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!

Insomnia of sorts

I should be sleeping.

Yesterday, after Paxton went home, I started to feel a little under the weather. It started with just feeling cold. Then came the body aches. Then a nearly unbearable migraine. All I could think was "I'm getting the flu." Oh joy.

For those of you who don't already know, JJ is going to school and working, and he's basically gone from the house from 7:30 am - 9:15 pm. EVERY DAY, Monday - Friday (an improvement, I suppose, from the old schedule where he worked straight through the weekends). So from about 2 pm to 9 pm, I was faking optimism with the kids. Not to mention I had to do the grocery shopping. JJ got home a little early, more like 8:30, and I got to put the kids to bed, trying VERY HARD not to breathe on them. JJ said that since I didn't feel good I should just go to bed when I was done with the kiddos, but I took a nice hot bath first. Despite being achy and cold, it felt good to lay down, but it was too good to be true.

20 minutes after I made it to bed, Mason woke up. Not for any reason in particular, but just to be held, I guess. He fell asleep right away. I put him back down and got back into bed. 20 minutes later... yep! He was awake and crying again. Back in his room. Feed him, burp him, get him back to sleep. I laid back in bed. 20 minutes later, he was awake again! This continued ALL night until about 4 this morning. I finally decided that since he wasn't doing well in his crib, he'd just sleep in his swing in our room. At least then, if he would sleep better, maybe I would, too, and if not, I wouldn't have to walk all the way across the house. I was still pretty dizzy, nauseas, etc. Finally! He was sleeping. But you parents know that if it isn't one, it's the other.

At 4:15 our bedroom door opened and Andrew walked in. "Stickers" he said, holding up a booklet of stickers that he gets out every day. You've GOT to be kidding me! So I took him into his bedroom and laid him down. He wouldn't sleep. He wouldn't sleep and he wouldn't sleep. He kept saying "Lacey. Lacey." Our dog was sleeping in our room. He sure loves that puppy. FINALLY at 5:30 Andrew fell asleep. I went back to bed, just for a few minutes before the alarm clock started going off. Today is my early day with Paxton. He's here at 7:30, so I have to be up by 6:30 to get Lacey out back to potty, JJ's breakfast, lunch, coffee, and water jug ready, then my shower and clothes changed, and then it's on to Andrew's breakfast. Somewhere in there, I often have to feed Mason, too. Lots to do before 7:30 in the morning!! SO, while I feel much better today, I can definitely say that it wasn't helped by a large amount of sleep. I'm not sure I slept at all, actually.

Child Abuse At Its Finest...

Andrew has discovered taking off his pajama pants at night, so when JJ went to put them on, this is what happened. We thought it was funny so we did it again and video taped it. Hope you like it. We got a good laugh!

Who Got The Camera?

Swing Time

Mason Is 4 Months Old

Here is our little Mason! He's 4 months and growing fast. He tipped the scales at 15 lbs 12 oz the other day and is already 25 1/2" long! Way to go, buddy!! Here's the latest video of him!

JJ's New Job

JJ just got a new job with the Chelan County PUD (Public Utility District) working on fleet vehicles. It's a student position, especially created for Automotive Students at WVC to get work experience credits. He was interviewed a couple of weeks ago and they offered him the job 4 days later. He left Sears Automotive and started at the PUD last Tuesday. Woo hoo!! He's enjoying the job, so far, and keeps a lot busier than he did at Sears. He's getting his foot in with a GREAT federal job, and though it's only Temporary until December, we're praying that this will become something more permanent. They have hired the last 3 of 5 students to be full-time workers, so hopefully they will like him enough to do the same with him! We're just extremely grateful that we have a good, dependable job to get JJ through the Summer and Fall while we're making our way through the schooling thing! :) Anyway, just thought I'd brag! :) We're so proud of him!

Lacey joins the family...

Hello again! Here are a couple of pictures of the latest addition to our family! Yea!! Lacey is a pure-bred salt and pepper Miniature Schnauzer. She currently weighs 7 lbs. She is the only other estrogen in this household, so I'm VERY happy that she is with us! :) She's not quite potty trained (yesterday was a rough day), but she's getting the hang of it. We just taught her to sit and she's working on "lay down." She has been such a great puppy for Andrew. She runs all over the yard with him and NEVER leaves the yard. She's curious, but stays in the boundaries. She LOVES attention, and SLEEP. :) We went all the way to Spanaway (outside of Seattle) to get her, but it was well worth it! She's a WONDERFUL puppy and we are thrilled to have her as part of the family!

At the Cabin...

