Wow, what a week! Christmas was AWESOME!! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.

I'm sitting here, at work (as usual), thinking about what a year it's been. This year has had it's fair share of high's and low's. I thought I'd share some of those things with you.

I think we'd all agree that the biggest thing this year was the birth of our first little girl together. What a beautiful experience!! It was painful and stressful and probuably one of the most emotional things I'v ever dealt with, but gosh it was great!! Our beautiful baby girl weighed in at a perfect 7lbs, 3oz and measured at 20.5 inches long. Her first cry was surreal. I couldn't believe I just gave birth to a living, breathing human being. Even though I couldn't have her naturally, it was still a unbelievable time.

I think the most suprising part was seeing the change in my husband. Don't get me wrong, Kenny is a very sweet, loving daddy, but when Mckenna was born, to see the way he bonded with BOTH of his girl's was different than any other time. I think it really made us come back to reality and see what was important in life. It didn't matter if my hair was fixed or my make-up was perfect. It didn't matter if Laney's clothes weren't ironed or if her hair was falling down. It didn't matter what was going on in life, all that mattered was that we were sitting there, with 2 angelic girls, bonding and realizing that this is what life was really about. What a magnificent experience that was.

I think our other big Wonderful this year has got to be our family trip to playland. Mckenna was only a few months old, but we all went to this amusement park on the boardwalk in Ocean City. My mom pushed Mckenna around in her stroller (thank goodness, cause she was C.R.A.N.K.Y!!), while Kenny and I spent some quality time with Laney. We rode just about every ride in that park, laughing the whole time. And although mommy got queezy on a few of them (weak stomach since Mckenna's birth), to see the smile on Laney's face was priceless!! I don't think I'v ever seen our little girl that happy in the 2 years that I'd known her. What a extraordinary time!!!

Lows....Lows....I'm not sure that there were any BIG lows this year. Although I did chop a little of my index finger off earlier this year. OUCH!!

I think overall we've had an incredible year. Kenny and I celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary. I'm absolutely thrilled about being with such a loving, patient, awesome man. I can't believe how much he put's up with, and still finds the time to tell me I'm beautiful and that he loves me.

I think that's about it for our year. It's been a great one, and I KNOW 2009 will be the same, if not better.

We love you all. Have a GREAT 2009

The Hawkinberry Family

Hello family and friends! As most of you know, we live in New Jersey, which is a bit far from some of our immediate family. So I decided to start a blog to keep our loved ones in our lives. Although this certainly can't replace seeing you all face to face, we want you to be part of our lives, and something is better than nothing right?

So Following is an update on our life as we know it....

Let's start from the bottom, our youngest, Mckenna: What can I say about Mckenna? She's so unbelievably like her mother. She's very demanding and high strong, stubborn and bossy, and yet loving and sweet when she wants to be. She's 10 months going on 21. She has 8 teeth now (count em..8!!) She's starting to take steps and we can barely keep hold of her. She has a large vocabulary ranging from "momma and dadda" to "stop! bad! She truly is one of the apples of my eye. I can't imagine life without my beautiful, wonderful baby girl. What a blessing she is, even when she's biting, pinching and throwing a fit.
She's quite the character. It seems as though she knows when she's not suppose to do things, cause she goes right for them. If mommy says, " No Mckenna, don't take off your shoes and socks", that's the first thing she goes for, giggling all the way. I can see her as an actress on broadway, or a high strong businesswoman who won't take "no" for an answer. She is definetly her mothers' daughter.

Laney: Oh Laney!! I can't even begin to explain to you how much I love this little girl. We have had such a rough year and a half, and yet everyday I look at her and can't imagine what life would be without her. She's smart as a whip, and I credit some of her brains to Kenny and I pushing her to be the best she can be. We don't settle for anything less than the best. She's has a hard transition from Texas to New Jersey. Mine and her relationship has been up and down, mostly because of me. I have a hard time with Laney, mostly because I see so much of me in her. I was exactly the way she is, and after seeing all of my mistakes, I just want to protect her innocence. I want her to be a kid and not grow up too fast, but also learn responsibility and how to take care of herself. I want her to love school and love her friends. I want what's best for her. I want her to do well in school and have handsfull of acceptance letters from the top colleges around the country. I just want her to know how much I love her and want to raise her to my best ability.
What an amazing child she is. After everything that she's been through in life, she always seems to find the positive in things. She's always so excited to spend time with just her daddy and I. She loves TV, especially Hannah Montana, but anything will do. She's really into crafts (I guess that's just a 7 year old thing) and music. She goes to AWANA, a church version of "girl/boy scouts". She memorizes memory verses like a grown adult (who am I kidding, I couldn't memorize them as quick as her).

We are still working on the talking in school, but hey, she's 7 and she's a girl, what can I say?

Lola, aahhh!!! What a mess this dog is. Don't get me wrong, we love her a bunch, but she is probuably the most misbehaved dog I have ever seen. She loves attention, and when she's calm, she's uber sweet, but when she's in her "wild child" mood, put your feet up and hope she can't jump high enough to bite your toes.

Kenny, what a hard worker he is. This man goes to work, does hard physical labor all day, comes home, helps me take care of two wild children, all while being a supportive loving husband. What a great guy!!!! I love my husband more than anything, but we do have our rough patches everyonce in a while, but we always seem to pull through. I already have our little white rocking chairs picked out honey, we're in this for the long run!! I love you babe!!

Me...what about little ol' me. Well, I'm working now. I work at a realestate company, Keller Williams Realty, as a receptionist. I also work for one of the agents as an Administrative Assistant. I'm hoping to advance in my real estate career.

When I'm not doing that, I sell Avon Products alongside my mom, as most of you know. I don't make much doing it, but it is fun to spend time with my mom and get to use all the great products at a discount.

Along with those two things I also run the Baby shower ministry at my church, so much fun!!! I have always wanted to be an event planner, so planning baby showers, along with the wonderful ladies at my church, has been exciting, without the pressure of a big event on my shoulders.

Myself along with Kenny run the Toddler classroom at our church. We love it!! The kids are so awesome to teach, and they are at such a great age. I love hearing their little voices speak and watch them grow into little people. It's amazing.

I think that's about it for our update. We're doing really well up here and appreciate the support we are getting from our family and friends. We love you all more than anything and wish you a very Merry Christmas!!

And remember..."Beliefs grounded in myths tend to lead to unfounded fears and a life of limitations" so do what you love!! Don't hold back or let anyone stop you. We didn't, and look how far we've come!!