thanksgiving thirteen.

watching macy's parade with meme

pumpkins in the entryway

dining room

nick brought home this green pumpkin from a co-workers garden... i was slightly obsessed

mini gourds + pumpkins + lace

one table setting

second table setting

we make lots of memories together in the kitchen :)

carving the bird

this is as good as we could get...

first real thanksgiving food!

emmy's favorites: turkey and rolls

i love my family

my big girl 

bella's favorites: turkey, cranberry sauce and rolls

pie time

cousins playing in pj's

they love meme and aunt holly!

my nephew makes the BEST faces

someone loved his chocolate cream pie...

dessert: her favorite

emmy gets in on the action...

aunt holly sharing her pie

yum :)

hopscotch in the hallway

enter at your own risk; cousins at play...

days of gratitude {7}: the simple things.

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the secret to contentment is not giving thanks for extravagance.  it's recognizing beauty in the simple things, the everyday occurrences, the seemingly insignificant.  it is through this discipline that we realize the simple things are actually not so simple at all.  rather, they are the very things that give our lives beauty, purpose and the source of unending joy. 

a baby's dimpled hands.rocking chairs.warm mugs of hot chocolate.wrinkled pages of a bible.our backyard.the smell of bread baking.bubble baths.the sun spilling in through lace curtains.the sound of little feet running down the hall.backyard fire pit.laying in the snow, staring at the sky.homemade pie crust.butterfly kisses at bedtime.candlelight.the laughter of children.trips to the beach.swings at the park.snuggled under blankets, warm and cozy.walking hand in hand.listening to old music.bedhead and sleepy eyes.summer evenings on the front porch.chicken gravy and mashed potatoes.leaves changing color.family photos filling frames.tea kettle whistles.forts made of quilts.homemade pizza.little voices quoting scripture.saying i love you every night.antique china dishes.pom pom trim.ice cream cones all melty.baby pigtails.slow dancing in the kitchen.football games on chilly autumn nights.playful squeals.mismatched plates.cinnamon rolls hot out of the oven.babies in footed pajamas.cuddled in bed, snow swirling outside.crocuses sprouting in the front lawn.long walks.lattes topped with whipped cream.the smell of a grill on summer evenings.song filling the house.the warmth of a cheek pressed ever so loving.fresh picked apples.grammy's turquoise mixing bowl, overflowing with popcorn.date night.pretty dresses.the words of old hymns sung over little heads.staying up late.morning kisses.christmastime magic.the snap of a camera.silver and gold.psalms.eyelashes splayed on little cheeks.chubby wrists.sharing glasses of wine.white lace.crunchy leaves.cool mornings at the park.a deepening love over time.road trips.freshly washed hair tickling the nose.snuggling on the couch.slippers.cousins playing.fresh flowers bought with love.little eyes wide with excitement.the sound of rain.pumpkin scented candles.bread dough rising on the counter.letters.white picket fences.a breeze blowing through an open window.fireflies.bare feet in the grass.friends.walking to the farmers market.picnics.gooey chocolate chip cookies and a cold glass of milk.grandparents love.baby blankets.promising a lifetime.strolling through coastal quaintness.mexican food.birthday parties.quilts spilled over the couch in eclectic patches of color.china teacups.handprints.fluffy biscuits topped with butter.making memories.aqua mason jars.wet babies wrapped up in warm towels.arms squeezing tightly.milkglass vases and fresh flowers.us

giving thanks for the simple things is the very realization of the many ways that we are blessed.  my cup runneth over.  

happy thanksgiving.  from our home to yours.

give thanks bunting.

i'm such a sucker for christmas.  always have been, always will be.  we've been listening to christmas music for a couple of weeks now, and my kids have already started watching christmas movies.  i am itching to get our house decorated for the season, but since we are hosting thanksgiving this year i figure i need to keep it fall-ish for a bit longer.

i've been meaning to make a bunting for our hutch for a while now and i finally got around to doing it.  i had thought of a few different ways to make my banner, and tried to decide what word i wanted to use... i decided on "give thanks" because i love that it reflects on action--a choice--to reflect on what we are grateful for.  so important, and a great reminder.  i had a few different designs in mind, but i kind of just went with the flow and ended up with this:

 here's how you can make your own!

give thanks bunting

supplies:
* fabric
* canvas dropcloth (you'll only need a bit, so you will have a bunch leftover for other projects!)
* glue gun
* ribbon
* mini clothespins

- trace or free hand your letters onto your fabric.  i chose to write them on the backside of my fabric so that when i cut them out the ink wouldn't show as much.  if you do this, be sure to draw your letters backwards!

