Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone is having a merry Christmas. We are visiting Grammie and grandpa Jim in Colorado. We will be spending Christmas with Uncle Luke, Aunt Brandi, and Cousin Carter.

We have also been having lots of fun doing holiday activities. We saw Santa at the Buffelo Mall and had our Christmas at home. I'll post more pics when we get home, but here is a fun video of Miles playing with Santa Homer.

Turning into Fall

Time keeps moving on and so do the seasons. We are having a fun fall and have already seen our share of snow. We had our first good snow the Saturday before Halloween. But it warmed up a bit so Halloween was actually a really pleasant night. We had a fun Halloween. Some friends and I threw a Halloween party for the kids and it was a blast. My friend Lori posted about it on her WOM-MOM blog.

Miles the little wolf

Miles at the Halloween party at the YMCA. Lots of fun Halloween stuff to do in Jamestown.

Ready for Trick-or-Treating

The Adult party, me and Aaron

Then I threw a party for the adults. I love seeing all the costumes my friends came up with. I think the best this year was Andrew who came as the Tin Man and his wife Justine as the Good Witch. Andrew's engineering background helped him create an AWESOME costume.

I can't believe this is the only picture I have of Andrew. Well, Justine got some good ones I'm sure.

Group shot at the Adult party!

 We have also gotten out to do some pheasant hunting. We just bundled Miles up and put him in the Kelty pack. Aaron carried Miles on this day and I carried the gun. We saw a couple of hens, but no roosters. Willow did great! She pointed both the hens we saw.

Miles and Dad, ready for a day in the field.

In the field

Miles tasting the snow

My parents sold their house in Boynton Beach, FL. It was the house me and my brother grew up in. It was kind of sad to know their won't be any Krosses living there anymore, but it was time for them to move on. As Mom/Grandma was cleaning out the house she came across a bunch of my childhood stuff. So of course a couple of big packages showed up at our door one day. In one of the boxes was this fun vintage Disney Land sweatshirt, that I can only assume was either mine or my brother's. It is really cute and it fits Miles just perfect.

Staying cozy warm in the new/old sweatshirt

Now we are getting ready for Thanksgiving and the Holidays. There are parades and breakfasts with Santa to go to. Our friend Murray is turning 3 and is having a Rocking party that we can't wait for. We also have our tickets to go to Colorado to visit with Grammie, Uncle Luke, Aunt Brandi and Cousin Carter for Christmas. We hope you all have fun activities too. Let us know if you want to join us.

What we've been learning

Miles is officially a toddler! He started walking at the end of August and has spent September and October perfecting the skill. We are just now getting used to seeing him walking. It is great.

 

Early September, he was just starting to get the hang of it.

He has been going up the stairs for a while now, and he is just learning how to go down. He slides down backwards with a little help from me to make sure he doesn't slide too quickly. Miles has also started to feed himself with a spoon/fork. He hasn't quite gotten the hang of keeping the food on the spoon before it gets to his mouth, but we are helping him with that.

What Mom? I'm not up to anything!

I have also had some changes to my work schedule. I am still working part time but I have switched from working 2 1/2 days a week to working everyday from 8:30-12:30. Then I pick Miles up from day care and we hang out the rest of the day. He is usually ready for a nap when I pick him up, so I have an hour or 2 on my own to take care of house stuff.

Hanging out with Mom.

Another funny thing he has been doing is carrying bags around the house. I won a pink purse at the Ladies Ducks Unlimited Banquet in Bismark a few weeks ago and he loves carrying it around. He picked it up at the banquet and was showing it off to all the ladies. Now he wants to just carry it around the house.

The pink bag. I love these pjs on him, they are so cute, but he will soon grow out of them.

Our friends Emily and Amanda at the Jamestown DU banquet.

 He has also learned a few more signs. He is doing apple, flower, cheese, gorilla (which is really funny) and bath (which looks a lot like gorilla). Oh, and the duck call. We gave Miles a duck call a few weeks ago and he is learning to blow it. Daddy is so proud. I'm sure he will be an expert by the time he is 5.

 Aaron was gone all last week on a hunting trip to Canada with Grandpa Sam. We had a short visit with Grandpa then he had to be on his way back home to Nebraska. But we had time to get in a good bedtime story.

Shopping while Dad was out of town. Miles loves Cheerios!

Grandpa Sam has scruffy kisses after a week of hunting in Canada.

So that is what we have been up to. We are prepping for Halloween, my favorite day of the year besides my birthday. I made Miles' costume this year and am rather proud of it. I'm also working on mine hoping I'll have enough time to finish it. I am planning a party for the kiddos with my friends Katrina and Lori. It will be a blast. I am also planning the annual adult costume bash at our house. Miles is going to the sitter for that one. Stay tuned for pics and details. 

More Summer...

