Beachin good times on the East Coast

We just got back from our summer vacation with my East Coast family.  It's been a lot of fun mixed with a lot of craziness.
So I'm going to post some pics of our trip.  For those who facebook, I'm sorry some of these are repeats...but there are some new ones thrown into the mix as well.  Sometimes I wonder if it's worth blogging when I can just post the pics on facebook and be done with it, but some of you I know for a fact are big time bloggers and not facebookers and this is your only window to my life, and others actually care to hear the words behind the pictures, so this is for you too.  And for me.  I like having a record of my life's happenings.
Aside from Jake letting out a few embarrassing yells, the long plane ride over wasn't too bad.  The kids were occupied with games and Scott and I had our own electronic devices to play with the whole way over. 
Minor complaint:  You can't sleep on a plane with a baby in your arms.  Oh well.

We got there at 11pm East coast time.  Just in time for bed.  Crystal was fine sleeping in her own room, but Seth, who was afraid to sleep in a strange room by himself, made himself a bed on our floor in our room out of extra bed pillows and a sheet.

We were only there one day and then we got back in the car for a two hour drive to Long Beach Island.  We head out there almost every year, or every other year to enjoy the beach with the family.  The kids look forward to it.  Crystal even says she prefers the beach over Disneyland.

Goodbye House!!  ( I decided to take a picture of it on the way out, because it occurred to me that I don't have a picture of my in-laws home, and if I don't get one soon, I may never get one since they're putting it up on the market)

I had these to keep me company on the trip.  They are like crack for me.  They are also part of the reason I gained three pounds on this trip (a pound a week) Some may say that isn't much, but when you're short like me, every pound counts.  Anyway, here is my kryptonite, in case you were wondering.  I could probably eat a whole container on my own.  

The kids fell asleep in the back of the car.

The walk from the beach house to the beach is really long, the community does that on purpose to make it more inconvienient for tourists to go up there for the day and then back.  The whole town tries to keep the tourists out, so it's nice and secluded, which is great, but if you hate walking that heading to the beach every morning may not be your favorite.  I like the exercise, so I'm cool with it as long as I keep Jakey in the baby carrier

Kite flying on the beach.  The kids LOVE angry birds.  This made Seth's day.  Our friend, Ed, who also comes out every year bought it and shared it with our family.

We always do the same stuff when we're out on the beach; tanning, reading, chatting, and getting in the water, but it's always a blast.  The kids loved jumping over waves with their dad.  Seth was crazy brave, without someone watching him, he would just run straight into the crashing waves without a second's thought for his life.  We had to keep an eye on him, which was occasionally stressful, but it was great to see the kids have so much fun, and it was great to hang out with friends and family.

The kids were SOO excited to hang out with their cousins, Regan, Jensen, and Lila.  In spite of the noise, which us parents learn to tune out (sorry to the childless ones who couldn't, hahaha) it was fun to see them all play together and have fun.

If you're a parent and have to bring kids to the beach, Scott and I highly recommend a beach tent:

Every year when we go out with Nick and Margie to the beach, we share the beach house with their friends, who have also become our friends thanks to these summer trips.  When we're done going to the beach during the daytime, we would come back to the house and eat together, play games, watch movies, and go miniature golfing.  We look forward to seeing them again every time we come out.

The beach house was pretty small when you pack it with as many people as we did.  One day out of the week it rained and we had to stay in all day, but for the most part we got out as much as possible to avoid crawling all over each other.  As fun as it is with everyone to hang out with, it's nice to have some space too.

One morning I came out of the bedroom and Scott was just chillin with our nephew Jensen, and Jakey.  I love how great my husband is with kids...it always makes me fall in love with him all over again.

More chillin at the Beach house

Not exactly 4 star sleeping accommodations for some of the group.  Luckily the people with kids had dibs on the actual bedrooms.  Sorry suckas.

We had a great time on the Island this year.  The kids made memories that will last a long time.  That's worth everything.

Regan and Seth are the same age, so they were able to bond a lot, play superhero games, and be loud together.

