After months of planning and organizing (and shopping), I'm finally ready to reveal our main living space.  Our living room and foyer were a work in progress.  If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen this post about our gargantuan paint job.  This room used to have yellow textured walls.  Every.Where.

Painting was a three day job, but I'm soooo glad we did paint and I'm even more glad that it's all over. 

So here is our living room/foyer:

Bench - thrifted // Pillows // Mirror -Walmart // Hooks - Target

Buffet

Blue Line Family

Coffee Table

White cabinet - IKEA // Curtains - Wayfair

It's amazing how many toys migrate upstairs from the playroom every day.

Coasters - Walmart // Candle - Target

Side table // Blanket - IKEA

I spy Callie dog.

Just for fun, here is what our living room looked like when we moved in:

I spy Callie dog again.

And for even more fun, and because I could still find the photos online, here's what the house looked like when the previous owners lived here:


Our decorating tastes varied slightly. 

I love how this room turned out!  I can't wait to decorate it for the holidays.

This weekend, we celebrated my parents' birthdays with a small family party at our house.  Katherine and I made a birthday cake, with Katherine providing the sprinkles to the cake (and to the kitchen floor.....and kitchen counters.....and every nook and cranny in the entire kitchen area).  I'll be picking up sprinkles off of the floor for months. 

Anyway.

My parents' birthdays are five days apart, so I combined them into one party.  I may have emphasized my mom's birthday a little more because this year is a milestone birthday.  I also may have had a little too much fun in the "60" section at Party City. 

We had a couple of fun appetizers followed by barbeque food, complete with pulled pork, baked beans, and coleslaw. 













Even though the forecast called for rain all day, not a drop fell.  So we were able to spend lots of time outside. 

The weather has been wonderful this week.  It makes me sooooo ready for fall.  Go ahead and label me a walking stereotype.  I'm ready for my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season. 

Recipes:
Cherry Limeade // Caramel Apple Pizza // Watermelon Pico de Gallo // Coleslaw // Baked Beans // Potatoes // Pulled Pork (not pictured)

I had been planning a gallery wall for our new house since before we had even found a house to buy.  I had in my head, plans for a wall in our house to be filled with different items, both sentimental and trendy.

So when we purchased our house, I knew that the massive wall in our living room would be "the wall."  Luckily, I'd been collecting items to add to our gallery wall for months.  Literally. 

The inspiration (via Pinterest):

Some will suggest you plan out your wall, specifically measuring each area.  I placed all of my pieces out on the floor and kind of "went with it."
I wanted to mix some trendy pieces with some that were special sentimentally.  I used mainly items I already had, altering them as needed, and added a few new items. 

 One of my favorite new pieces is this large flower painting from Hobby Lobby.





Some of my sentimental pieces were a doily that my great-grandmother made and some of Katherine's artwork.

My DIY items were done by taking scrapbook print paper and cutting it to fix a matte and frame.  I also used a painting of our dog, Callie, that was done by a former customer from my old job.

A lot of the extra pieces used were from Hobby Lobby, Target, or thrifted.

Jason's expression when he saw the finished project:
"That's a lot of stuff on the wall."


He's always so observant. 

We've been busy enjoying the last little bit of summer over here lately.  Last weekend, Jason's sister and her family came to visit and I feel like we haven't stopped to catch our breath since then. 

We've been to the Zoo, Six Flags, the pool, on a hike, back to the Zoo, back to the pool, spent waaay too much time at the local frozen yogurt place, and to the Muny.  Katherine also finished her summer reading at the library and got a super sweet yard sign to put in front of the house. 








I've literally waited 10 years for Aida to come back to the Muny.  It was so worth it.  I was introduced to Aida by my college friend and roommate.  I would highly recommend this show.  It's amazing. 




I read Hope Unfolding this summer and absolutely loved it.  It's a great book for all of the Mamas out there.  I've already preordered Becky Thompson's next book Love Unending, which comes out in January. 

Can I just say, I love the Olympics!  I've always loved watching them, but this year I've been almost obsessed.  I feel like I know the athletes personally, and I'm fixated on their every event, and feel so happy for them when they win.  I remember watching the 2012 Summer Olympics, in my first trimester with Katherine.  I was sooooo sick all the time, and I remember watching the gymnasts bouncing around and wishing I felt as good as they did.  I also thought it was crazy that when the next Summer Games came around, I'd have a three-year-old.  And yet, here we are.

Here's one of favorite moments so far from the Summer Olympics:

I'm always sad to see Summer go, but I'm also excited for Fall and all that cooler weather brings!