So, about turning 30...

I never really posted about my 30th birthday. Some highlights were that my husband threw me a surprise birthday party. It's bittersweet, but there are no pictures. (But I'm thinking that's probably mostly sweet since my hair was a frizzy mess from spending a huge chunk of the day in the rain, and my makeup was pretty much non-existant. It's always fun showing up to your own party feeling ugly.)   If you're wondering what my reaction looked like, though, I probably made a face similar to the face I made the last time I was thrown a surprise party--on my 12th birthday. I do have a picture of that. See? Well, I guess you can't really see.

Here's a closer view. That's the face I made when a bunch of my friends jumped out of my closet and said "Surprise!" (My mom told me to go get my new shoes out of my closet to show my aunt. Tricky. And how dorky am I? Wow, is all I have to say about that. :))

But back to my 30th. There's lots of little things I could share, but let me tell you about one of the most memorable gifts I got. I actually opened my presents after everyone left, and when I opened this particular bag, I pulled out a shower cap, and thought:


Oh my goodness! Cheryl knows me too well. She got me the same shower cap I already have! So cute, I love it. And wow, there's more... awww, what cute reading glasses. I love the flowers on them. 

Next I pulled out a pill dispenser and thought, 


Huh, that's different. I wonder what made her think to give me this? But I don't have one, so I bet it'll come in handy someday.

And lastly, I pulled out some pretty lipstick and thought, 


I would've never thought of picking out lipstick for a friend, but she did good. I love the color. Man, I can't believe how many presents she got me. I will definitely have to write her a thank-you. 

And so that very night I sent her a thank-you email.

Her response:

LOL, that was a gag gift!

Oh. Well. Yes, I suppose those are a bunch of old lady gifts.

I'm kinda proud I was so oblivious.

XOXO,
Marie

Serious Drippage.

Whew! Seems like ever since we got home from our trip to the east coast, things have been crazy! I often feel frustrated that I don't have enough time to do everything I want to do, but I've also felt incredibly grateful that I do have enough time to do the things that are the very most important to me, like party with my kiddos.

Liam and Juliette are just days apart, so there's been lots of birthday lovin' this week. And I'm sure I'm biased, but these two videos from our birthday festivities made me laugh.

We like to call the first, taken at Liam's robot party on Saturday, "Serious Drippage."

 

And the second, a little snip from the family party we had for both kids tonight, "How to Open a Bottle..."



Miss you guys,
Marie

A Tea Party

Hey there!

My firstborn little angel turned six on Saturday! (Emma called Isabella her "first-born niece" the other day, and I thought it was so funny. :))


So, we sent out invitations on little doilies that said:

"Wear your fanciest dress and your mother's pearls;
We're having a tea party just for the girls!"

There was many an "oooh" and "aaah" as the girls arrived. Everyone looked so gorgeous!

We started the party off with some hat decorating.


Next, we played London Bridge is Falling Down while we waited for everyone to finish their hats. I was surprised how much they loved that!

I had so much fun pinning a tea party board on Pinterest for inspiration. There were oh- so-many cute decorating ideas out there and it was fun to implement some of them. I loved watching the girls walk single file out into our backyard. Despite their excitement, they were so graceful! It was adorable.

Every single day for a week, Isabella reminded her Daddy to bring home pink and red roses from his flower shops. That he did! It was the perfect touch.

And I finally tried out making these Martha Stewart Tissue Poms (so easy!):

At Isabella's request, there was cheesecake (Costco) with pink Oreos sprinkled atop:

Lovely gifts from sweet girls:

And petal throwing to top it all off!

It was a tea party for the storybooks, and I couldn't have done it without some of my own awesome friends lending me things (Jill, Erin, Court, Pat--thank you!), and I really couldn't have done it without my mother in law and her sister, Aunt Muriel. And last but not least, a big thanks to my husband for staying up late and waking up early to help me (love), and to Isabella for dreaming up so many of the details. I adore that girl.

Now, sometime I'll have to post about playing hostess! I stink at it! But six little birthday parties in, I think I'm getting a little better. :)

XOXO,
Marie