Pucker Up, Girlies

We love makeup over here! Every Sunday while my girls sit in my bathroom sink to get their hair done for church, they ask me if they can "have some lips." In Juliette's case, she just says "lips! lips!" while she digs through my makeup bag. I love watching them pucker up with excitement as I apply the goods.

In our usual mad dash to get ready for church this last Sunday, I got distracted for a sec, and the next thing I knew Juliette had taken matters into her own hands with my reddest, most full-proof lipstick.  I did a little squeal of shock, which I think startled her.

Here's her "Uh-oh, I'm in trouble look:

Her, "Oh, Mom's got the camera ... maybe I'm not in trouble!" look:

Her "I'm so pretty in my lips" smile:

Finally, I told her to look in the mirror... I guess she was a little disappointed in her application. :) This is her, "What the heck?" look:

Just last week, Isabella talked me into putting eyeliner, mascara, blush and lipstick on her right before her bedtime bath! I gotta say, it's a lot trickier doing eye makeup on someone else. She LOVED getting the whole works. I watched her look at herself in the mirror in complete awe and say, "Wow, I look gorgeous!"

 Us girly girls this evening... how I love them. I think it's fun that we're three different colors.

And can I just say how thankful I am that I can have a makeup party with my face every morning? It always amazes me what a little makeup can do. Here's to many more makeup parties!

XOXO,
Marie

Handmade Nighties

Happy MLK Day!

It's looking like we are going to be snowed in today! The kids are on cloud nine looking out the window. They're waiting patiently for more snow to fall before they pounce. Should be fun!

So, I'm guilty on at least five accounts of giving my mom my sewing projects. I struck out again this past Christmas. I had high hopes of making my kids and their two baby cousins matching handmade Christmas jammies. And then the next thing I knew my family arrived and it was practically Christmas Eve and still no pajamas. So, our sweet mom offered to help, and a few hours later she'd whipped out these pretty nighties for us!

We used this pillowcase pattern for the girls, and concocted our own pattern for the boys and they turned out oh so fabulous! One of my favorite things about the nightgowns is that we just pinned that red flower on for Christmas Eve, but since then I've taken it off, so it's a nightgown that works year-round. I think my girls look so dainty and sweet in their nightgowns that are so beautiful, they could even be worn as a dress!

 Thanks, Grandma Lisa! We love you!!

XOXO, Marie

Monster LOVE

(Before I even begin, I have to give you a dog-ate-my-homework excuse for my tardiness...

Ummm... The monsters are really photogenic?) 

So, hi! We all know that Emma is a rockstar when it comes to giving gifts. I think she's secretly one of Santa's fairy elves, and guess what? She drew my family's name for Christmas this year! And I didn't really think much of it until Christmas morning when all these handmade gifts came one after another! I think she may be the first person I've met to actually execute all the cuteness she finds on Pinterest. Actually, I take that back. Lulu also made the kids sock bunnies! (Check back next week...for those pictures :))

Anyway, my heart still does a happy dance every time I catch a glimpse of the monsters Emma made my kids because, well, let me show you Juliette's monster:

IT LOOKS JUST LIKE HER!

Sisters, and sister monsters, make the best friends, don't ya think?

Ahhh! Monsters! Hide!

And you better believe Liam got his very own boy monster that he loves to snuggle up with...

But she didn't stop there.  She also made them a matching game out of Jenga blocks! She told me she found the generic brand of Jenga blocks at Target for real cheap and then glued scrapbook paper to them.

My girls LOVE these blocks and do adorable things with them all the time.

Like spell out "I love you."

And that's not all she made for us. She also made Isabella and me beautiful lace earring frames. Here's Isabella's on her dresser. She can't wait to get her ears pierced now!

And I can't forget about the APRONS! I love these Emma-made aprons so, so, so much!

And gah! Did I mention how my heart throbs for these monsters? Thanks so so so much, Emma! You amaze me!

XOXO, Marie

Sisters Movie Still Shot

Hey guys,

Nearly everyone is leaving tomorrow. :(

It's been an amazing Christmas that I'll never forget. We made Christmas jammies for all the little monkeys, we played games that required every muscle in my body to tense from laughing so hard, we wrote a Christmas song together that I'm sure Lissie will sing for you soon, and on and on...

Oh, and breakfast every morning was smothered in Nutella!

Yeah, I can't stand the thought of tomorrow, so I'm going to sign off quick so I can enjoy a few more hours with them tonight. In the meantime, here's a still shot from the little sisters video we made this afternoon. I can't wait to share it with you!

xoxo{marie}

Promise You Won't Tell??

I know a brilliantly easy way to "frost" cupcakes. My friend Stacy showed me how, and it's so easy! And they turn out looking all perfectly fancy like this!

All you need is a cupcake (duh), some scissors and... dun, dun, dun, dun... mini (colored) MARSHMALLOWS!

Here's the trick: make sure you cut the marshmallows for the petals in half at a diagonal. After you cut them diagonally, place the shortest edge down into the frosting.

Next go around in circles, squishing the petals as close together as you can. Oh, and for the middle of the flower, just snip a marshmallow in half.

So, it's as easy as that! And I don't know about you, but I think it looks just like frosting!

xoxo{marie}