Saturday, February 16, 2013

Our Christmas Card

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This is the Christmas card we sent out, except I did fix one major error.  For some reason I accidentally omitted Rebecca's name in the card we send.  Horrible huh!!  I fixed it on this card.
Here is the letter that went with the card.


EWELL-TIDE GREETINGS!!
Merry Christmas!  Have you ever wondered just how much you know us??  Here is a little quiz to test your knowledge of our little family.  Good Luck!
Why are we living in Indiana? A - To be Corn Farmers     B - To race cars   C- To attend grad school
Answer - C.  Jerry started the second year of his MBA at Purdue in August. We celebrated the completion of his 1st year with a trip to Las Vegas in May.  We had been very homesick, and it was good medicine to go back and visit our family and friends.  Luke was able to meet Grandma and Grandpa Ewell and many aunts, uncles and cousins.  We are looking very forward to his graduation in May!!!

When did Luke finally learn to sleep? A-10 months old   B- 5 months old  C- 6 weeks
Answer - A.  Yes, sadly he didn't take much more than a 1 or 2, 30 minute nap each day until July.  It was a wonderful, happy day for me when he decided to take a 2 hour nap.  We're still working on nights.....

What does Sydney request EVERY afternoon for lunch?
A- Spongebob Mac 'n Cheese, Milk and a show    B - Chicken nuggets, juice and Barbies
Answer - A. This is the "perfect tri-fecta" in the world of this 3 year old.  She started preschool in the fall and is learning so much, and having a great time.  She goes twice a week for a few hours.  I love hearing her sing the songs she's learned as she plays.

True or False:  Rebecca is our planner/organizer?
Answer - TRUE.  She spends a lot of time looking at the calendar writing exciting things coming up.  Jerry got a pocket calendar with post it notes as swag from one of the job fairs he went to.  She was so excited to have that, and it was with her constantly as she was planning family events and writing lists.  When she's on a cleaning streak, she'll spend forever cleaning and organizing her room to make it perfect.
What exciting, wonderful thing will happen for Hayden on December 15th - or "happened" depending on when I get these out?  A - Chuck E Cheese   B- Baptism    C- No School

Answer - B.  Hayden will be baptized into our church on his 8th birthday.  We are so proud of him for his decision to be baptized.  He is so excited for this special day.

Where did we spend the summer?  A- Disneyland  B- New Jersey/East Coast  C- Las Vegas

Answer- B.  Jerry did an internship with Otis Elevator company.  He traveled throughout the east region working at many of their locations.  My sister, Ruth Ann and her family were so kind to open their home and let us live with them for the summer.  We had a great time with their family.  When he wasn't traveling he worked in the Allentown location, about 45 minutes from "home."  Many times while he was traveling I would drive with the kids to meet him and do some sight seeing.  We were able to go to New York City, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Palmyra/Rochester, New York, and Buffalo/Niagara Falls, New York.  Jerry also traveled to Connecticut, Boston, and Rhode Island.

How did Sarah earn mega "She-woman" status this year?  A- She ran a Marathon  B- Her house was always in pristine condition, never a speck of dirt.  C - She drove across the country with 4 children.

Answer- C.  In July, my sister-in-law, Angela flew to Buffalo and helped me with the long drive from Buffalo, NY to Utah.  She was such a life saver.  We stopped off at Niagara Falls and Mt. Rushmore along the way.  I stayed in Utah for a few weeks as Jerry was working.  It was great seeing friends and family again.  Then I embarked on the return trip to Indiana alone with the kids.  Surprisingly, it wasn't too bad.  The kids did pretty well and we were able to stay with my brother, Dave in Colorado and sister, Mary in Kansas.  As wonderful as it was being able to see so many awesome places, and visiting family it was very nice, after 2 1/2 months of travel, to sleep in our our beds.

True or False:  Sydney doesn't like being in charge?
Answer - False.  She isn't bossy, but she is the perfect manager.  She always wants us to play with her, but spends most of the time telling us what I need to be saying/doing to be playing pretend evern better.  She cracks us up.  She is such a fun girl.  She loves being silly to make others laugh.
Why is Rebecca in Full Day Kindergarten?   A- It's free   B- She's a social butterfly that loves learning and would be extremely bored at home, knowing the rest of her class is still there.
C- On the day that the decision had to be made, she was being especially, "trying."  D- All of the above.

