Indian Summer

I needed to be thankful for this unseasonably warm weather we were having.  In the bitter depths of winter, all I want is to be outside at the park or the pool with the girls.  But I just wasn't having it this time.  I was ready for a fire in our fireplace and snuggling on the couch wrapped up in the softest blanket, watching one of our favorite Halloween movies.  I was ready for fall, and it finally came!  We filled up the little pool one last time this past weekend and the girls were thrilled.  It is not too often they will be able to swim at the end of September in the Midwest.

There are a few things to me that mark the end of summer.  And one of those is the last great tomato harvest.  My tomato plants did not do very well in my garden bed.  I think they need to be in more sun so I will try and put them in a different spot next year.  Tate's grandma was gracious enough to give us a large box full of fresh, ripe tomatoes.  I never met a free tomato I didn't like. 

I wasn't sure what I was going to do with all of these bad boys.  I had two thoughts: eat a sh*t ton of BLT's or turn it into sauce.  I made sauce.  Although a BLT sounds lovely right now.  *Second guesses choice*  We have been making this creamy chicken/spinach/tomato pasta every other week so making a sauce was the more practical choice.  I tossed the tomatoes with olive oil, minced garlic, basil, salt/pepper, and Italian seasoning. Then I roasted them for about 4 hours @ 250 degrees. 

After they were done roasting, I let them cool for a bit and then tossed them in a blender with some sugar to reduce the acidity.  It turned out good and went great with the recipe linked above.  

We've been fighting sickness already in our house. Libby's face in this picture cracks me up.  Whatever we were doing, she was over it.  Her favorite thing to say to new people she meets is, "See my finger, see my thumb, see my fist...you'd better run!"  Then she giggles.  It may be a youngest child trait, but Daphne doesn't give two sh*ts about anything (except suckers and obtaining said suckers).  The other morning I was in such a hurry to get out of the house, but she was nonchalantly taking her time brushing her teeth and rinsing off her toothbrush.  Not a care in the world.  The girl runs on her own time. #RESPECT

I hope you all have a great rest of your week and a restful weekend!  I'm excited for margaritas, soccer, football, and pumpkin donuts (in that order)!  XOXO, Chelsea

She is water.
Powerful enough to drown you.
Soft enough to cleanse you.
Deep enough to save you.
-Adrian Michael-

F-O-U-R

And just like that, she's four.  Libby Lu, you have the biggest heart, the blondest hair, and a great love for your family and friends.  Shine with the stars baby girl.  We love you so much.

Tate made Libby confetti cupcakes with strawberry frosting and sprinkles.  For supper, we had her favorite meal of chicken nuggets and french fries.  She opened her presents first thing this morning.  The very first thing she said when she woke up was, "Daphne can open one of my presents, Mom."  It melted my heart.  I hope Daphne realizes how lucky she is to have a big sister who loves her the way Libby does.

At supper, I asked the birthday girl a few questions:

Favorite color? PINK!

Favorite food? Brownies

Favorite movie?  Hercules

Favorite song?  Anna & Elsa songs

Best friend? Laney

What do you do for fun? Uh, play.

What makes you smile?  It's my birthday!

What do you want to be when you grow up?  Ummm, a grown up.

Know any good jokes?  A funny word you don't know....HAHA!

"When I met you, I knew we would shine together."      XOXO, Mom

Sunday Thoughts + The Finished Barn Door

Ahhh Sundays.  I love Sundays.  Our intentional family time day, football watching day, napping day, baking day, and bed making day.  I only make our beds on Sundays.  Let's be real, I can barely manage to walk out the door on time while giving the girls a banana + granola bar for breakfast...so bed-making most definitely isn't happening during the week.  But what is it about crawling into a nicely made bed that is so comforting?

Last week, I wrote about this old door that had been sitting out in my parent's shed for 30+ years.  I love giving old things new life.  Our old house is a perfect canvas for projects like that.  I love how it turned out!  The door didn't fit the width of any of our doorways, so a sliding barn door was our only simple option.  I stole this idea from a friend who used an old door similar to this for her pantry and I love how it looked.  We ended up cleaning the hardware with ketchup.  I know, I gave Tate a really grossed out look when he suggested it.  But, it worked!  We let it sit on the hardware for about an hour and it really took almost all of the grime off.  I always get hungry for hot dogs when I am near this door now though....kidding.  

