pampered

Last night I got pampered!

My friends Mandy & Lindsay threw baby #3 and I a fun little dinner party with my closest gals! Check out the invitation that came in the mail...it was inside of a Pampers diaper! Who knew you could mail a diaper? Nolan thought it was HILARIOUS when we found it in the mailbox!

It was a wonderful night out without the kids to feel spoiled and loved on before my life becomes crazier than ever in just a few short weeks!

Here are the adorable place settings for our fabulous dinner of flank steak with chimichurri sauce, baked potatoes, and salad! The napkins were folded and pinned like diapers, Lindsay made the adorable cookie favors, and each one included a Bible verse that the girls went around the table and read to me as a prayer for baby before we ate.

We played "Baby Jeopardy"! For the category 'Baby Abby', Mandy asked my Mom questions about me when I was a baby! Of course I rocked this category! And then for the category 'Third Pregnancy', she asked Mark questions about our third pregnancy. It was fun to hear what they had to say! The categories 'Due Date' and 'Baby 101' were actually quite hard! They were full of detailed, factual questions that even after having been pregnant 3 times, I didn't know the answers to!

But in the end, my partner and I still won the game! It was hard to remember to answer in the form of a question! We all had a lot of fun and laughed a lot!

After the game it was time for dessert! We had an awesome chocolate cappuccino cheesecake with fresh whipped cream! It was AMAZING!! I will definitely be getting the recipe!

And then I got spoiled with thoughtful gifts...

My Mom and best friend Jill even sent gifts through the mail! I so wish they could have been there.

Look at how adorable Jill packaged her present! Can you tell she teaches Kindergarten? Perfect little touches of cuteness!

I got gift cards and diapers...

and tiny little outfits.

And both of my sister in laws got me some fun reading material too, to help me relax before baby arrives! They so know me! Ha!

With our due dates just 3 days apart, Mandy found these perfect onesies for our future BFF's: Thing 1 and Thing 2! We'll have to do a photo shoot with them wearing them once they are born!

Mandy also made me this adorable diaper cake with little stress relieving and relaxation lotions and scrubs attached to it! Something for baby and mommy!

I was so blessed to have a night to think about this baby and help prepare for his arrival! Here I am with my sister in law Jayne, friend Gwen, sister in law Cara, and mother in law Barb! I'm so glad to have them here to love on and help with our boys!

And these girls have been the best support system over the years of having moved away from friends and family in Illinois and Michigan. We all married Denver Christian boys and are so thankful for their lasting friendships that have now brought us together! (From left to right: Kim Krauth, me, Lindsay Cottier, Mariah Van Eps, and Mandy Leensvaart)

And my awesome hostesses and fellow preggo friends! It will be so fun to raise our BOYS together! Yes, we are all having BOYS!!!

A HUGE thank you to all of my friends and family who have helped to make my third pregnancy so special! I can't wait to introduce you all to our latest handsome Jansen boy! Let's just hope he hangs in there for a few more weeks!

Nesting- part 1

I have entered full blown nesting mode! Everyday I feel this sense of urgency to get things done around the house and in preparation for the arrival of our THIRD little boy! It's perfect timing because I am off track for the next three weeks and can slowly start to check things off of my TO DO list. I get one or two small things done a day, but I still have a few BIG things that are looming over my head and driving me crazy- like getting the nursery done, and moving Heath into his big boy bed. I know that I still have about a month until my due date. But I just have this feeling that I will have this guy early. I was a week early with Nolan and 2 weeks early with Heath, but now that I'm saying this I'll probably go past my due date! Ha!

One of the first things I decided to take on to get ready for baby's arrival was to redo the boys bathroom. We had never really done anything in this room besides take down the hideous floral border that was up when we moved in and hang up an old shower curtain. And now that I knew we would be having all boys I wanted to make it a BOY bathroom for them. Not that they spend much time in there, but I wanted it to be a cool space for them to take baths and brush their teeth and do what boys do best...stink it up!