- cut out your letters.  also cut squares out of your dropcloth; one for each letter.  i didn't measure, i kind of just used one as a template so they were all pretty similar.  it turns out that i like stuff a bit shabby and eclectic in nature so that i don't have to be too much of a perfectionist :)

- if you need to, make sure you iron your letters and your dropcloth.  no wrinkles or creases!

- using a glue gun, attach your fabric letters to each square of dropcloth.

- secure a ribbon to wherever you are hanging your bunting.  use your mini clothespins to attach each square. because of the phrase i used, i needed to do two rows in order to fit all of my letters.  i also added a few bookpage leaves (remember this project?) so it coordinated with my centerpiece.

:

voila!  easy as pie.  you're done and ready to host a pretty thanksgiving feast.  well, except for the cooking part.  speaking of pie...

happy bunting-making!

this post is linked to these *lovely* blogs:

liz marie

free thanksgiving printables.

i have totally dropped the ball on fall decorating this year.

blahhhhh.

really.  this year my fall decorations consist of: a bowl of apples on the kitchen table.  a chicken wire basket full of tiny pumpkins on our buffet in the entryway.  a mum on our front step.  even the pumpkin i had outside got utterly destroyed by some furry fellow.  total fail.

i fully admit my lack of fall-spirit is because this fall has been tough.  too many memories.  tomorrow is the year anniversary of my dad's passing, so nick&i decided to spend the day putting up our christmas decorations.  yep.  the day before thanksgiving.

whatever works, right?

i'm hoping as the years go by, i can begin to embrace fall and thanksgiving a bit more.  i certainly know that dad would want me to.  he'd totally be scolding me for trying to bypass this season... i can hear him now; he never wanted us to be sad on his account.  "don't worry about me", he'd say.  that's my dad.

this year i'm actually hosting thanksgiving.  a decision my mom and sister made last week, so i haven't had much time to prepare.  i tend to be a little martha-stewart-wanna-be-ish when it comes to hosting holidays.  i've done thanksgiving a couple of times by myself, and i love going all out.  i'm wishing i had the time to do decorations and placecards and pretty centerpieces.

instead, we'll be eating thanksgiving dinner in a christmas wonderland on chinette plates with plastic silverware.

oh well.

i saw this offer on blogger this morning for these amazingly adorable free printables for thanksgiving.  i totally downloaded them so i can use them next year.  the print is my favorite because it's the verse i've claimed for this week and we've been memorizing with bella; psalm 107:1.

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wanted to pass this cute deal on to yall in case you are more with-it than me and have the time (and energy!) to use them to decorate your house for thanksgiving ;)

enjoy!

when giving thanks is hard.

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this fall, a constant thought has been plaguing my brain: "one year ago".  one year ago, we ate our last dinner with my dad in boston's north end.  he was so happy.  one year ago, he was admitted to mass general for what we thought would be just a few hours.  he ended up not ever leaving.  one year ago, bampy held bella on his hospital bed one last time.  one year ago, we watched jesus take my precious dad home.

one year ago.

this week is especially hard.  i remember everything with such vividness.  our first anniversary of his passing.  last year at this time, nick, bella and i were on a plane headed for dallas.  after good reports from several doctors, promises of a liver transplant right around the corner and the constant demands of my father, we decided to carry through with our plans to spend thanksgiving with nick's family in texas.  little did i know that the very next afternoon i would be right back on a plane again, headed to boston... racing to be with my father who had taken a sudden turn for the worse.

i never ever intended for this blog to be a grief-journal.  i have always prayed that god would use whatever story he writes for me, but i never would've wanted this story.  however, since the god of the universe holds the pen and knows a far bigger plan than my finite mind can comprehend, i figure i might as well share my journey as it just may minister to another griever's heart.

you all, my lovely readers, have been so sweet to encourage my efforts to be genuine and honest.  i so appreciate your kind emails and notes.  i really don't see being authentic as an option.  as a christian--or as a human--i see it as a necessity to make it through this life together.  there's no sense in pretending we have it all together.  no one does.

and there's such freedom in realizing that.

friends have been asking me how i'm doing.  to be honest, some days i don't really know.  one minute, i'm okay.  the next minute i'm yelling at bella and getting worked up over a toy-scattered house, or the sink being full of dishes.  grief has a way of mixing in to all of our emotions and displaying itself in ways we are completely unprepared for.

so as i brace myself for this week, i'm fully admitting that the irony of dad's passing being on thanksgiving makes the whole "giving thanks" thing infinitely difficult.  i know there is always so much to be thankful for and i am certainly blessed.

but i'm not going to pretend that it's easy.

gratitude is a discipline of the heart and the mind.  some days it comes easier than others.  but i believe a truly gracious heart is born on the days where being thankful is difficult.

we've started scripture memory with bella and her verse for the next couple of weeks i picked especially for this time.  when i recite it with her, i'm focusing my heart and mind on it's truth: "give thanks to the lord, for he is good; his love endures forever" psalm 107:1.

i ADORE this quote by ann voskamp in her book, a thousand gifts:

"i have lived pain and my life can tell; i only deepen the wound of the world when i neglect to give thanks for the early light dappled through leaves and heavy perfume of wild roses in early july and the song of crickets on humid nights and the rivers that run and the stars that rise and the rain that falls and all the good things that a good god gives."

giving thanks.  noticing the small things.  keeping up with my gratitude list.  even when it's HARD and my soul feels empty and full of grief.

