The morning hunt

DC kids

We love our everyday DC life and our metropolitan kids.  We went downtown to the museums and swung by the Native American Museum. Their treasury of thousands of years of native artifacts is almost usurped by their fry bread.  Drizzled with honey, it's absolutely perfect. Mmmm

Elsie's Easter

Little girls in easter dresses- huggable, kissable, ridiculously cute. Elsie is so very beautiful, terribly sweet  and well, definitely underrepresented in this Firth blog. Sorry second child! (I happen to be a second kid so I can empathize. :) ) So while I'm highlighting her cuteness I thought I'd write a bit about her.

She melts my heart. She laughs uncontrollably at Liam, and giggles and claps for herself whenever she stands up.   She loves crawling all over her dad and touching his face. She eats everything, even dirt.  She's got these adorable curls on the side of her head that cause people to gawk.

       She loves to snuggle and read books on her mommy's lap. She loves to dig in the dirt with her brothers sand toys or her mothers gardening tools.  Like her father, she rarely wears socks and would much rather be outside than in.

She started walking 2 days ago and it has made us realize just how fast our sweet thing is growing up.

'Did Jesus make Jedis?" was the topic up for debate this week.


 Mom: "Well, Star Wars is actually just a movie."
  Liam:  "Yes, but if he wanted to, Jesus could make a Jedi with all those powers, right?"
Mom: Yeah sure
Liam:  "Ha! I knew it! I'll have to tell that to my friend!"

Liam:          "Does Jesus make computers?
Mom: "Well Jesus made the earth and then people make computers"

Liam: "Yeah, that's what I thought.  He makes humans and bones and blood but he doesn't make the internet. He also doesn't make computers. Here's the sad part, 'cause people make computers they run outta batteries and they need to be plugged."   

Liam: "If Jesus doesn't make computers then who made Jesus and God and the spirit?"


Liam: Is the church really Jesus' house? How does he live here? Why do they call it his house?

Mom: This is where people learn about him, and where we can feel his spirit. He usually lives with God though.

Liam: Hmmm well maybe he sleeps in a pile of hay some where around here- I've seen it in picture.
:)

-Pictures at the College Park Aviation museum (the Wright Brothers' first official airport) Liam is trying on a pilot's hat and Elsie is getting in on the action.

My award winning husband

 Yesterday Brady won $1,000.  It caught us by sunrise. There was an award luncheon but I wasn't really clued in so I wasn't even there to see him win it all.  I actually found out via text. Basically it was "Hey I won first place and $1,000." I laughed out loud.
    The prize was awarded for business entrepreneurship research. Best of all, it was for his thesis. The thesis from hell that seemed to take longer than we wanted and whos data never quite seemed to support the hypothesis.  From all Brady's hard work though, came a paper chalked full of sound writing, smart ideas and cogent arguments. I'm so very proud of him.

     So what do you do when you win $1,000?  Well, we immediately made a huge chocolate cake, from scratch.
     It's funny, everyones idea of what to spend prize money on is so different. To Liam $1,000 meant Starwars Legos, including a saber clad DarthVader. For me, it was a coveted pink North Face shirt. For Brady it was a little extra spending money on a business trip to Chicago and probably, some itunes downloads, and new shoes.  We'll most likely use the rest to visit family this summer.
What would you use the money for?   -p.s I'll post some pictures of Brady with the award at a later date.

Giving up soda and getting help from Liam

  I can't actually remember drinking a Coke or Pepsi until I was 21 years old.  I didn't grow-up with soda at home. As a personal trainer, I make money by telling people to eat healthy. I demand my clients surrender sweet drinks.  I run. Being a soda drinker is both hypocritical and out of character for me.
 
   It first started with a few late night (it was BYU, so non- caffeinated) drinks from the vending machine while living in the dorms. Then it was a few gas station sodas here and there on my way home from working at the gym.
      Before I knew it, I was buying soda in bulk when I went to the grocery store. Soda even had it's own spot in my fridge. I was shelling out hard earned cash for cavities.
     Then 8 weeks ago it all changed .. . .    when Liam spontaneously went on a crusade to stop his mother from drinking pop.
        I was reaching for a Diet Dr. Pepper in line when Liam, in probably the same loud voice he would scream at a kidnapper, started yelling "No! Mom, No! Don't do it!"  The entire store was staring.  Embarrassed, I smiled and quietly tried to reason with Liam. "Moms and Dads are allowed to drink soda whenever they want . . . it's fine. . ." He wasn't buying it.
Apparently neither was I.
         Two months later, I feel healthier, happier and more in control of what goes into my body.  Soda is not welcome in my home, my car, my family's nutrition.
   Kicking an unhealthy habit is liberating. I have realized that bad habits are constraining, expensive, and never as fun as they seemed at the time.
           Thanks Liam!

The gold medal goes to. . . . Liam!

Liam now has a gold medal. It was a prize from his first ever, 1k, race. It officially ushered him into our competitive society. It's a  harsh world where unfortunately people are labeled, graded, and judged as faster, slower, better, or worse.  Even at age 3.  Despite this realization, I'll admit, I did get a little teary eyed watching him surge through the crowds of disoriented kids, all by himself. 
Our little champion. "Fast as Lightening McQueen" (self declared :)  )

 Liams friend Abe was there too, right along side him for the start.
This is a picture at NASA's 'Rocket Garden' we visited this week. (What else do you do with outdated rocket science, right?)

This is a picture of the hysteria that ensues when I briefly leave the room-  Elsie is chewing on a screw driver, blue ink marking her face and clothes. Smiling. Liam laughing uncontrollably. Typical.

 I love plants. I love digging in the dirt, transplanting and re-transplanting, trial and error, the element of surprise.   Liam and I went around snipping flowers from our yard and putting them in random pots. It was a very spring-y thing to do on a sunny day.
         These peonies were growing in a shady, clay-ridden spot our lawn.   They've now been rescued.

Babies suck on everything and naturally seem to always get sick.  Elsie has been under the weather but as is still as sweet as always.

Home improvement Project

Liam and Brady went to Home Depot this week and made this planter box, now inhabited by his strawberry plant. Liam loved the thrill of using a "real hammer and real goggles."

     We recently spent some time replacing the flooring in our house. It was pretty old, discolored and grungy We fixed the subfloor,underlayment and put on the new tiles and it makes a world of difference in our house. We love it.

j 

The new flooring:

The old flooring: This is why it was so bumpy...