red plate" We ended the night with family movie night with Karate Kid part 2 as the feature.

On Monday, we went to see Dr Steve for Carter's 5 year checkup. He weighed in at 41 lbs and and was 44 inches tall! He grew 3 inches and gained 3 lbs this year! He had to get 3 shots and was so brave! He didn't cry at all until I hugged him and told him how proud I was of him!

Monday afternoon we took treats to Carter's preschool to share with his classmates. What a great group of friends he has made here. It is somewhat sad to know this is his last birthday celebration at preschool! Again, Elizabeth came through and make chocolate cupcakes with raspberry filling, decorated in Husker colors. It just happened to be "red" day at school too!

Lastly, some fun facts about our 5 year old!

1. Carter Alan Freeman was born 9-12-05 at 12:14pm weighing in at 8lbs 13 oz and 21 inches long. He came in a hurried fashion and hasn't slowed down since.

2. He was born with a broken collar bone

( thankfully the only broken bone he has had)

3. He learned to ride his bike bike this summer without training wheels!

4. He loves movies, but not especially cartoons, more like action packed, sword fighting, gun slinging, knock em dead movies.

5. His favorite food is green beans!

6. He'd eat every meal at McDonalds if we would let him.

7. He still sleeps with his "blankie"

8. He loves the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

9. He started Taekwondo this past year and loves it! He is currently an army/gold belt.

10. He is the BEST big brother to Claire. He is very protective of her and will give her anything she wants, including his toys to make her be quiet at times!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARTEROO! WE LOVE YOU!

Claire and her babies!!

2010-08-30T14:14:00.010-05:00

Claire has a new obsession...BABIES!! and when I say obsession, I mean OBSESSION! I am pretty sure she thinks about her babies ALL DAY long! We have to take them with us in the car, to the store, to daycare, to bed, you get the hint. I am becoming a pro at swaddling 6 babies before bed as well as changing baby diapers and buckling 6 babies into the empty seat in the back of the car. Our living room looks like a daycare complete with two baby strollers, a changing table, a bouncy seat, a high chair, a pack and play, a front baby carrier, and a baby swing. We had gotten her all these things for her birthday hoping she would like them...well needless to say everything was a hit! She is quick to point out "real" babies anywhere we go and runs right up to them pointing and says " my baby" as of course everything at this age is hers! It has been so fun to watch her love them, kiss them, snuggle with them and talk to them. She takes such good care of them, making sure they are all fed and burped and diapered. She'll bring them up to me and hold them out and say "ewww" while wrinkling up her nose to indicate they are poopy. What a good mommy she will make someday!

Feeding baby Stella..this baby is great..she has a magnet sewn around her mouth so the bottle and a binky stick to her mouth!
Changing Stella's diaper
Rocking Stella to sleep
Kissing a baby before nap
Off to the store with her purse and baby
Night night Claire and babies
Getting some fresh air
Walmart!

It's that time of year again..

2010-08-17T17:42:00.027-05:00

IOWA STATE FAIR TIME! WOOT WOOT! Okay Jeremy would give me a funny look over my excitement for the fair. He just doesn't know what he is missing out on! I can't say I am a fair fanatic and can't see myself going everyday like some people, but it is just something you have to do living in Iowa! Carter and I along with my sister Darcie and Jill knocked the fair out yesterday. We spent an entire day there, sun up to sundown. We stuffed ourselves silly...luckily there were 4 of us, so we got to sample more food, including warm fresh donut holes, Barksdale chocolate chip cookies, corn dogs, cotton candy, snow cones, pineapple whips, milk shakes from the dairy barn, fried snickers on a stick ( my personal favorite) and cheese curds AND it was worth every calorie! I love good bad food!! Here are the highlights of the day:

* Little hands on the farm

* Watching baby chicks hatch

* Watching a high diving show

* The BIG slide x3

* 10 temporary tattoos

* Iowa's biggest boar and bull

* Grape stomping

* Dr Seuss butter sculpture

* Bunge/trampoline jump

* Spin art

* Amusement rides

* Watching miniature horse show

* Avenue of Breeds

* Ye Ol Mill

* Sky Glider

* Pony ride

* Petting zoo

* Water balloon fight

* Souvenirs

* Watching a magic agricultural show.

