More Walking!

Last Thursday, I noticed a big change in Dilan's walking - she is walking from one side of the room to the other. She is even able to correct her imbalance and continuing walking right in the middle of a stride. This girl is just going to get better and better and maybe by her first birthday in a few weeks, she won't be crawling at all!

Winterfest Janboree

Waukesha has a big Winterfest each January that we attended this weekend. On Friday, we went with some friends to see Johnnie and Brookie which is the "next big Disney group" like the Jonas Brothers, etc. It was fun but a little old for our kids although they had a blast playing with the glow sticks they received and dancing to the music. Dilan loved it and kept trying to sing along.

On Saturday, we went to the Penguin Egg hunt. Yes, it was a penguin egg hunt because there is snow on the ground and the kids had to get all bundled up just to grab a few eggs. Drew loved it but was disappointed when there wasn't chocolate inside the candies - only lame generic candy he spit out once he tasted it.

Then we went to the 4K craft activity at the Rec Center where all the 4K teachers from Waukesha were at. Drew had been talking about it all week that his teachers would be there and he was so excited to see them outside of school. It was pretty crowded but we found both his teachers and did their activities and then we left for some much-needed lunch at Chili's. The most fun was being with our friends and enjoying the activities with them. It makes the wintertime here bearable at least! :)

have you ever hunted for eggs in the snow? here is what it looks like!

Getting prepared

Family photo

Group photo

Picking up eggs

Tasting the not-so-great candy

Me and Dilan - it was slightly raining at this point as you can tell by my hair!

Poor Dilan - she is really too young to enjoy this and was just COLD but we tried to have fun!

Daddy giving kisses to keep her warm

Finally, inside at the 4K activity!

Drew and his teacher, Ms. Michele

Drew and his teacher, Ms. Corrie (assitant to Ms. Michele)

We made a snowman out of clay

Sledding!

This morning we went sledding. We bought a sled at target a few weeks ago ($30) but it was too cold to go more than once down the hill. But now that the weather is in the 30s (that's warm here), we ventured out once again for some family fun. Dilan did not get out of the car because no matter how much we bundle her up, it just can't be fun for her to be outside. Drew and David went first and they did great. Then, I took Drew, and I was surprised how fast we went - so fast that I felt we were going to lose control so I tried to slow us down and when I did, we just did a 360 and then another 360. Needless to say it was fun, but I thought I was going to send Drew tumbling off the sled and rolling down the hill on his own. But David was able to do that just fine himself. On their second time down the hill, Drew and David tumbled off. When they got back on, they decided to get on their stomachs and go head-first. It actually worked better I think but it's hilarious to see this Texan family try to sled in the Wisconsin snow!

Disneyland souvenirs

Drew and Dilan were not able to visit Disneyland with us just yet but they did get these great t-shirts! They were so cute because they have the character images on the front and then the character's backsides on the back of the t-shirts (like they are coming through the shirts). Notice Beva was able to make this photograph!

Drew loves taking a bath with Dilan. In fact, it's one way to get him to do it! I have to use two different washcloths because Dilan likes to hold one full of water and suck the water from it. If you try to take it away from her or don't give her one, she'll cry or try to steal the soapy one from you.

11 months old - First Steps!

Dilan took her first steps the first week of January! A few weeks later and she's taking more steps and trying to walk from the couch to the fireplace or any distance that is not too big all on her own. Each night we play a game where she walks from mom to dad, then to Drew, and so on. We are all having so much fun watching her learn to walk. I think Drew is the most excited because with each milestone she achieves, she can participate in more playtime with him.

At 11 months, we are transitioning her to regular whole milk and I've bought the sippy cups that she can hopefully get the hang of soon. I am planning her family birthday party where my mom and her husband are flying up here to be a part of. It's so fun to be able to do her one year birthday celebration with a lot of pink and red and hearts everywhere!

Disneyland

We spent a day at Disneyland while on our trip to California! David had been before when he was really too young to remember and I had never been at all. So, it was quite the experience. We decided to do all the adult rides since our kids weren't with us and we plan to do Disneyworld with them in a few years anyway. Our favorite ride was riding in the front car on the Indiana Jones ride and of course we liked Space Mountain too. It was a lot of fun but we were kind of expecting bigger rides and we didn't know those were across the way at California Adventure (next time we'll know!). But we stayed all day and watched the Disney parade which was fun as well. It was exciting to see Mickey Mouse and bring souvenirs home for the kids. The best part was just spending the entire day with Damon and Amy having time to talk, having fun and hearing all of us giggle and scream on the rides.

Inside Space Mountain

David, me and my brother, Damon

David sat in the front seat for Splash Mountain - can you tell he got soaked?!?!

Riding Pirates of the Caribbean

2010 BCS National Championship

Keely (sister), Amy (sister-in-law), Damon (brother), David and I at the game!

