the big d.

after nearly three weeks of vacation, we are back.  while it's always sad when vacations end, it's nice to be settling in back at home and getting the girls back onto their regular routines.

or trying to, anyway.

i had grand visions of still blogging while we were away, which did not happen (obviously).  so now i'll just play catch up and write a couple of posts full of updates and photos.  and there are a lot.  of both.

we were so excited about our trip to dallas a couple of weeks ago!  we were ready to get to hang with nick's parents, visit with some of our family and friends we hadn't seen in over a year and introduce emmy to our world in the big d.  it was a great time--super busy, but we wouldn't have had it any other way!  here are a few highlights from our trip:

- cousin time!  bella got to hang with her cousins, wyatt and sophia while the newest ones (emmy and olivia) got to chill together.  there was a lot of chaos, dancing and getting into things.  it was fun and there was so much adorableness i could hardly handle it.

- nick's parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary this year.  can you believe it?!  forty years.  what an amazing testimony and inspiration they are!  we partied it up texas-style with a huge bash to honor them and it was so fun.  how loved they are!

- church.  we were able to visit our old stomping grounds, irving bible church for a service as well as a few trips to let bella play in the tubes.  just walking through that place brings back countless memories.  nick&i both worked there, worshipped there aaaand it was where we first got introduced.  so it's a pretty special place in our book.  to top it all off, the worship team sang "ten thousand reasons" my new fav song.  i may or may not have just sat there and cried.

- we got to celebrate the fourth with family out in the country, about an hour outside of dallas.  we spent the night with jd, stella, sophia and olivia and had a great time watching the kids play and hanging out!  then we spent the following day at nick's aunt ann's.  we love going out there!  it's so pretty and peaceful and there's always kids everywhere and lots of really, really good food.  bel got to play with even more cousins there: mckenna, kaity, luke, tyler, kaylee, allison, lexi and landen!  she loooooved it.  she attempted to swim in the pool (she hated it), blew bubbles and played and played on the swingset until her little cheeks were bright red from the hot texas sun.  that evening, as we sat outside watching fireworks, my tuckered out girl fell asleep in my lap.  and i loved it.

- it's always a highlight for me when we get to have my good friend amanda take photos of our family!  she does suuuuuch an amazing job.  we hiked out into a nature reserve for this shoot which included a quilt, some bubbles, a 1920s baby carriage and a vintage bonnet.  cannot wait to see the end results, but here is a sneak peek...

- baby shower!  my sweet sister in law is due in less than two months with our precious niece, josie anne.  this is one prayed for little girl and it was *such* a blessing to celebrate both she and jessica while we were there!  cannot wait to see her pretty lil face and give her squeezes.  so excited for bella and emmy to have another girl cousin... what fun!

- keeping bella entertained can be a bit of a challenge since she is on the go every minute of the day, but we managed to find a few things to do that kept her out of the heat!  she loved the merry-go-round and the miniature train at grapevine mills mall, as well as her first visit to chuck e. cheese.  she had the most fun just running around and pushing buttons on all the machines.  cheap entertainment, if you ask me.

- we crammed as much time in as we could with family and friends.  nick went to a rangers game with the guys, ate good texas barbeque with his best friend, played poker and a few games of settlers.  i caught up with good friends, visited with the family i nannied for last year, and ate with girlfriends at two of my *fav* spots (breadwinners and chuys).

- we had a wonderful time staying with nick's parentsand getting to visit with them, and watch them love on our girls. they were so gracious, helping us so much with bella&emmy, letting us use one of their cars and opening up their home to all of us.  they got up almost every morning with bella and let us sleep.  bob cooked us breakfasts and theda changed lots of diapers :)our girls are blessed to have their nonni and papa!

already looking forward to our next visit to the big d.  it's such a special place to us... where we met&fell in love, had our first home together and welcomed our bella grace into the world.  it's where half of our family lives, and many people who are so precious to us!  we're so grateful to have a built-in family vacay every year for our girls where they can play with their cousins, see lots of family and friends and get a bit spoiled by their nonni and papa (i think bella had ice cream every night!).

here's to you, texas.  we'll be back soon.

fifteen months and growing...

what a whirlwind the past week has been. moving, trying to make life live-able amidst the endless stacks of boxes (which, with a 1 year old proves to be a feat...), and getting adjusted to new schedules.