 

Daphne will not stop opening and closing this door.  She basically gets into everything we tell her not to.  I thought I would try the ole "reverse psychology" trick.  She's onto me.  She still won't leave the door alone.

The rest of today, we plan on going to the park and then watching our nephew's football game.  Yesterday, Libby had her first soccer game of the season.  It was SO FUN watching all of the little kids play.  Libby is on the same team as two of her best friends, so she is loving it so far.  During the game, one of her friends went over to play with some blocks that another kid sitting on the sidelines had brought.  We had to remind her to focus. :)     

After Libby's game, the girls and I went down to mom and dad's to finish moving most of the big stuff.  If your area is ever in a drought and desperate for rain, just plan on moving large pieces of furniture on an open trailer. I guarantee it will rain.  Most of their furniture survived, however we lost two couches due to a yellow tarp staining the couch.  I was joking with mom last night about the stained couch incident saying that the slogan for mine and my brother-in-law's moving service would be "We hope you don't care about your shit."  It was a lot of work, but it is nice to have most of the big pieces done.  My sister was there.  I'm not sure what all she did.  She likes to take three 20-minute breaks per hour while moving.   She's going to hate me when she reads this. 

I better wrap this post up because the natives are getting restless.  Looks like it is time for lunch and then off to the park we go!  I hope you all have a great rest of your weekend. 

September Happenings + Life Lately

Hello everyone!  It has been so busy around the Christensen house lately.  My parents decided to sell their house and are in the process of packing things up, so that has been keeping us busy on weekends when I usually try and write!  I am SO excited for them to move closer.  Of course leaving the house they have been in for over 35 years is bittersweet, but we are so excited for more memories in the new place.  I plan on posting soon about all of my "treasures" that I have found during the move.  It is so fun to see everything mom and dad have kept over the years.

Mom has been finding old dresses from when my sister and I were little and also some of her own dresses.  It is so fun because the girls fit into most of the outfits that were saved, so I have been trying to get their pictures in as many of those outfits as I can!  The pictures below are of the girls in my mom's dress and my grandmother's dress.  Libby is wearing my mom's and Daphne is wearing my grandma's.  I will always cherish these pictures!

This weekend was our big in-state rivalry football game.  It didn't end up going in my favor.  My husband and I actually root for opposite teams, so one of us ends up mad every year--usually me.  We had my family over for the game.  I cooked up a big pot of chili and made some cinnamon rolls.  If you have not tried the chili/cinnamon rolls combo, you MUST!  I never make chili the same and rarely ever follow a recipe.  This batch turned out pretty good.  I ended up using a ground beef/ground turkey mix.  I also used up the rest of the onions from the garden and most of the peppers (I have jalapenos, mini bell peppers, and banana peppers).  One thing I did differently this time was add in a can of Busch's brown sugar/bourbon flavored baked beans.  It was so good!

We are still elbows deep in house projects.  Right now, we are working on clearing out a couple of rooms so that my parents can have their own space while they live with us until their new house is ready.  About a year ago, I was in their back shed and found this old door sitting in there.  It had beautiful etched glass in perfect condition.  The door needed a little TLC.  Tate has sanded and stained it for me and I am in the process of cleaning the hardware.  We are going to make it into a sliding barn door that goes from our eat-in kitchen to the dining room.  I cannot wait for it to be done! I love adding old pieces to our home.

I kind of like the distressed look.  I have been using Brass-O to clean these.  I should have taken a before picture because they were pretty black!  I will try and remove a little more of the grime, otherwise I am pretty happy with them.  I like the mixed metal look.  I can't wait to show pictures of the finished project!

We have been trying to eat pretty healthy here during the week.  Tate started the same exercise program as me.  I am so proud of him!  He's been really committed and it's been paying off.  I can't wait to see his progress pictures at the end of this session because I think we will both be surprised.  Every week, I have been planning healthy suppers.  I have found that meal prep doesn't really work for us for a couple of reasons.  1)  I cannot eat the same thing all week.   I just can't even (said in the most basic girl voice).  2) I don't think my kids would enjoy that.   Meal planning has really worked for us!  I write down 4-5 suppers each week and then write out all the ingredients we need.  Tate usually does the shopping.  It has been working out great.

