“Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love!”
~ Hamilton Wright Mabie
-
- Wanna learn more about advertising on Fancy House Road?
- Click here for more info.
-

Recent Posts
Reel Life
Fancy House Road Chatter
Grab A Badge
Category Archives: About Us
{The FHR Girls: Jamie, Debs, Ashley, Camberley, Kiersten, Keighley}
Since I’ve been absent from Fancy House Road for such a long time, I considered reintroducing myself. {Some of you may have been wondering if the FHR girls really did have a mother.} However, I’m boring. Exposing my daughters is far more fun and entertaining. And it might even create something on this blog that my son in law has said our blog is lacking. Controversy. Drama. Cat Fights.
Hopefully I can create a little of all these elements by writing a straightforward, honest post that shares with our blogger friends what these girls are really like behind the scenes. And I’m going to do it by describing each girl using only ONE word. Pretty risky if you ask me. However, for the sake of the blog I’m willing to forsake the great relationships that I have with my daughters.
Camberley, Kiersten and Keighley
Kiersten’s descriptive word would be “raw“. Kiersten is always so well put together. She looks, acts and dresses immaculately when she’s out in public. She’s the perfect lady. However when you get her alone with her sisters and the jokes start up, Kiersten tops everyone in the gross or slightly suggestive department. Don’t turn your back on her or you’ll be the victim of her infamous “hook”. And I’ve seen her do some dance moves that could earn her a good living should she choose to go down that path. She’s the queen of funny in our family because she will always take things one step further in order to make us laugh so hard our sides ache. However, she didn’t start out being so funny. When she was little no one in the family thought she had a funny bone in her body. Everyone ignored her jokes. So that’s when Kiersten took it upon herself to make lemonade out of lemons and set a goal to become the family clown. And she’s succeeded.
I decided last year that the perfect word for Keighley is “quirky”. She hates it when I call her this. For her it conjures up images of people who wear mismatched clothes, use pocket liners and only do their hair once a week. But I think of it as someone who strives to be an individual in the midst of so much of the same. How many of my other daughter’s label their food when they have a food war with their hubbies {and then write about it} or consider diet Coke and Goldfish Crackers comfort food? We all love the way that Keighley thinks and acts outside the box. She’s everyone’s best friend. I think in part it’s because she’s set herself apart from the other girls with her uniquely fun style and we all want to experience it. But then again, we hardly ever get to because she doesn’t answer her phone. Why? Because this quirky girl doesn’t believe in using the ring-tone feature on her phone. Definitely a quirk.
When I thought about coming up with a controversial word for Camberley it wasn’t easy. As the middle child in the family she has inherited the perfect middle child who wants to make everyone happy gene. So how do you describe someone like this in one word? You make up a word like… “Flexstinate” {definition: someone who is emotionally flexible 90% of the time with an occasion bout of being obstinate}. Most of the time Cami compromises and lets the rest of us have our way-unless she feels really passionate about the situation. Then Cami will stand firm in her conviction without wavering. She actually has an opinion and will express it clearly and directly. And that’s when things get fun. Phrases like: “Oh it must be your time of the month” or “Excuse me, but why are you in a bad mood. Don’t you know that you’re not allowed?” are just some of the comments that we have been know to direct back at her. But in true Cami fashion she always remains calmly “flexstinate”-even if it really is that time of the month. A real talent.
Next Up: The Other FHR girls: Jamie, Ashley and Debs
Many of you may be surprised to learn that there is a fifth sister to the Fancy House Road crew. I’m sure every now and again you may have caught her face randomly in a picture or noticed her name mentioned, but for the most part she she was a mystery… Our secret.
Well, bad news guys she’s not actually a secret! I wish I could tell you some weird and outrageous story that would leave all of your mouths opened in shock, however the reality is we just couldn’t get her convinced she wanted to join this train wreck collaboration!
After some serious cajoling on both sides (passive-aggressive remarks) and a few board meetings (bagels around Debs’ kitchen) we finally got our wish! Our oldest sister Ashley will officially be contributing to Fancy House Road. We are thrilled that she is joining us to share her thoughts, talents, and ideas. When we set out on this blogging journey we always wanted it to be a family blog and now we can officially say it is!
Although you will all be learning more about her very soon, here are a few things you should know!
