uneventful post....

Wes is fishing this weekend so it's just the kids and I. Managing all 3 by myself is doable, but not my idea of a "fun" time. I recruit help for the nights Wes is gone. Between Mimi, Toppe, and Kelcie I am able to keep my sanity. Not much else going on.... Austin was sick at the beginning of the week.... no worries, not the swine flu. He started going down hill on Sunday and we should have seen it right away when he turned down food.... he never turns down food. Now he is feeling better, thank goodness. He is extrememly whiny when he's sick and at times that makes it hard to be sympathetic.

Kelcie reading to Avery. Kelcie helps out SOOOO much with the kids. We are so lucky to have her!

Hey, are you in there???

Getting ready for bed...

Da plane, da plane!!!

Playing in the hose.... a new favorite activity

Weekend pics...

For surviving another year, I got a "big girl" camera for my birthday. I still have a lot of learning to do when it comes to "picture perfect" photography and if I would open up the instruction book and read about some of the settings and options, it would speed up the process. Oh well, right now I am so happy to click and shoot opposed to holding down the button for 3 seconds before the getting a shot.

Brothers on the Gator. This is Austin's favorite thing to do.

What you talking about?

We got the kids new big kid swings this weekend. I think Avery would stay out here all day if we let her. Seriously, girl loves to swing.

Cheesing on the swing.

Oooohhh.... running water!

I promised the kids they could paint this weekend. Due to the wind we had to do it in the garage, but they did fairly well.

Blowing out my birthday candles. Have you heard, 31 is the new 21?

Ins and Outs...

It's been a fairly "quiet" week at our house. Even this weekend we have things to do and places to go, but it should be fairly low key. For anyone out there wondering, Avery & Austin are 4 months away from their 3rd birthday and Caleb just turned 14 months this week. They each continue to take on personalities of their own.... amazing to see how different they can be being raised under one roof.

Austin - Big brother Austin has a heart of gold. Usually soft spoken, he prefers to be outdoors helping Wes. He loves to ride his gator around and follow behind Wes in the Mule as they feed the ducks, check gopher traps, and check the garden. I think he's going to have the common sense of his father, and that is a good thing. He helps keep his sister in line. He refers to her as "A-Vu-Re".... it's so cute. When he really wants her attention or she purposely ignores him he says "A-Vu-Re, A-Vu-Re Grace Maurer!"... that is when she knows she needs to listen... ha ha. Austin is a dreamer. We usually get woken at least 4 nights a week to him half asleep from a dream and sometimes we find him crawling into bed with us.

Avery- She's the hot shot. Girl is going to give us a run for our money. She's pretty sassy, but I can say she hasn't been in time out as much lately. She knows wrong from right and still does the wrong... and makes sure we are looking. She prefers to be inside for the most part. She has this thing about packing things into bags or backpacks and then carrying them into another room, unpacking them and then repacking. A little OCD??... it keeps her busy. If I had to guess, I'd say she is going to very good at gymnastics... she's limber and loves to climb and doesn't seem scared of much. We may be making emergency room visits in the future with her?!? Unlike her brother, when night time rolls around she gets crancky and is ready to go to bed and we don't hear a word from her until the morning.

Caleb- He's a pistol. I'm hoping the fits he has been throwing are just a phase, many people told me it's being the second child/pregnancy. I don't remember Avery or Austin being so stubborn. When things aren't his way or he doesn't get something he wants he throws himself on the ground and it isn't pretty. Let's hope this is a short phase. He is a DADDY's boy. Put Wes & I in a room and he will go to Wes everytime. He loves being outside... loves riding on the Mule with Wes and loves watching the ducks walk around. He's saying a few words, "daddy" of course and the occasional "momma." He's a great eater, but wants to feed himself which has made for some very messy meals with spaghetti and yogurt. I've come to the point that I'd rather clean up the mess than hear him fuss. He does have an infectious smile and some beautiful baby blues. When he looks at me and buries his head in my shoulder playing peek-a-boo, it just makes me laugh.

Together all 3 get along fairly well. Austin & Avery are best friends... they know each others next move. They play together well, but we have noticed there are days after school that they would rather play alone and I am sure that is from being with each other all day long... like all of us, they need their space. Caleb is getting in the mix and that can be a good thing, but usually ends in one of the twins yelling "mama, can you come get Caleb?" Many afternoons consist of the guys playing outside and the girls inside, Wes & I doing chores and the kids playing. It works for us for now......

UT Baseball Tailgate - Hook 'Em

Every year, my dad and group of guys set a date to go down to Austin and tailgate for a UT baseball game. A large following comes from Brenham.... of course there is bbq, Blue Bell and lots of beer. It's always a good time, but this year it looked like it could have been a wash with the drenching rains. Fortunetely as the rains came through Brenham, the skies were clearing in Austin and the tailgate continued on. Wes went up early with my dad and I came up with the 3 kids once the skies cleared. They slept all the way up and were ready to go once we got there. The day was pretty exhausting, but it was fun to take the kids into the game and experience what their grandpa Otto loves so much... a good game of baseball.

