Life Lately...

Hi, friends! I realize I've been a bit of a slacker on the blog lately, so I thought I'd just post a little update about what's been going on in the Hatcher family as of late! As we are preparing to move (THIS SATURDAY!!!!! *Insert praise hands emoji!*), we have been tackling a lot of projects! Mainly painting. But before I get into that, I have to share this picture of Hank a couple of weeks ago at Chick-Fil-A's Cow Appreciation Day. :D 

I'm pretty sure he's the cutest baby cow I've ever seen! :)

If you remember in my last Friday Favorites post, I was trying to decide on a Feltman Brothers outfit for a contest I won. I finally decided on this blue and white smocked bobby suit, and it came in the mail this week! I was nervous he'd be in between sizes for Christmas, and I thought this outfit would be sweet for his birthday and versatile enough to wear for more than one occasion! I can't wait to see him in it!

                                               



So, we have been doing LOTS AND LOTS of painting for our new house! Furniture, walls, signs, you name it! Here are a few pieces I've been working on…..

Our new door sign! I ordered it unfinished from Etsy and painted it with my beloved Hobby Lobby chalk paint. 

I got this retro side table from an online yard sale page and painted it a light gray. I love how it turned out, and I think it's going to be great in our living room!

Before

After!

These mirrors are a project that turned out to be a LOT bigger than I thought! (I'll post a separate blog post about them later). They are vintage -- from my mother's bedroom suite as a child! My daddy and I re-stained the dresser and lingerie chest around 5 years ago, but these mirrors were left behind. I decided to tackle them for our new house. I'm loving how they turned out! (Will post more pics and info soon!)

     

                                         
                                                                         Before

After!

Perhaps the biggest project of all was painting our living room! The former owners of our house chose some very vibrant colors for the walls… all which I can live with except for the crimson living room. I felt like it made the room a lot darker and smaller, and it definitely didn't match some of our turquoise decor! After a coat of primer and a coat of Sherwin Williams "Agreeable Gray," I am LOVING the way it looks now! The color we chose is a gray with brown undertones, so I think it's the perfect neutral! I'll have better pictures later, but here's a couple of the progress. 

That's all for now! Hope yall have a wonderful week! :)

Friday Favorites!

Happy Friday, everyone! Hope you all have had a great couple of weeks! I've been MIA and busy packing and moving things to the new house! Finally able to do a little updating, and I'm pretty exciting about this one! Linking up with Andrea for Friday Favorites again this time. ;)

One.

As if we needed more mess and chaos in our apartment while we're in the midst of a move, I decided to do a furniture project in the little walking space we have left. I am SO glad I did, though, because I love how these end tables turned out! A girl at the seminary was selling these end tables for $10 a piece, and they needed some work. I loved the shape, though -- especially the curved legs! I spent a few days painting and waxing, and I got some new drawer pulls at Hobby Lobby. I think they're going to look great in our new living room!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

(We're also going to be painting that poopy brown wall! That lamp is also one of my new FAVORITES! Half off sale at Hobby Lobby! Woo!)

Two.

While I was picking out drawer pulls at Hobby Lobby the other day, I walked by this sign. I feel sorry for the people that were near me because I turned around and went back to look at it while doing an ugly-distorted-face cry. Jacob, Hank, and I spent some time in Alabama and Nashville over the past couple of weeks, and we both got a little homesick being in our childhood homes. There were tears shed on my end. It wasn't pretty. All those emotions came flooding back when I walked past this sign, but it was a great reminder that "home" is where my two favorite men are. Crap, I'm crying now as I type this!! 

In the cart it went!

Three.

So this week I WON A CONTEST!!! I entered a giveaway on the Feltman Brothers' instagram page, and I WON a free outfit!!! (Side note: I *thought* I was winning four outfits, but it turns out it's just one. My misunderstanding. But one is still awesome!) I'm having trouble choosing!! I wore Feltman Brothers home from the hospital, and I LOVE their timeless, classic look. (I know some people don't, but I do, and I will have totally sacrificed things for myself to get a precious smocked outfit for my child. Not even a little sad about it either!) Most of their boys' outfits for Hank's upcoming size are in the Bobby Suit style. The royal family loves this style too! :))

Sweet Prince George in his bobby suit!

These are the two I'm trying to decide between right now! A precious all occasion smocked bobby suit or an adorable embroidered Christmas bobby suit!!! I love them both! 

Four. 

