Happy Birthday Jeremy!

Jeremy celebrates his 36th birthday today! Although he is "at that age" when birthdays aren't as important anymore, this post is all about him! I have to admit, this was a great way for me to reflect on him and why I love him so much! So here goes, 36 things you may or may not known about him!

1. Jeremy Patrick Freeman was born 4-28-73 in Atlantic, IA to Nancy and Beryl Freeman.

2. Jeremy is the second of 2 boys in his family ( his older brother Al is 13 years older..whoops!)

3. He graduated from Iowa State University in 1996, however has always proclaimed himself as a true Husker vs Cyclone.

4. Jeremy always has chapstick on him!

5. His musical favorites includes Bruce Springsteen, Metallica and Guns N Roses.

6. Jeremy grew up in small town Iowa in the days where you left home in the morning on your huffy and didn't come home until dark and nobody wondered where you were.

7. Jeremy AKA "budget master" can pinch a penny better than anyone I know..this is seriously hard for me at times!

8. He has had 3 wardrobe changes in the last 36 years. See #7 for reason why. I have threatened the fashion police on him several times.

9. He loves pizza and steak but only on special occasions and certainly not during the week.

10. His hair is as stick straight as it comes.

11. He can name the group who sings any 80's song within seconds of hearing the first couple of notes.

12. Chips are his downfall..seriously he can put a whole bag away in one sitting.

13. Jeremy took me on our 1st date to the movie "Santa Claus" with Tim Allen. I remember sitting in gum at the theatre and he was so nice to help scrap it off my bum!

14. He had LONG hair in high school and was forced each year to cut it for wrestling practice.

15. He is a HUGE germaphobe!

16. His idea of dessert is FAT FREE SUGAR FREE ice cream ( this is also very hard for me)

17. He's not afraid to eat tuna straight out of the can.

18. He hates it if you don't close the cheese wrapper tightly!

19. He loves to lecture his family on the evils of sugar and the value of protein to the body.

20. He is a wizard at chess.

21. He watches Sports Center every night before bed.

22. He adds Tabasco sauce to almost all of his food.

23. His favorite movies are Gladiator and Pulp Fiction.

24. He makes a mean breakfast! His french toast and omelets ROCK!

25. He loves movie night with his family.

26. He loves to read, mainly biographies of historical figures like Abraham Lincoln, Julius Ceasar, and Augustus.

27. He currently works at Wells Fargo but has dreams of doing other things.....

28. He loves wine!

29. One of his favorite jobs was working construction one summer during college. I think he did more girl watching and beer drinking than working, he would disagree.

30. He has a 5:00 shadow at 10 am!

31. He is a huge Chicago Cubs fan!

32. He drives a 1996 dirty rusty Ford Explorer full of dog hair that has 200,000 miles on it and probably the original tires. Only 2 of the 5 doors actually open and none of the windows roll down anymore. It totally grosses me out..see #7 on why we still own this hunk of junk.

33. He could watch an entire day of football without thinking twice about it, only leaving the recliner to use the facilities and grab a cool one.

34. He values a gym membership as a necessity!

35. Jeremy is such a great dad! He loves the kiddos so much and they adore him. He is the fun guy with all the patience in the world. He's not afraid to give bathes, change diapers and never complains when I leave the kids with him for a weekend to go do fun girl stuff.

36. He is the love of my life. He is my better half, my balance, my soul mate, my teammate.

Random stuff

Hi all! Although I apparently have been too busy to post anything for over a month now, I really can't think of anything exciting the Freeman family has been up to to post about! I am having writer's block as well, so I thought I would just post some random pictures from the last month. Happy Easter everyone!

Mohawks rule!

Let's go for a ride!

I'm not so sure now!

Who needs toys when you have a bowl and spoon?

The ladies of the house!

Best buddies!

What do you think old dog?

I love my tongue!

Grandma Berry made me look cool!

My little chefs...or space aliens?

I'm on the move!

I love to patty cake!

Claire turns 8 months! This is the best picture I got..she won't sit still anymore!

Charlie turns 5!

Because sleeping at the top of the stairs is more comfortable than my bed???

I love my bed and my fingers!

Boy this is a big Easter bunny!

Claire tasting the plastic eggs

Taking inventory of the eggs!

Wrestlemania!!

I apologize in advance for the overload of pictures! I had a hard time narrowing them down! We have been busy! We are so thankful to have been able to spend time with the "other Freeman's" in Detroit last weekend. We spent 5 days with Jeremy's brother Al and his wife Nancy and their 3 boys, Ben, Nick and Sam. We got to watch Al coach his high school team in a district wrestling meet on Saturday and the boys had a tournament on Sunday. Carter and Jeremy got to help both teams work out while the girls took in all the action. I have to say that I need to get myself in better shape as I had a bad case of bleacher butt from sitting all weekend! The kiddos did great and Carter has been practicing his wrestling moves ever since. Carter taking down Sam. Jeremy and Carter getting a better view on the action.

Future champion!

We had a great time playing with the boys. Jeremy taught them some new card games and managed to clean out the boys piggy banks on poker night ( he gave it all back of course! )



The boys did great playing with Claire. Nick was especially fond of her!



The Freeman Five!

Carter has been extremely helpful around the house lately. He has been into "earning" things so this is his motive for being helpful. Although sometimes I catch him doing things out of the goodness of his heart. As I was getting ready to vacuum one day, I came back downstairs to find Carter already doing it for me! He has also been very helpful with Claire now that she is "bigger" He likes feeding her a bottle and is always bringing her toys.


Claire can finally sit up! I thought for awhile she was going to skip this stage as she is very close to crawling! She can get herself up on her knees and push herself to a goal, which is usually one of Carter's toys she isn't suppose to have! Baby proofing is much harder the second time around!

