Kate's Gingerbread House

The North Pole Express

Grapevine Texas is such a wonderful place to visit this time of year! They fancy themselves to be the Christmas capital of Texas and I believe it! I'm sure most of you have seen the movie "The Polar Express" and they do a wonderful job of recreating that same feel here in Texas. It was a pretty cold night so that helped to feel more like the winter wonderland that this Midwest girl is used to at Christmastime:) Kate even had her PJ's on!


Yes, that is a chip hanging out of her mouth


My two favorite people in the whole world


The train conductor


SNOW!!!


KJ and Mommy on the train


Mrs Claus


The real star of the show...SANTA!!!!!!

The vintage train


And no evening is complete without a trip to Chilis and mommy and KJ being silly!

Cooking with Kate

Get the Dish from Trish round 2

One of our Fall favorites...


Chili-A Trish original creation

1 lb ground beef-I use Laura's lean 4%
1 large onion-chopped
1 large green pepper-chopped
4 stalks of celery -chopped
2 Tbsp garlic
2 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp smoked paprika
2 Tbsp worcestershire
1 Tbsp sugar
2 cans of fire roasted tomatoes diced (I use Muir Glen with diced chilies)
1 can corn-no salt added
2 cans red kidney beans (low sodium)
1 can or bottle of beer-whatever you have around, but Guinness(gives it a more rich smokey flavor) and Miller Light seem to work best (Shiner is a great beer to use for those of you in Texas)
1 cup of beef broth-no salt added
1 bottle of low sodium V8 (46 fl oz)
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste...you can also throw in some crushed red pepper and cayenne if you like it spicy.


Begin to brown ground beef. Add onion until tender and translucent. Add garlic, green pepper, celery and cook until beef is fully browned. Then add everything else and bring to a boil. Simmer for 1-2 hours or throw it in the crockpot! Serve with whole wheat crackers or tortilla chips. I sometimes add avocado, low fat sour cream, and 2% sharp cheddar for an extra added kick:) Enjoy!

Happy Halloween!

We only have 6 houses in our neighborhood so we decided to walk over to the neighborhood next to ours and see our friends, the Young's, who recently moved there. Aaron and Tina were sitting outside with Baby Scarlett so we took a tour of their gorgeous house and KJ and Scarlett looked through Kate's candy stash...I can't wait to dig through it myself...I freaking love this time of year!

Well, we visited about 15 houses when KJ realized that she had use the potty, so at house #15 Kate very politely said, "Hello, trick or treat? I have to pee pee!" The lady of the house(I clearly have no idea who she is) said that is the first time she's heard that one in 25 years of answering the door on Halloween night! (Thank you for your hospitality and allowing us to use your lovely bathroom) It's something I will remember for the rest of my life! As many of you know, Kate is really into anything "princess." Earlier in the week she went to a Halloween party as Snow White, but Kate likes to change things up a bit so she went as Cinderella this evening:)

Celebration of Life

As most of you know, Kate goes to montessori school 3 days a week. It definitely gives her a different perspective than what she gets at home. I always say that her school is very organic and earthy... which I think is so awesome, but I'm still not into the whole recycle everything, eat only organic, plant your own garden kinda life. I had such a great time visiting Kate's class last Thursday for her "Celebration of Life." Basically, I just shared a picture from each year of her life starting with a picture of the day she was born and gave a little tidbit from each year as Kate held the earth in her hands and walked around the sun while her classmates sang. It was so freaking adorable I almost cried! Of course I had to bring in a snack. Kate would have been kicked out of school if I would have brought in cupcakes or cookies so organic yogurt it was! Oh, and have I mentioned that Kate will only wear dresses with pockets now?

"Mom, this is lame!"


Ms. Angela rocks!

Visit from Geegoo

Kate calls my mom, "Geegoo." I think my mom is called something different from each one of her grandchildren(Grammy, Mamaw, Grandma Taylor) so I'm not sure how she keeps it straight. Anyway, we had a nice time while Geegoo was here...it was pretty low key and Kate enjoyed every minute of it! Seph was away at a meeting for most of the week so I was glad to have an extra set of hands. Thanks mom!

