November 2016

November was another great month!  We didn't have a lot going on but it still seems like we were always on the go.  I guess that is life with 3 kiddos!!

Most of November was spent just doing life - school, basketball, gymnastics, etc.  All the kids are loving school and doing really well.  The girls have had 4 basketball games and still love it!  So much so, that our team just signed up to play another season in a different league.  It is so fun to watch them compete and have fun!  

The girls are back into their Trampoline class at gymnastics and are having a blast.  And as luck would have it, they started a toddler class at the same time as the girls so, Thomas gets to have his turn starting next week!

Of course November is always topped off with our Thanksgiving celebration.  Our family alternates years between the Frericks and Halters and this year was a Halter year.  So we packed up and headed to Atlanta.  It is always so fun to have all the cousins together.  The big boys are so sweet to the girls and Thomas and Thomas just loves getting to be one of the "big boys".  We spent a lot of time at The Halter's new house which is awesome but also had some fun at the playground too!

My crew....and I didn't even have to bribe them

 You know Thomas wants to be a big kid so bad when he is willing to do whatever PJ does or tells him to do...like going down the 2 story slide head first!

 Since we are already in Atlanta, we also get to celebrate Reed's birthday a little early.  This year we spent the day playing and ended the night with a cook-out and some presents.

This is Thomas' party hair....

You know you are the youngest of six when they spin you around and around on this thing...

and then watch you try to walk and laugh at you....

He wanted to keep doing it so it was great entertainment for all!

After our trip to Atlanta, it was back to our normal schedule (at least for the next 3 weeks).  This guy did turn 18 months old this week and still loves his thumb, his lovey, the football and dancing!

That is about all for now.  We are in full Christmas prep mode now and the countdown has already started for when school will be out again!!

Here are the rest of the pictures from November:

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October 2016

How in the world is it already November?  October was a total blur but full of so many fun things!

Most of October was full of soccer and school.  We had a long fall break that included a Third (and hopefully final) surgery for Thomas and a long visit from SueSue and BooBoo.  When BooBoo is in town that usually means a visit to Las Paletas!  It was Thomas' first time and I would say he really enjoyed it!

We finished yet another soccer season and the Blue Hearts did awesome!  Even though half of our team was playing up an age group (including our youngest player, Sullivan), all of the girls played hard, scored lost of goals and learned a lot.  By the end of the season, we were starting to play some "real" soccer - passing, defending, etc.  It was so fun to watch.  We didn't do trophies this year as we are trying to get away from the participation trophy thing - but the girls did get a little something.  A new soccer backpack and soccer ball patches based on how many juggles they could do in a row.  These 4 and 5 years olds started the season having never juggled before and by the end, they were all doing 4 or 5 in a row.  That is so amazing and they were all so proud of themselves!

With soccer over, were were able to sneak in a visit to Bowling Green to see Grandma and Grandpa. We had a lot of fun visiting Jackson's Orchard for a little apple orchard fun.

The end of soccer means the beginning of basketball.  For the first time ever, the girls are playing basketball.  Luckily, our super fun soccer team all decided to play basketball together (plus a few awesome additions) and now the Blue Hearts are the Green Frogs!  We have had a few practices and our first game which was so much fun.  The girls played great and even got their very first win!

October also means Hudson's Birthday!  Her party was going to be a week or so after the real day so for her birthday day, we spent several hours at Shuckles Corn Maze.  Our fun friends the Germains joined us for the day and I think everyone had a great time doing the hay ride, the corn maze, zip-lines, the jumping bubble, games, slides,f ace painting and pumpkin picking.  

The next weekend it was finally time for Hudson's party.  This year she chose the Brentwood Skate Center.  It was basically like stepping back into the 80s but so much fun!  We spent several hours skating and having pizza and cake with so many great friends.  For only having been there once before, Hudson got the hang of it very quickly.  Sullivan even won a prize for the limbo!

Of course we wrapped up the month with Halloween!  This year we went with an Army theme based on the costume the girls chose.  It turned out pretty cute and even though Halloween was on a school night, we had a great time.  Our neighborhood goes all out for Halloween.  Starting with the pumpkin carving contest and ending with the Costume parade and hours of trick-or-treating, it was a long but fun night!  The girls got First (Sobes' Elephant) and Third (Hudson's Cookie Monster) in their age groups in the pumpkin contest and got plenty of candy!

 

That is about all for now.  November will bring more basketball and a trip to Atlanta for Thanksgiving with the Halters!

Here is a little clip of Thomas' new favorite activity....all day, every day...dancing and singing!

Here are the rest of our pictures from October!

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September 2016

Well it's finally fall!  It took a while but Nashville finally had our first few days of less than 90 degree temperatures!  

September was full of one last lake trip, school, soccer and fall festivals!  

