Longest. Month. Ever.

December has been such a looong month!

Between Finals for me & Tim, and 

co-hosting the December Bunko Party, and

school parties for the kids, and 

volunteer stuff at the school, and 

cooking 500,000 times,

and my Birthday, and 

Christmas...

I am ready for the new year and a

fresh start!!!

The Bunko Girls

 The Hostesses- Me & Mandy

4 months

I figured I better document the belly

this time around since it's my last... probably

If you haven't heard me say it before, let me

say it again....

My friends and family are the BEST!

They drove an hour from Beaumont  

to meet me at the halfway point between 

us for my Birthday in Baytown!  

And it was a work night for some and just days

before Christmas! For real they are the best!

We ate at one of my favs- Cheddar's!

Then we went to a movie....

unfortunately it was a 

terrible awful waste of a movie.  

But we had fun regardless! 

FYI-don't see "How Do You Know"...ugh worst ever.

Me & my Mom

 Christmas was great and low-key.  Just eating

and hanging out.  We managed to get

our 1st ever picture of the whole

family with all the husbands and

grandkids.  Too bad it will be missing

a new grandkid or 2 by next Christmas!

The whole Hawsey Family at Christmas

Just the Sisters

I did not get around to sending out Christmas cards this year..

So,

 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 

from

my family to yours!

Baby....It's cold outside

New baby is growing 

(currently it's the size of a lemon)

and I've

definitely been feeling the effects!

They say I should stop being

sick any day now...

I hope "they" are right.

I'm tired of being a big dud

around here!

I just want to feel good enough

to get out of my jammies, 

is that too much to ask?

Baby 4 at 10 weeks

We get to find out if it is a

He or she in January!

************************

We spent a relaxing, but cold

 Thanksgiving in Woodville.  

While we had

an insane amount of food,

I could barely eat any of it,

except bread.

And Thanksgiving food is my

favorite too...I'm doubling

up next year to make

up for it!

The kids had fun roasting/burning 

things in the fire with Grandpa.

 Especially these Giant Marshmallows!

 I wasn't feeling much like picture taking, but

you would have seen pics of how well the kids

got along this year.

They all played great together-

riding the 4 wheeler, going into the 

scary "Shack Woods" and 

tagging along with Grandpa.

Luke and Maddox were

especially cute together.

Here's a size comparison so you can see 

just how big I am talking!

Left: Giant Marshmallow
Right: Normal Large Marshmallow

I did venture outside to toast me 

one of these babies.  

It was worth the horrible smoke

smell that I had to wash out of my 

clothes and hair immediately after

...a smell that under

normal circumstances

does Not make me sick.

Halloween

We went to a Pumpkin Patch

for preschool.  Maddox liked the 

different kinds of pumpkins.

I let the kids carve pumpkins...

and make a Huge mess!

Zombie, Bumble Bee, & Ninja Turtle

I took the kids to the Trunk or Treat 

at the church.  They came home with

enough candy that didn't feel

guilty at all not letting them go

the next day on Halloween.

I made Marci's costume for almost

no money at all!

I was on my own for the Halloween 

festivities this year, since Tim 

was home sick with

Shingles, of all things.

Of course, I was sick too, but 

fortunately pregnancy isn't

contagious.

I guess Moms don't get sick days.

I try to save up my 

"Mama I'm dying" days

when I call my Mom to take care of me

 for when I really, really need it!

I'm not quite there yet.

And Baby Makes 6

Our family of five is growing......Baby #4 is 
due June 5th!

So far I feel fine and the kids 
are extremely excited. 

Marci already told her teachers and 
her friends have already 

decided what I should name it.

Marci is already telling me what I should

and should not eat for the baby.

According to her, chocolate cake is

a big no-no for babies...this should be fun!

Books Books Books

I've gone to a couple book signings with

my friend Natalie who has the Book Blog.

The last one I went to was really cool.

I got to meet a bunch of 

women authors, including

one of my favorites, Cassandra Clare!

We ended up waiting in line for over 4

hours, but we had great conversations

with the people in line with us!

And Marci read the whole book,

Diary of a Wimpy Kid, while 

we were waiting.

Cassandra was really fun to talk to!

She also had a very colorful hairdo, 

which Marci just loved!

 Alyson Noel, Melissa Marr, Holly Black 

and several others were there too.

All of them were so interesting, 

and I loved to see the personalities 

of the people behind the books I read.

A couple months before that,

we got to meet Maggie Stiefvater, of 

the Shiver trilogy.  She was hilarious!

Natalie & me with our signed books

Linger cakeballs

We brought Maggie cakeballs & a cute T-shirt

Team Holland

Marci is playing soccer for the 1st time

this year.  I am totally clueless when it

comes to soccer.  

I don't watch the World Cup.

I don't know the rules of the game.

I've never actually watched a game at all.

But I have learned 

one thing....

It is HOT.  Hot at practice, hot at games, 

Hot, hot, hot!

I liked it better when she took 

Dance.....inside.....with A/C!

Lookin' cute in her uniform

Marci is getting the hang of it pretty fast.

She's learning to be a little more aggressive..

which is something she needs!

Finally done!

And they won! 6-2

She is having a blast so far!

Soccer season runs until November...

can't wait until it cools down!!!

Diabetics Beware: Sweetness Overload!

The Blue Bell Creamery is about a half hour away, so

we took the Preschool kids there for a Field Trip.

The whole place is just adorable!

The Preschool Gang

Waiting for the Tour to start

Everyone gets a Blue Bell hat to wear on the tour.

The kids thought that was pretty awesome!

Maddox got his own hat to take home

We had some time to kill before the Tour started, 

so we played around outside.

Playing on the cow til the Tour starts

The bronze Blue Bell Cow was a big hit.

Fortunately it's pretty sturdy, cuz they climbed 

ALL over it!

Maddox trying to get the Chocolate Milk out

There was gorgeous landscaping and benches

all around.  I would come back just

to take pictures out front!

It was really beautiful!  

Super pretty & quaint is not at all what 

I expected for a Factory!

Free Ice cream at the end

We ate our FREE ice cream in a cute little parlor.

Homemade Vanilla is the Best

Did you know Blue Bell freezes their Ice Cream 

upside-down to create the Fresh Seal, 

which is why it's so hard

to open a new carton!

We watched the workers flip them after the cartons 

were filled and send them down the conveyor.

The old Ice Cream Parlor

I am definitely going to go back again when 

Bradley and Marci can go!  I did bring them 

back a little treat from the gift shop though.