Happy Holidays!!

Time for the "monthly Maust update"....since that's the rate I seem to be going on here lately;)....lets start with the day after Thanksgiving......

This year we got right down to business and put up Christmas decorations. This year we splurged and tried out a real tree for the 1st time! It was fun....and really not to bad of an experience with it. Kind of dislike the falling pine needles, but other than that it wasn't so bad! Will love it when kids are old enough to go get one when they'd actually enjoy it. That'd be pretty fun!

Here's our tree-complete with a crooked trunk and all:) We loved it! It went perfectly in our front windows. (Don't mind the cards...it's Brock's "thing" when he gets Christmas cards to put them on the tree!) The tree now has extra ornaments thanks to the ED teacher I work with, "Shoe". She laughs at me cuz I always tease her about how many things go on her Christmas tree and how bare mine look compare to hers. Guess she wanted me to kick up the tree-decorating a notch by gettin me boxes of ornaments before break! Yay! I was excited:)

Some December happenings:

Maylin turned 5 months on Dec. 18th! Right now she looks like a 3 month old to me, compared to how the boys looked, and what they did. So she's on the right track. This month I didn't get to weigh her in yet (coming Monday). She has been doing awesome and still gaining lots of weight! I'm guessing about 13 lbs. or so by now. So we'll see:)

The boys are doing great. Isaac is continually improving talking and communicating with us and being super sweet. We're happy to enjoy our Christmas break spending more time with him, and are excited for him to start 2nd semester in his preschool again. He's lovin it!

Kahler is starting to go through what we *hope* is an awful phase. I can't explain it other than what a terrible 2 is. I think Isaac kind of skipped the normal "phase" and just was a different kind of "complication", however whatever this is, is just crazy! The kid will one moment be absolutely fine, then just lose it completely. He's super emotional and cries over the most ridiculous things. I've wanted to pull my hair out over this several times. I don't know how Brock does it, because he's up with Kahler pretty much every single night as he just bawls. I don't really know how he can act much worse, so we're praying it's over soon and it can only get better. Right?:) What gets me is he is super good at other places, and around other people...but the moment we get home and it's just us here at home with him, it's like my rotten child comes out! It's madness! Just lots of prayer for patience in our household to get through this!

Let's see, what else....well the Tuesday going into Christmas break we (I mean, Brock) had a procedure done so we no longer have more kids:)...eh hem...enough said! Let's just say there was some funny conversation as Brock was drugged up on Valium before the appointment. The conversations were quite humorous and some that we won't forget, I'm sure:)

Wednesday the 22nd FHS started their Christmas break...finally. It seemed like everyone was on break, except us. Because they were. It gave me exactly 1 day to finish up my Xmas shopping so it was a tad stressful. Before I knew it Christmas was here and gone and it feels like school is coming waaaay too soon.

I think Christmas flew by so fast this year because we went to 5 places (4 different Christmas's) within 3 days.

Christmas Eve morning was at my Grandma Kropf's (mom's side)

Christmas Eve night was at my parent's for our immediate side, with all 10 crazy grandkids together.

(Here's Maylin in her 1st Christmas PJ's!)

And me and my girl at Mom and Dad's on Christmas Eve
And the boys not able to wait up for Santa that night!;)

Christmas Day we went back to my parent's in the morning to open stockings and eat breakfast. Maylin wore her cute Christmas onsie that stated "Good things come in small packages"! In this case...so true:) We were certainly blessed that Maylin was able to make it to all the Christmas get-togethers and stay healthy! She got to finally meet family that she had yet to meet, so that was really special too!

We had a lot of fun on Christmas morning waking up as a family of 5 and opening Christmas presents in our house. The boys were more into opening gifts, so that was really enjoyable to watch. One thing we did that was pretty comical was re-wrap some of their favorite things so they'd get super excited when they opened them. In Isaac's case, his favorite Pediasure drink did the trick! ha ha!

Kahler hammed it up sporting his fire truck hat and opening presents. Don't u love the pj's this year? Thanks to Grandma Wogoman! Thought they all looked like elves this year:)

Kahler did a great job opening gifts too at Brock's parent's on Christmas day that evening.

