TAKING A 6 MONTH BREAK FROM INSTAGRAM - THIS IS MONTH 4
/It’s been four months off Instagram, and every month I give an update on how life’s been here in the Hawthorne house! You can read about month 1 here, month 2 here, and month 3 here, but be sure to come back here to catch up on month 4!
So, let’s catch up!
This month’s been all about having my mom come visit, saying bye to daddy for military stuff, making this new house a home, and continuing to get settled into Texas! (Mixed in with a broken septic, broken AC, lots of master bedroom sleepovers + more) So let’s get to it!
We started off the month with celebrating the Fourth of July with a festive charcuterie!
Strawberries, dried strawberries, raspberries, bananas, blueberries, cheese, and crackers make for the perfect mix of Red, White, and Blue!
And then of course came a pool day + fireworks! And by fireworks, I mean sparklers because our city doesn’t allow fireworks. The sparklers were still a hit! And because we live up on a hill we could see fireworks all across the lake which was so so fun to see!
PS funny note about this tee - My maiden name is Farris, and I was called “Bueller” when I was younger as a nickname. I found this tee for $11 and had to have it hehe! More importantly…I was born in 1986!! So this tee was truly just meant to be LOL!
Then! My momma flew in! Which was such a treat since it’s been a while since we last saw her! We enjoyed so much sunshine with her, in our backyard, and at the lake, and she loved it here!
Here’s some pics from our backyard waterslide parties, and Bella sitting in the shade. hahah!
We went on so many walks with my mom, she played so much piano, we took endless pics, the girls drew her countless pics, and we just truly enjoyed each other’s company. Oh…and we ate a lot of yummy Korean food as always!
We spent some much needed quality family time at the lake behind our house a few times before we had to say bye to daddy. This trip in particular is probably my fondest memory of the entire month. We were splashing each other, giggling, and just loving life, summer, and family time. I’ll never forget these moments with my Italian stallion. ;)
Texas - 2020. Loving life at the lake.
This is how empty it is every time we go. We always go early in the morning before many people are there, and it’s just totally dreamy. We are in heaven.
And how precious is this little peach float! Only $!5 and we all love it so so much! It’s the perfect little lounge float, and not to mention it’s cute. :)
Everly says she wants to be a surfer! Andddd she’s really getting the hang of swimming! Look at her pulling Hadley on the board with no floats on!!! She is so eager to master swimming AND surfing, and it’s just the sweetest! Our little adventure girl.
I mean truly, LOOK AT THESE SEA BABES!!!!
P.s. you can get this Sea Babe hat on sale with my code AMY15 at www.bittybrah.com !!! We love these hats because they actually stay on the girls’ heads!
OKAY BUT TRULY OUR ABSOLUTE NUMBER ONE FAVORITE ACTIVITY THIS SUMMER?!?!?!
SNORKELING!!! and we don’t have to be at some crazy cool reef to do it! Although that would be neat.
We’ve found that it has truly helped with the girls’ water confidence, and it’s been SUCH a fun family activity!
YOU MUST check out this video below to see them in action!!!
If you follow me on IG, you know I rave about the cordless vacuum. Ha! This is right up there with it on a must have for families. This will be on every gift list from here on out!
While Everly’s learning to surf and swim, Hadley’s still wearing princess dresses, twirling around to Kidz Bop Shine Bright Like a Diamond - by Rhianna and Believer - by Imagine Dragons (hahah!), and asking daddy to paint her nails, which he secretly LOVES doing. :) She also changes clothes every hour, every day, and I never thought we’d be in that phase! It’s hilarious. She tells me every other day she doesn’t want bangs anymore, and then she says she loves them. She ALWAYS puts her clothes on backwards, and her shoes on the wrong feet, no matter how much we try to teach her otherwise…maybe it’s cause she’s left handed? We haven’t quite figured it out LOL! She also adores the song Little Drummer Boy which is so sweet and random hahahha! Especially when we’re blasting it in the middle of July, LOL! At nightime, she scratches her armpits to put herself to sleep.
Truly, how’s that for sweet?!?! And her middle of the night sneaking into my bed while Blake’s away is truly my favorite. Don’t tell Blake, but she may be a better cuddler. ;)
Everly on the other hand adores Thunder - by Imagine Dragons! AND SHE LOST HER FIRST TWO TEETH THIS MONTH!!!! LIKE WHAT?!?!??!! How is she getting that big. Her two bottom front teeth came out and it was the weirdest experience hahaha! I get grossed out easily, but we managed LOL! Tooth fairy came too and she brought the sweetest little tooth keepsake box and mouse fairy that you can find here! Everly was in love!
She also got a special zoom call from her preschool teacher in Kansas as well as the sweetest package from her. We miss her so much!
