Five on Friday

 Happy Friday!!! 

I can't believe we are less than a week away from Thanksgiving and barely a month away from Christmas! Time is FLYING by, as it always does during the holidays.

Tell me, friends… are you a before turkey day Christmas decorator or an after turkey day Christmas decorator? 

Growing up, we were always an after Thanksgiving family. My dad was adamant about that... and for the most part, I stick to my roots. But I may or may not have some of my Christmas decor ready and waiting in the garage. And I may or may not have bags of newly-purchased Christmas stuff in our spare room. And I may or may not already be listening to Christmas music. 

 Moving on ;)

I'm linking up again this week for Five on Friday, so here we go…

:::1:::

How.Is.She.So.Big? 

She's not big enough to actually swing by herself on the big swings, but she wanted to sit there while I slowly pushed her (while clingy tightly), and she loved it. 

:::2:::

 I worked on a custom order this week for some pirate ship decorations and cake toppers. They're a fancier version of the one listed in my shop. I'm pretty proud of how they turned out!

:::3:::

We got Jax's preschool pictures back (finally…) and they're pretty stinkin' cute! 

I'm not quite sure why they chose an open mouth picture, but it's still adorable. 

And please excuse the blurriness… a picture of a picture doesn't lend itself to good quality. Ha!

:::4:::

This cheesy girl is such a handful at times, but she is also such a sweet girl. 

I had always dreamed of being a "girl mom" and she is my dream come true. 

:::5:::

And in the season of giving thanks, I will never, ever let stressful days and temper tantrums and butt wiping and personal chef-ing get in the way of remembering how incredibly thankful I am for these two. 

I am so very blessed to be their mama. 

Happy almost Thanksgiving and happy weekend!!!

Veteran's Day

I had scheduled Monday's post a few days ahead of time and didn't connect the fact that it would post on Veteran's Day… and that I didn't even mention it. It wouldn't be too big of a deal, except that I am married to a veteran. Ahem. So it would be wrong not to mention him!
Ryan was in the Army for 8 years, before being honorably discharged in April 2012. He has been on multiple deployments and traveled all over the world for his job. 
I've posted before about him leaving (although that post was quite cryptic due to security reasons)

and about him coming home from deployments.

I've talked a little about how bittersweet it was to get out of the Army.
But overall, I'm so very thankful for my veteran. I'm so thankful for all the sacrifices he has made (although they weren't always pleasant). And I'm so thankful for the other men and women we met along with way who have done the same.

(Circa 2007... the day he returned from 15 months in Iraq. We got married the next day!)
THANK YOU, VETERANS!!!

Catching up

You've probably noticed (or maybe you haven't?) that things have been rather quiet around here lately. Ryan was out of town for work for three weeks, and I spent most of my time trying to keep my sanity while taking care of my littles ;) 

I've also been SUPER busy with ElleJayPartyDecor stuff!  I've been getting lots of orders from the shop, some from friends, and have been working on adding cute new holiday items! I'm also hosting a booth at a holiday boutique, so I've been trying to make lots of ready to sell items. 

So, I just haven't had a lot of time for this little ol' blog of mine. It's mostly just a journal and memory book for my little family, but I'm so thankful to those of you who care enough about us to follow along! I will probably continue to post less throughout the holidays, as it's a busy time of year anyway… and then add in my shop, and I don't wanna get burnt out. 

I'll be sure to check in and post pictures and updates regularly, it just may not be quite as often.  If you'd like to see more day-to-day stuff from me, come find me on Instagram (jennahansen).
Happy Monday!!

The Chirping Moms Blog

I'm so excited to share some of my ElleJayPartyDecor work over on The Chirping Moms blog today! 

I love Courtney and Julie, and they both have the most adorable kiddos.  Make sure to follow them... you'll be glad you did!  I'm also offering a GIVEAWAY over there!  So go check it out!!!

Five on Friday- Halloween Edition

Hi friends! Happy Friday! 
Did everyone have a fun and safe Halloween??
I'm keeping today's Five on Friday short and sweet. I picked my favorite 5 pictures from last night and thought I'd share them with you! It wasn't hard to pick 5... because I used my phone instead of my big-girl camera, and half of the pictures are blurry. Awesome.  So here we go...

 ONE

We started our evening at our church's Halloween carnival.

Lexi was able to play games this year!

 How is she so big?!

TWO

Of course this guy was all about the games. 

And the bounce houses. 

And the pony rides. 

THREE

She is the cutest zebra EVER!

FOUR

My heart on a pony. 

FIVE

Candy. All the candy (hidden by his bag though. Oops). 

He's just a little happy about it ;)

And I couldn't skip this picture... so we're doing Six on Friday.
SIX She was loving her lollipop.  She kept saying "mmmmmmmm!" and nodding her head.

I hope y'all had a great Halloween! 
Have a wonderful weekend!