364 days until we get to go again!

BIRTHDAY GIRL!

2010-07-31T20:19:00.014-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAIRE BEAR!! Our baby girl turned 2 on Tuesday! She has been such a blessing in our lives and we just love her to pieces! We celebrated her special day with a party last Sunday and then again on her actual birthday. She was spoiled with lots of great girlie stuff!

Modeling her new Nebraska cheerleading outfit in preparation for football season ( much to my despise)

A very chic new apron from the very creative Summers family! Thank you!

I had our very talented neighbor, Elizabeth, once again make us a super yummy cake...almond flavored with raspberry filling!

Hmmm...not sure I can blow out these TWO whole candles!

On Tuesday the four of us went to Pump it Up for open play time to let her do two of her FAVORITE THINGS....JUMP and SLIDE!!

Here are some fun facts about our TWO year old!

1. She arrived in 7-27-08 at 5:24 am in record time. I am pretty sure she was half way out by the time we got to the hospital. She weighed 7lbs 15 oz and was 20.5 inches long

2. She has BEAUTIFUL hair! Seriously she gets compliments on this all the time! It is the hair I have always dreamed of having, thick blond hair with perfect wispy curls at the end.

3. She LOVES food! Seriously, there isn't much this kid won't eat and she eats a TON of it! She has some serious chunky monkey thighs going for her!

4. She LOVES anything girlie...manicures and pedicures, playing dress up, taking care of her babies, hair bows, dresses, and most importantly shoes!

5. She continues to suck the first 2 fingers of her right hand..we are saving for braces for this kid.

6. Her vocabulary is still limited to only a few words, but she definitely gets her point across by pointing, grunting, screaming or kicking until we figure out what she wants.

7. She is NEVER to busy for a good snuggle with her momma and her blankie!

8. She hates to be dirty...every day after daycare she takes off her shoes in the car on the way home, looks at her filthy feet and says "ewww" I give her a wipe and she cleans her feet up on the way home! She also lets me know IMMEDIATELY if she has pooped...brings me a new diaper and insists on me dropping everything I am doing to change her!

9. She LOVES Curious George and could actually sit for hours and watch him!

10. She gets embarrassed super easy! If you laugh at her and she isn't laughing back, she will BREAK DOWN or if we tell her NO, she will burst into tears! We are all hoping she outgrows this stage or we are in for a real treat when she is a teenager!

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST...We love her so much! She is our precious, beautiful baby girl! We can't wait to see what your next year brings!

THE GREAT OUTDOORS

2010-07-25T17:13:00.018-05:00

Wow! We have been busy! Even though we have had a bout of HUMID weather and swarms of MOSQUITOES we ( mostly Carter and I ) have had a ton of fun OUTDOORS! After much debate on where to find the perfect camping spot ( thanks to all who offered their opinions) we decided on good ol' Lake Anita. It is about 10 miles from my parents house and a good spot in case we ( I) chickened out! Darcie and Jill are pro's at camping thankfully and let Carter and I along with my mom tag along a couple of weekends ago. The weather was perfect, the beach was nice, we ate a TON of good food and best of all, there was a FLUSH toilet about 100 yards away! Carter told some amazing campfire stories, beat everyone in the yard toss game, roasted some mean marshmallows and wienies, and thought it was cool to pee outside any chance he got!

I was able to get some much needed time off work last week so Carter, mom and I headed up to see my aunt and uncle, Jim and Corinne Beals at their lakefront home in Ely, MN. We were able to make stops both ways in Minneapolis to see my cousin Patty and her family. It was a nice way to break up the 8 hour car ride with a 4 year old! Getting there was a little challenging as we drove through a pounding thunderstorm, the bladder of a 4 year old boy, being eaten alive by mosquitoes at every rest stop in Minnesota, getting pulled over for speeding, and road construction. We finally made it to Ely and were able to enjoy the paradise that is northern Minnesota. Some people think my aunt and uncle are crazy as they retired up there but if you have every visited this part of the country you can see why people love it so much. The water is CRYSTAL clear, the temperature is perfect in the summer, and the lull of the water and songs of the loons put you into a deep sleep each night.

