Holidays with the Hardings!

The Holidays ...Christmas especially, is a really crazy time for us! It all starts Christmas Eve morning when Eric, the girls, and I have a family gift exchange!

Christmas Eve... Morning

The first thing the girls saw when they came running out of their room was this rocking horse! Evey ran over to it and said "WOW!!!!" and then climbed right on and rocked away!!! Immediately Lucy began insisting that it was her turn. The girls love it! (Thank you so much Sarah, for generously giving this to us since your boys don't use it!)(I love this picture)
Evey likes riding it right after taking a bath. It totally reminds me of the old "Mane and Tale" Shampoo logo! Do you guys remember that???

We gave Lucy a Dora memory game thinking that she'd be all excited about having a bunch of Dora cards.... I don't know what she was expecting, but she looked rather disappointed! (She likes it now that I taught her how to play)They also got "Let's Go Fishin' " which they both liked a lot!

And we changed Evey's bed from a crib to a toddler bed....

......which they mistook for a Trampoline.

Christmas Eve.... Evening

Christmas Eve night we went to My Grandparents house and had the traditional dinner (Tostadas and Lobster... YUM!!!!!!) After dinner my Grandpa reads from the New Testament. When he's done Santa (otherwise known as my uncle) yells down the chimney for all the kids to gather around and tell him whether they have been naughty or nice. Then he asks them individually what they want for Christmas. After that we had a gift exchange and dessert.

After dessert my sister and I are usually pretty sugared up and get a little nutty!

What are sisters for, if not someone to goof off with?!

After all of that Eric, the girls, and I went to spend the night at my parents house and spend Christmas morning with them....

Christmas Day!

My mom and dad got the girls a Ryan's Room dollhouse! It's all made out of wood! It is sooo cute! Thank you so much mom and dad! This is one that I'm sure will last for my grand kids!

My Brother Mike sent this all the way from Michigan for Evey. He knows how much she love stuffed animals. It says a bunch of funny lines from the new movie Bolt."Hello hairballs!" (I just can't wait 'til my kids pick up on that one)
Tim got the girls some Dr. Suess books. (Thanks Tim. They love these!)

Emily got them a pop up version of "We're going on a Bear Hunt," Which I love and may hide til they are old enough not to rip it up. (Thanks Emily!)

Mike also sent them Hungry Hungry Hippos!

Ok, so after opening our presents, we had a yummy breakfast, (Eggs, bacon, hot chocolate, cinnamon rolls, etc.) Eric and I packed up and headed over to Eric's parents and have another Christmas morning there. (Everybody wants to see the babies on Christmas!)
By now the girls were pretty experienced with the whole present idea. They knew just what to do. The first thing they ripped open was this Fairy Tea Set. They may as well have had no other gifts because it is all they wanted to play with.

They got also got some bristle blocks (Eric may enjoy these just as much as the girls. It's really fun to watch him play with these. He's such a little kid!)

Evey got a kaleidoscope too! She doesn't quite get it yet .... but I like it!

After Duan and Vince's we went home for a nap. When we got up we headed over to Eric's Grandmas house for their Christmas dinner. We forgot to take pictures there until after the gift exchange, but we did get this one...
Lucy was pooped after all the festivities, so she found a Lucy size box and curled up like a cat under the Christmas tree. ( I love my kids!!!)


But are we done yet??? I think NOT! The next day we headed to Utah! Are we crazy or what!!!!???

ANYWAY.....

I just wanted to take a quick moment to express my extreme gratitude to our family and friends and especially to Heavenly Father and the Savior Jesus Christ! At times like this I am in awe at how blessed our family is! My kids have everything they could possibly ever need (or want) because everyone is so very generous with us! Our Heavenly Father has showered blessings upon us just as my patriarchal blessing says "that there shall not be room enough to receive it." (How very true that is). I am truly humbled and thankful. I could never want anything more than what I already have.