Fill in the Blank Friday

1. My greatest strength is my ability to see the positive in various circumstances. I am an eternal optimist and I know this helps me cope in life. I also make pretty good banana bread which my husband would consider a strength. :)

2. My greatest weakness is my desire for perfection and when I realize that perfection cannot be achieved, I tend to bail on a goal. I am aware of this weakness and am trying to be more of a "roll with the punches" kind of girl, especially now that having children has made it so that perfection in areas like my home are impossible!!

3. People always compliment me on my darling children. I can totally understand why....they are SO cute! :)

4. If you found me procrastinating you'd probably find me on the Internet reading blogs or surfing Pinterest. :)

5. The most cozy place in all the world is my bed. Every single night I climb into bed I thank God for such a comfortable place to sleep and count my blessings to have such a wonderful home, husband, etc.

6. Something new that I tried recently was growing wheat grass! We're on day two and a half and little tails are sprouting in the seeds....a good sign! I going to (hopefully) use it for my Easter tablescape. This week I also tried THREE new recipes!

7. This weekend I would like to get everything done that needs to get done. This includes a cute picture of my kids and their cousins in a 30 min time frame. My MIL bought a Groupon to Yuen Lui and is hoping to get a cute picture of all the kids. We bought them coordinating outfits that are cute for Spring. After the pictures we'll come home for naps, then off to a birthday party for Everett's little buddy that is turning one, then Brett and I are having a dinner date. On Sunday we'll celebrate Palm Sunday at church and then the kids and I are taking off with my MIL to go visit Brett's aunt who lives on the beach about 3 hours away. She hasn't met Everett yet and my MIL was wanting to go visit her so I decided to go along for the ride. I'm hoping that between a Nana and a great Aunt, I might get a little break and read some magazines or something. :) We'll be gone three days and miss Daddy a whole lot!

Happy Palm Sunday weekend!!!

Weather

If we didn't have such a wonderful community of family in friends here in Oregon, I would so say "peace out" to this beautiful state. The beautiful days are indeed beautiful and the sunshine truly penetrates my heart with joy. However, the beautiful days are too few and far between. I've never had the whole seasonal depression but this year I'm starting to go a bit crazy. You would too if this was your news report....

Not only is it rainy, but it's COLD.

Last week was kind of bizarre. On Thursday we woke up to snow! Emersyn's preschool was cancelled which started her spring break early.

The very next day it was in the mid 60's and beautiful!!! I was a very happy girl. So was Emersyn. I just wish she were more confident in front of the camera. ;)

Everett is kind of indifferent to the weather. He's good either way. :)

This concludes the most boring post ever. I just had to vent about the rain as I sit and look at the gray skies outside. Dara, I am truly happy for you as I know that this is your favorite weather. However, I feel sorry for the rest of us!

P.S. Despite the weather, I'm super stoked to be seeing "The Hunger Games" tonight!!!!!

I love an excuse for appetizers!

Last weekend Brett and I helped my in-laws paint their living room before they hosted a bunco party last night. My mother-in-law gets really stressed about entertaining and I love it. (Love entertaining, not the fact that it stresses her out, ha! I had to change that once I re-read this) The only part about entertaining that stresses me out is getting my house clean enough but I never worry about the food. When I asked June what she was making for food she had no idea and I could tell she was kind of anxious over it. So I decided to take over the project of food and this is what I made:

Source: annies-eats.net via Patti on Pinterest

These were REALLY yummy and I want to make them again soon. I made them on the smaller side but I'd like to make them a little bigger so there is a bigger surface area for the yummy garnish on the top. I'm obsessed with avocados as of late.

Source: foodie.com via Patti on Pinterest

I made these slightly different then the recipe called for but by mistake. You were supposed to use egg roll wrappers and I used won tons. I am glad I made the error though because the won ton wrappers were the perfect size for an appetizer. If you wanted to serve this as an actual salad then the egg roll wrapper would be more ideal. I also added slivered almonds and a mandarin orange to these. I also bought a chinese chicken salad dressing instead of fussing with making one from scratch.

Source: thepioneerwoman.com via Patti on Pinterest

These were a big hit too and very easy to make ahead of time. I served them with ranch. Next time I'd make a homemade ranch sauce to serve with it to fancy it up.

It was fun helping my mother-in-law out. She does so much for us by watching our kids whenever we need it and that is priceless. She watched my kids a lot when I was super busy with my church's retreat too so I feel like I can't repay her enough, even though I know she doesn't expect it.

Let me know if you try any of these pins! :)

Puddle Jumpers Blog - again!

I'm a guest blogger for our church's preschool blog again today. Check it out here!