We had an action packed week! The first night Jim made us a fire and we sat by the lake watching all the ducks he feeds daily come in while we roasted wienies.The second night we drove to Orr, MN to the Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary. This is an amazing place where trained volunteers feed black bears in the wild. The bears are free to come and go as the please, no cages, etc. We got there at the perfect time, seeing close to 30 bears come in to feed. This one bear climbed up on the steps to the overlook deck and just checked us all out.

Jim took us to his "lucky" fishing spot and sure enough it was prosperous! Now, by no means are these QUALITY fish, but the QUANTITY is amazing! The first night we went out, Carter caught 25 fish in 45 minutes, the second night about 30 fish in an hour. I didn't get much fishing in as I was baiting hooks the entire time! Carter had so much fun putting his line down and actually watching the fish take his bait as you can see down about 10 feet into the water it is that clear! As a special treat, he got to help Jim drive the boat back to the dock!

We also visited the Sudan underground mine, the International Wolf Center in Ely and took a hike to a waterfall the last day we were there. We had such an amazing time and hated to leave! They have tempted us to come back in the winter and try our hand at snowmobiling with them!

In his down time, Carter learned to ride his bike WITHOUT training wheels! I took them off and away he went. He is still perfecting his starting and stopping but he has the in between part down!

In between all of his adventures, Carter took swimming lessons from an amazing teacher and in 5 short sessions learned to jump in the deep end of the pool and swim to the side, learned to back float and the American crawl! I am so proud of him!

Although Claire had to stay home with daddy during our outdoor adventures, she wants everyone to know she loves the outdoors too and maybe next year she'll be able to go with us on our outdoor adventures!

Rain rain GO AWAY!!

2010-07-06T21:09:00.008-05:00

Well, I'd love to blog about all these great things I had planned for us over the long weekend, but a stubborn rain cloud decided to hang out for about 3 days over Waukee so needless to say our plans for a parade, Centennial Park activities, BBQ with neighbors and fireworks turned into naps for everyone ( including me!!!), movie night and pizza. Jeremy and Carter did venture out in a downpour to see STAR WARS in concert at Wells Fargo Arena on Monday afternoon while Claire and I took yet another nap!

There was a brief break in the rain Monday night and this was the view from our deck! Thank you God for putting things back into perspective for me!

Even though we didn't get to go anywhere, I made the kids pose in their 4th of July outfits. Aren't they cute?

SUMMER FUN AND FUN WITH THE SUMMERS'!!

2010-06-11T22:10:00.023-05:00

I know SUMMER is still a few weeks away, but we are so THANKFUL to feel the sunshine! In fact, we have had the A/C on since the middle of May! I am so THANKFUL to rub sunscreen on my pale children, give them a bath EVERY night to wash the gallons of sand off them they bring home from school, mend scrapped knees from running on the sidewalk or crashing a bike, block parties, hanging out with neighbors way past our bedtime because it isn't dark yet, packing sack lunches for picnic day at preschool, the purple quivering lips of two little ones I can't drag out of the swimming pool, and the hand picked dandelions and other weeds I receive as gifts on a daily basis. THANK GOD for SUMMER!

First trip of the season to Adventureland with the Feltner's and Froehlich's

The end of May we were so fortunate to have our old neighbors but forever friends, the SUMMERS' in town to celebrate Shawn's graduation from DMU. This awesome family were our backyard neighbors for three years and I am so THANKFUL our paths have crossed. Although it had been a year since we had seen them, it felt like old times. We were able to visit Blank Park Zoo, Raccoon River Park (where all the kids decided to get in the water with their clothes on) and the Waukee Ice Cream Shoppe with them. Carter and Sam were best buddies when Sam lived here. Carter invited Sam over for his first "sleep over" the last night they were in town. The two giggled in their tents ( set up in Carter's room) until almost midnight! Claire and Jack are only about 6 weeks apart in age and destined to be married some day. I think they would appreciate this picture on their wedding day!

Sam and Carter

I didn't have any quarters to buy food to feed the animals, so Claire resorted to feeding the goats rocks!!

Carter, Claire, Jack, Shawn, Olyvia & Sam

Blank Park Zoo 5-27-10

Sleep over!

