We made it to Friday! Hands down my favorite day of the week. I love the anticipation of the weekend. So much possibility! Knowing it’s coming is often even better than when it’s actually here. ;) We have some really fun plans this weekend though so I’m especially excited to be finishing up a busy week. More on that later! Today I’m sharing a few things we’ve been up to around the house this week.
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Feeling Halloween ready! Our Shiplap Display wall is decked with Halloween pictures again and it’s always so fun to see past costumes. My kids still love this so much! (If you’re new here you can find more details all about this fun shiplap wall and how I decorate it through the seasons HERE.)
Kole is especially excited about our wall this year because I added some bats. Yes.. Halloween decor INSIDE our house. Who would have thought. ;) Truth be told I was feeling a little guilty because I went with a Fall themed porch this year instead of the Happy Halloween porch Kole looks forward to so I added the bats in an attempt to make up for it. #momoftheyear #attempt3,548
I used these Martha Stewart Silhouettes and just stuck them up with my long time magic weapon.. wait for it.. painters tape.
If you knew what I was going to say bless you for being such a loyal reader. ;)
The bats were such a huge hit with my little buddy that I told him he could help me add more to the kitchen. As you can see bat folding requires some pretty deep concentration. Ha.
The two of us may have gone a little bat crazy.
They are basically all over my kitchen at the moment. Across the fridge and freezer..
up the cabinets..
all over the range hood..
and up more cabinets to the right of it.
Kole is in 7th heaven and wants to leave them up through Christmas.
But I have a feeling that on Nov. 1st they’ll have to fly off to their cave for an urgent bat meeting. If they miss it they could lose their wings and that would be tragic.
#momoftheyearisoverrated
In other news I’m finally prioritizing Ellie’s bedroom re-fresh! I mentioned forever ago that we were planning on updating her room and I’ve ordered a few things for it already, but until now it wasn’t on my urgent to-do list. There are always so many other urgent to-do’s swirling around, but she turns 16 in January and I really want it finished before her 16th birthday so it’s time to make it priority #1 around here! When we moved into our new home (6 years ago this month!) she begged me for purple walls. I wanted to paint them grey, but gave her the purple of her dreams and she has loved her bright, colorful bedroom.
It makes me both happy and sad that now she’s over the purple and wants her room painted grey. Happy because hello.. I’m all about grey paint. :) But sad because she’s growing up. I had a moment moving her pandas and other stuffed animals out of her room knowing that most of them wouldn’t be going back. A huge lump swelled up in my throat and my eyes filled with water so quickly I suddenly couldn’t see out of them. It’s hard! I really do love each stage with my kids, but it’s difficult saying a final good-bye to the end of an era and that’s exactly how this room re-fresh for my oldest daughter feels to me.
Maybe deep down that’s why I’ve been putting it off this year.
Seeing grey paint samples up on her wall the next day cheered me up immensely (have I mentioned before that I love grey paint?). ;) I put up some of our main grey (my number one favorite paint throughout our home – you can download the formula for it HERE) and then I also put up the same color at 50% and then at 25%. El and I both wanted a light grey for her room, but the 25% was a little too light because her room gets SO much sunlight with full french doors and windows on one entire wall. The 50% was the winner! (Hard to really see the true colors in this lousy cell phone pic I snapped quick!)
My painters put up the first coat today and it looks so good! This cell pic also looks a little darker than it is in person. The paint is exactly what we wanted.. a beautiful, soft grey. I’ll share the room on my blog when it’s finished (along with pics of her room before) and I’ll be sharing progress along the way on IG stories if you want to follow along!
We moved everything from El’s room into our playroom so that’s a fun mess at the moment! To add to the chaos I also started pulling out Christmas stuff today! Oh yes.. I’m going there. ;) I have a holiday post I’m sharing soon and need to get started on it so out came the boxes. You could say we’ve seen cleaner days at my house! The chaos in my home pretty much matches the chaos going on inside my head with so many projects looming.
But it’s all fun chaos. So bring it on. :)
Enjoy your weekend everyone!
(*If you’re starting to think about Christmas decor too you can see all of my past Christmas posts rounded up HERE. I also just updated my favorites page with Fall favorites and Christmas items I’m using to decorate with this year HERE.)
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Urgent bat meeting… oh my…😂
Yay for El’s bedroom !
Wish you finished gray paint happy dance ; and not too much tissues because of stuffed animals and growing little ones… ❤️
Happy friday and saturday and sunday !
Ha ha.. urgent for sure! ;) Thank you so much Emilie! Enjoy your weekend too! xo
The bats made me laugh!! I have two little boys, but when they’re old enough to not rip the bats off the wall and give them to our dog, I will follow in your mom-of-the-year footsteps!! I can imagine how happy Kole is. Ohhh sad day re: El’s room! Gosh. The purple was so festive and bright. I know you and her will make it just as special with that gorgeous grey. Love it!
