My Precious Eliana

First, I want you to know that I LOVE YOU WITH ALL OF MY HEART! You have taught me sooooo many things in your short little life and I appreciate them with everything that I have. What is happening right now is something that nobody planned and we have no idea how to fix it. You are going to move with Baba to a brand new house! Although I will not be able to be there with you, I need you to promise me a few things. You have to make sure that you do your best in school. Baba will take you to special places and do special things for your reward. Remember that you need to earn special things, they can't just be given to you. You have to make sure that you take care of your chores at home - without an attitude! Help Baba make a grocery list and show him how to look for things on sale at the grocery store. Don't forget the coupons:) Ask him to take you so you can show him where everything is. Make sure to always have healthy snacks but its ok to have treats every once in awhile. I gave Baba your nail polish, ask him to paint your nails and make sure you love them - even if they look crazy. No grumpy pants in the morning before school and remember to use your timer because you don't want to be late for school. Don't complain when Baba tells you to go to bed - it is very important to get all of your sleep. Snuggling on the couch for 5 more minutes is ok too. Don't watch too much TV because you won't play dress up too much. Don't get mad at Baba if he asks you what color hair tie matches yout outfits or doesn't know what to do. He is still learning how to be a great dad! You are very lucky to have a dad like him, he loves you sooo much and wants you to do your best. Ask him to braid your hair, but don't get mad if he can't do a side braid. His braid will be beautiful. Remember to always be grateful for what you have and do not be jealous of anyone or anything. Play nice with Yasmeen and baby Nasser. Tell Tata and Baba to teach you Arabic. Baba has the CD if you still want to learn Italian. Show Baba sooo much love and tell him when he has a bad attitude. He said that he will finish your scrapbooks with you so make sure you look at them sometimes. If you see Baba is sad, make sure he knows that you love him and tell him that it is ok to cry. If you are sad, you have to tell Baba what you are feeling and why you are feeling sad. Remember to never call anyone bad names and never say shut up. You have to stand up for yourself, nobody is allowed to put their hands on you or treat you badly.
I remember the first day I met you, you were 2 years old and the cutest little munchkin that I has ever seen. Baba brought you to the beach. It was in November so it was kind of cold. You were very shy at first and didn't say anything. Once Baba started kicking the ball around you instantly started smiling and laughing. We picked some sea shells and you wanted to play in the water but Baba said it was too cold and you didn't have extra clothes. I said, "oh Fadi it's not a big deal!" So we took your pants off and you ran in the water in your underwear :) You had so much fun.
I am sorry that you won't be able to be our flower girl - but you will be one someday. Please know that I will think about you everyday. Mimi and Nunu love you so much. I will always hold you close to my heart because you have taught me how to be a GREAT mom. Eliana, you are going to do awesome things with your life when you grow up. You may not understand this now but you will make Baba so proud of you. Always remember to be proud of yourself. I love you honey bun!

Love, Ang

Old School.....

Saw the Jiffy pop at the store and just HAD to buy some.

Eliana enoyed the experience and it tastes just as I remember from 1989 :)

First Day of Kindergarden

We experienced lots of emotions this morning from excitment, nervousness, sadness, and a feeling of accomplishment :) Eliana was very quiet this morning and didn't eat much breakfast, we took a few pictures and off we went. She remembered exactly where her classroom and desk were. There weren't many other kids in her class at the time so we took advantage of it, the teacher came over and showed her where her back pack needs placed every morning, etc. Fadi looked at me and said, "well do we just leave"? I said, "I guess so, I've never done this:) She looked up at us and we said we were leaving. She got up gave us both a hug and kiss and sat back in her chair. NO sad face and NO tears!! So proud of her and very bittersweet :)

She is all grown up...

My 2 goof balls!

After I picked her up from afterschool, I asked her how her first day of school was. She looks at me and in the most excited voice she says, "ang, I feel like such a big girl because I can chose my own lunch!!" She made a friend names Lacy and overall she had a great day! Thank GOD!!!

boobies....

I picked up Eliana today while she was in the kitchen and she says...
E: ouch ang, you are hurting my boob!
A: you don't have any boobs!
E : (as she lifts her shirt up) yes I do! right here!
A: those are boobies not boobs.
E: well when am I going to get BIIIGGGG BOOBIES like you ang?
A: not for a long time - maybe when you are 13!

Please help me!! Any suggestions or advice are welcomed with open arms :)

Happy 4th of July

We spent the 4th of July this year in Pittsburgh. The weather was fabulous and it was really nice to be with my family! Had a quiet cookout and then went visiting at Aunt Lisa's house. We finished the night off with watching the fireworks from the Smithfield Street Bridge. This was the first trip that I made home and the weather was AWESOME!! not a single rain cloud for three whole days :)

ANG!!!!! HURRY!!!!!!!!!

