Saturday, July 23, 2011

Made it to Dallas!!!

After 22 hours of driving half-way across the country, we made it to our final destination, our new home in Dallas. It wasn't easy but we did it. On Thursday, we packed the biggest truck you can drive full of our stuff and still had a lot left over. So, David had to get another truck on Friday and we filled that one too. Friday morning we had the last minute idea to call my Dad to see if he could come help us drive the second truck to Texas. And he dropped everything to do that for us. My Dad was on a plane that night and we left Maryland Saturday morning. I drove the van with the kids, my Dad drove the smaller truck while pulling the trailer with our second car on it, and David drove the monster truck.

About 2.5 hours in, a tire on the trailer busted and we were stranded at a gas station in Virginia for 3.5 hours waiting for someone to come fix it. Not ideal at all considering we didn't get into Knoxville, TN, until midnight! The next day went okay until lunchtime when my Dad said he wasn't feeling well. He had 102.5 fever! Once his fever broke with some meds, he pressed on and we made it to Little Rock, AK, that night. Monday was easier as we drove into Dallas around 4 p.m., got our keys to the new place, and David started unloading. The problem was that my Dad got worse at that point and plain old Tylenol was not bringing down his fever. By the evening, his fever shot up to 104.5 and I was off to the ER with him! Luckily, it was a viral infection and not anything worse. We left the hospital at 1:30 a.m. and went home. David has some great friends who came to help us unload the truck - we could not have done it without them that night - they also watched our kids while I was gone.
On Tuesday, David hired some guys to unload the rest of the stuff into storage, and I (and the kids) drove my Dad back to Houston so he could rest at home. Then, I came back to Dallas on Thursday to get more settled into our place. I actually really like this smaller place - I don't mind it like I thought I would. Something about simplicity.
Finally, to top off the week, my best friend from middle and high school lives here in Dallas and she came to visit us on Friday. She brought this awesome cookie cake which we loved that read, "Welcome Home to Texas!" that about said it all...

Monday, July 11, 2011

Moving Day

My mom was very sweet to have a celebration for David's new job. She bought balloons, cake, a card and we all congratulated David on this new opportunity in his career. Currently, we are packing and getting ready to move this weekend. It has been stressful needless to say, it's going to be expensive to do all of this on our own but we will make it. We always do. We have kept saying to each other positive things when we get stressed or tired; trying to motivate each other that this is what we asked for (for a job closer to family) and just because we are getting what we want, doesn't mean it will be easy. But we are making these sacrifices because long-term, this job and location are ideal for us. We hope it ends up as good as we are imagining because we are on our way to Texas! The computer is being packed up tonight so there won't be any posts until the Pistorius family is relocated - wish us luck!!!

Fourth of July 2011

Fourth of July weekend was full of fun - we took Friday to go up to Dallas for the day, meet with David's new boss and some coworkers for lunch, see where he'd be working, and look for a place to live temporarily. Saturday we had boiled crabs which are a tradition in my family to do over the holiday and they were delicious! Drew took personalized swim lessons at my mom's house while we were on vacation and by the time David came, Drew was swimming! YEAH! We were excited he met this milestone in his life. (We had countless group lessons that have gone nowhere - the personal lessons although more expensive are totally worth it.)


David and Drew in the pool
Brothers: Drew and Drake
Pistorius family in the pool
Eating our boiled crabs - Keely and Lars were in charge of the boil and did a fantastic job!
Family picture taken with this camera on a timer - we thought it turned out pretty professional!
My sister-in-law, Amy, has been running many races lately and invited anyone who wanted to do the four miler on the fourth of July to do the race with her. Well, I've been walking 3+ miles with my neighbor for 6 weeks now (and have lost 13lbs!) and thought I should do the race. Of course, once running the race, I didn't like this idea at all, but when we were finished I was glad I did it. Also, the kids did a fun run too and Drew did awesome. He ran so fast and got second place! I know he was very proud of himself and I think we have determined he is definitely his father's son in the speed category. :)

Me and Drew at the race
Drew running his race so fast!
Proud second place finisher!
Amy and me before our race... I finished the four miles (no stopping) in 38:20 which was much better than I was expecting. I got fifth place in my age group (30-39). Of course, I was sore the next few days... :)
My three kiddos on the fourth or the Patriotic Pistorius'
(not the best picture but good enough)

Time with David's family

We were supposed to go see David's mom and sister and a lot of nieces and nephews for a few days while we were home but the morning we were leaving to see them, David got a call from his mom saying she had broken her wrists. She was walking David's sister's dog and got pulled so hard, she hit the pavement and shattered and dislocated both her wrists. So, we changed our plans to visiting her in the ER, going to a quick lunch with David's grandmother, and then going back to David's sister's house where we could take care of 11 kids while David's sister went back to the hospital. It was a fun day for the cousins to be together but stressful to try and figure out what was going on with his mom. We enjoyed the time we had but we continue to wish David's mom a speedy recovery!

Drew with a lot of cousins!
David's grandmother meeting Drake for the first time
my poor mother-in-law

Time at the Lake

My dad's side of the family got together for a crawfish boil and then we headed to the lake for a day.

My grandmother with my three kids and some cousins!
Me, Drake and MawDee (stands for Mama Drouet)
MawDee and all her great-grandchildren (Dilan was not cooperating)
Crawfish time!
Keely, me and our two cousins on my dad's side
Drake and Uncle Lars at the lake house
Me and Dilan and Drew on the boat
Couldn't resist this picture of Dilan on the boat
Drew and my dad on the boat

My birthday with my sister!

Keely and I turned 35! And we did it together which is the way it's meant to be. I am so happy that there should be no reason why we don't spend our birthday together in the future. Insert here a very happy noise about moving back to Texas! We chose to go to a Hibachi Japanese restaurant for dinner and all of our family joined us. Even though we were both husband-less (because they were out of town), we had a great celebration! And then the next day which was a Friday, we were able to meet up at a spa and give ourselves facials and enjoy the sauna and spa for the morning. It was fantastic and totally the way to go!!!

me and my kids on my bday
me and my Dad on my bday
a great picture of my dad and Drake
Keely, Damon (our older brother) and me on bday
My mom's tradition of getting us a birthday cake with a surprise theme - this year was Texas because we will both be in Texas now!

Summer Vacation to Texas - Father's Day

We went home to Texas for a few weeks and celebrated many things, one of them being Father's Day.

Drew giving Popo (my mom's husband) a fish tie with all of his grandkids' names on it
My Dad with Drew and Lacey (my brother's child)
Cousins playing together
My Dad and his three kids - Keely is claiming Drake in this picture :)