Easy Like Sunday Morning

Happy Sunday, everyone!  Yesterday I celebrated National Too F*cking Hot To Do Anything Outside Day by painting our front door.  There were so many chips in it, I just couldn't take it anymore.  It was sooooo hot out, my fat was crying.  I do love how fresh and clean it looks though, so it was worth it!  Fun fact:  The wreath on our door was left there by the previous owners.  I named her Wreatha Franklin.

We also went and picked out paint for our front porch floor.  I love the distressed look as much as anyone, but it's getting a little too rustic for my taste. AKA, all the paint has chipped off of the steps.  We thought about having them try and match the paint because the rest of the porch is in pretty good shape.  But I went with a little bit lighter color, so we will have to paint the whole thing. SON-OF-A....We went with the color circled below.  I almost went with the one just below it because it is called Front Porch and I am a sucker for clever marketing.  

The girls helped me move some plants into bigger pots so they can grow.  As soon as I opened the bag of dirt, Daphne said "Ewwwww dats gross!"  The plants were from a friend.  They are African Violets and they make such a pretty window plant.  African love them!  Get it? I shouldn't be giggling as much as I am about that...Okay, back on track.  I also love that the plants came from my friend's grandmother.  I love having little pieces of history scattered throughout our home.  I got the pots from Lowe's.  They have a lot of summer things on clearance right now so it is a good time to go get anything you need for next year!

Last night we took the girls to Despicable Me 3.  Daphne lasted about 3 minutes into the previews before she started running up and down the row.  She just isn't good at movie theaters yet.  About one hour into the movie, we surrendered.  Tate and Daphne went out to the truck so Libby and I could finish watching.  It was a cute movie.  Today we are going to swim at my mom and dad's pool.  This will consist of Libby sitting on the flamingo float the whole time and Daphne demanding me to throw her in the air or catch her as she jumps off the pool deck.  She also likes to play a made up game called Scuba where she sits on the side of a giant inner tube, yells SCUBA, and then falls backwards.  She is such a little fish.  Libby is more of a land dweller.  I hope you all have a great Sunday with friends and family.  May your work week go fast. :)

My First Garden

Alternatively titled: Life's a Garden, Dig It.  You guys, this year I planted my very first garden.  Do you remember the game "Oregon Trail" that you used to play back in 1995?  You knew at least one person in your party was going to die.  That is kind of how I felt about my plants and seeds that I was planting.  I knew one (or more) of those guys wasn't going to make it through the summer.  But, with a trowel in my hand and hope in my veggie-loving heart I set off on my first garden adventure.

Our house came with a raised garden bed.  They also put a wire fence around it to keep all of the critters out.  It has been working so far.  I actually had my first harvest about a week ago--a cup of peas and one banana pepper.  To be honest, when I was first planting everything, I thought my garden would yield a lot more produce.  ONE cup of peas.  What am I going to do with ONE cup of peas?  Part of it is my fault for not doing my research.  You know how men do this funny thing sometimes where they don't read the directions that come with the packaging...well, I did that with my peas.  I may have missed one tiny detail that the peas were the climbing variety.  Most of the time I do zero prep work or research and I just kind of wing it.  Cooking - wing it.  Child-rearing - wing it.  Gardening - wing it.  The bountiful pea harvest of 2017 has made its way into the freezer and will likely find its way in beef stew at some point this fall.  I already want to expand the garden next year.  Think of the classic Jaws scene "We're gonna need a bigger boat."

Libby is my little helper.  She loved snapping peas with me.  I am about ready to plant more for a fall harvest.  I love any variety of squash so I will probably do that and maybe try and get another round of beans or peas in.  I like to use a lot of fresh herbs when I cook, so earlier this spring the girls and I started some fresh herbs from seed.  We did cilantro, basil, oregano, and parsley.  Those are the ones I use the most when I cook.  I bought these copper plant markers (pictured below) at our local farmer's market and I love them! 

Reflections to date: I will NEVER plant cauliflower or broccoli again.  Also, my tomatoes are proving to be a little more high maintenance than I thought they would be.   I can't wait for them to be ready!  I am hoping to make some homemade salsa when all of my tomatoes, onions and peppers are ready.  I have a really good recipe, so I will share that later at some point.

