Five Years Old

I don't know who said, "the days are long but the years fly by" but they must have been a mother. I remember so clearly the wonderful day when my first precious baby was placed on my chest. I thought my heart would burst. And that feeling just keeps growing exponentially as the years go by. Mariah is our deep thinking, passionate, loving girl and we feel so blessed to have her in our life.

 Her first selfie...

We continued the tradition of an interview and I was surprised by some of her answers. The first time I asked the questions she was coming off the high of her birthday party from that morning so a lot of her answers didn't truly reflect her. So I asked them again a week later and they seemed to be more what she really feels. 

Mom: What is your favorite color?

Mariah: Pink 

Mom: What is your favorite food?
Mariah: Mac and Cheese and Pepperoni Pizza

Mom: What is your favorite animal?
Mariah: A Butterfly

Mom: What is your favorite book?
Mariah: Fancy Nancy (she loves those books, and that might have to do with her favorite color and animal answer. She also loves Bill Peet books.) 

Mom: What is your favorite movie?
Mariah: Cinderella (We don't watch many movies and when we do I try to pick ones they haven't seen before so she has probably only seen this movie once. But she does like when I tell the story.)

Mom: What is your favorite song?

Mariah: I Am a Child of God

Mom: What is your favorite dessert?
Mariah: Vanilla Ice Cream

Mom: What do you like to do for fun?
Mariah: Go on walks and explore and see bugs and stuff (She loves finding slugs, worms and a host of other creepy crawly things.)

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Mom?
Mariah: Read stories

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Dad?
Mariah: Wrestle with him (pretty sure thats the answer she gave last year, poor Tanner doesn't get to relax much at home)

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Chet?
Mariah: Play butterflies with him (those two are  playing some kind of imagined game most of the day)

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Austin?
Mariah: Make him laugh (And she's really good at it) 

Mom: Who is your best friend?
Mariah: Weston (a friend from our co-op preschool) 

Mom: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Mariah: A mom (I had one of those heart burst moments when she said that)

Mariah is such a joy to be around. That wink was totally unprompted and I'm so happy I captured it. She's our little drama girl, in a mostly good way. 

I overheard an interaction with her and Chet the other day Chet did something to her and then said, "Was that funny Mariah?". To which she replied, "No it wasn't! It was terrifying!". She is always using words that surprise me, especially because she usually uses them correctly. 

One night after the kids and I got home from mutual Chet had a huge meltdown when I went to put Austin to bed. I came out of Austin's room to this scene. That's Mariah's special blanket on Chet. Mariah has a deep desire to be kind and do what's right. The other day she hurt Chet and had to apologize to him. Minutes later she was crying and told me that she felt bad for hurting Chet. We then were able to talk about how the Holy Ghost can help us feel guilt when we have done something wrong. I then told her how she needed to repent to remove that guilt. She had already done the first part by apologizing to Chet and feeling bad for what she had done so I encouraged her to go to her room and ask Heavenly Father for forgiveness and promise not to do it again. A little while later she came out and she felt so much better. I'm so grateful for those teaching moments that I am given and I am especially grateful for a daughter who wants to do what's right. 

She also is such a good helper. I send her on little errands and she tries her hardest to have a good attitude about it. She seems to sense the times when I am losing my patience with Chet and will try different things to diffuse the situation (bless her heart...no one wants to see an angry Ashley). 

After getting wet on a hike Mariah was so excited to put on her birthday robe from Grandma Young and look at books. 

Mariah is a really good friend. The other day I watched her reach out to a friend who was feeling left out. She loves to make new friends when we go to the park or other places where there are a lot of children. 

If you couldn't tell from this post, we are real proud of our Mariah girl. She continues to amaze me and I know that won't change. These five years have been such a blessing and I'm grateful to her for her patience and love as we do our best at this whole parenting thing. 

Love you baby girl!

Birthday/Anniversary Week

We did it, we survived that first week of April. And it was just great. We started it out with our Anniversary. Because our anniversary was on the Saturday of General Conference we decided to just be with Tanner's parents, Natalie, and Brittany's family. Later the next week Grandma and Grandpa watched the kids so we could go to a Thai restaurant in downtown Pittsburgh that Tanner has been wanting to go to for a while. Six years of Marriage has been so good to us. 

Tanner's birthday was the next day. He requested strawberry shortcake with biscuits. I was skeptical whether it would taste good because I have always had it with angel food cake or pound cake. But it turned out great. Friends of the Crossleys came over with vanilla ice cream and that went perfectly. We got Tanner a fishing pole and Chet is already planning fishing trips. I am not the greatest at throwing parties for people or giving gifts but Tanner is so great about it all. So much of who I am today is because of him. He's my rock and brings me so much peace and joy. 

Mariah was counting down the days to her birthday for months. Two nights before her birthday (On Tanner's birthday, poor guy...thats why parents should think twice about having kids around their birthday. They are little attention stealers.) she sang almost the whole way home from Pittsburgh her own little ditty: "I just can't wait for my birthday to come!". Over and over again in the sassiest voice imaginable. It was real hard to keep up the enthusiasm with her. 

She wanted to make sure all of her church and preschool friends were there. Tanner took the day off and we made a party of it. 

 With her requested "vanilla cupcake with white frosting". I suggested the Cadbury eggs on top and she allowed it. 

 Chet was a pretty good sport about all the attention being on Mariah for the most part. He loves his sister so much. And now he is counting down the days until his party...

We played The Farmer in the Dell, Charades and went on an Easter Egg hunt. Mariah was so great opening her presents. She gave each of her friends a hug after opening their gifts and made sure they each got to take a balloon home with them. And I have to say, birthdays with 4-5 year olds is a lot easier than 3-4 year olds. 

Weeks before her birthday Mariah said she wanted a locket. I looked online and wasn't happy with the selection. So I went to Target and found the perfect little locket. That was the last present she opened and her excitement was so fun to see. Then she opened it up and said, "where's the picture?". So we need to get a picture of Mariah and Chet in there pronto so that the gift is complete. 

Mariah got a Mulan doll so in the afternoon we watched the movie. We had pizza for lunch and dinner, which was just fine with Mariah. (It had nothing to do with the fact that I really didn't want to start making her original dinner request, Hawaiian Haystacks, at 6pm.) It was fun to see Mariah's excitement and pride in being five years old. My momma heart is aching a little seeing her grow so fast but it has been such a blessing to be her mother.  

Family Time is the Best Time

Brittany and Baydon came to Pittsburgh at the end of March and we got to spend a lot of time with them. Their kids are all the same age as ours so they all had so much fun playing together. 

Tanner saw that the Children's Museum in Pittsburgh was having a free day for Mr. Rogers' birthday so on one of his few days off we went there. The kids got to meet Mr. Mcfeely. We haven't watched the show very much so they weren't too starstruck but he was super sweet. 

The kids played hard and had a great time. 

A few days later we went on a little hike. They all held hands without any prompting from us. It was so sweet. Chet normally won't hold anyone's hand but mine so it was cute to see him and Miri. 

That night Brittany and I watched the General Women's Session while the kids watched a movie downstairs with Tanner and Baydon. 

We love having visitors so if anyone has a hankering to see good ol' West Virginia come on over! 

But seriously, come visit us!