Family Fun With A Field Trip

We are gearing up for a lot of fall fun right now. I cannot believe how quickly Halloween sneaked up on us!

The weather quickly changed from HOT to freezing. We completely skipped fall weather and headed straight for winter. I am crossing my fingers it warms up a little this week. I am not ready for 30 degree days!

Daddy was able to work from home on Friday, so I could attend Maggie's first field trip to the zoo. Jacob loved having Daddy all to himself! (Especially since Daddy pieced together the best train tracks ever!)

Mary Marshall and I rode to the zoo together and combined our groups to walk around the zoo. The girls were most interested in the rides, the playground, and eating. The animals came in second. :) We started at the end and worked out way to the front to avoid all the field trip crowd. 

Everyone in the Thorne house was asleep before 8pm on Friday! Daddy and Tuttle had attended the Atlanta United game on Thursday night and did not get home until 11pm. Clearly everybody needed it because we all slept until 8am on Saturday!

Tuttle completed his first book report this weekend. The students had to turn a pumpkin into a book character and write a summary of the book. Tuttle chose Caps for Sale, and I think it turned out so cute!

Tuttle and Daddy cheered on the Dawgs to another victory at Uncle CJ's house while Jacob and I took Maggie to one of two birthday parties this weekend.

Maggie's second party was Halloween dress-up themed. I think she is the prettiest flapper that ever was! The kids hit a pinata, played Halloween tic-tac-toe, pinned the face on the pumpkin, and ate yummy cupcakes. Maggie loved spending time with her sweet friends outside of school.

We are gearing up for pumpkin carving, a book character parade, a preschool Halloween party, and trick-or-treating all within the next 48 hours. Hopefully we can keep it together with no tears!

Happy Halloween Week!

Fall Fair, Family, and Bedtime Fun

Our weekend started with a bang. Or more like a kick with the Faculty Kickball Game. We cheered on our favorite teachers and enjoyed some extra time with friends.

This past Saturday the fall fair took over our elementary school with jumpies, games, amazing raffle baskets, delicious food, and friends! I happily volunteer to help with the fair each year, and the raffle baskets have become by expertise. I am always so blown away by the contributions from each class, and this year did not disappoint! I arrived at the school at 8:30 to setup and did not go home until 7pm. The raffle baskets were so consuming that I did not snap ONE PICTURE all day! Daddy roamed the playground with Tuttle, Maggie, and Jacob, and everyone had the best time. 

Sunday we visited Grandma at her retirement community. Tuttle and Maggie enjoyed playing the piano for her while Jacob wanted to touch every single thing in her apartment. We wish we could have stayed longer, but our little boy only allowed a short visit. I hope my babies remember my grandma when they are grown. They are so lucky to have a great-grandmother at almost 97 years old.

We had a big change at our house this week. Jacob was climbing out of his crib constantly including from 3am-6am on Sunday night, so we made the decision to transition him to a toddler bed on Monday. The change snuck up on me and made me really sad because we would never have a crib in our house ever again. Third kids just seem to rush all the milestones! 

I also added a baby proof knob cover on Jacob's door, so he could not leave his big boy bed and head straight for our room in the middle of the night. Jay and I prepared ourselves for a loud night of Jacob trying to escape and exploring anything he could touch in the room all night long. Shockingly Jacob stayed in his bed the entire night except for a brief two minute episode at 1am when he quickly realized his door would not open and headed back to bed. 

He must love his bed because I mentioned at lunch that he would be taking a nap in his new big boy bed, and he immediately stopped eating and headed to his room to nap. I had to wake him up to get Tuttle and Maggie from school. 

I cannot believe how easy this transition has been for our sweet and wild boy!

Bulldawg Fever

Our Georgia Bulldawg are killing it this season, and everyone seems to have caught the Bulldawg Fever to watch our team win. This past weekend we drove to Athens to cheer on our boys in person. Grandmommy and Grandaddy stayed at Granny's house, as well, so we could leave our wild baby with them and head to Stanford Stadium with the two oldest in tow.

We left a few hours before the 7:30pm kickoff time to explore the tailgates and stop by the bookstore to browse around. Even though Jay teased that we were so old that we would not know anyone at the tailgates, we both ran into several friends from our college days. 