Answer - D.  Rebecca started Kindergarten in the fall.  She loves school and her teacher.  Rebecca turned 6 in November and amazes us with how much she's grown up in the last year.  She has become such a good reader and artist.  She loves drawing and doing arts and crafts projects.

How did Hayden survive before_______ was in his life?  A- Minecraft  B- Luke   C- Spaghette

Answer- A.  Hayden loves playing Minecraft because he can create his own world.  Hayden has such a creative mind and wants to design "things" when he gets older.  His Lego creations amaze me.  he also loves playing outside, climbing trees, riding his bike and being with his friends.  He is doing so well in 2nd grade this year.

True or False?  We Love having people visit?

Answer - True!!!  In April my parents came for a visit, and Jerry's brother, Brian came in the fall.  It is always so great to see loved ones.  You are welcome to come any time, so start planning your trip!
Where will Jerry be working when he graduates?  A- Cintas   B- MGM   C- Otis Elevatos

Answer - C.  Jerry has accepted a job offer from Otis Elevators and we will be moving to Connecticut in the summer for Jerry to work.  We're very excited, and feel extremely blessed with this opportunity.

Who do we love?  A- Family Members  B- Friends   C- YOU   D- All of the above

Answer D.  We are so lucky to have amazing friends and family in our lives.  We know the Lord has blessed us with so much.  We love our Savior, Jesus Christ and remember him always.  At this time of year we celebrate His birth and reflect on all that he has given us.  Have a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.  Love, Jerry, Sarah, Hayden -8, Rebecca- 6, Sydney - 3, and Luke - 1

So, how did you do on the quiz??

Hayden's Baptism




We are so proud of our son, Hayden who chose to be baptized on his birthday, December 15, 2012.  He has been looking forward to this day for a long time.  We wanted to make sure that he understood the covenants he was making, and not just doing it because it's the "thing to do" when you turn 8.  He is such a great example to me, as a mother, of a strong missionary that wants to do good always.  He is eager to please and choose the right.  He understands his relationship with Heavenly Father, and our Savior, Jesus Christ.  We are so happy to have such a wonderful boy, and example for his sisters and brother.



The baptism took place in the morning on the 15th.  The program went as follows:

Chorister                                Jennifer Mangum
Pianist                                    John Roylance
Conducting                            Bro. Paul Couts
Opening Song                        I am a Child of God
Invocation                              Julia Mason
Talk on Baptism                     Sarah Ewell

     Baptism ordinance performed by Jerry Ewell
                   Slide show presentation

Talk on Holy Ghost                Sara Roylance

      Confirmation of the Holy Ghost

Welcome to the Primary         Melissa Asay
Welcome to the Ward            Brother Paul Couts
Closing Song                          When I am Baptized
Benediction                             Libby Sproat

John Roylance and Matt Mangum were the witnesses for the baptism
Jerry Ewell gave the confirmation blessing, and John Roylance, Matt Mangum, and Bro. Paul Couts, stood in the circle.

                            


Hopefully this movie works.  For some reason it looks fuzzy on my computer, sorry if it's fuzzy for you.  It's the movie we played after the baptism as Hayden was getting dressed. Oops, I put it on twice.  It wasn't fuzzy for the actual movie at least.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Happy Birthday Hayden

Hayden turned 8 years old on December 15th!  He had a friend birthday party the night before.  Easiest party ever!  Jerry took Hayden and his friends Isaac, Max, and Clark to a movie, then they came here for pizza, cake and ice cream afterwards.  John and Sara came for the weekend too, so his cousin Jayden was here for the "after movie" part of the party. 

 Hayden is currently obsessed with Minecraft.  I attempted to make a Minecraft cake.  I wish I wouldn't have used the fondant for the grass because it didn't turn out completely like I had hoped, but he was happy and I was still pretty excited, and that's all that matters. 

Steve facing a Creeper





 On his actual birthday he was baptized - More on that in the next post.  After the baptism we had a family party here at home with his favorite food - Tacos, and the leftover cake and ice cream, we also had his favorite cake at the baptism - Red Velvet.  We also opened family gifts that night. 
It was a wonderful, busy, fun weekend.  I'm so happy this boy is in our lives.