I bought this simple navy blue shower curtain and picked out a slate grey wall color. I did all the taping and Mark painted the walls. I also bought all new brushed nickel hardware to replace the gold stuff that was in there already. Wow, it's crazy how expensive just a toilet paper holder can be! This quick little re-decorating job turned out to be much more expensive then planned! More on that to come...

We replaced the lighting and medicine cabinet as well.

And I added a few little decorative touches...

We took a few things from Heath's nursery to use in the new bathroom since he'll be moving in with Nolan soon and I want to do a new theme in the nursery for the "new baby". {What Nolan calls him these days...we have decided on his name, but there is no way we are telling him what it is! Nolan remembers everything and will be sure to repeat! We, actually I, really want to keep it a secret...something easy to do to make it special and surprise our friends and family on the day yet another boy enters our lives!}

I bought nice, new, thick, warm towels for them, in grey and navy. I want new towels now too! They are awesome and so soft and best of all I got a rockin' deal on them at Kohl's with my 30% off coupon!

The boys really love their new bathroom and their Mommy is pretty happy with the way it turned out as well!

Even if we had a {minor} mishap, which resulted in a cracked pipe, a {large} hole in the wall in the hallway, visits from a plumber and a drywall guy, yet another trip to Lowe's for some paint color matching, and about another $400 down the drain! YIKES!

What was supposed to be a quick nesting project done in a weekend, took about a month, but hey...that's life! And now it feels awesome to have it checked off the list! Next up, finishing touches on the boys room and the nursery...stay tuned!

a few more HALLOWEEN highlights...

This post is random...

really random, but just wanted to share a few more highlights from Halloween week!

I love sending/making/creating cards. I love getting mail myself, so I think it's fun to be able to send a little love via snail mail! For most holidays we make a crafty card or I do a photo card of some sort to give to the fam. Here's our Halloween card this year!

Grandma & Grandpa and Uncle T. sent the boys a great Halloween package! We Skyped with them while opening it so I didn't get any pictures, but the best part of the package for Nolan were these Halloween ducks! He played with them non stop for a week straight I think! And if you come over, he will for sure ask you which one is your favorite! Ha!

Our little Dracula...scary huh?!

Nolan and Heath got Halloween cards from Oma & Opa. They LOVED opening them and seeing what was inside...

MONEY!!! It's amazing how $2 can make a 3 year old so happy!

Money...not sure Heath really knows what it is, but when he saw his brother so excited about it, he knew it must be pretty cool!

And they got stickers too! Nolan decorated his whole card right away using every single sticker!

When Heath does stickers he puts them all over his arms and legs! He looks a little crazed in this photo! Ha! He is showing off the stickers on his hand and saying "CHEESE", but crazed IS really a great description of him! He is truly "crA crA" as Nolan likes to say! Love his passion for life, but his fiesty-ness about puts me over the edge sometimes!

Auntie also sent the boys a fun package, not so much for Halloween, but full of funny little things she's picked up for the boys recently. It was cheaper for her to send the package than to check a bag on her flight. The boys LOVE getting things in the mail anyways so we opened it up when she got here!

Nolan putting together his new "Monster 'tato"!

Auntie Mal brought all sorts of random treasures from her recent trip to Minnesota. This face on a stick being one of them. Apparently his name is Ron something or other. But Ron has brought our boys countless hours of fun since he arrived at our house! They think he is just so funny! And we play "Hide Ron" just about every day! Nolan gets a kick out of hiding him somewhere in the house and having us find him. And we do the same for him! He thought it was hilarious when he found Ron tucked into his bed at naptime. He said, "Hey, what's Ron doing in my bed?!"

Heaters wanted to show off Ron as well...good try!

Ron's Halloween hiding spot!

And then we also ended up with these awesome hats! They are really funny looking!

One night we made a sort of Stromboli creation. It was okay, not awesome, but not bad. However, since Mallory and I both ended up getting the worst stomach bug ever later that night, the thought of this dish is just plain AWFUL! I will not be making it again, that's for sure.

