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! 

Snow Day

Praise the Lord, we have had a mild winter for the most part. But, last week we did receive some snow. They were calling for a lot more than we got, and it melted rather quickly, but it was enough to build a snowman and have a snowball fight. Check out the pictures below...

Here's to hope the "bleak mid- winter" is almost over and we won't miss anymore days of school! 

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 Eve Fun

On Christmas Eve  we met our dear old friends, the Vandergriffs, and took the kids bowling. We were looking for a family friendly activity that was indoors, because Christmas Eve was cold and rainy. 

We chose the first bowling alley in Raleigh, near NC State. The price was right so we thought we would give it a try. Well, we quickly realized why the prices were low... it opened over 50 years and basically has never changed!!! Original pins, hardwood lanes, and blow - up bumpers for the kids. But, it was so fun! And, the kids had a blast! 

Ethan about to Strike!

Isaac waiting on his chance! Everyone wanted the orange ball because it was only 6 pounds.

The girls are trying to figure out how to keep score. That's right folks - there was no machine keeping score! Just an old fashioned score bad, and not one of us really knew what we were doing.

Two pretty ladies.

The math wiz takes over the score card.

All 7 of the kiddos!! So thankful they are all getting to grow up together. And, so incredibly blessed to have their parents as our close friends!

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!