Our last Christmas was on Sun. with Brock's extended Maust side. So that wrapped up the Christmas "trifecta"!

And I'll leave you with my favorite Christmas picture yet! I think this is a keeper for our annual ornament this year! This is the 1st picture I have ever taken of all 3 kids TOGETHER! It was a 1st that Isaac actually showed interest in holding his baby sister, and staying happy about it....so yep, a big breakthrough there=) What a great memory we'll have of that special day.

We are continually blessed by family and friends that helped make our Christmas this year so special. It has definitely been a year we'll never forget. I look back to last summer and cannot believe what a blur that was, and where we're at now. So whether it's been through hardships from Maylin's medical bills, to family struggles, to financial struggles, we're forever grateful and thankful for every day we get through because of the people that have prayed and helped us through tough times.

Here's to a Happy New Year in 2011, and may you be blessed!

50 Free Christmas Cards??!! Oh yeah!!

So of course I love the holiday season....right? It's absolutely great! One thing I do honestly dread though is the amount of money we "have to" spend on certain things. Gifts....lights...trees....and oh yes, the annual family Christmas card!

Every year I try to find the card I love, and the best pictures of my kiddos and/or our family to put on it. This year is extra special for us, as it will be our first Christmas with our THREE kids! Woo hoo!! So of course, my ideal card had to be one with 4 pictures on it. (One of the fam, and 3 spots for a headshot of the kids.)

So, to ease my pain this year, Shutterfly is gifting 50 FREE Christmas cards to fellow bloggers that spread the word and share about what an amazing company they are! Sweet!....I'm in:)

In the past I've used Shutterfly to create all kinds of fun projects: photo albums, big picture orders, and also have used them for lots of our annual Christmas cards! They even have several other cards for all sorts of occasions: Birthdays, Father's Day, ANY holiday...you name it! There are SO many to choose from! My favorite this year is the "Merry Montage" card that I think will be my pick for the year. The Christmas tree on it matches our picture "theme" as our 2 boys ventured out to a tree farm this year for their individual pictures. So...it's perfect!

This is TOO good of a deal to pass up this season to get your free cards today!

Thank you, Shutterfly!!

Fall Wrap up!

So the blog has been neglected yet again=/ Been quite the busy season this fall, mainly with battling some illnesses in the household...but of course, it's that time of year.

Here's what we've been up to lately...

Maylin turned 3 months old on Oct. 18th. To me, she didn't really change all that much from her newborn baby look, but weighed in at 8 lbs 11 ounces. (Still not reaching either of her big bros' birthweights!) Crazy!

Here's her 3 mo. pic taken in one of my favorite outfits of hers! LOVE this girl in her browns:)

Onto the end of October.....where we celebrated Halloween a bit differently this year. In past years we have dressed up Isaac one time for his 1st Halloween, taking him in and out of the car to see his g-parents. Also in past years we've passed out candy to trick-or treaters.

Well this year we were invited to a rather large party by our good friends, the Clarks, who were hosting along with 4 other couples. The party was downtown and of course....costume required. I was wracking my brain with an easy, yet clever and cheap idea and just wasn't having much luck. Plus it was hard enough with this whole idea being a stretch for Brock to dress up to:) It's funny because ever since we've been together, we've never dressed up for anything like this...so this was new territory for us!

Finally when I was looking online I came across the Scooby Doo cast costumes and started brainstorming with my friend Kari on places we should hit to get all we needed. After a goodwill and halloween outlet trip, we were pretty set! I must say out get-ups were pretty sweet!

So here's the gang! Too bad we didn't have the "mystery machine" to ride in:)
Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy!!

Yep, I went as Velma:) It was pretty fun not being recongized by people the whole night. I enjoyed it due to the fact I got to play a nerdy red-head:) This guy who was a bouncer for the place came up to me and said, "I always had a crush on Velma....even as a cartoon." Cracked me up!

So sweet costumes, good friends, plus a great band = an awesome time!!

Here's a couple pics of our cuties....
Cutie #3 with her silly smiles....lovin' her coos all the time now!

and Cuties 1 & 2 being cheese-heads. They're so entertaining these days:P

And then Nov. 18th Maylin turned 4 months old! Weighing in at a whopping 10 lbs! Woo hoo....double digits baby! Aside from her smiles and coos, she's doing awesome lifting her head up like a big girl:) Think she'll be catchin' up on those charts in no time!

