Back to School....

2 Posts in 2 days...I believe this is a new record for a while, people!:)

Anyways, it's a new school year....and this is what I get to see every day at about 12:15 pm.

It makes me smile:)

That boy gets off that bus with a big 'ol grin on his face every time!

(I also check to make sure he has on the same shorts I put him in that day, to see that he had no accidents at school;) And yep...same shorts every time! woo hoo!)

He also waves at Patty his busdriver and says bye bye to her every time she drops him off, and watches the bus until it gets to the stop sign and pulls away.

I am SO glad Isaac is back in his preschool! This year he goes every day from 8:45-11:15. I load up the kiddos every morning at 8:30 to get him to his room on time, then we get home at 9 am and have 3 quiet hours at home. Even though it is awfully quiet for the morning now, I will say, it's pretty nice:) It's also nice I can give more attention to Kahler and Maylin while Isaac is being worked with too! He loves a routine, so this already has made a big difference in how he's been acting even at home in just a few short days.

He's also been potty training and going to school and back has been his first outtings with the training. He's done an awesome job adjusting, so I am thrilled!

Overall, we are happy with the whole back to school time of year, even though it means I am officially a Stay-at-home-momma now!

...which means you need to stay tuned for my new "SAHM-isms" :)

pArTy GIRL!

I told ya I would get these pictures up;) finally got a hold of 'em.

So for this little lady's big day I chose to do a "Sweet Safari" theme. Turned out really cute!

This is the goodie table....

Instead of going the cake-route and having a crap ton leftover, I decided to venture into the new craze of the cake balls/pops. A girl named Brooke from "The Sweet Life" made them for me. I tell ya, I was NOT disappointed. They were a bit on the pricier side but oh so worth it! The pops in the back you can't see very well in the goodie table picture, but Brooke made a customized animal out of 4 of the pops...really adorable! I wish I could have been the crafty domestic mommy and make them myself, but it's just not my cup of tea...and I'm ok with that;)
We did have a couple leftover which I'm not gonna lie, were amazing when they were refrigerated;)

It was definitely a scorching day for the party, but we were blessed to have our big tree provide shade for the party-goers!

Love this one of daddy holding on tight to his baby girl:)

"Are those all for me?" Maylin was treated to several cute gifts and lotsa stylin' clothes:)

She loved the cards!

After we sang to her....she attempted a try at her birthday cake, then declined=/ My 12 month old....who's technically a 10 month old at this point had yet to venture into people food. So Momma was not surprised with this outcome!

Happy party May May! It was a great time celebrating your 1st year into the world!

Summer Wrap Up.....

So I really can't believe how awful I am at keeping this thing up...especially during the summer! Who reads this thing anyway??!

Since we're in the back-to-school mode, thought I'd do a quickie summer wrap up of the main happenings in our summer. If you are friends with me on facebook, then you've probably seen these pictures already on my albums there. However, I feel like I need to keep this photo-journal going to look back on when things happened here too! If you haven't done it in a while, I encourage you bloggers to go back to your first blog posts, and read up to where you're at now. It's incredible how much has changed in so little of time!

Anyways, here's what the Maust's have been up to. I can truly say, a lot of this summer has been so fun! A lot different than last summer having to care for a new preemie babe and being cooped up for 3 weeks in the hospital majority of the good part of it!

We celebrated 1 year of Maylin being out the NICU at Parkview North Hospital's NICU reunion in June. This place will remain super special in our hearts. Had a great day revisiting her doctors and nurses. They had all kinds of fun free stuff for the NICU grads and their families for the day, so I'm glad we went!

After the 4th of July Festivities we took a mini-getaway to South Haven MI. the following weekend. Our stay also fell over our 6 year anniversary so that was a great way to celebrate! Only this year we didn't take our kiddos, but our good friends, the Shepards. What an amazing, relaxing time we had! It was so nice not to have a set schedule and just enjoy each other's company. Fun days at the beach all day and dinghy rides, going out to eat in the evenings, and plenty of Kilwin's waffle cones, right Tony?;) We will be doing this again!:)

Kari & I at Captain Lou's

End of July.....if you're from Elkhart County then you know the last week of that summer month revolves around THE FAIR! (well to me it did, and still does!) I should have asked Brock if he was a fair guy before I married him;) JK. He just doesn't share my passion for the fair like I did. It's just how I was raised....going from literally living at the fair the entire week, to only going a couple of evenings out is quite the transition for me!

Anyways, we did a couple nights out there, one being just a date night for Brock and I going to the Trace Adkins concert. LOVE him! He's always been a fav of mine....so I was pretty excited to see him again in concert!

We even slept in the camper one night:) Oh what fun!

For Kid's Day, K-bub and I had a date and I took him on kiddie rides with his cousins

My favorite pic of him and his cousin Brady on the motorcycle rides. He is like Brady's shadow, and probably listens better to him than his own mother!:)

My last fair outting was with my girl, Angie! We had a Ladies Night and went and saw The Band Perry....awesome!!

Beginning of August....my 10 Year Reunion!!

I can't believe I've been out of high school for ten years. wow. I'm sure everyone feels like that when their reunions come around too! I was a class officer so I was pretty much rounding up a committee to help head this thing up. We started meeting like in January and met once a month trying to track people down (thank God for facebook!) sent out invites, figured out a budget, and planned everything down to the last detail. It was a LOT of work! I was so glad when it finally came and when it was over it was like a huge weight off my shoulders.

It ended up being at my parent's pole barn (now my dad's shop), so it worked out perfect to have it there. Turned out to be a great night, but could have done without the hot night. AC was definitely needed!

Turned the work bench into a nice little set-up

We decorated the entire place for only $20. Yep. Used everyone's white Xmas lights, mason jars with tea lights everywhere, and some wildflowers for the tables. It looked great!

We also enjoyed a yummy dinner from Nelson's!

Our MC's for the night....buddies Ryan & Ryan. They were hilarious heading up the night with trivia and prizes for everyone:)

Old friends having a great time!

Love these girls to pieces! A couple missing from the crew here....but when we're all together it's just like it used to be! :)

So that's our summer in a nutshell! One major event missing from this post is baby girls 1st birthday party pictures! That's what I get for not having my own camera right now=/ They're all on my mom's so I need to get them uploaded!

Trying to decide if I want a new camera for my b-day or an I-pod shuffle for running??....hmm...decisions decisions:)

So stay tuned for her party pics!

Also coming up:

*A back to school edition dedicated to Isaac

*Stay-at-home-mommy stuff....what my new everyday life consists of! ;)