The Hawks Family top 13 of 2013

Happy New Year!  We have had quite an eventful year with lots of change, new experiences, and fun.  Here are our top 13 highlights from 2013.

13 - We finished our basement.  And by "we" I mean "Matt." And by "finished" I mean "almost finished."  We passed our inspections and use (and LOVE) the space everyday.  Matt just needs to do a few more touch up items and it will be completely done.  We love having the extra space, having a fire place to warm up by on these bitterly cold winter nights, and having a play room.  Nothing better than containing the mess into one room... that has a door you can close.  Out of sight, out of mind. :)

12 - Two new cars.  Both Matt and I got new cars this year.  I upgraded from the 7-passenger minivan to an 11-passenger van.  It took a few weeks to get used to driving the beast, but now I really like it quite well.  Although I do miss my automatic sliding doors and tailgate, I have happily traded them in for more room... especially as our family grows.  Matt traded in his "fast car"(as the kids lovingly called it) for his "new car" (the kids' new affectionate name for his car).  A faster car with more leg room in the back?  What's not to love?

I mastered being able to park the van.  Yay for me! :)

11 - More room to grow?  Yes, we need more room to grow because we are doing foster care!  Matt and I have been working hard the second half of the year to get all our training and paperwork done to become foster parents.  We have already had a child in our home for respite care and look forward to blessing more families that need help with their children in the new year.
10- Matt got a new job!  He is now working for Wells Fargo in Downtown Minneapolis.  He loves what he is doing, the people he works with, and his boss.  He has enjoyed taking the bus to work instead of driving.  This gives him time to relax on the way to and from work instead of dealing with traffic.

9 - Our youngest child got a job!  It was a one day gig, but at least she's trying to pull her weight in this family. ;) ;)  Sadie had a modeling job with Target.  She modeled a beautiful Christmas dress for their baby holiday coupon book.  Of course, I had to buy the dress for her for Christmas.  Isn't she beautiful?

Sadie in her Target ad.

8 - No more processed foods for us!  This year, we decided to cut out as much processed food as possible from our diet.  We weren't perfect, but we got off to a great start.  We stopped buying bread, cereal, snack foods, etc.  I have started to make as much as I can from scratch, including: bread, granola bars, cinnamon rolls, and pancakes.  What never ceases to amaze me is how much better REAL food tastes.  I know it sounds obvious, but when it's so much easier to grab something pre-made, it is easy to forget.

Pictured above: homemade bread, cinnamon rolls, pretzels, and banana bundt bread

7 - We have made lots of new friends this year.  I know this may sound like a strange highlight, but in years past we haven't really made a lot of NEW friends.  We have lots of great friendships that have been growing strong over the years and this year we added a few more.  We joined a group of like-minded young adults (can I still call myself a young adult at 30?!?!?) that meet bi-weekly to discuss the Bible, pray together, and encourage each other to become more Christ-like.  I also did my first book club this year and met some great ladies during our 4 months together studying the book "Seven" by Jen Hatmaker.

6 - We took several trips to both Iowa and Wisconsin to visit our beloved Wynjas.  Although we miss the days of living right next door to each other, we love being able to get away and spend an entire weekend with them.  This year we traveled three times to visit them at their cabin in Wisconsin and three times to visit them at their new home in Iowa.  The first trip to Iowa in the spring, the men allowed Julie and I to take a 24 hour vacation away from all the kids to a hotel for shopping and relaxation.  Our last trip to Iowa in December, I drove all four kids there and back by myself.  The kids did so great on our 3-1/2 hour trip each way!

5 - We have absolutely loved watching Michael and Liliana grow in their love for sports.  Both kids participated in multiple activities this year including: baseball, soccer, gymnastics, and dance.  All four of our kids love to be active and are quite competitive.  It's fun to watch them challenge each other and grow to be quite athletic for their age.

4 - One of my favorite nights of the week is "Big Kids Night."  One night each week we let Michael and Liliana stay up late and we do a special activity with them.  And by "stay up late" I mean 8:00.  Ha!  We have enjoyed watching "Master Chef Junior" together, playing lots of board games, ice cream sundaes, movie nights, and doing our nails (just the girls, of course).  It's a great time for Michael and Liliana to get a little extra attention each week since most of our energy during the day goes to the twins... although that is getting much better since they've been home almost a year (!!!).

