Ready, set, see you at the soccer field.

Tomorrow starts our fall soccer madness.  Yesterday I spent an hour putting 3 seperate soccer schedules into my calendar.  If you need to find us in the evenings, we'll be at Hohlt Park on Field 7, 10, 6A or 6B.

Austin is on the Crushers 8U Boys team.  He's moved up to a bigger field with an official ref.

Avery is on the SWAT 8U Girls team.  We'll see if she's as aggressive on the bigger field this year.

Caleb is the Starts 6U Boys team.  He managed to get on the same team as Jase and Ethan so the 3 Stooges are together again.

I'll have plenty of pics to post.  5 games this week and next!

RAIN!!!

This was the view from our front porch Saturday afternoon as the rain headed our way.  Unlike the .10 or 1/2 inch rain accumulations that we are more accustomed to these days, we were blessed to have 7.2 inches of rainfall overnight!!!!  What a gift!   Half of our tank was essentially dry but today it is full!  Very thankful.

Celebrating 40!

Age is just a number and no one proves that statement more than Uncle Jason.  To celebrate another candle on the cake (making it a total of 40) we celebrated in style in Downtown Austin on 4th St at The Hangar Rooftop Lounge.   The rooftop was full of friends and we all joined in for a champagne toast to wish Jason many more years of fun and happiness.  It was a rare adult only night so Wes and I decided we'd treat ourselves and stay downtown so we could travel by foot and enjoy all downtown has to offer.  

Happy Birthday Jason!!!!

Rookie update...

Rookie's managed to hang around here for 9 months now.  He loves to play with the kids on the trampoline and they love to take him to play fetch in the tank.  Unfortunately he also loves to make large holes in the flower beds to lounge in and he loves to chase him some chickens.... our chickens.... the chickens we don't want him chasing.  We have to stop and remind ourselves that he is still a puppy and have had to build a pen to keep him in at times so he doesn't consume all our egg producers.

New method of target practice...

ceiling fan, t-shirts and nerf gun required.

Snaggle Tooth

Apparently Avery doesn't feel the need to keep her teeth in her mouth.  Once her front tooth start to wiggle, she spent the day pushing and twisting and loosening it until it finally had no choice but to give up and find itself secure in a tooth fairy pillow.  It is taking some time to get use to the toothless grin!

Caleb - 1st place hay hauler

Our littlest cowboy turns out to be a pretty good hay hauler.  He and his best bud, Jase Mueller, entered the Little Wrangler hay hauling contest and won 1st place!  They had to get 9 bales of hay in the wagon and get across the finish line in record time.  They were pretty excited to bring home the trophy.  

Caleb's biggest fans!

Fair time

Fair time is a favorite around our house.  It means carnival rides, rodeos, funnel cakes and mechanical bulls.  Soon it will mean feeding and showing 4H animals, bunnies maybe!?!?, but for now we'll enjoy being able to walk the grounds and see the sights without the extra resonsibilities.

Wednesday night we headed down to walk through the animals and other exhibits and caught a little bit of the rodeo.

Thursday night we headed down for rides.  We met up with a few friends and the kids ran from ride to ride and never once had to wait in a line.  

Avery had a great time... can you tell???

BEHIND....

I'm not sure I have any "followers" of this blog and if I do, they have probably up and left by now.  This blog has been put on the back burner the past few weeks, but I'll get caught up.... in due time.

Maurer Party of Five is still alive and kickin', just moving so fast at times that we don't have that extra time to sit down and put our thoughts and pictures on paper, or a blog post.

We are five weeks into school.  A&A&C are loving just about every minute of it.  I say "just about" because there have been a few mornings where they are not jumping out of bed with smiles on their faces ready to conquer the day.  Instead they roll over and say "I don't want to go to school."  It takes a few minutes to get them going but once they are up and on their feet, we usually are able to turn the frown upside down.

Soccer practice started last week and we'll start games next week... 3 teams, 3 game schedule = lots of soccer.  Wes is coaching Austin's team and helping with Avery's team.  I'll be packing shin guard and cleats and cheering on everyone from the side lines.

Last week was fair time in Washington County.  We made it down for two nights, week nights... school nights... which made for tired kiddos (and parents!).  I managed to get a few pics and will share in one of the "in due time" blog posts.

I'm week 5 into teaching and starting to feel a little more settled.  I live by the motto "Make it through the 1st year".  Seems like every week you have a new curve ball thrown at ya and you just have to adjust to it.  I really do like the teaching part of the job and enjoy being with students in the classroom... most of the students.  I've got a 6th period kid that drives me crazy (ADHD!?!) but that is a whole nother blog post.   I'm really looking forward to getting more time with the softball girls once season starts.  They are a great group of athletes and I'm excited to see what all we can make happen.

Can't wait for fall!!  Guess it is kind of here, but really ready for those cooler temps where we can start Saturday mornings off watching Game Day with the windows up.  We are still rooting on The Horns even though the season isn't quite in our favor.  Thinking a little change would do us all some good.  With fall upon us, Wes is gearing up for the big hunt.  Bring on the camo!

I hope to get more posted soon!  Stay tuned!

Dove hunters