Mark brought home this little leather chair and ottoman that a friend from work gave him. The boys have had a blast with it! They watch shows in it, eat snacks in it, and of course, climb and jump all over it! It's been a fun new addition to the house!

On Auntie's last day we whiped up some take and bake pumpkin cookies for a quick snack!

And we TRIED to snap a few pictures together...

Nolan showing off his spider window clings...

and giving kisses goodbye!

Thanks for coming "Ti Ti"! We love you to pieces and can't wait to have you back for Christmas!

Trick or Treat!

A look back at our SUPER Halloween...

Instead of a Halloween Party at school, Nolan's class had a Pajama Party! So of course this crazy mama had to run out and pick up some new cute p.j.'s for Nolan to sport at school that day! He looked so warm and cozy. They watched Toy Story 3 and had popcorn for a treat! He also had to bring a small pumpkin to paint. He loved picking out just the perfect one! He hasn't brought it home yet, so I'm not sure how it turned out. But he told me he used lots of colors! I'll have to post a picture of his finished masterpiece when it comes home!

The night before we worked hard on creating a special Halloween treat for his friends at school.

We made MONSTER EYES!

Nolan helped me stick the eyeballs onto Rolos! I was so sick that day so Mark had to help out with the production as well! But they turned out pretty cute and Nolan enjoyed passing them out to his friends at the end of the day!

After school we went to visit Daddy at his National CineMedia Halloween Party! They really go all out and even though we came a little late and some departments had cleaned up already, the boys got some yummy treats and enjoyed seeing all the creative decorations!

Mark's department decorated and dressed up like the game and movie: Clue!

He was Professor Plum! Check out his hair...Mallory cut the middle so it looked like he was balding! Later after work we buzzed the sides off too, although I think he actually kind of liked his crazy 'do!

Mark got to leave work a little early that day which was nice because we were able to put the finishing touches on our costumes and head out to Trick or Treat as soon as we saw that our neighbors were home!

Nolan loved running down the street with his cape flapping in the wind!

It was so fun watching Nolan be so independent this year! He would run up to houses all by himself, ring the doorbell, say "Trick or Treat", get his candy, say "Thank you", and run back to the sidewalk ready to head to the next house!

It was fun to see what kinds of candy the boys chose. Heath has a bucket full of "M&M's"- his favorite. And Nolan has a random assortment- chocolate covered pretzels, Skittles, Halloween marshmallows, candy bars, Nerds...he wanted to try it all! Personally, my favorite Halloween candy are DOTS! What's yours?

Our SUPER FAMILY!

SUPER MOMMY and SUPER BABY!!!

SUPER DADDY was quite the sight! Mark wore spandex pants with underwear on the outside! What a good Dad he is to do this for his boys! The boys wore undies on the outside as well, but their shirts were too long and you couldn't really see them. When we put Nolan's on top of his jeans he said, "I already have undies on, I think I need two butts!" Such a funny thinker!

We hit up as many houses as possible around our block and by the time we made it back to our house the boys were exhausted! Heath had spilled his bucket about 4 times and Nolan was starting to walk very S-L-O-W-L-Y!

So we rested for a few minutes and did a little Tebowing too! Ha!

Then we headed out to Oma & Opa's house to do a bit more Trick or Treating, eat some delicious soup, and have some fun with the cousins!!!

Cohen and Heath liked watching for Trick or Treaters out the front door!

We managed to get all the kids to look at the camera for our annual costume shot! Brady was Mario, Payton was a Zoo Keeper, our boys were Super Heroes, Landon was a skunk, and Cohen wore Heathy's costume from last year and was an adorable little dalmation!

We snapped a family picture with SUPER AUNTIE in it too!

And here's a picture of our capes from the back! My mom worked really hard to whip these up in just a few days before my sister came out! She did a great job and helped make our Halloween extra special!

Check out the video below for a couple of clips from our Trick or Treating fun at the first house we went to and at Oma & Opa's...they were so excited at both!

Such great memories caught in photo and film!