- Her name is Ashley Nicol (no ‘e’ on the Nicole)
- She has two beautiful kids and one fetus in her belly.
- Her husband looks like Dierks Bentley post hair curls.
- She thinks that if she honks at people while driving they’ll pull a gun on her. If she denies this, she’s lying. I’ve heard her personally say it.
- She also has an affinity for cleaning.
- She is the soprano in our sister band! She always rocks them high notes.
Years ago my older kids insisted I rent this “really good movie” to watch with them. Imagine my surprise when I viewed Flowers In The Attic {based on the novel by VC Andrews} and discovered that it was about this very cruel grandmother who kept her grandkids locked away in the attic so that the world wouldn’t know that they existed. The premise of this movie was extremely disturbing-as was the fact that my kids gave it a four star movie review.
{Anyone else remember this movie?}
Just recently this movie flashed into my mind when on several occasions I’ve had our blog readers ask: “Don’t you have other daughters? How come we never see them?” The answer is a yes I do have other daughters. However, the reason you don’t see them is because I’ve been hiding them in the “attic” of our Fancy House. And for good reasons.
Hidden Daughter #1
Ashley is the oldest of the FHR girls. Her life in the attic is filled with taking care of these two beautiful grandchildren of mine-Kelson {4} and Katelyn {6}. I told her that I would let her come out if she would share some of her many talents- photography, journalism, preparedness and organizing-on our blog . However, with Baby #3 on the way and a new house to decorate, she’s still sitting in the corner of our attic trying to decide if there’s enough time to fit us into her busy life. I admit, I’m making public mention of her as a way to manipulate Ashley into changing her mind about visiting Fancy House Road on occasion. {Note to Ashley: Is it working? We really want you to come play with us.}
Semi- Hidden Daughter In Law #1
This is Jamie, the one and only daughter-in-law on Fancy House Road. This makes her extra special when you consider that she had to take on 4 new sisters when she married into our family. Need I even say how difficult it is to be the only SIL to a group of sisters who have distinct {that means extremely fun} and strong {that means self-assured} personalities? Jamie has done it gracefully with her gentle approach and her funny sense of humor. Occasionally we’ve let her out to do some of our posts on parenting and kids crafts. However, she and my son John {the handsome man above} added baby Miles {5 months} to their family which also includes my handsome grandsons Grady {3} and Trey {5}. With 3 sons to take care of she seems to be spending more time in the attic than we’d like. {Note to Jamie: We are so glad you are in our family and consider you to be daughter/sister #5.}
Next UP: And my favorite daughter is….
In an effort to share with our readers a little about FHR- and the Mother and her daughters behind it-I thought that I would start a little series of blog posts called “Family Secrets”. This idea was sparked when many of our readers started asking me questions about our blog, our relationships and what really happens in our lives. Today I share family “secrets” {or frequently asked questions} #1 and #2:
Why did you and your daughters start a blog? And do you guys really get along with each other?
{The Founding Members of FHR Blog: L-R Camberley, Debbie, Keighley and Kiersten}
Most of the funny moments we reflected on, the day we started our blog, were of our “single” days when we lived together like college roommates. With no men in our house we could do whatever we wanted. {Like Walmart shopping trips at 11 PM and spur of the moment weekend trips.} Reminiscing about our great times together led to our social media expert-affectionately called as CamBam by her family-to suggest that we start our own blog. After all, there aren’t many daughters who are brave enough to do a blog with their crazy Mother-which made us believe that we might be unique.
We believe that our positive relationships with each other is the foundation of our happiness and for creating our beautiful lives. The decision was made to share. Which isn’t the easiest for some of us {ME} who proudly declare their anti-social tendencies. We started with the THE BELLA LIFE BLOG which evolved into FANCY HOUSE ROAD-to avoid any confusion with the heroine of the famous vampire novels and to improve our SEO. {You bloggers out there can appreciate the value of great SEO.}
Do we really get along? We don’t fight. We laugh a lot when we are together. We don’t hesitate to speak our minds. We disagree on rare occasion. And we don’t answer our phones if we are sick and tired of each other. I’d say if you weigh it all out, the answer would be a resounding YES.
Up Next: The daughters we keep in the attic. {Yes there are more of us!}








