Happy Birthday, Jay!

Happy Birthday to Jay/Daddy!

 

 

Jay celebrated his birthday yesterday with homemade waffles, Starbucks coffee, a lot of relaxing in the recliner, and a family dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse. Tonight we enjoyed his ice cream cake (picked out by Tuttle) at home.

 

 

Mooch, I hope you had the best birthday ever! We are extremely lucky to have you in our lives. We love you so much! Happy Birthday! 

Corbitt Christmas Celebration

We ended our Christmas season with a brunch at my mom's house with the Corbitt side of the family. We met at 9:30am, so my mom served scrambled eggs, cinnamon rolls, fruit salad, cheese grits, and chicken biscuits. Everyone ate way too much. Maggie went back for seconds and thirds! :)

 

 

I love, love, love exchanging gifts with my family because everyone puts so much thought into shopping. Anne won the award for "Best Gift"- Tuttle has been living in his new ninja costume since he ripped open the package.

 

 

I think the morning was a little overwhelming for Maggie because she wanted to be held by me or Gram the whole time during the gift exchange.

 

 

At one point, Jay took her into the other room for a few minutes of quiet time, and it quickly resulted in this:

 

 

It was the best morning to wrap up Christmas 2013. 

 

 

Dave followed us home to deliver Tuttle and Maggie's big gifts: a mini trampoline and a custom built dress-up wardrobe. Dave can make absolutely ANYTHING, and the wardrobe is the perfect way to organize all the costumes overtaking my life! :) (Side note: Dave has announced he will not take on anymore of my crazy project ideas until he retires in about a year. I am choosing the ignore that statement!) Tuttle lives in costume, which I LOVE, and now I can store them in a pretty way, especially since he added an army man, a knight, a firefighter, and a ninja to the collection this Christmas.

 

 

 

Tomorrow we are celebrating Daddy's birthday with a lazy day at home and a family dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse.



Merry Christmas Day!

Santa was a HUGE hit this year! I actually had to wake the kids up because we had a full day ahead of us. When I walked into Tuttle's room and announced that Santa had come during the night, he leapt from his bed and ran down the hall. :)

 

Tuttle spotted his new Legos first and was thrilled! Maggie was right behind him checking out her presents and hopped right on her new bike.

 

 

The rest of the morning was spent going from toy to toy. Tuttle told me his favorite presents were the skateboard and golf clubs (Daddy's pick!).

 

 

Most of the presents were brought by Santa and unwrapped, but Mommy and Daddy wrapped a few presents that Tuttle and Maggie found under the tree, including new books, walkie talkies, and dress up shoes for Maggie.

 

 

It was definitely our most exciting Christmas morning so far with the babies because both were very into Santa this year.

 

 

Grandmommy, Grandaddy, and Aunt Peach came over for breakfast before we packed up for the Thorne family Christmas celebration in Athens at Granny's house.

 

We had such a wonderful time visiting with Jay's family this year. There were about 20 people, so it was a big crowd. We ate lunch (Tuttle ate THREE ham sandwiches!) and played the White Elephant game. We appreciate having Granny's house during our family get-togethers.

 

 

Tuttle is SICK of me forcing him to take pictures in front of the Christmas tree! LOL

 

 

Aunt Alice, Aunt Ann, and Grandmommy

 

 

The Christmas fun did not stop in Athens. Next we drove to Grandmommy and Grandaddy's house for presents!

 

 

In regular grandparent fashion, everyone was spoiled rotten. Tuttle received more Legos (including the Ninja Turtle Legos from Aunt Peach- a HUGE hit!), a scooter, a cash register, and a kid-friendly digital camera. Maggie's world was painted pink with a doll stroller, an Anywhere chair, and a set of pretend hair styling tools and make-up. Jay and I were not overlooked either. :)

 

I see a spa day in the Thorne women's near future!

 

 

Our little family is looking forward to some down time in Madison for a few days. We enjoyed such a perfect Christmas and are so thankful for our blessings.

Christmas Eve

We had such a great Christmas Eve with family full of traditions. The babies and I finished some last minute present wrapping and cookie baking that morning and waited for Daddy to finish up working. As soon as he arrived home, we loaded up the car for the family service at church.

 

I insisted on a picture in front of the Christmas tree, and it was a success!

 

 

Maggie wore my dress that I wore as a baby. It was handmade by a woman at my childhood church, and I had been saving it for this special occasion. :)

 

 

We attended the family service at Peachtree Road Methodist and took both Tuttle and Maggie to the service. Although it was kid friendly, Jay and I felt like we had completed an intense workout after the 45 minute service because our kids were so wiggly, and we were constantly playing "Pass the Baby." I am glad we went, though, because we heard the Christmas story and sung traditional Christmas songs to really remind us the reason for the season.

 

  

Next we headed to Aunt Peach's condo for our annual Christmas reading. We ate a yummy dinner and then settled in for poetry read by Grandaddy and Daddy. We look forward to this tradition every year and each have our favorite poems. The reading always ends with "'Twas the Night Before Christmas."

 

 

We hurried the kids home for bed to be ready for Santa. Luckily both babies were worn out from our long day and fell asleep quickly because Santa had a lot of assembling to complete. Tuttle and Maggie had been such good kids throughout the year, so Santa brought them a mountain of presents! :)

 

 

To Be Continued.....

Preschool Christmas Program

Tuttle performed with his preschool class in front of the rest of the school and families yesterday. I dressed him up and convinced him to take a picture in front of the Christmas tree before school. (He agreed as long as he could hold his Lego helicopter from Gigi.)

Tuttle and Gigi have been practicing their class songs for a few weeks, so I knew he was ready for his big performance at school. :)

Although he was not as loud and animated as he was at home with the songs, he did such a great job singing all the words and doing the motions. The class sang "Little Lamb, Little Lamb" (to the same rhythm as the book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear) and the classic song, "We Wish You A Merry Christmas." Elena used my iPhone to make video of the performance to share with Daddy.

Maggie loved watching her brother perform. :)

We made a quick stop by the classroom for goodbyes to Tuttle's teachers and friends. Tuttle loves to hug Kelsey any chance he gets!

 We finished up the morning with lunch at Tuttle's favorite place: Costco! I cannot believe Christmas Day is so close. It is so sweet to experience holidays with my babies.

Tuttle's Preschool Christmas Party

We celebrated Christmas with Tuttle's preschool class this morning.

Maggie and I showed up a little early to help set-up, and Maggie was in Heaven with all the toys in the classroom. I know she will be 100% ready to start preschool next year.

Kristen made most of the food for the party, and it was absolutely ADORABLE!

Tuttle loves his friends at school so much, and I always enjoy seeing the kids' personalities.

Merry Christmas from The Tree Frog Class!

After the party several mommies took the kids out to the school playground to run off some energy before naptime. 

The next Christmas event is the preschool holiday performance on Friday. I cannot wait to watch Tuttle sing all the songs he has been practicing at home. :)

Christmas Cookie Party

Tuesday I hosted a little party to decorate Christmas cookies with some of my sweet neighbors and their babies. It was the perfect excuse to get together during the holidays, and we had a blast!

The bigger kids sat at one table while the little kids sat at the picnic table. 

 There was frosting, candy, and sprinkles for the kids to choose from, and Tuttle took it to the extreme! :)

Afterward the kids played and ate lunch while the grownups had a chance to catch up. 

Maggie was her typical animated self, and I caught some of her famous faces on camera.

We are definitely in the holiday spirit at our house, and I am LOVING Christmas time with the babies!