Frustration Friday

I HATE trying on jeans. This morning I dropped Emerson off at her preschool (yes, my big girl goes to preschool on Friday mornings... *sigh*), and Jax and I headed off to the mall. I'm in between sizes right now in jeans. I'm going down in size rather than up, so that's a good thing, but the next size down still isn't fitting perfectly. I went to Ann Taylor Loft, Gap, Eddie Bauer, even Sears (thinking maybe good 'ole Levis might work), and I'm telling you right now, not one single pair of jeans worked. I had to have tried on around 25-30 pairs. It was so exasperating!!! Plus, I had to stop in between jeans and nurse little man in the dressing room (thank God no one walked in on me at that moment... can you imagine walking in on a half-naked lactating woman with a 20-pound baby latched on, sitting on the bench cross-legged??? What a thought, right?) Sorry, back to my point. I HATE trying on jeans. I'm hoping when I lose my next 10 pounds the whole experience will improve and I can actually leave the mall with a pair of stinkin' jeans.

On another note, Emerson is into kissing everything she sees. Literally everything. On our way into the house from the garage today, she had to stop and kiss these things in this order: Daddy's golf bag, the tire on the stroller, the edge of the wagon, the tool case, and the door. For some reason, I decided not to rush her inside, and I stood and let her finish her love session. It was pretty darn cute. Then, when I put her in her crib just a bit ago to take a nap, she didn't want to lay down, so she stood at the edge and asked me to 'Tum here.' She then kissed me on the cheek and the arm. Do you think she'll still want to do that when she's 16? Hardy-har. I'm going to enjoy it while I can.

Have a great weekend! We're off to Stroud for Jason's company picnic, complete with a cookout and kickball game (the OKC team vs. Tulsa). Thank God I can use the excuse of small children to get out of having to play kickball. At least let's hope so.

The little square dancer

Sunday was our church's 10th anniversary, so after service the parking lot was turned into a carnival-like scene, complete with inflatables, carnival games, a cake walk, and even square dancing. I won in my second attempt at the cake walk! Are any of you really surprised that I did the cake walk more than once? Cake is my weakness. And you know what? I actually picked a chocolate pie. A chocolate pie from Merritt's, believe it or not. Why, you ask? Because I know how much my sweetie loves chocolate pie from a bakery.

Emerson saw the square dancing commence, and she decided she needed in on the action.



I think it's hilarious that she decided to go in a circle, too. That's my girl... always paying attention to detail. :)

Jax had jeans on that day, and since it was hot after church, I took them off and just left him in his onesie. His thighs were like magnets to every woman that walked by. Can you blame them? Look how squeezable they are. I just wanna bite 'em.

Shoes & Mascara

I don't know about you, but I'm a huge fan of Nine West shoes (at least when I can find ones that fit my wide feet). There's a huge sale going on at 6 p.m. right now... every pair is $24.95... we're talkin' even the $140 shoes are $24.95. Click HERE for the bargains!


And let me just tell you about the new mascara I found. Trust me when I say it's the best mascara on the face of the earth. Period. End of story. Is it expensive? Yes. Is it worth every penny? Heck yes. If you're unhappy with your current one, I can promise you you're going to love this one. Just this week I was reading Real Simple, and they had a runway makeup artist reviewing the fall trends. They asked her what her go-to mascara is, and she said DiorShow. I knew it! This stuff even smells like roses. It's fab-u-lous! Click HERE to get the goods!

Emerson turned TWO!

September 12, 2009 was a great day in the Van Valkenburg household. I surprised Emerson that morning with a lime green tutu and matching headband (I found them on Etsy), and she was so thrilled to be wearing a huge skirt with layers of green tulle. She kept swinging her hips around, trying to figure it all out. We had family over for lunch and then birthday presents & cake. From her relatives she got a Barbie jeep, a play kitchen, rocking horse, Barbie fishing pole, books, baby dolls, clothes.... you name it, she got it. We've been playing hard all week with all of the new treasures! I picked a few of my favorite pictures from the day:

Here she is with a balloon in each hand. She spent the greater part of the day fascinated with the helium balloons throughout the house. It doesn't take much, does it?!

Here she is having a meltdown because she couldn't actually touch the cake I made.

Here she is being comforted by Daddy, the great comforter.

Her new dishes set from her cousins Parker, Addison & Vance.

Butterfly wings from Uncle Travis. She puts these on daily. But, you know, if I had a pair of butterfly wings, I probably would, too.

Here she is shoplifting from her grocery cart. The recession is hitting her pretty hard, it seems.

Momma & Jax (who wasn't feeling great that day... I think he's getting ready to cut teeth.)

More hugs from Daddy, the great hugger.

Uncle Trav instructs the driver on the rules of the road (and how to push the gas pedal).

If she EVER drives like this at 16, she's grounded. FOREVER.

Daddy helps her select the perfect cruisin' music.

Being a good mommy to her new babies.

Finally... she gets her little paws on that darn cake. And she's in heaven.

To me, this picture says it all: I'm sugar-drunk, I'm bloated, I'm a little grumpy, a lot tired, but BOY WAS THAT A GREAT DAY. Well said, Sister.

Last night to be ONE

I went in Emerson's room just a little bit ago to put some laundry away. She had been in bed for almost 30 minutes, but she was still awake. I went over & patted her back and touched her hair, and she said, "Down, please." I told her it was night time and that she needed to go to sleep, but I asked her if she knew what tomorrow was. She said, "Emmasin's buffday pahtee!" We ran through a list of the family attending, and I told her I couldn't believe she was about to be a big two-year-old. By that time, Daddy had come in the room to join the party, and both of us leaned over her crib and talked about what it was like two years ago on this night. Personally, the excrutiating pain I was going through is enough to make me want to forget, but looking back it's amazing that I had no idea what I was really in store for. Never in a million years would I have believed that being a mommy was this much fun or would bring me this much joy. That little girl has been a blessing in my life and has taught me more about myself than I care to know. So tomorrow as we celebrate the big day, I'll probably have a few little moments of secret heartache, but I'm sure those will be overshadowed by the running and shrieking and tearing of wrapping paper. Believe me, there will be pictures and video to follow. I'm off to clean my house!

Oh, I almost forgot. Here's a little somethin' for all you wanna-be gangstas out there. Love it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqBTMNRktBk

Friends

Jax and Paisley got to play together two Friday nights ago. I think they make a cute couple, don't you?! The little munchkins are only two weeks apart.