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!
- 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.
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!
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.
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!
- 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!!
- 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.
- 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!