We got to the Rose Bowl around 3 p.m. after getting our rental car, checking into the hotel, and scarfing down some subway sandwiches in the car. Parking was $100! but the stadium was really neat. There is no upper level so there isn't a bad seat in the house. No poles in front of your view (Cotton Bowl, Dallas, 1991) or anything like that. We sat near the borderline of Texas and Alabama fans. However, there were WAY more Texas fans than Alabama fans there at the game. We had a much bigger crowd - probably 2/3 of the people were wearing Orange. They had pre-game stuff going on and we saw the teams warm up. We could see the GameDay set up and Lee Corso put on the Longhorn head of Bevo meaning he was picking us to win.

The excitement was palpable. Lots of nerves and waiting for the game to begin. Once it did, Texas immediately showed their strength and we were watching a team who was ready to win. I felt it - I felt what it was like to believe your team is going to win the national championship. And then the unthinkable happened and just like that, a whole different ballgame.

I can definitely say it wasn't the game that we went there to see. Colt McCoy was supposed to play in that game. He worked so hard to get us there and it's his senior year and everything comes crashing down. It was heartbreaking really. Hence, most of the second quarter, half time and most of the 3rd quarter, my sister and I pondered why God would do this to Colt (her question, not mine) when he is such a faithful young man, etc. (I came to the conclusion that someone on Alabama's team needed this win more for his life than Colt did for his and taking Colt out was the only way for them to beat us and Colt will do something even better one day - but that topic is a whole other conversation). :)

BUT as bad as things began to look, we rallied back with a true freshman quarterback. It was unreal. When we scored the second touchdown and it was 24/21 with minutes to go in the game, I have to tell you that was the moment that made it all worth it to me. As we saw Texas score, me, my sister and my brother turned towards each other, screamed at the top of our lungs, had tears in our eyes, put our arms around each other (the three of us) and jumped up and down with such excitement and hope. There will be many things I remember about the whole experience but that image will always stick in my mind. It goes back to being 14 years old and attending my first UT-atm game with my 20 year old brother who was attending The University of Texas. He was older than us and wanted to take us to that game. From then on, I knew I wanted to be a longhorn just like him. Almost 20 years later, the three of us and 2 of our spouses are at the national championship game. I felt like I had won no matter what the score was.

Needless to say, the game didn't turn out like we had expected. Not one bit. But we were glad to be there. "Proud to be a longhorn," as my brother says.

Indeed, some people say, "it's just a game." But to me it's much more than that. :)

Getting to the game...

So, as most of you know, we just got back from our trip to California to the 2010 BCS National Championship game! I have a lot to write and document so it will come in several posts I am sure. But what an amazing adventure!

As far as getting to the game, we had reasons to be concerned. A snow storm was supposed to come in the day we were leaving. We had heard it would be around 6-10 inches but was hopeful because our flight was in the morning, we'd be okay. We didn't sleep well Wed. night at all - we all had coughs and worrying about the snow, etc. By 3 a.m. it hadn't even snowed at all so I didn't think we were in trouble. Well, the flight ended up being okay and on time for departure. So, we leave to go to the airport.

All of a sudden, we realize they have not plowed the roads and it might take us a little longer to get to the airport. About a mile or two from our house someone stops in front of David, he even touches the brakes and we skid off the road into the snow! I'm not kidding - we get STUCK! At this point, I was beginning to freak out and panic. It is snowing, we can't get the car out of the road and no one is stopping. I finally wave someone down who pulls over to help us and by a miracle, 10 minutes later and this guy instructing us on how to get out, we somehow get the car back on the road. I thanked him profusely and David did an excellent job driving us in the terrible weather.

At this point, I am thinking it might take us longer to get to the freeway but the freeway has to be plowed and we'll be fine then. Of course, once we get to the highway, there is major traffic because of the weather. My heart began racing and I seriously felt like I couldn't breathe. Basically, I was having very high anxiety and experiencing my first real panic attack. Now, some of you may think that is extreme. But when you can't get to the airport and your plane will take off without you and you've dreamed of going on this trip forever, and your family is meeting you there and counting on you to rent the car and the hotel reservation is in your name, I was just beside myself with worry. I called my sister who was the only one who could calm me down and tried to stay on the phone with her.

We just kept going and kept moving and the clock just kept getting nearer to our departure time. Basically, our flight was at 8:45 and we actually got to the airport at 8:20. Yes, we had 25 minutes to park, RUN, go through security, and RUN again. I felt like I was in the amazing race (reality tv show). David and I were running full speed and my chest was burning and I kept imagining what if this was for a million dollars?

So, luckily for us there was no line at security really and we made it through. We ran and ran and ran to our gate as fast as we could - David was way ahead of me - and we made it! I could NOT believe it. It took me a while to calm down and get my shoes back on, my belt, etc. They were boarding when we showed up and so we had a minute to get ourselves together and board the plane. Well, in all of that chaos, I left my coat sitting right there at the gate. I just grabbed my purse and camera and left it! So, with no coat and both of us having middle seats not sitting next to us, we just were thankful to be on that plane.