Ha! I remember when my kids were in the “rip everything apart” stage! That can be a tough one but it really does fly by so fast and then all of the sudden they are going to be 16 and driving! Don’t blink. ;) Thank you so much Genelle! Enjoy the weekend with your sweet family! xo
Wow, 16! What a lovely present for her to get a room refresh. The color looks good. I hear you on the ending of a stage. It’s still very strange for me to think I have a daughter who is 18! Yep, and she’s extremely excited to be able to vote this election cycle.. And next year my other daughter will be in the same situation. I wish you good luck on the room refresh. Hope it rolls out smoothly. And I hope that your Christmas project goes well, too. Love the bats all over, but would be all over the urgent bat meeting and that bat convention center elsewhere! LOL Kole is looking very grown up all of a sudden, too. Darn it, why can’t our kids stay little! LOL Hope you have a wonderful weekend, Erin.
Thank you Jeanne! That urgent bat meeting will definitely be taking place.. ha. I can only live with bat clutter so long. ;) He really is growing up too fast.. heading to his Halloween school carnival today and I still can’t believe my youngest is in 4th grade! It’s really like you blink and they are grown up. I love that your daughter wants to vote.. she sounds like she is going places! I’m sure you’re so proud. :) Enjoy your weekend too! xo
Life gets busy so updates fall behind. I totally get it! Bet she’ll love it all when it’s complete. Looking forward to the Christmas post. I need to do that too but good golly, I just put out another pumpkin I found I purchased this weekend – Yikers! Love the photos with your son making the bats too. You are a good momma! Enjoy life!
Thank you so much Cindy! It will be a fun project to have finished for her for sure. And I know.. this is such a strange time of year when I usually have half of my house full of pumpkins while Christmas trees are starting to pop up in other rooms.. we’re a little seasonally confused right now. Ha. Enjoy your weekend and thanks for the sweet comment! xo
Lots of fun chaos at your household Erin! The bats are great for the minimal Halloween look. Can’t wait to see your daughter’s finished bedroom, 16 wow!
Thank you Debbie! We do minimal Halloween really well at our house. ;) Enjoy your weekend! xo
I’ve been hoping you would give the link to those bats! I ordered one for my house and one for my classroom! Thank you!
Oh yea! They are fun bats for sure.. what a cute idea to put them in your classroom too! Love that. I hope the kids enjoy them! Thanks Kelly! :) xo
Everything looks amazing!! Love seeing your posts each week. Makes me smile :) Happy Halloween!!
Thank you so much Katie! That made my day! :) xo
I love your HURD, GANG, FLOCK of bats! I’m not sure what a number of them is called. HAHA. I would have copied your darling bat decorations in the past, but this year we had a REAL bat in our house ,flying back and forth between our family room and kitchen! The experience is still too real.
Judy!! Oh my word.. I am DYING! We had that happen once when I was a little girl and I’ll never forget it! My parents were trying to get it out of our living room and I remember the total panic I felt seeing that black thing flying around our home. I don’t think I’d be putting up fake bats just yet either if I were you.. ha! You might need to skip Halloween all together this year. ;) xo
Her room looks so good and it is a perfect grey. I remember when we transitioned Elle’s room. It seemed like one day she was playing with dolls and the next day she wanted to get rid of all of them. Each stage brings new and fun things but I will always cherish the days when there were stuffed animals, ( friends ) and dolls in her room. It really does go by fast, doesn’t it? The bats are darling and so is Kole. Enjoy your weekend Erin . XO
Me too Cathy! That doll loving stage is just so precious. Hard to say good-bye to it! Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you enjoy the weekend and aren’t roasting in this heat! xo
I’ve been following along since you were building your house and it’s so fun watching your kids grow up. We’re building right now and my 7 year old just picked out a Color called Very Berri. It’s so purple and my gray loving self was cringing inside…lol. She had the biggest smile on her face when she was her room painted last weekend. This post made me realize the time will come when she wont want her purple room anymore….another reminder to soak it up!
Sarah! Oh my word.. that was me exactly 6 years ago and it feels like 6 minutes ago! I remember Kenny saying “you get the whole house.. let her have her purple!” And I was like “ok.. sigh” Ha. Now it makes me so sad in a way to see it go! Definitely enjoy Very Berri and all that sweet stage represents. Those elementary school years are priceless! Teen life is good too but man.. there are moments you really miss them at age 7! ;) Thank you for reading for so long.. that means so much to me! And huge congrats on your new build! So exciting! xo
You make me laugh – in a good way!!! I love the multiple projects at the same time, the bats, your daughter’s room and, best of all, the Christmas decorations coming out. On one hand it seems early but the stores are FULL and if you don’t figure out what you want now, the pickings will be slim!
Enjoy the weekend.
It’s so true Jane! The good Christas stuff goes so fast! Plus I always have to have mine up early if I want to share ideas that are helpful to anyone else. Honestly though.. if it were up to me I’d have Christmas decor up for at least 4 months so I’m ok getting a jump start! Thank you so much! Happy you like my chaos. ;) Enjoy your weekend! xo
Don’t feel sad at your daughter growing out of her girly painted room…at the age of 20 my daughter asked for her room to be painted a very pale pink!! And we added a perfect Pottery Barn KIDS chandelier to her room. It was fun shopping at PB kids again and finding grown up pink accents for her room!! Enjoy!!
So much fun Andrea! El wants a few pale pink accents and PB kids always has so many fun things! Love that. :) xo