We went swimming this weekend and last weekend at my mom's house. She heated the pool and it was so NICE! Drew tried on floaties for the first time and loved it. He loved swimming all by himself and he did so well. He was really just running in the water and then learned to kick his feet behind his body. It was so great! We can't wait to take more swimming lessons this summer.
So, I haven't been blogging for over a week now really and you may have asked... what happened to her? Well, as you can see by the lovely picture here, I was at a conference ALL weekend... It started by me having to move all of my clients to Monday (which I never do) and Tuesday night. Then, we left late Wednesday night to go to my mom's house in Lake Jackson which is only an hour away from Galveston (whereas I am about 1.5 hrs from where we live in NWhouston). I drove to Galveston for the Texas Association for Marriage and Family Therapy annual conference for three days straight. So, while people were on the beach, I was in a convention center for hours and hours getting taught how to do my job better... yes, a job that I won't be doing in a mater of two months (but who is counting?) in order to gain CEUs (Continuing Education Units) to maintain my license to practice.
Anyway, so you may ask was it worth my time??? ummmm... I am kind of split on this question. I honestly liked one speaker I went to the entire time but I got to hang out with one of my friends, Jill, and I got to catch up with some wonderful former classmates like Lisa and Linda. I also saw a former student from BYU who is now going to Texas Tech to get her phd. That was kind of cool to see. It was like my texas life and utah life coming together in one place.
I will say that the first day was complete torture... 6 hours of listening a famous person in our field (Michael White - co-creator of Narrative therapy which was the theory I wrote my major paper on at the end of my master's degree) and it was just horrible. He even had a very cool Australian accent, but I still wanted to scream with boredom. Sounds awful, huh? it was... my skin was crawling to get out of there but if you don't stay the whole time, you don't get credit for being there. Oh well, I made it through the weekend and it was an experience. Only one of these a year thank goodness! :)
So, David and I have tried really hard having an actual date night the last few months. I mean, when you actually get a babysitter, and pay for a nice meal or movie, etc. We were always good about date night when we didn't have Drew of course. I mean that is just plain EASY... but with Drew now, it is much more difficult. BUT we have been doing well lately in this area. Here is our date night a few weeks ago where my husband actually made all the plans. He asked his mom to watch Drew, he made plans with another couple (our good friends, Laura and Adam) to go on a double date to Outback Steakhouse and then (at Adam's suggestion) to a bakery for dessert afterwards. It was fabulous! I really really loved it. We had great company, great food and honestly, just grown-up time by ourselves. Here we are at the end of our fun night holding our bakery box that WAS full of some tasty goodies!
We went to my mom's house this weekend for Easter. We watched a lot of NCAA basketball, went swimming in a nicely heated pool, ate great food and made memories of Easter with the kids.
The whole Pistorius family (Beva included) after Drew colored his dozen eggs. Each kid gets a whole dozen to color all by themselves.
Here we are after church (David got out of his clothes early) as Drew found the basket the Easter bunny left him.
By the way, on a side note, how do you get your child to LOOK at the camera?!?
This is a picture from when we went to visit my grandfather in the hospital at the beginning of this month. We call him, "Pop," and he is 87 years old. He was having some heart problems and they ended up finding some blocked arteries and putting some stints in. I got a message yesterday that he is back in the hospital most likely for diabetes reasons. But I'm sad... it was hard to see him like this. I know, I know, ...he is old and he has lived a long life but it still really upsets me to see him so fragile and to think our family could change with losing him or anyone else for that matter. I feel selfish sometimes because David has lost his brother and his father in the past 5 years and I am tearing up over the thought of losing my grandfather. But I am and I can't help it. I can't help that I want him to stick around longer, that I want more time with him, that I just don't want him not to be here on this earth. So, I guess I am not apologizing for wanting that, I am just in a place of hoping for it.
We went to Fuddruckers Friday night with our good friends, Julie and Dave Hunt. Their little boy, Jack, and Drew are only 3 months apart. Julie and Dave used to live in Utah when we were there and now they are back in Houston with us! Drew and Jack are just the best of friends. Check out this adorable photo of them laughing in the photo booth.
