Naughty, Funny, Lovableness

I love how my kids set up camp wherever I am. I'm certain that if I was ever in the bathroom for more than 10 minutes,  they'd start filing in, one by one with toy after toy. Oh, wait. They do that already.

A few Sundays ago, they set up camp behind my desk while I sat blogging at my computer. All three of them were playing Memory together, and it made me really happy that they could play a game nicely without my help. (My babies are growing up!) Anyway, it reminded me of when my little sister Emma was born... she was the fourth child born into our family, and I was so excited because we would finally be able to play "duck, duck, goose" properly. I was disappointed when she didn't come out of our mother's womb walking and talking. So much for duck, duck, goose, I thought, exasperated. I'm pretty sure we dragged her on the blanket she was laying on, stuck her in the mush pot permanently, and pretended it wouldn't take her at least a year to really play with us.

So yeah, I couldn't help but notice how wonderful it was that they are all old enough to play games together. And they were playing so sweetly, too, until I busted out my camera, of course. Then they were trying to get each other to do monster faces, and before I knew it they were bringing up string cheese into my room to snack on (huge no-no), and pretty much getting away with whatever they wanted because I was in "camera land."

But apparently Juliette wants me to lay down the law because yesterday she was fussing at lunchtime about something or another, I don't remember. I kept trying to settle it, and she kept on throwing a fit, determined to be impossible to please. Finally, she said,

"I go TIMEOUT!"

"Okay, sure! Go to time out. You're right, you do need to go to time out."

She stomped her feet into the bathroom (our designated time-out station), and slammed the door. A few minutes later she swung the door open with all trace of tears and anger gone. She lifted her arm up high and announced, "I'm HAPPY now!"

Liam and I died laughing. And we all laughed some more around the dinner table that night when we told Will and Isabella about it because I'm always sending the kids to time out and telling them to come back when they can be happy.

So, I guess what I'm getting at is that there's never a dull moment at this house--that my kids are naughty, funny and the most lovable little people ever.

XOXO,
Marie

Advent Obsessed

I meant to post this last night, but was having some technical difficulties. Luckily, I got everything sorted out so that I can show you the adorable advent calendar that my mom made each us for Christmas this year! My kids are in heaven and so excited for December 1st to arrive so they can bust into that German chocolate. Until then, you better believe they're opening and closing those cute drawers like nobody's business.

Thanks, Mom! You are one of the best gift-givers I know. This gift is so lovely!

Tres Adorable

You know that saying...

... that sisters make the best friends? It's so true, and I kept thinking of it as I started editing this session of my kids tonight. But as I went through these photos, I also kept thinking about how brothers make the best of friends too.

Can't wait to share the rest of these with you guys! Aside from the fact that I didn't get any good ones of all three of my kids together, I think that this was my favorite photoshoot with them to date. Love my love bugs to the moon...

XOXO, Marie

Date Night--Take 2

Remember that riveting post I wrote about date nights, and how we used to take our kids on dates with us? Well, I'm here to announce some improvements. Guess what we do now? We're in a date night co-op with three other families where we take turns babysitting each other's children for three hours on Friday nights so that the other couples can go on dates. So yeah, last Friday night you would've caught Will and I together, romantically counting 13 heads constantly, playing UNO, kissing boo boos and being really thankful that we don't really have 13 kids because I ain't gonna lie, I think I'd go a little cray cray if this were a full-time situation. Because it is-- it's crazy. And we love it. I mean, seriously people. What's not to love?

...princesses, babies, sisters, running in circles after the boys, popsicles under the tramp, tears here and there, a butterfly net and baseball bat... friends forever. It doesn't get better than this.

XOXO,
Marie

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

Dirt.

It was really weird. I had a totally free Saturday--the calendar for the day was as blank as it's ever been, and of all things, I filled it right up with gardening (and that's a fancy way of putting it).  I have no idea what's gotten into me, but I'll take it! (And I'm pretty sure the florist family I married into will take it too.)

It all started several weeks ago when my good friend Courtney said she would help me put plants and flowers into the garden bed in our front yard. And I could go on and on about how much she has helped me! But one of the biggest things she's done is map out what plants to get and where to put them. She is so good to me, and I'm so grateful!

So, the first step, she said, was to get better dirt. She said I needed compost and garden soil. Well, being the Craigslister that I am, I found a ton of free horse manure and talked Will into picking it up and wheelbarrowing it back into a pile in the "woods behind our house." Frankly, it's pretty disgusting, but the stench has worn off. That was weeks ago, so it felt good on Saturday to finally till it into my garden bed along with the fancy dirt we got at a landscaping place. Oh, and another good friend gave me a huge rhododendron! So we planted that. And I'm sure this all sounds like cake, but it was hard work, and I'm really proud of the dirt. I can't imagine how thrilled I'll be when we actually have a little flower garden in there. And the kids are jumping right in, too. So much so, that on Saturday I'm confident they were as filthy and ragamuffin as they've ever been. I can't even be sure they didn't eat dirt.

So, everybody, talk to your plants because I hear that they have feelings, and hopefully I'll be able to show you how happy mine are real soon. Or there's always that option where you come see it in person. You know I'm a huge fan of that.

XOXO,
Marie

Doggie Pile

Because today has been on the tougher side, I was especially happy to see Hubs walk through the door this evening. I think the first words out of my mouth were, "I'm exhausted!" Juliette had climbed over bins and boxes and bags to get to the farthest corner of our ridiculously large coat closet to meet up with Liam and Isabella, who were probably hiding from "dinner time." Just as Hubs walked in the door, I was trying to wrestle her flailing body out of there without hurting her because she broke her elbow on Saturday night. She was not a happy camper about having to get out, but our coat closet is a booby trap for babies with broken bones-- plus it was time to eat! Not fun.

Anyway, the poor thing spent the morning laying on the couch, not at all herself, but when she woke up from her second nap this afternoon, she must have felt like a new woman because I could not keep up. She wanted to chase her siblings, walk up and down the stairs, stand on the couch, and generally just put me in a constant panic that she was going to fall on her broken arm. She isn't in her cast yet, so you can call this normally jumpy mama, JUMPY MAMA.

So, yeah. I'm always happy when Hubs comes home, but today I was especially. I know he has long days at work, but he always seems to have energy for us when he gets home, and instantly goes into full daddy/husband mode the second he walks in the door.  I love him for that.

And boy are we all looking forward to when I can sit back and enjoy watching Juliette doggie pile with the rest of them again.

XOXO, Marie

Happy

I hope you girls all had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday! I can't believe three out of the four of us are mothers! I also can't believe that I have three kids! Being a mom is so wonderful and I'm grateful that I got a photo of me with each of my cutie pies yesterday. It was a beautiful day in every sense of the word, and I'm so happy they're mine forever.

XOXO, Marie