I didn't have my camera with me in the game (we were only in the game for 2 innings) soI didn't get any pics of us in the stand, but here are a few from the tailgate.

Grandpa Otto & Austin at the Disch.

We had chairs, but the kids preferred the ground.

Who needs toys when there is a cooler to play in!

Caleb strutting around. We were next to another group of college kids who were tailgating. Caleb strutted around the parking lot showing his stuff. He got plenty of attention from the ladies.

Easter Recap

We had a jam packed Easter weekend, and despite the running from place to place, it was very enjoyable. Friday the Easter bunny showed up at Toppe's house, Saturday was brunch at the Jasinski's, Saturday evening was Easter at Aunt Dorothy's and then Sunday we went to church and had lunch and an Easter egg hunt at Aunt Bonnie's. Needless to say, we all enjoyed a little down time Sunday night, though I spent most of the time putting away Easter goodies and sorting through candy.... yes, we could now open a small candy store.

This was Caleb's first time to hunt eggs and truth is he wasn't really into it... wait until next year. Austin was more interested about what was inside the eggs. Once he figured out there was candy inside, he would stop and open everyone. He liked the ones that had candy that wasn't wrapped so he could eat it on the spot. Avery... well, Easter egg hunting didn't do much for her. When it was time for the egg hunt at the Jasinski's on Saturday morning, all the kids took out full force to hunt eggs. Avery got about 3 in her basket and brought it too me for her to hold so that she could go swing.... yes, she has a mind of her own.

I've attached a few pics thanks to the fam. I have "misplaced" my camera... good thing we have a new one ordered.

Caleb getting a kick out of the bunnies.

Caleb, Kennedy Schramm & Austin checking out the inside of the Easter eggs.

Maurer cousins and the Easter bunny.... aka Kelcie.

Poor bunny.... Doug let 4 little bunnies go... you should have seen the kids chasing after them.

Egg huntin'

Thanks, Easter Bunny!

We LOVE the Easter bunny...

Picking flowers for Easter nests....

Easter eggs...

I don't have many memories of dying Easter eggs when I was younger, but it is obviously something that Wes did for Easter so yesterday he came home with egg dying kits and 2 dozen eggs. After supper and baths, Avery & Austin got their first egg dying lesson. They did a pretty good job, though they weren't crazy about having to leave the eggs in the jars to let the dye set in. A few eggs were cracked, but for first timers, they did a good job!
Master dyer & his pupils.

1 dozen of the final product.

Austin is enjoying on of the cracked boiled egg. Yeah protein!

Midweek report

So far it has a been a fairly quiet week. We are gearing up for a very busy Easter weekend. A&A had their school party today to kick off the 1st of 6 Easter egg hunts. They will be pros by the time Sunday gets here. I went through our candy stash on Monday and threw away the Christmas and Valentines candy that was still there to make room for the stash we will get this weekend. It really adds up with 3 kids....
As I blog, I am sitting with A&A on the couch for their routine 30 minute cartoon time. Some nights it's a little more than 30 minutes, depending on when we start to watch. Austin can stayed glued to the tv but Avery's attention span doesn't last long. I'm not a big fan of having the kids watch a lot of tv, but this helps them wind down and get settled before bed. They know that after Noddy it is time to go to bed. Then either Wes or I goes with them into the room to tuck them in, say prayers and then tell them a short story. Caleb usually goes down around 8pm, depending on if he took an afternoon nap....
No pics again... the good news about that is that we are getting a new camera, just trying to figure out what bells and whistles we want. Hopefully we'll have something sooner than later and I can start showing off my secret photography skills... ha, there is no secret.

A crazy week....

Before I get started... no pics today, maybe sometime this weekend. It has just been one of those weeks... one where you wonder what in the $#%$ is going on?? We started off Sunday with Caleb running a high fever that continued once a day through Wednesday. A sick child is no fun... a sick child with 2 demanding toddlers is really no fun. The worst part was his fever was dangerously high and it always spiked about the time we were all getting home in the afternoon - generally a crazy time for us with our without. He is now doing better, just trying to get over some congestion. This week was a bad week for phones in our house. Sunday I found my work issued Blackberry in the tub with Avery and early Wednesday morning Wes and I searched the house before he left for work for his phone. I was found it... in the washer. 2 phones subjected to water in 4 days - mabye some kind of record? Overall A&A just seem to be a bit more trying. At the beginning of the week I would have described them as nagging, whiny, and annoying. Now I would say they are more curious, adventurous and independent.
For those of you who may keep up with any of the blogs that I have linked on the page, please continue to keep Adrienne & Steven Siemsglusz in your thoughts and prayers. Good news is they are home after thinking Adrienne was going to have to stay in Houston at the hospital. Check out her latest update.