Girls, Girls, Girls

Last weekend we had planned to take a nice family trip to the pumpkin patch...but that idea was met with a few complications. We woke up Saturday morning to a cold and rainy day; and to make matters worse Jeramy wasn't feeling well. So the plans quickly shifted to a mommy and me day for the two oldest girls. I made a quick phone call and enlisted my mom to take a quick trip out of town with us (I thought I could use a little extra help).

We loaded up the van and headed out with a few INDOOR activities on the agenda. We discussed options of the science museum or painting and firing clay at a cute little shop called Clay Creations. The girls voices were heard loud and clear and they were screaming for some art. Us girls had a wonderful time laughing and giggling and making a mess. We spent neraly 3 hours painting and can't wait to go back again! We ended the day by grabbing some pizza at Space Aliens, playing games in the arcade, and the of course...dessert at Cold Stone Creamery.

The day could not have been any more perfect. I hope you enjoy the pics, and I promise to put up more pics once we pick up the finished products next week.

The Zoo Keepers (finally!)

Well, I have been promising pictures of myself and Jeramy...and I am finally getting around to it! This has been ALOT harder than I expected.

Having 3 kids, it's hard to find a picture of myself where I don't look like this-

Yep, that's me on the left just a few days before Miss Mylie was born. (We were at a co-workers wedding dance; hence the dress) Also in the picture is my dear friend Holly and my dad. This was our "belly" comparison picture.


And here is my sweet husband Jeramy. He truly is the BEST father in the world!

Notice the PINK glove! When you are daddy to 3 little girls, it seems that the excitement of taking you daughter out in the yard to play catch gets a little distorted when they insist you use one of their gloves:)

Well, in closing I would like to offer one of the few nice pictures I could find of Jeramy and myself. It was quite a task finding a decent picture of us together, which has led to a new determination in photography work.

Tonight we bowl!

A little family outing to the local bowling alley was on tonight's agenda, and the evening was everything a mother could hope for. Jeramy had one of his best bowling games ever, I was able to break 100, and Zoe and Taya both had a blast! Taya has started in a bowling league and needs a little practice..tonight she scored a 13, and this is a bit of an improvement! She is always a positive little spirit and was happy and excited every single frame. Zoe used the guides, and squealed (very loudly) EVERY time she hit even a single pin down. Of course big sister was there to coach her through every ball she "threw." I had my camera there, but somehow never took a single picture...this seems to be my downfall lately. I am setting a new goal to be more pro-active with my photography and to capture all of the little moments that make up our day to day lives. I am following and reading many little family/fun blogs, and I am inspired to "keep up with the Roses." (Yes Sara I am talking about your blog). I aspire to catch my kids making cookies, running in the yard, and of course-bowling!

I am also working on catching up some of the family with new and old pictures of my girls, and if I never take any NEW pictures, they may not recognize them the next time we see them:) TeeHee So tonight there will be 2 posts, and the next one will be mostly pics and captions for your viewing enjoyment!

Sincerely,
The Zoo Keeper

Mylie's big post

What can I say about the littlest woman in the house? Mylie is our little sweetie, she always has a big smile on her face and is really just a happy girl. Having two older sisters who talk...ALOT...has made it difficult for her to start verbalizing. Although she CAN say numerous words, she chooses to just point and say "ageeeeee." And one of her big sisters will reach up and give her whatever she wants! We are working on getting them to help a little less, so Ani can have a chance to spit out a few words:)

Myleana is growing up way too fast for me! It is bittersweet to have your last child and know that this is the last time you will watch first steps, first words, first everything. And even though daddy loves having his little baby, I think he is most ready for her to be a toddler...you see he is the overnight crew and Mylie is getting worse instead of better with her sleeping habits! We try letting her cry, but after soooo long you just want to sleep yourself, and give in and toss her a bottle. I try to get up with her, but I am such a hard sleeper that half the time he hears her long before I ever do. So, we are definitely open to any great sleeping tips you other mothers may have!!! And yes, I know we have created this monster ourselves by giving in.

Here she is at her Auntie Amy and Uncle Kevin's house, when we went to visit them in Minneapolis.

We wish we could live closer so the kids could play with their little cousin Ellie more often, but we love every minute we get with them!!

And here she is on her first birthday! Her uncle Brock made her a special cake that looked like a barbie dress...she obviously loved it, and we love that Brocky was there to help mommy out:)

My turn!

Today it is Little Miss Zofia's turn to be the center of my blogging!

Yesterday was Zoe's first day of going to AWANA (Wednesday school at our church). She was more ready than I would have thought, and loved every minute of "school." When I asked her what she learned; she said, "we played with playdough, I played with red and some people had green....then we sang songs-I did really good at singing." And that is the story we have heard non-stop since yesterday:)

I couldn't believe how well she did, she was like a social butterfly when I picked her up! She was not ready to leave, kept hugging all of her new friends, and was chatting up a storm with anyone who would listen. Go figure, my 3 year old likes to chat (couldn't have gotten that from me).

I was not on top of things yesterday and did not get any pictures of her first day of class, but her are a few other pics of Zoe.....and hopefully next week I can snap a few pics of her 2nd day of class.

This picture really captures my little sweeties personality:) She is just a riot and makes the best expressions to define her mood or attitude for the moment! I say moment because she is quick to change her mind these days.

Proof positive that she has some girly girl inside her, I think she could spend hours in front of a mirror putting on makeup.

Pure JOY!

So, she may kill me for this one day, but this is one of my favorite pictures!

Zoe and her cousin Kelsey have birthdays pretty close together and this picture we took to put on top of the cake this year, probably the last year she won't throw a fit if we have a joint party. Once again you have to love her expressions:)

MaTaya's first concert

OK, so I have been trying to figure out what to post next and when I asked Maty she said, "did you put up any pictures of the Taylor Swift concert yet"? And thus the concert post was born!

