More Tractor Please

We celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve at the Hawkins. Jimmy hooked a trailer up to the tractor and we rode around the yard. Ben LOVED it!! He kept asking for "more please!!" Ben and Nate have two cousins, Emma and Lillie Ann that are all about the same age. They have a great time together!

Dinner and Lights of Hope

We went to South Carolina for Christmas to be with the Hawkins side of the family. One night we went out to dinner with some of the family and then to Lights of Hope. It was a fun evening. Ben was not a fan of Santa but loved playing peek-a-boo with the snow man picture.

The Arkansas Symphony

Last night we went to the Arkansas Symphony. Fun night out but the guys had a great day! Allen, my dad, and my brother went trout fishing. They loved it but didn't get any pictures because they were so busy catching fish!

 

 

Our Family Christmas

We are heading to Anderson on Monday to spend the holiday with the Hawkins side of the family. So, we celebrated our family Christmas on Thursday night. The boys got matching pj's and a few new treats. Looking forward to the years of celebrating a year ahead.

 

 

 

A new sort of decoration!

 

Weekend Fun

A couple weekends ago we started the weekend off by going to a great hole in the wall ribs place called Sims. It was AWESOME!! Living in a country that doesn't do pork for the last couple of years made this really special. Then later on in the weekend we went down to Hot Springs to Garven Gardens. They have a beautiful Christmas light display.

 

 

 

 

Random

 

 

 

Have you ever heard of a cabarn? A cabin and barn all in one? The place we stayed was a converted cabarn they left the stable doors intact. We celebrated dad's b-day, 60 years! We also celebrated Christmas and who doesn't love a worn out Santa?!

Cowboys

 

 

 

 

 

 

While we were in the mountains, the boys (Luke and Ben) went horseback riding. Ben loved it! I thought he would get up and decide he was done but he rode for a long time. They rode both a mule and a horse.

Good but different

I had all kinds of ideas when we came home of how we would spend this time in Little Rock with my folks. I thought we would go to the zoo, visit my Gr. Ma, do some days trips with her to a few places, etc. The last month has been very different than that. My Gr. Ma has been sick off and on for the last 3 plus weeks. My mom has been super busy taking care of her and loving on her. Anyways, I have been thinking through the last couple of weeks and how blessed I am to be here in Little Rock for this time. It has been so sweet to see how excited and cheerful my grandma gets when my boys come into the room. She can't keep a lot of things straight in her head but she always asks about the "babies". So, no day trips, no zoo trips, but instead I have been blessed with sweet sweet memories with my grandma that I will treasure for a life time. Today while visiting her at the hospital, I decided to take some pictures. My gr. ma is pretty spunky and I thought she might not like me snapping pictures while she is laying in a hospital bed but she didn't even mention it. LOVE YOU Grandma!

 

 

 

 

Big South Fork

Friday was really chilly in TN but we have missed the American outdoors so much that we decided to bundle up and drive to the Information center and see what there might be to see. The information center was fun because they had a stuffed Bear that Ben loved. He kept calling it a "dog" which is the only word he knows for animals. The Ranger told us there was a short walk to a lookout point that might be good so we went there. It was fun and Ben enjoyed his first "hike" if you can call walking on pavement through the woods a hike.

 

 

 

 

Corn Hole

My dad loves to play outdoor games so for his birthday and Christmas we made him a corn hole game. We had a great time playing it this weekend. Jenny and James made the boards and did a fantastic job! I made the corn bags.

Luke and Hamilton leading Papa out to see his gift!

SURPRISE!

David and Allen relaxing