Transitioning....

As we were headed back from back to school shoe shopping in College Station yesterday, I was hit with the fact that we are transitioning into a whole new phase with the kids.  Gone are the days of "Wheels on the Bus" and "Old McDonald" in the car, now the requests are "Who Says" (Selena Gomez) and "Honey Bee" (Blake Shelton).  Gone are the racks of adorable clothes ending in "T", now we are in the big kid section looking at a whole new selection.  My cartoon watcher, Austin, no longer wants to watch Mickey Mouse Club House, now it's Transformers or Batman.  Gone are my worries about how to keep the kids entertained, now we are enrolled in soccer, gymanstics and can't wait for tball and my worries are how will we do it all.  Gone are the days of teaching them how to act in church and out in public, now we expect them to know how to act and their age is no longer an excuse.  Gone are the days where I could tell them something hoping they'd forget it, nope these days they remember everything and are sure to hold us to everything we promise.
We no longer have "toddlers", we have "kids" - little, big kids.  Their conversations sometimes amaze us and leave us speechless.  Their energy keeps us on our toes.  Their love for each other is like none other.  I can only hope and pray it stays that way for this next phase of their life and for all phases yet to come....
      

Kindergarten Kingdom

Ready or not, Kindergarten Kingdom here we come!  Austin and Avery were excited to get mail yesterday and I had to look twice at the return address - Kindergarten Kingdom.  This was a quick reminder that school bells will be ringing soon and my two babies are going to be in Kindergarten.  I will say it again, my babies are going to be in Kindergarten!  Nope, it still hasn't really sunk in.  Anyway, St. Paul's gives their Kindergarteners the royal treatment.  They are kings and queens for the year and we were already given homework assignments to prepare them for their royal year.  

A special birthday kiss!

Today is Kelcie's birthday!!!  We are sooooo thankful to have her in our lives.  She has been so amazingly good to Austin, Avery, & Caleb.  She is back home from A&M for the summer and most Mondays she has given the kids a break from St. Paul's and let them spend the days with her.  When they are with her, she spoils them rotten and takes them where they want to go.  They are so active they actually take a nap when they are with her!  Now that's impressive. Happy Birthday Kelcie! 

Maurer Frio Vaca, it's a wrap

I am going to wrap up the Frio posts.  We had four fun filled days of easy fun and made lots of memories.  I think that is what I love the most about this family.  When we get together, there's not a lot of fuss and frills, just good old fashined easy fun.  Good times are always guaranteed!

 Caleb loves Aunt Dorothy.... and Cheetos

 Had to get a pic of Rocky and the Easy Cheese

 Avery, Cara & McKenzie at the river

 Avery & Kelcie

 Rodney & Jerri, aka the Pictionary artists

 The Jimmie Maurers

 Me & my handsome hubby... note it was a no-makeup vacation

 Caleb's silly face

 Kim & I... we enjoyed our morning walks every morning, it was our short hour away from the chaos

 Everyones favorite bartender, Uncle Jason!

 Blonde cousins: Avery, Kennedy, & Caleb

 The Hafners got to join us this year!  The hot Texas heat was a big change from Ohio and I think Kyle's legs saw sun for the first time in a while.

 Getting ready for Smores - Jason, Austin & Kennedy

Stephen & MacKenzie

Floatin' the Frio, minus the float

 Since the river wasn't flowing, we had to change things up a bit and managed to find a water hole with some moving water.  We joined in with a few other folks who weren't going to let a dry river ruin their fun and lounged in the water for a few hours.  The set up was perfect for the kids, waist deep water for a 100 yards so they could roam and the big kids could all kick back and catch some rays. 

Game time at the Frio

One of the highlights of our Frio trip last year was finding that our house had it's own pool and volleyball court.  The pool was great for the kids and the adults took ownership of the volleyball court.  When we arrived at the house this year, we were quickly reminded of the severe drought as it seems that no one has taken the time to water our volleyball court.  It was a dry barren field with a sagging net.  No worries, Jason brought rope to rope off the court, Wes & Kyle fixed the net, and we took it upon ourselves to water the court.  We later found a letter requesting water restrictions that included no extra outide watering.  Oops!  Once again, volleyball proved to be a hit for the young at heart.  We started playing once the high temps would no longer fry eggs on the concrete and we played until we could no longer see the ball.  Good times!  I should also mention that on night 3 a rain storm came through and our volleyball court was a mud pit.  Game night had to be taken inside.

Wes sawing out a stump in the middle of the court!  Probably saved someone a trip to the emergency room.

 Volleyball court preparation!

 The young at heart pretending we are in high school again.  You should have heard Jeremy's "ACE"cheer.

 Game on.

 Kids activities - Fuse beads and necklace/bracelet string.

 Cousins building with magnetic blocks - glad we packed these for the trip!

 There were a few intense games of Pictionary... guaranteed laughs.

Of course I would fail to get a picture of the  game that gets the most attention at Maurer get togethers - Pitch.  These card games can get intense and last until the wee hours of the morning.

No food shortage

In true Maurer fashion, our party of 25 had enough food to feed a party of 50 and dinners that were meant to be served at 7:30pm were put off until 9:00pm... we could blame that on the intense volleyball games. Suppers were the main belly fillers and we had traditional breakfasts and deli sandwiches for lunch.  Yes, if anyone thinks they left this trip without gaining a pound, they are flat out lying.  

 Night 1: Homeade Chicken & Black Bean Enchiladas, compliments of Uncle Jason.  YUM-O!!!

 Night 2:  Ribs, Seasoned Chicken Breasts and Roast Potatoes.  Mmmmmm....

 Rocky's personalized rib.

Night 3:  Chicken Tenders w/ sauces, leftovers and SMORES for dessert. Double YUM!!!

Maurer Family Vaca - Frio 2011

Four days at the Frio with the entire Maurer Clan has come to an end.   Yes, there were 25 of us under one roof, and we all survived without any casualties.  With the severe drought the river was very low and floating wasn't an option.  No problem with this crew.  We found plenty of other things to do to keep us entertained.  I am way too tired to blog about those things so here's a pic or our crew and I will follow up with more Frio posts once I catch up on some sleep.

Crazy Caleb

I can always count on this little guy when I need a pick me up.  There are days where he just does something so random and all Wes and I can do is look at each other and laugh.  

Caleb thinks he looks pretty cool with gel in his hair. 

This is how I found him the other day while we were getting dressed to go to a wedding.  He had taken an old pair of Wes's glasses and was reading books.  I guess they were his reading glasses.  The glasses plus the cowboy hat, made for quite a laugh.

Happy 4th of July

We headed out to Chappell Hill for a small town parade to celebrate our country's birthday.  People lined to streets to wave their flags along the parade route.  The kids were excited about the floats that threw candy and we came home with our fair share.  Despite the heat, it was exciting to take part in an event that celebrates our country and reminds us of our freedom.