A Red Letter Day

Hey All!

I'm a day late in posting because I just didn't have time to add this to the blog last night. :)

Yesterday Andrew and Mason were super children! I started the day by getting out the 9 and 12 month clothes for Mason, as he's growing like a weed, and putting all the 3-6 and 6-9 month clothes away. As I was folding clothes and putting them into a large bin, Mason grabbed on the side and stood up! Can you believe it?! My boy is standing!!!! :) I'm SO thrilled! Naturally, I had to call a bunch of people and brag! Can you blame me? I said to my mom "He's standing, and he can't even crawl yet!"

That night at bath time, I put Mason in and got him all cleaned up and asked Andrew if he wanted to go potty before his bath. We are just introducing him to it and he's not too terribly thrilled. He didn't want to, until I told him there would be candy involved, and then, of course, he jumped at the chance. I got him up there and said "try to go potty" and just like that, he did!! WHAT?! This is a HUGE step! :) We're sooooo proud of him. Needless to say, he got 2 pieces of candy -- one for sitting on the potty and one for actually GOING! :) I'm SO proud of him. We called grandparents to let them know while he was still sitting on his throne. :)

After bath, not to be upstaged by his brother, Mason decided it was time to crawl! He crawled across the floor and picked up Andrew's sippy cup! I guess he was thirsty! :) Not a minute later he crawled back across the floor to pick up a pencil that Andrew had dropped! He's mobile! Watch out!!!!

So anyway, it was a big day for us! I wanted to get a video last night but JJ had the camera at work and Mason wasn't going to be able to stay up until Daddy got home, so I had to postpone the video making until today. SO...enjoy it! We're so proud of our kiddos!! :)

Terrible Twos (Enter Stage Left.)

Terrible Two, Day Two.

Well, it's here. Andrew made it to his second birthday and emerging from left field came the terrible twos. I never thought it could be this way...like someone flipped a switch! You've got to be kidding me!!! He's quite the handful all of a sudden, and I'm starting to wonder if we'll even survive this. I'm REALLY looking forward to the next 363 days or more.

Andrew celebrated his birthday at the cabin (again) and got way too many presents. He was sure cute opening them up and getting all excited. "Presents" he kept saying, and "happy birthday." I don't think he really has any clue what it's all about, but oh well. It was fun, anyhow. After we got home from the cabin, he got a present in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa, and then this morning he got more from Paxton (the little boy I babysit). He's going to think that he gets a present EVERY day! Lucky bugger!

Anyway here are some pictures from this weekend. Love to you all.

birthday cake

yum!

a new ball!

a guitar?!

I like this birthday stuff!

watch me play my guitar!

Mason is such a sweet baby!

bath time with cousin Cate

Mason got plenty of attention, too!

What a ham!!

Weighing In...

Hi! Mason's 6 month appointment was a couple of weeks ago (and I'm getting further and further behind!) so I thought I'd list his growth. He weighed in at 17 lbs 6 oz (50th %) and was 26 3/4" long (just above the 50th %). He's growing and learning SO much. He is trying to get up on his knees, but he's just not quite there yet. Sometimes I help him. :) He's getting cuter and cuter by the day, though. :)

Andrew is still getting into mischief, which I suppose is pretty common for kids his age. He'll be 2 on the 31st. He learned how to open the gates on the fence yesterday. It seems so silly that we've only had the fence up for a month and he's already figured it out. A little frustrating, actually. I guess we have to resort to padlocks on the gates when he's outside. Poor thing. He's just way too smart for us. It's totally mind-boggling that he can recognize any number from 1-10 and nearly all of his colors. We're really very proud of him.

JJ still loves his job, but is gearing up for school. We have about a month until Fall Quarter starts. Because he was doing his cooperative work experience during Summer Quarter, he has a 5-page paper and some evaluations due on Thursday. They shouldn't be hard to complete, it's just a matter of getting motivated to do it! :) He sure loves working for the P.U.D., though. They have been really good to him. We're still just praying that they will hire him on full time after his Student position ends.

So, things are just fine and dandy. I'm just busy babysitting and taking care of our kids and house. I will start watching a 2-month old baby girl probably next week. That will be LOTS of fun. I haven't taken care of a little girl in a LONG time!! It will be challenging, but it will be fun.

Mason Jumps Up

Here is a video of Mason's first real jump. We can't believe he's already 6 months old!



Here are Mason and AJ jumping... and who should join in the fun?? Watch and see!!

