The Hawkins

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Happy New Years! A look back at 2013

Happy New Years! I was looking back at all of our pictures from 2013. There are a lot but here are some of the highlights for me.

Ben and Nate-what a beautiful friendship they are forming. They now play so nicely together and fuel each other's imagination. Up until this year, they were sort of in their own worlds. Now they love to play together and cheer each other on. Love it!

We got a weekend of snow in January. I love snow! Growing up in Kenya, we never had snow so I feel a bit like a little kid when it snows. The snow is great here because it last for the weekend and then is all gone.

In February, we moved again! Our third house since being in England but it is perfect and we are so very thankful for this home.

We moved one day and I flew out the next for my Gr. Ma's home going celebration! She is missed dearly but I am thankful that she is in a better place! Very blessed to be able to be a apart of the celebration of her life. It came at a time when I desperately needed my mom and sister and some time to process the grief of losing our second miscarriage at 12 weeks.

Then just a week after seeing my mom in the US, she came to help us settle into our new home. The trip was already planned but again a gracious gift from the Father that I needed.

In April, we celebrated! We had a great Easter Party.

Easter 2013

We spent Easter with Daniel, Lauren, and Aubrey! Such a blessing to have them here in the UK.

Ben turned 4!

We celebrated sunshine!

Love these three guys together!

I ran my first 10K in Windsor

I have the best cheer leaders!

Our 10th Anniversary in Paris!

Joanne, Tyler, and Justin came through on a visit.

The family came in June for a wonderful vacation!

Nate turned 3 in June!

We said goodbye to the O's in July! So sweet to see these three together.

The boys "graduated" from Noah's Ark Preschool

We went camping in August.
Ben loves the outdoors and dressing up for them!

Nate is definitely our tree climber!

The boys started school in September at St. Matthews

First Color Run

Our first time to carve pumpkins as a family.

First trick or treating

Thanksgiving!

Merry Christmas!

An incredibly special year! God has been so good to us and has continued to establish us here in the UK. We are looking forward to 2014 and all that God has in store for us.

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Nativities

On Thursday morning, Reception and older had their nativity at St. Matthews Church. The children all did a great job and they truely told the Christmas Story complete with a prayer at the end. Thankful that my boys get to be a part of a school that has a Christian perspective.

At the beginning, I slipped up to the front and grabbed a quick pic of Ben. He was so excited!

We sat by one of Nate's friends from school.

If you really zoom in Ben is down at the front singing but it isn't a great shot.
A beautiful church!

Nate's nativity was that afternoon. They did an amazing job of coordinating the kids. They could choose whatever they wanted to be and throughout the weeks before they had been making hats for every character so they could play that one. Nate had decided he wanted to be a wise man.

I love how this year they were both really able to tell the Christmas story. One morning they both sat at breakfast and talked all the way through the story. Sweetness from the mouth of children.

Passport, Chipotle and Winter Wonderland

The week before Christmas we headed into London to renew Ben's passport. Cannot believe that it is time to get his 5 year old passport!! Where has the time gone? It is a little early but we need to renew our UK visa and then we are headed to the states so it needed to be done sooner rather than later. We have been talking about making a trip into London without our stroller and we thought this would be the perfect trip.

Here the boys are coloring on the train! Are these my boys?! We are definitely in a new phase of coloring, playing independently, etc. So fun!

We also decided to combine our tradition of going to Chipotle and the Winter Wonderland with this trip. Here we are at Chipotle. Silly boy!

Giving thumbs up or thumbs down is quite common here. We use it a lot as a family to communicate in busy places or when we are far away from each other. They also like to do it to be funny.