This Is The Life

Our school days seem to fly by every week. We are still filling our time with karate, gymnastics, soccer, piano, ballet, homework, laundry, and chasing around Little Boy. I could not imagine spending my days with anyone else. These babies make my life complete.

Thank you to Daddy for working so hard, so I can stay home. We love you!!

Weekend Away

We loved our weekend away at Grandmommy and Grandaddy's house. Everyone was so relaxed and stayed in pajamas almost the entire time! Jacob explored the entire house while Tuttle and Maggie pulled out every toy possible and filled the bonus room with fun. 

The Georgia Bulldawgs played a late game on Saturday, so we did get our gameday apparel on right before kickoff. Grandmommy cooked a yummy dinner of wings, coleslaw, broccoli, and macaroni and cheese while Grandaddy prepared boiled peanuts. Yum! I did not last the entire game, but I woke up to another victory! 

Everyone enjoyed our low key weekend in the country. Thank you for a great weekend, Grandmommy and Grandaddy!

Rules for Lying

I am so excited and PROUD to report that my cousin recently had her first novel published! We were able to celebrate this huge accomplishment this past Wednesday at her book release party. Anne has been working on this amazing book for the last eight years, so the debut was extremely exciting for all her friends and family!

Gram already finished (and LOVED!) the novel, but I waited until the book release party to buy my own copy in person. I have already started the book, and it immediately draws you into the story line and interesting characters.

Speaking of characters, Tuttle's full name made the book. He only plays a cameo mention on one page, but he is officially famous! :) 

I really enjoyed meeting all the important people to Anne that were present at the party. She obviously makes a huge impact on people's lives because the crowd was huge and covered so many periods of her lifetime from childhood through college and grad school and to her present day role teaching at Kennesaw State University.

We could not be more overjoyed to know Anne and know this is only the beginning of her successful writing career!

Now, everyone, go buy the book! It is an easy purchase on Amazon! Rules for Lying, by Anne Corbitt.

Jacob Turns Eight Months!

Jacob Corbitt Thorne has been a part of our family for eight months now.

Jacob continues to drink 6 ounce bottles with one 8 ounce bottle right at bedtime. I frequently also give him 4 ounce bottles because he can hold the smaller bottles by himself more easily if he needs a little snack on the run. He now eats 3 meals of solid food and prefers real food over pureed baby food now. His favorites include yogurt, hard boiled eggs, peanut butter sandwiches, bananas, macaroni and cheese, green beans, broccoli, cheese sticks, crackers, and avocado. He has become interested in a sippy cup with water, as well. 

Little Boy is down to two naps a day. He takes a LONG nap each morning while Tuttle and Maggie are at school which is usually close to two hours. His afternoon nap is on the go most days in the carseat between sports for his brother and sister. He still goes to bed between 6:30-7:30 and has slept twelve hours without waking several times. This last week I think he has been teething, so he has woken up once for a bottle, but since he can hold his own now, I am quickly back to bed after handing him some milk.

Jacob stood up for the first time this month by pulling up on Maggie's dollhouse, and he loves to stand up using anything he can grab now. He is not cruising around furniture yet, but he does like to support himself with only one hand once he has climbed up. Little Boy is still army crawling and getting faster everyday. He seems to want to crawl on his knees, but after a few moves, he realizes his army style is much faster and drops to his belly. He LOVES to get into areas that he is not supposed to be like the rocks in the fireplace, behind the toilet, Smelly's food bowl as she is eating, and even the opened pantry door. We can tell this boy is going to be TROUBLE. :)

Jacob still wears 9m clothes and 12m pajamas, but he can fit into 12m bubbles now. He still wears a Size 4 diaper. I tried to switch to the cheaper Luvs diapers, but I quickly learned that blowouts are inevitable in the less expensive version every time!

Our sweet boy still steals the hearts of everyone he meets. He even has teachers fighting for his attention on a daily basis at pickup for Tuttle. I always have someone eager to hold him. We just love this energetic, happy baby so much!

The Butterfly Class

Maggie finally had her turn to start school. We attended the "Meet the Teacher" event last week to explore Maggie's Pre-K class, more fondly known as the Butterfly Class. We are thrilled to have Ms. Orla and Ms. Lisa this year as well as her bestie, Lily, by her side.