Last Week's Adventures

Well, we made it to the reunion! We left here at about 4 am Pacific time on Monday, and got to the campground around 7:30 pm Mountain time. It was a relatively long drive, but worth it, in my opinion! We thought that we were going to have gotten there so much later than the rest of the family, but we were pleased when we realized the rest of our family had only been to camp for a couple of hours.

Lacey Loves Camping!

What a beautiful campsite!

We unpacked (well, JJ unpacked) and got camp all set up (well, JJ got camp all set up), and then we spent LOTS of time with the family (well, the boys and I did, anyway!). Dinners and breakfasts together and campfires at night. I don't think we could have asked for much more! It was so fun, even though we were only able to stay for a couple of days! JJ and I even had the opportunity to go out on the lake for a while in the rubber raft (thanks for watching the kiddos, Grandma!) and AJ even put his feet in the VERY cold lake! Mom put Mason's feet in, but we're not sure how he liked that.

Our family

Mason is such a cutie!

The kids were total troopers. They slept nearly all night long both nights. In fact, Mason only woke up once each night for a feeding. Andrew is our little "inch worm." We realized that he doesn't stay in his covers all night long...in fact, he kept inching more and more out of the sleeping bag and we kept covering him up. Finally JJ grabbed him and pulled him into the sleeping bag with him! Mason mostly slept with me in my bag, but that was nice because I'm always cold and can definitely use the extra body heat!

Andrew wanted to shovel with Hannah!

a REAL Idaho deer!!

We left on Wednesday just after lunch! We sure had a great time! The drive home was less successful than the drive to the site, but we *somehow* made it through! I can assure you that the portable DVD player was a saving device for us this trip. Andrew had to have watched Cars 30 times! haha. We were all happy to get home and get in the SHOWER and BATHTUB! Andrew missed being clean! We'd go back again, but next time for the full week! We LOVE camping, but a 14-hour drive is a bit much for 3 days (including all the travel!).

spaghetti, YUM!

Grandma couldn't get enough of Mason!

Andrew REALLY enjoyed sitting on rocks!

After we got home, we were able to get the laundry done and catch our breath before we headed out to the cabin in Plain for the weekend. JJ's dad is working on moving a shop to a new spot and he has taken it completely apart just to put it all back together again. He managed to salvage most of the building during take-down, so JJ went out to help him reconstruct the walls and get it ready to be put back together. It was quite a job (and yes, I even got to use some of my womanly MUSCLE!) and there's still a lot to do! While we were there, we got to see the kids' great-grandfather and spend a little time in the wading pool! Andrew had a GREAT time (even sitting in the pool with his clothes on) and Mason got in and splashed a bit. Mason didn't have much of an expression on his face to let us know he was enjoying himself, but kicking his feet was good enough for me! What cuties!

playing at the park

our boys get along SO well!

the kids in the poolwhat a ham!
Merry-Go-Round (and round and round!)

Anyway, enjoy the pictures! Sorry we missed so many of you at the reunion and sorry we didn't get to stay longer! Oh, and I threw a little video of AJ playing with Mason on here, too...just for kicks. I thought it was pretty adorable! xoxo love you all.

The Cross Fam

Nice To Meet You, Baby Cate!

Just a quick note! JJ's sister, Melissa, and her husband, Ralph, just welcomed their new baby girl into the world. Cate Juniper Eronemo was born on June 28th and she is quite a beauty! Arriving at 21 3/4" long and 8 lbs 12 oz, the anticipation is finally over! She looks SO much like her mommy with her pronounced Asian features. Congratulations, Ralph and Melissa! Great job!! Welcome to the family, Cate! And a special congrats to the grandparents. This is the first Eronemo grand-baby!

Monster Trucks!

Hey! We went to Moses Lake on Saturday to see the Monster Trucks. This was a first for AJ, Mason and me, but JJ has been to a few shows already. Boy! It was SO loud! I expected there to be some noise, but since we were outside, I thought it would be a bit less. Guess not! haha. Here are some pictures. Andrew didn't like the loud noise so much, and he refused to wear the earmuffs that we spent a fortune on, but he liked the big trucks, and Mason was pretty good. Mason was in his stroller, with a hat on, a blanket by his head, and parked behind a pole so that the noise wouldn't be too much for him. It was a lot of fun. We didn't get to stay for the whole thing (we figured staying until 9 pm was enough) because we had to get back in the car and drive 1 1/2 hours back to Wenatchee. It was worth it, though. We had a great time!