We Skyped with our parents + Uncle Justin and had Poppy dressed in the shirt. When a good moment arose, we held Poppy up to the camera so they could read her announcement!  We also did the same for Aunty Hannah in England. Needless to say there were some gasps and some yelps and some yippees.  It was hard to tell all our siblings face to face. So from there we made a few phone calls and had an instant chat with Uncle Simon.  My sister Sally is working in Zambia for a year so I phoned her cell phone on Skype and caught her going to sleep for the night.  She sounded soooo sleepy and I was worried she wouldn’t remember our conversation in the morning but I’m sure she did.

So we are excited to let everyone know that we’re having another baby!!  My due date is September 1st which makes me 11 weeks today.  When the baby is born, Poppy will be two years and two months old. We’re hoping that she is going to love being Mummy’s little helper with the new baby.

I took some photos of Poppy in the shirt I got for her and our good friend Rhea Hickok designed an announcement for us!

Granny and Grandad arrived last week from New York City where they visited Aunty Han Han doing her thing telling kiddies about Jesus.

As always it took a bit for Pops to warm up to family she hasn’t seen in a while. It wasn’t long though until Poppy and Granny were straight kicking it like old times.

First thing we wanted to do was head to a nearby town where there’s a festive fall farm for kids to pick pumpkins and play on all sorts of things. But first, Granny had one thing to take care…our front yard.

Now with everything trimmed up we headed out to the farm.

There was a big slide which completed rattled your bum.

And a big corn bin to play in.

And a hay ride to the pumpkin patch.

And of course what day would be complete without ice cream!

Don’t miss the rest of our pictures from Granny and Grandad’s arrival and from our trip to the farm.

Grandpa and Grandma Hayes traveled from Rundu, Namibia, to South Africa to Nigeria to New York to Raleigh to Greensburg, Pennsylvania, to Williamsburg, Virginia, and back to Wake Forest again. Aunty Sally spread her wings and flew from London to RDU and rode the nine hours to Greensburg, then to Williamsburg and left from Richmond, Virginia. Aunty Hannah and Uncle Simon landed in Pittsburgh rode to Greensburg, drove to Williamsburg and left from Richmond like their sister.

Quite the Christmas, Poppy’s first Christmas. Christmas Eve through Boxing Day we spent at Granny and Gramps Mausts’ in Greensburg, all Poppy’s closest family together in one big cozy house for Christmas. Allow me to cite Uncle Simon’s Christmas morning tweet:

@simonhayes2: enjoying the best in American hospitality. Sister Emily did well when she married into the Maust family! Merry Christmas to ya all.

So many people under one roof. So much hospitality. So much love. So much to be thankful for.

It was tears the moment Aunty Hannah saw her newborn niece.

It was a special day. Poppy celebrated by ascending to new heights with offering up three dirty diapers–and I mean dirty in the “second” sense of the word. There was even a rainbow up ahead over Wake Forest as we drove home from the airport.

Once home it was nothing but cuddles.

Aunty Hannah couldn’t wait to dig through her big bag of goodies to hand out the many gifts both family and friends had sent with her from England.

Mummy was sufficiently distracted for a time with all the gifts that our loved ones showered on us. Aunty Hannah seized the opportunity to spend some quality time with Poppy.

Both couldn’t wait to try all the new clothes out on Poppy. Poppy tacitly consented. You can see more pictures of Poppy’s first day with Aunty Hannah in the photo gallery.

So I’d taken them up on the play equipment and they wanted to do some tag races – (not that they really get the idea of the game but they were so keen I gave it another go – you see what normally happens is I get them in groups and explain that one person runs, touches the post and runs back and tags the next person but when I say “on your marks get set go!” the whole team runs off – only to find that when they run back there’s no one to tag!).

Anyway eventually some of them were getting the idea and they are all running around when Danny runs up to me jumping up and down shouting “Miss hayes, Miss Hayes Alfie’s hurt his tentacles!” I couldn’t quite hear because some of the girls had given up on the tag races and decided to form a little cheerleading group. “Say that again Danny” I say. “Alfie’s hurt his tentacles!!” Wondering if they had also given up on the racing and decided to play an underwater game of squids and octopuses I say “Alfie’s done what?” Danny getting a little frustrated that I’m not grasping the urgency and importance of what he is saying says with arms waving “His tentacles! He ran into the post!” It then dawns on me “Oh his tes..” I suddenly stop mid flow as I realise what I was about to announce to the whole class. “Right, right I get it..oh is he alright?” by this time Alfie had hobbled over with a pained look on his face with tears rolling down his cheeks holding the area of pain. Sometimes its too hard not to laugh!

I call this one “Aftershave for Miss Hayes”

I’d been talking to the class while they were all sitting on the carpet and Danny sticks his hand up (as he often does) “yes Danny” I say “I’m wearing aftershave today.” “oh lovely” I say trying to keep a straight face “thanks for sharing that with us.”  So he tells me this for a few days running (always at the most random moments – obviously so captivated by what I’m teaching!) then his mum says to me one day that in the mornings he asks her if he can put aftershave on for Miss Hayes. (!!!)

This one I simply call  “orm”

ok… so there we were again sitting on the carpet (as we often do) we’d just done the register and we had begun to read a book when Lewis suddenly stood up. “Lewis why are you standing up?” I say, a little put out that he has interrupted the story and is standing in the middle of the class. He put his hand into his pocket (never a good sign!) and pulled it out. “I sound a orm” he said (Lewis finds initial sounds a little tricky!) Whilst trying quickly to decode what he had just said he proceeded to open his fist to reveal a squished up, screwed up, mushy worm lying lifelessly on the palm of his hand. “i sound it at laytime.” he said. Trying very unsuccessfully not to laugh I suggested to him that he should put it back outside where it came from. He open the door and launched it back out onto the playground.
Lewis age 4.

If you like these little snippets of  complete cuteness and want to hear more then leave a comment and we’ll make it a regular feature of maustsontoast.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that “we” in this post refers to me, Emily, and Hannah Polly. Emily picked that little spark plug up yesterday afternoon at the airport after playing a little prank on her. Maybe I can get Emily to tell you about her prank.

I’ve created an album in the photo gallery to house all the pictures were gonna take on our gallivanting around North Carolina with Hannah. There’s already three little albums of pictures from yesterday as well as video proof of what madness it is to get Hannah Polly and Emily Clare laughing together in an ickle giggle frenzy.

Happy One Year Anniversary Matt & Christina as you celebrate in Paris!