UVA vs Southern Miss 2011

Before

 

After

 

 To Keep Mom from Crying

The kids had a lot of fun at the UVA Football Fan Fest Activities before the game.

We then watched the UVA Cavaliers take on Southern Miss Golden Eagles.

 

UVA Cavalier on the field

     

UVA Wahoos "Hoos"

Marchus' Birthday Party

September 18 we went to church, the baptism, and walked on UVA Grounds.

Later that same day we were able to celebrate Marchus' birthday.  

Marchus loved getting Cub Scout stuff, Legos, and especially scriptures.  I added the last picture with Eli in it because; of course, what big week wouldn't be complete without a child throwing up later that same evening.

Marchus Crosland's Baptism

The baptism of Marchus has been an exciting one in the Crosland household.  We are so grateful to Marchus and we relish in his blossoming personality.  He really loved the feeling of being clean and having his sins washed away.  The baptism went well and many helped out immensely and participated kindheartedly.  Marchus, we hope you continue to make righteous decisions and have righteous desires to serve God.

National Treasure Day!

Our original plan, Plan A, for the day was to visit The White House.  Through many telephone calls and emails, I erred and didn't list all the children 11 and under in our group.  All of the other families backed out of the White House Tour plan.  We stuck to the plan because Laron's brother, Jonathan and his wife, Stacy are in town this week. 

I have toured the White House before, so plan B was for me to wait out side with the kids.  Our kids are very political and were not thrilled about Mom's error.

Once Laron, Jonathan and Stacy arrived to the White House, they were informed the tour is cancelled due to a lunch; in which, they are not invited.  Hello, I thought that is why we need the two month background check window, so we don't have huge oversights like this.  Now, we know how well our tax dollars are spent.

Plan C - Forget White House Tour, American History Museum, National Archives, walk around the Green Mall and visits the Memorials.  No matter how many visitors we have, our family never tires showing off the Memorials.  We were all flexible and had great time together.

We showed Jonathan & Stacy some of our nation's treasures:  The Star-Spangled Banner, the original Constitution of the United States, the original Declaration of Independence, and the original Bill of Rights.

A Day @ the Park!

Lately, the boys would rather go to the park than conquer a mountain.  The boys have found a new found freedom riding their bicycles.  It has been fun these last two months going to the park as as family.  Laron and I have enjoyed it too.  We get to put on our roller-blades and help the kids learn to do hard things.

Hiking @ Humpback Rock

Make Up @ Age 2--I don't think so!

Our daughter, Charleigh, recently turned two years old.  She has now been caught on two separate occasions with make up on her face.  What ever she does, we believe it to be adorable.  I think she needs to practice and wait 12 years. Charles, we love you, but Mother Knows Best!

Family Home Evening with the Crosland's

 We loved every minute of Jonathan and Stacy's visit.  On Monday, we started with an early morning hike before Laron went to work.  During the hike, Jonathan promised a Hershey's Kit Kat for anyone who found a red acorn.  Spencer found a red acorn.  Soon afterword, everyone found a red acorn.  We also found yellow, green, orange, and multi-color.  We all learned a lot about Acorns that day!

That evening Marchus was in charge of our Family Home Evening.  He read a story from The Friend magazine and taught us all how to make paper hats out of newspaper.

Central Virginia Earthquake 5.8

Today, we had the shock of our lives!  We live about 30 miles from the epicenter near Mineral, Virginia.  I asked everyone in our little family to share their thoughts, feelings, and story of what happened to them.   These are their stories.

Eli (4 years old) - Watching Winnie the Pooh-Cowboy Pooh, the house started to shake up and down.  My Mom came and picked me up and we woke up Charleigh and hugged each other on the bed in Charleigh's room.  I was brave and did not cry.

Spencer (6 years old) - I was in Art Class when the building started making noise.  Two people began crying.  People started screaming.  I knew it was an earthquake, but nobody else knew.  We went to the big kid playground to line up for the earthquake drill.  It stopped when we got to the big kid playground.  The earthquake shook me a little.  I was brave.  This is non-fiction.

Marchus (7 years old) - Our teacher told us to go in the middle of the room when our schoolhouse trailer shook up and down.  Someone fell down.  Kids started to cry.  I knew it was an earthquake when no one else knew what was happening.  We lined up later and went to the little kid playground.  Since we had an earthquake, we stopped our reading groups and our teacher taught us about earthquakes.

I was in my room and was startled.  I thought the property manager was on the roof cleaning the rain gutters.  After two seconds, I realized what was happening.  I didn't know what was going to happen in the next 30 seconds, I just knew I wanted to hold my babies.  I grabbed Eli and woke Charleigh up and just held them.  I, too, did not cry and didn't think it was all that bad.

Laron was at the UVA Hospital in the cafeteria.  He and his friend casually walked under a beam while continuing their conversation.

The yellow vase was on the shelf above the orange mug.

This yellow vase, the books on the floor and basket on Marchus' headboard are the only things that fell down.

Cell phone lines were down for about an hour.  I wanted to reach out to our extended family to let them know we were okay.  I didn't know if the kids were alright until they came home off the bus at 3:45pm.  I felt peace and knew that no news is good news for a while.  Laron couldn't call until after 5pm.  We have felt aftershocks.  We couldn't all be reunited until 9:30pm when we came home from Mutual.

I thought it would be good for the kids to tell their stories to help them process the event and remember to stay calm and help others in calamities such as this.

I am grateful for eternal families and am daily reminded that our relationships continue after death.

Charleigh's Family Party

Spencer, Eli, and Charleigh stayed home from church today.  Charleigh wanted a BBQ or in the South a "Cook Out".  We realized we were going to have a storm in the afternoon and it would last until Monday.  We had Charleigh's party when Laron and Marchus came home.  We had all of Charleigh's favorite foods. ie. grapes, strawberries, hot dogs, corn on the cob, Coconut Chicken, and chips.