On this week's menu:  

• Shrimp Fried Rice
• Thin Crust Breakfast Pizzas
• Spinach/Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts with a side of pasta
• Tacos
• Baked Fish & Sweet Potato Fries

I know what you are thinking...that menu doesn't sound that healthy.  But there are ways to make your favorite dishes better for you!  For the fried rice, I will use brown rice instead of white.  For the pizzas, I will use these thin crust protein crusts + egg whites.  In the pasta, we have switched over to wheat or whole grain pasta and I will add in spinach to the tomato sauce.  There are a lot of little changes we have made over the past several months without feeling restricted.  And that works for us!  After all, we are not trying to be body builders...just trying to live a healthier lifestyle! :)  

That being said, fall is my favorite time to make allllllllllll the comfort foods.  I hear apple crisp calling my name.  Weekend splurges are good for the soul, right?  Hope you all have a great week.  XOXO--Chels

The Great Cool Down of August

This post really doesn't have anything to do with the drastic change in temperatures we've been having, but I will say that I am loving it!  We have taken full advantage of it and have been doing sidewalk chalk and park trips a couple of evenings a week.  The sidewalk chalk time consists of me creating elaborate stick figure drawings of our family or sunsets while the girls just draw straight lines with the same color everywhere.  I'm not sure they will be les petits artistes just yet, but we shall see.

I love how Daphne is going down the slide with her arms up.  She is such a little daredevil.  I try not to be a helicopter mom as much as possible, but she makes that very difficult. Our summer projects are progressing at an impressively slow rate.  We are working on a brick walkway from our house to our garage and driveway.  It is always so muddy in that area, so we are trying to make it so it isn't such an eye sore.  We got the bricks from Tate's parents.  They tore down an old barn at their house and it had a brick foundation.  We knew that we wanted to utilize them at our house somehow, so his dad started collecting them for us.  One by one, he put them in his truck and neatly stacked them in the grain bin until we could get them.  His parents are so good to us!  I should have gotten on Pinterest to see all of the different brick patterns but I just started laying them down and liked the looks of it, so we went with it.  As I was laying these bricks it reminded me of a story about my dad.  When I was about 10 years old, we were all talking about Halloween costumes.  He said that he and mom were actually going to dress up that year and I was so excited about it! I asked what they were going to be and he said, "Your mom is going to go as a brick and I'm going to go as a brick layer."  I didn't understand the joke for several years, but it made me laugh 20 years later.

This is our progress so far.  We are going to have to do something different because the curve is a little too sharp and it doesn't look right with our pattern.  As we were getting closer and closer to the curve and the end, it reminded me of elementary school where you went to write a really large word on paper and then ran out of space at the end.  #FAIL.  Also, this has been one house project where we have worked very good together.  I remember hanging a gallery wall in our house and said, "If you don't feel like divorcing your spouse after hanging a gallery wall, you're doing it wrong."  :)   

The weather we are having is making me crave ALL the fall comfort foods.  Tonight we had meatloaf, squash, mashed potatoes and peas.  It was divine.  Homemade noodles are in the near future if this weather stays!  Lately, I have been working on being the healthiest version of myself by exercising and making better food choices, so this fall and winter will be tough for me!  

Tate and I just got Netflix and I am so excited about it.  Welcome to 2017, Christensens.  I feel like everyone had Netflix except us.  If anyone has any good Netflix recommendations please message me!  We have canceled our cable the past two summers just because we don't use it that much and it saves us a little extra money.  Plus, one can only watch so much IPTV (sorry, friend that works for IPTV) so I love how it promotes more outside time!  We do turn our cable back on as soon as college football starts so that Tate can coach the Hawkeyes from the couch.  I love it when he says "we" and "us" as he talks about the Hawks...it gives me so much ammo. I'm such a bitch.  I hope you all had the best week.  Enjoy the rest of the weekend! XOXO

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. :)