Merry Christmas!

What a fantastic Christmas we had this year! It was a little different than normal with Aunt Peach tending to Piper, but we carried on our family traditions.

After a lazy Christmas Eve day we went the 6pm service at Peachtree Road Methodist Church. 

Life with Jacob....

Tuttle and Maggie were both in the nativity parade while Jacob played in the nursery. Maggie looked much more thrilled with her sheep costume than Tuttle did the year he first participated.

The kids were ready to put on their Christmas pajamas and read some of our favorite Christmas poems and stories as soon we got home. Luckily they were eager to get to bed to not risk missing Santa.

Even though Jacob was close to being on the Naughty List, Santa made an exception this year and brought the kids a room full of toys. 

Tuttle's favorites this year included his guitar and electric Lego set. Maggie loved her American Girl doll and matching pajamas as well as her pink scooter. Jacob can not get enough of his roller coaster!

Mommy received some very special surprises this year! Daddy knows the way to my heart! :)

We enjoyed a morning of playing with new toys before heading to Athens for Christmas with Jay's family. It was a large group this year of 28 people. Maggie and Tuttle officially joined the White Elephant gift exchange for the first time. 

Tuttle brought his guitar and received some mini lessons from Chandler and Jamie. Jacob joined in on the fun, too. He is never one to not get right in the middle of the action.

And nothing like a little football in Granny's front yard.

We finished our Christmas Day celebrations at Grandmommy and Grandaddy's house. They spoiled everyone, like usual. Tuttle opened a major surprise- his own iPad!

Monday included the Corbitt Christmas celebration at Larry and Beth's house. I only took one photo because Jacob skipped his nap and was in typical wild boy form.

I had been anticipating giving my mom her gift for months. A sweet friend created a watercolor painting of Gram's childhood home and my grandfather's hardware store. I framed both of them. We both held back tears when she opened. Christmas success!

Because we could not fit it in before Christmas, we went to the Atlanta Center for Puppetry Arts yesterday to see the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer play with Tuttle's buddy from school, Colin. We also introduced Colin and his mom to The Varsity for lunch. 

We are now enjoying some quiet family time at home organizing the house, taking down Christmas, and playing with new toys. Daddy is off work all week! 

Christmas Countdown

Our December calendar has been full of fun (and exhausting!) events. 

Here is a quick rundown of the Christmas craziness over the last week:

We visited the Atlanta Botanical Gardens for our annual Nights of Lights trip. We came prepared this year with heavy jackets, hats, gloves, and scarves. Although the exhibit was smaller than last year, it still got us in the holiday spirit!

Saturday afternoon Daddy and Maggie went on a little date to see Madeline's Christmas at the Horizon Theater. They finished their evening with dinner at Newk's, the only place that Maggie would agree to!

Sunday Gram and Grumps invited us for our annual holiday lunch with Grump's daughters, Tricia and Cathy, as well as their families. A special bonus this year was meeting Tricia and Chip's foreign exchange students from Africa. Both boys are here for basketball scholarships at Chip's school. Stanley immediately took to Jacob and held him all afternoon. It was so sweet!

Maggie had complained of an earache right before we left for Gram's house, so I took her to the Minute Clinic when we left to get checked. She was diagnosed with a double ear infection. Despite the pain, she remained happy and even wanted to poise with a giant nutcracker for a photo.

Monday Maggie, Jacob, and I drove to Clemson, South Carolina for the Mary & Grace spring photo shoot. Both Maggie and Jacob modeled for the line and did great. We ended up making a quick exit when Jacob was clearly ready for a nap. I cannot wait to see the final photos!

Since I was not home to pick up Tuttle from school, Gram grabbed him and brought him to the local homeless shelter to serve dinner with her friends. Apparently he stole the show and stood on a chair to give the blessing of the food to the entire shelter. We are extremely proud of Tuttle and his willingness to put himself in new situations and serve others.

Wednesday both kids had their holiday parties at the same time, so I went to Tuttle's this year because he was receiving a very special award: The Flying Eagle. Our smart boy had received all A's for the first semester of first grade. This is a HUGE accomplishment because first grade has been surprisingly challenging. Add in the fact that half of his day is 100% in German (math and science), and the success of all A's is an enormous feat. 