Here's a couple of her beautiful 4 mo. pics taken by Darcy!

When was she allowed to start getting big behind my back?? Seriously, she's been my baby for so long this just doesn't seem right:(

Right now we are battling decisions with taking our baby girl out of the house. With the weather changing the way it has been and with all the sicknesses going around, it just isn't worth it. Just a couple weeks ago she developed her first cough that started out deep in her chest, which is now a bad rattle. Not good at all. I got to the point of paranoia of it turning into phemonia. But with a lot of TLC she's pulling through it well:) It's just been a rough and stressful point in our lives where one of us is always at the house with her, or someone else comes to watch her while we go somewhere. Some people just don't get the fact that it's risky taking her out the house, like it's a no-brainer. They just don't get it. For some perspective...think of a 4 month old in a 2 month old's body....with an immune system not near as "up to par" as a normal baby at that age. That's her.

I always wish for the moments that I could be the mom that has a normal baby that can freely take her wherever I please. Such as taking her and holding her in church, or grocery trips, or taking her to our parent's houses for get-togethers...anywhere. That's just not the case right now. I can't wait for the day when we can have the normalcy of taking her anywhere.

Anyways, today is Thanksgiving Day and we just put away our fall decorations and busted out the Christmas ones! Bring on the holidays! We have so much to be thankful for this year with so many blessings that have come our way.

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving as well:)

100th Post!

My first blog post for "Just Another Day in Paradise" was on May 8th, 2008. Wow!

A lot has happened since then, especially when my OLDEST was just days away from turning a year old! Time has flown!!

Anywho...never really told how I decided to name the family blog what it is. Well...I love country music and this familiar song, so appropriately named, "Just Another Day in Paradise" by Phil Vassar, feels like it's describing exactly what my life feels like!

Lyrics go something like this:

The kids screaming, phone ringing
Dog barking at the mailman bringing
That stack of bills - overdue
Good morning baby, how are you?
Got a half hour, quick shower
Take a drink of milk but the milk's gone sour
My funny face makes you laugh
Twist the top on and I put it back
There goes the washing machine
Baby, don't kick it.
I promise I'll fix it
Long about a million other things

Well, it's ok. It's so nice
It's just another day in paradise
Well, there's no place that
I'd rather be
Well, it's two hearts
And one dream
I wouldn't trade it for anything
And I ask the lord every night
For just another day in paradise

Friday, you're late
Guess we'll never make our dinner date
At the restaurant you start to cry
Baby, we'll just improvise
Well, plan B looks like
Dominoes' pizza in the candle light
Then we'll tippy toe to our room
Make a little love that's overdue
But somebody had a bad dream
Mama and daddy
Can meand my teddy
Come in to sleep in between?

Yeah it's ok. It's so nice.
It's just another day in paradise.
Well, there's no place that
I'd rather be
Well, it's two hearts
And one dream
I wouldn't trade it for anything
And I ask the lord every night
For just another day in paradise

Well, it's ok. It's so nice.
It's just another day in paradise.
Well, there's no place that
I'd rather be
Two hearts
And one dream
I wouldn't trade it for anything
And I ask the lord every night
For just another day in paradise

For just another day in paradise
Well, it's the kids screaming. The phone ringing
Just another day
Well, it's Friday. You're late
Oh yeah, it's just another day in paradise

So that's our family theme song....no matter what we go through, it is what it is!

I'll leave with you with a couple October pics so far....I love this season!

Kahler and I had our annual trip to the pumpkin patch in Ligonier. Love that place! We pick out all of our pumpkins...do all the fun little mazes and have a great time! This year was the first time Brock didn't come, since he stayed home with Lady May and the no-napper of the day (Isaac). So next year we'll ALL get to go:)
Picking out his pumpkinHere he is with cousin, Kloie measuring how big they're getting!
Getting ready to run thru the corn maze! We had a great time!

