Photography session.... reschuled for uncooperative kids

Last year, we took a decent family photo before Maurer Thanksgiving that we wound up using for our Christmas card.  I made the mistake of thinking that would work for us again.  Instead, this is what I got....

We'll have to try when everyone is a bit more cooperative.

A few other pics from Turkey Day weekend

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas!

Love that we had a long weekend to get the house ready for Christmas.  We started the transformation on Wednesday... boxes out of the attic, fall decor pulled off the shelves and Christmas music in the background.  I am usually a stickler for no decorating for Christmas until after Thanksgiving, but with 3 anxious kids,  I caved.  At the end of the day we had two trees up.

After Thursday's Thanksgiving lunch feast in Rockdale, we headed home and got to work almost immediately on more Christmas decor.  Uncle Jason came to town and he is always in the mood to

 help fluff a tree.  We fizzled fairly early on the living room tree, but by Friday morning, all 4 tress in the house were complete.

Wes started on the outdoor lights.  He had the help of 3 little elves and a dog.  A little stressful?

 Gingerbreard houses are usually somthing we wait to do during the week of Christmas, but we got an early start on the sugar rush this year.  Now they can eat off their trees the next few weeks.

Thanksgiving 2013

Maurer Party of 5 has so much to be thankful for.  I am sometimes guilty of getting caught up in the "wants" instead of being thankful that I have all the "needs".  We are extremely blessed to have 3 healthy kiddos that keep us on our toes and on the go.  Wes and I have jobs that allow us to provide needs and wants for our family.  We are surrounded by loved ones on a daily basis and for that we couldn't be more thankful.

Hope you and your family had a GREAT Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Day with Cousin Jack

Caleb's Thankful list

Caleb's not quite at the point where he can type his thankful list, but this was his list.

I am thankful for:

- family
- my pets Spike and Rookie
- my friends
- the Denver Broncos
- hunting with dad
- warm bed
- clothes
- food

Love,
Caleb

Austin's Thankful List

From guest blogger Austin Maurer:

I am thankful for:

love
house
faimly and friend
pets
clothes
food and water
me

Avery's Thankful List

A guest blog entry by the one and only Avery Maurer:

I am thankful for

food and water
love
clothes
family and friends
 chapter books
school
life
Julie
candy

HAPPY THANKSGIVING
LOVE AVERY

5 in a blind

This past Saturday we had a Maurer Party of Five family first.  On a cold, rainy Saturday afternoon, we layered up and headed to Milano for some quality family time in a box blind.  Wes was wanting to take the boys to our family land to see if anything was coming to the feeders and in the eyes of many hunters, this was the perfect weather.  In the eyes of this mama, it was just cold.  

 

Heading to the deer blind through the woods.

 

Yep, all 5 of us squeezed in there.

Happy hunters.... and noise makers

 

Following the trail

 

To expect three kids to sit still and just look out the window would create some pretty high expectations.  Instead, we were equipped with 2 ipads, books, paper and 2 phones so we could stream some football live.  AND we had a propane heater.  Yep, didn't have to "rough" it too bad.

At one point in the blind, I felt something crawling on my head.  Austin looked at me and said, "mom there is a wasp in  your hair!"  Wes hit it off and we soon found that there was a nest on the roof of the blind.  Good thing the cold weather keeps them from flying.  We played smush the bug with several other wasps!

No deer ever came to the feeder that day.  Can't say I blame them... there was a lot of that noise coming from our blind.  It was nice to sit and enjoy the outdoors with our crew.  Quality family time at it's best!

A few other soccer pics

Soccer comes to a close

Two weeks ago, we ended the soccer season with a bang. I say that because A&A&C all played on a Monday night at 7pm... 3 games, 3 different fields, all at the same time. The positive side of this was we had 3 end of season parties in one night. That meant 1 pizza party instead of 3.  That's a way to wrap up a season!

 

 

Proud parent moment

This past Thursday as I was going through backpacks after school, I found an envelope in Avery's folder that was addressed to "Avery's parents". I opened it to find a full hand written note (that is so rare these days!) from a parent of one of Avery's classmates. The mom was writing a letter of appreciation. Apparently her daughter, Avery's friend, had been sick causing her to have an embarassing accident at school. Some of the girls in the class started laughing at her, but Avery stepped up and told them to leave her alone because she was sick. The mom was thankful that Avery had the courage to stand up for her daughter and not follow the crowd and join in the laughing. As I read the note, tears filled my eyes. It mades me sad to hear about a child being laughed at for something they can't control and it made me extremely proud to know that our daughter stepped up and did the right thing by taking up for her friend. I pray Avery always handles that situation that way. We all know girls can be mean and life will only get harder... we all need friends to stand up for us!

Austin's Big Kill

This past weekend, the Maurer boys headed to Mason to deer camp.  There is always a hunting plan in place but sometimes... plans change.  The original plan was for Austin to shoot a doe or maybe a cull buck and Wes had his eyes on a 9-pointer that he had seen the weekend before.  Three Maurers sat in the blind Friday evening and watched as the feeder went off.  Austin had his eyes on a doe at first, then changed his mind when a cull 6-pointer walked in and he focused in on him.  But next here comes the nice 9-pointer walking in, the same 9-pointer Wes had on his hit list!  Austin looked up at Wes and said "here dad, you can shoot.... I can wait".  Yes, he's our thoughtful one!  Wes was proud of him for being so kind and thoughtful and asked him if he wanted to shoot the 9-pointer. Austin jumped on the opportunity. Right before the shot Austin looks up from the scope and whispers to Wes 'dad....my heart is beating' and Wes whispers back 'mine is too'. Austin then made a great shot! These are the moments that won't be forgotten!

Around here....

It's opening morning of deer season and our hunter is in Mason doing what he loves to do in the deer stand.  Next week the boys get to tag along and see if they can shoot the big one.  Though I still haven't caught the deer hunting bug, I have learned to appreciate the love and excitement it brings to so many of our friends and family.
In the 1st weekend in who knows how long, we have nothing on the agenda.  No games, no birthday parties, nothing that requires us to leave the house.   The kids and I slept until 8:30am.  What a treat!  Of course that means I need to catch up on things around the house and maybe even plan a few things for the next few weeks.
My life has somewhat settled down a bit as I'm ten weeks into my new teaching/coaching gig and as of last Friday, my volleyball coaching is done.  That frees my afternoons after school and with a 7th period conference period, I can pick the kids up in carline after school instead of them riding the bus to me at high school and get home to start homework and pack soccer bags.  I know things will pick back up in January once softball starts, but for now, I'm going to truly enjoy the down time and now more than ever, I'm looking forward to the holidays!
Maurer Party of 5 blog posts aren't near as regular as they use to be, but we'll try to keep you posted on what all we have going on whenver we get the chance.

Halloween 2013

I was sooo thankful that the kids chose "easy" costumes this year.  Minus a little face paint, everything came straight from their closets.  We had 2 hunters and a cheerleader.  We headed into town again this year to Walnut Hill to trick or treat with friends.  We left exhausted with pumpkins full of sugar!

Pumpkin carving...

This year's final product:

Family kickball

When we got together for Mimi's bday, the weather was perfect for a good ol' fashion game of kickball.  We had the entire fam join in.  Lots of laughs were shared!

Happy Bday Mimi!

It proved to be a beautiful Sunday and the perfect afternoon to celebrate Mimi's birthday.  We are so incredibly blessed to have her in our life.  She's around to help when we need to shuffle kids around, helps us with laundry when our wachine is broke and we can always count on her for a delicious homecooked meal.  We love you, Mimi!