farewell, two thousand thirteen.

two thousand thirteen was a good year for our little family.  we have watched our little girls grow and their personalities blossom.  god lead us to a new, wonderful church that we have loved getting to be a part of.  we've deepened friendships with others and their little families, we've felt more at home, more at peace and more purposeful in where god has us and how he's using us.

such sweet, precious memories in the past twelve months... here are just a few:

january

- we started off january with our second christmas celebration.  since we were in dallas with nick's family on christmas, we gathered at my mom's for christmas with my family the second weekend in january.  we spent the night, had breakfast together, opened gifts, kids played and more family came over that night.  a great way to start off the new year!

- i turned thirty two, and to celebrate, my mom kept the girls and nick took me out for a sushi date and a movie at home.  the next morning, we went to breakfast and then to my favorite little antique shop where we found a few deals.  it was a great birthday, filled with some of my most favorite things.

- we had a lot of snow in january; a couple of big blizzard like storms which meant snow days for nick and i and lots of playing outside and hot chocolate.  we love those days!

february

- my littlest valentines.

- february vacation was a bit challenging this year.  we spent a lot of time at the hospital, as my grandfather fell at the beginning of the week and got admitted, and within a couple of days, my grandmother followed suit.  we did make it to one tournament game at the bangor auditorium; the last tournament played on that court!  pretty sentimental considering my dad played there, and so did i.  i loved getting to take bella to a place that meant so much to our family.  we also got some extra time as a family to hang with the girls, which is always special... kind of love these girls and their growing personalities!

march

- a large group of us gathered at a local restaurant on the twenty second to remember my dad's birthday.  i started a little tradition with bella this year to remember bampy: we got hot fudge sundaes from mcdonald's (dad loved them) and cuddled in my bed for a movie... ems got the raw end of the deal and got stuck with her plain ole bottle.  next year!

- nick and our niece, lucy, celebrated their birthday the very next day.  lulu turned one, and nick celebrated thirty one.  the next weekend, my mom kept the girls so we could celebrate nick.  we went to a local sports bar, watched college basketball and ate some good, greasy food and slept in the next morning.  a good date for my best guy.

- our family loves march maddness!  i had bella fill out her own bracket this year; she was prone to choose teams that ended in "state".  she didn't do so hot, neither did any of us.  but we still had fun watching.  a few nights we let bella stay up late and watch with us...

- easter came early this year.  the girls loved their easter baskets, and we got ready early for breakfast with our home church.  after our morning of fellowship, we headed home for naps and an easter egg hunt in the front yard.  we gathered at my aunt's house for dinner as a family that evening.  so thankful for the hope we have in christ, and his ability to make beauty from ashes.

april

- our family, my mom and my sister's family headed to portland for a weekend getaway.  my mom, sister and i went to a friend's baby shower and the mall with lucy and ems while the guys took jude and bella to mcdonald's and back to the hotel for some swimming.  the kids loved the pool, and it was a restful fun time for all of us!

- we got my grandparents settled into a senior care facility, where they were able to be in the same room.  my grandfather's health was declining, and it was difficult watching him struggle.  we had lots of good visits with them and time together as a family which i am so thankful for.

- april vacation was not very much of a vacation for us, but rather a week of home improvement projects!  we got so much done.  gave our kitchen a total makeover by painting our cupboards white.  bella and emmy spent a day at their babysitter, jesse's home, and nick&i worked like busy bees creating and completing bella's big girl room.  and we got to work on our landscaping, digging up all of the old shrubs out front to prepare for some new flower beds and hydrangea bushes.  it wasn't very relaxing, but our house felt like a new place by the time we were done!

- our sweet emmy ems turned one at the end of the month!  we had a "you are my sunshine" party for her with lots of family and friends.  she went completely NUTS over her cupcake and other sweet treats and loved being the center of attention.  her first year went by so fast; i can't imagine (or even remember!) what our life was like without our impish little funny girl.

may

- we celebrated mother's day with a sleepover with meme, a big breakfast the next morning, a visit to my grandmother and a good generation photo, and time with the whole fam that evening.  it was a good day celebrating the women in our lives and the gift i've been given to be the mom of our two sweet girls.

- the middle of may, our bella girl turned three!  the day of her birthday, we met some friends and family at our favorite park with a mcdonald's picnic and lots of swinging and sliding.  on the way home, we stopped to get hot fudge sundaes (our little birthday tradition with the girls).  the next day, we had a little family party for her with lots of pink and princesses!  it was a great celebration for our little sweetheart.