The toddlers, Lila (Todd and Megan's daughter) and Jensen (Rob and Stephanie's), were so cute!  Everyone had fun watching them play and holding them on their laps.  Both were surprisingly well behaved for being out on the beach and away from home.  They are also the two blondies of the kid group.  Both are fair with really blond hair. 

We have a miniture golf night every year while we're there too. I only got a few pictures because Seth had to go number two halfway through the process and because I was terrified of him having a poop accident in the middle of the golf course I had to pick him up and run through the rest of the golf course, all the way to the bathroom.  By the time we were finished, so was everyone else basically.  Oh well.


 My kids love their uncle Brian.  They love to play and laugh with him, and he loves to make them laugh, and especially loves being called "Uncle." The title is very important to him, and he always corrects them if they accidentally call him just Brian without putting "Uncle" in front of his name.  He had them laughing so hard they were out of breath on the drive up.

Here are some of the few pics I was actually able to take:

Next morning at the beach we were all out having fun and Todd pulls out a Tupperware of last nights leftover pasta and a fork and starts eating it.  Everyone who wasn't an Itri made a ton of Italian jokes.  I had to take a picture.  Unfortunately, when Todd went back to the beach house, he forgot to bring his empty Tupperware back and we were attacked by seagulls. Memories like this make me love my East Coast family.  We often joke that the Itri's could have their own, really successful reality show.

Another adorable moment:  Uncle Brian helping Seth jump over waves

We buried the kids up to their necks in the sand.

At first they thought it was pretty cool:

Then it started to get uncomfortable....

Soon claustrophobia began to set in...

Which caused a full on panic.  This might make me a bad parent, but I laugh every single time I look at this picture.

Also, a special highlight of the beach vacation which will stick in our memories is that Rob and Stephanie announced that they were PREGNANT with baby number THREE!!!  Ahhhhh!!!!!  Hurray!!  Now I will have someone who understands my gripes in the world of three.  Hahaha. 



After a week at the beach, we went back to Philly.  The view coming in from the bridge is beautiful:

On the way into the city, it was necessary to have some Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches.  The food network along with a lot of other media always says that the best cheesesteak sandwiches are a debate between Pat's vs. Geno's cheesesteaks.  They are directly across the street from each other, and they both have huge lines going down the street with people who are faithful fans to the sandwich place of their choice.  Scott, me, Dan, and Kelsey decided to share half of each with our spouses and vote for ourselves which one is actually better.  Since the lines are long, Scott and Kelsey hopped out of the car to get places in line while Dan parked the car with me and the kiddies:

Ordering a sandwich...soup nazi style:

The two Cheesesteaks, Geno's on the Left and Pat's on the right.

Three of of the four of us liked Pat's more, but Dan preferred Geno's, proving that it's all a matter of opinion really.

Later that night, we met up at an awesome little ma and pa diner called Nifty Fiftys.  The great thing about the East Coast is that you get more original food, and less food chain's.  

Here we are at the diner:

Speaking of great food, we had a fantastic dinner at Rob and Stephanies apartment on the Sunday night of that week.  We were excited to see their new place in person, which looked even better than in pictures, and it was fun to hang out .  We also played the game "loaded questions" which gave us some great laughs and probably caused us to know a little too much information about each other.

As much as I love restaurant food, there's nothing like a home cooked meal.  Nothing.

Another fun activity we had was our own ITRI WIFE GIRLS NIGHT, which was fun and fantastic, and we got to take a break from kids and husbands.  It's nice to just be a girl sometimes, even nicer when you're with gals you get along with, and who understand the dynamics of your family group better than anyone else.

Goodbye kids!  Have fun with Daddy tonight, Mommy's going out to play for a change!

Commence girl time!

Aside from the awesome food, we also shopped, talked A LOT and watch a chick flick back at Stephanie's house.  Hopefully we can do it again sometime soon.  It was especially nice to have Stephanie there, since she lives so far away from the rest of us and whenever we make time to go out as girls back in Utah we ALWAYS talk about how we wish Stephanie were there.  Finally we had her!  The Nick and Margie division of Itri wives were finally complete!! 