I hope you all had a great weekend. XOXO ......or XXXX if we aren't on that level yet. :)

11 Things

Hello!  I'm calling this post 11 Things because I am going to talk about...you guessed it, 11 things I love, want, and am thinking about at the moment.  Soooooooo creative, right? 

1.  Cherry Pancakes

My new fruit obsession is cherries.  I've always loved the sour cherries used in cherry pie but never really bought the other varieties found in the grocery store.  My mom had me try some the other day and it was instant bliss.  I am dying to make these cherry buckwheat pancakes on a weekend we don't have much planned.  They sound so delicious!

2.  Where did Summer Go? 

Why does summer last 6 hours and winter feels like 800 years?   I can't believe July is halfway over.  Our pool days are limited and the girls are already starting to outgrow their swimsuits (girls, I feel you).  Daphne just had her two year check-up and she grew 2 inches since January!

3.  A Color Story and VSCO photo editing apps

I take 85% of the pictures I post on here on mine or Tate's iPhone's and the rest with my DSLR camera.  However, 100% of editing is done on my phone via apps called A Color Story and VSCO.  These apps are the real deal, folks.  There are so many filters and options to give you pretty much any effect that you are looking for.  Most of the time, I go light on the filters.  I like the bright pops of color!  *Tip:  Make sure you have lots of natural light in your photo so that they don't end up grainy when you try and apply the filter. 

4.  Game of Thrones

I would love to start watching this when I have time.  I borrowed the first four seasons from my parents.  I've got some binge watching to do.

5.  We have about 5,680 Summer Projects Left

I feel like we have done a lot of outside projects this summer but still have many more.  We need to paint our front porch floor and steps, stain our back deck, lay a brick patio (we are using bricks from Tate's parent's old barn), and re-build the back steps.  It sounds like Tate has a busy summer left. :)

6.  Kayaking

Tate and I are having a date tomorrow with two other couples.  We decided to go kayaking down the river.  Seriously, all I can think about right now is the water moccasin scene from Lonesome Dove, any scene from the movie Anaconda, and basically every other snake movie ever made.  Aside from all of my snake thoughts, I am looking forward to it. I'm 98% scared and 2% excited.  Or maybe it's 2% scared and 98% excited.  Either way it will be fun!

7.  Is it Football Season Yet?

I can't wait for football.  I always get so antsy for it after the 4th of July.  There is nothing like drinking a cold beer surrounded by friends and family watching our favorite teams. 

8.  Halloween Costumes

I am already thinking about what the girls are going to be for Halloween.  I think of ideas early, then throw everything together at the last minute. Tate is still refusing to dress up as Peter Pan or the Cowardly Lion so I will need to come up with a Plan B.  I wish he wasn't such a fun hater sometimes. 

9.  The Girls

Daphne loves a good knock-knock joke.  She loves to tell the same one over and over.  I still laugh every time because it is so darn cute when she says it.  Libby is now all about telling me a bedtime story.  A story the other night involved a princess in a castle and a dragon.  The dragon came and ate the princess, but spit her out because she tasted disgusting.  Another one involved a little girl who had a mommy named Chelsea and they went to a castle made of cupcakes and ate them all (okay, I like where this is going).  But the cupcakes gave them stinky farts--she would not stop giggling about this.  Then, a monster came along and ate the cupcakes and poked their eyeballs out.  Thanks for the nightmare, Libby.  

10.  The Iowa State Fair

If you aren't from Iowa, you just won't understand...but The Fair is a big deal to most Iowans.  It serves basically any fried food you can dream of (fried pickle roll-ups anyone?) and one of the vendors sells a bucket of cookies that are literally the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever tasted.  They also have really good concerts!  My favorite is the 80's cover band called Hairball.  They dress up like all of the hair bands and sound amazing. 

