Fall Festivities

We've had a busy few weeks full of lots of fun fall stuff! I love this time of year and I especially love seeing things through my kids' eyes!

A few weeks ago we went to my nephews birthday party at a pumpkin patch. The kids had a blast walking through the corn maze, climbing on the huge piles of pumpkins, riding the train, and running around in the dirt. So.Much.Dirt. 

Later that night we went to ZooBoo at our local zoo. My cute little zebra had so much fun! 

And Captain America got his face painted (although it kind of just looks like a big blog. Ha!)

They has SO MUCH FUN dancing in "Dracula's Disco"

The festivities continued last week when my mom and I took the kids to the coast for the day to go apple picking. We found a U-Pick apple farm and headed there for a bit. 

After that, we went to a farm/pumpkin patch. They had lots of animals that we could feed. That was Lexi's favorite part, BY FAR! She would squeal and throw her hands in the air every time the animal ate something from her hand. We rode a hay ride and walked through a hay maze (did you know that you can't hear ANYTHING in those things?? I was terrified of losing Jax!). And the kids had fun doing more climbing and exploring.

Last Friday night we had our best friends over for our annual Halloween cookie decorating night. We ordered pizza, decorated cookies, and watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown". It was such a fun evening. I love that these kids get to grow up together. 

I hope y'all are having a wonderful fall and almost Halloween! 

 I can't wait to see everyone's costumes on Thursday!!

WINNER!

Thank you to everyone who entered my "Thank You" giveaway! 
I loved seeing all of your entries and I especially loved reading all of your comments!
The WINNER is...
ALEX JACOBSON!!!
Congratulations, Alex! 
Keep your eyes open for an email from me to claim your prize!

15 months old!

I decided to stop doing monthly updates on Lexi once she turned one, but I figure that it's still fun to give updates every once and a while... if only for my own memory's sake!

In bullet form, here are some of the latest stats and milestones...
*She weighs 19.5 pounds
*Size 3 diaper
*12-18 month clothes
*Size 3 shoes
*Sleeps 730pm-6am
*Naps 8-930am and 1-3pm
*Loves her mimi (binky) *Eats almost anything (although she's teething right now so she doesn't always eat well)

*She started walking at 14 months *She has 11 teeth (4 front bottom, 4 front top, 3 molars... that 4th molar refuses to come through and it's making her so fussy!!!)
*Loves noisy toys
*Loves running away from us if we set her down in public (eek!)
*Says Mama, Dada, Bubba, Mojo (Momo), Nana, Boppa, More (mo), bow!!! (buh), bye (bah) (sounds like she has a Southern accent. Ha!), diaper (bah-bo), uh-oh, and a few other things that I can't remember right now.
*Signs more, all done, please, milk
*Loves giving hugs and kisses. She lays her head on our shoulder to hug us and says "awwwww"
*She's obsessed with shoes and has to have them on at.all.times.

You bring such joy to our family, sweet girl!
Happy 15 months!

Five on Friday!

Happy Friday everyone!!!

Once again, I'm linking up with Darci and friends for Five on Friday! Here we go...
ONE  Let me start by saying THANK YOU to everyone who has entered the giveaway so far!  If you missed it, you can enter HERE!  You have until next Wednesday to enter for a chance to win some fun goodies!

TWO

I added this new ballerina theme to my Etsy shop this week. 

It love how pink and girly it is!!!

Right now I've got cupcake toppers and a birthday banner. 

I'm working on getting some decorations and thank you tags added soon. 

I'm also finishing up a princess theme and can't wait to add that!

THREE

There are some days... okay most days...  when Jax gets a little wild and isn't always gentle with Lexi. He was so sweet and gentle with her when she was a baby, but as she's gotten older, he's taken full advantage of her non-fragile-ness. BUT there are times when they are both so sweet and cute with each other, and it just melts my heart. A few days ago I found them snuggled under our printer desk, eating a snack. They're pretty darn cute!

FOUR I am pretty excited for Halloween, but not really because of actual Halloween. Confusing, much? To me, Halloween isn't a big deal, but it IS the official beginning of the holiday season, and THAT makes me super excited! We rarely have candy in our house, so Halloween is such a battle for me. I want our kids to enjoy the festivities, but I don't want to load them up on candy. I also don't want to hand out candy to neighbor kids, since we don't eat junk food, but I don't want to be the lame house that doesn't have candy. Such a dilemma! I'm thinking about getting a mix of different, fun little toys, glow sticks, Halloween pencils, etc... and letting the kids pick from those. Is that still lame?? I'm just ready for November 1st so I can focus on Thanksgiving and CHRISTMAS!!!
FIVE I'm so excited for this weekend! We have tons of plans, and although we'll be super busy, it's also going to be a lot of fun! Tonight we are having a pizza dinner out on the street with our neighbors. We are so blessed to live in a neighborhood with lots of little kids! Saturday morning we are having breakfast with my parents, then heading to my nephew's birthday party at the pumpkin patch. I can't wait to see the kids' excitement! Saturday evening we are throwing on our Halloween costumes (well, the kids are...) and heading to our local zoo for ZooBoo. It'll be a busy, fun-filled weekend and I can't wait!