- cookout season was finally upon us the end of may!  we had lots of fun throughout the summer having friends over, watching the kids play in the backyard and gathering around our firepit for long talks, sparklers and smores.  and of course, just lots of time playing outside!

 - we also began going to a new church this month, and we are just so grateful to have found a new place of fellowship and get to hear such fantastic teaching.  the girls love it as well and get so excited to go to church.  if you know anything about our church journey over the past year or so, you know what a huge blessing this was to us!

june

- on may 30th, nick&i celebrated five years of wedded bliss ;)  so, the beginning of june we went on an anniversary getaway to one of our favorite little places: bar harbor.  it's a quaint, cozy town on the coast and also actually happens to be where we got engaged, so we kind of love it there.  we stayed in a beautiful hotel right on the water.  it rained almost the whole time we were there, but that only made it more cozy.  we found the cutest coffee shop, strolled along the shore, went in a few shops, had a fantastic dinner, slept in and ate breakfast at the cutest hole in the wall restaurant where we also had breakfast the morning we got engaged.  we are so nostalgic like that.  it was the perfect little getaway!

- our family and lots of close friends participated this year in a liver walk in portland in memory of my dad.  my brother-in-law made red t-shirts (my dad's fav color) and team brewster was large and in charge.  it was pretty amazing to see a sea of red walking along the route.  about forty people came out to show their love and honor my dad; it was truly a moving experience that we will look forward to every year!  you are awesome dad... still touching lives even after you're gone.

- we celebrated father's day this year by letting nick sleep in, a big breakfast, a golfing trip for him with some of his buddies and ending the day with a steak cookout with family.  he smiled all weekend telling me what a great time he had.  so thankful to get to celebrate this sweet man; the girls and i are such lucky ladies to be blessed with him!!

- bella started gymnastics in june and also went to her first vacation bible school!  i couldn't believe it; felt like such a big week for her, and i was painfully aware of how big my little girl was getting.  she absolutely LOVES gymnastics and it's been a great outlet for her, physically, developmentally and socially.  she's getting her crazies out and learning to listen better to instruction, follow directions and just loves being around lots of other kids :)  vacation bible school was a huge hit for her; there was a bounce house, a slip and slide, lots of crafts and fun songs and she always came home telling us new things she had learned about jesus.

- i was so excited the end of june when two of my best friends from college came to visit!  the three of us hadn't been together in years, so it was a much anticipated weekend!  i picked mel and leah up in boston and we chatted and drove back to maine in the wee hours of the morning.  we relaxed, caught up, played with the girls and had a fun all day outing to bar harbor.  i'm so blessed by their friendship, and by having women that have been constant in my life, supporting me, loving me and no matter how much time goes by or miles separate us, we still go right back to where we left off.

july

- we packed up the fam and headed to texas the beginning of july!  we had a full two weeks of fun with family, catching up with friends, going to a water park, heading to the country, exploring downtown a bit and making lots and lots of new memories.  it was a great trip and as always, so much fun!  just love seeing our girls get to spend time with our family there and get to be around our friends as well.  no matter how long we're gone, it still feels like our other "home".

- the girls and i took lots and lots of day trips during july and august!  nick joined us on a few, but i loved filling our weekdays with trips to the coast, exploring beaches and quaint villages, finding little parks and picnic places and venturing out.  we always had company; my aunt, my mom or our friends.  maine in the summer is almost magical, and i want the girls to experience it all.  such sweet, sweet memories from our daytrip adventures!

- the girls had lots of fun this summer as always, dancing and singing and i had to include this video from this summer, since it is one of my alltime favorites:

august

- after ninety one years on this earth, my sweet grampy went home to be with the lord on august fifth.  we had some precious time with him by his bedside, and we knew he was ready to see his jesus and to be reunited with the son he missed so dearly.  we had a beautiful service for him and celebrated his life.  so thankful to know he is at peace and full of joy in the presence of his savior.

- we had a family trip to my uncle byron's camp on portage lake in mid-august.  he has a beautiful cabin on a quiet lake in northern maine and we decided an annual trip there was going to be our new summer tradition!  we ate and ate some more.  the kids swam and explored, the babies napped and tried eating rocks.  the adults played endless games of dominoes and waited until the kids went to bed to dig into ice cream.  it was a great little getaway with lots of fun memories!  bella still asks all the time when we are going back!

