a pumpkin coach, some reindeer & the white mountains.

i wasn't kidding when i said we had a busy stretch.  we got home from our two week trip to dallas thursday night after midnight and by sunday morning, we were back on the road again.  this time, headed for new hampshire. growing up, our family vacays usually included a trip to new hampshire.  it's a beautiful state, full of mountains and forests and lakes.  we always stayed in this one hotel and i have memories of sitting in the restaurant overlooking chair lifts on the ski slopes, and my dad endlessly throwing our room key in the pool for gretchen and i to dive for it.  in the middle of the white mountains sit two family amusement parks: storyland and santa's village.  if you grew up in new england, you probably know exactly what i'm talking about.  it seems to be a rite of passage for any kid in these parts.  it's like: boston red sox fan?  check.  eat peanut butter and fluff sandwiches?  double check.  been to storyland and santa's village?  check, check, check.

told ya.

i couldn't think of a better vacation to take this summer with my family... perfect nostalgia.  i was nervous about such a trip conjuring up memories and making me sad that my dad wasn't with us.  but instead, i just kept thinking: he is loving the fact that we are doing this.

here is a rundown.

sunday
left bright & early, and made the usual stop at the newport d&d for a cup of joe.  made it to north conway in time for lunch and happened to see a "thomas the train" event at the train station.  you can imagine jude and bella's excitment.  we wove our way through the mountains to our hotel, which included a room with bunk beds that, again, bella and jude were quite pumped about.  we went out to dinner, did some grocery shopping, got settled and hit the hay.

monday
storyland!  after breakfast at the hotel, we made our way to storyland.  i forgot how cute that place is.  it incorporates several children's stories, nursery ryhmes and fairy tales, including a spinning teacup ride (alice in wonderland), a trip to heidi's grandfather's cabin (remember that shirley temple classic?), the old woman in the shoe, and the highlight of our whole vacation... cinderella's castle.  so, so cute.  it took bella a bit to warm up to the rides, but no time at all to cozy up to her fav princess.  almost a week later, and every night before she goes to bed, i lay down beside her and she tells me allllll about seeing cinderella's castle, her glass slippers, riding in her pumpkin coach and seeing prince charming.  one of my favorite moments of being a mama to date :)

my aunt and mom were so sweet, helping so much with the babies so we could all take the bigger kids on rides and not miss a thing.  they were troopers and we were so grateful for their help!  bella missed the 36 inch cut off line by just a hair, so she wasn't able to go on some of the bigger rides, but we still found tons to do!

tuesday
after breakfast, us and the keezers headed for the outlet stores in north conway.  it was a bit stressful with all the kids, but when they started to tire, the guys took bella and jude back to the hotel for lunch and naps. my mom, aunt and rach joined gret and i and the babies for lunch and more shopping.  i think lucy cried the whole time we were in american eagle, and then emmy cried the whole time we were in the gap.  so after those two stops, gret and i were ready to head back with our cranky munchkins.  that evening we got to go on a cornwell/keezer double date and it was so fun... and also, so kid-free, which was amazing.  we found an awesome little pub and had a great time.  perfect night.

wednesday
santa's village!  we packed up, loaded our cars and left our hotel that morning, headed through the white mountains for about an hour drive.  it was *beautiful*.  santa's village is an amusement park that transports its visitors into christmastime, even in july, constantly playing christmas music, decorated in "snow" and lots of red and green and providing countless rides and shows.  bella got to "work" in santa's workshop and made her very own princess hat.  she went to a bakery where she decorated (and ate... obviously) a gingerbread cookie.  aaaand she got to feed santa's reindeer.  we also appreciated them keepin it real with a huge nativity set; bella gave baby jesus kisses, jude gave him a high five and they both "rode" on some sheep.  too cute.  bella kept asking for cinderella, but loved every second of the christmas-y park.  she even got to ride a roller coaster.  she was completely silent the entire time, just staring ahead.  i leaned over and asked her if she liked it and she said "no!  i don't!" but when it was all over, she totally changed her tune.  jude, brian, nick&i got to ride our second log flume ride of the trip (think waaaaaaaay mini splash mountain).  jude said he wanted me to take him, so he sat in front of me and i held onto him for dear life as he screamed the whole way down :)

santa's village was a great way to end our vacay... and maybe, just maybe this year bella won't be so terrified of santa after our visit.  does this pic ring a bell??

one can only hope.

we had a blast!  jude and bella got along so well and loved every minute of our activities (okay, except the shopping) and lucy and emmy were full of cuteness, which is really all we can expect at this point.  so beyond grateful for my family... we have weathered a tough year and have managed to draw closer to one another and make some special memories in the midst of it all, knowing just how short this life can be.  dad would be proud.  i just know it.

lucy mae.

meet my niece!

lucy mae keezer was born on her uncle nick's birthday, march 23, 2012! she weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces and has a head full of black hair! i was so excited and grateful to be able to be at the hospital for her birth. when my nephew, jude, was born nick&i were living in dallas and i had to hear about everything afterwards, and only saw pictures of him until i met him a few months later. it was heartbreaking! so this time was so much fun. i got to snuggle with her alot (she's quite the cuddle bug) and be there with my sister which was so special.

bella LOVED her new cousin! she is a huge fan of babies right now and is such a little mama. it's so fun to watch that maternal instinct come out in her. she wanted to keep hugging and kissing "baby wooocy" and cried when we had to leave her. it was adorable. and gave me so much hope for her adjustment to emmy.

we haven't gotten to see lucy since saturday because bella was sick with a cold at the beginning of the week, and then i was at the end of the week. not so much fun. and we really miss her!

welcome to the world, lucy mae! we are going to have so much fun :)

a sugar&spice baby shower.