(Late-night neighborhood duck duck goose!) Have a wonderful day, friends!

A Little "Thank You" Giveaway!!!

A few days ago, I hit 200 likes over on my blog Facebook page!  So to say thanks to all of you, I wanted to have a little giveaway!  This isn't sponsored or paid for by anyone but little ol' me.  It's just my way of saying thanks for following, praying, commenting, and loving me and my family!
So what will you win???

1- $15 store credit to my Etsy shop, ElleJayPartyDecor 2- My favorite mascara, Covergirl LashBlast in Black 3- An adorable infinity scarf, perfect for fall weather! 4- $10 Starbucks gift card, because you can't have a giveaway without one :) 5- EOS all natural lip balm in Strawberry
These are just a few fun things to brighten your day and say thank you for following along!
Use the rafflecopter below to enter. 
There are multiple ways to earn entries, and all of them will be verified before I choose a winner, so please be honest! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Winner will be chosen Wednesday October 23rd. 
GOOD LUCK!!

Insta Randoms

I've got a little iPhone/Instagram catch up for y'all today! Because I know you were just aching for more pictures of my cute kids. I'm not biased or anything. Nope. Not one little bit. ;)
How is she getting so darn big??

She makes the craziest faces sometimes!

The other day, Jax said "Hey Mama, can you do this? It's kinda hard!" 

I about died laughing!

There has been a lot of this going on in our house lately. A LOT. I'm not sure if it's just teething or a stage or what, but it's very frustrating!

Licking the beaters at Nana and Boppa's house for Boppa's birthday! 

Forget the beaters... how about straight from the dispenser?!

  

I am LOVING fall weather (although it isn't cool every day just yet), and the cute toddler girl clothes that come with it! Oversized sweater? Check! Leggings? Check! Boots? Check, check!

We went to the park to enjoy the beautiful weather and this sweet girl was running around having a blast. Even though she can be so frustrating, this is such a fun age!

I'm a little behind on getting her 15 month post up, but I'll have that posted in the next week. 
We're off the the fair today, so you can find me in about six hours, laying on the couch and sleeping off my food coma.
HAPPY SATURDAY!!

A little catch up and health update

Hi friends! So good to talk to y'all again! I realize that I haven't been around much over the past 2 weeks. As I mentioned last Friday, I hadn't been feeling well, and was going through a bunch of different tests to try to figure out what was going on.
To back up a little.... a week ago Sunday I was overwhelmed by a weird lightheaded/spacey/tingly feeling. I ended up spending most of that afternoon laying down and trying to feel better. It was a scary feeling and I was really worried. Ryan convinced me that it wasn't life-threatening, but I still wasn't feeling great. Over the next few days, that same type of feeling came and went, and I decided to see my doctor. She ran some tests, then sent me for a brain and neck MRI. I got a call later that night (after being told that it would be 48 hours for results... scary!) and she told me that they found a little abnormality on the right side of my brain, and that she had made me an appointment with a neurologist. She said that those type of findings can be normal but that they can sometimes also be seen in people with MS. So, to say that I was scared would be an understatement! 
I had to wait four days for my appointment, which seemed like an eternity, but I prayed for peace in waiting, and had quite a few people praying for me as well. Over the weekend, I started to feel a lot better and felt A LOT of peace about the situation. I went to my appointment and got the "all clear" from the neurologist!!! She said that it was just an "over read" and that there was nothing indicating MS or any other problems. 
I am SO thankful for each of my friends and family members who have been praying for me... and to any of you who were praying for my health in general. I really felt peace and healing over these past few days!
I am now trying to get a handle on some of the anxiety that came with all the scariness over the past week and a half. I've met with some people who have helped me learn how to specifically pray over my situation. I'm learning how to focus more on God, deny the enemy of any power he tries to have over me, and figuring out how to plant myself right in God's peace and promise for my life. 
I would appreciate your continued prayers through these next few weeks as I learn how to manage this anxiety better!
Here's to a better tomorrow and a renewed strength through Him!

Five on Friday::: Instagram Edition

Happy Friday, my sweet friends! 
I'm so sorry to have abandoned this blog of mine over the past week. I've had a lot going on and haven't been feeling too great, so my health took priority over this little corner of the Internet. 
But I couldn't skip Five on Friday this week since I skipped it last week... so let's get to it!

Here's what has been going on over the past week, Instagram style.  You can find me over there @jennahansen :)
1-- We had our best friends over last Friday night for enchiladas and margaritas. These sweet kiddos love being together. Maybe someday Lexi will have another girl to play with!

2-- On Saturday we painted pumpkins to put on our porch. Lexi enjoyed painting everything except the pumpkin. What more can you expect from a 15 month old??

3-- Lexi and Daddy had a little snuggle nap on Sunday afternoon. How sweet is this?!

4-- We made a trip to Target (like we do pretty much every week!) and played with some of the Halloween goodies. That green thing on Lexi's head just about toppled her over!

5-- I mentioned that I haven't been feeling well, so there was a lot of couch time, movies, and relaxing happening over the past week.  

And in case you missed them, don't forget to check out the recipe for Pumpkin Cookies with Maple Brown Butter Frosting. Everyone that has tried them has RAVED about them! Don't miss out! Have a wonderful weekend!