Belated Christmas Morning 2014 Recap :)

Welp, we just celebrated Valentine's Day 2015, so I feel as though it's an appropriate time to put up my Christmas 2014 recap ;)  

We spent a relaxing morning at home...Hallie slept until 9:30 (we had to wake her up!!!) while Cory and I filled her stocking, made breakfast and enjoyed strawberry grapefruit mimosas.  Hallie asked Santa for princesses, a magic wand and Hello Kitty.  We feel like Santa came through pretty well.  He probably felt obligated since this year Hallie was actually a fan.  As opposed to the last two years when she screamed at the sight of him.  Hallie visited Santa twice this year - once at a private party and once at the Omaha Children's Museum.  Both times she was excited to see him and the second time she told him she loved him.

I set my camera on auto mode so I could just snap away and enjoy the moment instead of nitpicking eat shot...relaxing :)

Enjoy the video and pictures!!! 

Tree trimmed and stocking stuffed

Lilly waiting for Sissy to wake up so the fun can start

Still snoozing at 9:30 am!!!

Magic wand as requested!!!!

Hello Kitty as requested

More HK paraphernalia

Stamp set for our little crafter

Opening her big present from Mommy and Daddy

7 Disney princesses!!! *Please note that at the time this blog was posted, Lilly had already dismembered and destroyed ALL the princesses...grrr.

Keeping with our Christmas morning breakfast tradition - French toast Rudolph :)

Bright, modern & colorful gallery wall

In our last house, I put together a somewhat formal gallery wall above our stairway.  I loved it and it definitely fit the look of that house.  But our new house is much smaller, less formal and more modern, so I wanted to do something different (plus, the new owners of our old house liked the gallery wall so much that they bought it from us).  This new gallery wall has somewhat of a "scrapbook" feel which I really like and is full of bright pops of color - much like our new house.  Once again, I relied on Target and Hobby Lobby as my primary sources for frames and objects :)  I hope you enjoy this one as much as the last one (which was pinned several thousand times)!  Once again, source list is at the bottom of this page AND you can grab the pin here.

SOURCE LIST:

Wall color - Sherwin Williams Light French Gray (SW 0055)

Green and blue multicolored frame - Target (discontinued)

Large white frames with white mat - Target (photo by Lia Larson)

Turquoise frame - Target (discontinued)

Silver "J" - Sugarbakers (store is now closed)

Best Day Ever canvas -  Target (currently availble in store only)

3 pack of gold dipped Sea Urchins - Target (also available in store)

Abstract painting - DIY by Hallie for Cory last father's day :)

Silver "C" and "N" - Garden Ridge

Ampersand - ???

Humingbird plate - Anthropologie (got it in store on clearance Dec. 2014)

White leaf frame - Target (discontinued)

Believe in the beauty of your dreams framed print - Target (in store only)

Gold "J" - Hobby Lobby (in store only)

We're So canvas - Hobby Lobby (in store only)

Project 356 | 2015 | Day 7

1/7/15: 5 degrees outside and snuggly inside.  Playing with Play-doh and staying in our jammies.

Project 356 | 2015 | Day 6

1/6/15: "Tea for three."  With temperatures dropping, our new nightly ritual is hot chamomile with raw honey and cinnamon before bed.  Even Hal gets her own cup :) 

Project 356 | 2015 | Day 4

1/4/15: Coldest day of winter so far and Hallie insisted on going outside with Daddy to shovel.  Despite being very bundled up, she only lasted about 5 minutes in the 5 degree weather.  She looked at her gloves and started crying because her poor little fingers were so cold :(

Mommy made it all better with snuggly jammies and homemade hot chocolate :)

Project 356 | 2015 | Day 3

1/3/15: Hallie and Daddy unload the dishwasher after breakfast

Project 356 | 2015 | Day 2

My little chick with her little chicks on a snowy afternoon

Project 356 | 2015 | Day 1

I thought I should give this Project 365 thingy a try since time seems to pass so quickly these days.  What better way to freeze all the special moments in time than with one picture a day, fo a whole year.  My plan is to upload these pictures to a digital photo album and print it out at the end of the year.  Sort of a Jensen family yearbook :)  Here goes nothing...

Hallie enjoying two of her favorite things: jumping on the bed and being "naked" (i.e. wearing just underwear.)

Sunday Pancakes

Just a quick blog to say we're still alive :)  I haven't blogged since the end of July, but we have been really busy since then.  We packed up the apartment, moved from the apartment to my parents' house for two weeks, finished our house, moved out of my parents' house into our new house, I've had a ton of photo sessions, etc, etc.  Anyways, long story short...I've got lots of pictures archived for "make-up" blogs.  But, to get back into the swing, here's a couple pictures from today of Hallie helping make after church pancakes.  We used this mix and it was DELICIOUS! More blogs to come soon :)

peppa pig helped too

adding the mix

Lilly stalking the pancake maker

fluffy perfection!

 

Benson Days Parade

Hallie attended her first parade of the summer this weekend!  She went to a few last summer, but was still too young to get the concept of collecting candy...and definitely didn't have the speed to beat the older kids to the punch.  Yesterday was a big improvement.  She enjoyed the sights and sounds and was able to snatch a piece of candy here and there...which she promptly sat down and ate.  And then on to the next one.

Taking in the action

Giant bubble float

Next to her friend, Isabella

Waving to the train conductor

I got some candy, Momma!

Checking candy bag levels

Enjoying the spoils

A little glimpse of Hallie's 2 year photos...

...sorry to disappoint, but this is what usually happens when professional photographers attempt to photograph their own children...

But sometimes you get lucky...

FATHER'S DAY 2014

Let's celebrate this dude (and his bushy seaweed mustache) for being the amazing "Papa" that he is.  From the moment Hallie was born, Cory has been involved, protective, nurturing, loving, fun, and playful.  He is an all around amazing dad.  Hallie is so blessed.  For Father's Day we spent the day at the Fremont Lakes and Cory got a rare chance to relax.  We both commented that it felt like a mini vacation.  We're pretty easy to please :)  You can tell from the pictures that Hal and Papa had a great day together...

 

SPLISH SPLASH...HAL LOVES TAKING A BATH!

Fill up tub, add 1,000 toys, add one adorable red headed toddler = instant fun.  Hallie loves taking a bath at night and sometimes asks for it before we've even finished dinner.  We fill up the tub pretty full with water and let her play for a while.  Then we brush teeth, wash hair (Hal likes to dump the water on her hair to get it wet), scrub the booty, and then Hal "swims" around while the water drains and waves "bye bye" to the water ;)  After the bath we grease her up good with coconut oil - I like this one - put on snuggly pjs, brush her hair and then it's time for sweet dreams...zzzzzz :)