Another thing we did that I'd always wanted to do on the East Coast is go into the Amish territory and peek into their lifestyle's a little bit.  I don't know why but the Amish fascinate me.  Whenever there's a special or a documentary on the Amish lifestyle on television I always have to stop and watch.  The name of the town was called Intercourse, PA.  Naturally me with my twelve year old maturity level, found that little fact full of win.

The country really is beautiful out there, I was dissapointed at how many tourists, just like me were there though.  Not exactly out in the middle of nowhere with the Amish, but at least I got a peek.

One of my favorites was a little place there called "Kitchen Kettle" where they let you sample all kinds of hand made dips, sauces, salsa's, and pickles.  I could have stayed there all day sampling their food.

It was really hot that day.  Everyone found themselves sitting down to rest.  The bench was in a round shape which resulted in this fun picture of tired Itri's.

It was hot enough that week that we ended up hitting the swimming pool quite a bit.
  

Jake kept trying to grab the water thinking it was tangible.

It was nice to have other relatives with small kids so that we could let them play together and entertain each other while hanging out.  Stephanie had the idea to take all the kids to the Smith Memorial Playground/House.  It's a mansion built just for kids, full of playgrounds and toys.  The kids loved it.  Scott and I had never been, and we were impressed with all the fun things for the kids to do there.  Best of all, it was free.  There was a heat wave going on that day, over 100 degrees in fact, but on the up side, there were not a ton of people there, making it more of a personal experience for the kiddies to enjoy.

After that since we were in downtown Philly, we went to the Philadelphia Art Museum to run up the Rocky steps and take a picture next to the Rocky statue.

Scott wouldn't put his arms in the air no matter how much I begged him to.  That's what happens when you marry your opposite.   Yes we compliment each other, but it makes fun pictures incomplete.  Still a great moment for me though.

My favorite though, was taking this next picture at the top of the Rocky Steps.  Why?  Because it had been a little under 8 years since the last time we went, and we were newly engaged at the time.  All twitterpated and excited to be married.  Who knew that 8 years we'd be back, and still in love.  In this day and age, that is a treasure.  I love my husband.

 2012:

2004:

I know I'm a sap, but seeing these "then and now" pics makes me really thankful for my marriage, and for a husband whom I am still extremely in love with.

After that all us Itri's with kids, met up with the non-kids Itri's to go to the Reading Terminal Market to look at the good specialty food for sale, and to try the famous "DiNicks Roast Beef Sandwich" which has been featured on several shows on the food network.  It did not dissapoint.

Next on the list was the beach.  Again.  This time we tried the beach near Atlantic City.  It was just for a day.  We liked Long Beach Island better.  Unfortunately, I only took two pictures while we were there.  One of Jake playing in a beach chair, and the other of Seth, who fell asleep while playing in the sand.

That same night we went to the Ocean City Boardwalk.  Scott went here frequently as a child with his siblings and family.  He was able to tell me some of his childhood memories while we were there, which was fantastic because he hardly remembers anything from his childhood.  Just like he had great memories there, my kids also LOVED this place.  They loved the things to see, the food we ate, and of course the amusement park rides.  It was awesome, and a highlight for us as a family.  The kids said this place was their favorite by far.

Crystal kept saying "There's so many cool things to look at here!!! I love this place!!"

The amusement park rides were their favorite.   The first thing they did was try the merry go round.  

Dumbo ripoff, roller cars

Crystal was actually tall enough to try a few big person rides. She was really nervous, but learned to hide in her dads side when it got too scary. The ride (Music Express) looked fast. I was impressed.

Seth was barely tall enough for the Troika ride, which has a lot of really fast spinning, and is also considered a thrill ride. I went on it with him.  The pics didn't turn out that great but the experience was great for him.  He would scream in terror and then laugh because it made him scream, then chant "This ride is CRAZY!" Then laugh again.  He made me laugh really hard while I was on this with him.

