Photos, Field Day, Mother's Day and a Garden for May!

Some more pictures from the last bit of April include:

Picking up your baby sister and hugging on her even when she looks pretty uncomfortable. 

Dilan is such a great nurturer and caretaker of Dakota. She is the most interested in her and a big helper when it comes to her baby sister. It is endearing to watch and very sweet to see. This girl is going to make a great mother someday.

 Dakota has started playing in her exersaucer and giving me big dimple smiles which melt my heart.

 A practice photo with Drew for his baptism pictures coming up. Such a handsome good kid - love this boy!

 My crazy toddler, Drake, and his antics as he is climbing off my bed. This kid wants to wrestle and play hard all the time and still cling to his pacifier at night. He makes me smile and laugh constantly. When he does something wrong, like hit his sister, he immediately says, "I sorry ma-ey." I don't get the second "m" in mommy yet but he is so precious. Sometimes I just stare into those gorgeous blue eyes and say, "I love you" over and over because I love hearing him say it back to me too. There is something about the stage where they are learning new words all the time and putting together sentences out of nowhere. This kid and me are such a team.

 and my beautiful five-month old Dakota - those blue eyes are piercing.

 Field Day 2013

Drew got a bit wet in this competition where you take the sponge from the bucket and pass it over your head until the end of the line. A great way to start Field Day.

 Cheering on his classmate

 Being careful with the cup full of water

 Tire roll - Drew did awesome!

 Sack race - Drew hopped very well and could not stop smiling and laughing the whole way

 Dilan's preschool invited the moms for breakfast which we really enjoyed. You gotta love that Dilan wanted to wear her pink cow-girl boots with her outfit that day. Dilan has so much personality but in front of big groups, she gets shy. She was assigned to read the scripture in primary last week and buried her head into David's shoulder so he just said it for her. Naturally, when it came time for the kids to sing to all of us moms at the breakfast, Dilan shook her head no that she didn't want to do it and got all teary-eyed. I told her it was okay and she didn't have to go up there but she definitely was interested in watching her friends sing. Also, you'll notice with her "mommy" art below that apparently I drive around while she is at school. Not too far from the truth...

 Our first garden! David has wanted a garden for years and now we have planted one. The kids absolutely loved digging and planting with him and they go check on it every day. We also planted two peach trees and we tell Dilan they remind of us living in Georgia when we had her there.

 There was a lot of dirt flying from these three kiddos

 and tilling the dirt took some effort!

Hopefully I'll post pictures of our loot when it all grows in!

Clean it and Green it 2013

Drew's school was celebrating Earth Day with a Clean it or Green it event where we went to the school and helped pick up trash. Our whole family got t-shirts and donuts too! I think you were supposed to eat the donut after you did your work but in true Pistorius family style, we started our work with donut in hand. 

Trying to get a family photo after we put on our t-shirts (Dakota was asleep in her stroller)

 Donuts in hand so we are ready to work!

 Picking up small pieces of trash around the school

 Big brother working, little brother eating

 fun times with mom

 Siblings working together

 my beautiful baby opens her eyes after her nap to be a part of the party

Loved this event. I really thought it would be packed with families from the school however, when we got there, it looked like a ghost town. Few people thought this was a worthwhile event I guess so I was proud that we were there teaching our kids to keep the environment clean. Not sure how much of a difference we made but it was the principle that mattered. We were only there 45 minutes as Drew had a soccer game afterwards but we did our part and that felt good.

Easter 2013

So, March overwhelmed me a bit... okay a lot. We moved into our brand new house and with Spring Break and Easter, it was too much. I felt like I was sinking and not able to breath much. I had reached my max; yes, even me. I do have limits and luckily for me, I pretty much know what they are. I stuck to taking care of my four kids and working my one night a week (not to mention March and April have been crazy client months with some pretty hard issues to sort out) and adjusting to my new area. I simply stated to people that I was at my limit and I had to set my own boundaries.