Tuttle and Maggie are both done with school until 2017, so we are embracing a few lazy days at home before Christmas Day. The craziness of the week has caught up to everyone.

I love the fact that all three of my kids appreciate sleeping in on days where we do not have to be anywhere. Bring on the extra z's!

Welcome To The Family, Piper!

The newest Thorne family member made her debut last Wednesday, December 14. Everyone had been counting down the days until Hannah "Piper" was born, and she came a week earlier than expected.

I found a way to meet my new niece on the night she was born by offering the bring Aunt Peach and Uncle Drew dinner. I was determined to find a way to hold that sweet baby first! :)

We gave Aunt Peach a couple days to recover before bringing Piper's new cousins to the hospital to meet her. Tuttle and Maggie were so excited to announce to all their teachers and friends that Piper had arrived!

Maggie was in absolute Heaven holding her new baby cousin. She told me that she wanted to hold her forever.

Initially Tuttle was not interested in Piper, but he changed his mind and soaked up the baby snuggles.

We are visiting Piper again on Friday now that they are home. I know Tuttle, Maggie, Jacob, Holland, and Piper are going to create great memories and get into all kinds of trouble!

Solo, Singing, and Santa

This week we have fulfilled several of our Christmas obligations. :)

Tuttle's holiday program was on Monday night at the high school. This year was extra special because Tuttle performed a piano solo of "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer" to the entire audience of over 500 people! Previously I had mentioned to the new music teacher that Tuttle took piano lessons and would love to help out with the program or anything else during the school year. He asked Tuttle to come audition one morning, and he impressed Mr. Flott so much that he asked him to play at the holiday program! We were so proud of our boy, and all my friends have been so sweet with the emails, messages, and face to face congratulations to Tuttle. The first grade also performed three songs. My favorite was "Hanukkah Is Here" complete with dance moves! :)

Wednesday we played hookie from piano for an afternoon FILLED with Christmas fun. We started with our annual trip to visit Santa at Phipps Plaza. Tuttle and Maggie wrote lists for their top gifts when we arrived. Luckily the wishes have remained consistent: Tuttle wants a guitar, electric Lego set, and a sling shot. Maggie asked for a doll, Hello Kitty house (Not happening. We do not need another dwelling in our playroom.), and a winter hat.

I ordered the professional pictures, but these side shots give an accurate portrayal of the experience. Jacob had no problem sitting with the man in red. There is no stranger danger with that boy!

I attempted to snap a quick picture of my three babies after Santa. This shot represents Jacob 100%. WILD.

After Santa, we drove across the street to Lenox Mall for our annual Pink Pig ride. We have always gone on a day school was out and stood in line at least two hours. Yesterday we walked right up to the ride with ZERO wait time. I will never go on a vacation day again. I cannot believe I have been taking the kids for the last seven years!

I even tackled some Christmas shopping with three in tow. Aside from losing my keys and finding them in Macy's, we crossed off two special people from the list and ended with cookies for everyone!

Today was Maggie's preschool Christmas program. I was so proud of our shy girl. She sang each song and seemed to really enjoy the performance. Although Maggie can be super sassy at home, she frequently freezes if she in in the spotlight. Her favorite song was "Go Tell It On The Mountain."

Jacob crawled, climbed, and tried to escape all over the sanctuary. Thank goodness Gram has agreed to watch him during Tuttle and Maggie's holiday parties next week!

Jacob is just a mess! He is lucky he is so cute and smiley! :)

Jacob Turns Eleven Months!

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

This was another month of impossible photos. I found that if I placed him on this chair, he would hesitate for just a few seconds before taking a dive off where I caught him before plummeting to the hardwood! :)

Just recently Jacob has switched from formula to whole milk. I changed it a little earlier than recommended, but he is such a solid boy that I am sure he will continue to grow just as quickly. I mixed about three bottles with half formula and half whole milk before switching completely to milk. He had no problem transitioning, and my wallet is thanking me for the reduction in cost each week!