We are so proud of what this whole family has accomplished! We are looking forward to visiting them in their new location, New York! Way to go SUMMERS family! We miss you already!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

2010-05-10T20:21:00.008-05:00

4 GENERATIONS

Phyllis Mehlmann Berry, Ida Spieker Mehlmann, Dana Berry Freeman, Claire Freeman

Happy Mother's Day! I am so thankful to be a part of this wonderful family! I am truly blessed to have the hardest working, most caring, loving, faithful mom and grandma ( she's 93 by the way..doesn't she look great?) anyone could ask for. I am also blessed that God has put faith in me to raise two beautiful, healthy children. Without him, none of this would be possible!

I was spoiled on Mother's Day with breakfast with Jeremy and the kids, lunch with my mom, grandma, sister and kiddos, and pizza from Tavern for dinner! Nothing says "treat mom" like food! I also was surprised with a new fancy phone that I am still learning to use, and I came home to a spic and span house completed with all the laundry done and groceries bought! Jeremy admitted he was exhausted after trying to get this all done while I was out with my mom and grandma and mentioned hiring a cleaning lady? All the chemicals must have made him a little loco! :) What an awesome day! Thanks family! I love you guys!

Easter 2010 ( a little late as usual!)

2010-04-25T14:08:00.014-05:00

Thank goodness for digital cameras to help me remember the special events in our lives since I can't seem to get them blogged very efficiently! We had a super fun Easter weekend with my cousin Patty and her family. They were down from Minneapolis so we had to show them a good time . We started the weekend off with a visit to Living History Farms for their Family Easter party. Usually I try to avoid crowds but it was a really fun time with lots of activities for the kids. They had some good food, egg coloring, a toy hunt, a pancake relay, a bonnet relay and of course the Easter Bunny. It was a beautiful day to be outside. Carter went to Grandma and Grandpa's for the night with Patty and Paul, so I just had to hide eggs for Claire. Although this was the first time she had hunted for eggs, she instantly knew what to do and tried to open them! We went to Grandma and Grandpa's for an Easter feast and more Easter baskets. We all headed back to Des Moines to stay at the new indoor water park. It was so much fun! Paige and Carter had a blast playing together and Claire showed NO FEAR! I initially helped her down the small waterslide, then she mastered it on her own, going down no less than 200 times. Then she slyly pointed to the pirate ship wanted to go down the bigger slide. Again I helped her at first until she waved her bye to me as if to say, " I've got this mom" She went down the slide with her arms up in the air smiling the whole way. She then pointed to the HUGE water slide indicating she wanted to try it. So, Jeremy and I took turns taking her down that. She NEVER held on! Carter even commented on how brave his sissy was! We were all exhausted by the end of the night! What a fun time!

Claire throwing a tantrum telling us she did NOT want to get out of the pool!

Showing off her Easter basket goodies!

The pancake race is on!

Carter trying to convince 2 older girls to let him in front of them in line!

Wrestlemania, spring and 30ish

2010-04-02T20:23:00.020-05:00

Okay, I know it is April, but I am just catching up with March so bear with me! We celebrated St. Patrick's Day in style, green hair, green beads, green clothes and green milk and mint chip ice cream to top off the night.

Jeremy's brother and his family were "back home" for a few days a couple of weeks ago. Jeremy and his brother have started a tradition of going to the NCAA wrestling tournament each year and this year it happened to be in Omaha. Carter had a blast playing with his only cousins and Claire held her own with all the boys! We all got to enjoy some wrestling action during the 3 day tournament even though the stomach flu hit the house! Uncle Al even got to escort one of the weight classes on the final night and hand out the trophies to the winners. We had so much fun and hated to see them go!

The kiddos plus Uncle Al playing a mean game of twister!

The Freeman Five

Sam and Carter checking out their new flashlights!

Our view from the nose bleed section!

Amazing Pizza Machine ROCKED!

Claire enjoying her ice cream after loading up on pizza!

Spring has finally sprung in Iowa and the kids and I enjoyed our first picnic of the season last week. It actually got a little too warm ( I can't believe I am saying that) for March with the temperatures hitting 84 here on Wednesday! Carter was able to dust his bike off and has set a goal for himself to get the training wheels off this summer. Claire can almost reach the pedals on Carter's old John Deere tricycle.