i am tired.

but it has been good. one of the downsides, however, is that we haven't gotten internet set up at our new house yet. so... blogging and doing anything via the computer hasn't happened. sadly.

we are spending this sunday afternoon at my parents, watching football and ordering chinese food (yum). so i thought i would grab a few minutes while bella is napping to write a bit about our munchkin.

i can hardly believe how much she is changing right now. i know i say this every stage she is in... but this is one of my favorites :) she is just so fun.

she has been verrrrry into babies lately, and her baby dolls. the other night she was pushing her doll around in her toy stroller, giving her kisses and patting her head&face. it was just the cutest thing. she wants her baby doll to go to bed with her, to ride in the car with her, and to play with her. such a little mama.

it's amazing to watch her little mind work. the other night we told her it was almost time for "na-night". she then went to the bathroom and asked for a bath (which she loooves. it's her daddy-time before bed). once nick gave her a bath, we put her in her jammies and she promptly said "teeth! teeth!", reminding us to brush her teeth.

which, by the way... she is obsessssssed with her toothbrush and brushing her teeth. she asks for it morning, noon and night. which is really nothing to complain about except for the fact that it's a nightmare sometimes trying to pry it from those little hands...

she has been loving her time away on the days that i work. it's been such a joy to watch her blossom and thrive in the care of others, and around other children. jude, her cousin, is her best bud. if she hasn't seen him in a few days, she asks for him incessantly. and isabella, our friend's baby that watches bella two days/week has become one of bella's favorites! just today we were going over to their house. about an hour before we were going to leave, nick mentioned to bella that we were going to go see "baby bella". she immediately ran to the door and started jiggling the doorknob saying "baby! baby!" she is as happy as a clam while i am working, which makes all the difference in the world for me!

some other random things about sweet bel:

- she can't pronounce "c" or "k" sounds yet, so everything is a "t" sound. "tootie" for cookie, "tey" for key, "tar" for car...

- our girl LOVES music. i mean, loves it. the minute she hears music, the boogy-ing begins. absolutely adorable.

- she is obsessed with being outside!!! she will go to the door or window and say "side!!!!!" even when its pouring rain or right before bed!

- she found a toy bracelet of hers that she loves to wear. just this morning, nick was putting her in the car for church and i noticed she had it on. guess she thought she needed to accessorize for the nursery. it matched her outfit and everything.

- speaking of the nursery... she looooves going to the nursery at church. after a couple weeks of crying when we left her, she is back to her social little self. the past couple of weeks when she is running around after church, she tries to run down the hall towards the nursery again and is not happy when we tell her that it's time to go home. addicted to the church nursery: a good problem to have, i guess.

- she has a new-found love for her baby einstein videos. we had most of them packed away until we unpacked this past week, and we found her "baby noah" video on animals. we've let her watch it while we unpack... she'll get in our bed and we'll turn it on in our bedroom. so now multiple times a day she'll come in our room and say "watch! watch!" yeah, we definitely have to ration it...

- she's obsessed with blueberries. and pretty much every fruit. but bananas and blueberries are the favs. and milk in a sippy cup is still a no-go... but cookies at grammie's house? oh definitely YES.

- she loves to skype with our family in texas... even if her attention span only lasts a few minutes. but she loves seeing her cousin, wyatt on the computer. so much so that whenever she sees the computer she says "wyatt, wyatt!"

we are having so much fun with her and are exhausted every night when we put her into bed :) she is super active and into everything and manages to keep us on our toes every.single.minute. i need to be more disciplined in praying for patience as we are in a stage of disobedience and testing limits... wisdom and patience are invaluable in this thing-called-parenting. i know i don't want to break her happy-go-lucky spirit or stifle her playfulness, but i desperately want to create boundaries and encourage respectful behavior in which she honors and obeys us and others.

just look at this sweet face... i *love* being her mama :)

multitude monday.

227. kayaking on a beautiful lake with my husband.

228. swimming when it is a hundred degrees outside. and dunkin donuts iced coffee.

229. when bella holds out her hands to me to pick her up.

230. sleepovers with my sis, bro-in-law and nephew.

231. god speaking to my heart... and listening to his words.

