420 New Pictures!

You know it's bad when your last blog entry was two months ago, but you know it's really bad when your camera has 420 pictures you still need to organize!

I don't even know where to begin. You can check out the new pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/thecrossleyclan. I hope to have stories attached soon.  Right now, they are grouped by month.

And don't miss out on the new videos you can check out here: http://www.youtube.com/thecrossleyclan

But I wanted to highlight just a few of my favorite pictures from the last few months.

Our friendly neighbors came over to carve pumpkins – Jack thought the mess was just great!

 

This is the wind down after pumpkin carving: A Jack Sandwich.

 

Jack discovered how much fun laundry can be.  This is his “Cheeeese” face.

 

I was sick one week and in desperate need of some entertainment for Jack… the answer was a bouncy thing with 100 balls in it.  It was heaven-sent!

 

This is a great representation of how Mom, Katelan and I all felt after a very, very long Black Friday.  We literally shopped ‘til we dropped!

 

Jack LOVES to blow out candles.  He was so excited that Pop Pop invited him to help blow out his birthday candles.

 

Jack took his first picture… didn’t it come out so cute?

 

Merry Christmas! This was taken standing outside of Santa’s Cabin, but we never did go in.  Jack was not amused.  Maybe next year.

 

This was our Christmas morning! You may be able to tell, but Jack is doing another “Cheeeese” face.

 

Squirting silly string at each other.  What a face! That’s my husband. :)

 

Jack drawing with his very cool new paint system.  It’s just clear goo that changes colors based on what color you point the paint brush at: technology!  Thanks, Poppy and Nanny!

 

“Cars?! Cars?!” Jack loves, cars, and they always come in multiples.  He absolutely loves this “cars” from Pop Pop and Grandmom.  Thank you!!

 

His hand was moving so fast the camera couldn’t focus.  “Blocks are built to be knocked down.” Jack’s motto.

 

Our Christmas family picture. Does Jack look like he feels squished to you, too? Too funny.

 

Gotta have good friends! This is Pete’s best friend, Matt and his wonderful family: Jennifer and Aiden.  I hope we get a pick like this every year.

Tips, Tips, Tips

Since being a mom, I've needed tips more than I've ever needed in my life. Blogs and self-help books have new meaning, and my ears are all but ringing with advise (great, good and bad) from those who feel they could help me. With all of this, I have realized that I need some way to filter, edit if need be, and share with those who may also be looking for the same answers I am.

So I'm going to start cataloging here. It's the perfect place, right? :)

Here's my first tip:
Pete left the house Monday morning thinking that I would let Lucy out for her morning "duties" a bit later, but by the time I got going, I thought Pete must have taken Lucy out already. And throughout the day, I also thought that she was pretty annoying - always getting under my feet - she wouldn't leave me alone! It wasn't until 7p that she couldn't take anymore and ended up peeing on the third floor, waiting for me to put Jack to bed. The poor dog! She did everything she could to tell me, but I was just oblivious to her. I felt, and still feel, terrible.

Anyway, we've tired a bunch of different things over the years for this kind of mess, but I personally believe this is the best way to get any kind of urine out of carpet - and the smell:

Absorb as much urine as possible then sprinkle area with warm water. Follow this by sponging area with a solution of equal parts of detergent and warm water and a half part of vinegar. Pat dry and repeat sponging with solution 2 or 3 times. Finally sponge with clean water and pat dry. At no time saturate the carpet.

Oh, and definitely wear gloves. :-)

You May Call Me "Homemaker"

I've been talking to different friends and family about making homemade laundry soap for a LONG time now, but I'm really going to do it!

Everyone knows that it's cheaper to make it yourself, but the main reason I'm doing it is for Jack. He has some very sensitive skin that, per doctor's orders, we've been maintaining by:

Prescribed lotions and lots of cetaphil
We buy Dreft laundry soap and we don't use dryer sheets
Instead of regular soap in the shower, we use baking soda in the bath water

So when my mom mentioned that my sister makes her own laundry soap and she noticed that it seems to help her son's eczema, it was a done-deal for me. Anything to help Jack's skin!

I was able to find all my ingredients at Fred Meyer of all places. And I found what I think is a really good website for people of my caliber: people-who-don't-know-much-but-want-to-learn. It gives 10 different recipes for laundry detergent as well as a million other helpful tips. I think I'm going to go for recipe #4 cuz it looks pretty darn easy.

Wish me luck!

Our Little Frankenstein

Last year, I was adamant that Jack was to be a Lobster for Halloween (don't ask me why... hormones?) but this year I was drawing a blank. Everyone had good suggestions, but nothing really made me say, "Yes! That's it!"

So, after buying and returning three Halloween costumes, the winner finally came to us by mail: Frankenstein! It turned out better than I could have guessed - cuz I could have guessed that Jack would rip it off mere moments after having it on. But he seemed to adjust immediately after seeing tons of candy everywhere.

He looked adorable!

We had a great time on Halloween, even though Jack started showing signs of a nasty cold. I'll share the stories and pictures very soon.

All Sorts of Wet!

Our little bug just loves the rain!

We got out an umbrella for him to see if he would use it - and he did for a bit - but more than that, it turned out to be a great toy.

Hand Over The Mic!

I think we have a rock star in the making!

Making Music

We love the Redmond Town Center. There is a great fountain to play in and ice cream and great restaurants... and the best music making area I've seen at a mall.

Click here to take a look!

The Shaving Cream Party

Jennifer came up with the best idea: let the boys go crazy with some shaving cream. We stripped them down to their diapers and sprayed a bit on some trays. I don't know what we were thinking with using trays. We should have known that it wouldn't stay on the trays for long. Jack went straight to wiping himself down with the stuff and Pete helped him with some horns and a mo-hawk. Logan was a little bit more tame but loved it just as much!

Here are some pictures!

And for your viewing enjoyment:

Oh, So Many Blueberries!

So I love North Bend!

I've always been partial to this city, but I am now officially in love. In September, we went blueberry picking right up against one of my favorite mountains, Mt. Si, and had such a good time! We came away with pounds and pounds of blueberries, and Jack probably ate just as much while we were picking.

Here are some pictures: click here.

Playing in the Rain

It was raining one day when Jennifer and Logan came over to play, so it was to be playtime inside - but the boys didn't see it that way. They wanted out on the porch to play! Jennifer and I resisted for a while, but the boys finally won. So we ended up just taking off their clothes and letting them go at it. They had so much fun! Well, that was until Jack got so cold that not only were his lips cold, but the skin around his mouth and creeping up to his nose were turning blue. Don't worry, we kept a close eye on them.

Here's some of my favorite pics:

Jack would get out just far enough to feel the rain - and then would freeze. Too funny.


Logan came running right behind Jack and pushed right past him. He acted as though he'd been freed from his confining clothes!


Boys enjoying the rain.


Jack finally got cold enough to come in and landed right in my lap. So sweet!


Do you see the raindrop running down Logan's left cheek? I love this kid.