yes, I know my children don't like clothes.
The finished product
Here is our Advent Wreath, with its pathetic candles. I guess that's what happens when you buy the cheapo candles. Every Day they'd gradually lean a little farther down - even without being lit. All four candles were lit for a few minutes, but because of the wax spilling one had to be blown out.
Hayden turned 4 on Monday, December 15th. Rebecca's birthday was last month and he knew it was after Rebecca's so he's been expecting it "any day now" for the last month. He got to play Lego Star Wars without any time restrictions on his birthday - that was a big deal for him. We also had a little birthday party that night with Jerry's family. If you can't tell he is in a MAJOR Star Wars phase right now. This phase might last years though with the way we feed it. I tried my best at making a Clone Trooper Helmet Cake. He wanted the one with red, and he was excited, so even though it is amateur it's good enough for a 4 year old. I think it turned out pretty good, except I ran out of frosting, but not a huge deal. After the party Grandpa Ewell brought over the big bus and we went on a ride around the temple to look at Christmas lights. Hayden loves going on Grandpa's bus and every time he see's a city bus he asks when we're going to go on Grandpa's bus again, so this meant a lot to Hayden. We had fun driving around and listening to Rebecca yell, "temp0" every time she caught a glimpse of the temple. He is a special boy and we are so happy that he had a good birthday. But he did inform me today after looking at the calendar and counting that it will be his birthday again in "7 weeks." Hmm, we'll see about that one. 
Some things about Hayden at four: He is a sweet little boy. He's very loving and usually obedient. Lately he has prided himself on being "a teaser boy" when he gets caught doing anything he shouldn't. He thinks if he's teasing it's ok. He's also obsessed with the ornaments from the Star Wars tree. He can't keep his hands off them. Even a letter from Santa reminding him not to touch hasn't helped a whole lot. But he is such a sweet boy it's hard to get too upset with him. Yes, his obsession is Star Wars. He loves to play Lego Star Wars, and with all his action figures he has. He knows all the character names and the color light saber they use. He is also very into Thomas the Train, puzzles, Curious George, books, and learning. He asks a lot of questions about everything and I love it. Lately he wants to know what is in everything. "What's in my clone trooper?" "What's in Mac 'n Cheese?" "What's in the car?" "Does a plant have bones?" and his latest odd infatuation is earlobes. I'm sure he'll be embarrassed as he gets older and reads this, but he LOVES earlobes for some odd reason. I'm wondering if it has to do with thinking about how bones are in everyone's body, but there are no bones in the earlobes? I don't know, all I can say is watch out. If you bend over in front of him and he sees an earlobe he can't resist reaching out and rubbing that earlobe. Odd? Yes. Funny? Yes. Concerning? Not quite at this point, but we'll see if it continues through adolesence - then Yes. He also loves babies. He can't keep away from babies. He is so excited for his little sister to come and he talks to her all the time. He is a sweetheart and we are so lucky to have him!
A couple weeks ago our ward had a Christmas breakfast. It was such a fun party and the kids loved it especially when Santa got there. Rebecca loves Santa. She talks about him, loves to watch any movie with Santa, etc.. until she actually sees him in person. She is scared to DEATH. This is a picture of her hiding behind who she thought was Jerry while Hayden was in line to see Santa. The look on her face when she realized it wasn't Jerry she was hiding behind showed even more fear than the look on her face when she sees Santa in person. Hayden was so excited to see Santa and tell him what he wanted again. He was amazed that we saw him at the mall AND at our church too. He wanted to follow Santa everywhere he went so as Jerry was helping clean up Hayden was on the search for Santa. He was amazed when he saw Santa go down the hall and around the corner towards the drinking fountain and bathrooms that he was gone by the time Hayden got there. Hmmm, how'd that happen. I asked Hayden where he thought Santa went and he figured he touched his nose and made a magical chimney appear to go up to the roof where Rudolph was waiting. His Santa knowledge is very good.
Last weekend we were lucky enough to have my brother Joseph, his wife Angela, and their two boys Ethan and Alex come to visit. We had a great time with them here, unfortunately Ethan got sick, throwing up one night, and pink eye. Poor boy. So we had fun hanging out around the house and eating too much. The kids always exchange a Christmas present with each other. Even though it's just a cheap present from the dollar store they get so excited to give and open gifts. It was great having them come and welcome anyone that wants to come for a visit.
Well, I have no idea where the past month has flown to, but I'll give a brief update of the happenings around our home - since I know you're dying to know. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I attempted to make my very first turkey. I know, pretty pathetic that I'm 32 and have never made a turkey before. When we were first married we always joined Jerry's family for Thanksgiving, but when Rebecca was born she was only a couple days old on Thanksgiving so we decided to do a quiet Thanksgiving meal at home, then went over to visit a little later. We fell in love with doing our own Thanksgiving - thanks to Albertson's cooking our turkey meal. 
Seeing the turkeys that were on sale for $6 at Smith's I decided it is stupid to pay Albertson's to cook our meal, and it is time for me to learn to cook. I have to brag and say that the turkey was DELICIOUS! The only problem was that it took about 2 hours longer to cook than expected, so by the time we were ready to cook Hayden had fallen asleep from too much playing, and Rebecca was more than exhausted. It was still fun though. 
Rebecca was having a blast playing with all the games.
Poor Hayden was so tired, he missed eating with all of us.
A couple days later we went to the temple for Family Home Evening. That is one of the many things I love about living so close to the temple. Hayden and Rebecca love to walk around the grounds at the temple.
Can you tell from this picture who wears the pants in their brother/sister relationship?