The best part was sitting for an hour and a half waiting to get de-iced! Then, we took off for LA which was a 4 hr flight. Middle seats by ourselves for 5.5 hours!!! But, I am telling you miracles do happen - it was a miracle we made it and lucky for all of us, originally we were supposed to come in earlier than everyone else (my sister and brother and his wife met us there) and yet we were only delayed about 15 minutes after everyone in my family arrived at the airport. We all met up within minutes really and we were on our way - it was unbelievable!!!

Lessons learned:

1. NEVER leave the day you have to be somewhere for something that won't wait for you. i.e. a football game, a wedding, anything with a time stamp on it!

2. Snow is snow even if it's not as much as you think. It will take at least 3x as long getting anywhere. It took us 1.5 hours to get to the airport that morning when it should have taken 30 minutes.

3. Prayer works, miracles do happen and yes, it's okay to pray to get to football game.

4. My husband is calm under pressure like no one I've seen before. I was amazed how cautious he drove and how cool and collected he was. I would have never made it without him - he was on top of everything from checking in to running to the right security line, to running to the gate.

More to come...

9 years and counting...

David and I have been married 9 years today. It is wonderful to think I have spent the last almost decade married to him. He always says with each year, "This is the best 9 years of my life so far." I like when he says that. :)

For some reason, I couldn't sleep last night (could have been because a particularly precious 4 year old boy woke us up because he had to go to the bathroom but the bathroom light was too bright) and I was pondering how much my life would have been different if I hadn't married David. In short (because I won't make you sit through all of the rumblings in my head), I feel like I have been able to accomplish my dreams with him in my life. I don't think I could have done half the things in the last 9 years being married to anyone else. Our paths fit together perfectly, and we both have been able to do things we never imagined possible if it weren't for the other supporting us and helping make it happen. We truly are partners and each other's biggest fan. I am grateful beyond measure for our marriage, for our family, and most of all, that it's forever.

New Year's Eve

What fun we had for New Year's Eve! We have been so tired and doing nothing since we got back from Texas that I knew it would be too easy if we did the same for New Year's. So, we mustered up the energy and called our friends, the Smiths, and invited them over for a taco bar dinner and some fun. We really enjoyed the company and we made homemade salsa for the first time. We stayed up and rang in 2010 with the kids awake! (with the exception of Dilan of course). I am so glad we did something fun and memorable!!!

Drouet cousins

We were fortunate on our last night in Houston to meet up with my cousins on my dad's side. He has one sister who has two children and we spent many summers at our grandparents house together. Casey is on the far right and he was the youngest cousin on that side. Then there is David and Lars in the middle with Heather (our other cousin)'s husband and oldest child on the left.

The girls - Kinsey with Dilan, Courtney (Casey's wife), Heather (our cousin who is a year older than us) and Keely

We played rock band at Casey's house - David is lead singer here.

Keely with Maddox and Drew. Drew loved playing with Maddox who is 6.

David and Drew on the drums and me on the guitar.

Pistorius side of Christmas

Dilan learned how to climb the stairs Christmas evening at David's mom's house

Dilan with her Aunt Wendy - our newest college grad in the family

A lot of the cousins - 9 out of the 16. David's oldest sister and her six kids were in Utah and the only one missing here was the newest grandchild, Janie, who was sick.

The three boys all born within 9 months of each other getting their remote control cars from David's mom. Drew and Ethan (E is on the left) could not be better pals playing and playing together. Drew cried when he had to leave Ethan.

Our visit with David's grandmother (his dad's mom) in her new apartment. Our kids call her Gigi.

Making gingerbread houses at David's mom's house - here is the one Drew and David made together. Drew really emphasized the white marshmallows all over the roof of the house - maybe because we live in so much snow!

Unfortunately, this is where we visit David's brother and father. But it was a beautiful Sunday to go to the cemetery and get some special shots. It is important to remember all of our family members this time of year.

Dilan's first time visiting Uncle Buddy's grave.

David, Dilan and Drew at David's dad's grave. Drew was 2 when Grandpa died.

More of Christmas

Dilan's stash from Santa - $10 main toy, $5 telephone, $3 pajama (18 mths that totally fits her), and some toys we already had in her stocking!

Drew's stash - Drew wanted a rocket this year and David and I both had different ideas of what that meant. I got Drew a toy rocket and David wanted to get him a real one that launched. So, I went with David's idea (I was going to put both of them out but David insisted I don't, that I would waste the rocket toy). Remember, Drew's big present was his jeep ride-on so I think he still did well in Texas... see below for Drew's reaction.

Drew completely ignored the rocket and liked everything else - then he got sad because Santa did not bring him a toy...

Mom to the rescue... achem... I mean Santa. I told Drew he didn't look hard enough at what Santa brought him and the new rocket toy had appeared out of nowhere on his chair. He was a happy camper from then on. I do have to say that the boys all went to launch the rocket that morning and Drew really really liked it... until of course, it got stuck in a tree! :)

Pistorius family Christmas morning

Getting ready to eat at a beautiful table

Christmas lunch at my Dad's house

David's typical nap time on Christmas day at my dad's house

My dad with Dilan