"It's your birthday, shout hooray!"

Hiram is now 27 years old! We kind of celebrated his birthday all week, between work shifts. Liz took him (blindfolded) to a play at the Desert Star Theater. And since she had to work on his birthday and he would be home with Bethany all day, she left him a scavenger hunt to find his presents while she was gone. And a lemon cake.

We also had many of the the Thorntons over for a birthday dinner for him and his sister Mary, whose birthday is three days later.

Mary (the birthday girl) and Matt. We like his "Monkey League" outfit:)

Mary's husband Craig calls this "another sacrifice to the relatives."

..................
And now it is back to life as usual. Hiram's classes have started. He's taking Nursing History/ Policy and Pathophysiology. He would rather be doing this:

Doesn't he look happy?

Meanwhile, Liz does her best to distract Hiram:
...And Bethany is content as long as she gets plenty of this:

Locomotion

We write this entry with mixed emotions. Bethany is learning to crawl, though it is usually more of a scoot with her bum in the air. She makes some serious distance, though! We may need to keep a closer eye on this Baby Wonder. We've started childproofing the house a bit, for our own sanity. But she is also becoming so much fun to play with! She has gotten a lot more smiley and interactive.

Bethany obviously has mixed emotions about this crawling business too. Just look at that expression!
Go Baby, go!

We have also been spending a lot of time outside. Liz has some sort of walking fixation, which she is passing on to our daughter. Bethany loves the walks and the outdoors too. As if she had any choice... But see? Just look at these pictures:

Mom, can we go outside?

Please?

Can you say no to a smile like this?

Or a sad face like this?

And here are some pictures of Bethany in her outside garb:

Her jogging suit

Her snow suit. How is it that she is never wearing both shoes in her pictures?

Ahhh, Vacation...

Hiram is loving his Christmas vacation. He's been working on all sorts of projects. Here are some of them:

This bird feeder is sort of a mini version of our house. Hiram built it out of scrap wood, and Liz painted it. It has been attracting various varieties of birds, especially finches. We love watching the birds out our window!

He has also been trying to teach Bethany to eat. She seems to enjoy this, especially if we let her help out with her own spoon.

Our happy messy naked baby!

Hiram got bored with his 3 x 3 x 3 Rubik's Cube, so he got a 4 x 4 x 4 one. And solved it. Notice the bloodshot eyes in this picture? Well earned...

Meanwhile, Liz has been doing some projects too, trying to spice up the house. Here are some of them:Note: The top two were made with vinyl letters. Hiram thought they were done free-hand and was so impressed... until he saw the same patterns at a furnature store! The bottom one is a Liz original.

A Merry Thornton Christmas

This was a great holiday season! We had a very unconventional one because both Hiram and Liz work in healthcare. Hiram had to work Christmas Eve, Christmas night, New Year's Eve, and New Year's night! As well as Thanksgiving night and the nights before and after. And Liz had to work New Year's night too. And Thanksgiving. Behold the low end of the totem pole:)

At any rate, we actually got to spend some nice quality time with each other between shifts. Here are some highlights:

This was on Christmas Eve, which Liz and Bethany spent with the Thorntons. Bethany was NOT trying to terrorize her cousin Matt, though this photo looks somewhat incriminating;)

Here are Liz and Bethany with some of our Christmas loot, opened Christmas afternoon.

Bethany loved the wrapping paper.

... and the tree.

This is a hat Hiram knitted for Liz, but it looks cute on Bethany too. Liz also took a picture of Hiram seductively flaunting this same hat, but it got mysteriously erased from Liz's camera. Who could have done such a thing?

We made gingerbread houses out of graham crackers. This is Liz's. It's a mobile home.

This is Hiram's. It's an obstacle course.

And this is Bethany's. We're not quite sure what she had in mind.