Our family picture in the photo booth! :)
So, for those of you who don't know, David is allergic to nuts. When he was 6 mths old, he got a hold of some peanut butter, couldn't breathe, turned blue and his parents rushed him to the hospital. In order to avoid a repeat experience with our own children, the doctors have told us to wait until our children are 3 years old to have nuts of any kind. You may not think this a big deal but honestly, it can be a big pain to make sure Drew doesn't get a hold of something with peanut butter in it. We've done a good job until now... last Friday, my grandfather, "Pop," was in the hospital and we went to Beaumont to visit him. We were all in the waiting area for 2.5 hrs. Drew did great but it was during lunchtime and we all were getting hungry. One of the snacks I was eating happened to be peanut butter crackers (they had free snacks at the hospital donated by a local church). I was in the middle of a conversation with my brother when David called my name... I looked down and Drew was chomping on one of my crackers and I didn't even notice it. He had taken a good bite and was swallowing it. I guess if anywhere this could have happened, it was good that we were in a hospital! But nothing happened except that I took the rest of the cracker away and Drew wanted more. So, not only is he probably not allergic to nuts/peanut butter but he probably likes them! Much to David's dismay of course... :)
So, Kinsey has been REALLY excited about going to Georgia. I am excited, but only so-so. Anyway, I have been getting more excited to go and try something new. I think Houston is home and very comfortable, so it makes it very easy to stay, versus having to make new friends and go through that whole cycle again. Although, it worked out well in utah, we made some very good friends that we still keep in touch with today.
So, I've got Georgia on my mind, and decided to post this with a special file too!
This picture is a preview to Easter... we found Drew a suit and he wanted to wear a coat like his Dad so he actually wore it throughout church today. It was precious. David also tried to do his hair by spiking it up a little but it fell later because his hair is just too fine. But I did capture this shot on the doorstep before we left for church and wanted to share it!
David's official start date is July 10! So, we both get the whole month of June off - yeah! That makes me very happy. We can celebrate Drew's birthday here as well as mine & Keely's so I am excited about that. We also get to spend the July 4th holiday with our family as well. I also officially changed my voicemail message to say that I am not able to take new clients right now... it feels liberating! :)
This is Drew's favorite pastime with his cousin, Lacey. My Dad gave Drew this police car last year for his birthday and Lacey got this princess car from my mom for Christmas. They literally drive around for hours following each other - it is so wherever we get together one of us is bringing the car so they both have theirs to play with! :)
Don't listen to Kinsey, its MY job and I should be able to post to OUR blog where we are moving...
Peachtree City, Georgia... For more details and a map, scroll down to Kinsey's entry!
PEACHTREE CITY, GEORGIA
That is where we are going... we just found out today. It is about 45 minutes south of Atlanta from what David told me. It's also about a 13 hr drive from Houston, but I am optimistic that it is do-able. I've been to Atlanta once and my impressions of it was that it was a lot like Houston so I think we will feel comfortable there. It is also in the "south" so we can't go wrong with that. I don't know much more about David's job there but we will fill everyone in when we get more information.
My mom and Drew feeding the ducks at the park. They actually became quite aggressive so we moved on to a safer area and fed them from the dock.
on the dock...
swinging to and fro...
It was finally our turn to vote today in the great state of Texas! Here is where I voted. Believe it or not but everyone that had put their hat into the ring was still on the ballot and although it was tempting to vote for Romney, no worries, I didn't. But I did vote, kind of a bummer that I did not receive one of those stickers that said, "I voted" though... maybe in November! :)
Here is a video in which Drew and his Mimi are singing, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," (his favorite song right now). Mimi was playing it on the piano and Drew grabbed his dad's guitar (from guitar hero - the game on xbox) and decided to play an instrument while he sang as well. too precious...
The picture above is right after David crossed the finish line. The picture below is my mom and Sam with Drew and David and I in front of the Houston skyline at Minute Maid Park where the race ended.
We had so much fun going out for pizza with Jennifer, Nathan, Sara and Maria. Drew has a blast getting together with Sara and Maria and this night was no exception. Here the kids are taking a picture outside on our way to dinner.
Drew and Maria were literally born only 6 days apart. Here they are riding around on a Texas blanket with Sara pulling them.
Jennifer and I have been friends now for 14 years. She was in my wedding, my escort through the temple, and in so many other memories of my life. We truly have a special and dear friendship.
We had a fun playdate with Carson and Parker Smith last week. Hilarie and Robert Smith are friends of ours from Utah yet ironically we are all from the Houston area. Hilarie and I even went to the same high school, and I knew her sister. But we became friends in Utah when we worked in the primary together and through visiting teaching as well. Carson and Drew (pictured here) are only 6 mths apart (Drew is older) so we have great memories with their family living in Orem. Then, we all moved back to Houston! We finally got the boys together for a playdate and they had tons of fun!
Carson and Drew sitting on the sidewalk - probably waiting for the garbage man to collect the trash so they could get back on their bikes and play in the cul de sac.
This is Parker and his neighbor-friend behind him, Wesley.
