Thanksgiving 2013- Thorne Edition

We celebrated our first Thanksgiving meal at Grandmommy and Grandaddy's this afternoon with the Thorne side of the family. It was a complete success, and everyone left stuffed and happy. 

It was a smaller crowd than usual, so it really gave everyone a chance to catch up. I hate that we only see some of these relatives at major holidays.

Grandmommy did such an impressive job on all the food, like usual. I especially loved how she set the tables this year.

Maggie and Tuttle did really well despite missing naps. Maggie did not start to lose it until 5pm. They were such little hams this year, and both ate up all the attention from the family. Tuttle showed off by counting in Spanish, writing his name, and singing songs. Maggie strutted her stuff by climbing onto every chair in sight, signing "more" to gobble up pumpkin roll, and shouting "bye" whenever someone left to go home.

We were able to officially congratulate Jamie on his engagement to Loribeth. One of my favorite parts of the day was hearing all about their wedding planning. We looked at Jay and my wedding album which I had not looked through in years. We cannot wait for Loribeth to join our family in May!

I caught Tuttle wrestling with Grandaddy and overheard him say, "Grandaddy, you make me so frustrated and stinky!" What a nut!

We have several more Thanksgiving celebrations in the upcoming week. Next up is my family's turkey meal on Saturday. 

Happy Thanksgiving from the Thorne family!

New Family Business

We are now offering professional lawncare service through our family business, A Thorne ON Your Side. :)

Although our employees may not meet the standard age requirement, we can guarantee quality work.

We specialize in cutting bushes and mowing lawns.

Please call us today to book your appointment. Space is limited due to naptime.

Preschool Thanksgiving Feast

Today we celebrated Thanksgiving with Tuttle's class at their holiday feast. Maggie and I showed up early to help prepare the plates for the classes, and she was surprisingly very well behaved and stayed close by the whole time. :)

Each student ate a plate full of all the Thanksgiving favorites: mashed potatoes, corn souffle, sweet potato souffle, green bean casserole, cornbread muffins, and cranberry sauce. Instead of turkey, the kids were served Mickey Mouse chicken nuggets. I did not hear any complaints on that one!

Tuttle created an Indian headdress with an original Indian name. He chose the name "Swimming Giraffe." How cute!

Maggie felt like such a big girl sitting with Tuttle's class and eating her Thanksgiving lunch. She will start preschool next year, and I know she will LOVE it!

It was the perfect fall day, so the kids and I spent some time on the playground before heading home.

I tried to get a picture of this terrific trio, but one of the members was less than thrilled to take another picture. This cracks me up!

I am so thankful for my sweet babies. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thank You, Daddy!

I am so thankful for Jay and his hard work ethic. He was recently been promoted to a manager position at Home Depot, but he is still pulling double duty as they work to fill his position. Most days he leaves by 7am and does not get home until close to 9pm. We sure do miss him, and I truly realize how lucky I am to stay home with my babies. Thank you Daddy for all your hard work to support our family.

To Each Their Own

I know I have mentioned this before, but I crack up every day when Tuttle gets home from school and immediately puts on his "home uniform." Tuttle despises buttons (polo shirts, button downs, etc.), but he will reluctantly wear them to school, church, or a field trip. I always promise him that he can change when he gets home.

The MOMENT he walks in the door he leaves his shoes and pants in the mud room and runs to his room to pick out a tshirt. He definitely has his favorite tshirts (tie-dye, bear on a bicycle, Superman with cape, Daddy's Little Hunter). His new addition to the outfit sometimes includes a sideways hat. 

I just love this little boy.

Random Catch-Up

Another week has almost flown by, and we have packed in a lot of activities. 

Monday afternoon the kids and I went to the park to try to fit in as much time outside as possible before it gets too cold. Gigi and Tuttle have really gotten the hang of riding their bikes and spent most of the time zooming around playground on the track.

