Holiday Cards!

Since having Emersyn, I've been inspired to do more creative Christmas cards that include photos of her and our family. I get tired of the *same old* templates though and have been on the lookout for something fresh and new. Shutterfly has an abundant of adorable and classic Christmas cards for me to choose from this year!

Shutterfly is doing a giveaway of 50 free holiday cards if you write a post about which designs are your favorite and then submit it to their website here! I am jazzed, what a great giveaway! Shutterfly is a great company and I have enjoyed several orders from them over the last several years.

Here are the cards that are in the running for our Jensen family 2010 Christmas card!!!

#1) I love the black and white picture and traditional red and green colors. I am kind of a traditional kinda girl. :) I think for this one we would do a family picture.

#2) I like this one for the same reasons as #1 but with this one we could do a family picture and then another darling picture of just Emersyn.

#3) I love the berry wreath and monogram on this one, as well as the option to write a little message on the card!

#4) I love how modern looking this one is, though it goes against my tradition of being tradional. :) I love all the places for pictures though. Pictures are a big deal to me.

I will also be exploring some of the more "religious" Christmas cards as the holiday's draw near. It's important to remember the reason for the season.

I love that you can do coordinating Christmas gift tags too!!!

I started gathering up all my addresses for Christmas cards weeks ago....I'm SO on top of things this year. We'll see how that long continues. ;)

This weekend I'll be.....

Resting.

Laughing.

Eating.
Walking.
Enjoying the company of friends.
Spending time with little babies and wanting another one of my own.
Watching my toddler interact with friends I've had since
I was in jr. high.
Cooking.
Baking.
Cleaning up.
Lounging.
Dreaming.
Blogging.
*happy sigh*

Five Question Friday

1. If you could have any talent and turn it into an occupation, what would it be? Hmm...maybe have the talent of organization and turn it into an occupation? That's not very original, but I do wish I was more organized. OR I would love to know how to sew and make sweet little dresses for Emersyn and her buddies.

2. Would you rather have a house at the beach or a cabin in the woods? Beach for sure, although ironically I am typing this from a cabin in the woods! I think the beach is such a fun vacation destination though for a family even though I haven't ever done a beach vacation since becoming an adult (unless you count Hawaii, but I don't). In Oregon, we refer to the beach as the "coast" and it's rarely warm enough to wear a swim suit on. It is beautiful though.

3. Is there any meaning or reasoning for the names you chose for your child/children? I had heard the name "Emerson" on a celebrity baby blog. (Don't judge me). I told Brett about it and he thought it was way too gender neutral. When I got pregnant I really really liked the name for a girl and Brett still didn't like it. Then, a miracle occurred. Randomly on my birthday Brett decided that he liked the name but wanted to change the spelling to "Emersyn" and I loved it. The rest is history. :) When we went to our gender ultrasound, we were debating between Emersyn and Evelyn and when I found out I was having a girl, I just knew her name was Emersyn. Now that I know my daughter, she is totally NOT an Evelyn even though I still like the name. We picked Grace for her middle name because I loved how feminine it was against the contrast of Emersyn and I love thinking of God's grace when I think of my daughter.

4. What is your guilty pleasure? (I know we've done this one before, but I'm guessing people's "guilty pleasures" change frequently. At least, mine do!) Hmm....probably manicures and pedicures fall into the guilty pleasure category. I know that they aren't very practical but I sure do love them. Costco might be a guilty pleasure too, I just love shopping there and often talk myself into coming home with things that I certainly do not *need*. I also love cleaning my house when it is mostly clean already and also taking and uploading pictures of my daughter. Are any of these guilty pleasures though or just hobbies?? LOL

5. Do you live in a house that is deep cleaned or straightened? My house is mostly straightened (as much as it can be with a two year old running around) but rarely deep cleaned. I don't think my house is *dirty*, like I keep up with vacumming and mopping the downstairs and keep it pretty tidy. But the master bathroom often needs a good wipe down and I seem to make it a low priority on my cleaning list. Shame on me. :)

Dear Aiden....

Aiden Maddox

Dear Aiden,

I am so bummed that I am not at the hospital meeting you right now. See, your mom and dad moved farrrrrr away from where I live and so now I have to either drive a long ways or hop on an airplane to come see you. I'm planning a trip in January though so you won't have to wait too long to meet me.

Your mommy has been my very best friend since we were in Jr. High. I can't believe that we are grown ups now, with kids of our own. I was with your mommy when she found out that you were in her tummy! She was so excited because she had prayed a long time for you sweet Aiden. Your mommy and daddy are wonderful people; you are so lucky to have been born into their family.

Your big brother Riley may have some reservations about your arrival but don't take it personally. I know you are destined to be best buddies and get into all kinds of trouble together. My little girl Emersyn is excited to meet you too. You will all grow up with lots of fun memories of playing together.

