Christmas with the Hardesty Fam

After the Nutcracker we went home and hosted Gigi and Poppy, Emily, Chris, Brennan and Jackson (& Sophie dog, of course :-)).  We had a great dinner and lots of fun hanging out and exchanging gifts.  Here are some pics from the weekend...

The cousins in their matching pjs...

Decorating Gingerbread men...

Fun times exchanging gifts..

Maddy's first Christmas present...

Maddy liked the tissue paper the most :-)

Those kids love that I-Pad.  Sometimes Gigi wonders if they even know that she is there too! ;-)

Just one tragedy...we ordered these apple pie cupcakes from the Flour Shop- they are delicious.  When I was bringing them in the kitchen I looked back to answer Emily and didn't notice that I was walking directly into the exersaucer.  I hit it so hard that I fell to the ground.  The exersaucer was there to catch the cupcakes, but as you can see they did not fare well.  We re-created the scene because it was so funny to us...

Getting Ready for Christmas...

Kate and I followed tradition and made strawberry nut bread.  We brought Maddy into the kitchen so that she could participate.  Pretty soon she will be up on a step stool helping as well. 

 

Kate and Sid painted a new nativity set...

Kate, Sid, and I made a birthday cake to celebrate Jesus' birthday. We made a red velvet cake this year.

We enjoyed celebrating Advent with the kids on Sunday nights leading up to Christmas...

Maddy eats Puffs! And Pulls up!

I was grocery shopping recently and was reviewing over the baby food options when I realized that Maddy is old enough for all of the fun baby finger foods!  She is more than ready actually :-)  So, we are catching up trying all of the goodies...here are some pics from her first taste of sweet potato puffs. 

"What is that?!"

 

"

She loves them- those that actually make it into her mouth that is! 

In early December, Maddy started pulling up!  Now almost every time I get her from nap time she is standing up holding onto her crib.  She will be walking before we know it.

Christmas Parties at School

Kate had a great Christmas party with her kindergarten class....here are some pics...

Is that Kate?

Yes, it is!

Sid performed poetry, songs, and played the drums and triangle before his Christmas party at school. It was great!

 

They loved decorating cookies...

Sid and his buddy, Jackson.

"Cool!"

The Nutcracker

Kate danced in her first recital/show on December 9th:  The Nutcracker.  She had so much fun and danced beautifully.  She was a Chinese Tea Dancer, or as she referred to herself, "a teapot."  When asked what her favorite part of the show was she replied "the cookie Ms. Katie gave me at intermission."  So funny!  Nana and Papaw Parsons came to visit and watch Friday night and Gigi and Poppy Hardesty came to the show on Saturday.  Then we watched the performance on video with the Longs :-)  We had a great time!  Here are some pics...

Make up with Gig...

After rehearsals with Nana and Papaw...

A special dinner with both grandparents!  What a treat!

Kate's ballerina friends, Ava and Taylor.

Proud Mom and Dad...We went back stage to get her autograph.  She also autographed programs at home later that evening :-)

Hooray!