Lastly, I turned 30ish at the end of the month. Jeremy and the kids took me out to dinner and my co-workers spoiled me with treats. I spent the weekend scrapbooking at Walnut Place retreat in Valley Junction with some friends. I couldn't have asked for a better 30ish birthday! Here are some photos of me through the years, all I have to say is what was I thinking?

3 months

4th or 5th grade I think? I must have been in love with Elvis??

8th grade

Gotta love the rolled jeans, rolled shirt and button flys! Funny, my hair still looks the same in this picture as it does today!

We are spending Easter weekend with my family. My cousin and her family from Minneapolis are coming to town for the weekend. We are going to hit up some Easter egg hunts, dye eggs and spend the night at the new indoor water park in town. Claire tried on her swimsuit to see if it would fit...think I can get her out of the snowboots before she hits the pool? Happy Easter!

Dress up and puddin face

2010-03-08T14:24:00.017-06:00

Just wanted to share a few photos on what our sweetie Claire has been up too. She is LOVING to play dress up and will bring me numerous items to help her into during the day. Her favorites seem to be hats and shoes!Princess Claire ready for "Green Day" at school plus my old stinky running shoes!
Jammies, dog walking gloves, daddy's shoes, and Nebraska hat?
Tutu's and snowboots always go together!

Claire is by far the neatest eater out of our little family. Charlie steers clear of her chair most times as she so daintily puts food into her mouth that she never drops any! She is always wiping her face with a napkin at dinner while the rest of us could care less if we have food all over our face. We've found she does have a messy weakness for chocolate pudding however! For some reason she will only eat chocolate ( she takes after her mom here) pudding. I've tried to give her other flavors and she just pushes it away! Don't mess with a girl's chocolate!

Randomness

2010-02-16T14:20:00.011-06:00

Not much new from the Freeman camp. I was looking back through the pictures on my camera and I am embarrassed to say I've taken very few pictures since Christmas! Old man winter has really limited our activities! We continue to be buried in snow with no relief in sight. The groundhog assured us of that. I feel like I need to jump into a pool of lotion/sun and soak for a few days. I have been pressuring Jeremy to take me somewhere warm for even a long weekend but so far he hasn't caved. Carter and I were talking a few nights ago about summer and going back and forth with "I wish it was summer so..." I started out with, " I wish it was summer so we could have a picnic outside" and Carter came back with "I wish it was summer so I could sleep in my underwear!" Oh, I guess boys will be boys!

Carter is staying busy 3 nights a week with swimming lessons and Taekwondo. He recently had to take a test to "promote" to a new belt. He had to perform his skills in front of his master and 2 judges. I was SO nervous for him but he did great and advanced to the next belt. He is on his second round of swimming lessons and is doing so good. I am so proud of him! Hopefully we will see the sun one of these days and he will be able to test his skills in an outdoor pool!

Practicing his swimming in the tub!
Claire is full of spunk! She is going to be my strong willed kid and tests our boundaries everyday. Carter has asked on a few occasions if she is old enough to put in time out! She has become the instigater of trouble and thinks it is funny to pick on her brother ( we are SO in trouble) Her vocabulary is limited to mostly "no" and "no" with a lot of attitude including a little eye roll and turning her head away from us. She still loves to snuggle with me so it is so hard to be angry with her since she is so darn cute!

Playing dress up in mommy's hat and coat!

Valentine's Day was low key with a nice dinner out just the two of us. The kids had fun making valentines for their classes and friends.

Till next time! I'll try and be better about posting things more often!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-10T20:56:00.013-06:00

Santa was good to us this year! I am in amazement of how blessed we are to have so many people think of all of us at this crazy time of year. Jeremy and I started a tradition when Carter was first born to only give 3 gifts as the wise men brought baby Jesus 3 gifts. It helps us keep the gift giving in check but somehow our kids still end up with a ton of stuff! Thank you to everyone who thought of us and all the very special gifts we received. Now, I just have to find a place to put it all! Our Christmas plans had to be altered this year due to Mother Nature yet again. We spent Christmas eve at home, just the 4 of us. We made our traditional prime rib and crab leg dinner and opened presents. Christmas morning the kids opened their Santa gift and we all checked out what Santa left in our stockings. We had planned to head back home to spend the day with both sides of our family but a nasty ice/snow storm caused us to stay home. I was pouting for awhile as it was the first time in 34 years that I had not been "home" for Christmas. My parents lost power on their farm with the temperatures dropping down to the 40's in their house so I kept reminding myself we were in a better place! Nice and warm! We were able to make it back on Sunday for 2 celebrations and the next weekend to celebrate with Jeremy's mom. Carter and I went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks on Christmas day just to get out of the house!