 

Tuesday I made another appointment for Tuttle to try the dentist. The first time was this summer, and it was a big failure. I took him to my dentist because I thought if he saw me get my teeth cleaned first that he would not be scared. I was wrong; he would not get near the chair. This time I made an appointment at a pediatric dentist. I do not know if it was because he was older or the atmosphere, but he was completely open to the dentist checking out his pearly whites. :)

Wednesday I experienced a big "Mommy Fail." I promised the kids that we could go swimming at the indoor YMCA pool after naps. Since the kids went down for naps closer to 2pm, I had to wake Tuttle and Gigi, so we would have enough time to swim before dinner. Tuttle woke up in a very grumpy mood. I dressed three kids in swimsuits, packed a bag with towels and swimmies, drove to the local YMCA, unloaded three kids from the car, showered three kids in the locker room to enter the pool, and walked into the pool area. I was immediately told there is no free swim from 4:00-6:30 due to swim lessons!!! Try to explain that to two three year olds that are dripping wet from taking showers in the locker room. Fortunately the promise of watching a Rudolph movie distracted them enough to load everyone back in the car and drive home.

Tuttle had been out of sorts for a few days and complaining that his ear hurt, so after Gigi left, I took Tuttle and Maggie to the urgent care center near our house. He did have an ear infection, so we headed to the pharmacy next and got home about 8:45.

Today we met up with most of the students from Tuttle's class to ride the Pink Pig at Lenox Mall. I have taken Tuttle every year, so it is definitely a tradition. I had fun dressing Tuttle, Maggie, and Gigi in pink to match Priscilla the Pig. :) We rode twice and then stopped by Santa to give him a hug. This was not our official Santa visit, so the kids only chatted for a second and didn't sit in the his lap. Tuttle has always loved Santa, but judging from Maggie's reaction, we may get a classic crying baby picture with Santa this year. Haha

Tomorrow I am looking forward to taking pictures of Ellie for their family Christmas card after a trip to the dentist for me. This is my first time taking pictures for someone else, but I am excited to try it. :)

Enjoy your weekend and stay warm! :)

Athens Weekend

This past weekend I dropped the babies off with Grandmommy and Grandaddy and headed to Athens with my best friend, Zanna. She drove up from Florida to spend the weekend cheering on the Dawgs and revisiting our favorite college spots. :)

We started the weekend with a little downtown Athens shopping and dinner at Last Resort. Although the wait for an hour and a half for a table, it was 100% worth it. We meant to save room for dessert, but we were completely stuffed after our meals. 

Saturday I slept in until 9:45 (Woo-Hoo!) and was able to slowly get ready for the game at noon. It was such a luxury to shave my legs and dry my hair! Life with two kids sure changes your perspective. :)

Jay and I had a miscommunication about our season tickets, so he accidentally sold ours to a coworker. Luckily a high school friend posted on Facebook that he had two tickets for free. They were fantastic seats on the front row of the upper level. Since it was the homecoming game, Zanna and I were able to cheer on the Dawgs to victory and watch a large amount of alumni return to the stadium to play in the band, perform with the cheerleaders, and dance with the various groups during the halftime show. 

We headed back to Granny's house after the game and lounged around in our pajamas at five o'clock. We actually got so comfortable that we decided to pick up dinner from Depalmas and continue our laziness instead of heading back downtown for dinner again. I could not think of a better night than talking with my best friend in our jammies with a box of Depalmas takeout and a carton of ice cream. My version of a perfect night is definitely different than our college days!!

Since Zanna had to drive back to Florida, we picked up the kids early the next morning and headed back to Atlanta. The weekend was so nice and refreshing. I cannot wait to see Zanna again! (On a side note, Zanna is going to be reunited with her husband after his deployment this week! Yeah!!)

Candyland

We have survived a busy week of preschool, park playdates, Legoland adentures, Bible study discussions, and trying to soak up the fall weather before it gets too cold. I think the best part of the week was finally waving goodbye to the sickness that plagued the Thorne family for about 10 days. :)

One of my new favorite activities to do with Tuttle is play Candyland. Not only does it bring back my own childhood memories, but it is such a special time for us because we only play when Maggie goes to bed, so we can focus on the game only. Jay and I were excited for Tuttle to learn new life lessons from playing games, too, such as how to take turns, really play a game by the rules, and possible lose gracefully.

The problem with the last life lesson is that WE CANNOT BEAT TUTTLE! Between Jay, Gram, and myself, we have probably played against Tuttle 20 times. We are playing by the rules 100%. He has won every single time.