543.  the early morning frost framing our windows.

544.  norman rockwell christmas prints.  nostalgic simplicity.

545.  homemade pizza.

546.  the quiet of sleeping girls, warm and cozy in their beds.

547.  piles of laundry, warm and clean.

548.  bella's little voice "mama, i am soooo happy."

549.  emmy all bundled up.

550.  nick's saturday morning breakfasts.  the warmth of our home and the smells of bacon sizzling and coffee brewing.

551.  home church.

thanks for walking with me on this journey.  maybe you haven't lost someone, maybe you have.  maybe it's not grief you're struggling with today, but something else.  whatever it may be, i pray that we can all be cultivating gracious hearts. even when it's hard.

god is good ALL THE TIME.  all the time, GOD IS GOOD.

thanksgiving bunting.

i love bunting. i made quite a bit of it for bella's first birthday party, and also have used it to decorate my classroom at school. i had some scrapbook paper leftover from when i made the flags for my classroom, so i thought it would be cute to make a thanksgiving-themed decoration for our dining room hutch (which please ignore it's oak-ness in these pictures... i can't wait to refinish it a lovely antiqued white, but that will have to wait until i am not with child!)

this literally took me about twenty minutes. easy peasy. the to-do is simple, and there are millions out there in blog-land, but i'll give mine anyways :)

thanksgiving bunting

materials:

* scrapbook paper

* scissors

* twine

* white paper

* black marker

* tape/glue

* glass

* flag template (i just measured a triangle on a piece of cardboard; this will ensure your flags are all the same size)

- using your template, draw your flags on scrapbook paper and cut out.

- with your scissors, punch two holes in the top corners of your flags (when i was at school i used a hole punch to make these for my classroom, which is much easier, but i didn't have one at home!)

- take your twine or ribbon and thread through your flags.

- using a glass, trace out a smaller circle onto white paper, cut out.

- write out your letters for whatever word you choose (i chose "thankful") with your black marker.

- using tape/glue fasten your letters onto each flag. hang in your desired location!

i've already cheated for christmas... found a cute felt circle bunting at target for a mere four bucks. how could i pass that up?! but we'll enjoy our fall and thanksgiving-inspired decorations for a few weeks longer... although we are watching a children's christmas music dvd right now and have been listening to christmas music for a couple of weeks ;)

as much as i love christmas and can't wait to get my decorations out, i can't skip this lovely season of thanksgiving. may we take time to focus on all we have to be thankful for... this time of year and always.

a year of blessings.

as i reflect on the past year and prepare to welcome the new one, i can think of one word to describe it well: blessed.

in many ways, it was a year of the little things... learning to cultivate a heart of gratitude for the simple blessings that surround us. and in other ways, it was a year of BIG things... many joys, many changes, many moments that i want to hold onto forever.

here are just a few.

january

* starting off the new year in maine, snowed in with my family. my sister, gretchen and i were both with child which made for some really fun photos. despite the new england blizzard, we were able to make it out of boston to fly back to dallas without any major mishaps. amazing.

* we found out at my 20 week ob appt that we were--as EVERYONE suspected--in fact, having a GIRL. bella grace cornwell... we could now call her by name. our home was suddenly flooded by everything pink.

* hot date with the hubs to celebrate my last birthday in my twenties at my fav: maggianos. which is even better, i discovered, when you're eating for two. YUM.

* january 15 my little sis gave birth to my sweet nephew,
jude farrington keezer. i began counting the days until i could hold him!!

february

* snow in dallas. yes, it's true. and it actually didn't melt the second it hit the ground this time! nick&i both got out of work early one afternoon due to the storm, and were snowed in the next day... along with a bunch of our friends who all live in the same apartment complex with us. it felt like we were little kids again. so fun.

march

* flew to maine to spend the weekend with my family, meet jude for the first time, and for bella's first shower! it was a very special visit... i got up early every morning just to soak in getting to hold jude every second i could. bella was showered with so many sweet gifts from close friends and family and we were beginning to collect tiny onesies, dresses, shoes and headbands for this sweet little person that was about to change our lives!

april

* with the help of our amazing friends, we finally got bella's nursery set up. nick worked so hard refinishing furniture and painting and i spent my time organizing clothes, diapers, and all things baby. we were so pleased with our hard work, and we were getting more and more ready for our sweet bella!