Do me a favor and go easy on your mom, okay? She's pretty tired from carrying you for the last 9+ months and giving birth can be quite tiring too. You were worth it though, I can tell. I just talked to your mama on the phone and she is so in love with you already. :)

I love you and pray that you grow up to be as sweet and healthy of a little man as your big brother.

Love,

Auntie Patti

Wordless Wednesday- Stella's Birthday Party!

Stella, the birthday girl!

(Emersyn was a "barista" for Halloween....Stella's party was a costume party!)

Busy bakers

Life around my house has been crazy lately. Like I said yesterday, we are down to one car which means I spend a large part of my (or what seems like anyways) driving back and forth from wherever Emersyn is hanging out that day (usually at her Nana's in Tigard) and my work in Hillsboro and either Brett's work downtown or the MAX lightrail station.

Because of all this driving, I feel like our evenings are so short and sometimes my heart aches a little at the lack of time that I get to spend with Emersyn due to work and just LIFE I guess. Last night we got home at about 7:45 and I decided to just seize the opportunity to spend some quality time with my girl. Fortunately, she had already eaten dinner (thank you Brianne!) so we didn't have to spend time preparing and eating. Brett heated up some leftover pizza and I decided to wait to eat until after Emersyn went to bed.

Emersyn just LOVES the pumpkin loaf at Starbucks; who doesn't?!?! I knew I had a can of pumpkin in my pantry so I decided that our evening would be best spent baking. Ems and I made these pumpkin muffins from AllRecipes.com. (I used a 15oz can of pumpkin in place of the fresh roasted pumpkin and also substituted applesauce for the oil).

"I'm ready to bake Mommy!"

Instead of spending the evening dwelling over the fact that I didn't get to spend as much time with Emersyn as I might have liked, I seized the evening and made a fun memory with my sweet girl. It won't be long before I don't have as much on my plate with work and I can say with full confidence that I will NEVER take my life as a SAHM for granted.

Do you ever get discouraged with how *busy* you are?

Monday Miscellany

{1} My thoughts on Halloween: yesterday we went down to visit Emersyn's great grandparents, as per our usual Halloween tradition. I was still kinda undecided about what we as a family are going to do on the actual day. I grew up trick or treating until I was about 8 or 9 and then my mom went with her personal convictions and decided to not let us go anymore. Ironically, the same year she made this decision, our Pastor's daughter borrowed a dress from me so SHE could go trick or treating. I was not pleased with this decision, LOL. Anyways, last night we got home about about 7:30 and there were SO many kids out and about. I got a little sad that we didn't have any candy and hadn't planned on taking Ems trick or treating. It's such a community event and I think we will do it next year. I know everyone has their own convictions about Halloween but so far, I don't think it needs to be something we forbid in our home. This may change as Emersyn grows up and grows more aware. We'll see. I want to do the best I can at protecting Emersyn from the "evils" of this world without making it so forbidden that she rebels in the future. We'll see how that goes. I love a fun reason to dress up and have a good time with friends. :)

{2} Today I peeked into the bathroom while Ems was playing in the bath and she cheerfully announced, "I washed my lady parts!". I love her.

{3} Last week we sold Brett's Honda on Craigslist and I almost had a nervous breakdown. I struggle with the fear of people....that's a whole other blog post for another day. The good news is, we sold the car. The bad news, now we are car shopping. We're praying for a good deal! Low price and low miles, please and thank you Lord!!

{4} 46 days until I enter the ranks of SAHM's!!!!

{5} I am not a fan of Eve today, nor will I be for the next 3 or 4 days. Just sayin'.

{6} Brett and I had a date night on Friday night! We used a "Groupon" and went to the Jopa Grill in Portland. It was delicious and fun, except for when Brett literally burnt off the roof of his mouth on some dangerously hot artichoke dip. :( Other then that, we had a great night. I have a confession though, instead of going out on the town after dinner we went home. And I went to bed. At 9:30. And apparently I snored loudly (which is unusual...I must have been OUT...I was SO tired) and kept Brett up for hours. I'm pretty sure that makes me a lousy date, lol.

{7} I have found that one mini sized box of Nerds candy will entertain one toddler for approx. 5 minutes. Keep as many boxes with you as needed.

{8} I always have TONS of miscellany type things in my head during the week and when I go to write this, hardly anything comes to mind!!

{9} I am going to be participating in NaBloPoMo this month!! It's "National Blog Posting Month" for those of you who don't know the blogger lingo. :) I did it last November and it was fun to re-read. When I challenge myself to blog more regularly, I find myself striving for more content in life...new recipes, life lessons, fun pics, etc. It should be a great month of blog posts!

Happy Monday!