When I first started blogging, I read through my fair share of mommy blogs.  One of the things that I loved the MOST about the mommy blogs I read was the home tours.  I love seeing how different mommies style their homes and stealing ideas.  The only problem was that this was the one post I couldn't imitate, as we lived in a crappy two bedroom apartment.  I mean, who the heck wants to look at shit piled on top of shit?!

In June, I shared with you all that we had recently purchased a home.  It is the home of our dreams.  I lived in apartments for 10 LOOONG years (6 of those years with Hershey), so I was more than ready to settle down, especially with Jane and Emma beginning to walk around.

We fell in love with this split level on a long lot the moment we walked through the doors.  The major improvements were done (2 full bathrooms, a fully updated kitchen, new roof and siding), but we knew that we still had our work cut out for us.  

After a long (and often painful) process, we closed on our home.  We put together a punch list of items that we wanted to update or improve (over 100 items long), and got to work once school let out!  Two weeks ago, we finished the main level.  We are missing some artwork in obvious places, but I wanted to at least share with you some results!

When thinking about how to photograph rooms, I was pretty clueless.  I did some research, and the professional photographers all had the same thing to say:  Clear the clutter, photograph the rooms as if you are sitting inside of them.  

Here's the thing.  When I look at other mommy bloggers' home tours, I always think to myself, How does she keep her house so effing CLEAN!?!  

So in the interest of saving your sanity, I decided to photograph my main level as it is - toys and all.  Of course, I cleared some clutter.  I cleaned off the dining room table, which is the catchall in the house, and I picked up the toys off of the floor.  But I didn't vacuum, I didn't mop, I didn't wipe the little baby fingerprints off of any of the appliances.  I moved a couple of dingy looking towels, but otherwise, this is what our house looks while the kids are snoozing.


I think this is my favorite room in the house, as this is not only where we spend the most time as a family, but it also has these beautiful French doors overlooking the backyard, which we open when it's nice out.  It gives us the joy of eating outside even though we are somewhat sheltered from the mosquitoes.

We are missing a piece of artwork on the back wall, but I am hoping that once we have our family portraits done in September we can rectify that!

The days are just FLYING by here and I cannot believe that summer is halfway over.  Luckily, last weekend we were able to sneak away from the daily monotony of naps and house work to spend a few days ocean-side at Hershey's family's beach house.  It's so weird to be able to sit down and read a book without having to worry about what room should be painted or cleaned or organized or where I should be taking the girls to wear down their TIRELESS and BOTTOMLESS pits of energy.  I finally got to finish a book that I've been trying to read since DECEMBER, and if you know me, that's a REALLY LONG ASS TIME.

On Wednesday, we packed the truck from top to bottom and threw the girls into their car seats right before their morning nap.  We were on the road by 10:30, but Jane and Emma just weren't feelin their morning nap in their car seats.  They full out lost their shit for about 3/4 of the ride, despite how many Puffs, sippies and songs we stuffed them with.

By the time we got to the house (a 2.5 hour drive), everyone was ready to be OUT.  Hershey unpacked the car while I got the girls into their porch swings and worked on filling up the little pool.  The result was happy toddlers (finally).





The next day was super overcast and muggy, so we decided to trek to the Cape May County Zoo.  We figured no one would be there since it was such a crappy day.  Boy, were we wrong!  There was a line to get in, we could barely move, the whole place was smelly, and the animals were all sleeping.  Plus, the girls were less interested in the animals and more interested in playing with the other little kids and running away from us.  We stayed for about an hour and headed back home for nap time.






Day 5, the A/C decided it didn't want to work anymore.  It was about 83 degrees in the house, and Jane and Emma were all about NOT napping.  We decided to take them for a little boat ride to try to distract them and to get them out of the heat for a little while.  That was a total BUST, but they enjoyed the first 10 minutes!

A few years ago, I stumbled into a very informal clambake at a restaurant and always thought it would be fun to have one in a backyard during the summer.  Well, Baby made my dreams come true, and yesterday we hosted our first clambake. 

We ordered 500 littleneck clams, 4 dozen blue claw crabs, and 4 pounds of shrimp, and got to work!  I found a really easy recipe on Pinterest, whipped up a batch of spiked lemonade, and about 25 of our closest friends and their kids all gathered at our abode for a day of games, chatting, napping, and NOMMING!