* three more baby showers this month... god was so sweet to us. we are truly blessed with some of the most amazing family&friends!! great memories.

may

* i felt like a ticking time bomb. i was in "early labor" for about 2 weeks and we had our hospital bags packed and ready. we spent a couple of weeks soaking in date nights and impromptu trips to get chips&salsa at chilis at 11 pm.

* may 19, 2010 at 1:57 bella grace cornwell entered the world at baylor hospital grapevine, weighing in at 7 lbs, 12 oz and 20.5 inches long. we were instantly in love... and fell in love with each other all over again that day. bella was immediately surrounded by our friends and family and i will never forget how precious those moments were... our new sweet lil family of three feeling so surrounded and loved by people precious to us. some in that hospital room, and others calling, texting and letting us know they were rejoicing with us. god is GOOD.

* my parents flew out to meet bella grace when she was a week old. it was such a special time, and one i was soooo excited for since my family wasn't there for her arrival. so fun to watch my parents as "grammie and grampy"!

* nick&i celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary a week after bella was born. grammie and grampy babysat as we got away and celebrated over a dinner at maggianos. i think that's the second time i've mentioned that restaurant in this blog. nice. SO blessed by this man!!!! excited for another 50+ years of our life together!

june

* adjusting to life with baby... we loved it!! my mom and aunt came down for a visit at the end of the month and we had so much fun. bella got introduced to shopping right away. and good food. and lots of laughing. i love my family!

july

* bella's first trip to maine! the best trip home ever. bella met her aunt gretchen for the first time and the rest of the family and lots and lots of friends. nick&i got to go to the coast, have a wine and cheese tasting at a quaint little vineyard and nick got to hike mt. katahdin with brian, where the appalachian trail ends. it was such a fun trip... we love our summer vacations to maine!

august

* god, in his perfect sovereignty, allowed all of our post-baby plans to crumble and instead granted me a huge desire of my heart: to get to stay home with sweet bel. i finished up at the counseling practice i was working at... saying goodbye to my clients was very bittersweet, but i was so excited to be a stay at home mommy. it was a huuuuge season of faith and trust for nick&i and our finances, but god provided a couple of amazing babysitting jobs for me with two really sweet families in the month of august. it was so neat to watch god bring everything together and provide for us in ways only he can do.

september

* friday nights at football stadiums began for our family this month! nick was hired as the offensive line coach for the first baptist academy saints football team... and we had a lot of fun! bella and i were able to go to all of his games (i think we missed one) and almost every week we had friends come along to cheer on our favorite coach. bella loved being outside, loved the lights, the band, the cheerleaders and she is a *huge* football fan. or maybe just a *huge* daddy fan :)

* bella and i were blessed with a trip to chicago for a reunion weekend with some of my best girlfriends from college. it was a wonderful time of reconnecting, memories, chatting and laughing. love. those. girls.

october

* took a family trip to a local pumpkin patch and had a great time taking pictures of our little pumpkin. her first halloween; she looked so sweet in her lil flower costume!

november

* as much as we loved the football season, we were also thankful for it to come to an end so we could have our weekends back as a family! thankful for our saturday morning breakfasts, time in pj's, and lazy sunday afternoons with my two favorites.

*bella's first thanksgiving! homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast, macy's thanksgiving day parade, and lots and lots of family time. we spent it at nick's sister, jessica's and bella was uncharacteristically FUSSY (except for when playing with her cousin, wyatt). it was a bit of a stressful day, but special nonetheless. we spent the next day at nick's aunt ann's out in the country and we had a blast! bella was in a much better mood and we played games and ate all day. perfect.

december

* i. love. this. month. shopping for bella's first christmas gifts. putting up our tree. starbucks holiday drinks. making bella's first christmas ornament. family trip to see the lights and christmas displays on main street in grapevine. games and food with nick's extended family. christmas movies.

* christmas in maine with my family. after some minor travel mishaps, we finally made it there. bella and jude's first christmas! we took them to see santa claus at the mall and took plenty of pictures in their plaid christmas outfits and christmas eve pajamas. it was a great visit... looking at christmas lights, family, making seafood chowder, presents, and lots and lots of memories.

* blizzard! we spent the last few days of two thousand ten the same way we started it... being snowed in at my parent's house in our pj's. perfect.

thank you, jesus for a wonderful year. we are so blessed. we have learned more and more how to trust you. we have been reminded more and more of your faithfulness and your goodness. we have experienced you and your love in more tangible ways over this past year than ever before. and for that, we are so grateful.

"the LORD has done great things for us and we are filled with JOY." (ps. 126:3)