Hudson is still loving kindergarten!  She has so many sweet friends and seems to love going everyday.  I can already tell how much she is learning  - her reading has advanced so much as well as her math! She likes having PE but I think her favorites may be art and music class!  She had her first field trip to Walden Pumpkin Patch and while she loved it, I think her favorite part was getting to ride on a real school bus!

Sweet girl

Sullivan is also doing really well at school.  She loves her teacher and has made so many new friends.  Her teacher rewards the kids with frog stickers on a piece of paper with lily pads.  You get a sticker every time you do something above and beyond and she has already filled TWO cards!  So while she still thinks she should be in kindergarten, she is loving Judson PreK in the meantime!

My little mermaid

Thomas is also doing well.  He has finally adjusted to his new schools and last week insisted on walking in while carrying his lunch box.  It was super cute, especially since it looks just about as big as he is!  He had his 15 month check-up and all looked well!  He is still the "runt" of the family but I have a feeling he will catch up!  He weighs 23 lbs, 8 oz (75%) and is 30 5/8 inches tall (76%).  He has his third and (fingers crossed) final kidney surgery next week.  Luckily, this one is very short and outpatient, so no overnights in the hospital thank goodness!

Little man...big shoes

 Soccer is going well for the Blue Hearts!  The girls are really into it and are playing well.  They are both scoring goals, playing some tough Defense and learning a lot.  It's exciting to see the whole team every weekend because they all seem to be "getting it" a little bit more and more every week!  They are starting to look like a real team!

My crew

That is about all for now.  October brings a big birthday for Hudson, the end of soccer season and the start of basketball season!  Yes, the girls are giving it a try and Tom is going to be the coach...so I'll be sure to update on how that is going when the season gets started!

As always, here are a few more pictures of our September:

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August 2016

Hard to believe that August has already come and gone.  After a fun and busy summer, August meant it was time to get down to business.

We started off with a few days at Let it Shine Gymnastics Camp before school started back.  We love it there and Sobes had one particularly great day and was chosen Camper of the Day!  They can't wait for their trampoline class to start back this winter!

Camper of the Day at Let It Shine Camp

We also made our annual trip to the Williamson County Fair.  The kids love this fair and this year they were very into the rides.  I am pretty sure we did every ride they were tall enough for!  Thomas wasn't tall enough for anything (except the carousel) but he did love this tractor!

Tractor fun at the Fair

My Squad

August also meant that it was time for Hudson to start Kindergarten.  She was SOOO ready and it has gone really well!  She had 3 buddies in her class (2 from preschool and 1 from our neighborhood) which made the first few days so much easier.  She also has the sweetest teacher ever that she just loves.  We are almost a month in and she still loves it!!

First Day of Kindergarten!

Sobe and Thomas also started new schools.  They no longer go to the Academy (which we miss everyday) but they do love Judson Baptist!  Both are doing very well so far!

This guy discovered hummus

I also surprised the girls with a Big Girl only Date and took them (along with their Favorite Aunt Iffy) to see Meghan Trainor in concert.  They LOVED it!  Even with a rain delay...they had a great time!  Nashville is such an awesome city!

First Concert in Downtown Nashville

Thomas has had a rough August but he is such a tough guy.  He had the second of (hopefully only) 3 surgeries this month.  This one was to reconstruct his kidney following his surgery at 4 weeks old.  He handled it like a champ - he even walked down the hall to the operating room!  We stayed a few nights at Vandy which was rough but he was a total trooper and looking at him now, you would never know anything ever happened!  We are so lucky to be so close to one of the best Children's Hospitals in the country!

Prepping for surgery

So ready to go home after 2 days at Vandy

One of the best parts of August is that it means that soccer starts again!  This year we moved Sobes up to play with Hudson in the 5 year old/Kindergarten league and so far so good.  We have a team full of friends who are tough as nails and so competitive (even though half of them are playing up).  We won our first game. Both girls played hard and did really well.  

First game for the Blue Hearts

Blue Hearts with a Big Win

That is about all for August.  We are headed to the Lake for one more trip this weekend and we can't wait to see all the Halters and do some swimming, tubing and skiing!

As always, here are the rest of the pictures from August:

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July 2016

July was such a fun month for the Frericks.  It was packed full of summer fun for sure.

We started the month off with our Annual trip to the lake for July 4th.  As always, it was full of lots of cousin fun.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves but our week consisted of lots of swimming, riding the big red couch, s'mores, sparklers, fireworks, skiing, knee boarding and much much more!