A few other fun things from this month: she has started putting the dishes away for me and 1. YAY because I despise doing it, but 2. she chose to do it all by herself! She really does want to be a little helper, and I adore it! She lip syncs songs and doesn’t think anyone is watching, and it’s the cutest thing ever to watch. ANDDDD AT AGE 5.5 SHE IS FINALLY NIGHT POTTY TRAINED!!!! Guys! wait until your babes are ready, and don’t feel like you have to force it!!! I promise they won’t go to college in diapers, though it may feel like it in the moment haha. Since we waited until she was ready, it was SO EASY!!!
We also got her set up with a new ABA clinic here, and I’m so excited for her to dive back in. She THRIVES in therapy and she’s eager to be back with the most extraordinary therapists in this world!
Before my mom left, we were sure to make a trip up to Waco to look around, grab some food, some great coffee, and walk around to see all the pretty construction / decor! WE WERE IN HEAVEN!!! I can’t believe I live here you guys! 45 minutes from the Silos. Dream come true!
Wanna hear something hilarious? I got stopped about 27 times and was asked for an autograph and to take a picture with people because they thought I was Joanna Gaines. hahahahahah!!!
One, I am NOT that pretty.
Two, I am Korean like her so understand that.
Three, the mask makes it very hard to tell and I wore a typical Jo outfit so I get it, but it was HILARIOUS!!!
We also went on a rainy day so we wouldn’t have to deal with a crowd and it worked!!! There was hardly anyone there which was SO NICE!!!!
That same day, we met with Everly’s new audiologist here to keep up with her hearing aids! He was great, and we feel like she’s in great hands once again! So proud of that girl.
One of the last mornings Blake was here, we asked my moms to watch the girls so we could have one final date. We live right next to a mountain bike park, so we got up with the sunrise, and rode around for 10 miles, just the two of us.
It was so special.
He cycled for West Point and was incredible. He’s a phenomenal athlete, and I’m so grateful he always pushes me out of my comfort zone to try new things and to always stay active and fit. Cycling is one of our favorite family activities, and I’m excited to add mountain biking to the list of my favorite activities!
Buttttt…all good things must come to an end. And early in the month we had to take daddy to the airport to say goodbye for a few months. Everly snapped this picture of us, and I’m happy we have a little mini photographer in our house now. hehe! Makes it easier so we don’t have to go ask neighbors to take pics for us anymore. hahaha!
The sweetest/ saddest pic of the month.
The girls had to say bye to daddy. Though they don’t understand a concept of time, they do know what “a long time” means versus he’ll just be gone a few days.
This one’s a long time. :(
I always thought it was harder when they were younger because they just didn’t understand, but I’m starting to realize the older they get, the harder it is to say goodbye.
They get it now. And they miss him so much already.
Onto a lighter note (hahahha) let me toot my horn a bit and tell you HOW HARD AND SCARY it is to mow our yard. We live on a hill and this sucker is scary going up and down it. BUT I’ve been doing it for three weeks now and I just want to say PRAISE YOU to all the men and women out there doing yard work alone. haha! (p.s. I’m trying to save money and dpn’t want to hire anyone, which is why I’m doing it myself. )
Y’all also SHOWED UP once again for our family during our 1 July restock! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!
We’ve got some big big plans in store for our October launches, so stay tuned Ever Co fam!!!!!
Another project we’ve been working on is our back patio!! We are adding in a lot of new concrete to extend it out + adding more overhead for more shade! We spend so much time outside, so we wanted to make sure we had enough cover from all of this Texas sun! We aren’t making many upgrades to this house, considering it’s only a few years old, but this is one investment we’re making as we do think it’ll add some great value to the house once we resell or rent out! I’ll be sure to keep you guys posted on this progress!
Wellll and of course in TRUE solo parenting fashion, the day after Blake leaves we start having all kinds of issues around the house that I desperately rely on him to take care of. Not because I’m incompetent, cause let it be known that I CAN hold my ground…but because I’m just lazy….HA!!!
So our aerobic septic had issues, and we couldn’t use the toilet for 3 days…..LET ME JUST SAY THAT THE HOUSE SMELLED HORRIBLE, EVERLY’S POOP WAS EVERYWHERE, AND IT WAS HORRIBLE. HAHAHHA!!!
AND THENNNNNNNNN our AC broke out of nowhere.
Actually, it broke while the plumbers were here fixing our septic/toilet so I legit blamed it on them.
Insert palm to face emoji here. hahahahha!!!
I was like wait so you’re telling me it was purely coincidence that our AC broke WHILE our toilets are getting fixed?!?!?!
Yep.
Purely coincidence. AND EVIL. hahaha!