Five Question Friday

Sheesh, it appears I am turning into a blogger that only does the themed blog posts. My bad! Still though, it's a way for me to interact with grown ups and I'll take it. :)

1. Will you run to the store or to pick up a kid looking a mess? Um, if you have ever had an early morning playdate with me (meaning before noon) you know the answer to this question. :) It's funny, on the first day of preschool all the moms and kids were totally put together and stylish. Now at preschool most of us moms have thrown on jeans and a sweatshirt and are doing good just to get our kids dressed and out the door. I will say also that everytime I look my worst while out running errands, I inevitably run into people that I haven't seen in a long time! Or better yet, meet my husband's work colleagues. That's my favorite! ;)

2. Do you finish a book if it's boring or you don't like it? Umm....only if the book has come highly reccomended. If not, I'll ditch it. My reading time is too precious to waste on a boring book!

3. Beach or mountain vacations? Mountain in the winter, beach in the summer. I love Sunriver but that is more of a getaway. Hawaii is my favorite vacation destination and I'd much rather go there then like Whistler or somewhere in the mountains.

4. What thing/event says "winter will end and spring is right around the corner" to you? Easter!

5. Would you prefer couples or family vacation? Oh man, it depends on where we're going! We've never done a real vacation as just a couple....we've gone to the beach, to Seattle, to Vegas a few times...but never like a full on vacation. I dream of going to Hawaii alone with Brett.....I can't really think about it too much though because I black out at the thought of that much time by a pool with no responsibilities. But if we're going to Sunriver, going to the beach, going somewhere that I know my kids will love...I definitely want them to be with me!

Okay, all that vacation talk REALLY makes me want to take a vacation like NOW!

Miscellany Monday

{1} Man, I don't know if it is this weather or being sick a-gain but I have been in a funk for the past week. I think some of it is coming home from a vacation and there's that recuperation time that is needed after traveling (for me anyways) and it just has not happened. I came home and went straight into being sick, taking care of my little ones and Brett basically worked the whole weekend due to him being short staffed. That kind of made him in a bad mood, not really towards me but towards the situation and then that further increases my funk. My friend Catilin forced me into the land of the living by having me over for a playdate this morning and I was grateful for that. I've been bit of a recluse for the past week, not going anywhere due to lack of energy and motivation. Hoping I can shake the funk off SOON. It also could be PMS....hmm, that would actually make a lot of sense. :)

{2} I feel like I have a newborn again. Everett's sleep pattern has totally regressed and it's not cool. About 3-4 times a week he gets up 3 or 4 times a night and it totally ruins my sleep because after I take care of him, I get back into bed and have this pit in my stomach that he is not going to go back to bed and that causes me to lay awake wondering. Geez. He's been a little stopped up lately so I think that could be the cause. I've been feeding him some prunes, the magical fruit for Emersyn's occasional stopped up issues, but they haven't been working their magic on him. Poor bubba.

{3} The other day when I took Everett to the dr I washed my hands in the dr's office and the smell of that hospital grade medicinal soap actually made me wish I was having another baby. What?? It was the strangest thing. I just had such great experiences with both my babies in the hospital (minus the wailing and gnashing of teeth during Everett's brutally painful delivery) and that hospital smell just associates wonderful memories. But then after traveling with two kids, I'm fairly certain that the Jensen household is complete with two children.

{4}

Source: womansday.com via Patti on Pinterest

I actually made something off of Pinterest!!! I was in the mood to make something yummy for dinner the other night so I went to my food board and decided to make the first thing on there, a black bean lasagna. It was SO good....seriously!! Brett ranted and raved about it which made me very happy. The recipe can be found HERE. This would be a great meal to take to someone. The next time I make it I am going to make a double batch so that I can freeze one for the future. My only modifications were that I added some shredded chicken, only used one jalepeno, and I also made it in a bigger pan (2.5 quart corning ware) because I worried it wouldn't fit in the size that it called for. Doesn't food baked in corning ware just taste better? It sure looks better. Let me know if you try this! It's also relatively low calorie for mexican food.

{5} Brett finished reading "The Hunger Games" book one and he loved it. It was so fun talking to him about it. Now I feel kinda bad that I am going to a girls night to watch the movie in the theater because he really wants to see it too. I don't feel bad enough that I'm not going......I just might sneak him in with me after the lights are out. ;) The girls I'm going with wouldn't care if he came to the movie part....but I don't think he'd be cool with crashing a girl's night unless other guys came. We'll see how that works out, I just might have to see it twice!

Sacramento Trip!

Everett chillin' on his first flight!

This past weekend we had a wonderful time in Sacramento visiting with family. It was so much fun to introduce Everett to everyone and seeing Emersyn interact.