Watching my kids faces while they were on these rides made my day.  The memories were worth every penny.

Note: My other favorite thing we did as a family that I don't have any pictures of, was catching fireflies behind the house at dusk.  Luckily, fireflies are the dumbest, easiest bugs in the world to catch, so even Seth and his four year old fingers could catch them easily.  We collected them all in a jar and let them keep them for an hour or two before having the kids let them go so they wouldn't die. I wish I had pictures, but I don't.

On our second to last night in Philly, we all went as a family to Maggiano's Restuarant, which was hand's down, the best Italian food I've ever had at any restaurant.  Even Todd, who served his mission in Italy and is very (rightfully) picky about the way Italian food should taste was impressed.

 

 Our last night in the East coast was nice and relaxed.  We started off the day going to the places with the East Coast food we loved the most, Italian Hoagies for lucnch with a soft pretzel, and a cheesesteak for dinner.  While we were out here this trip Dan successfully converted me to asking for cheese whiz in my cheesesteak instead of American or Provolone like I have in the past.  You will only find the option of ordering your sandwich with "wiz" on the East coast an even though I knew it was an East coast thing, I never had any desire whatsoever to order "fake" cheese with my sandwich.  However after trying it, I must say, it brings out the flavor much more and makes the sandwich jucier.  For now on, I will order my cheesesteaks with "wiz". 

We were able to go to Rob and Stephanie's house for dessert that night, which was nice to be in a quieter environment with them and hang out.  It was nice to sit and talk about ourselves and life and the family, and to compare stories of life with small kids.  We're way excited that they are coming out to Utah for the first time in a long time in August to be with us to welcome Kyle come home from his mission.  Everyone will all be together for the first time in over two years, it will be wonderful.

Here are all the kids (minus Jake who was napping) taking one last picture together in the East Coast saying goodbye.

The plane ride back was something I was not looking forward to.  We had to get up at 5:30am for the 5 hour flight with three small kids.  Not my favorite idea.  However, things actually miraculously went pretty well.  The kids slept for the first hour of the flight.  Even Jake slept for a half hour when we were taking off.  Nobody peed their pants and I had a really good nursing cover with Scott sitting in front of me so I could nurse privately.  I didn't have to change any diapers, and there was no screaming.  Jake got a little whiney towards the end but I was amazed that for the first time in what felt like forever, things went smoothly.  Proof that God sometimes gives us tender mercies I guess.  Haha.  

Scott and I loved this vacation.  We loved hanging out with family and we loved doing stuff together.  Like any and all vacation there were a few hiccups, that's just vacations.  (I read an article recently that said a true test of any relationship is to go on vacation with them and see how you handle the stress.) However, I consider the vacation a huge success.  (Even though I didn't get my Broadway show.  *shakes head in dissapointment* )Three weeks is a long time for the kids to be away from home and they did great.  We made memories that will last forever, and we were able to bond with family.    I would do it again next year in a heartbeat. 

4 years old!!!!!

Holy Crap.  My precious little boy is a four year old now.  How did this happen?  Next year he'll be in kindergarten.  I can't believe it.  I know I have a just turned 6 month old at home, but sometimes Seth still feels like my baby boy.  I still baby him sometimes when Jacob naps, I'll pull him on my lap and hold him and tell him stories, and I still sing him to sleep at night.  I've always had a really strong relationship with my Sethie because his imagination and the way he plays is like looking back on my own childhood.  Seth is always inventing exciting stories in his head.  Sometimes it's frustrating when I'm trying to get an accurate account of things, like when he has a bruise on his leg, and I ask him how he got it, he will usually tell me a fantastic story about how he got in a fight with a monster.  Very creative, but not exactly accurate.  Then I remember the stories I made up in my head as a kid about being a gifted cook who just had to make pies out of my dads glue and shampoo or world hunger would continue to plague the earth.  Recently Scott and I were looking out the window in the backyard to see Seth talking to and dancing at a bush in the backyard.  At first I thought he'd lost it, but then I remembered the ol' faithful tree that grew in my elementary school playground that was my friend who I talked to.  Anyway, even Scott admits that Seth has a lot of  'de Hoyos' in him, and even though there is definitely some 'Itri' in there too, the 'de Hoyos' seems to dominate as far as personality quirks go.  He's okay with it though, because Crystal acts a lot more like him than she does me, and so he can relate to her quirks extremely well.  Who knew the girl would end up like the dad and the boy would be the mom?  Ha.
Anyway, Seth was really excited to celebrate his birthday this year.  He got to celebrate at the place of his choice,  Chuck-E-Cheese's.  Normally I avoid this place like the plague, but for my birthday boy, anything.  We met up with my parents and siblings who also wanted to celebrate with him.