232. watching bella and jude play together and give each other hugs and kisses. love, love, love.

233. swimming with bella and seeing her kick her legs with excitement.

234. getting to see our texas family on skype... wyatt and bella laughing at each other over the computer screen :)

235. lobster&pasta. yum.

thursday three.

so this week's highlights are pretty much the same for all three of us (even though bella is not really aware of two of them... i'm still going to go ahead and say that they are some of her top moments. i'm her mama. i can do that).

here is this week's thursday three.

1. welcome, sophia!

our precious niece, sophia joyce cornwell, was welcomed into the world on tuesday afternoon at 5:15 weighing 4 lbs, 11 oz and measuring 18 inches long! she was born five weeks early but is doing splendidly. we are so grateful she is here and that she, jd and stella are doing great! we haven't gotten to see her yet since she is still in the NICU... but we are praying that she will be able to go home with her mommy&daddy on saturday! nick&i cannot WAIT to hold our beautiful niece (our first one!) and--even though she doesn't know it yet--bella is super stoked about her brand new cousin!

2. girls/guys weekend

last weekend was such a gift... for all three of us! nick left friday night with two of his guy friends to go on a camping trip in oklahoma. they had a great time hanging out by the camp fire, rock climbing and hiking, aaaand, you know, other stuff guys do on camping trips out in the middle of nowhere (??). us girls chose a different route: a hotel suite at the omni in las colinas. i know. this was a much wiser decision than camping in oklahoma, right?! my friend, amanda, works for the company that owns omni hotels so she hooked us up with a beautiful room complete with a couple bottles of champagne. yes, please. we had such a wonderful, fun, girly time. we ate sushi takeout, took lots of ridiculous pictures, stayed up late, ate junk food, slept in and had brunch sunday morning. did i mention it was perfect? i felt like i was in college again. minus the animal crackers and frosting-out-of-the-can.

bella got to spend the day saturday with her nonnie (nick's mom) and then spent the night and all day sunday hanging out with her uncle james, aunt jessica and cousin wyatt. she had a ball. i mean, just look at this pic: i don't think she could love that little guy any more than she does!! little cuties!

3. march madness, baby.

oh yeah. ever since i was in junior high this has been one of my *favorite* times of the year. second only to christmas. it's true. ever since nick and i started dating we've competed against each other with our brackets and we spend these days infront of the television, watching games as often as possible! (we are watching now as i type) bella loves it too--i promise. this year is extra special because the final four is in houston and my parents are flying in town! we have family there so we are all meeting up for some family time/final four craziness in exactly two.weeks. cannot WAIT!!

the cornwell thursday three. it's been a good week. so thankful for our family time (nick's been on spring break this week!), watching our little girl grow (full fledged crawling, pulling up, destroying her crib at nap time, shaking her head "no", repeatedly doing things we tell her not to do--while looking at us with a smile on her face, pulling out her ponytail and hair bows...this girl has no lack of personality, that is for SURE!) and praising god for his miracle of life and adding to our family this week! he is *good*

crafts are not just for old ladies.

yes, i said it. and i believe it: crafts are not just for old ladies (although i did just turn 30... so maybe some people would consider me to be an old lady...)

when i was little, i always had creative projects going on. always. i cross-stitched. i colored and drew. i loved to bake. and i had multiple notebooks that i would write stories in... i wanted to be an author (which, by the way, is something i've been thinking more about lately. i mean, apparently all you need to do is write a book about vampires falling in love for a bunch of teenaged girls and you are set for life. LIFE.)

over the years, i became guarded and self-conscious. i didn't want to create things unless i knew that i was going to be good at it... ahhhhh, perfectionism. such a kill-joy.

perhaps one of the greatest challanges to me since becoming a stay-at-home mom is finding ways to not lose my identity and sense of who i am. i always want to be growing, creating, and finding new ways to enjoy life and evolve in the woman i am. not just the important ways (growing more in my love for and knowledge of jesus, finding ways to minister to others, becoming a better wife, growing as a mom, etc) but in little ways too.

so... i decided to bite the bullet and, in turn, i got bitten...by the craft bug.

{yes, craft bugs do exist}

when christmas was coming around the corner, nick&i looked over our finances and decided we would need to be real creative with christmas gifts this year. so, i decided to make things. and it was really fun. and i think it was special to those that recieved our handmade gifts (again: i think so).

here are a few of my creations...