After Miles' birthday we had a visit from Grammie Julie. She came and had a full weekend with Miles all to herself while Aaron and I went on a bar hop and tubing trip with our friends. We had a blast and Grammie Julie did too. She took Miles to our friend Henry's Pirate birthday party at the park.When Aaron and I got back we took s trip up to the Frontier Village and had a picnic and saw the Bison. White Cloud (or one of the other white buffalo) was right near the fence so we got a good look at her.

Picnic with Grammie

We got really close to the white buffalo

 

Dakota Thunder, from the back side

We've had some other fun adventures. The family went camping for the first time with Miles. Our friends Max and Henry spent the night with us too, then Katrina and Vivian joined us the next day. It was fun for a bit, but we got rained on that night and we had to go into town for breakfast instead of having our campfire cooked eggs in a basket and bacon. As the day wore on, the bugs started to come out and the flies got really bad. Poor Hayduke was overrun by the biting flies. So we packed up and headed home to our nice soft and fly-free beds.

This is cool Mom, are we going to sleep in here?

Waiting out the rain in the truck.

Miles wasn't digging the second day

We went swimming at the Jamestown Reservoir for the first time in two years. We have had flooding the past few summers and the swim beach has been under water. We didn't want to miss out this year with the water being down. So one evening we packed a picnic dinner and went to the beach to get some sand in our toes, and our shoes, and everywhere else.

Miles with his swim diaper on his head. :)

Paddling around with Mom.

Snuggling with Dad after the swim

Wasn't that fun?

Our garden has been providing us with some pretty good eats this summer. Plus we've been getting fresh raspberries from our bush in the back yard. Miles and I love to go out and eat them right off the bush. We've discovered that Miles loves tomatoes. He is our good little eater. There really isn't much he doesn't like to eat. As I go through our photos I am finding that we have taken a bunch of him eating stuff. Mostly with it all over his face.

I love this one, eating cherries.

Summer is slipping into fall pretty quickly here in ND.We are gearing up for Halloween and hunting season. We've been out once on a hike/hunt with Dad and plan to have many more hunts this fall. I am working on Miles' Halloween costume. I am also planning a party for the kiddos and one for the adults this year. I'm excited! As I usually get for Halloween. Any menu suggestions? You are all invited to the party!

The BIG FIRST BIRTHDAY

Miles is ONE YEAR OLD!!! It has certainly been a year of changes for us and growing for Miles. Once we got past the first 6 months and he started sleeping through the night our lives have been easier and more fun. Not that we didn't treasure him from day one, but as a parent when you start to become less sleep deprived, life gets better.

So we had the big birthday party!! The celebrations started with the arrival of Grandma and Grandpa Kross who came all the way from Florida. They were so happy to see Miles and how much he had grown.The whole family went to Bismarck for a Roller Derby Bout. We saw the Bis-Man Bombshells play the A-salt Creek team from Wyoming. The Bombshellz didn't win, but it was an exciting match.

We love roller derby

Family Fun!

Go Bombshellz!!!

We spent some time seeing the sights around Jamestown (mostly Walmart). Grandma and Grandpa bought us a patio set for our anniversary. Aaron and I were really wondering why we haven't gotten one yet. Well, thanks so much Mom and Dad, we really love it and it has been great to have this summer.

We also took a trip to the Ronald Reagen Minuteman Missile command center in Cooperstown, ND. That was pretty neat. We learned a lot about the Cold War and how many missiles there are/were in North Dakota and how we are strategically located to launch missiles that can hit Russia. I'm glad we are done with that part of our history. Miles wanted to push all the buttons.

Don't shut the door on Grandpa

Low clearance

All is quiet up top

 And of course we played in the splash pool.

Grandma keeping her feet cool

Then the big day arrived, PARTY TIME!!!

We were so happy to have our friends over to celebrate. Thanks to everyone who came to the party. And thanks for the Birthday wishes from everyone who wanted to come but couldn't make it. We understand. We had a great time with all the alligator theme stuff that Mom (me) and Grandma put together. Lisa made a great alligator cake and Karla made a giant cupcake just for Miles. Our friend Lori made alligator masks for the kiddos. Lori and Mur-Man weren't able to come to the party, but we saved a mask and goody bag for them. Below are some of the highlights from the party. You can see more pictures from the party here.

Henry, Eiley, Gus and Miles fishing for gator food.

Goody boxes!

Lisa and the awesome cake she made

Miles contemplating the giant cupcake

Henry and Vivian showing him how to do it

The family

Getting the hang of it

 

I Love this cake Karla!!

Dad says "take a bite"

Dad getting into it too

Frosting kisses for everyone!

I Love Birthdays!

Fun toys to play with

 

Thanks again to every one who came and for the gifts and birthday wishes. We had such a great day and we are grateful to have so many wonderful people in Miles' life to help us celebrate.