My *favorite* book right now is "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing" by Marie Kondo. This book is so necessary in my life right now! I'm only a few chapters in, but I've purged about 6 garbage bags and boxes so far. Mess and clutter can be so stressful, and I want our new home to be a stress-free place to be. I am SUCH a sentimental pack rat, so it took some self pep talks to get rid of so many things, but I feel so much better about it!

Five.

Last but not least, my *favorite* show right now is Mr. Selfridge. Honestly, it took a little bit to get hooked, but we're on Season 2 now, and I'm loving it. I LOVE British period dramas, and this one is definitely keeping me entertained while I wait for Downtown Abbey to return for the last season. (Still heartbroken about that). Mr. Selfridge is about Harry Selfridge, a Chicago native who runs and owns a department store in London. I recommend it!!

Have a great weekend!!! 

Easy DIY Book Page Wreath

This past Sunday I had the pleasure of being a hostess at my college best friend's baby shower! She is due August 31st, and sweet baby Edley Catherine is going to have a literary-themed nursery! How precious is that?!! So we decided to go with that theme and host a classic literary-themed baby shower. :) More on that to come…

One of the things I did was some DIY decor, including a wreath made from pages of Little Women. This turned out to be SO easy and so cute, if I do say so myself!!! ;) (I plan to make one out of a hymnal for our house at some point). I had several people ask me how to make it. Unfortunately I didn't take any pics during the process, but I thought I'd share the tutorial I used on Pinterest! Check it out -- it's super easy and is a great touch for an event or your home! :) All you need is a styrofoam wreath, a book, and a hot glue gun!

Here's how mine turned out:

What's Up Wednesday!

Happy, happy Wednesday! I'm linking up with Mix & Match Family for my first What's Up Wednesday! Here goes…

What we're eating this week:

We're spending a few days in Alabama this week with my family, and my dad got a new grill for Father's Day! He's been grilling out for us this week, and my mom has been cooking lots of fresh vegetables! Yummmmm :)

What I'm reminiscing about:

We've been cleaning out the garage at my parents' house, and it seems like it's is my stuff that's taking over. Whoops! Since we have a basement at our new house, we actually have space for me to put this stuff, so we're taking some back with us. Some of my favorite things I've found are 1) my American girl dolls!! The rest of their clothes have yet to be found, but I am DEFINITELY taking these back with me!! My Today Girl is even wearing an outfit from the American Girl Place in Chicago! :) We also found 2) My table and chairs that were given to me by my grandparents for my 2nd Christmas. These will go in Hank's room! And 3) This massive box of notes!!! This case is FILLED with notes from middle school and high school from my best friends. I die a little inside every time I find these.

What I'm loving: 

Catching up with some of my childhood friends this week at home!!! Crazy that our children are now becoming friends :) :) :)

Hank and his new friend, Rhett! Rhett's momma and I have been friends since we were almost this age!

My friend Sarah and I in our unplanned matching Old Navy dresses! :)

What we've been up to:

Signing a lease on a house, collecting moving boxes, Hank's doctor's appointments, visiting family in Alabama and Tennessee...

What I'm dreading:

PACKING! Ugh!

What I'm working on:

I've got some crafty projects coming up! I'm going to be redoing some furniture and decor, so I'm thinking up colors schemes and shopping for fabrics! Definitely excited about having a new project. :)

What I'm excited about:

MOVING!!! and setting up our new home!

What I'm watching/reading:

HGTV on Netflix (we don't have cable) and a new book called "Coffee, Tea, and Holy Water" by Amanda Hudson. This book is great so far! It's about a girl's travels around the world, learning about Christianity in other countries. 

What I'm listening to:

Hank's new babbles. We REALLY thought he said "Momma" the other day, but we're waiting on him to do it again to confirm. Haha

What I'm wearing:

LOTS of patriotic clothes! My favorite is this little smocked patriotic jon-jon by Smock Monkey. We got it from a fellow preemie mom whose twins weren't going to be able to wear it. I think Hank looks like a million bucks in it! :) 

What I'm doing this weekend:

We're heading out Friday morning to a state park in Tennessee for 2 of Jacob's family reunions! 

What I'm looking forward to next month:

Moving into our new home!!! 

