New Blog

Our new blog:

http://thethorntonfive.blogspot.com/

Let Them Eat Dirt

It started with a little taste...

Then the realization that this was not the expected taste.

There really is no way to backtrack a mouthful of dirt!

First Day of School

Yes. I am still documenting Madison's first day of school, much to her chagrin. She is much happier looking than she probably was feeling about posing for the first day picture. Notice we no longer photo op outside in case of any possible fellow middleschooler sightings.
Middle school....and so it begins!

Random Photos

Snuggle buddies

A new "do"

Playing in the dog bowl

Our girls

Happy Father's Day

It's a healthy, baby......

BOY!
Yes, the arrow is pointing to his jewels. Of course, they she could have told us he was holding an umbrella and I would have said "oh, I think I see it!"
For those of you who are familiar with Matt's facial expressions...he was holding Harper and when our nurse made the announcement he looked like a five year old on Christmas morning. Priceless.

Here is his profile...already a looker!
Note to those who are as sonogram illiterate as me...this pic is on its side and he is facing the right hand side of the screen. So his head is at the bottom of the picture and then it goes up and shows his belly. Just turn your head a bit to the right and don't try so hard or you won't be able to find him!

Splish Splash

Harper Belle played in her splash pool this past week. Of course, in typical Thornton style the food came first...

This is about as close to the water as she was willing to get. It was a little chilly (cut us some slack...we are still getting used to this northern weather!)

The rest of the time was spent dumping the bubbles and playing in the mud puddle (gingerly.)

The Beach

For Memorial Weekend we went to a Lake Erie beach, Mentor Headlands was in full swing! The water was surprisingly warm and the sand was hot and Harper thought delicious...
She wasn't quite sure of that first step into the water, but eventually got used to it.

The wistful teenager

156 Months

My baby turned 156 months this past weekend. That sounds a lot better to my ears than thirteen...time surely flies.
We celebrated with new friends, a late night, and a whole lot of giggling.

New Bed

Madison and I recently drove to IKEA in Pittsburgh to get her a loft bed for her bedroom. It was a great girls day with a big thanks to Gram for making the bed purchase happen. It only took us a week to put it together...much to Madison's dismay, but the results were awe inspiring.

Madison's room looks so much bigger and she has rearranged and decorated it fabulously. She only has about 15 inches between mattress and ceiling. Her bedroom ceilings were a little lower than we anticipated...oops.

1..2...and Introducing 3!

The first picture of all my kiddos, minus one face. Yup, I'm pregnant!

I am sure you have all been wondering why the blog has lagged in photos and humor lately. Blog time i.e. Harper Belle's nap time has become my "restypoo" time so that I actually see my family at night and don't konk out on them at 6:27 in my chair.
Hopefully with the recent completion of my first trimester I will have more energy and can get some pictures of our Texas trip on the blog.

Thornton #3 is due on November 17th and we look forward to welcoming our bundle in time for Thanksgiving. Maybe we will name it Squanto....

Yikes!

Throughout the winter months Matt has been growing out his beard. At first it was a test to see how long it would actually get (which was at least an inch and a 1/2 in all directions) then it became a necessity because of the absurdly cold weather. The results were the pretty hairy face above, or as my brothers referred to it, "he looks like one of those anarchist mountain extremist men from Montana." Wow, now if that doesn't make you want to repeat a look for a second winter I don't know what will.

We knew he was hiding some face behind all that thick, red, curly hair! The cutting of the beard was Matt's gift to Harper Belle on her birthday. Yes, many moons ago, but I finally got this posted on the blog! Here's to my smooooooooth baby faced man. Love you!
Now you just have crazed look in your eye of a vagabond with no gnarly beard to go with it. Yikes!

1st Birthday Party

This past Saturday we celebrated Harper's 1st year with a birthday party. It was a day of family, friends, sugar and kids romping around.
Harper loves her new tunnel that her cousins from NYC gave her! Talk about a hit with the tykes! I love those little dimpled hands!

Harper playing with her bestie friend, Collette!

Harper playing with the Fadel boys. She really loved trying to keep up with the big boys!

Birthday Family Photo

Harper enjoyed us singing to her....

and then the cake...

a messy success (or serious sugar rush)!

I'm One!

A year has flown by!
Our photo session went well...

then Harper started to get a little tired...

and then she was done!
Happy Birthday sweet girl!

The Sun...

About two weeks ago it snowed...again. Gray skies, cold wind, snow and more snow piled high. My excitement about our first winter and the wonder of the beautiful white blanket of flakes was quickly coming to an end. And just when I wasn't sure if I could stand it any longer...

The sun shone brightly and blissfully!

It was a sunny, warm, beautiful day with the sound of melting icicles dripping in the background as us girls sat outside and enjoyed the fresh air and soaked up the sun.
Harper had little interest in her toys and instead she only had eyes for what Madison was playing with.

Madison introduced Harper to a snowball...

Which, of course, went immediately in the mouth.
It was my favorite day in quite a while. The icing on the cake...the silver lining...it was a day in the sun, literally.

Fancy a Blueberry...

Anyone?

The Gus

Yes, that's right, Gus came to visit. It was a glorious President's/Valentines Weekend spent laughing, playing in the snow, perusing rock memorabilia, and did I mention laughing.

Every night Madison and Gus went sledding at our local park and then would come home to the fire, roasting marshmallows and gabbing. I loved hearing the giggles and seeing the mischievous grins as I would pass through.

Harper enjoyed The Gus, too!

On our way to Cleveland's lake shore to visit the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame.

Along the way we stopped by this itty bitty boat to see that the lake had frozen over.

TaDaaaaaaaaaa....the girls had a great time looking at Jimi Hendrix's flamboyant threads, early Beatles everything, the giant Phish hotdog, and Elvis's purple Cadillac. It truly is an amazing museum with so much interesting rock history.

A day well spent!

All my girls! It was a beautiful weekend with a lot of memories and smiles. It warmed my spirit to see Madison so happy, not only to see her best friend, but to also show off her new hometown. There was a sense of pride and acceptance that felt good. Although we were sad to see her go, it won't be long until we are in Austin....and reunited once again for more giggles.