3 - Homeschooling.  Yes, it's true.  Homeschooling is a highlight from our year.  I am amazed everyday by how well the kids are doing and how much I am enjoying it.  I do get a little anxiety thinking about how much more work it will be when I am trying to school four children, but I am working hard to live in the moment and enjoy watching my children learn.  And that is my favorite part of homeschooling.  When you send your kids to school, they come home having learned something, which is great.  But because I am the one teaching the kids, I get to see the light-bulb turn on as they learn a new concept.  It is so incredible to watch and be a part of.

2 - This year we spent lots of time with our extended family.  We had lots of "first visits" at the beginning of the year so that everyone could meet Sammy and Sadie.  In the spring, Matt's sister and her family flew in from Jerusalem for a short visit and to attend Matt's Grandpa's funeral.  We also had our annual Hawks family reunion, the twins' dedication party and 2nd birthday party, birthday parties for Michael and Liliana, and of course, our normal family get-togethers and holiday celebrations.  We all love spending time with family, so the extra time this year was an added bonus to our normal time together.  

1 - Adopting Samuel and Sadie.  Of course, the biggest highlight from this year was adopting the twins.  It just blows my mind to think that they have been in our forever family for over eleven months already!  They have grown so much in the past year.  I can't imagine our lives without them.  They bring so much fun, energy, spunk, noise, and excitement to our lives!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas dear friends and family!

 

We have had quite a year.  Between adjusting to being a family of six, doctor appointments, school, gymnastics, baseball, soccer, church, and more we have had a very busy, fun year.

Michael is now six!  I can't believe how big and mature he is getting.  He loves school and is excelling in all that he works on.  At first he wasn't very excited about being homeschooled, but now he really enjoys it.  He especially likes science and math.  Michael is now reading most any easy reader books with very little help.  He literally woke up one day and could read all his books "the fast way" (without sounding out words).  It has been so incredible to watch him learn over the past four months of school.

This year he played baseball, soccer, and is currently doing gymnastics.  He loves all sports, but says soccer and gymnastics are his favorite.  He was the star of his soccer team again this year (he must get this from his Uncle Aaron).  He is also excelling in gymnastics.  He has just about mastered a front handspring and hopes to learn a back handspring this winter.

In his free time, Michael loves doing art projects, building with legos, cleaning (yes, you read that right... he loves to help clean the house!), being in charge of his little sisters and brother, and playing with his friends.

Liliana recently turned five and lost her first tooth.  She enjoyed chasing me around the house while wiggling her tooth over the past two months, but is even more excited that it finally came out.

Liliana is in preschool as well as being a part of our homeschool curriculum (which starts at age four).  In school, Liliana loves math and learning to play the tin whistle.  She absolutely loves going to preschool and being the leader in her classroom (she is the oldest in her preschool class).

Liliana continues to excel in gymnastics.  She also has just about mastered a front handspring.  She also played soccer this summer with Michael as well as joining a dance class this fall with her cousin Kaylee.  She is very excited to start swimming lessons again this winter... she's been asking all year when they will start again!

Liliana's favorite pastimes (besides bugging her brothers and sister) are doing art projects -- specifically painting -- reading books, getting her nails painted, and helping me bake.

Samuel, now two and a half years old, has come such a long way in the last year.  I can't believe that he and Sadie have been with us for eleven months already.  He is definitely an introvert and can be quite shy.  However, when he is with us, he loves to dance around the house while singing.  His latest favorite song is "What does the fox say?" and I'm pretty sure he knows most of the words.  He also loves to color, build with blocks or duplos, play with his cars, and steal toys from his twin sister, Sadie.

Sammy has had a number of medical issues since coming home, but is doing quite well now.  He is still pigeon-toed, but is seeing a physical therapist and chiropractor to help straighten out his feet.  He loves to go see his doctors, which makes it easier on me. :)

Samuel is quite a jokester and knows when he is being funny.  One of his favorite jokes is to pretend he is sleeping.  He is quite convincing until you see his sweet smile creep across his face as we whisper and tip-toe around him as to not wake him up.

