Crosland Chronicles: 100 Years

Several months ago as I was reminiscing about my life, my parents, and my life it dawned on me that my cherished dad, who had passed away 17 years ago, was going to be turning 100!!

I have wanted to pursue Family History seriously so I decided this was the time to focus on my dad and his life and what better way to do it than to have a PARTY.

I want my children and grandchildren to know my dad so I thought maybe my siblings would feel the same way but they weren't quite as excited about my plan as I was BUT

I decided not to let them damper my excitement or plans so I enlisted my

two wonderful and talented daughters to help me out.

They came through wonderfully and we planned a beautiful evening.

I sent out invitations with my Christmas cards that I mailed to my brother, sister

and all my nieces and nephews.

Jessi designed this adorable invitation.

It was an entire month in advance so I hoped to get a good turnout and we did.

The final count was close to 40 and I think everyone that could of come did come.

Hopefully his children, in-laws, and grandchildren learned something positive about him that night.

These pictures are randomly in here and I'm going to take them the way they come.

I decided we wanted to serve his favorite treats that evening

and we decided, even if it was the middle of the winter

on an Ice Cream Sundae Bar with Chocolate Zucchini Cake.

(It was also my nephew Troy's birthday the day before the party so we used the cupcakes

to celebrate his birthday also.)

We decorated the serving table with brown shipping paper and tin buckets

to keep it looking authentically rustic and old.

We also served 7 layer Mexican dip and chips so we didn't have a sugar overload.

No pic but you know what I mean. Just imagine it.

Amy had a friend who designs these Family Trees.

This photo doesn't do it justice but it is amazing.

Darwin and Della's children, spouses and their children are on the tree.

Great grandchildren and in a different color Great Great Grandchildren was written around the sides.

I found several wonderful old pictures of him.

I scanned them and sent them to Costco to be blown up. Most of them had a warning on them that the resolution wasn't good on them but I had them printed anyway.

So glad I did because they turned out wonderful.

This one is actually a 16x20 that was awesome.

You've just got to love Costco Photo. This huge picture was $5.99

More pictures along with mixed nuts which Dad always liked to snack on.

The pic of the two little boys is my dad and his younger brother Dennis.

Yes boys wore dresses in those days--it is his brother not a sister,

That picture has to be over 95 years old. Priceless.

Of course a picture of his truck which was his livelihood when he retired.

He owned 29 just like that one.

A place to record a remembrance and a beautiful picture of my mom and dad.

Amy was in charge of our Jeopardy game only she called it

THE MANY DIMENSIONS OF DARWN.

Just like everything else she does it was over the top wonderful.

Each square would open into thirds.

The first flap was the question and the second was the answer.

This was the lamest question we had, we were getting desperate by the end,
so I'm not sure why that is the picture I took.

We had a couple of T or F, a couple of multiple choice and the rest were fill in the answer.

My family are not great game players but everyone did get involved and I think each person learned many things about this amazing man.

We passed out Almond Joy candy bars to the winners and actually everyone else

because that was his favorite candy bar.

I forgot to take a picture of these cute water bottles at the party so I set up the few left over when I got home and snapped a pic so we wouldn't forget.