Bookends

Love this crew

BooBoo and his grands

He loves a rocker

Lake time

The Crew (just missing Mays)

Guy time on the couch

Sparkler fun

After our fun week at the lake, we headed home for Soccer camp at Lipscomb University.  The girls LOVE this camp.  They both got to attend in the same group this year and they have already asked to go back and stay longer next year.  Here is a little video of how they end camp every day:

After soccer camp ended, we were lucky enough to head back to the lake to spend a few days with our best friends.  We don't get together as much as we should, but with 7 kids under the age of 6, it was such a fun...and exhausting time!  We enjoyed even more swimming, skiing, knee boarding, big red couch riding, dance parties on the dock and so much more!

7 kids under 6

 As soon as we got home from our fun lake weekend, Hudson graduated from PreK at the Academy of Powell Place.  She has gone to this school, with most of the same kids, since they were all about 3 months old!  She was a little sad to leave her school and her sweet teachers but she is so pumped about going to kindergarten!!

PreK Graduation

She starts school this Wednesday but we were able to squeeze in one more soccer camp.  Thanks to some really amazing friends and people in the soccer world, I was able to help coach at TeamFirst Soccer Academy when they came to Nashville last weekend.  They were also sweet enough to let Hudson attend for one day.  I'm not sure she completely understands how awesome this picture is but she does know that these women are the BEST players in the whole WORLD.  When she gets older, I will show her this picture again and make sure she understands that whatever sport she is playing, the opportunity was made possible because of these 3 women and their teammates!

TeamFirst Soccer Academy
(Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly and Tish Venturini)

That is about all for now.  First day of Kindergarten is on Wednesday and Thomas and Sobes start preschool in 2 weeks.  Summer is coming to an end but we sure have made the most of it.  

As always, here are the rest of the pictures from our July adventures:

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June 2016

We officially have a ONE year old AND a FOUR year old!  

June was a busy month full of birthdays, cousins, VBS', camps, pool days and friends.

Thomas turned ONE on May 28th.  Since it fell on Memorial Day, we postponed his celebration till the next weekend so SueSue, BooBoo, Iffy and all of his cousins could be here to help us party.  We spent some time at the pool followed by a cook-out.  We had plans to go to the Sounds game for a little baseball and fireworks but sadly the game was cancelled due to weather.  We made the most of it and Thomas and the girls were just happy to have the Boys here.  He also really loved opening his presents!  Thomas of course had his first taste of cake and he enjoyed it!  He was a little skeptical at first but then went for it with 2 hands...and had to rub it all over his hair too! 

Happy Birthday Thomas!

Cake time!

Other than his fun birthday, Thomas is doing great.  He is still a great sleeper (10-13 hours a night) and really loves big kid food.  No more baby food for this guy.  His current favorites are ANY kind of meat or fruit.  Especially deli meat and oranges.  He is a great walker now and thinks he can run - which usually ends in a face plant - but he is trying!  He also LOVES to climb on anything and everything.  Whenever he hears music, he has to stop and dance - his favorite seems to be Flo-Rida - go figure!  He finally got another tooth.  We had been stuck on 6 for a while now but on Father's Day, #7 finally broke through.  He went in for his 12 month check-up (a little late) and everything looks good.  He weighs 23.8 lbs (75%) and is 30 5/8 inches long (76%).  He is officially the runt of the family as the girls have always been in the 90% of everything!  I'm guessing he will catch up at some point!  

Sullivan turned FOUR on June 2!  She started her birthday celebration on Thursday, June 2.  She got to take a cookie cake to school which is always fun.  After school she got to go to Toys R Us and get her birthday balloon, crown and pick out one toy.  Of course she chose a Frozen art kit.  As is our tradition, she got to pick our dinner spot and she chose Chuy's - she loves some cheese dip!  We came home after dinner to open presents.  I think she had a great day!

Her party was on Saturday, June 4 and she wanted to have a Frozen Pool Party.  We woke up Saturday morning to downpours of rain and storms.  So we decided to go burn some energy at Above All with the cousins all morning.  After a little bit of panic (with no back-up plan for her party), Mother Nature cut us some slack and we managed to have a storm free party for several hours Saturday afternoon.  It did rain a little bit, but the kids thought it was so fun to swim in the rain!  I think Sully had a great time and she had so many sweet neighborhood and school friends come!

FOUR Years Old

 Sullivan is also doing well.  She is definitely a middle child!  She is not afraid to be loud and make her presence known!  We seem to be over the worst of the Three-nager stage so hopefully Four will continue to get better and better!  She did great at her Four year old check-up also.  Luckily no shots for her.  She had a major growth spurt over the last 12 months.  She now weighs 46 lbs (97%) and is 42 3/4 inches tall (97%).  She gained 8 lbs in the past year and grew 3.5 inches!

