Christmas Eve Festivities!

We had our Hirst Family Christmas at my parents house on Christmas Eve and had a great time! That room gets fuller and fuller with our ever-increasing number of grandkids! We're noticing that it's definitely getting harder to keep everyone "patient" long enough until it's their turn to open their next gift (it takes a long time to get through 18 people worth of gifts!) (good thing there's only 2 packages for each person!).

Grandma had a craft all set out for when we got there, the kids got to color nifty cups that they'd get to drink out of throughout the remainder of the evening. It was neat seeing how all the older kids' coloring has progressed over the years! We then had a super yummy meal!!! Then the cousins put on a little talent show: sang various songs, James read some verses, Abby read the Christmas story out of the bible, and a couple more songs. Time for presents! Everybody got such perfect gifts. Which leaves one thing left, DESSERT! Yes, 4 options of desserts to choose from (or have all 4 of course!). At last, the youngins started "hinting" that it was time to call it a night, so we tidied up as much as we could with "hinting" children at foot (aka: tired & fussy), and I'm sure left a terrible mess for my parents to clean, and headed home (which reminds me that I'm thankful for all the DOT crews making the roads drivable, and us all having rigs that could plow through the rest of the snowy roads, and crazy parents who shoveled and shoveled to help us get into their driveway) :-)

Once home, we got all the kids in their Christmas PJ's, read Twas The Night Before Christmas, Jacob said a prayer, tucked them all in bed, and off Matt & I went to wrap wrap wrap :-) What a great day!!!

Jacob & Grandma hanging angel ornaments

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Maya & Jacob showing off their lost teeth!

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Juliana holding "Baby Jonovan" :-)

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Jacob helping Aliya color her Christmas cup.

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Jonathan is SO cute!

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Aunt Denise holding Baby Jonathan.

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Baby Jenna goin' for Grandma's glasses...they all do...

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Kyra and her awesome cousin, Kyra!

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Abby, Kyra, James & Jacob singing Jingle Bells.

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Maya, Kyra & Abby singing Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.

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Jenna's first Christmas!

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Jacob was SOOOO excited about his letters!!!

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The longest pose EVER!!!

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Juliana opening her first gift :-)

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James slyly picking out a present for himself :-)

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James' new Frame-It game.

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Juliana was on cloud nine over this gift!!!

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Aliya excited about Elefun!

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Jacob's cool Solar System book!

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Jenna hanging out with Aunt Stephanie.

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Maya's turn to open gifts.

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PINKALICIOUS!!! A well-loved book!

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A very happy Jonathan opening a gift.

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Kyra's so funny :-)

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Jonathan's cool John Deere tractor!

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Curly Lox opening a Disney book!

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Baby Jenna's so happy :-)

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A happy Juliana :-)

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Jacob helping open Jenna's gift.

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Our "Happy Birthday Jesus" Cake!

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Time for bed!!! Santa's coming soon!!!

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All three kiddos in their Christmas PJ's!

A Visit From The Tooth Fairy!!!

Jacob was so excited to go to bed last night, he tucked his tooth slightly under his pillow, grabbed his blankie and giraffe and had the biggest smile when we tucked him in! (soooo cute!) And he very excitedly came up to me this morning with his coins in hand - "The tooth fairy came! And she brought me 4 coins!!!" He currently has the video camera in hand and keeps recording himself over and over and over, saying that he lost his tooth and that the tooth fairy came :-)

Reading a quick bed time story.

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Jacob's 1st tooth under his pillow, and ready for bed!

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The Tooth Fairy came!!!

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Last night, Matt, Jacob & Juliana all worked tirelessly at building the coolest igloo! Complete with a dyed penguin on top, Jacob made a duck off to the right, and they made a snowman as well. SUPER COOL! Enjoy the pix!

Juliana exiting the super cool igloo.

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Jacob inside the igloo with a big block of snow!

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Juliana standing up tall and proud!

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Jacob making revisions :-)

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The back of the super cool igloo!

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The igloo during the day, isn't it awesome?!?

Time For The Molinator!!!

For those who have seen The Santa Clause 2, you may recall the Tooth Fairy wanting a new name, and by far the coolest was The Molinator! Why do I bring this up, you ask? Because tonight Jacob's first tooth has finally come out!!! :-D
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Matt and Jacob were horsin' around in the middle of the floor, when all of a sudden Matt looked across the room at Jacob and said "Did your tooth fall out?!?" To which Jacob replied "No." Matt, "I think it did, come here!" And sure enough, it was gone!!! We then had to search the floor to find it, and there it was in the middle of the living room carpet!
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So tonight we will have our very first visit from the Tooth Fairy, or as I prefer to refer to her (or him!) as "The Molinator!" YAY!

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Jacob's call to Grandma & Grandpa Hirst:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUt1lKYyv_A

Jacob's call to Aunt Stephanie E.:

(once I thought to put the darn phone on Speakerphone so you can hear BOTH sides of the conversation!!!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_UWI49nirk

Karen, I wish I had your phone call video taped!!! ARGH! Live & Learn, I guess :-)

Snow Gallore!

Man alive, it just keeps piling up and piling up, huh?!? It has been such a wonderful couple of weeks of snow!!! The kids went in the back yard to play in it for a long time today, I held Jenna for part of it, and put her inside for part of it (in and out, in and out, in and out I went) (she wasn't very happy I left her alone, but hey, I want to have fun with the older kids too!). Anywho, we love the snow, love it, love it!

Jacob loves hulahooping!
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Jacob's mega-sandwich!
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Jenna checkin' out the snow outside.
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Juliana being silly :-)
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Juliana trompin' through the thick snow!
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Jacob sliding down a snowy slide!
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She's so cute :-)
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Jenna checkin' out the snow from outside.
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Juliana swinging :-)
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Juliana eating the snow off the sliding glass door :o)
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The boys hard at work.
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Mommy enjoying the snow.
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Jack playing in the snow too.
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Juliana chasing me with a snowball!
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Jacob making a snowball.
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Happy siblings :-)