Master Bedroom, Dining Room, Living Room, Guest Bath

predictable I know....  my go-to color for the walls is Gobi Desert and my go-to decorating color is brown, so the combo is in no way shocking, I know, but I LOVE it!

  

We still haven't painted the master bath, but are thinking maybe a caramel-brownish-warmish tan color will work well.

Before and After: The dining room.  The front entrance to the house is to the right of the curtains here and then you can walk through the dining room to the kitchen.

Love the plate art I got on clearance from Pier One

When you walk through the front door, if you turn to the left it's the living room/piano room/family home evening room.  I put 6 of my favorite pics from our vintage shoot up on the walls in here.

Still need to figure out what to do with the big wall.

Before and After: The downstairs bath.  Honestly, the brown and green were MUCH worse than they appear in the picture.  Had they been this color, it probably could have stayed the way it was!  It was a bad combination of green and brown walls, now a crisp, clean blue. 

I sewed a curtain to go up in here since it looks out into the backyard and you don't necessarily want little eyes seeing your visitor's shower or use the toilet!

I got the fabric from Hob Lob awhile ago and the blue was the same as the walls!  I loved being able to tie in the blue with some neutrals and greens too.  I was given the fabric that it's lined with so this curtain treatment cost nothing.  Fab-o-licious in my book.

Girls Rooms

Kendra's Room: Before and After

She loves having all the Little People out in her closet and we go and play with the castle and schoolhouse in there together.

Megan's room was plain white before, so she got the same pink as Kendra with white and green accents.

I wish I could capture the colors better in here.  Mikayla wanted a blue room and we compromised on the light aqua color.  We both love it and it goes well with her calypso colored bedspread which actually looks a much better than it does here for some reason!

I let her paint a 16x20 canvas with the colors that are in her bedspread and I really like how it turned out!  She had fun and it was a great new addition to the room.

Grandparent Visit

My grandparents came to town to visit and see the house and bring the girls some homemade gifts.  I made Chicken Bellagio, a Cheesecake Factory copycat recipe.  It is lightly fried Italian crumb chicken breast with seared pancetta atop a bed of garlic pesto cream sauce pasta with fresh arugula on top.  A mouthful to say, tastes so delicious!  It's not every night the kids eat arugula, pancetta and chicken pasta, but they ate it and loved it all.  De-lish!

Satomi has learned to crochet in the recent years and made this ADORABLE lined backpack for Mikayla's birthday.  She just loves it and it is so cute!

Mikayla and Grandpa Allen.

Megan with her Great-Grandpa sporting a crocheted headband with matching flower made by Grandma Satomi.

Satomi and the girls.  Thank you for the gifts!

First Day of School!

Second grader, Mikayla, ready to go!  Starting a new year in a new school.  Woodrow Wilson Elementary is grades 2-5 so all the second graders are starting at a new school this year.  This knowledge helped her feel more comfortable.  She loved hearing, "everyone in your class is the 'new kid' this year!"

Thought it was too cute seeing these three walk to school.

And off she goes...

Ok, I lied, I had to catch up to her and watch her walk into class, meet the teacher, and get one more picture outside her classroom!

Megan started her second year of preschool and goes to school 3 days a week.

She sure got over her shyness fast.  We walked in, she said, "Bye Mom!  See you after school!  Bye Kendra!" and ran to play with the toys.

Here's Kendra on her first morning of freedom/full attention from Mommy/Elmo all-day, everyday.  She said goodbye to the girls, asked for my sunglasses, and walked away from school toward the van looking ever so chill.

Butte County Fair

Lots of animals

Mikayla entered the big whell race and took second--darn flip flops!

Magaw and Kendra having fun

Mikayla got picked out of the crowd to help the clowns in the circus

She's a great sport with a good sense of humor.  I'm glad she's not shy to be up on stage.

Kendra got to pet a baby calf.

She warmed up to him quickly.

The next day we took the big girls back to the fair to go on the rides.  They loved riding together and tried all the rides they were tall enough for.

It was 100 degrees out, so 2 hours in the heat was enough fun for us!

Birthday Fun

We went to Lake Oroville with friends for Mikayla's birthday party.  Kendra had no fear of the lake and had to be watched like a hawk!

The kids all enjoyed playing in the water and the sand

Kendra like getting her hair wet in unconventional ways

Bunch of little kid heads out in the lake.

Wow!  Don't remember the last time I got a pic with my honey!  We look good together!  lol

Mikayla and Maren back at our house playing with water balloons and water guns with the boys.

They all came in and we decorated flip flops.  Flowers, buttons, etc. hot glued right on the straps.  I don't recommend it--nothing stayed on.  Quite honestly, it was a quick ditch effort to pull together a party right after moving and as long as she enjoyed her day, that's all that matters!

The finished sandals before they flopped.

I made a flip-flop cake and again, not my best effort, but quick and easy was what we were going for here!

Maren gave mikayla a matching shirt and headband for her birthday!  How cute is that?!

Love these two fun friends

All the kids ready for more water gun fun

Mikayla was so glad Erik was able to come and spend the day with her.  She really misses handing out with him.

We got flip-flop lollipops for a favor and the kids loved such big suckers.  Happy 7th Birthday Mikayla!  We sure love you and love the sweet girl that you are!