We arrived at our seats early and grabbed dinner before kickoff. That might have been my first time getting to a game prior to the start. I absolutely love going to Georgia games, but typically my favorite part is dressing up in red and black and chatting with friends. This season I have turned a leaf and could not get enough of the action on the field! Tuttle and Maggie lasted until the end of the third as they were falling asleep in our seats, but Jay had to practically drag me away! :) We left with another victory which brings our season to 7 wins. We have our sights set on a SEC Championship Game!

Jacob decided it was time to learn to crawl of out of his pack-n-play while we were in Athens, and the fun did not stop there. He is now crawling out of his crib and opening the door of his bedroom. Little Boy is getting into mischief 24 hours a day. Never a dull moment with our third baby!

Fall arrived overnight in Atlanta this week. It is a little earlier than I was expecting, so these cold mornings are not welcomed by any of the Thorne family members. Halloween costumes were changed to accommodate the colder temperatures, jackets were dug out of the closets, and the fire has made an appearance in the evening. It is fall, y'all!

Just in time for our school fall festival this weekend!

We Return To Our Regularly Scheduled Program

Jacob is 100% back to normal, fall break is over, and activities have resumed. We all needed to get back on schedule!

I love these babies to pieces. My handsome hubby is not too bad, either. :)

Apple Picking 6.0

Since we are finally recovered from Jacob's awful HFM, we were able to meet our best friends at B.J. Reece Apple Orchards yesterday for our annual apple picking adventure. Kristen and I planned this date during fall break months ago, so we could guarantee that it would happen! 

I cannot believe we have been driving to Ellijay for apple picking for SIX YEARS now! Times really does fly! 

I picked up a book on CD to have in the car, and the kids have been very engaged with Matilda, so the drive was easy both ways. We arrived right around 11:30 and headed right into the petting area. Tuttle and Jacob were big fans, but Maggie was ready to head into the orchards (especially after she tried to hold a baby chick and it pecked her!) Jacob would have spent all day with those baby farm animals. He loved the goats because they were just his size.

I think I was trying to bring on fall weather with my wardrobe selection, but a long sleeve shirt, thin vest, and jeans were not the best idea with the 80 degree weather. :) The kids were dressed much more comfortably and were eager to fill their bags with apples (and eat a bunch along the way, too.)

I missed my opportunity to grab food on the way, so the kids lucked out with apple doughnuts, apple pies, and apple cider for lunch. I made sure to purchase several more apple pies to take home. I learned from my mistake the first year when Kristen and I split one pie and regretted it until we returned!

We loved another successful year with our annual tradition! These kids are the apple of my eye!

Happy Birthday, HFM, and Halloween Boos!

Last week I celebrated my 33rd birthday with a few special meals. Gram took me to a new breakfast spot, Buttermilk Kitchen, for brunch while Jacob was at preschool. Eating without children at a restaurant is a luxury that I never longer take for granted, and the food was so yummy! 

Daddy met the kids and me at BlueTop for dinner. This Chamblee spot is quickly becoming one of my favorites! It was Tuttle's first time to try it out, and all three babies loved playing cornhole and boccie ball while we watched from our picnic table.

Although I had been counting down the minutes until our double date night with Paul and Val on Friday, Grumps had to call Friday afternoon with news that Jacob was running a fever. Jay quickly drove to pick him up while Gram had Tuttle and Maggie at the fair. Jacob has never been sick, so it was so sad to see our energetic boy laying low on the couch. Unfortunately the sickness escalated into HFM (Hand, Foot, and Mouth) and has covered his body in tiny sores. We are on Day 6 of symptoms, so hopefully our little boy is on the mend.

Tuttle and Maggie were thrilled to discover that our house had been "booed" last night before soccer practice! A basket of Halloween treats was left on our porch and a traditional CHOA sign in the front yard. We cannot wait to spread the love to more friends tonight! Maggie and Tuttle specifically picked out two special friends to deliver our signs and goodies. 

Fall Break starts Thursday, and after over a week of sickness, we all need to decompress! :)