I Heart NY (and Connecticut!)

At the beginning of February, Cade and I decided to go visit by lifelong best friend, Casey. She moved to Connecticut before Cade was born, and got married a day before Cade's first birthday. She and I went to elementary school, junior high, high school and college together. We have so many stories between us. She was (and still is when we are together) my partner in crime. I am pretty sure that I laughed more that weekend than I have in a while. Oh, and Casey and Cade are now BFFs too (he cried when our plane took off heading back home because he said he was going to miss her so much). We had the best trip! Cade had not been on a plane since he was too little to remember, so this was a huge adventure for him. Connecticut is such a gorgeous place to live, and I hope that we get to go back soon. The weather was absolutely perfect while we were there. We barely had to get our winter coats out. On Saturday, Casey took us on the train (about 45 minutes) into the heart of NYC. It was awesome. Cade said it was just like on the Smurfs' movie. Ha!

 on our way!

 Cade taught Case how to play Angry Birds on her iPhone. It may be her new addiction;)

 Grand Central Station

 Tines Square

 At the Toys R Us in Times Square. It is enormous. Definitely the highlight for Cade. He got a new Transformer for himself, and picked Emmy out a Barbie doll that looked like a total pole dancer. Casey and I laughed about that all day! And of course, Emmy loved it:)

 This guy got to help make Hershey kisses

 Casey's beautiful barn!

 A huge bonus to the trip was finally getting to spend quality time with this little guy, Graham. This was about a month before his first birthday. Unfortunately, he had a little stomach bug before we got there...it was an unwelcome souvenir that we both took home:( But he was SO happy the whole time we were there. He is such a funny baby and so full of personality!

 I just love this boy! He wanted me to hold him all the time, and I was happy to oblige!

On the way home, the pilot let Cade come into the cockpit and flip some switches. He, of course, loved it.

Christmas...three months late!

My apologies to my faithful blog readers...if you are even still out there! I feel like Halloween ran straight into Christmas, and now Christmas has run straight into MARCH! It is crazy to me how quickly time has flown by. In just two weeks, I will have a five year old (sniff), and in a couple of months, he will be officially finished with preschool! We have been busy, sick, etc. but have really enjoyed the mild winter this year:)

This past Christmas was the most fun one yet. Both kids were really into all of the events and festivities. And of course they both loved presents. Since I know most of you love seeing pictures, here are some of my favorites from the holiday season:

Cade and his Paji waiting to see Santa


Daddy's girl

I made these for Christmas Eve. They were delicious! Thanks, Pioneer Woman!

Playing with our Baby Brantley

Cade got a present just for me;) a pan that makes homemade doughnuts!

Emmy loved her boots from Brad, Wendy and Brantley. She actually wore them to school today!

The furbaby, Tucker

Sprinkling our food for the reindeer

Time for a performance...

...then onto the piano concert



Heath built the kids the neatest armoire for their dress up clothes. They both still love to dress up and got a few new costumes:

Captain America

Dr. Thorne

Fairy princess

This was one of my favorite gifts...even if it wasn't for me:)

I hope that else enjoyed their holidays!

Trick or Treat!

To say that these two kids had a fun Halloween would be an understatement! They were sooooo excited about everything going on. And both of them were obsessed with the costumes they picked out! We were dressed and ready long before it was time to trick or treat- ha! Last year, Cade was sick, so we all stayed home and handed out candy. But we more than made up for it this year. Heath hooked the trailer up to our car, added some hay bales and lights, and voila! It was a Halloween Hayride:) A lot of people in our neighborhood do this, and it is definitely more fun than walking. Cade would get off and run from house to house as fast as he could. Emmy "got it" too, and loved going to everyone's front doors. Sometimes she would say "twick or tweat" and sometimes she would say "give me some tweats, pwease!" I think it is safe to say that good times and sugar overloads were had by all!
The Princess of the Thorne house;)

Luke Skywalker- Cade is VERY into Star Wars right now. He especially loves the original movies.

Blue eyed girl...a.k.a. mini Heath

Apparently, you have to be very serious to be Luke Skywalker!

Ready for some candy!!!

The Fair!

We love the Wilson County Fair! It is definitely one of the most fun things about Lebanon (and apparently others agree- over 500,000 attended over the 9 day run). If you live in the Nashville area and have never been, I highly recommend it. The fair is usually held the third week in August and there is so much to see and do there. Of course the kids loved the rides, but they also enjoyed seeing all the animals, watching the tractors, the fireworks, etc. And of course, plenty of fair food was enjoyed by all:) It is always such a good time. We went several nights this year, and are looking forward to the fair's return next summer!

Emmy loved petting the pigs


Carosel

Kiddie tractor pull. So serious!

Cute guy on the right!

Driving sister in the boat

Pirates! Arrggghh!

Fun times!

Riding with Paji

Daddy said this ride was too long! Ha!

Time to go home!

Sweet Home Alabama

Our dear friends, the Crocketts (Ian and Heath have seriously been best friends since junior high), moved to Birmingham a back in February. Even though it was a great opportunity for them, we have missed having them here! We had stopped by to see their new place on our way to the beach back in May, but decided that we had to come back for a whole weekend, which is exactly what we did. It was so good to spend time with them. Heath and Ian even worked in some early morning golf, then later Banica and I went for some pedicures and shopping:) And if this picture is any indicator, the kids had a great time:

Cade and the triplets: Campbell, Elea Rhea and Ian Thomas

the big girls

Redneck water park. The yellow bucket was the diving board:)

I am sure that the new neighbors loved all of the laughing/screaming they were doing.

Emmy entertained the newest member of the Crockett family, baby Eli. Seriously one of the best babies ever!

Cheese!

Silly faces!

E is over it! She literally slept nearly all the way home- too much fun!