The name is Rex, you can call me captain or sir, please try and remember mom!

The captain Rex box was a big hit as well!

Oh, maybe they do love each other?

Apparently, all 17 month old girls automatically know what to do with lipstick? Who knew? I think we could be in trouble!

The kids each got a recordable book from G&G Berry. They read and recorded a story to them so they are able to hear their voice whenever they want! What a great idea!

Carter and his second cousins, McKenzie, Maycie and Nolan. Claire had had enough and fell asleep on grandma's lap.

The kids and I did some baking for Santa. I am not too sure they were edible by the time the kids got done with them. I had to throw them both in the tub afterwards! They had fun making a huge mess!

Last weekend Jeremy and I took Carter to see Curious George at Veterans Memorial Auditorium. It was a good show and nice to spend some one on one time with Carter! Grandma was nice enough to come down and watch Claire for us!

Last Sunday we lost our beloved Max. He was 2 weeks shy of turning 14. Although we are super sad we know he lived a good long life and brought a ton of joy to our family. We have been reminiscing about him this week, here are some of our favorite things about him.

6 months old

1. He picked us, we didn't pick him. We got him at a kennel in Omaha, in the spring of 1996. Jeremy and I lived in a studio apartment in downtown Omaha and thought it would be a GREAT idea to get a dog! What were we thinking? We went to a local kennel and after walking around the numerous cages, we were on our way out when the sweatshirt I had tied around my waist got caught on something. I turned around to find this golden retriever with the end of my sweatshirt in his mouth. Well, needless to say, we couldn't resist.

2. Max lived in 15 places in his lifetime!

3. His tail waged in a circle!

4. He loved to rest his head on your lap.

5. In his younger days he knew many tricks, like play dead, treat on the nose trick, shake, and hide and seek.

6. He loved stuffed animals!

7. He was great with kids, even in his older years when he was stiff and sore he let them do whatever they wanted to him and he was never cross with them.

8. He'd do anything for a treat or a belly scratch!

Everyone seems to be adjusting to his loss. Charlie paced the house for 2 days looking for him but has finally calmed down and is eating again. Carter has mentioned him a few times, mostly asking what we think he is doing in heaven. We had him cremated and plan to bury him at my parents farm when the ground thaws out. RIP Max.

On a happier note, I get to see Lion King this weekend with my mom and sister so I am super excited! I have heard it is amazing!

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

2009-12-21T14:05:00.015-06:00

"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!

2009-12-01T19:50:00.014-06:00

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

2009-11-01T20:56:00.009-06:00

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

2009-10-21T21:06:00.014-05:00

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!

It's the Great Pumpkin Carter Freeman!

2009-09-29T15:45:00.013-05:00

Farmer Carter's pumpkin patch is open for business! I took the kids home yesterday to pick the remaining pumpkins. Needless to say Grandma and Grandpa Berry have pumpkins and gourds coming out of their ears! The patch turned out very plentiful! Carter told grandma he wanted to do it again next year and grandma was pretty excited as I think she and grandpa had fun with them too!

Baby boo pumpkins starting to turn white in August
Getting bigger!
It's the GREAT PUMPKIN!
Would you like a gourd?
Wheelbarrow full of gourds! (that was only about half of them!)

We still plan to visit our favorite fall places like Howell's pumpkin patch and the Center Grove Orchard in the next couple of weeks but we won't be hauling home any pumpkins that's for sure! Happy fall!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARTEROO!

2009-09-13T11:26:00.020-05:00

My little boy turned 4 yesterday! It is so hard to believe as it seems like yesterday I was holding him in my arms for the first time! We started the day off with his favorite breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes on the special red plate.
We laid pretty low the rest of the day, just hanging out and had family movie night that evening with our bean bags and popcorn. On Sunday we took him to America's Incredible Pizza Company for a super fun time. This place is new in town and is a really great place for kids of all ages. We ate some yummy pizza, rode the go-karts, played mini glow in the dark golf and mini bowling and fed the arcade with our coins. The "Incredibles" sang Happy Birthday to him in front of the entire place and he had this look on his face like "Are you kidding me mom?"