Here is my brother and sister teaching him how to shoot aliens:

Crystal always gets a kick out of watching Seth getting excited. 
Here she is looking amused.  Oh yes, we also got her glasses a couple of days ago.  I caught her squinting at picture at the wall so we took her to the eye doctor and sure enough, she's near sighted, just like me and Daddy. 

My parents are all about helping my kids get as many tickets for scoring high scores at the games as possible.  Here they are cheating at the whack-a-mole game to help Crystal get some extra tickets.  Yup.  Those are my parents:

Seth also got a lot of tickets for doing well at some games.  He was really proud of this particular strip of tickets because he earned them without help:

One of the rides/activities, prints out a little black and white picture of you sitting next to a figure of Chuck-E-Cheese while sitting in a car.  For some reason Seth thought this concept was fantastic, and totally worth using a token on:

The funny thing is that as thrilled as he was to take this little picture next to the figure of Chuck-E-Cheese, Seth was actually terrified of the actual Chuck-E-Cheese mascot.  Every time Mr. Chuck-E tried to approach Seth, he would run away in terror.  He told me that he didn't trust him, that he was POSITIVE that it was just a man in a mask who was trying to trick him.  He kept saying "I don't like that guy mommy. He's just a weird guy in a mask."  Fair enough.

After about an hour of hoards of children fighting over video games, we all went to lunch at the Texas Roadhouse, then we went back to my parents house to sing happy birthday and open presents.

Making a wish.  (The wish is always the same wish.  He always wishes he can fly.)

Present time!

These Hulk gloves and also the Hammer of Thor were his favorite gifts.

Yes, I had to post at least two pics of my youngest son, who as you can see enjoyed Seths's presents as well.

At the end of the day, Seth said he had a great birthday.  As a bonus, he got to sleep in Mommy and Daddy's room, which he is constantly asking to do every night, and we always say no, but on his birthday, he got to sleep in a little mattress on the floor next to our bed, and he loved it. 


I love my little Superhero.  I love the songs he invents, and the soundtrack he invents to his life. (He is always humming some made up, intense tune to his actions throughout the day.  It's hilarious).  I love hes huge dimples and his sparkling blue eyes, and I love that he's such a momma's boy right now.  I love that when he has a nightmare he screams for me  to come and save him.  I know that's a little selfish, but I love being the center of his life, I love it.

The older my kids get the more bittersweet I get about their aging.  I love my little babies, and even though I'm super excited for their birthdays and getting older, I get sad when I think that they won't always be my little babies, and that they will be teenagers who won't want to hold my hand anymore, or tell me every thought in their head.  It was sad for me to see Crystal go into kindergarten because she was no longer a 'baby' anymore, and when she goes into Jr. High, it will be harder for me, because then she won't be a little kid anymore...she be an adolescent.  (cue scary music). Now seeing Seth getting bigger and only a year shy of entering kindergarten himself, it all seems like it's going way too fast!!  Ahh! 
Truly though, I find joy in their joy, and happiness in their happiness, and I know that the only way for them to experience true joy is for them to grow and progress, so I know that when they grow older I will enjoy it as well. 

