Thorne Christmas 2012

After examining Santa's loot, Grandmama, Grandaddy, and Aunt Peach came over to celebrate with more presents. Tuttle and Maggie LOVE all their new toys, but I have to say the Wonder Pets fly boat and the new exersaucer are the two favorites! Jay and I were also spoiled by the entire Thorne family.

We gobbled down Grandmama's traditional breakfast casserole, and then we loaded the car to drive to Athens to visit with the extended Drewry family at Granny's house. It was a smaller crowd this year, but it gave us a chance to really catch up with family that we only see several times a year. 

Tuttle spent most of the day in the spare bedroom playing with his cowboys and Indians. I think the morning overwhelmed him, so he needed some quiet time alone.

On a side note, Tuttle insisted on wearing his sweater, football jacket from Gram, football jersey from Grandmommy, jeans, and football pants from Grandmommy ALL DAY!

Since Jay took the entire week off, we decided to head to Madison for a couple days. Santa even visited there for MORE surprises. This Christmas is definitely one to remember. 

Tuttle could not get enough of playing Jenga with Grandmama and Grandaddy. While they did not play by the rules, Tuttle was so gentle removing the little blocks and would warn the other players to "be careful" or "take it easy" when it was their turn. :)

One of the biggest highlights of visiting Madison was the rediscovery of Jay's childhood go-cart. It had been used by some family friends for years, and they just returned it since their boys were too big now. Jay and Tuttle had a BLAST riding all over the yard! It was fun to watch them zoom around, and I know Jay will enjoy watching Tuttle create memories with his old toy.

Visiting Grandmama and Grandaddy's house with Aunt Peach was the perfect end to our Christmas vacation. I LOVED all the extra hands to help with the crazy kids. I even took a THREE HOUR nap with Tuttle one day. I felt like a new person afterward.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Five Months, Maggie Ruth!

Margaret Ruth Thorne has been a part of our family for five months now.

At five months, Maggie

• is 13 pounds (weighed at home)
• is (height check)
• eats about 6 ounces every 2.5-3 hours 
• wears 3-6m clothing
• goes to bed between 6:30-7:00pm, dream feeds around 9:30, and sleeps until around 5am. After a bottle, she goes back to bed until 6:30 or 7:00am.
• does not use the swaddle anymore to sleep
• takes 15mg of Prevacid everyday to control her acid reflux and is now a COMPLETELY different baby! :)
• spits up significantly less than the previous months 
• is only 100% happy if Mommy is nearby
• sleeps in her crib on her tummy
• loves sitting in the exersaucer or Bumbo seat, especially when her brother is playing nearby!
• still enjoys riding in the baby carrier on walks or around the house while Mommy gets chores done.
• still does not nap consistantly, but she is typically up between an hour and two hours and then naps for 45 minutes to an hour. Maggie will nap in her crib in the morning, but she throws a fit in the afternoon. Mommy typically gives into a nap in the swing.
• has started to grab for objects if you hold them in front of her.
• loves her carseat (I never thought I would say that!). If Maggie gets overstimulated, she will calm down if she can sit in her carseat and relax.
• gives belly laughs for Tuttle- it is the SWEETEST thing!
• has improved hand-eye coordination. It seems to develop daily.

Your family loves you so much, Little Girl!

Family of Four Christmas

Christmas is very different this year since Tuttle really understands Santa and is starting to connect Jesus to the big day. He can tell me that it is Jesus' birthday, but he is somewhat disappointed when I have to reveal that Jesus is not having a party at Hippo Hop. :) The holidays through the eyes of your children is such a fun thing to experience!
 

We started out Christmas Eve with green pancakes with red sprinkles compliments of Daddy. He made some delicious eggs and sausage, but those were overlooked due to the Christmas shaped pancakes.

After Jay gave me an early Christmas gift of helping clean the house from top to bottom, we headed to the Christmas Eve service at church. I thought it was going to be a small family service, but I was VERY wrong. It was HUGE and a full production. We braved taking Maggie and Tuttle into the service, and both did well. Tuttle enjoyed the live nativity skit put on by the kids, especially the wise men.

We left the service a few minutes early to head to Aunt Peach's condo for Grandaddy's traditional reading of famous poems, The Night Before Christmas, and Daddy's reading of the biblical Christmas story. This is always such a special time for our family.

 

Unfortunatly we could not stay too late because we had to get home and prepare for Santa. Tuttle left out cookies and milk, and he also left out dogfood for the reindeer. Tuttle and Maggie were clearly on the nice list because Santa left a room full of presents.

I could not sleep at all in all the excitement, so when Maggie was up at 6:45am, I pulled Jay out of bed to watch the kids react to Santa's delivery. Luckily Jay set up a video camera to capture Tuttle's first real reaction to Christmas morning. Maggie and Tuttle played with their new toys until Grandmommy and Grandaddy arrived with MORE PRESENTS to open.

 

Christmas with the Thorne Family in the next post..... :)

Corbitt Christmas 2012

Yesterday my mom hosted the Corbitt Christmas celebration at her and my stepdad's house. She always does the best job organizing a big event with her decorations and yummy food.

Santa is such a focus at Christmas that I have really tried to emphasize that Christmas is Jesus' birthday. Tuttle understands the day is also about the "baby boy" and can point out the wise men in a navitiy scene. Next year he will comprehend the story a little more.

 

Since everyone buys gifts for everyone in my family, I LOVE this particular get together because I start planning gifts in the summer to find the perfect thing for each family member. The tree is always overflowing with gifts, and we open the gifts one by one to see each special surprise.

Maggie was given the first gift to open, so her big brother helped her a little. :)

Tuttle and Maggie both received SO MANY cute things. Tuttle's favorite new toy was a Spiderman action figure that shoots webs. The first things he said to me when I went to get him from his bed this morning was that he wanted to play with his Spiderman toy. This was especially appropriate this morning because he was wearing his new Spiderman pajamas from Larry and Beth.

Tuttle also received a football jacket from Gram and immediately insisted that he wear it. He threw himself on the floor repeatedly declaring that he was doing football moves. :)

My mom cooked delicious chili for dinner after all the present opening. It was complete with sour cream, guacamole, onions, cheese, and jalapenos. Beth also made the best cornbread to accompany the chili. There was definitely TOO MUCH food, and everyone left stuffed. 

I love spending time with my family. Merry Christmas!

Preschool Christmas Party

It was the perfect morning for a sibling picture in front of the Christma tree. 

Obviously Tuttle and Maggie were thrilled.

 

Today was Tuttle's last day at preschool before the holiday break, so his class celebrated with a Christmas party. I volunteered with another mom to bring the food and decorations for the class. I was in charge of the table decorations, the fruit, and the yummy dessert. I brought the kids reindeer headbands for fun.

Ellie got festive for the party, too!

 

Aunt Peach came to surprise Tuttle. I was very excited that she could see Tuttle's school and how he interacts with his friends and teachers.

Tuttle has such a cute class. There are usually 10 students, but two friends were absent today. 

Our big boy devoured his ham and cheese star sandwich and banana pieces. In true Tuttle fashion, he requested more banana. I swear that Tuttle would turn into a monkey if he could!

My green rice krispy treat balls were a hit, too! I realize now that I could have made them A LOT smaller. I apologize to the mommies and daddies for sending your kids home so sugared up! :)

 

Maggie was extra sweet, as well, in her candy cane dress.

 

Tuttle and his best school buddy, Louie poised for a picture. Tuttle always tells me that he is going to play with Louie when we are heading to school.

Merry Christmas, Panda Friends!