Now for Isaac!
He is doing phenomenal at his pre-school! We are so happy it's going so well! We're already seeing a big improvement in him so that's just awesome. I feel like my frustrations with him have lessened, and are now targeted more towards my terrible 2 year old! (cough*Kahler!*cough) =)
But anyways, we're really proud of our Isaac and cannot wait to see him improve even more!


And last but not least...our baby girl is 12 weeks old on 10-10-10!! She is bright-eyed and healthy and doing great! I weighed her a week ago and she was 7.6 lbs. so I'm sure she's pushin' the 8's by now.
Nowadays she is eating during the day about every 2.5 hrs and eats about 3.5 ounces each time. She's getting to be quite the little piggy. What I'm super excited about is she'll go to bed about 10 and sleep til 2, 2:30 and even 3 am for me! I get so happy when that happens! So she's starting to get her day/nights in order...thank goodness!

Last Monday (the 4th) I officially went back to work so I had to leave my baby girl for my first full day. Talk about a rough morning! It's one thing when your 2 1/2 month old baby actually LOOKS like that size, however Maylin still is sporting the brand new baby look so it's just hard. She still is so little to me but almost 3 months. Just crazy. Luckily she has excellent care-givers coming to watch her at our house during the day so that's been awesome. We made it thru our first week really smoothly, and we're just feeling blessed with how much her babysitters love her already. It's a pretty great feeling=)
(Sorry about the small pic but it came from Brock's phone) but I thought it was cute!=)

Hope u all will stick it out with me thru the next 100 posts:) Happy 10.10.10!!

September Celebrations...

Sunday Sept. 19th
Kahler's Birthday PARTY!
Had this one at Sunnyside Park on a great day! The weather was perfect!

Kahler had a Toy Story theme this year for b-day #2....

...and DQ ice cream cake= a classic favorite! Yum!

Love this picture of my birthday boy.
(Don't let that innocent face fool ya people!) =)

Thursday evening Papa brought over Kahler's birthday surprise that came in. They give all their grandkids a motorized toy for their 2nd b-days, so this year was Kahler's turn!

He scored a blue Harley motorcycle! He's lovin' it!

Saturday September 18th...we celebrated Maylin's "official" due date! She weighed in at 7 lbs. 2 oz. so I still would have had a smaller babe 3rd time around I think:)
Sunday September 19th she turned 9 weeks old...so that puts things in perspective for ya! She's still so tiny...but growing like a weed to me!

Wed Sept. 22nd I celebrated the big 2-8! I wish I could stay this age forever. 28 sounds pretty good to me:)

And can I just say I LOVE having my bday in September? I get the priveledge of now sharing this month with K-bub, but I've always loved this month with the start of fall and football! What a great month. Good stuff.

So what does a 28 year old do with a newborn babe on her b-day?
Welp, my mom came over in the morning and let me go run errands. I had a few things on my to-do list which included going to FHS to drop off cards, getting my oil changed in the traiblazer (I know...ridiculous!) then eventually making my way to Jules for the 1st time Ever! I thought I could try to find myself a new top of something to spoil myself:)

SO...the morning went fantastic, got in RIGHT away to get the oil changed, which never happens, then had enough time before meeting my mom and Maylin that I went and took some McD's to Brock for lunch. Yep I took HIM lunch on MY b-day. (I'm nice like that:)) And mr. sun DID come out too which made the day even better.

So after I met Mom at the hospital I weighed Maylin then took my little lady shopping with me to Jules. Thanks to a generous gift card from my mom I was able to get a couple fun tops. Super excited about that!

To top off the b-day celebration Brock took me out to Chubby Trout in Elkhart on Thursday night. We've always wanted to eat there so finally took the opportunity. Our friends, the Shepard's came along so it made for a fun evening out! My mom-in-law watched the kids so that was awesome!

Here we are on our way to eat! It was a great night of crab legs and conversation!... Good times=)

Happy September!!

Preschool + Pictures + Birthday + Dedication + Game day= A busy blog post!

Get ready for some randomness! That's what happens when a lot is scrunched into a week!
Here goes....

PRESCHOOL!
A week ago we sent our big boy to Preschool! Isaac is attending PrarieView Elem. for his REACH preschool. He goes 2x a week so he gets a lot of fun time there:) We're super excited and hope it's the right place to get him ready for "community preschool" next year!

