The Hawkins

Monday, April 30, 2012

My boys!

April has been a month of birthday parties. We have had a birthday party to go to every week.

Love this little guy!! He is so sweet and challenging me to continually be on my knees in prayer. He is very independent.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Allen's birthday is today!! YEAH!! Last year was a little bit of a blur because we had just arrived here in England. So, it is great to be able to be celebrating this year. I love this man! We started dating 10 years ago this past November and the first birthday we celebrated was his. As I think about the last 10 years of Birthdays, I am just amazed at how the Father continues to increase my love for Allen. He is amazing! He is a wonderful husband and an excellent father to Ben and Nate.

Here is his playing tent, early one saturday morning!

He is so steadfast, in his faith, in his devotion to his family, in everything he does.

He is silly! He loves to make the boys and I laugh, even if it means getting down on his knees to wash his hands!

He is romantic. I am so blessed with a husband who understands and likes romance. I know not all guys are wired that way and I am blessed with a man who is.

He loves to teach our boys things, from how to use this digger to how to ride a bike. I love that he is still so passionate about construction.

Allen, we love you!! Thank you for being obedient to the Father and following His direction in your life. Thank you for everything that you do and sacrifice for us!! Love you!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter weekend. Allen had a four day weekend which was much needed by this mommy. We had a great time being together as a family and getting some last minute driving lessons in. We took our UK driving test yesterday and both passed!! I know this sounds silly but the driving test is serious business here. It was a fourty minute test and one that many don't pass the first time around. ANYWAYS it is OVER!!!!

I feel a bit like a bad mom. The boys did not get Easter baskets again this year(haven't done one yet for them). Ben's birthday was last week and he got so many presents that it seemed to just be another thing to do and for him to think that at every turn he was supposed to get a present. We also went to two easter egg hunts so they got plenty of candy from that. Anyways, I see all these blogs and pictures with Easter baskets and think, "should I have done something?" But in the end, they are never going to remember and it would have just been one more thing for me to do. So, maybe next year...

Oh, and I got no pictures of Easter Egg hunts! I even organized one for our neighborhood but was too busy doing stuff to get any pictures. However, other people got pictures, so I just need to get them from them.

We had a lot of rain this past weekend which doesn't make for very good indoor pictures. The boys are having some really sweet moments together right now. Ben had his "pack pack" on and Nate was asking for his "pack pack" which was upstairs. Ben came over to me and asked really nicely if I would go upstairs and get Nate's "packpack". What makes this even sweeter is that they are both technically Ben's backpacks and he knows it but he is sharing!! So, here they are wearing backpacks together. Love the sweet moments where they love on each other.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Ben is 3!

Ben turns three tomorrow! Where has the time gone? We celebrated with a few of his friends yesterday. I wish I had tried to get a picture of all of them together. I did not even try it but now I wish I had. I am sure it would have been crazy but this is the first birthday where he has chosen who he wanted to come to his party. So, for memory sake, I am going to say who was there, Isaac, Benjamin, Hannah, Luke, Phillip, and Addy. He invited Wyatt and Ayva but they weren't able to come. It was the perfect size and they all had a great time playing in the garden. I had pass the parcel ready to play but really they just wanted to play, so we let them.