11.  Chelsea vs. Tate

90% of being married is just yelling "WHAT" from other rooms.  The other 10% is a mix of wedded bliss, house chores and arguments.  I sometimes swim so deep in my own estrogen pool that I'm not sure how my husband deals with me half the time.   Do you ever get irrationally mad at your spouse and then later realize how ridiculous you are but you are too stubborn to apologize?  Me neither.  :)   The other night I got upset with him because we had planned to go to our local aquatic center as a family.  I looked forward to it all day.  Tate is Mr. Impatient, and he didn't wait for me and took the girls up there by himself.  By the time I would get home, they would all just be ready to leave and the world was probably going to end.  So he earned himself a little bit of his favorite - the silent treatment.  I knew I was in the wrong (I got mad at my husband for being a good father)...but I wasn't ready to admit it.  I sent him a picture of a skeleton and said "Me waiting for you to apologize."  I always try and make light of any situation, which can be a good thing and a bad thing.  He also face-timed me the next morning because I was gone by the time the girls got up and I said "Are you calling to apologize?" And he smiled. 

This wraps up all of my thoughts at the moment! I hope you all are having a great week so far!  I had to include a couple of pics of the girls.  I came across this baby picture of Libby and couldn't stop starting at her rubber band arms and chunky thighs.

4th of July

I hope you all had a great 4th of July!  We had a busy week over here with all of the 4th festivities, Tate's birthday on the 5th and Daphne's birthday on the 8th.  We are in full-on party mode at Casa de Christensen.

On the morning of the 4th, we attended our local parade.  If you enjoy viewing 65 different varieties of tractors, then this parade is for you!  I love it though.  It was so hot and people were passing out popsicles so the kids loved that.  After the parade we went to my mom's for a swim party and BBQ.

Tate's birthday was pretty low-key, which is just the way he likes it.  I made his favorite dessert  - brownies.  We also had frozen pizza for supper because I didn't feel like cooking and he got socks as his present.  So this is 30.  

Libby came out to help me pick hydrangeas for Daphne's birthday party.  I actually gave her an Oscar for her performance because she whined the whole five minutes (I need to pee, It's so hot out here, I don't like bugs). 

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and week.  We are so grateful for those who have served and are currently serving.  Because of the brave, we are free.  And that is beautiful. 

Daphne's 2nd Birthday

Daphne.  Oh, where do I begin?  Let's start from the beginning.  With you, I had a fairly easy pregnancy.  You were an easy newborn, way easier than your sister might I add!  You slept through the night around 6 weeks old, you loved snuggles, and you hardly had any blowouts.  The perfect baby.  Then, something went drastically wrong.  I am only kidding of course, but you are definitely our wild child.  You strut around like you own the place, which you kind of do.  You tend to ignore our simple requests such as "Please don't color all over grandma's 150-year-old church pew with scented markers" or "Please stay out of the road."  You are such a daddy's girl and he is so proud of that.  You are your sister's best friend and I will be forever grateful you both have each other.  You love to swim in the pool and enjoy any kind of sucker you can get your dirty little hands on--even when you go grab them out of grandma's cupboard when no one is watching.  Your favorite foods are fruit of any kind and ice cream.  You call it ice keem though, and it is so cute.

I hope you always keep your independence and your fearlessness (although I will admit, that characteristic has shortened my life about 5-10 years already).


Saturday, we had some family over and celebrated the birthday girl.  We had sub sandwiches, pasta salad and fresh fruit for lunch.  Tate made homemade ice cream in the brand-new-but-unused-for-a-year ice cream maker and I made Daphne's cake.  She picked out funfetti and wanted pink frosting.  I tried a new frosting recipe and I thought it paired really well with that flavor of cake!  I'm not sure I would love it with any other kind of cake, but it was good on this flavor.  Here is the recipe:

Whipped Cream Frosting

• 1 quart heavy whipping cream
• 1 box (3.4 oz) instant Jell-O pudding - I used cheesecake flavor
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
  
  Whip the whipping cream and Jell-O pudding mix until it gets thick, then slowly add the powdered sugar and voila! Frosting!  Also sing the song "Whip It" as you do this.  It will taste better, trust me. Whip it good.
  

Tate's ice cream turned out amazing and he will be making that until the end of time.  After lunch, the birthday girl opened all of her presents and then we headed off to the aquatic center with family and friends.  I think she had a great birthday because she slept in two hours past her normal wake-up time. #ParentWin

Daphne - I hope you always know how loved you are.  I will always remember you as this little girl with strawberry blonde hair and a sticky sucker face.

To the moon and back, baby girl.  

"Love her, but leave her wild."