Now that summer has ended I’m shifting back to a monthly family recap. Our lives are just not as exciting during the school year so I can’t really justify a weekly post!
The big news this month was the Eclipse. At first I went from “who cares” to “omg it’s scary” to “wow this is gonna be cool.” I ended up getting glasses and I’m SO GLAD that I did! I heard from many friends locally that because of the amount we were able to see that many of the diy things didn’t work. The glasses worked great!
It was so funny when you put the glasses on it was COMPLETELY DARK.
So many of these exact pics flooded social media that day haha
Zach ended up being home for it. Our visual time fell during naps. The older kids had a half day so they got home and watched it but Tess slept through it.
This is what it looked like through the glasses, at least the best I could get with a picture. But it was REALLY AWESOME. It lived up to the hype in my opinion! We did not have ANY darkness in our area as far as the sky goes but it was still really visible through the glasses!
Here’s a video of us viewing it!
This month we also had our family photos, which you can see here. We had to reschedule twice but it was SO WORTH IT! Lindsay is amazing and we had a great time. All the kids (and parents ha!) were in great moods for the session and the weather was perfect too 🙂
Playing with filters while waiting and this was hilarious haha
Smarties y’all. Smarties are the KEY to successful sessions! That a bribery for a yummy treat after 😉
Ice cream sundaes at 10 am 😉 Cool parents! (And duh we are obsessed with the deals on the McDonalds app!)
My treat. Gah I love me an egg mcmuffin. Especially with peanut butter on it!
Nothing like a little Lowe’s trip on a Saturday 🙂
Can you find Kye 😉
When we first built our home back in 2010 we painted our exterior gray and wanted a blue door. When we submitted our paint colors to be approved we hadn’t picked a door color yet. So I take full responsibility in the issues that came about when our door was blue originally and our neighbors freaked out. But c’mon guys. It looked good! You can read the full story here but long story short…we changed the color of the door to a dark gray and it’s been that way since. However, over the years I’ve noticed that we were trendsetters because brightly colored doors have been popping up all over our neighborhood. With Zach redoing our porch we decided it was time to check back in with the HOA. They were AWESOME and immediately said we were good to go on repainting the door blue again! YAY!!!!
So many birthday parties, so much pizza 😉
The kids had a spirit week at school and honestly y’all I can’t keep up with all the themed days and why they are supposed to wear what each day. I do pretty good making sure they have what they are supposed to wear. It’s funny b/c Kye is super into it and Britt just isn’t?
Something to do with sunglasses
hat day!
spirit day (I love that Britt insisted on wearing the FSU stuff)
Long days call for lots of bubbles!
We love having Keeli’s crew living so close! I hate that sports have taken over our lives right now and we’re not able to hang as much 🙁
In case anyone ever wondered if our ball pit still gets use…all three kids can fit!
Tess misses the older kids SO MUCH while they are at school! She will run up and hug on them and say “I lost you! I missed you so much!”
Book club met this month at Smokin’ Pig and we discussed Everything I Never Told You. We all really enjoyed it and it’s a great one to add to your reading list!
It was also a super exciting month of getting MATCHED!!!! I loved getting to share our news with everyone 🙂
Kye finished reading all of the Chronicles of Narnia series while I just read The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe and we had a movie night and watched it together! It has such great meaning in the story and is really a wonderful family book to read together. Of course Zach said I had to reference the awesome digital short 😉
The kids have been ALL about our swings lately which is great! I think now that Britt can really swing on her own she enjoys it more and Kye’s competitive side comes out and they have a lot of competitions to see who can go higher 😉
Gotta love Prime Day deliveries haha! I had some GREAT deals on Amazon’s Prime Day this year! I’ve got a good start on Christmas FOR SURE!
Zach also finally got an ac unit for the playroom. It’s gonna be a beast to install but it’ll be so great for it not to be so HOT in that room and it’ll help our electric bill too!
I have a whole post devoted to lunch box ideas but this year I’m doing things differently. Now that I have both kids eating lunch at school I’m trying to keep it simple! I have a list of options for the “main item” and then mix and match the fillers! This is one I do once a week…it’s SO easy and they LOVE it! Lay out bread and take off crust then put peanut butter and jelly on it and roll it up. Freeze it then slice the next morning and it’s defrosted by lunch!