Big Girl Makeover

For 5 and a half years of Crystal's life, there were two things she swore she would never ever do no matter what.
1) Cut her hair
2) Pierce her ears
Scott and I had just accepted that there was no way we could get her to do either, because for the longest time she loved her long hair more than anything, and the terror of having holes poked into her ears was just unthinkable.  Then, randomly, a week after her kindergarten graduation, she changed her mind.
She figured it was time to look like a "big girl" and told us she wanted a haircut with her ears pierced.  Scott and I agreed since it was a great opportunity to celebrate her graduating from kindergarten and becoming older.
To tell you the truth I think I was more anxious than she was when it came to the haircut. Even though I didn't show it, something made me a little sad about seeing her long girly locks get cut off.  In part it was because she's growing up, and I want her to stay little forever, but also because I actually love doing her hair.  I love putting braids in it and trying out hairstyles on her.  However, I was 100% supportive, because it's what she wanted, and she's a cute girl so I knew it would look good on  her.  All I'm saying is that I miss playing with her hair. 

 Like I said, I knew she'd look beautiful no matter what. 

So next was to get the ears pierced.  She was a little nervous, but she was willing to be brave. I was going to post a video, to show that she didn't cry, but some people might still find it a little sadistic to show a little girl getting her ears pierced.  Basically she made a shocked face with no sound, but as soon as she saw herself and her ears in the mirror, she smiled and was happy.  She was so glad she did it.  I was also six years old when I got my ears pierced, and I remember the day even now.  I felt like I could relate to her. 
She chose to have her birthstone as her earrings.  Blue topaz crystals. 

It was a really fun day for everyone, and Crystal loved having a day dedicated just to her.  She showed off her new look to her friends in church the next day and her best friend couldn't stop asking her about what it was like to get her ears pierced.  I think Crystal felt like a movie star. 

The month of May

I'm always busy these days, which I guess is a good thing, but it leaves little time for web surfing and blogging.  I'm going to try my best to talk a little bit about what we've been up to this month.


 1)  Scott owns his own business now
Scott still works a lot even though tax season is over.  He is in the process of opening up his own tax accounting firm.  It's kept him insanely busy, but we're hoping that the as busy as he is right now, it will pay off in a couple of years.  I'm really proud of him for all his hard work in supporting his family, and we would have never guessed that he would have had the opportunity to own his own firm at 30 years old.  Hopefully this works out.... It's kind of a risk, but also a great opportunity if it's successful. 

2) Crystal was in her kindergarten talent show
Crystal's class had a kindergarten talent show where all the kids were able to share a talent.  The kids and the talents shared were all super cute.  One little boy blew a bubble with bubble gum, another little girl did a cartwheel, another little boy built a tower out of legos, another little girl could hula hoop for a minute straight, etc.  Crystal chose drawing as her talent because she loves to draw and spends all day at home drawing pictures and practicing her drawing skills.  So for her talent, she presented some of her artwork and explained how she drew the pictures, then she demonstrated to the class how to draw a flower.

I was so proud of her for being brave enough to show off her talent in front of her whole class.  She was a little nervous, but did a fantastic job.


3) Mother's day
As always, I enjoyed mother's day.  It's nice to sit back and reflect on what it is to hold somebody's life in your hands, and it also intimidates me when I think about how much their futures, their self esteem, their habits, and their mental health depends on me.  Motherhood is both wonderful, and overwhelming, and intimidating, even though I have three now, I still feel like I'm learning as I go. I stay up late in bed sometimes thinking about each kid, and whether or not I'm giving them all the love and attention they deserve. Scott always tells me I worry too much because of how much sleep I loose thinking about what I could have done better to be a better mom to them.  If I have a day where I'm frustrated with one of them and snap at them, I go to bed feeling guilty until I can apologize to them.  I know Mother's day is a day to be appreciated for the work I do, but for me it's also a day to keep myself in check, and for ME to appreciate these three beautiful, perfect little people who make my life wonderful.  Also, I got flowers to make my home happy.  Who doesn't love flowers?

I love Sunflowers.  If it were up to me I would always have fresh sunflowers in my home.