my sister is due in almost exactly a month with my sweet niece, lucy mae. yes, apparently we like to be pregnant together :) my nephew jude and bella are only four months apart, and this time lucy and emmy will only be a month apart! exciting times.

this past weekend we had a little baby shower for her at my house. i love planning parties. especially ones for those i love. i wanted to make it really special and pretty. my sister is not super girlie, and she doesn't like pink. which is completely opposite of me. so i was constantly trying to weigh out wanting to make her shower pretty and sweet, but not too frou frou.

for this pink-loving-girlie-mama-to-be-of-two-girls this posed a bit of a challenge. but i found this really pretty shower when i was googling ideas one day that gave me some inspiration. i knew there was no way it would be this fancy schmancy, but it helped give me a bit of a vision since everything else was oozing with pink!

i'm not big into themes... don't like them when they are too overdone. but i do like to use a subtle theme that ties everything together and provides inspiration for a starting point in planning. for lucy's shower, i chose "sugar&spice". you know... "sugar and spice and everything nice, that's what little girls are made of." i made a garland out of fabric scraps i had in my stash by tearing long strips and tying them each to a long strand of turquoise ribbon. the colors worked well and provided a base for the shower decor; i tried to emphasize turquoise, yellow and green with hints of orange and a bit of pink (you can't have a baby shower for a little girl and completely escape it!) this garland provided the *perfect* backdrop to the food table.

i borrowed a white eyelet lace tablecloth from my mom and bought some pretty yellow spider mums for the center of the table. the tray i modpodged with pretty vintage scrapbook paper for bella's first birthday party last year. it's still one of my favorite centerpieces and is always on our dining room table.

i made little place cards to label the food using scrapbook paper and embellished them with fabric and ribbon. i like to try to do that for parties so that guests know what they're putting on their plates...

speaking of the food... it was oh-so-delish. i requested some of my sister's favorites from our family and close friends, following a brunch theme. my mom brought a fruit salad, my aunt made a fruit and chocolate cake trifle, gretchen's mother-in-law made mini quiches and almond cake squares, her sister-in-law kate brought french breakfast muffins, our friend tanya made a french toast bake, another friend emily brought a crackers&cheese platter and i made caprese salad skewers.

our aunt dawn brought some of gret's favorite candy: twizzlers, malted milk balls and sour patch kids. i filled vases and mason jars with the candy and added them to the table.

the cake was beautiful! our friend jen owns a cake business and made this *gorgeous* vintage-y chocolate cake with buttercream frosting. so lovely.

the day was really special. my sister was showered with lots of love, gifts, and best of all she was surrounded by the presence of close friends and family. little lucy will be very well loved and so blessed to have such a great mama and family, praying for her and walking through life next to her.

lucy mae, we can't wait to meet you! love you sweet little girl!

this post is linked up to these *lovely* blogs:
newlyweds on a budget
mommy by day crafter by night
chef in training
homemaker in heels

sisters, sisters...

there were never such devoted sisters... yes, yes it's true: i'm quoting the famous song from one of my beloved christmas movies "white christmas". nick&i watch it every.single.year. it's just one of those classics. when i was in college, my roommate and i would relentlessly torture our other bff with our singing of the "sisters" lyrics as we sat around the popcorn bowl taking in the old bing crosby flick.

while this song is silly, if you have a sister, there's a part of you that can relate to it. i mean, maybe not that whole dressing-up-in-electric-blue-dresses-and-singing-amidst-giant feathers-thing.

i guess what i mean is that you get what they're trying to say. there's something about having a sister that gives you in--many ways--an instant best friend. maybe not always, but i am thankful that is true in my life. this has not always been the case, of course. my sister, gretchen and i, are three and a half years apart. we used to fight relentlessly to the point that we would make our mom cry. my father used to tell us out of exasperation that if we didn't grow up to be friends he would feel like a failure. it was bad. we're enough alike, but also vastly different. not always a great combination.

but now, at 30 and 27 we can safely say that we are not only sisters, but best friends. and after all that our family has gone through over the past few months--or even the past few years since my dad's diagnosis--i can honestly say blessed is the girl who has a sister in whom she has found a friend.

today we found out that bella is having a sister :) i would've been so so happy with either a boy or a girl, i honestly just couldn't wait to find out what our little baby was and to be able to call him/her by name. but i do have so much joy in knowing that bella will have a sister because i know what a blessing it is (once you get past the fighting stage!). i'm going to be praying fervently that god would bless their relationship and grow it past sisterhood, and into a beautiful friendship.

emmy faith is the name we picked for our girl. emmy meaning "immense, entire, striving", which as a whole, her name represents to us "immense faith" which we love (especially with bella grace--or "beautiful grace"). bella has already been walking around the house saying "mama, daddy, emmy!" for months now... so i guess this just proves that she has been right all along.

i'm so thankful for this day, for this news, for this sweet baby girl. i'm so thankful that we got to share the news of our coming baby with my dad before he left this earth. i'm so thankful for the lord, in his perfect timing and faithfulness, that he knew we would need these babies "for such a time as this."

(did i mention that my sister is also pregnant?? yeah... a month ahead of me. and she is also having a girl, lucy. i guess it's a sister-thing) :)

little emmy, we were so overjoyed to see you today, to be able to call you by name! you are healthy which we praise god for and you are so beautiful... we've been praying for you and now we can pray more specifically--for god to be molding you into a lovely woman of jesus, for your life to have a specific calling and for you to be set apart for his purpose, and for your future husband someday wherever he may be. may you always KNOW how precious you are, and live your life with your head held high knowing you are valuable and worthy because you are HIS. we love you so much! only four more months until we can hold you.
love you with all my heart, your mama