What else is new:

My husband and family makes fun of me for obsessing over things. It's kind of a problem. Right now I'm obsessing over the placement of all our furniture in our new home -- it will literally keep me up at night thinking about it! It's just too exciting to me!, Hank's first birthday party (which is only 2 1/2 months away!!!!! Oh my goodness.), and the fall pre-order going on right now (for 2 more days!) at The Smocking Bug. OH MY GOSH I WANT ALL OF THEM!!! 

Hope yall have a great rest of your week!!

Friday Favorites!

It's time for…… FRIDAY FAVORITES!!! I'm a little behind this week, but I have a second cup of coffee in hand and am ready to go! Thought I'd write about a couple of exciting things that are happening in our family! :)

(Linking up with Andrea for this Friday Favorites!

One. 

I thought I'd post a photo of my FAVORITE little kiddo!! We had a 9 month checkup this morning, and he is soaring high with flying colors! He's up to 18 pounds & 4 ounces and in the 25th percentile for his age!! For his gestational age (6 months) he's in the 64th percentile! We have come a long way from his 2 pounds 12 ounces birth weight! 

This past week we had Hank's 9 month photoshoot with Sarah Mesa Photography. Sarah has done Hank's 3 month (newborn, since we weren't able to have a traditional newborn photoshoot in the NICU), 6 month, and now 9 month photos. Here are some of my FAVORITES from the photoshoots!

3 months (first weekend at home)

6 months

9 month preview

We love working with Sarah and can't wait to see the rest of his pictures!!

Two.

OUR NEW HOUSE!!! It took some convincing, but Jacob finally got on board with finding our family a rental home instead of an apartment! We are both so excited that we found the perfect place for our family, and we move in on August 1st! It was built in 1954, is in a wonderful neighborhood, and has TONS of storage -- something our current home is severely lacking in!! =P

In our new living room! We are all so excited!

Sweet little kitchen with a stainless steel fridge with an ICE MAKER!!!!!!! You have no idea how happy that makes me!! We also plan to paint that crimson red wall with a more neutral color. We DEFINITELY appreciate the crimson (Roll Tide) -- it just doesn't match some of our turquoise furniture. Lol.

We have a backyard!!! I am so excited about this! You can't tell much in this photo, but to the right there is a retaining wall that goes up to another decent sized plot of land. We plan to make this into a garden! I am so excited to think about Hank playing in a little swingset in the backyard at our new home! 

There are some quirky things that we will have to work our way around (like a basement staircase in our tiny tiny "spare room" bedroom, but we feel like the pros of this sweet house are worth finding ways to be creative with things like that! We can't wait to move in and have people over! :)

Thanks for stopping by, and have yourself a wonderful weekend!

Balsamic Brussel Sprouts with Bacon Recipe

Happy Monday, friends! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! We had an exciting weekend of (rental) house hunting!! More to come on that later. :) But today I want to share one of my most FAVORITE side dish recipes with you -- Balsamic Brussel Sprouts and Bacon. If you're like me, brussel sprouts were a BIG FAT NO when you were a kid. My sister LOVED them, but our dog definitely got her fair share of these things from my end of the table. But as I've grown into a wiser and more experienced person through the years (Ha!), I've found that adding bacon and olive oil makes everything better. Well, maybe except Strawberry Pretzel Salad. But everything else -- YES. We now have brussel sprouts at our house at least every two weeks. Who would've guessed!?? And it's even pleasing to meat-and-potatoes picky-eater husbands! (You say bacon and they come running -- can I get an amen?) I usually make this with a "little bit of this, little bit of that" tactic, but last week I tried to nail down a recipe for you to try. I hope you enjoy!

Here are your ingredients. Pretty simple!

First preheat your oven to 400 and prepare a baking sheet with aluminum foil and nonstick spray. Chop your onion and cut up around 6 pieces of bacon into chunks. (Or more if you so desire! I use my kitchen scissors to make is easier). Cut the brussel sprouts into halves and put on your prepared baking sheet. (FYI: Kroger has a bag of brussel sprouts that I use. I don't have the size on hand, but you can really use as many sprouts as you want!) Saute the onion and bacon chunks in olive oil and balsamic vinegar until onion is slightly browned and bacon is about halfway cooked. It should look like this:

….and it will smell DELICIOUS!!!!!

Dump the whole pan, juices and all, onto the baking sheet with the sprouts. Spread everything out evenly, then drizzle with 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/8 cup balsamic vinegar (or more, if you want! They just probably won't end up as crispy), then toss to combine. Season with a teaspoon of garlic powder and salt and pepper to taste. Bake at 400 for around 35-40 minutes, until they're as crispy as you prefer! Flip every 15 minutes or so, so everything gets evenly roasted.