- flower hair clips!

some organza ones...



and some felt ones...




- a picture frame (with an organza flower, covered button and some rosettes... don't be fooled: that's NOT bel and me in the frame. just wanted to clear up any confusion.)

- a cake plate stand (i forgot to take a picture of the one i made, but this is what it looked like; minus the crystal knob in the center)

- hand-stitched felt pillows for my nephews

a texas rangers one for wyatt...

and an owl one for jude...

bella's naptimes became very productive for me... although not so productive for my chores around the house. oh well. i'm hoping to perfect these creations soon and add others so i can start an online botique with my sis! we've already made some really *cool* jewelry and we're trying to build up an inventory to "open" in time for christmas shopping next fall. jude&bella coming soon... you will SO want to shop there.

thanksgiving three.

yes, i realize i'm late on this post. a week late, to be exact. but sometimes it's just better late than never. this week i decided to do "thanksgiving three" as opposed to the regular "thursday three". so here goes.

nick

we spent thanksgiving day with nick's family at his sister, jessica's beautiful new home in grapevine, tx. it was a great time with family and all of the food came out ever-so-deliciously. we then went and had a "second thanksgiving" at nick's aunt ann's. she lives out in the country about an hour outside of dallas and we LOVE going out there. we basically ate (oh yeah... she's an amaaaazing cook) and played games the entire day. right. up. our. alley. but the best part was when the four wheelers came out of the garage. nick has quite a track record with his family for having many accidents when he was little, including wrecks on the motorized vehicles at his aunt and uncles. he was quite the lil dare devil and never even cried. (i'm not even joking. at one of my bridal showers his aunt told me about a time where nick tripped and bit through his tongue. didn't even cry, and about 30 minutes later was eating his way through a bag of fritos. yes. this is the man i married.) anyway, when he found out last friday that the four wheelers had come out of their storage, i watched my husbands face light up like a six year old boy :) within seconds he was walking out the door. when i told him to be careful, he called over his shoulder "we have health insurance." that's just great... he did take me for a spin which was one of my thanksgiving highlights. so fun. and thankfully, injury-free.

meg

thanksgiving was a bit stressful for me. bella had one of the worst days i think she's had in her six months of life. she was super clingy and fussy, wouldn't let us put her down for a second and screamed every time she got put in her crib for a nap. usually, when she has hard days i'm able to move past it and just think "well... tomorrow's a new day!" but this was thanksgiving. i'm such a sentimental sap. but we still managed to have fun and enjoy the day even though she wasn't enjoying it too much! i think my highlight was--once again--two-fold. (big surprise, eh?) of course, the patriots winning was a thanksgiving bonus... but let's face it. they were playing detroit. were any of us really that shocked? anyway, growing up, one of my favorite things about thanksgiving was watching the macy's thanksgiving day parade. this year (even though she really had no clue) i was able to watch it with bella. awww. so sweet. it just made me excited to think about all of the things i enjoyed as a little girl that i will get to share with OUR little girl... especially around the holidays.

bella

as stated above, bella had an especially rough day on thanksgiving. however, thankfully she had the attention of her cousin, wyatt to help distract her for a while. she loved watching him make faces at her and talk in silly voices and he actually got her to giggle, which was obviously much better than the cries and screams she gave us. she loves him! she also expanded her menu from peas and squash to peas, squash and applesauce. now that's a feast. happy first thanksgiving, bel!

thanksgiving evening is when we officially kick off the christmas season in the cornwell household. we make oh-so-delish breakfasts, which usually include bacon, egg and cheese biscuits (complete with turkey bacon, egg whites and reduced fat cheese in our attempt to be somewhat health conscious), watch christmas movies and put up our christmas decor. nick and i always watch "elf" thanksgiving night. two years ago, i had run the 8 mile turkey trot that morning and cooked an entire thanksgiving dinner by myself (minus the green bean casserole, which nick always makes) so i fell asleep in the middle of the movie. last year, i was pregnant... enough said. this year; well, let's just say i wasn't the only one falling asleep. but we managed to squeeze in "elf", "christmas vacation", "planes, trains and automobiles" and "it's a wonderful life".

*favorite* time of the year!