- bella and emmy went to one last vacation bible school at the end of the summer at my sister and brother-in-law's church.  it was a riot, and i was so glad that both of them could go because emmy loved it just as much as bella!  nick had football camp that week, so i would always pick them up and i couldn't wait to walk in and see them in action... they'd both always be in the auditorium singing and dancing to the music.  they were obsessed and we are still playing those songs here at home ;)

september

- football began in full swing in september and the girls and i hunkered down for a short season of missing our guy.  but it's always a special time that i love as well as we get to make a few road trips to see his games, and have fun following our favorite coach!  great memories for the girls; there's nothing like watching them run out onto the field at the end of the game into the arms of their daddy, under those big ole lights.  good times.

- we got to go apple picking this year!  it was a great time, although we didn't get as many apples as i hoped for.  still enough to make some apple butter, a couple pies and apple crisps.  i do love fall baking; one of my favorite seaons to be in the kitchen.

- i got to go on a special mama/daughter date with my youngest; sesame street live with emmy!  it was so fun, and she absolutely loved it!  she sat in my lap, just staring and smiling, or was down dancing to the music and pointing to all of her favorite characters.  it was so sweet and such treasured one-on-one time with my little girl!

october

- we started a new family fall tradition with our first trip to treworgy's orchards!  the girls loved feeding the goats, checking out the pumpkins and getting ice cream.  the hayride was definitely a huge hit as well!  it was such a fun evening for our little fam... can't wait to go back next year!

- as a red sox fan, this fall was particularly exciting with another world series victory!  the games were on so late i had to start drinking coffee to avoid falling asleep on the couch, but it was a really fun couple of weeks in the cornwell household.  very meaningful to me, as we had all of my dad's old red sox hats on display for a couple of weeks.  i can still see him fist pumping even now.

- halloween was super fun this year with the girls!  bella had been excited about it for weeks.  she dressed up as cinderella (which is a total surprise, i know!) and ems a cute lil strawberry.  it was pouring rain halloween night which kind of put a damper on things, but we went to meme's work for pictures and candy and then to my aunts house for our traditional dinner and raiding her candy stash.  its always a fun night... for them and us :)

november

- my annual girls weekend came right on the heels of football season, which was a well timed getaway for me!  my high school girlfriends and i meet up in portland and stay in a hotel, do some shopping, drink lots of coffee, eat leisurely breakfasts by the fireplace and talk and talk and laugh and cry and talk some more.  i always look forward to this trip and time with some of my favorite women!

- nick enjoyed a weekend with the guys the very next week, heading to my uncle byron's camp with our brother-in-law brian and another friend.  they ate lots of meat and bacon, played settlers of catan and finished the weekend with watching football at a local sports bar.  he loved it, although i'm pretty sure our weekend away was alot more fun ;)

- we hosted our second thanksgiving this year in our home, which i always enjoy!  the girls woke up excited to watch the macy's parade while nick&i got everything set up.  mom came over early and we finished cooking everything while the rest of the family arrived.  we had a huge and delicious meal that was a group effort by everyone, followed with lots of sitting, dessert eating and football watching.  the kids played excitedly and we went to bed happy.  it was a great day; so much to be thankful for.

december

- my mom, sister and i have started a tradition of going out of town (portland...again... i know, we really like it there!) before christmas to do some shopping and have some mother/daughter/sister time.  it's always a really fun weekend and one i look forward to all year!

- the holiday season this year was one of my absolute favorites.  bella woke up every morning asking if it was christmas yet, she was really really excited this year.  and because of that, emmy was just as excited even if she didn't quite understand it all!  we did lots of really fun things like santa clause for a cause, the polar express, baking day at meme's, riding around to look at lights, getting into mama and daddy's bed and watching christmas movies on the wall thanks to daddy's projector... it was a really fun season full of great memories!

- christmas this year was one of the prettiest christmases i can remember.  we had a huge ice storm a few days before, which made all of the trees just glisten and shine.  it was beautiful.  meme spent the night on christmas eve and we woke up to do presents and stockings and had a big breakfast with meme and paul and jill, some longtime family friends.  then we headed to meme's house to do presents with my sister's family, followed by traditional fondue with my aunt's family that evening.  it was a great day; there is absolutely nothing like watching your children at christmastime.  such a gift!

- new years eve was very relaxed in the cornwell house this year.  we had a pre-bedtime dance party with the girls and then after they were asleep, nick&i opened some wine, baked some appetizers from trader joes and played a long, heated game of scrabble.  i fought to keep myself awake on the couch to watch the ball drop and then we headed to bed.  a cozy night at home with my favorite guy.  not a bad way to usher in the new year.

farewell, two thousand thirteen.  thank you for many, many sweet memories.  as i look over these photos, i'm sad this year is over but i look forward to what two thousand fourteen will bring!