maxine the 2nd {favorite things & a letter}

age: 3

favorite color: pink

favorite princess: belle

what do you want to be when you grow up: merida with merida shoes

favorite show: shark boy and lava girl

favorite thing to do: playing toys with chase and brennan and you

best friend: caitlyn

favorite holiday: purple holiday

favorite song: sofia the 1st

favorite drink: milk

favorite book: ariel

favorite treat: purple treats

favorite food: apple jacks

where do you want to live: at grandpa's house

favorite toy: tinker bell

favorite animal: bears

what is hard for you: climbing the big slide

what are you really good at doing: painting! i'm really good at painting!

what makes you happy: playing toys and looking at books

...

dear max,

on your first day of preschool you woke up at 6:30am.

you have never woken up so early in your entire life,

but you were hungry b/c you were tired from swimming the day before and didn't really eat a good dinner.

so you woke up at 6:30am and asked dad to get you a "bee-nana and milk."

you picked the shirt you wore out at target and the sparkles were in your hair, on your black skirt, and all over your face.

it was just so so cute.

you walked into school holding hope's hand,

and made it all the way into miss kim's hallway before you realized i wasn't there.

you burst into tears and so i walked downstairs into school with you.

then we played little people together for 5 minutes.

i told you i was going to leave and that miss kim would be here with you until i came back,

but that i would come back,

just like daniel tiger says.

you cried the song to me.

it was so sweet.

i left you sobbing on miss kim's lap.

i was so glad you were on miss kim's lap b/c i knew she would take good care of you.

she said you stopped crying later and had a great day.

except that you wouldn't do music time.

and you didn't want to do the parachute ball thing when i came to pick you up.

but i think that was mostly my fault,

b/c i was there early 

and you saw me 

and after that, you just wanted to get in the car with the boys to go to chick-fil-a.
{you told me the night before that after school you just wanted to go to chick-fil-a with caitlyn. how could i resist?!}

but you had a big smile on your face,

and said you had a really fun time,

and you told me that you cried.

your paper said you made a new friend, hope.

you played in the kitchen.

and that miss kim liked your sparkles.

i can't believe how grown up you looked,

and that you are already in preschool.
and i love your big pink backpack that was bigger than you.

i love you,

MOM

{brennan & cade holding hands, safety first!!! and max}

{max & caitlyn}
everybody needs a best friend:)

summer's last tease

labor day.

when you run out of your last ounce of sunscreen 

before you even spray one of your kid's arms,

and you have to dig deep down into your bag 

for the emergency bottle of lotion that you swore you'd only use 

if it was the last bottle of sunscreen on the planet.

and so you use it b/c it's better than a sunburn.

and you do not want a sunburn on labor day.

so you slather it on 

like the good friend that it's been to you for the last 4 months,

okay 3.

and you sit around all day talking with all of your friends and family 

about how you blinked and summer was over.

you eat good food.

you drink your last icy cold bottled coke by the pool,

because it's hot.

it's still really hot.

but the grass is cool.

in the shade.

and you look up at the mountains to see how many colors are changing on the trees already.

and you try to remember what week at the end of september brings the snow tips on.

or maybe it's early october.

you can't really remember.

and then,

you have to end your festivities early.

like 6:35pm early.

so you can shower your kids,

and have them in bed

before 8pm.

b/c they have school the next day.

painful.

absolutely and utterly painful.

not b/c you don't want your kids to go to school.

b/c you DO want your kids to go to school.

but b/c you want time to stop.

so that minute hand could sit on 6:30pm for just a little while longer,

while your babies swim in the evening light of the pool. 

it's like summer's last tease.

as if it's saying,

"hey, YO! 

you over there, 

lover of fall and winter!

yeah you, emily,

i'm

talking

to

YOU:)

i just to wanted to make sure you remember 

that all of your whining about the heat of summer was frivolous,

b/c summer just ain't so bad after all. see?"

and then i chirp back at it and go,

"hey you summer!

i'm out of sunscreen. 

yeah. so let's pick this up again next may.

'cause you know, like i said, i'm out of sunscreen.

and i'm pretty much foaming at the mouth for my

house to smell like pumpkin spice anyway."

and then we smile at each other and i wink,

letting summer know that it's really only enjoyable the very most

after a good snowy winter.

and then we agree,

mother nature and i,

that i will do my job of lusting after my favorite pants and long sleeved shirts 

that have been pushed back in the line ups of regulars in my closet 

until it finally does decide 

to fully calm itself down 

into something that will truly make me lust for summer again.

because right now,

i'm just out of sunscreen.

and i don't mean that in a whining way,

i just mean it in an

i'm out of sunscreen way.

and an i can't bring myself to buy another bottle in september kind of way.

b/c we are just so done with sunscreen.

you know?

you know:)

i fully plan on leaving my windows open tonight.

my way of
truly
blowing summer a kiss goodbye.