I also use these for lunch once a week! I make a HUGE batch and freeze them then just warm up and wrap in foil and they stay warm till lunch time too. These are also great if your school is peanut free 🙂
I made this for the first time this month and cooked up some fried rice with it and we loved it!
When we built our house we did it VERY basic to make it as affordable as possible. Zach is handy and we knew we could slowly upgrade things through the years. Right now we’re in more of a need to update rather than want to kinda place with the house as there are things that are simply needing change. Our front porch railing has been warped for a few years now and it just looked AWFUL. Zach completely rebuilt it himself and the finished product is beautiful and WAY better quality than the original builder used!
While Zach works on the bigger projects I try to keep the decor of our house always fresh too. I never want things to look dated and it’s HARD. When you live in your home and see it all the time it’s hard to get outside of what you’re used to and think “does this need to change?” I did a few little changes here and there throughout the house and am so happy with the updates!
Ended up sticking with this second option instead and used the seahorse in a lantern on the porch!
(all pieces are from Hobby Lobby)
Kye asks a lot of questions which is a GREAT thing and I try my best to answer them but sometimes it’s great to have other sources to use, especially ones that always refer back to God’s Word. I picked up this book this month (How Do You Know God is Real?) and plan to work through it with Kye! I’ve only heard great things so I think it’ll help answer a lot of his questions.
Zach has been getting sick SO OFTEN and we know it’s a lot to do with his weakened immune system thanks to the infusions he does for his MS (you can read more about that here). I have had so many friends suggest using oils and oh my goodness. He legit hasn’t been sick AT ALL since I starting using them for him!!!
I use Young Living and started ordering each month, if anyone ever wants anything I’m happy to share my discount and can add items to my monthly order 🙂
I made this blender bottle and Zach rolls it on his feet each morning!
I’ve been diffusing a lot more too especially in Tess’s room and Zach’s been adding the lemon to his water (and I’ve been adding the Grapefruit to mine).
Cedarwood on Zach’s feet has also been helping him sleep!
I’m adding to my collection monthly and am ALL ABOUT suggestions and recommendations of what to add!
I post a lot of my outfits each day in my IG Stories and a friend of mine reached out and suggested I should apply for “like to know it.” I applied and was accepted! It’s a big honor as it’s not something I expected AT ALL but I’m also nothing close to a fashion blogger haha Can’t you just picture me in some weird poses outside and making Zach take all the pictures for me? No way!
I tried to link to the app in my stories but it was a pain and I didn’t like how it linked to WAY more expensive versions of the stuff I was wearing. So my plan right now is to incorporate a little “Emily’s Closet” section in my monthly posts. I’ll include as many links as I can to what I’m wearing and this may eventually become it’s own post too since these monthly recaps already take so much dang time to write 😉
Here’s what I wore in August including links when I could fine em (This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.)
Shirt: I’ve bought a couple of these b/c I LOVE it so much!
Pants: These fit AMAZING. They have some stretch and are a great length (and on sale right now!)
Shoes: I wear these Converse allll the time too 🙂
Shorts: Love the lace detail! I got mine clearance last year but these are similar and a great deal!
Dress: I sent it back b/c it’s just too long but if you’re taller it’s ADORABLE!
Top: simple black sweater (similar to pictured)
Shorts: So random but NY&Co shorts are amazing. Perfect length and don’t wrinkle!
Dress: I’ve had since before I was pregnant with Britt and wore as a maternity look ha! It’s Gap Factory originally!
Sweater: I’ve also had for a long time but here’s similar from Old Navy
Shoes: I don’t wear ’em often b/c of my foot pain but who doesn’t love Crocs Sexi Flips?
I mean this dress is from who knows when? Maybe it’s legit vintage? Or maybe my grandma was just always stylish 😉 Love wearing her looks!!! I hope I can pass along my clothes to MY granddaughters and they will actually want to wear it all too!
Cardigan: Old Navy (and so soft!)
Turns out Nana either had more of a chest than I do so she could hold the dress up better ooooor she just liked to show off the ladies haha I was pretty embarrassed by how showy it was!
Shirt: Mine is from Old Navy and I can’t find it but this is similar!
Skirt: Also from my closet from wayyy back, also originally Old Navy!
Top: Express also years ago (but man I wish I could buy more now b/c I love it!)
Bracelet was my Mom’s from the 80s!
Shoes: Old Navy (no longer in stock)
Dress: New York and Co hand me down from Casey 😉
Kimono: For size reference this is a small
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