So anywho, it was 87+ inside the house for two days and 100+ outside and straight up MISERABLE.
I can’t make this stuff up.
We had some not so comfortable hot, naked, slumber parties in the master, and well just tried to make the most of it.
But anyways…it can only get better from here…right? hehe!
P.S. my quilt in Bronze is linked here, just $69.99 for the king!!
My sheets are linked here and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THEM!!! the mocha color is stunning and they’re sooooo soft! And only $35 !!!!
That also meant I was not about to cook any long extravagant meals, because I one didn’t have the energy (since I was conserving it to not die from heat lol) but also because I didn’t want to warm the house up much.
So we had a lot of PF Changs lo mein on our pretty new plates. (with a side of vino for mama) and it truly made life a bit better.
Plates linked here, here and here! So presh and great prices. Would also be cute gifts for teachers or therapists!
We’ve had lots of girls days, which has been stressful + enjoyable + memorable all in one.
They’re driving me nuts a lot (let’s just be real) but man do I feel lucky to have this quality time with them!
My outfit is Lullaby Club, H’s is Zara and E’s is Indy and Pippa!
With lots of pictures together, of course!
top = Zara.
We’ve also gotten lots of sweet time with our precious angel Bella who will be 11 this year!!!! WHAT?!?!?!? oh man, we love you Bella!
I’ve also been working hard on their playroom, and here’s some updated shots!
This little play castle is only around $20 and they play with it everyyyy singleeee day!
It’s not the best quality, buttttt it is only $20 so we’ll take it! You could even paint it!
Most of the other items are from Shop Sweet Lulu, Poppy Toys and No Small Miracle!
And here’s a dollhouse update! You can find the tutorial for this one we built (as well as all the details for what’s inside) here!
Here’s a few other fun memories from the month! Playing school in the living room, getting new doll clothes in from No Small Miracle. setting up our new bird feeder (linked here), collecting rocks / seashells, grocery shopping trips, macaroons from the Korean bakery, lake days + more!
And a couple more buys this month that I HAVE TO SHARE!!!
Andddddd if you’re still here reading (phew, praise you! Cause these blog posts take me about 6 + hours to do!!!!) then here’s your very first hint at what’s to come in October…..can’t wait to share more!!!
Honestly though, have there been stressful days? Yes. We all have them.
I can’t even count how many times I’ve lost my cool since Blake’s been gone. These girls are desperate for socialization, their old friends and a return to normal. Heck I am too!
But we are ALL in this boat.
So I challenge all of us to not fall into the woe is me trap, because honestly things could be so much worse for so many of us.
There are so many battling much much harder things, and we have to maintain that perspective when the going gets tough.
So…all in all I truly can’t complain. Things could be SO SO MUCH WORSE, and every day I remind myself that tomorrow the sun will rise again, a new day means a fresh start, and truly I am so lucky to call these girls mine.
I’m so lucky to call this life mine.
I just pray to God that one day when they’re old enough to say it, they’ll feel the exact same way about me.
I love them something fierce and am beyond grateful for all of this quality time I’ve gotten with them over the months.
I knew the Lord called me away from the online world back in January, for a purpose far greater than my own understanding.
Little did I know we’d enter into a pandemic and these girls would desperately need their mama’s undivided attention. I sure hope they look back on this time together as true quality time together, because my perspective of motherhood has entirely shifted.
The to do lists, IG posts, picture ops, business opportunities, and collabs can all wait.
While my heart for entrepreneurship, small business, and success have not changed, (and honestly I’m more on fire for those things than ever!!!) my heart for balancing those things with faith, motherhood, and wifehood have.
I will continue seeking that balance long after this IG break ends.
Well…I guess it’s goodbye once again.
It’s so sweet getting your messages on here, your emails, your texts, and all the in between during this time away. I LOVE catching up with you all when you message me here. It’s so fun to know some of y’all are actually here, reading, and still hanging around….I hope I don’t come back to IG in October to nobody…hahahaha!!!
But…if I do, or if there’s only 100 of you there, I know I did what the Lord called me to do.
To step away and tend to these four little feet around me here.
And for that, I know that I know that I know that I’m standing right where I’m meant to be.
Until next time, sweet friends.
Love you and sending you SO much light + love + prayer during this time.
Heads up! I’ll be posting a blog post on Chatbooks next week (with a code!!! cause I know yall love them as much as me!) as well as a back to school blog post and indoor / outdoor activities for kids blog post, so stay tuned!
Alsoooooo if you’re really still reading….thank you to everyone who’s noticed the blog refresh! I’ve been working hard behind the scenes on some rebranding all by myself, so it’s been so fun to mess around here! Can’t wait to share more!