I typically would cook these a bit longer, because we like them VERRRRY crispy… as in, almost burnt. And maybe even kind of burnt. Okay burnt. But since most normal people probably don't prefer burnt food, I figured I'd cook them the normal way this time. ;) 

My stomach is literally growling right now.

ENJOY!!!!!!! :)

Friday Favorites!

Happy Friday, friends!!! Hope you all have had an amazing week! 

I'm linking up with Andrea from Mix and Match Family again today for another round of Friday Favorites. This one's going to be filled with a lot of pics from our mini vacation to CHICAGO!!!! *Insert a million heart eyes emojis here.* We left Tuesday morning and arrived around lunch time and got back around midnight last night. It was a quick trip but so needed! I had forgotten how much I absolutely love Chicago and miss being in a big city. (Louisville is not what I consider a big city -- ha!) And it was great to spend some quality time with my favorite family! :) I'm going to hit some highlights from our trip and tell you a little about my favorite things we did. 

One. 

Food. Let's just go ahead and get that out of the way! ;) We had some restaurant suggestions from a Chicagoan before we left, so we came prepared. For our first meal we had some amazing Chicago hot dogs from a place called Flub a Dub Chub's. You literally cannot get more "hole in the wall" than this. We almost missed it walking by because you have to go down into a basement to get there! It was an amazing way to break the ice though! We also ended up eating pizza one two THREE times. I'm not ashamed. We tried out Giordano's the first night, but our favorite was a friend-recommended placed called Lou Malnati's. It's definitely not a hole in the wall, but it was fabulous! We ate there twice and got their special deep dish Chicago style pizza. We had never had the true deep dish before (Pizza Hut is lying when they say "deep dish," we now know! Ha!) and we LOVED it. So good! 

Flub a Dub Chub's hot dogs!

   

Deep dish pizza at Giordano's

Hank and I at Lou Malnati's 

Two. 

THE AMERICAN GIRL PLACE. Cue happy tears, childhood memories, and emotion overload! I came to this store when I was a little girl and loved it, and I loved it again this time! In storage at my parent's house I have Molly, Felicity, a Today Girl, and a Bitty Baby. Molly and Felicity are both sadly now retired, but I almost want to put Grace on my Christmas list this year!! Lol! A French baker doll?? Yes please!! And who knew they had BITTY TWINS now?!!!! Oh my, the cuteness!!! 

Three. 

Our walk from Lincoln Park Zoo to Millennium Park! Okay, this is actually a love/hate relationship, but we experienced some great things along the way! We started at Lincoln Park Zoo (which is a great, FREE place to go if you're ever in Chicago!) and walked the whole 2.7 miles 47 trillion miles to see "The Bean" at Millennium Park. I really do think our map was wrong, because 2.7 miles seemed A LOT longer than it should have! But we got to walk through some beautiful neighborhoods, see the incredible Magnificent Mile, and take some selfies at The Bean (Cloud Gate)!

Daddy and Hank at the zoo!

Beautiful (and expensive) neighborhoods on the way from the zoo to the Bean!

Bridge near the Magnificent Mile

We made it to The Bean!

Mandatory selfie

Four.

Water! On Wednesday we walked a couple of miles down to Navy Pier, and we stopped at the Ohio Street Beach along the way! Sadly we didn't know this man-made beach existed or we would have brought swimsuits!! But nonetheless Hank got to experience his first "beach," and it was a fun way to cool off a little bit. Wednesday night we picked up our Groupon tickets for an architectural boat cruise on Lake Michigan, and this is easily my favorite thing we did in Chicago! We took off from Navy Pier and got to ride through the beautiful city while learning about all the buildings. Hank also got to experience his first boat ride, and he loved it when he wasn't asleep! :D 

Ohio Street Beach

Hank's first boat ride!

The beautiful Chicago skyline, up close and personal!

Five.

Family time! Not only did I get to spend a couple of quality days with my two favorite boys, but Thursday before we came home, we also got to see my sister and sweet nephew, Eli! They live in Wisconsin, so they drove an hour and a half to spend part of the day with us before we had to head back to Louisville. 

Told you there were going to be a lot of pictures!!! :D I'm so glad to have been able to spend a few refreshing days with some of my favorites, doing some of my favorite old and new things! I hope you guys have a wonderful weekend! :)