Of course, the blog or should I say, documenting the chaos, had to be ignored for a bit. But I am feeling better and I have been re-inspired. So, here. Here is Easter (yes that long ago) and I am sticking to the highlights. 

Dakota started rolling over at 3 months old. Here she is after she rolled over and of course after the shock wore off her face that she was ending up on her back after she was just on her stomach. :)

 Dakota's first swim and her millioneth and one kiss from mommy 

 Dakota and Daddy

 Over Easter cousins came and brought their scooters. Drake did not have a scooter for his age so he picked up the one for 5 year olds. At first he was sad and frustrated because it was very hard to maneuver but with me as his guide and one lap around the front of the house, he literally took off after that and rode this scooter better than any of the other kids. He was fierce I tell you! Never seen anything like it.

 The Easter bunny came

 and here's my beautiful girl hunting the eggs

 my determined toddler

 and my handsome oldest who doesn't probably have too much longer where this is going to be fun so I am treasuring it.

February Happenings

Other fun things in February...

Valentines day was celebrated with a long-stemmed rose left on our doorstep by a secret admirer and a delicious steak dinner prepared by David.

 Drew performed in his first musical, "Circus, Circus" He was a giraffe and he made his own costume (made and cut out all his own spots) and he even had a line to say, "Isn't there something we can do? We're here to help, by golly!" And it took us several explanations of what "by golly" meant. Drew didn't get nervous and delivered his line flawlessly.

 Our little precious baby in her winter hat

 Soccery season has begun! Drew is on the Red Storm and it's the first time David is not coaching him. Drew scored two goals in the first game!

 and a morning of trying out a new hair bow.

Dakota's blessing

Dakota was fortunate to have lots of family in town for her baby blessing. Mimi (David's mom) bought Dakota her blessing dress and shoes for her special day.

here are her precious shoes

 a family friend gave us this adorable personalized hanger so I thought it would go great with Dakota's dress

 Dakota getting dressed and all smiles

 Colleen dressing her granddaughter who is also named after her

 Dakota with Mimi

 Wendy, Colleen, David and Lisa (Wendy and Lisa came up for the blessing)

 Pistorius family who attended Dakota's blessing

 My family with Dakota on her special day

 Our attempt at a family photo

 Both our girls with the grandmothers they are named after

Dilan Camille and Dakota Colleen

 Me and my baby girl

 Aunt Wendy, Aunt Lisa and Livi with Dakota



Dilan turns 4!

Dilan's fourth birthday was quite the celebration! It started on Thursday at her preschool. This girl does't really like cake (only the icing) so I decided to bring pink donuts which are her favorite. I took princess stickers with some toothpicks and made them princess donuts and she thought they were the best thing ever. She had a crown and was able to put on the Cinderella princess dress at school to help in the celebration. It was a lot of fun.

Friday was Dilan's party with a princess theme of course. My mom and Sam came into town to help celebrate with us. We had Dilan's party at a local church's indoor playground.

Dilan and her friends playing at the party

Our family photo at Dilan's party. Girls in pink, boys in blue.

(except I didn't want to wear the same pink sweater I wore to her party last year so I am wearing orange plus there are only so many items of clothing you can wear two months after having a baby and nursing)

 

 Dilan's awesome princess cake (ordered from Walmart believe it or not)

 

Dad lighting the candles

 Opened many princess presents

 Birthday girl with her princess crown after the party was over 

each guest got a princess crown (either Tiana, Cinderella or Rapunzel) and a pink magic wand

 at home with all her gifts! Dilan's party was so much fun!

On the morning of Dilan's birthday (Saturday), she woke up to purple balloons. And Mimi made it in town for her birthday too!

Dilan went to the Discovery Tech Center which is a science museum in Frisco and went by our new house showing her grandmas her new room.

 

Cousins came into town for dinner at Mooyah's

Another princess cake from Mimi so the family could celebrate with Dilan

 Then there were birthday presents from the family. This girl had a great time celebrating turning four years old!!!