Maggie was a little nervous to be left for an hour in her new classroom, but she was eager to tell me all about the toys and art supplies when I returned. I love that she was able to get a little crash course before her real first day.

Our sassy girl still had to wait through the holiday weekend, so she was more than ready for Tuesday to arrive. After dropping off Tuttle at school, we came home and took showers. Sometimes Maggie drags her feet in the morning, but she was dressed to impress with time to spare, and we were able to arrive early and snap a few pictures before the doors opened.

Jacob is not attending school this year, but he had to coordinate for the special occasion. :)

On Tuesdays I pick up Maggie early at 12:30 for gymnastics, and she was full of exciting information about her day. She loved reading The Kissing Hand and making special artwork. She enjoyed eating lunch with her friends but was disappointed that all her friends had a special treat in their lunchboxes. (Mommy fail.) Her favorite part of the day was playing on the playground. And sadly she did miss her mommy at all.  She even came home singing snip-its of the song Tuttle learned at the preschool for his letter sounds.

I know this is going to be such an important growing year for Maggie. I cannot wait to see the big girl that she developed into at preschool. Maggie is destined for great things.

Our Labor Day Weekend

Our Labor Day weekend was full of football and family time. Saturday started out with Daddy and Tuttle heading to the Georgia Dome to cheer on the Bulldawgs against the UNC Tarheels. It was a really fun way to start the season. The win didn't hurt either! :)

While the big boys were off on their adventure, I took Maggie and Jacob to the Decatur Book Festival with a friend and her kids. We rode Marta to the event which was probably as much fun at the book festival to the kids. We arrived just in time to see the Charlotte's Web mini play. Maggie loves Charlotte's Web, so she was enthralled the entire time. Afterward we strolled around and the big kids got their faces painted. (Of course, my babies were dressed in their college colors to support the first game!)

After a SUPER lazy Sunday morning and into the afternoon, we loaded up the car for a little family adventure. We tried out a new hiking trail called Vickery Creek Trail in Roswell, and it was such a success! 

While Jacob hitched a ride on me, the rest of the crew hiked for several miles throughout the woods. I even saw a beautiful fox running between the trees. 

Once we were good and tired, we enjoyed some time in the river. Daddy and Tuttle were a little braver with jumping off the rocks into the water. Daddy even tried out the rope swing, but Jacob and I were happy watching the action. Maggie was able to dip her feet in the water in a more shallow section by the waterfall. I was absolutely exhausted when we returned to the car, but a huge hamburger for dinner helped solve that problem!

Unfortunately Daddy and Little Boy both felt a little sick today, so we laid low. Hopefully everyone will be back on their feet tomorrow to start another busy Thorne Family week!

I'll Stand By You

Little Boy hit a major milestone this week! He pulled up to standing position for the first time!

I knew it was only a matter of time before he stood because he had learned to climb out of the mudroom and up into the playroom by army crawling up the step. He has always been interested in Maggie's dollhouse, also known as pulling out any piece of furniture that he could grab to chew on, so it was only right that he used the dollhouse to pull up for the first time. The bottom two floors were getting boring. He needed to a new viewpoint!

Unfortunately the dollhouse is not as study as I thought because the next day he pulled the entire dollhouse down on him Wicked Witch of the East style. Maggie was very concerned which I thought was sweet until I learned she was only worried about the condition of her house! Typical sister. :)

I am thrilled that Jacob has learned a new skill, but it has created a problem at naptime and bedtime. He loves to pull up but has not figured out a way to get down yet. This has resulted in a lot of crying as he clings to the side of the bed. I know he has to figure it out on his own because when I lay him down again he immediately climbs back up! (Sidenote: The crib has been lowered to the bottom setting since the photo above. We do not need our energetic boy tumbling out of his crib in the middle of the night!)

Little Boy has discovered a whole new world at his higher eye level. I just love to watch him explore and learn new things! Our third baby definitely keeps us on our toes. Crawling before six months and standing at seven months! Good thing I have two amazing big siblings to help keep track of our baby!