After that we headed home for some yummy cake and of course presents. Carter decided he wanted a John Deere cake this year so again our wonderfully talented neighbor Elizabeth pulled through for us.

Carter was again blessed with so many gifts and so many people who thought of him on his birthday. His "big" gift was a big boy bike.

A super cool Hot wheels set from his buddy Sam! Thanks Sam!

On Monday, I had our good friend and neighbor Erin watch Claire so I could throw a little birthday party for Carter at preschool with his class. I made (with a little help from my neighbors) "cake pops" for everyone and they seemed to be a hit.

Lastly, some fun facts about our 4 year old:

1. Carter Alan Freeman arrived 2 weeks early on 9-12-05 at 12:14pm weighing in at 8lbs 13 oz and was 21 inches long.
2. He is ALL boy. Some of his favorite things are Star Wars, John Deere, Hot Wheels, baseball, anything to do with guns and shooting, stuffed animals, Ironman, Wolverine and Transformers.
3. He loves movies, although isn't really into cartoons, more like action and sci-fi, see above!
4. He loves to have his back rubbed and cons most anyone into doing this for him!
5. Even at 4, he continues to be attached to his blanket and never leaves home without it.
6. He loves to run around in his underwear!
7. One of his favorite things to do is spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house and ride grandpa's lawn mower and tractor.
8. He is somewhat of a history buff like his dad. He can tell you all about Abraham Lincoln, Napolean, John Wilkes Booth, and Anne Frank.
9. He loves to rough house with is dad!
10. He has a kind heart and a great laugh!

Happy Birthday buddy! We can't wait to see what the next year brings for you! We love you!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

2009-09-07T11:24:00.006-05:00

Today Jeremy and I are celebrating 7 years of marital bliss! It is hard to believe we have been married 7 years already but I can honestly say I love Mr. Freeman more and more each day! Thanks for a great 7 years honey! I love you!

ONLY IN IOWA!

2009-08-21T21:42:00.009-05:00

IOWA STATE FAIR!!!
Carter: " Mom, I can ride it by myself this time"

Mom: "Are you sure?"

Carter: " Mom, give me a break, I'm almost 4!"

Mom: " I don't know honey, let's ask this man up here"

Carter: " Mom, come on, what are you worried about?

HANG ON TIGHT!

POOR BESSIE, I BET SHE WAS MILKED A MILLION TIMES THAT DAY!

CARTER: " COME ON MOM, FARMERS DON'T WEAR APRONS!"

AUNT DARCIE DEMONSTRATING THE PROPER TECHNIQUE TO EATING SOMETHING ON A STICK..YUM YUM!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAIRE!!!

2009-07-27T14:04:00.014-05:00

Happy Birthday Claire bear! I can't believe today is your first birthday! Where did the year go?

Here are some fun facts about our one year old!

1. Claire Elizabeth Freeman was born 7-27-08 ( on her due date) at 5:24 am, after about 45 minutes of labor, a 100 mile hour drive on the interstate to the hospital and with her mom crossing her legs the whole way screaming at Jeremy "Can't you drive any faster?" She arrived 14 minutes after we got to the hospital!

2. She weighed 7lbs 15 oz and was 20.5 inches long. She had blond/red hair and long fingers and toes.

3. She LOVES to snuggle!

4. She LOVES to suck her first 2 fingers on her R hand.

5. She HATES all green vegetables!

6. She has limited vocabulary of "ma ma" and "baaaaa"

7. She SCREAMS at the top of her lungs if she doesn't get her way.

8. She would rather play with cars, trucks and spiderman than girl toys.

9. She blows raspberries instead of kisses.

10. She out eats Carter at every meal!

We celebrated her birthday yesterday with family and friends with presents and cake. She dug right into the cake like I knew my little porkchop would. I had to put her in the sink afterwards to get all the cake off of her.

Thanks to everyone who made her day so special! We feel blessed to have so many people love her so much!