Crystal also brought me a gift that she made me in her kindergarten class.  She brought me these lavender smelling bath salts:

and, my favorite, a hand made card:

She drew her and I together on the cover

"To Mom.  I love you.  I think you are the best mom ever.  I will always hold you in my heart.  I love you more than anyone in the whole world. I will always love you."

THAT is why I feel like the most blessed and luckiest woman alive.  To have my child write me notes like that and mean what they say.

Seth also decided to draw me a picture for Mothers Day, and so he drew me this dinosaur:

He was so proud of himself because he thought to glue pencil and crayon shavings on top of the dinosaur to decorate it.  The best part of it was seeing how proud he was of his artwork.  He was so excited to show it to me. 


Jake gave me a gift too.  His perfect smile!

It was a great Mother's Day.


The last thing that was important for us this month is that

4) Crystal Graduated Kindergarten!!!

For her graduation she had a kindergarten Hawaiian luau party with the class and all the parents.  It was so great to see her perform, she was so cute singing and dancing with her class.  She was so excited to wear her Hawaiian looking clothes for the party.

 

Here she is, sitting with her class waiting for the program to start so she can start singing:

 

Singing the itsy bitsy spider

My favorite was her classes dance number to the beach boys.  Here is a short clip of all her cute little dance:




My petite little pixie is SO darn cute!!!  I love her so much!  Cutest dance ever!

Crystal is really sad that she had to say goodbye to her teacher, Miss Johnson.  Here she is in a picture with her so that she can always remember her:

 

Here is Crystal with her best friend Taylor.   Taylor lives down the street and since they've been in kindergarten together they play at each others houses and find each other as quickly as possible during church activities so they can play.  Sometimes they get in some pretty silly fights, but they always end up friends again. Taylor didn't want to smile for the picture because she was too embarrassed to smile.

Here is Crystals other good friend, Daniella.  When Crystal first started kindergarten she was terrified of Me and Scott leaving her alone in the hands of people she didn't know.  She was terrified that I'd forget to pick her up when school was over, and because of it she would have a lot of anxiety when I would try to drop her off.  Daniella helped Crystal feel better.  She would hold Crystals hand and tell her it was okay and walk her into the classroom with the rest of the class.  Crystal was thankful for a friend like Daniella to help her get over that first week and a half of school when everything was so intimidating.

Last but not least, we have Crystals "boy who's a friend" David.  The story of David is hilarious.  He and Crystal first spoke on picture day during the first month of School.  Crystal showed up in ringlets, a silky shirt and a cute little knit vest and when David saw her he approached her and said "You look so Beautiful!!"  She responded with "I don't know you." and turned the other way.  David was persistent over the next couple of weeks though. He would always try to sit by her, talk to her, and I would always see him say hello and goodbye to her every time I dropped her off or picked her up from school.  One time after he said goodbye to her after school and she got in the car, she complained to me that he always followed her around and talked to her and that sometimes it was annoying.  I told her it was important to be nice to everyone.  Over the school year they became friends.  This David kid was a crack up.  He told Crystal that at his birthday party, Crystal needed to come dressed up as a princess and he would make all the other girls dress up like pigs. I don't know where a kid that age comes up with that stuff.  The funny thing is that when I was Crystals age I hung out with a little boy too who everyone called my boyfriend, and ironically enough, his name was also David.    Anyway, here they are together, and he's showing off his missing tooth in the pic:

Here they are chatting.  He is telling Crystal the story of how his dad pulled out his tooth with a piece of tissue paper, and Crystal just can't believe how crazy that is.



It was a great day.  Crystal is pretty sad to leave kindergarten though.  When we were in the car going home, she started to cry a little bit because she was going to miss her teacher and her friends, and because first grade just seems too scary!  I did my best to tell her that she would love first grade just like kindergarten and that she'd see a lot of the same kids. 

Words cannot describe how I feel about my beautiful little girl.  The very second I heard her little cry on the day she was born changed my life forever.  She is my princess, my friend, and my angel. Scott and I were so proud that this weekend we took her to the store and bought some pretty hair bows some other things and gave her a "big girl makeover".  Stay tuned for those pics in the next post.