"CHECK OUT MY MOHAWK"....was not what I was expecting as she screamed for me while she was in the shower :)

SURPRISE....we are going Jet Skiing!!!

"Happy Father's Day Baba - WE ARE GOING JET SKIING!!!"
Yes, Fadi was surprised and we had alot of fun!! Eliana was sooo excited when we were getting ready but totally freaked out once Fadi passed the idle area of the water into the open water!!! she lasted about 10 minutes with him and she was miserable so we went back and switched her to my ski. I had a talk with her while we were on our way back out the open water that she had nothing to be afraid of and that Fadi and I would never let her do something that was dangerous. She said that she knew that but she didn't like to go fast because the water was burning her eyes. I said, that's why you were crying??? she said - yes ang!! So I gave her my sunglasses and off we went. we hit our first wave and she yells AWESOME!!!! Then she asked me if she was able to pull the throttle and sure enough she was driving the ski by herself!!! We hung out at the beach for a little bit, then the pool at home, and had a Yummy dinner at Carrabba's!! I wish I was able to see my dad on Father's Day but this was the next best thing!

It's FINALLY gone...

Yup!!! You guessed it!!!! Eliana lost her first tooth!! Well Fadi actually pulled it out :) She came home from school today and told me that her tooth was hurting her. The last time I had went to my dentist, I had asked him how long is OK to wait until we pulled it out. He said that once it starts hurting her, then it is time to come out because the other teeth do not have any room to come in. So I called Fadi and said that I think tonight was the night to pull it and boy was it WIGGLY!! Fadi grabbed a paper towel and he tugged on it once and it immediately started to bleed. The look on her face said that she was a little scared - but she let him tug away!
I think it was the 4th time and he said that he couldn't get it and kinda gave me "his" look. All of a sudden she says, "Baba, my tooth is GONE!!" He started laughing and said, thats because I have it right here - and he shows her the bloddy tooth in the paper towel. She looked SOOOOOOOO different already :( I took her to the bathroom to wash her mouth out - but she was too excited about the tooth fairy coming to visit her!!
Eliana had said to me awhile back that she did not want the tooth fairy to take her tooth because she wanted me to put her 1st tooth in her scrapbook - talk about a girl after my own heart :)
I told her that I can write a note to the tooth fairy and ask her to leave the tooth for me to scrap. Sure enough the Eliana found that the tooth fairy left her tooth under my pillow :)

She's a RAY

Eliana has officially moved up to the next level in swim lessons from Eel to Ray. This is a VERY big accomplishment for her. Also, it is such a big difference as far as what is expected of them. She has to now swim for 25 yards without stopping and tread water for 30 seconds. She will not be able to be in the Ray group until July though because there isn't any open spots for the June session :(

I love that they also learn boating/water safety during each session of swim lessons. Here is Eliana "saving" the victim :)

VPK Graduate

She is growing up sooooo fast!!! Here are a few pictures for her VPK Graduation. Yes, I did cry at the very beginning - but then I was "that parent" who is crawling all over the floor trying to get some pictures and videos. They had positioned her in a very bad spot that we were not able to see her from our seats - and you know we got there early so we had very close seats!! She sang her heart out and did an AWESOME job - We are VERY proud of her!!

Very Surprised when she saw her new bike!!

Takin it for a spin

Now you tell me this girl doesn't LOVE her money!!

Fadi actually surprised her with a 10 minute DVD of pictures of her from birth until now - There wasn't a dry eye in the house!! Especially with his song choices:)

(ma - I will bring it to pgh when we come up in 2 weeks!!! )

beach fun

For Memorial Day - we planned an early morning beach day. After we set up our fort, we rented kayak and off we went! It was pretty exciting since I have never been on one before. We ended up seeing a few stingrays while we were out there too. I wish I took a picture of the whole tent we had set up - we seriously could of been able to stay out there for 2 days :) Can't wait to do that again!

A little showing off...

Eliana would of done this all day if we would of stayed outside to watch her!! She loves trying to imitate Fadi when he does crazy jumps into the pool. Check out her moves...I give them a 10!!

that stubborn tooth...

So its been 4 weeks since Eliana has discovered that her first tooth was loose. Still does not wanna come out!! Trust me, we have definitely tried!! last night i looked at it and you can see her adult tooth starting to poke out from behind - I just want to get the baby tooth outta there. We have also discovered that the tooth next to the original loose one is now starting to wiggly - The tooth fairy might go broke in the next week or so :)

Summer Fun

Fadi's brother and his family came over to help replace the sliders that we had in the back of the house. The girls had a great time in the water. Yasmeen wasn't too thrilled about the sprinkler but she LOVED chasing Eliana back and forth!

Nice face Eliana!!