Jacob typically eats yogurt and cereal for breakfast. He is not ready to eat right when he wakes up, so I will get Maggie ready for school and feed him when we return from drop-off. Lunch rotates between squeezies, peanut butter sandwiches, pasta, hotdogs (his absolute favorite!), cheese, apples, bananas, grapes, green beans, broccoli, and pretzels. I try my best to feed him the same dinner as the rest of the family, but our schedules sometimes force Little Boy to eat earlier and on the go. He has started to really enjoy eating snacks like veggie sticks or pretzels, and I am thrilled that it keeps him still and quiet for a few minutes.

While Jacob does not stop while he is awake, he continues to be a great sleeper. He sleeps 12-14 hours at night (sometimes waking around 6am, but a bottle buys us another 1-2 hours of sleep!) and takes a long 2 hour nap in the morning. If he is able, he will take a 1.5 hour nap in the afternoon in his crib. He will not sleep in the stroller if we are attending afternoon activities. Gram let Jacob have his birthday present early: a convertible carseat, so no more naps in the infant carrier. It was getting too heavy to haul around anyways. :)

Our third baby continues to get into anything and everything he can. No space is safe from destruction. I left Maggie and Jacob in the bathroom this morning to run to Maggie's room for a hairbow. I could not have been gone more than 90 seconds. I returned to complete chaos! LOL

Aunt Peach let us borrow a walker, so Jacob has been walking around the house a little. He has not figured out how to turn it yet, so he will walk as far as he can before it hits something like a wall or couch and then just drop to his knees and crawl away. We are all ready for this boy to start walking!

Jacob may pull Maggie's hair any chance his gets and destroy Tuttle's building creations, but they tolerate his antics and love him fiercely. I thought I had this motherhood thing down, but Jacob challenges me everyday and teaches me that every child is completely different. I know his energy and wild boy ways will continue to entertain us as he grows older. There is a lot of personality in such a little boy. We love you, Jacob Corbitt Thorne!

Holiday Happenings (Including The Nutcracker!)

December is already flying by with our full calendar of holiday events! 

This past Thursday I started the fun with a girls' night at Treat Your Feet for an hour long LIFE-CHANGING foot massage. I was the only one who had tried this place before, so the girls were in Heaven! I thought a relaxing experience would be a good change from the typical dinner out. We wrapped up the night at Sweet Hut for desserts where we exchanged gifts. We each brought a present under $6 for everyone else that contained one of our favorite things. The selections were so creative!

Our Christmas cards arrived Friday, so I put my elves straight to work stuffing the envelopes and placing the stamps in the right spot. :)

Friday evening after a yummy dinner of homemade chicken noodle soup (our new favorite!), we stopped by a local church for their annual live nativity. I had always wanted to attend, but the dates never worked out. This year we had an available slot, so we made it happen! The extremely cold weather kept the visit short, but the kids loved seeing the biblical characters and the live animals. Jacob especially loved the cows.

Today was the highlight of the weekend! Our annual Nutcracker performance at the Fox Theater had arrived. Everyone has counted down the days for this special event.

Luckily Gram and Grumps were willing to keep Jacob, so we could actually watch the show AND eat a meal at a restaurant!

The Nutcracker did not disappoint this year. Tuttle and Maggie were literally on the edge of their seats. I just love this little tradition since we are able to really experience such an Atlanta institution.

I made reservations for dinner at the Livingston Restaurant inside the Georgian Terrace Hotel across from The Fox. It was a new spot for everyone, and it was so convenient to just walk a few feet to get a delicious meal and beautiful ambiance. Of course, I used the opportunity to snap a few photos of my favorite people!

A huge thank you to Grandmommy and Grandaddy for treating the entire family to dinner and the ballet. These are holiday memories we will cherish always.

Tuttle and Maggie selected nutcrackers after the ballet which occupied a lot of their time at dinner. 

Aunt Peach and Uncle Drew are SO CLOSE to welcoming Piper into the family! Only twelve more days!

Jay and I really enjoyed having a night away with our big kids. Why does Tuttle look 13 in this picture?!?!

The Christmas craziness continues tomorrow with church and a rehearsal for the Christmas Eve nativity parade. It is the most wonderful time of the year!