KJ turns 3!

Our little angel is growing up way too fast! Here are some pics from her big day!

Checking out the decor before her bash


We are all looking at a different camera...pretty typical:)


Her best buds


Keep your eyes closed


Surprise!!!!


Passed out!

Run in the Dark Fun Run 2010

This is our second year in a row that we participated in the "Run in the Dark" for one of the local charities. Kate ran the entire thing again this year (well, almost, we took a bit of a shortcut so Kate could catch up with her BFF, Lily) I'm so proud of our little blondie!

Ice cream Wednesdays

Ballerinas and Big Girl Beds

This has been a very busy couple of weeks in the Jensen household. Kate is finally potty trained and it was time to switch her to a big girl bed. I've always said those were the two things I was dreading most! Well, I'm happy to say that she was fairly easy to potty train and she slept like a dream last night...after putting her back in bed 15 times in 15 minutes! It was really sweet because she had a unique reason for walking out of her room each time. My personal favorite was, "mommy, what store did you get the race car at?" Anyway, we will see how the rest of the week goes and I will post more pictures of her room when the decorating is complete.

Kate started ballet and tap class this past Saturday. I was a little nervous that she wouldn't enjoy it, but she was grinning from ear to ear the entire time.

A couple pics from the week...

my little punkin


Passed out


Ice-cream Wednesday


The fam:)


KJ taking a "nap" with her daddy.

Get the Dish from Trish

Cooking is my only true hobby (well, that and pilates, but that's for another post) so I just want to share some of my favorite original recipes with you! Corn salad is one of my special summer sides...we throw it in tacos, dip with chips, or just throw it on a plate next to a sandwich. As a side note, I try to eliminate a lot of the sodium from recipes, but feel free to use whatever you would like. Also, I tend not to measure very much so just add to your liking.

2 cans corn (no salt added) or fresh corn if you would like to take the time
2 cans low sodium black beans (Bush's makes a low sodium version) rinsed to get the rest off
celery (this is the key ingredient)
scallions or red onion
red bell pepper
minced garlic
chopped cilantro
a couple tbsp of good quality olive oil
a dash of cumin
the juice of 2 or more limes
salt and pepper to taste

Mix together and enjoy right away or it's even better if it sits a while in the fridge:) ENJOY!

Stay Tuned

Sorry for the lack of posts lately...I will update over the weekend:)

Martha Stewart

As most of you know, I like to read other blogs. This is just a little excerpt from one of my favs! Does anyone else do the following? :)

"hold it. perhaps i should mention the shakedown. oh, the shakedown. a term invented by sister which, by definition, is the 45 minute blitz you frantically set out on right before your husband comes home which magically transforms your home into looking like you've been june-cleaver-in' the place all day. can't tell you how many times i've been gabbing with my sister at six o'clock only to wildly cut the call short with a "--crap, i have to go...shakedown time!" which is always met with empathy and a 'you'll-get-it-done' on her part. and i always do. in fact, if i don't say so myself, i've been known to turn a pit-gone-mad into martha stewart's living room, spit-shine the kitchen, throw something into the crockpot, turn the dryer on, light some candles, crank some diana krall, dispose of my pajamas, and smear some lipstick on in thirty-seven minutes flat. and he'll be all like 'wow' when he comes home. and i'll be all like, if-only-you-knew." Kelle Hampton

Happy Father's Day!

Playing Dress Up

Seph accidentally put my wedding dress in the attic and I didn't discover this until a few weeks ago. Yeah, attics in Texas are not exactly a good storage area for wedding dresses, but thankfully it was preserved in a special box...Well, not anymore:) KJ and I decided to play dress up this morning. It was really sweet to see how excited she was when she tried it on. On a side note...yes, it still fits! Praise the Lord!

Blondies

Greens and Blues

I mean seriously? Who doesn't wear their blue Cinderella princess heels to play a little golf with their dad in the backyard?

5 Years!

Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband! It's been quite an adventure over the past 5 years and I wouldn't change any of it! Thank you for giving me the most beautiful daughter! You guys mean the world to me and I'm looking forward to every moment we share together! I love you!