Hardman Household: Christmas Time

We had several Christmas parties this year. The kids loved opening presents. Robyn actually kept opening everyone else's presents... Yeah... That happens when you have a 2 year old whose birthday was only a month previous! :)

Ready for a long post
with lots of pictures?

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My Grandma Rea had blankets made (by my fabulous aunt Melissa) for all of the grandkids & great grandkids. We missed the party because Jeremiah's brother (Jake) got married the same day, so we opened presents a few days later at my parents house. The kids LOVED the blankets and sleep with them every night now!!

Jeremiah's and my blanket

DarTanion's blanket came from the store, but he honestly didn't care -
I mean, it IS a Spiderman blanket! :)

All of the kids wanted to open Robynson's...

Robyn got in trouble before the picture,
so she's showing her sad face,
but she LOVES the blanket! She loves "Ribbits"!

Archer said he was going to scratch his open like a kitty
- and he did.

He wouldn't look at the camera for the LIFE of me!

As you can see, all of the blankets were awesome. :)
Thanks Grandma Rea and Grandpa Burke!
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McDonald Christmas Party

Jeremiah's Mom's family is BIG. We're talking 11 brothers and sisters with all their now grown children and growing grandchildren. We draw names and exchange presents for the little kids. Then the adults do a White Elephant exchange. It's always fun.

Robyn got a soft baby doll and some fuzzy elastics. She was super cute walking around loving on it. :)

Then Robyn promptly stole Nile's tool set. :)

Archer got the biggest present of all the kids. He thought it was a Thomas the Train set, so when he opened it and it was a Transformers tent, he cried. (Sorry Karri!) But when we got home and set it up and showed him how awesome it was, he changed his mind and LOVES it!

DarTanion got a dart gun. How appropriate for this boy! :)
He's been shooting everything in the house ever since!

Robynson loves her Papa Twitch - I think the feeling is mutual. :)

See that lady in Red? That's Grandma Dawna.
I love her. I want to be her when I 'grow up'. :)

During the White Elephant Exchange, Grandma Dawna got "Monkey Butt Powder". It was awesome. :) She kept saying that the monkey on the bottle had a nice butt and maybe if she used it she would get some curves back on her old body! :) She is the funniest almost 89 year old lady you will ever meet. She will also have on the most jewelry you've ever seen!

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BARLOW FAMILY CHRISTMAS PARTY

We all went to my sister, Colleenia's house for our family Christmas Party this year. We were really excited that Sean was released from the hospital the day before to be there. He told the doctors that he wanted to be home for Colleenia's birthday (the day of the party) and to watch his daughter open presents Christmas morning and they allowed him to be there. :) It was good to see him, but he does look sick. :(

As always, Grandma Barlow and Keen went nuts with presents. The kids (and us) were all spoiled rotten. :) My camera was acting up there, so I don't have as many pictures as I would have liked...

ROBYNSON

ARCHER

DARTANION

Keen, Sean and Kaylee

MY MOM & DAD
(Grandma and Grandpa Barlow)

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Emily is a friend who I worked with back in my High School days and I have reconnected thru Facebook. She follows my blog (yay!) and we've been able to keep in touch. She's completely wonderful! I received a holiday card from her and inside was $50 - which was totally unexpected but really awesome! :) I immediately went out and bought the kids Christmas with the money because otherwise it would have went to bills (which, you know, would have been smart). But I decided my kids needed a Christmas, so that's what I spent it on. Here is a picture of the haul I bought before it was wrapped. :)

Jeremiah and I wrapped presents the week leading up to Christmas, then Christmas Eve after the kids had gone to sleep, we put everything out and went to bed. Here is a picture of the gifts before the kids had seen them...

Now, this year we had a TON of help with Christmas Gifts. Not only did the money that Emily sent buy a lot of things for my kids, but we also had someone we don't know buy a gift bag full of things from the dollar store for each kid; my Visiting Teacher bring over gifts for everyone (and she managed to get Patrick - one of the Thomas trains that we DON'T have!) and people from our ward (but we don't know who) brought over $180 in Gift Cards. It was really amazing. I was (and still am) speechless. How do you say THANKS for something like that?

Pictures from Christmas Morning

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Christmas Morning after opening presents at our house, we went to Grandma & Grandpa Hardman's (Jeremiah's Parents) to open Christmas. The kids all got 'perfect' gifts for them. Robyn got princess glass slipper shoes, a purse and gloves along with a pretty dress that Grandma made her. Archer got Lego Mega Blocks James the Train set. DarTanion got the Millennium Falcon Lego ship. They also got a few board games, a doll, a Mack the Truck (from Cars) and a Spiderman that rides a 4-wheeler. Jeremiah and I got a gift certificate to the Cinemark Movie Theaters and much needed garments. :)