Sadie, being Sammy's twin sister, is also two and a half.  She is most definitely an extrovert... she absolutely loves people!  She is loud, crazy, energetic, adorable, and much too cute for her own good.  She has got me wrapped around her finger.  If Matt or I tell her no, she turns on her faucet of tears and says, "Daddy no me!" and that's all it takes for me to give in.  Oh, boy!

Sadie is very, very funny.  She knows how to make anyone laugh.  She's not a jokester, like Sammy, she is just goofy.  It's really hard to explain why she is so funny... you just need to see it for yourself!

Matt and I are doing well.  We have adjusted to having four kids, homeschooling, and a new job for Matt.  We are so blessed to have our four children and wouldn't trade them for the world.

We truly hope you have a merry and blessed Christmas and new year.  In the new year I hope to blog more than once every two or three months.  We'll see how that goes!

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Love,
Matt, Becca, Michael, Liliana Faye, Samuel, and Sadie

Highlights from our summer :)

I can hardly believe that summer is already over, falls has begun, and we've already seen our first flurries.  For the first time ever, this past summer seemed to go on forever.  We had a great summer and a wonderful start to the school year.  Since I have been avoiding blogging for the past four months (whoops!) I thought I should give a few highlights from our summer before I share about how our first six weeks of homeschooling have been going.

-- Michael played community baseball with his good friend, Bradyn.

-- Michael ran his first 1-mile race with Grandpa Lovey and Liliana ran her first 1/2 mile race with me.  Afterwards, Liliana told me she never wanted to run again. :)
-- We went to the annual Hawks family reunion in central Minnesota and spent a long weekend in Wisconsin with our wonderful friends, the Wynjas.  Sammy and Sadie are learning to be better travelers.

 -- We had Sammy and Sadie dedicated at church

 Following the dedication we had a big party to celebrate!

 --Michael lost his 3rd tooth.  He got it stuck in a cob of corn which made it wiggly.  After that, it wasn't too long before it fell out.  He chased me around the house trying to show me how he could wiggle it.  There is nothing grosser to me than wiggly teeth.

-- Liliana learned to ride her bike with no training wheels.  Yay, Liliana!
 --We celebrated the 4th of July with our good friends, the Coles.  For the first year ever we went to the Eagan parade instead of the Apple Valley parade.  I have a feeling this will be a new tradition.

 

-- We decided to start cutting processed foods out of our diet.  First on our list was to stop buying bread and start making our own.  There is nothing more delicious than freshly baked bread!

  --We celebrated Sammy and Sadie's being home for 6 months and a few days later their 2nd birthday.  We had a huge party, which we planned to be outside with bounce houses.  However, that Saturday was the coldest, windiest, rainiest day of the summer.  We still had tons of fun, though!  We decided to do a hotdog bar, which I didn't think would be a huge deal.  However, the response we got from our guests was incredible.  Everyone thought it was the greatest idea!  We had a huge assortment of toppings for the hotdogs. :)

 Here is Matt grilling a gazillion hotdogs.

 Sadie and Sammy with all their gifts.  They were so sad when we kept taking their new toys away to hand them another gift to open.

 Friends and family at the birthday party - watching S&S open their gifts.

 Happy Birthday, Sadie and Sammy! :)

-- I witnessed a man get pulled over and arrested at gun point from our family room window.  Talk about scary!  I later found out he was arrested after a high speed chase.

  -- Michael and Liliana played community soccer this summer.  They both had a blast!  Here is Liliana running past Michael to get the ball.  A rare sight as Michael was the one who usually had the ball.

 As you can see, Liliana was thrilled to be having her picture taken after their last game.  They both did a great job.

-- We traded in Matt's red Mazda  and our white van and upgraded to a new (used) car for Matt and a 11-passenger van for me.  Yup, that's right, I'm living the high life now, driving around all high and mighty in my "nin nan" as Sammy calls it (aka big van).  We decided to upgrade to the big van (which was so generously given to us as a fundraiser for our adoption) because we decided to complete the training necessary to become foster parents!

 -- We ended our lovely summer by spending a long weekend with our friend, the Wynjas, at their house in Iowa.

Our Forever Family

A few weeks ago, we had the very talented Katy Hall take our family photos.  We are so happy with how they turned out!  Here are a few of our favorites.