Some things about Hayden at 8 years old.... How on earth did he grow so fast to be 8 years old???  He is such a joy.  He is in second grade and really likes his teacher Mrs. Day.  His best friend from class is Erik.  He loves his friends.  He plays the most with Isaac and our next door neighbor Hannah.  He also loves to play with Max and Clark from church/school.  He is extremely creative.  He can create amazing things with Legos and he writes creative books and draws great pictures to go with them.  He is pretty much obsessed with Minecraft - from what I gather from watching him play, they create their own world.  Once again, creating.  He's such a good boy.  He strives to do the right thing and to please me and Jerry.  We are so very proud of our handsome boy and can't believe he's actually 8 years old and baptized.  He is a great older brother and example to his sisters and brother.  He loves playing with Luke and is the first to rescue Luke from his crib when he's crying.  He doesn't even complain about having to share a room with Luke. 
Hayden is extremely literal.  If I say I'll be done with something in a couple minutes he will remind me in 2 minutes that I said "couple".  He is a funny boy, and loves to laugh, but he also has a serious nature about him.  He can be very quiet in new situations, but I've also been strangely happy to see him act crazy and silly with his boy scout group.  He isn't too into any tv shows.  If he is watching anything on tv it's usually a movie.  Happy birthday to my wonderful boy!  We love you so much!!

....The Goose is Getting Fat...




Get it??  Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat...  Ok, anyway.  I LOVE Christmas!  We did our traditional visit to Santa before Thanksgiving.  Beating the rush is the way to go.  We actually got our tree up a little late this year.  We waited until the weekend after Rebecca's birthday.  Still way before Thanksgiving, but later than our usual Veteran's Weekend. 





1st Advent
Our family celebrates the German Advents.  It's a tradition we continued from my family growing up.  The 4 Sundays leading up to Christmas we try to do a fun activity or something special and light a candle on our Advent wreath.  We  I also recite the Advent poem in German while Jerry makes random noises pretending that it's German.  He promises that someday he'll learn it.  For the 1st advent we watched the 1st Presidency Christmas Devotional while the kids did some Christmas crafts.  It was a very fun night.




Purdue Christmas Concert
Jerry and I were able to go on a fun date to the Purdue Christmas Concert.  It was a very fun night and lots of fun music.  It really helped us get into the Holiday Spirit. 

 



2nd Advent
For the 2nd advent we made Christmas sugar cookies.  The kids were lots of help and we had a great time.  My original idea was to give some out to neighbors, but once they were done and there was some cookie to go along with the sprinkles I decided it would be better not to give those out.  They were really.....colorful.  They did taste great though(:













Lots and Lots and LOTS of sprinkles!!



3rd and 4th Advent
 The 3rd advent fell on Hayden's birthday/baptism weekend.  John and Sara came up for the weekend.  We had a great weekend - more on that later.  They left Sunday night and we were exhausted from a fun, busy weekend so we celebrated the advent by watching Christmas movies.
The 4th advent was the day before Christmas Eve.  We drove out to a home that has Christmas lights choreographed to Christmas music.  It was a little stressful getting there, and our radio in our car must not be the best because at first we could barely get any reception, but once we could hear it was great - even with the kids literally jumping around in the back of the van.
Chocolate face!



She really loved this chair - just her size!
One last trip to the mall the Saturday before Christmas.  We crammed all 4 kids onto one ride.  I'd say we got the most out of our $.75

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  Rebecca's kindergarten class did a really cute Thanksgiving program that I was able to go to.  They sang songs then we all ate a Thanksgiving feast.



Happy Thanksgiving!
 We went up to Wisconsin to spend Thanksgiving with John and Sara.  We left Wednesday in the late morning.  The kids were going to miss school that day, but it was so foggy that they actually cancelled school for the day.  My sister Ruth Ann and her family also came from New Jersey for Thanksgiving.  After we got through the horrible traffic of Chicago we stopped at a gas station for a potty break.  As I came out of the restroom I saw my nephew standing in the same gas station.  What are the chances???  They were driving from New Jersey, us from Indiana, and we just happened to stop at the same gas station at the very same time.  It still kinda blows my mind. haha.  We had a great weekend, and I'm kicking myself that I didn't get more pictures.  The kids had a blast playing with all their cousins.  The weekend was full of lots of food, Risk, Monopoly, laughing, more food, football, movies, and not a lot of sleep.  I'm so glad we went up there.


Jake and Ruth Ann left Saturday morning since they had such a long drive home, they needed the 2 days to travel.  Saturday night we all made gingerbread houses together. 










Right after we finished making the houses, we ate the houses.  Yeah, I think the frosting was still wet.