For MaTaya's 7th Birthday present I went a little crazy and decided to take her to the TS concert at the state fair. It was also the first concert I had been to in about 8 years:) We were BOTH pretty stoked when the big day finally arrived...we spent the whole day together at the fair, took in tons of rides, and hung out with my cousin Stacy and her daughter Jordan (who were also attending the concert). All in all we had a really amazing mother/daughter day and I can't wait to do it again!

This is Maty waiting in line for the gates to open....we were 6th in a line of about 20,000 people! We were maybe there a bit too early, it was around 100 degrees outside and we were both hot and extremely tired at this point. Luckily she was a real trooper and we had no melt downs that day; except for my makeup:)

We were in the arena early enough to get a T-shirt and a Sprite to help cool down before the big show finally began. Here MaTaya is sporting her new T-Shirt (which is now worn at least once a week).

And once the show began little miss Maty was completely entranced! She was shocked that there were dancers and a big production. I guess when you have gone to a concert or 2 before you know what to expect...I hadn't even thought to mention this part to her. She of course new every song and still can't stop talking about how COOL the concert was!

And here she is after the concert. Does she look a tad wore out??? We still had the long walk back to the van; but she made it through the entire night and was sleeping before we were even out of the parking lot!

Now the only problem is what are we going to do for her 8th Birthday???

First Day of Second Grade

On Thursday, August 27th, I packed up my first born and went to drop her off at school once again. It was funny to me how time had changed my feelings about this day! I walked out of the school to find another mother literally sobbing as she dropped her precious little baby off for her first day of Kindergarten. This was me 2 years ago, having a hard time letting go and realizing that MaTaya didn't need me as much as I would have hoped-she didn't even want me to walk her into her classroom.

This year, I was ready! Back to school meant no more large daycare bills, no more having to make play dates on a regular basis so she could see her friends, and no more whining about being bored! Hooray for school!!!!

Never the less we did document her first day back at school with some pics for all of you to see, so without further ado.....

She has her daddy's CHEESEY smile:)

The little sister's were on sight to supervise~

The Oh So Important Lockers!

I learned a little tip from My Aunt to take a picture of each child on the first and last day of school standing next to their teacher, this way you can see how much they have grown over the year!

Mom's Day Out!

OK, so mom's I know this may seem surreal, but I am headed to the........wait for it..............SPA! Aah at last this day has arrived. My very good friend Mikaila (who is the one getting married this weekend) has offered me a day at the spa with her and her family. I am only working a half day and then I am on my way to manicures, pedicures, and yes even some, cringe, waxing. My husband is keeping the kids all day and I am just thankful that he is such an understanding and patient man;)

On a side note, I really wanted to get some pictures up for our family in Minnesota so the next post might not SAY too much, but I am trying to play catch up.

Love to All
the Zoo Keeper

Who are we???

I thought you may want to see some updated photos of the Dostal Zoo....

Hi~ I am MaTaya, the oldest and of course wisest of the Dostal girls. Just last week Thursday I started 2nd grade and so far I love school! I am 7 years old and I love to be busy....all I want to do is be outside, playing at a friends house, or at my Aunty Amy's house playing with Kelsey and Carly....just as long as I dont have to stay home for too long:) Trust me if you had 2 little sisters who wanted to do everything you were doing you would find a fun place to "hide out" too! I promise to come back and write more later....

I am Zofia-but my friends call me Zoe. Being the middle child is hard work, but I have learned how to use my sense of humor to get a lot of attention! (Dont tell mom and dad that I know how to work them:) I am 3 years old, and I'm not very happy that I don't get to start school until next year. I am a bit of a tomboy, I love dinosaurs and dragons....but my "auntie" Kendra has shown me a love for dresses and high heeled shoes-really; I know you dont believe me, but I really DO like to play dress up with my big sister. Well, I like to do everything Maty does, especially if she doesn't want me too!!! hehe My mommy and daddy say that I "crack them up all the time" I am not really sure what that means but I am guessing it means I break a lot of stuff! Keep checking back for more pictures of me, I love taking pictures and you will LOVE seeing my pirate smile!

I am the sweet baby Myleana Grace. I have a few nicknames, but I answer to pretty much anything. My sisters call me Ani (awnee), some people call me Mylie, my daddy calls my Myles (I think because it sounds like a boys name), and my great Grandma Pat calls me Smiley...you can take your pick! I am a little over 18 months and I pretty much rule the house. What I say (or don't say) goes. Both of my big sisters really like to kiss and hug and mess with me, but I actually kind of LOVE attention so it's OK by me!

SO, mom and dad promise to post some pictures of themselves soon too, but they find that they are behind the camera a lot more than in front of it.

The excitement of our first family blog....

OK, so I have officially joined the rest of the world and I am going to start blogging! I am not actually sure who is even going to read this!

This week is going to be an exciting week for us as most of the family is in a wedding this weekend! You want to talk about busy:) I still have no idea how I am going to pull off getting 2 girls hair done at the salon, getting them dressed, and most importantly having them NOT wreck either their dresses or hair before the ceremony starts! All of this will be happening while I am busy tending to the lovely bride...(I am the personal attendant). And poor Miss Mylie will be somewhere with either Kendra or my mom during most of this chaos. Jeramy and I went out on a "date" Saturday night and coordinating this coming weekend was ALL we could talk about. I think he is a little nervous too! hehe

Well, I am going to work on getting some pictures posted and hopefully I will keep up on this blog so that our family and friends who arent able to be here on a regular basis can see what we are up to! I would guess that you should see a few blogs from MaTaya who is really interested in working on the computer these days.

Love to All
The Dostal Zoo Keeper