What was a big step for all of us was sending Isaac on a big yellow bus to his school!
He's 3!
I couldn't believe it was actually a big bus...made me sad:(
But at least he liked it! It made it a little easier...

Even still, the picture below makes me sad. Look at his little head in such a big bus!

He is the 1st one on in the mornings and last one off in the afternoons, so it makes for a long day of bus riding. Which is why I'm starting to take him in the mornings now. PICTURES!
Labor Day morning was spent getting alot of pictures taken, by Darcy!
We did some family of 5 pics, Kahler's 2 yr pics, and Maylin's "Newborn" pics. She is 7 weeks old in these so kind of a newborn...at least the size of one!

These are some of my faves...had a TON!

One of the other family pics...my favorite one (along with some others) is on the new Maust family picture spot on the blog:)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAHLER!
We have a 2 year old! (Again:))
On Friday September 10th my baby boy turned 2!!
We celebrated his day with a yummy cake and some t-ball in the back yard! It was perfect:)

His party is on Sun. the 19th at the park so we're looking forward to some more fun:)

Thanks for being our silly entertainer of a kid, K-bub! We love u tons!

Flash forward in a couple short years and I'll be watching Isaac and Kahler playing t-ball and little league oh-too-soon! *sigh*

BABY DEDICATION!
Sunday, Sept. 12th

A very special day for our family. We dedicated our baby girl to the Lord at our church! Considering we can't really take Maylin "out", it was special that we took her to her 1st and last service for a while. How I love holding my little baby in church...I miss that!

Maylin, thank you for being a life-changer for our family, and for getting us through the hard times we faced. You are the strongest little fighter ever. May you grow up with Christ at the center of your life, and woman of God. We love you!

Last but not least: GAME DAY!

That's right, the season opener for our favorite team, the Colts!!
We had the cutest cheerleader dressed for the big game...:)

Who would have thought she could fit in a 16" baby doll outfit. For real.

...along with the 2 other big fans!

Here's to a great season, Colts!
GO HORSE!

Well there you have it! One busy random post! =)

He cracks me up.

Not really sure where he got these dance moves.

Don't look at me! lol

I just love that he can make me laugh...like all the time!

Love you K-bub! Enjoy the video!

My hubby's the BIG 3-0!!

Yesterday morning I drove on home from Ft. Wayne to spend the day with Brock and the boys. Brock celebrated turning 30 on July 28th!
Here's how we spent our day....

Started off with giving him his gifts. Spoiled him a little this year since I just happen to have easy access to the Ft. Wayne shopping area:) I got him all set for school with a couple of Old Navy shirts....and Season 1 & 2 of his favorite TV show "Lie to Me".
Poor guy has given up that show so I can watch Bachelorette this season since they're on at the same times! What a great husband:) I told him I would buy him those 2 seasons if he let me watched it...he said deal!

Here's him opening his cards from the boys and from me...

Sportin' one of the extra soft T's from O.N. -love those!

THEN...we headed out to his parent's pool with the boys. HE didn't know that I already arranged for friends of our to come swimming with us as kind of a little surprise.

I found it funny that apparently me and the boys weren't fun enough cuz he started to call people once we got there to the pool to invite them himself! HA!
Little did he know some of our friends were standing in the driveway already when he called them. The look on his face was hilarious! I got him good:)

Isaac was very chilled in the pool...:)

Kahler was....being Kahler! He thought the goggles were funny:)

Came in for some good lunch and DQ ice cream cake--YUM!

Good stuff:)...how do u like my son's hair:)

We ended the day getting around...took the boys back home to the sitters...then met up with a few friend at Wings Etc. for his b-day dinner. It was an awesome time! Fun conversation too of course:) I left straight from there to head back to the hospital:( So sad...but I missed my baby girl:( Overall it was an awesome day well spent!

Happy Birthday babe! Thank you for all you do for me and the kids these past couple of weeks. I am amazed at how you take such good care of the boys and still think of me and put me first during this time with Maylin. It's been a life change but you've helped me make it thru the adjustments. Love u so much!! Happy 30th + MANY more!! =)