We're Having Another Baby!

Baby Cross #2 is on the way! He/She is scheduled to arrive 11.10.2012!!

Fiona: The Formative Years

I've been falling down on my blogging of late but here are some photos to summarize some things that Fiona's been up to (because we all know that's why you check our blog anyway). Here she is styling in pigtails and newly trimmed bangs. She's such a toddler now!

A couple of weeks ago Fiona discovered the buckets from Matt and Kelsi's wedding stashed under the table and proceeded to unstack and stack them for at least an hour. Despite the incredibly loud clanging noise it was nice to have her so entertained for such a long period of time. Here she is with her buckets arrayed in all their splendor.

 If you can't tell, Fiona's not very good at smiling for the camera. It's all we can do to get her even looking up so sorry for the funny faces. Her newest hobby is putting on shoes and walking around the house. Sometimes they're mine, sometimes they're Tristan's, sometimes they're a guest's but they're almost never her own. That craze spread to her dad's socks one day while I was folding the laundry.

By the far the most entertaining pair were my 3 1/2" wedges. She walked around in them for a little while and then decided they'd be a good stool. Clever girl!

That's all I've got for now, maybe in the near future I'll blog about our trip to the park or a video of Fiona playing in the rain... Stay posted!

Fiona's First Hair Cut

Don't worry we didn't chop off her curls, her bangs just needed a trim. As you can see she looked like a shaggy dog... And since she inevitably pulls out her clips a hair cut was the only solution. Here she is before.

And after! Tristan held her still while I cut some side bangs. They turned out pretty well and even when she shakes them out of place they're still out of her eyes. I'd say it was a success! She's making a funny face in this photo but it's difficult to capture her looking straight at the camera so this was the best take.

And finally, just a quick picture of her lounging on our bed enjoying a good book. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

A Visit From an Old Friend

This past weekend a friend of mine from Germany came to town to visit. She was an exchange student at my high school during my junior year. We became great friends that year and have stayed in touch ever since. She had a conference to attend for her job here in Orlando so she came a few days early to be with us! We hadn't seen each other since 2003! It was really fun having her. We reminisced about high school and just enjoyed being together again.

Here we are in high school being silly teenagers. Wow we look young!

Fiona absolutely loved her! Anna was amazing with Fiona.

And on an unrelated note, here's Fiona helping me load the dishwasher. Apparently, she felt that her shapes and book needed a good clean. She's been imitating everything lately which is really fun and gives us lots of entertainment.

And finally, I just had to share my first attempt at a lemon meringue pie. Thanks to my mother's careful instructions it was a success!

All things Fiona

So today I thought I'd dedicate a post to some cute and funny Fiona pictures. Above is Fiona playing my friends keyboard and singing. She b-lined straight to the keyboard when we arrived at their house. As soon as my friend turned it on Fiona was in heaven and quickly learned how to change the settings. Soon after she figured how to play and change the settings she began to sing along. I don't usually gush over her but this was too cute! I guess she's caught the worship bug.

Here she is in her styling jeggings and boots. We sold some of her old clothes to a consignment shop and got these beauties for free with some credit remaining! Woohoo! (On a side note, Fiona is nearly 18 months old and we have yet to spend a single dime on clothes! God is good!) You can't see it in this picture but her bangs were french braided to the side like a big girl.

I'd say she's a little too big to take baths in the sink. It's weird though, she loves to sit in the sink while I'm getting ready. Silly girl.

You can't see her toenails very well but she got her first paint job a couple of weeks ago. She actually did quite well but she got a little tired sitting still to let them dry. Needless to say they ended up getting a little scuffed but they still looked cute.

And finally, here's a picture of Fiona's first attempt to whistle. She actually was able to make a very faint inhale whistle sound. Now every time the tea kettle whistles she imitates it. This face makes me laugh every time!


Well those are some highlights for now. If any of you didn't receive our February missions update newsletter and would like to read it let me know and I'm email it to you. :)

Valentine's Day Cupcakes

Some of our friends were hosting a Valentine's Day worship and prayer night so I helped by decorating the cupcakes. These are some different designs I came up with.

That's all I have for today but I'll be back tomorrow with a montage of Fiona pictures! See you tomorrow!

Valentine's Day at the Sugar Mill

I heard about this place from a co-worker, and it sounded pretty amazing, so for Valentine's Day, I found a sitter, packed up my beautiful lady, and we drove north to the beautiful town of DeLeon Springs. The state park here was full of old history, including a water skiing elephant and the unprovable discovery of the fountain of youth by Ponce DeLeon.

The springs were clear and beautiful, and there's an old sugar mill right on it that has been converted to a...you guessed it, an all-you-can-eat pancake restaurant!

Here we are post-breakfast. The place is actually pretty cool. As you can see, every table gets their own griddle set into the wood. They bring you out a pitcher of wheat and white batter, and you basically make your own pancakes until you can eat no more.

You can just barely see the old paddle wheel outside behind me.

We may have ordered a side of blueberries and natural peanut butter to try with some of our cakes, and there were bottles of syrup, honey, and molasses, so the possibilities were somewhat endless.

Once we had sufficiently stuffed ourselves (Jackie with a mere 4 and I with 8 pancakes), we set out to hike the trails of DeLeon Springs. Apparently, Floridians are not accustomed to hiking as we from the Pacific NW, so there were many signs to warn us of the dangers of going on this 4.2 mile hike, including rough terrain, swampy bogs, mosquitoes, ticks, chiggars, and sundown. We were supposed to check in with the ranger station before we started as well, but that kind of didn't happen. You all will be happy to know that we made it out alive and unscathed, though I did find one tick (before he had the chance to attach). There was no swampy terrain, the ground was fairly flat, and we accomplished the hike in half the time they allotted for it (self-congratulatory pat on right shoulder). I guess this picture is of me crossing one of the dangerously swampy and particularly treacherous stretches of the path.

And here's Jackie, running across one of the terribly dangerous creatures that we found on our hike. It was a fairly large leaf bug. Anyway, it was a great day. We had a great brunch, went on a beautiful hike, and got to spend the day with our valentines.