Fun with bubbles!

Cade loves to take bubble baths in our "big bathtub." The jets really churn up a lot of Elmo Bubble Bath!

"Ho ho ho!"
Abominable snowman:)

Christmas festivities and 6 months old

Emmy had her half birthday on my (gulp) 29th birthday, December 5! She has had a couple of big milestones this month (besides for her first major sickness). She now has one bottom tooth, and I expect the second one to come in any time. She is also sitting up like a champ. That is all she wants to do! I just sit her up and surround her with toys she can grab or let her watch Cade and she is happy as a clam.

We had our first Santa experience of the year. The country club we go to has a "Cookies with Santa" day every year. It is nice because you never have to wait too long. Cade was a little nervous about Santa, but when he saw Emmy sitting on his lap, I guess he felt pressured to do the same;) After our picture this year, we decided to stay and eat lunch. By the time we were done, pictures were over and Santa was gone. We got almost to our car when Heath and I spotted Santa getting into his car. We tried to block Cade's view in order to avoid the questions that we knew would ensue...but it was too late. Cade froze in the middle of the parking lot and yelled "Daddy, Santa drives a red pickup truck! That is crazy!" At that point, I am laughing so hard that my eyes were watering. It is just so cute and funny how innocent and honest kids really are. Santa saw Cade, too, and I think he felt really bad, because he pulled up next to us and said, "Hey there Cade! On Christmas Eve I am going to come to your house and bring all my reindeer." Cade just stood there wide-eyed, like he could not believe Santa was talking to him. Good Save, Santa!
The next few pictures are from the Lebanon Christmas Parade. Heath and Cade met up with the Thornes and the Naves. Emmy and I stayed in, because it was so cold. I think Cade really liked the parade for the most part, although he did not understand where the big balloons were like the ones we saw on TV. Ummm, maybe because the L-town parade is not quite as big as the one in New York City:)

Having some cotton candy with his "Aunt B"

This is how you roll to a parade Lebanon style!

Needless to say, his coat needed a wash after all the cotton candy!

Happy Birthday Heath!

Happy Birthday to the best father and husband ever! I will not tell exactly how old you are (we know you are still holding at 29;)... but I will say it involves double digits! Hope you have a great day- we love you!

Finally, an Update!

I think that this is the longest I have let my blog suffer! We have been both busy and sick here at the Thorne house. I feel like November had barely gotten started before it was over! Since my last post I have been on a weekend trip to Chicago for a wedding (so fun!) and Heath has spent a long weekend duck hunting (what he considers the most wonderful time of the year). Between the kids there have been two calls to the doctor, three visits to the doctor and four pharmacy drive thrus:( Then we celebrated Thanksgiving with Heath's family and decorated our house for Christmas. Whew!

A couple of days after I got home from my trip, Cade started running a fever. He had all the classic signs of an ear infection. I had really hoped he would outgrow those this year, but no such luck. We immediately started him on a 10 day antibiotic and Motrin, and he was fine within a few days. Emmy is a whole different story. Prior to Cade's trip to the doctor I had called about a cough she was having. No other symptoms, just a cough. The nurse told me to keep the humidifier running and giver her some saline. They did not want me to bring her in due to all of the sick children they had been seeing, especially since she had no fever and was eating fine. A few days later, her nose started running and her cough got worse. I called again (last Monday) and they told me to bring her in that afternoon. The pediatrician we saw said she had croup and gave us a four day oral steroid. Well, by Thursday the cough actually got worse instead of better. So we were off again first thing Friday morning. Two x-rays and a breathing treatment later, the doctor decides that it is bronchitis:( We have been giving her treatments every 4-6 hours since. She is a trooper, and I can tell she is feeling lots better!

Sleeping through Thanksgiving...this was about when I could tell she was getting worse:(
The blue eyed members of our family!

Brotherly love
Cade put on a show for everyone!
Decorating the tree:)
FINALLY feeling like herself again

Kisses
Ready for church! And matching;)

Happy Birthday Nana!!!

We love you and hope you have a great day!!!

It's Great to be a Tennessee Vol!

At least Cade thinks so! We took Cade to Knoxville for his first VOLS game last Saturday. It was UT's Homecoming, so there were lots of neat things to do and see. He was so good all day!

On campus

Me: "Cade, this is where Mommy went to college. Do You think you will go here one day?"

Cade: "Did Daddy go to college here?"

Me: "No, Daddy went to Lipscomb."

Cade: "I wanna go to Wipscomb!"

Oh well:)

With his new football from the bookstore. He held onto it all day, and even fell asleep with it in his hands.


The UT Dance Team ...ladies man;)

Cheerleaders ...at this point I think that my dad and Heath were enjoying the pictures more than Cade! Ha!

Smokey

Waiting for the Vol Walk. Dad mentioned the "Lane Train," and I think Cade was disappointed that there was not a real train.

Singing "Rocky Top Tennessee"

Warm Ups

Tennessee Walking Horse for Homecoming

Sitting with Pam

Five Months Old!

Emmy has had a great month! We celebrated her first Halloween. She slept throught the trick or treating, though. She gets bigger by the day, and is such a sweet girl. She is sampling lots of stage 1 fruits and veggies, and has liked all of them so far:) She is a squirmy girl, and loves to watch everything her brother does. Emmy is getting better at sitting up, and now really loves her exersaucer. Here's to another month!

She LOVES Cade!
Happy Girl

Love those cheeks!

Goin' Bananas

On Saturday night, the church where Cade goes to preschool hosted a fall festival that included inflatables, a "Trunk or Treat," and Cade's favorite, the hayride. The weather was really nice, and we decided it would be a good time to test out this year's Halloween costumes. They were a big hit:)

My little banana boy and the sweet Monkey
Emmy was good, as usual. She just strolled around the whole time:)

Ready for some treats!

Cade rode the hayride by himself. He was insist ant that he was a "big boy," and did not want Heath or me to get on!

The director of his school, his beloved Mrs. Anita

Getting some candy. At first, he did not understand how much he was going to get. He was trying to eat every piece as soon as they put it in his bucket.

He really wanted Mrs. Anita to go down the slide with him. Unfortunately, they did not make it up the rock climbing wall...

...but they did give it a really good effort! Thanks Mrs. Anita!

Big Babies

Not too much happening around here this week, we have just been trying to take advantage of the nice weather! Emmy had her four month check up today (well, technically 4.5 months since our doctor has been out of town). She weighed in at a whopping 16 pounds 1 ounce (85th percentile) and was 26.5 inches long (97th percentile). I knew she was a chubby little thing, but wow! When she was born, she was only in the 20th percentile:) I wondered how this measured up to Cade at four months (you may remember that he was a big baby, too). Well, according to his baby book, at his 4 month appointment he weighed 16 pounds 14 ounces and was only 24 inches long. So even though she started over a pound smaller, she has definitely caught up! Here are some pictures I have taken in the last couple of weeks:

Ready for church
Isn't this dress precious??? My super talented mother-in-law Pam made it!

Trying cereal for the first time- she gobbles it up now!

I have always loved Heath's beautiful blue eyes (since I have brown), and hoped so bad that one of our kids would inherit them! Hopefully, Emmy's will stay blue:)