The Crossley Week

 We did it, we survived the busiest week of the year for the Crossley family. I tried to make my life a little easier by having Mariah's party the Saturday before, but she woke up the morning of the party with the stomach flu. So I wrapped the cake up in saran wrap and tinfoil and put it in the freezer and changed the party to the next Saturday. 

We got to have Aunt Nattie here for a few days. 

Vivi Kay with her namesake. 

Natalie was doing watercolor and one by one each of the kids would stop to watch her. All the kids were mesmerized by it. I had to get a picture. 

On April Fools the kids woke up to mustaches. It was all I could muster but the oldest three thought it was funny. Eliza is not a morning person and this picture doesn't accurately capture how she felt about the mustache. 

We scrubbed the mustaches off in time to head to a Jiu Jitsu homeschool activity. 

Vivi wanted to be right in the middle of all the big kids throwing each other around. 

Heather watched the kids that night so Tanner and I could celebrate our 11 year anniversary by going out to eat and then running lots and lots of errands. I can't ever get a normal picture of Tanner but by this point I don't even care anymore. I'm so grateful I have him by my side on this journey called life. I love how we are ever changing and growing in our relationship. 

The next day I made biscuits and gravy and strawberry shortcake for Tanner's birthday breakfast. Natalie went with me to my bible study and Tanner and Baydon went on a birthday bike ride and then we watched the first session of conference. 

In between sessions Mariah decorated her birthday cake. She came up with the flavor and design all her own but the lopsided cake and horrible ganache drip was my handiwork. 

Mariah decided she wanted a tea party birthday and planned everything out. She wanted it to be a girl party and she made it clear that she wanted gifts for each of the girls and was so excited to give them out. We made flower hats for the party and the girls seemed to really love them. 

Aunt Heather did the decorating...and Dad and Uncle Baydon kept the boys entertained outside playing basketball. 

We had "proper" tea party conversation, complete with horrible British accents. They played a dance game and Uno and then Mariah opened her gifts and we finished off with cake. Mariah wanted a cookie themed cake and it was delicious. Maybe I should freeze all my assembled cakes. 

The next morning we had the Hilton tradition of waffles and ice cream. We loved listening to conference with family. We are so grateful for the guidance given every six months from the leaders of the church. 

This picture makes me happy. Nothing like a conference nap... 

The next day was Mariah's birthday but because she already had a party it was pretty low key. We did sourdough pancakes for breakfast, homemade mac and cheese for lunch, and Tikka Masala for dinner.