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...

 

EASTER 2014

Easter weekend brought us gorgeous weather and lots of time with family and friends.  Enjoy the photo recap...

Saturday morning egg hunt and crafts at St. Andrews church

Saturday afternoon birthday celebration with second cousins on the Jensen side.  Hallie loved the bounce house, the hammock and, of course, CAKE!

 

Smooches for Grandma Jensen...

Sunday morning we gave Hal her Easter basket (yes, lots of Cars 2 stuff) and then went to Easter service at Grandma Jensen's church.  After church we went downtown with Grandma and Grandpa Jensen and had brunch at the Upstream.  It was so nice outside that we were able to sit out on the roof balcony.

 

After naptime, we went over to my brother and sister-in-law's house and grilled out (and had an egg hunt for Hal and her cousins Landon and Liam).  

Let the egg hunting commence!

What a great day to hunt some eggs!  80 degrees and sunny!  Hallie and I went to an Easter egg hunt at the Senior Living Community where my Mom works.  We met Lia and Rose there and Carla, Kate and Clete came too.  Hallie participated in our family egg hunt last year, but this was the first time I think she really understood the concept.  And boy did she go for it.  We hunted in the 0 - 2 year group and it's safe to say that Hallie really took advantage of the fact that she was on the upper end of the age group ;)  She made a beeline for every egg she saw and quickly filled her bag.  After the hunt we had cookies and punch and the Easter Bunny was there.  Much like Santa, Hallie was seriously disturbed by Mr. Easter Bunny.  She must have said a hundred times, "I no like the bunny!"  In fact, later during her nap I could hear her repeating the phrase in her sleep.  But she rallied and enjoyed petting the baby chicks and seeing the real bunnies and goats too!  Another fun spring activity checked off our list and more egg hunting to come next weekend.

Happy Valentine's Day from Hallie! {Paint Splash}

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY from the Jensen household!  This is Hal's first Valentine's Day, so we had to do it up big!  I got the idea to do a paint splash photo shoot to commemorate it.  My good friend Lia, of Lia Larson Photography had the same idea {something that seems to happen to us all the time these days :)} and I can't wait to see how her photos turned out!  I purchased an inexpensive canvas from Hobby Lobby along with some non-toxic finger paint and a roll of vinyl wall decal material.  I cut out a heart shape and stuck it to the canvas and then put dollops of pink, orange and red paints on the canvas.  Then I let Hallie do her thing.  Obviously, she was more interested in "tasting" the paint than actually painting with it.  But I think she had fun.  The painting turned out a great orangey-coral color, which works perfect in her nursery.  

Enjoy the photos and cherish your loved ones this Valentine's Day!  We're headed to the Children's Museum with Carla, Kate and Clete and then home for our Valentine's fondue with Daddy :)

Christmas Recap

Hallie's first Christmas has come and gone already :(. As we had expected, it was awesome to experience the holidays in a whole new way...through the eyes of our child. Some of the special memories from this year include me sewing special Christmas Eve pjs for Hal and her cousin Kate; Daddy building Hallie a shiny yellow wagon that was waiting under the tree on Christmas morning; shopping as a family for Christmas presents; drive thru Bethlehem, etc. The list goes on and on.

Hal is nine months old today and this has been such a fun age. She is laughing at everything. She especially likes "Sweet Brown" of YouTube fame. She says "Mama," "Dadda" and "baba.". She is crawling everywhere, standing and getting into everything. Ahhhh! We are looking forward to celebrating the new year quietly at home as a family. We hope you are too!

Enjoy the photo recap of our holidays :)

Ciao for now

Winter Wonderland

I'm from Minnesota, so Christmas doesn't feel like Christmas without white stuff on the ground. Luckily for me, Omaha got a big ol' storm just in time for the holidays! It also knocked out a lot of people's power, including my mom and dad's, so hopefully that will be back on in time for Dad to make his famous Christmas prime rib. Here are a few pictures of the beautiful view from our front and back yard...and one of my mini itty bitty cutie :)

Ciao for now

HO, HO, HO...NO.

We decided to take Hal to see Santa for the first time today.  Our small town was having a Christmas festival and it seemed like the perfect, low-key opportunity to meet Mr. Claus.  Anyone who has met Hallie knows she is just about the most laid-back, happy baby that has ever lived.  Nothing much seems to bother her.  For example, prior to meeting Santa, we stopped and met Aunt Kama for a glass of wine.  Hal sat there while us gals chatted and didn't fuss or really make a peep the whole time.  And she's only cried once when someone other than me or Dad wanted to hold her.  So, you can understand why I figured Santa would be her new best friend.  Wrong.  We walked into the local fire station and Cory handed her over to Santa.  She looked a little bewildered at first...

Then she turned around and realized it wasn't Dad holding her...

Little miss happy-go-lucky disappeared :(  Despite her reaction, it was so fun to see her experience Santa for the first time!  We decided we might try one more time with the mall Santa to see if it was just a fluke or if she's really not a fan. 

When we got home (and after a nice long nap) we decided to make some cookies for Dad.  We tried this recipe for Whopper cookies from Shugary Sweets.  Hal was a super big help ;)  She really seemed to like being a part of the baking action.

Ciao for now