Team Hawkerson Reunion!

This time next week, we will all be together again, including little Joshua who is in Ash's belly in this picture!  So excited! Watch out London! Happy Christmas all!

Ben's debut as a shepherd...

Ben was in a little nativity yesterday.  He had a good time and it was pretty cute to watch all these kids up on stage together.  A little crazy!

Nate will be in it next year!

Ben sitting by his little girlfriend, Emily. 

Our big boy up on stage!

This donkey was the best!  He stood perfectly still the WHOLE time!  Plus, his costume was just too cute.

Santa Fun Run

Yesterday, I ran a 3 mile fun run for the local YMCA.  It was a lot of fun and totally worth the entry fee to get the santa suit!  My guys did not joing us at the race, it was rainy and Ben has been a little under the weather. 

Ben was very excited about the suit and did not want me to take it away. 

At the end with my two friends! We had a great time chatting and running. 

My sweet boys in their hohoho suits!

Last Saturday

Last Saturday, we went to see Santa land in a helicopter at a park near here.  Not sure what Ben thought of the whole thing.  However, he did enjoy the ride afterward.  They had some great little kids rides. 

Nate enjoying the excitement from the stroller

Then Saturday night, Allen and I went to see a Pantomime (aka Panto, here) at a local church.  It is a childhood memory of mine and Allen indulged all the silliness that is a panto.  There was LOTS of singing! 

Our Christmas Tree

The Sunday after Thanksgiving, we went to get our Christmas Tree.  We were really excited to be able to get a real tree this year.  However, we quickly learned that it is not like in the states.  We missed our little Christmas tree stand on Two Notch.  Anyways, we went to a local garden center but the trees were really short and round, which our little living room can't handle.  So, then we went to a Lowes type store and this is what we found.  All the trees were wrapped up and you just sort of had to guess by looking at it if you liked it...they did unwrap it for us to see but you could tell that they were not going to open a bunch for us to look at.  So, we tried to choose wisely while the boys played and you will see our results at the end of the page. 

Checking out our tree on the roof of our car.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!  We celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday with coworkers here.  We had a great time and lots of yummy food!  We had a great time of worship and thanksgiving together.

I am so thankful for my three wonderful guys! 

Thankful

Thankful....

Thankful that even though I was up from 2:30-5 with a sick little boy, Ben, he is now playing in his room happily.

Thankful that I have a washing machine to wash the loads of laundry from multiple bed changes and pj changes last night, along with the two pairs of pants from blow outs this morning.

Thankful that I get to stay at home with my boys and even get to blog a little while they have room time together.

Thankful for the candle that a sweet friend sent that is making my house smell like fall and not throw up and dirty diapers!

Thankful for very healthy boys in the scheme of things.

Thankful that we as a family are memorizing a verse together, 1 Thess. 5:18, "In everything give thanks" and that my sweet little Ben said the verse by himself two nights ago!  So much to be thankful for and thankful for a God who loves me enough to remind to be thankful in everything!

"My ShoSho"

As a 2 year old ownership is everything to Ben.  Everything is mine, mine, mine and we are working on that but everywhere we went Ben introduced ShoSho to as "my ShoSho"!   It was so sweet and heartmelting.  Oh, I wish all of our family was closer!

We went to a local grocery store to pick up some English Muffins and in the process we past the cake mixes.  From the stroller Ben saw a Thomas the train cupcake mix complete with icing and edible stickers.  We bought it and it made for a really fun afternoon treat!  He was so fascinated wit the train stickers and train sprinkles!

Nate was asleep for most of the activity but woke up in time to eat a cupcake!

We went to Adventureland twice while mom was hear for the boys to play.  So thankful for this great place, just wish a Chick-Fil-A was attached to it!

Yoghurt is a full body experience for Nate!

Ben with his bike.  His friend Wyatt grew out of this bike and very generously gave Ben this one.  He loves it!  He was showing off for ShoSho.

Nate wants to be a part of the bike fun too!  So, he wears that hat around the house!

The craziness that is Tuesday mornings!

I took mom to my tuesday morning play group!  She was amazed by the craziness.  In all fairness, it was a little crazier than normal because the weather has been "rubbish" as they like to say.  Ben has found a little girlfriend.  She comes with her Aunt and Uncle and they stay late to help clean up with us, so they have gotten to know each other.  It is pretty cute!

Mom trying to wrangle Nate while he eats his biscuit aka cookie.

My sweet boys!  Ben wanted to try on the Fairy wings because his little girlfriend likes to wear them.  He quickly switched to a police uniform. 

Nutfield Priory

On Sunday, Allen and I went away to the Nutfield Priory for the night!  It was amazing!  Thank you mom!!  Such a treat to get some time away to relax and be together.  The Priory is only about 5 minutes away which was nice.  Sunday night we went to a pub that we had heard great things about.  The food was really yummy and just a fun little place called the Home Cottage.  Then on Monday, we explored three little villages near here.  They all had a couple of fun shops and antique stores that I had been curious about but didn't dare take my two little ones into with a stroller.

Monday for lunch we checked out another pub, not the greatest...but now we know.  And to finish off the day, we were totally pampered back at the hotel with massages!  What a treat!  We were in the process of moving and settling in for our anniversary, so this felt a little like a belated 8th Anniversary get-away.  THANK YOU MOM!!!