Another new beginning

We have a new arrival!! Another new nephew. Michael and Katie had their first child, Gavin Michael Hawkins.

He was born Dec 23rd and they actually made it home Christmas Eve. What a Christmas present!!!

A First Christmas full of traditions!

Christmas Eve was spent mostly in the kitchen making tons of delicious and delectable items for us to eat the next day. We made a Cheese ball, Spinach Dip, Snowman Cookies, and a Gingerbread House (but out of graham crackers). So Jeff thought it would be better to mix the cheese ball with his hands as opposed to a spoon. Yeah that's sour cream he is mixing... leave it to a man to do this...

And well... this is about how I feel about him doing that....

Look, a finished product full of fingerprints.

And some spinach dip....
These are our snowman cookies about to be baked. Mmm.. Scrumptious!
So we baked them and then immediately started to put on their hats... well um.. the Reese's peanut butter cups... they uh... melted and it looks like the brains came leaking out of their heads. Whoops. Better luck on the next batch.Next we spent a couple hours making a graham cracker Mansion. Seriously, its huge! We even made a balcony, chimney, and the driveway even has tire track markings... Hee hee...As you can see, all this cooking made my poor Nala's noise sensitive and if you look closely you can see the drool coming from her mouth... Can you see it? Look, our finished product!!So now its Christmas morning and I woke up, came out into the living room and this is what I found so I hollered out to Jeff and asked if he began eating the house since only one half of the house had been nibbled on. He replied no and this was what my little Nala did. She only nibbled one side... that's humorous... and its not demolished but just picked on.. You would think a dog wouldn't be that careful. So here is our tree Christmas morning. Trust there looks to be more than there is... I do that you know.. I place one object in a large box and that way there is more to open.... Hee hee... that's how us poor people do it. Jeff got me a pearl set.. necklace, bracelet, and earrings... (no, they aren't real).. but I love them!So Jeff keeps telling me to become better at math I need to play dominoes.. what??? And he mentioned once this game of dominoes called ChickenFoot so I bought it for him. Jeni gave me this shirt for Christmas. It looked awesome with my skinny jeans and the pearls Jeff gave me. what do you think? Oh yes, these are our finished snowman cookies. Hats, scarves, eyes, buttons and all. Aren't they cute?
Ah, the family on Christmas day...

Merry Christmas Everyone

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

New Beginnings and Endings

With the New Year right around the corner, Jeff and I are wrapping up our year. We have had some new beginnings come into the family. Jeff's brother Jon and his wife Liz have a new addition to their family. Look at our new nephew... Carson Bradley Hawkins!

Jeff ended his first step to becoming a Registered Nurse as he graduated on Friday with his LVN (Licensed Vocational Nursing) Certification. So he will start in January with a few prerequisites to begin the RN program next summer. I am so very PROUD of him!!!

We celebrated by going to dinner and then a movie afterwards. Not the most partacious (I made that a word... think partying and then end with acious) Okay, so I'm not cool! Anyway we're married so we're aloud to do boring things and enjoy them.

I got him a money clip for his graduation gift. I had his initials engraved on the front and I had the nursing symbol engraved on the back.

We also added a new rule to the house and my very appreciative puppy is oh so happy about it. Nala is back on the couch! Not on the bed but she is free to snuggle with her mom and dad on the couch... ahh.. look we were sleeping together! Plus, she keeps me warm when its cold. Doesn't she look so happy???

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas!

So this year, I was disappointed and living in agony that I have not had a fall season and a winter season was looking bleak here in Texas! ... Then one day all that changed....

Can you believe it??? So I knew yesterday morning when I woke up that it was bitter cold and raining and had to be like 40 degrees out because it felt like home but this was totally unexpected.

I was working at the mall that morning and it was so slow... there was like no one in the store at all the whole day... and I knew it was because no one wanted to go outside in weather like that but it wasn't snowing.

Later that night I couldn't stay awake as Jeff and I were watching the "Dark Knight" so I got up near the end and crawled into bed which was much colder without Jeff's insane body heat to keep me warm. I pulled all 3 blankets over my head as we had no heater in that room and instantly fell asleep. Next thing I knew, Jeff was calling my name and I opened my eyes unsure of where I was because it was pitch black. That's how tired I was. I forgot that I had blankets on top of me. When I finally realized it I pulled them back and Jeff told me it was snowing outside. I didn't believe him. I jumped up, and this is what I found:!!!

Despite freezing my butt off, it made me feel as though I was back at home. I loved it!! I miss the seasons and this was awesome! The firehouse even had a snowman outside this morning. I guess everyone was out playing in the snow at 2 in the morning!

Even Nala loved it! I think she missed it... She began running around and eating it!

But it didn't melt immediately. This was Nala playing at 11 the next morning. It was great!

Thank Goodness for Open Restaurants!

Jeff and I spent our first Thanksgiving together here in Beaumont with just each other and no other family. Budgets got in the way. Go figure being newlyweds. We put up our Christmas lights around the house. I caught this shot of Jeff who just happened to be posing correctly when I called his name. Isn't he so cute?

But then I nearly had a massive anxiety heart attack because we had no ladder and Jeff wasn't smart enough to listen to me by putting on sneakers instead of wearing flip flops. I kept thinking he would fall off the roof and break his neck. The roofs down here are built really steep unlike where I'm from so seriously I could have killed him. Thankfully he didn't fall but I told him if he did and didn't die, I'd kill him. :)

Next, you might be surprised but as excited as I would have been to Martha Stewart it this Thanksgiving, that didn't happen with only my electric burners and small stove top oven. And neither of them can be used at the same time for long or the outlet will do the safety shut off thing. So we headed out to see if anything was open... and not much here in this small town. So Golden Corral it was! So this was our picture of our Thanksgiving dinner. Isn't it just grand? Its totally picturesque! So we headed home and took a nap to relieve our over-bloated bellies and then put the Christmas music on and finished decorating the tree and inside of the house. We are now ready for Christmas.

This is our half of the house all decked out. No boughs of holly though.. Ha ha ha...

We both did have a Martha Stewart moment however and took the Pumpkin I received at my Bridal Shower and made the recipe that came on the bottom of the pumpkin. It was seriously the best PUMPKIN PIE EVER!!! I don't even care that much for pumpkin pie or any kind of pie really unless its creamy but this was so fabulous. I wish they sold pumpkins year round so I could make this stuff more often. I am leaving you all the recipe. Use a little baby pumpkin for it.

Best Pumpkin Pie Recipe EVER!!

Cut pumpkin in half w/out stem. Scoop out seeds and strings.

Place cut down on foil lined baking sheets. Cover with foil.

Bake 350 degree until tender (1 1/2 hours). Cool.

Scoop out flesh and mash with potato masher or place in food processor

until smooth.

1 1/3 cup smooth pumpkin

1 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk. (basically 1 can)

1 egg

1 1/4 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ginger ( I actually left this out)

1/4 tsp cloves

1 cup of hot water

Pour into 9" pie shell (we used a graham cracker one)

Bake at 375 degree for one hour.

The center will still slightly move when done.

Cool and enjoy.

In conclusion we loved our Thanksgiving day. It was fun and the best part. We spent it together.

The next day however, I got my hair cut. I tried the A-line style hair cut but the girl didn't do it with enough slant.. Oh well. Guess I will have to find another hair stylist... Anyway here are some shots of it. The first shot was the lady styling my hair. Apparently you aren't supposed to be able to see with one eye. :)