Carter got to go to his first cattle sale with papa a few weeks ago. He didn't say much about all the cows he saw, but talked alot about the man who talked very fast! (the auctioneer). He sure smelled nice when he got home! He was so tired from the big day that he fell asleep with his hand in the snack bowl!

The weather here has been so crazy lately! We have been taking walks whenever we get the chance. This stoller is quite the workout for me! With both kids in it it weighs close to 60 lbs! I feel like I've ran a marathon after going around the block!

Claire has this new face where she crinkles up her nose, closes her eyes and shakes her head back and forth! It just cracks us up!

Lastly, Claire turned 7 months last week. What a big girl!

FIRSTS AND LAST

We've been experiencing lots of firsts in the Freeman household this past month. Claire has had some good firsts, Carter some not so good! Claire is getting more mobile all the time and has found her feet AND can get them in her mouth now! Apparently toes make for a good chew toy! It is getting harder and harder to change her diaper, bathe her, dress her as as soon as her clothes are off she is grabbing for her tootsies! I wish I was this flexible!







Claire has also tried her first vegetable! We are on day 3 of sweet potatoes and so far so good. I decided to go with something a little sweeter for her as she still isn't crazy about the rice cereal and has a hard time eating it. I didn't figure she would go crazy for some green beans or peas for her first food.







Claire had a 6 month check-up today. She weighed in at 15lbs 2 oz (25%) and 26 3/4 inches long (75%) and her head was 16 1/2 inches (50%). Other than having a snotty nose like the rest of us she got a clean bill of health and more shots!

Carter also went to the Dr today to confirm his first ever ear infection! After a sleepless night for him and dad (thanks hon for getting up with him) I toted him along to Claire's appointment and was able to get the doc to see him too. Although Carter felt awful, he squeaked out a little smile when Dr Steve told him he had pus in his ear. "Cool" he said. Must be a boy thing. So that makes 2 of the Freeman's on antibiotics this week. Jeremy is also recovering from Strep. Will summer ever get here? We need to open the windows and debug our house! I am taking stock in Clorox wipes!

Carter also had another first a couple of weeks' ago. A strange object fell out of his nose one night while he and dad were having a wrestling match. After looking closer, we determine the object was a kernel of corn...from the corn pit...from OCTOBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He quickly admitted that his friend John from preschool told him to do it. We had a long discussion about not putting things up our nose. We were so amazed that it never hurt him or complained about not breathing well!

Claire's first guard dog.

Lastly, we celebrated our beloved Max's birthday this past week. He turned 13 on the 31st. It is somewhat bittersweet as we know this will probably be his last birthday. He has beaten most odds and lived this long for a big dog. We wonder if any of his litter mates are still living. We sang Happy Birthday to him and made him a steak dinner and served it to him on a special plate. Max has been through a lot in his 13 years, living in 11 places, surviving the addition of Charlie 5 years ago and then the kiddos.

Recovery phase....

We're still here....just recovering. Our bellies our recovering from the overload of yummy food we ate, our house from the overload of toys, and our pocketbook from overspending. Christmas is much like a wedding, so much planning for the big day, then it is over way too quickly. Carter is already asking when Santa is coming back. For the first time, we spent Christmas eve/morning at home, just the four of us, and it was SO wonderful! Jeremy and I made up a super special candlelight Christmas eve dinner including crab legs and prime rib, appetizers and of course dessert. We got out our Christmas plates and used our dinning room table for the second time ever! Carter was excited to have his milk in a special wine glass just like mom and dad (ours had the real stuff in it). We opened presents that night and did stockings and Santa gifts the next morning before heading out to see both sides of our family. It was a crazy day but nice to be home in our own beds at the end of the day. On the 28th, we headed back home for 2 more Christmas' totaling 4 in all. Carter was pretty funny as he really never asked for anything this year, however everything he opened he squealed in 3 year old delight " THIS IS JUST WHAT I WANTED!!) I hope his excitement over things he never asked for continues for years to come. He was also excited to help Claire open her gifts "she's too little mom". Thanks to everyone who remembered us at Christmas this year. We feel so lucky to have such great family, friends and neighbors. Here are some shots from the big days:





our big feast



Christmas at G&G Berry's

Batman jammies from Aunt Darcie he HAD to put on!

Trying out his new computer from grandma and papa

Yet another picture under the tree

Claire enjoying some paper

Claire telling Carter he better tell Santa what he wants instead of posing for the camera!

We spent New Year's at home with pizza and a movie. Carter was sick and I had to work on New Year's Day so we just hung out at home. I think the kids and I were in bed by 8:30. Pretty exciting!

In all the excitement, Claire turned 5 months old on the 27th.

Poor girl has had a rough last couple of days. She is battling a bad cold (snotty nose, cough, the works) and her first tooth decided to make an appearance. Our normally happy go lucky baby is needing a lot of extra love right now. I have been spending quite a bit of time snuggling with her. I'm not sure who enjoys it more, me or her. She has been spending a lot of time sleeping and sucking on her favorite fingers which seems to soothe her too. She even found the exercauser a good place to rest her head for a quick nap.

She is getting braver and more motivated to get things out of her reach. Luckily I had her buckled in the bouncy seat when I caught her doing this trick trying to get a hold of a toy on the floor.

She is close to sitting unsupported and is really loving touching our faces and reaching out to touch the dogs if they get close enough. She is also able to get a hold of her feet now but her chubby thighs stop her from getting them into her mouth just yet!

Gotta run, the new season of 24 starts tonight. Let's hope Jack Bauer can save the world once again!