Father Daughter Dinner and Dance

You might remember that last year Olivia and John attended a Father/ Daughter dance at our church around Valentines Day. Olivia was so disappointed when the church did not offer this again, so we decided to plan one ourselves and invite some close friends. The following are pictures of this fun night!

All ready to dance. Doesn't she look so old! What happened to my cute baby?! 

She looks like a mini- teenager!

New dress, purse, and shoes for the occasion. 

First, all the Fathers and Daughters met for dinner at a favorite local Mexican Restaurant. 

After dinner, the girls came back to our friends' (The Campbells!) house for a fun night of dancing. 

Punch, cupcakes and lollipops were served. 

Toby Mac, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", and "Twist and Shout" were played!

Fun was had by all. 

Sweet friends! 

Christmas with the Hardesty Family!

We were so blessed this Christmas to have my Grandmother come down from Ohio and spend almost a month with us in December. Nearly every childhood memory of Christmas involves her and/ or my Aunt Lynda, and I am so blessed that one of them is able to make new memories with my children.

Even though it was a wonderful Christmas and a fun time of playing cards, laughing, and eating the (family recipe) Christmas cookies- I have no actual proof. I was having too good of a time to get my camera out!! 

We also had the blessing of meeting baby Aven, my cousin Tina's adorable first born son.

He is the baby I am holding below. Isn't he cute?!

And, the rest of these pictures are from Christmas morning. The only time I actually got out my camera!! 

Waiting for all the grown - ups.

Olivia loves her stocking stuff!

Skylanders and Brave. Could there be much better than that?

Ethan unpacks his stocking.

Christmas with the Hoots!

After celebrating Christmas at our house we went over to Kernersville to eat lunch with John's parents and his brother's family. The kids love going to Grandma and Granddaddy's house for many reasons, bu they really love it at Christmas with their cousins!

The five cousins.

The grand kids with Grandma and Grandaddy.

Our family in the den, right before the frantic time of opening gifts!

Merry Christmas!

 Merry Christmas, Everyone!

I hope your Christmas was Merry and Bright... ours was! 

Here are a couple of high lights from Christmas at home. We celebrated a couple of days early at home, so that we could go out of town to celebrate with my extended family.

My Christmas chalkboard. It took hours - that's why it received it's own photo and caption!

Santa left everything set up so nice!

Olivia's favorite- the new American girl doll Caroline.

Ethan's favorite is actually pictured above... a new gear bike. He was also really happy about Lego Batman 2!

Loot from their stockings!

Isaac's favorite- City Lego Space Shuttle Set.

Christmas at home was fun and peaceful. We played at home or a couple of hours and ate our favorite local donuts! Then we packed up and made our way over to the Hoots, for round 2 of Christmas!

Ethan Runs His First 5K!!

 Thanksgiving was a fun day for the Hoots' family! We kicked off the day with a 5K! John and Ethan ran in the Gobbler's Run in Downtown Wake Forest. John is training for a half marathon and Ethan wanted to train with him, so they both signed up for the 5K.

It was a cold morning, but all the Hoots and Hardestys came out to watch!

Before the race.

Getting excited! You should have seen all the crazy people that dressed up like turkeys, pilgrims, Indians, etc for the race. And, yes John is wearing tights under his shorts!

At the starting line!

See him coming???

About to finish.

John is right behind him. Ethan had a burst of energy right at the end!

Exhausted, but so happy to have run the race!

Happy 70th Birthday, Grandaddy Bob!!

We had the privilege of hosting a 70th Birthday for John's dad recently. He has blessed our life in so many ways and we were happy to celebrate him on his 70th Birthday!

 When the kids heard we were going to have a party for their grandfather, they insisted on having a theme. Because Bob like Elvis Presley we choose a 50's Sock Hop Theme. As you'll see the kids wanted the house decorated and they dressed up for the big day!

 Bob opening his big gift from everyone. An Ipad. He was thrilled! 

 After the food we did something fun for the kids... a pinata. It is supposed to look like a record. 

 Then we took some pictures of the grand-kids with their grandparents!

 

We even took a silly one!! 

Happy Birthday! Let's do it again in 10 years!!