Hi Everyone!
We spent a couple of days out at the cabin a couple of weeks ago and wanted to share pictures! Our boys are SO cute (wouldn't you agree?)! We got to spend some time with JJ's Grandfather, James Block, who Mason is named after (his middle name is James). It was nice to get away from the "city" and back to po-dunk Plain! :) No, we REALLY enjoy being out there. It's quiet and just beautiful. We'll have lots of pictures up from Memorial Day Weekend when we spend a little more time out there. :) Anyway, enjoy the pictures! Love to you all!

This is Andrew!

The video says it all!

A lotta talk and some smiles / visiting the Platts

Well, Here is a video of our little Mason. He's getting SO big! He's barely 3 months old, but he's as big as his cousin, Toby, who is already 6 months! We don't say Mason is chubby. We say he's "thriving." haha.

Last week I was able to take the boys and make a trip to Utah to see my family. What a fun time that was! I spent SO much time with my mommy and got to see almost everyone. The only people who didn't make it out were Jon and Randi, but they were here in Washington! :) We got to meet Damien and Toby, and Andrew had SO much fun playing with Hannah, Josslyn and Katherine! It was really such a fun trip! On Monday, Ben stayed home from school for a full day to spend time with all of us. Greg and Ilene went apartment hunting and I had the DELIGHTFUL pleasure of helping to watch Toby while they were gone! What a ham! Donovan and Olya came by that day, too, so Damien and Hannah were there to play and show off! It was So nice being able to catch up with Olya and Ilene again. They are such a wonderful part of our family! Tanya made it over, too, and Doug came Monday with his new girlfriend, Sarah. (Thurday he brought Josslyn and Kathy to see us.) Julie had an honor choir concert on Wednesday night (in which, I must say, she did a FANTASTIC job!), and we got lots of game and talk time in! Andrew just LOVED being with Grandma and Grandpa and he gave the BEST hugs, complete with good pats on the back! :) It was a LONG drive to spend just a few days, but it was SO worth it. The kids were fantastic, but they were sure happy to see Daddy when we got home!! What a blessing! We are so happy to be back on the Western side of the U.S. again. This drive is actually possible with two children! :) Thanks, Mom and Dad, for letting us impose again! We sure loved being there! We'll see you all again in July! :)

Grandma and Mason
Grandma and Andrew

Grandma is GOOD at getting babies to sleep!

Andrew LOVED the stairs!
All the cousins that could make it down!
Hannah, Damien, Toby, Andrew and Mason
Grandpa and Andrew
Grandpa and Mason

There is NOTHING better than family members getting together and enjoying each other!

Cindy Turns The Big 2-5!

So My birthday was fun. JJ's parents came on the 5th and watched Mason and Andrew for us so we could go out as a couple to celebrate! We got all dressed up fancy and JJ took me to a local Italian restaurant (Leonardo's) which had FABULOUS food! Then we went driving and just spent time together as a couple...it's been a LONG time since we were able to do that! After a long drive we stopped by Dairy Queen for a yummy snack and then headed home. What a wonderful evening! On our way home we crossed the Odabashian bridge on the North end of town coming home. As we started onto the bridge, a car sped past us at about 100 mph (no exaggeration) and threw a BEER BOTTLE at our car. Luckily nothing was broken but the bottle, but we ended up with two dents, scratched paint and scratched glass. I am relatively irritated and JJ was so mad that we ended up speeding to catch up with the car, to no avail. If it were up to JJ, we would have followed the car and probably gotten into a fight, so I'm glad that I told him NO and we went home to our family. I swear, the drama never ends! But, the birthday celebration was fun! :) So, now I'm 25 years... a whole quarter of a century! It's amazing the things that we see and accomplish in our lifetimes. I have a whole lot more to do, though! Looking forward to the rest of my life! "I plan to live forever.... so far so good!"

Our Easter

This year was the first year Andrew could really enjoy his Easter. We had so much fun getting AJ and Mason dressed up and handsome for church! John's parents were able to drop by for a couple of hours for dinner and for an Easter egg hunt. The weather was pretty nice, but we had a few rain drops during the hunt. Andrew was so cute reaching down and finding eggs that we hid in plain sight. Next year he'll have to really search for them! JJ's buddy, KC, was up visiting before his move to Phoenix, so we had a full house and it was SO fun! In fact, since JJ had to work that day, KC and I went to church together with the boys. The Chapel was full, so we were sitting on metal chairs in the cultural hall. One moment Andrew was sitting next to me and the next he was on the floor behind the chairs. He almost landed on the people behind us as he slid THROUGH the back of the chair and onto the floor. That was a moment I had wished for a camera! He was such a trooper that he didn't even cry, though I was terrified that he would! What a good kid!