Halloween

Liam has been climbing and jumping around the house non- stop since he got this costume.  I can't even begin to count the number of times I have been shot with pretend webs in the eye. 

For this picture I told him to "Say cheese!"

He said "oh, I can say something even better... FOOTPRINT!"
-Hmmm I couldn't top that even if I tried.

Spidey on his scooter hauling his Halloween bag and a Lightning McQueen bag with Brady's old 1997 Church basketball trophy tucked inside....that Liam won outright earlier in the week when it stood in as the Firth Family Olympics Piston Cup trophy that was awarded for the best all-around archer, scooter, sock-bomber, and hide-and-seeker. All the essentials.

Baby Elsie jack-o-lantern

Liam wore this pumpkin costume as a baby too. Cute, cute.

Mt Vernon, George Washington Estate

Who doesn't love George Washington? He's probably America's most lovable guy. After visiting his estate, believe it or not, you love him even more. The man is a rock- a solider, leader, philanthropist, architect, linguist, farmer, hunter, scholar extraordinaire.   His estate is a little haven just outside a traffic laden, bustling city. 

The picture of us is on the chairs of Washington's back porch.

Gettysburg, PA

Gettysburg is a very impressionable place set in a beautiful location. There is a very humbling spirit that accompanies these battle fields. It should be on every history-lovers 'must see' list.

The day included a car audio tour, movie, artillery reenactment and museum visit. Even if you know nothing about the Battle of Gettysburg before your trip, by the end of the day you've fallen in love with the place and the 50,000 fallen soldiers.

Brady and my dad both have been wanting to visit these battle fields their whole lives.  The bottom picture of my dad is perhaps my favorite picture of him ever and it shows his fun personality. I love the excitement on his face- it's worth a thousand words.

Liam enjoyed the day sneaking around the rocks with his bow and arrow. . . . .and stalking dogs.

why we love our kids

Dani and Liam were learning about dinosaurs and he said that they found dinosaur bones by digging in rocks. And Dani told him the word for that is paleontologist- "Do you wanna practice it?" He replied, "Practice, I don't need practice"-- Then he closed his eyes for a second, opened them, and said confidently,
"Pay-Liam-tologist. Got it". Then he was off to the next thing.

This morning on my way out to work bright and early he was on the front porch in his undies squirting me with a little water gun. In the middle of the barrage he stopped, gave me the routine high five, thumbs-up, knuckles that I get every time I leave, then he kept on shooting until I was out of range.

After dinner he had all his pirate gear on and he and I were on the couch steering the ship around the shark, which was little Elsie kicking happily on the floor. He's also been spending most of his play time with some random rope he found laying around, which he ties up to things and 'climbs' up mountains. And sometimes he ties up his mom by her belt loops to the computer chair when she's not paying attention.

Last night I fed Elsie rice cereal for the first time. She took it well and most of it went straight down the pipes. Except for when she shoved her foot in her mouth right after I'd get a spoonful in, then it was all over the place.

Liam was talking with Dani about getting bigger, and he said "Yeah, and when I'm BIG, *I* will be the boss of DAD!!" 

Whenever there's more than two of anything, he always says there are three. It's his own little word for lots. He pronounces three as "free". And he gets really excited when there are free of things.

"Dad, I'm getting big, huh? Yeah, but mom doesn't want me to get big, because she wants me to stay small so I can snuggle. But guess what? I'm going to get big. I take lots of naps and that's what gets me big."

Dani and the kids went to play group and Liam was running around and came back to Dani and said " I tried to chase the girls to get them to play with me but it didn't work. Then I started yelling "I'm not going to hurt you!" at them, and it still didn't work."

 Elsie's rolling over both ways all over the place and she's never quite where we left her on the floor when we come back-- always a few feet in a different random direction. Liam can get her to crack up basically on command.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Liam definitely looks the part. . . .

There is nothing as soothing a holding a sweet, sleeping baby. Babys dont get come any sweeter than Elsie.

Three Cheers for Gabe! We'll miss you.

We all know that nothing lives forever.  Not pets, not plants, not even people. All good things come to an end.  Our rabbit, Gabe Rabbit Firth, died yesterday and shocked our family with such a reminder .  

I don't know why it's so hard to lose a pet.  They're "just" animals and theoretically they should be very easily replaced. But somehow they sneak into our hearts and when they leave us for good, they create a void.  

Pets foster a type of unconditional love for their owners that's not quite replicated by humans. They become a part of our daily routine and with each act of nurturing we do for them they reciprocate and give us a sense of satisfaction and a job well done.

Gabe has been a very important part of the Firth home since we instantly bonded with him nearly 4 year ago.  We loved this bunny like dog owners love "mans best friend." We have had him since before we had Liam. He has lived illegally in our bath tub in Utah, in luxury in his own garage in Michigan and most recently in our backyard in Maryland.

He was potty trained and would drop what he was doing and come when his name was called.  He was cheap and low maintenance. He made our compost thrive.  He was always good for a snuggle even when everyone else was busy. Dang it, we weren't yet ready for him to leave and we'll miss him.