3rd Birthday

We drove to the Oregon coast the day before Chloë's 3rd birthday.  We joined the Beckers at a beach house, and had a wonderful birthday for my big three-year-old girl.

The last night she was 2.  She tried to do her first slumber party with Bella and Eva, but ended up in our room half way through the night.

Eating chocolate chip pancakes for her birthday breakfast, and proudly declaring her new age.

Elaina and Aaron eating some Cheerios for a snack. They are a little bit bigger than they were last year.

A little post breakfast color session with Eva.

I made tasty fish tacos for dinner for the adults, but we made Kraft mac-n-cheese for the kids.  It was a huge hit.

Opening a few presents.

I made her a pink tutu. 

She was pretty pleased.  The tongue-out-of-her-mouth thing mean she's excited.

One of the few things she requested for her birthday: A cake with sprinkles.

Samuel just happened to be in Oregon on his own little vacation from Denver, so he and his girlfriend Alexis joined us for the evening.  Chloë loved the bubbles he brought her.

The kids all loved the bubbles.

Samuel helped Chloë with the 100 piece princess puzzel he gave her.

After the kids were in bed, we stayed up for a little late night Carcassonne. Good times, even though I didn't win.

It's fun looking at pictures from our trip with the Beckers from last summer. 

Thanksgiving

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving week and weekend. My whole family was in town, and all of the Ewers (and former Ewers) came from Oregon and California. I hadn't seen my best friend Shannon in almost a year, and our babies have since grown into toddlers, and had a lot of fun playing together.

Wednesday evening, Josiah and Chloë getting acquainted.

Between our house and my parents' next door, we managed to find a place for everyone to sleep. It was great having everyone together again. Having a Botkin and Ewers Thanksgiving hadn't happened in four years, and it was long overdue.

Josiah and Chloë enjoying breakfast together on Thanksgiving morning.



We had a spread of appetizers while we waited for dinner to start at 2.


The menu was divided up so that everyone brought, cooked, baked, or contributed something. We did a lot of the preparation the morning of, and with two kitchens, it worked really well.

Tim made the mashed potatoes.


Leah sauteed mushrooms.


Dad carved the turkey.

We had Thanksgiving Dinner next door at Mom and Dad's house. They have a big dining room, and we cleared out the living room and set up more tables, so all 21 of us had a place to sit.


Clockwise from left: Joseph Ewers, Isaiah, Katie, Louis Diconti, Mom, Dad, Tom Ewers, Donna Ewers, Leah Olson, and Tim Olson.


Clockwise from far left: Josiah Harlin, Shannon Harlin, Andy Harlin, Laura Ewers, Johanna Ewers, Samuel, Sophie Voisard, Daniel, Bryan, my empty chair, and Chloë.


The toddlers enjoying their dinner.


Josiah wanted to share.


Three generations! Donna, Shannon, me and Mom, and Josiah and Chloë. What a great history of friendship we have.


My fabulous little family.

After everyone's dinner settled a bit, we brought out the pies. (Bottom left is a cherry raspberry pie made from the berries I'd frozen last summer.)


Chloë thought pumpkin pie was just about the best thing ever. Here she is eating her second piece.

One of her first sentences: "I love pie!"

Donna tried to finish the pies, but couldn't quite manage.

And then for the strangest Thanksgiving tradition: Watching "The Fugitive"!

There was a good game of Pictionary.

The next day we had a fun game of Settlers of Catan.


With my daughter, my best friend, and her son. Good times.

Chloë having some "giddyup" time with Tom. We actually have a home video of Tom doing this to me when I just a little bit older.



The kids' favorite toy: the iPhone.


"What do you mean you need your phone back?"

Fun time with the dads.



Getting ready for bed.


Saturday morning.


These two got along so well.


Chloë's last snuggles with Aunt Shannon.

It was a great few days. I really hope we don't have to wait four more years before we can do it again.

Easter Fest

Saturday, May 7th was Trinity Reformed Church's 3rd Annual Easter Festival. When the final RSVP head count rolled in a few days before the feast, my friend Sarah and I had to do a little last minute scrambling to make sure we could feed everyone. We had assumed we would have something close to last year's count of 380, so when the numbers came in at 449, we knew we had underestimated all of the planning we'd been doing for months. Neither of us had ever organized dinner for that many people before, so we recruited some wonderful ladies from church to help us cook the main dish. As it was, I made seven batches of the biryani recipe I adapted to feed 10, and let me tell ya, it was a lot of food. Of course, when I calculated how much food we would need, I was thinking of how much my hungry brothers can eat in a sitting. I kept forgetting that we had lots of families... women and children who don't (usually) eat as much as a starving college guy. Needless to say, we overestimated a bit with the main dish, but I was glad we didn't run out of food altogether. The naan we made disappeared in a hurry, but I guess that means everyone liked it, right?

We had some great college kids recruited to help in the kitchen, and when we arrived to begin getting everything ready, people just started showing up to help. We were overwhelmed, and so glad that everything went as smoothly as it did. I even got to sit down and eat, hold my baby, enjoy a little bit of the entertainment, and take a few pictures.


Dinner. For 450 people. After the kids had eaten and rushed off to play games outside.


After dinner was out on the tables, but before the dishes started pouring in, I had a few minutes with my baby. Bryan was so great spending most of the day with her and keeping her happy while I rushed around like mad woman.


The Stervensons (being Abby, Josh and Caleb for this set) started us off with some fun entertainment and music.


Grace's Ezra watching the show.


Bryan's sister Christa hosted "Penalty Pictionary," which was hilarious. Here is Christa's sister Jessie drawing Norway. As a penalty for losing the last round, Tyler wears a dunce cap decked out with a fairy wand and tinsel.


My sweet husband, doing what he did all day.

There were all sorts of awesome things going on for the kids outside, including:


(Abra's Ophelia bobbin' for apples.)



Jacob and Bethany's adorably handsome Micah.

Then after dinner, kid's games, and entertainment, there was dancing. Live music and even a caller... everyone had a great time.

Sarah (in plaid) took a few minutes to enjoy the dancing.


And these were the leftovers. I was very happy that we didn't have to throw any of it away (waste not, want not, my mother always said), and we sent most of it home with families and college guys. Chloë has been eating it every day since then, too.

Dishes took a while, but we had more help than we knew what to do with. And what a joyful crew of dishwashers we had. There was lots of laughter and even more singing, from Disney classics to 500 Miles by The Proclaimers. It was so much fun, and made me think back to washing dishes at Camp Of The Risen Son, oh, 15 years ago. We got out of there an hour earlier than the clean up crew did last year, so we considered that to be a huge accomplishment. It was a wonderful evening, and we were so grateful for the many hands that helped.