3 years ago....

Austin James Maurer

Avery Grace Maurer

I LOVE this picture. One of my favorites of all time. In the hospital, the nurses new them by Baby A(Austin) and Baby B(Avery).

At this time 3 years ago, we were in a hospital room awaiting the arrival of our twins. I had worked until noon and then met Wes at home so we could drive to College Station for a doctor's appt. I was 36 weeks along and feeling pretty good for a pregnant woman with twins in the middle of a hot Texas summer. We had every intention of coming back home after the appointment since I didn't have any obvious signs of going into labor, but just before we left I asked Wes if he thought I should pack up a bag to take along. He said "Whatever you think". I packed it up and good thing because at my appt, Doctor Smith thought things were in my favor to have the twins that day, or the next as the case turned out. Our lives changed overnight!

Party time

We have a busy weekend ahead of us. Saturday, my babies are turning 3! 3!! 3!!! I am having a hard time believing it myself. We are having a few friends and family over for the big day to break in the new playscape. I will post pics later. I think you will be impressed with what Wes built. We hope it is something the kids will enjoy for a LONG time. Speaking of Wes, his birthday is Sunday. Poor guy's day will be overshadowed by A&A for a while. He will have his own cake at the party, it's the least I could do :-)
I hope to post sooner than later with party highlights, but we'll just see how the weekend goes!

A few more beach pics...

Austin's beach review

We just got back from Port Aransas. It was so much fun! Mom and dad let us stay up late and we didn't take naps until way later than we usually do. We went to the beach everyday. I liked fishing with daddy in the surf. He'd go out and get a fish on and then bring it in for me to reel in. We didn't catch anything real big, but that was ok. I liked playing in the sand at the beach. I wasn't a big fan of going out and staying in the waves. The clams were pretty cool too. I sat on the edge of the water with Aunt Candice and we collected a whole bunch in my bucket. Uncle Steve even found a few hermit crabs for me.

We fed the seagulls our leftovers!

We got to go to the Texas State Aquarium. That was really cool. We saw a dolphin show, touched sting rays, and got to see lots of fish in a big tank. I could have stayed and watched the sharks all day.

Thanks, Toppe and Grandpa for making this beach trip possible. I really want to go back again soon.

Chillin' in Port A

Today is our last full day at the beach. As I type this, all 3 kids are napping. We decided this morning that we'd head out to the beach and stay as long as the kids could hang. About 2:15pm, it was clear that we needed to head back to the beach house and after a long walk over the board walk and fajita nachos, the kids were asleep without our help. A&A&C have loved the beach and there have been times where we have just been able to sit and watch as the kids play. I have even had time to read a book! Haven't done that since before A&A were born. As we were planning the trip this year, it crossed my mind that maybe it was time we go to Florida and see some white sand and blue water, but reality is that the kids will not remember this and they have had a blast playing in the sand and salt water and we had a 4 hour road trip opposed to 10. We did visit the Texas State Aquarium yesterday in Corpus and the kids loved it. We timed everything right, got there early, and got great seats for the dolphin show, touched the sting rays, and meandered through the many glass tanks of the aquarium. Austin and Avery were really excited about seeing the sharks and as they swam right by them in the large salt water tanks, A&A stared amazed.
Got to love spending time with the fam. Uncle Steve and Aunt Candice have been a huge help, and of course Toppe and Grandpa are great at entertaining. We are already planning next year.

Beach update

We are on day 3 at the beach. We are on our annual Kemper beach vacation. We usually find a beach house somewhere along the Texas coast and just "chill". I did say we were on vacation, but I use that word very loosely. To me vacation means rest, relaxation, and just getting away from it all. We did get away from Brenham, but can't say we have had a lot of relaxation, remember we have 3 toddlers. I was glad to see that all kids are loving the beach - sand, waves, and beach heat. I think we are going to go to the Aquarium this morning and then hit the beach after naps. Pics for sure once we get back......

Do not try this at home....

I was downloading some pics today and ran across these. There is probably a Parenting 101 book out there highly discouraging this kind of activity from occuring or actually, maybe there isn't because most people realize that this is dangerous and would never allow 3 toddlers on a small motorized vehicle. This was a few weekends ago when we were hanging around the house. The kids had been playing the the pool.... without clothes, and Austin got out his gator. I was inside and next thing I know I see all 3 kids on the gator laughing hysterically. Caleb enjoyed getting on with the big kids and this was allowable only because Austin was driving. We would have been way more stressed if Avery had been behind the wheel. The good news is no one got hurt and fortunetly this isn't something the kids insist on doing on a regular basis. I had better pics,but these were the best I could get that weren't so revealing :-)