Serious Growth Spurt

Hudson is also doing well.  She is busy at Kindergarten Boot Camp at the Academy.  She goes 5 days a week and is really enjoying it!  Here is a little video of her showing off her gymnastics skills at Above All:

Other than birthday parties, June was full of pool days with friends, member night at the Zoo, and Pizza and a Sounds game for fireworks with Friends.  Hudson also went to 3 different VBS' and Sullivan went to one.  They LOVE VBS so much.  Sullivan still loves gymnastics camp also.  Both girls go to Soccer camp in late July and they can't wait for that!

We are off to the lake this week for July 4th so everyone is counting down to that trip as usual!  We get to spend a whole week with SueSue BooBoo, Aunt Eileen, Uncle Pace and the boys!  

As always, here are all of the pictures from our June fun:

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May 2016

It's officially summer and our sweet baby boy is ONE YEAR OLD!

Happy One Year Big Boy!

What a difference a year makes!

May has been a crazy busy month!  School and soccer ended, camps have started and Thomas turned ONE!!!!

Opening presents!

 Thomas is doing great.  He walks everywhere, climbs on everything and still loves to eat.  His favorite food is meat...of any kind!  He loves the water and finally got in the neighborhood pool this weekend (the water is so cold but he loved it).  We go back for his one year check up next week so I can't wait to see how much he has grown.  He still sleeps great.  He has also decided he loves the trampoline which is hilarious!

Big Girl date!

 Sweet Hudson is growing so much.  She grew almost 1/2 an inch in a month - which is insane!  She finished her last year of PreK at Judson Baptist and is going to miss it so much.  She had another great soccer season with her team the Green Frogs.  She scored some great goals and really got into it which was nice to see.  She still loves to swim like a fish and would live at the pool if we let her.  Today she started Kindergarten Boot Camp at the Academy and was super excited about it!  She will spend 5 days a week all summer getting ready for Kindergarten - academically but also little things like checking a book out of the library, getting a tray in the cafeteria, etc.  She is already so excited about starting Kindergarten in the fall and I can't believe it will be here so soon!

Soccer Stud!

Sullivan is still a crazy mess!  A hilarious crazy mess but still a mess!  She is also growing like a weed and is a strong willed as ever.  She finished up at Judson Baptist PreK and will be headed back there next year which she is already excited about.  She had a great soccer season also.  Her team was undefeated and she also scored some great goals.  She is way more aggressive than Hudson and soccer seemed to really click with her this year.  She also loves to swim but really just likes to be anywhere her friends are.  She turns FOUR on Thursday and has been counting down for weeks!

That is about all for now.  We have a big FOURTH Birthday on Thursday and two birthday parties to celebrate this weekend!  We are excited to have family in town to help us celebrate also.  This summer should be lots of fun with soccer and gymnastics camps, several Vacation Bible Schools, a few trips to the lake and of course more pool time with friends!

Here are the rest of the pictures from May:

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April 2016

Happy 11 Months 

Less than 1 month and this guy will be turning ONE!  I am not sure how this happened so fast but it is happening.  

April has flown by and was full of soccer, tennis, swimming, school fun and spring weather perfect for playing with friends and neighbors!

Soccer is almost over and both girls have had great seasons.  Hudson's team, The Green Frogs, is playing well.  They get better every game and seem to be having fun.  Hudson is playing well and even got to celebrate her first hat-trick of the season with a little Sweet Cece's.

Celebrating a Hat-Trick

 Sullivan's White Team is playing awesome.  For 3 and 4 year olds, they are full of hustle and not afraid to get in the mix.  Boys, girls, it doesn't matter...they are all tough as nails.  Sully has found her soccer groove for sure.  She is scoring lots of goals and has even figured out the "defending" thing which is fun to watch!

Serious about soccer

 Thomas is awesome!  He is officially a walker...and he loves it.  He walks everywhere...all the time.  He still loves food - especially strawberries, blueberries and any kind of meat!  Haha.  He moved up to the Infant 3 class at school and loves his teachers and being with the big kids.  He is still a great sleeper, LOVES his sisters and is such a happy happy baby.

Loving the Trampoline

 We haven't had much time for anything else other than sports this month, but we did sneak in a few other things.  We took a quick trip to Atlanta to surprise SueSue for her birthday which was a lot of fun.  We even got to visit with our favorite NC friends - the Boyles.  We have spent a lot of our free time just playing with neighborhood friends - playgrounds, flying kites, riding bikes, sewing pillows, jumping on the trampoline, etc.  We love our neighborhood!  We had a blast at the zoo celebrating our good friend Carter.  We also gave our house a little make-over.  We painted our kitchen and bathroom cabinets and also painted the walls in the living space downstairs and in the master bath.  It looks great and makes our space feel so much bigger!  

Kitchen Make-Over

That is about all for now.  May is off to a busy busy start.  Soccer ends, school ends, camps start, Thomas turns 1 and much much more.  For now, here are the rest of the pictures from April:

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