We stayed with my Uncle John and Auntie Marti. They had a room for us to stay in and for Emersyn to stay in, which worked out great. All of us sleeping in one room is a bit of a challenge at her age. They were so hospitable and welcoming; I felt totally comfortable and at home. Emersyn was comfortable right away too, despite not knowing them very well and would wake up in the mornings and enjoy juice and donut holes with John and Marti. So cute. My uncle is a great cook too so we scored in that regard, ha! Ems favorite thing to do there was play outside and color with Auntie Marti.

Can't beat playing in the sunshine in your jammies first thing in the morning!

There's lots of family for us to see in Sacramento since my dad's entire side of the family lives there. We got to see my favorite cousin and her two kids. I remember when she came to visit my family when she had just had her son Jordan. I think he was 3 or 4 weeks old at the time. Now he's a senior in high school and almost 18. Wow. Joslyn, her daughter, is a freshman and Ems just loved playing with her. She's great with kids.

We took pictures with my cousins outside of "The Fountain's" in Roseville. I kid you not, I felt seriously under dressed. There were women there that could have stepped out of the Real Housewives series....shopping on a Sunday afternoon with their kids and stilettos, skin tight jeans and diamond rings the size of golf balls. It was a cultural experience for us Oregonians. ;)

Seriously, how adorable is my bare footed son????

Ems looked pretty fab in her jean skirt and fake Uggs. :) We were SO grateful for the warm weather! When we arrived in Sacramento we had In'N'Out for lunch and ate outside!!!! We were in heaven!

Last winter before I announced that I was pregnant my Auntie Marti totally saw this baby boy golf outfit and thought she needed to get it for me. She brushed the thought aside and then a week later, I called to tell her I was pregnant and sure enough, it was a boy. Isn't this golf outfit adorable???

Everett meeting his Great Grandma Inglis

Emersyn, Everett and Great Auntie Debbie having fun in Grandma Inglis' yard

I have many fond memories of frolicking in my grandparents yard when I was a kid and I couldn't wait to see Emersyn have the same fun. Their yard isn't nearly as magical as it once was since my grandparents have slowed down a bit due to my grandpa's recent illness. It's still an amazing place to be though and I loved seeing my daughter running around it.

Emersyn was a little camera shy. Hard to imagine, right?

On Monday we headed into San Francisco for a little family getaway, just the four of us. I had never been across the Golden Gate bridge so we decided that we must make that a destination. We stopped at an old military base on the North end of the bridge to get some pictures and take in the incredible views.

One of the highlights of the entire trip was watching Brett wear my sweater wrap out of frozen desperation. He only wore a tshirt, not thinking of how much colder it is in San Fran versus inland. It was HILARIOUS watching him put it on. It didn't look near as funny when he had Everett on the front of him but without the Baby Bjorn it was ridiculous looking, ha ha.

Having fun in the old military quarters.

The kids fell asleep right as we crossed the Golden Gate bridge so we got to drive around the crazy San Francisco metropolitan area and see the sights.

The kids across the street from the "Full House" houses. We froze our hineys off played at the park across the street from these houses!

My kiddos got spoiled by my aunts and uncle, just like I used to be when I was a kid! So sweet and so fun.

This was a cute town that my dad used to go to when he was a kid. It's kind of like Enchanted Forest in Oregon, only flat and was cuter.

I found an E for Emersyn!

Emersyn and Everett with Uncle John and Auntie Marti, our gracious hosts for the week.

Our last activity before we left on Wednesday was taking a little tour of houses that my family has lived in. I saw a house that my great great grandma lived in, saw the house my grandma was born in, the house my dad was born in....all within a pretty close vicinity of each other! It was so special seeing those houses.

We got a crazy good deal on airfare this past Thanksgiving weekend...we're going to try to make that an annual tradition. So thankful for loving family to spend time with and enjoy sharing my kiddos with. We miss you all already!!!!

Crafty

I've blogged about crafting before here. Silly Patti had an 18 month old and just noooo time to be crafty. Well, fast forward two years and now I have two children and still not a lot of time to be crafty. However, people I know that have far crazier lives then I do are able to manage a project here and there so I've decided to participate in "National Craft Month". Did you know March is National Craft Month?? I didn't either until my friend Dara enlightened me. She made a DARLING spring wreath that totally inspired me, however I won't be making the same one as her because when any craft project calls for 500 of anything, I'm out.

An Easter miracle has occurred and I know what our plans are going to be FIVE weeks before the actual day of Easter. (Not everyone in our families shares my passion for planning). And the plans are that Easter is going to be at my house, yay! I love entertaining and love having a reason to decorate. So I'm going to march fingers over to Pinterest and find some inspiration for my tablescape and for dinner. And I imagine that along the way, I'll get a little crafty. :)

Of course the Easter season is so much more then arts and crafts. Still though, I think Jesus appreciates a beautiful tablescape. :)

Are you going to get crafty this month?