Tonight I came SOOOO close to winning. I hid my excitement the whole game as I inched closer and closer to the candy castle. I was LITERALLY one space away from winning, and what card do I pull next? A candy picture card that forced me to move back to the beginning!! To be honest, I almost cussed in front of my three year old son for not winning Candyland. Haha

Maybe next time, Tuttle. Good game. :)

Poor Little Boy + Maggie's 15 Month Checkup

To continue my Halloween post we ended up in the ER Halloween night when Tuttle's fever topped out at 104.8 degrees. Although he was not acting miserable, Tuttle handles sickness well, and we did not want to take any chances. He has not been sick in over a year, but he used to get very high fevers when he was an infant after immunizations.

He was so sweet and listened so well to all the nurses and doctors. He was not scared at all which surprised me a little bit because so many people were asking him questions and examining him. Tuttle even received his first x-ray to rule out pneumonia or other infections that could restrict lung use.

After receiving a dose of Advil, he perked up. While we were waiting for x-ray results, a nurse brought him a Buzz Lightyear costume that was donated to the children's hospital. Tuttle was so excited that he wanted to immediately put it on even though it was 11pm at night. We could not stop cracking up at him because the costume was a 2T. Tuttle currently wears 4T, so needless to say it was a little small.

We left the hospital more at ease with Tuttle's high fever and cough. He was diagnosed with a upper respiratory infection. Advil/Ibuprofen and rest was what the doctor ordered. Tuttle left the hospital with a balloon, a sticker, a new costume, and a smile. :)

Friday we loaded up for an early doctor's appointment for Maggie. She had her 15 month checkup, and it was pretty standard. She did receive three shots which is always hard for Mommy to take, but she is growing perfectly.

Maggie's Current Stats

Weight- 18 pounds, 11 ounces (15%)

Height- 30 inches (28%)

Head Circumference- 46 centimeters (58%)

We tried to spend the rest of the weekend being completely lazy and letting Tuttle recover. Except for a quick visit to my mom's house where she hosted a big reunion for my grandmother's family, we lounged in our pajamas. Tuttle loved watching movie after movie.

Jay was able to enjoy a pig pickin' with his buddies Saturday night. I am very happy he was able to relax after all the long hours and stress at work. 

 I think Tuttle may be back to normal tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Halloween

We celebrated a fun and eventful Halloween with the babies. Tuttle has been sick this week with a fever and bad cough, so he missed his preschool Halloween party on Wednesday. I was determined to make his Halloween extra special.

I started the morning with Halloween cinnamon rolls complete with orange icing. I think I ate most of them.

Next I let the kids watch a Barney Halloween special while I cleaned up the kitchen and got everyone dressed for a field trip. Barney is the only show Maggie will pause more than 30  seconds for. It may only be one minute of peace and quite, but I will take it! :)

I promised Tuttle that we could visit the little church pumpkin patch near his preschool for weeks, so I loaded the kids up and headed there to pick out pumpkins to paint at home. We were the only people at the pumpkin patch. No one was even there to take our money, so we used a pumpkin as a paper weight to hold our money on the table with all the baby pumpkins. I guess most people do not wait until Halloween day to buy decorations!

Tuttle and Gigi were very dedicated artists. Maggie painted her face more than her pumpkin.

I convinced Tuttle that a nap was necessary to go trick-or-treating, so he slept for three hours. Unfortunately he woke up feeling less than 100%, but I knew that if we skipped Halloween night that he would be so disappointed. Aunt Peach, the Burke family, and Daddy arrived home, and we dressed in the kids in their costumes.

Maggie and Charles could not have been cuter! I loved it!!

Sweet and Sick Little Boy

All The Kids Dressed Up :)

Tuttle was so good, but pitiful, as we walked to the main trick-or-treat spot in our neighborhood. One main street is closed to traffic, and police officers are hired to watch the area. Although it was a long way, I knew Tuttle would enjoy seeing his friends and checking out the best decorated houses. Both Tuttle and Maggie had a good time walking up to the houses and filling their buckets with candy.

By the end of the night Tuttle was obviously sick. He rode back in the wagon. When we got him ready for bed, he was very tired and felt hot to the touch. After taking his temperature, it read 104.8 degrees!! Off to the emergency room, we headed. 

Details in the next post. :(