The Mergenthaler Family

I have joked before about the number of deer around here. There definitely is an overpopulation. We have them in our yard all the time. So, I was surprised yesterday morning when I looked out the window and saw not a group of deer, but a bald eagle!! The pictures aren't that great because they are from far away, but I'm not about to risk my life for a good picture of a bald eagle! Last night, I asked Rick if he wanted to see my pictures of the eagle. He was surprised they weren't up on the blog yet--he seems to think I spend a lot of time at this thing. Well, I don't really. I'm just a fast typist, so these posts only take a few minutes. I can't say the same for the amount of time I spend at other things, but everybody needs to be able to do something they enjoy. For me, blogging isn't really my thing, but I am glad I have found this way to stay connected with family and friends and share a little bit of what life is like at our house. I will admi...

You can't visit the University of Iowa without getting a shirt. Everybody here has UI gear of some sort. If you're out and about on the weekends here, you would notice that at least half of the people are wearing an Iowa shirt or hat or coat. Their cars have UI license plate covers, the Hawkeye symbol can even be found on door mats and even garden rocks!! It is close to the point of being ridiculous, but I have also fallen into the trap. Every member of our little family has at least one Iowa T-shirt. Rick has an Iowa hat to keep him warm in the below zero temperatures. I have a cozy black Iowa hoodie . And, as ridiculous as I think this black and yellow mania is, guess what we got my parents for Christmas!!! So, when you come visit us in Iowa (which we are hoping you will), don't forget your shirt!!!

The kids got new pajamas from Grandma Mergenthaler on Christmas Eve. They are very cute!! Andrew didn't want to be in the picture with Ricky, but he was happy to pose several times on his own. Andrew loved his pajamas so much that he wore them all day on Christmas. I think I finally got him to change into clothes before our guests came over for turkey dinner and games, but he would have kept them on for days if I let him.

The week before school got out, I was kept at home by sick kids and bad weather. Makayla left school early on Monday with a stomach ache and my confinement began. By Friday, all of us had nearly enough of being home all day every day, but school was cancelled because of snow. It turned out for the best because Emily ended up getting sick. I didn't actually get out of the house to go Christmas shopping until Saturday night. I was so desperate to get out that I went during a winter storm warning. We were having extreme winds with blowing and drifting snow. I regretted my decision to leave the house as soon as I was out, but just couldn't make myself go back--I was crazy with cabin fever! Much of my shopping was done on Christmas Eve before I picked my parents up from the airport. They couldn't even put their suitcases in the trunk because I had it loaded with groceries (mostly) and Christmas presents. Anyway, Christmas was tons of fun. Maybe I'll get back to the co...

On Tuesday Emily and Makayla had their piano recital at our house. Somehow, we managed to pack 15 piano students, along with their families (nearly 50 people) into our house. It was quite a day! Up until a few hours before the program, we weren't sure if we were going to actually do it. First of all, many of the children, including the teacher had the stomach flu up to the night before. They had a rehearsal the previous Saturday and, I don't know who was the culprit who brought the sickness to the group, but nearly all of the students and their families had thrown up between last Saturday and Monday night. Makayla and Ricky had diahrrea and stomach aches. Andrew started throwing up at midnight and he wasn't quite stable until lunch time the day of the recital. The other factor was a snow storm. School in Solon (about 20 minutes away) was released early because of the winter storm warning. We only got about 5 inches at our house, but we weren't sure how bad it was going ...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I was so proud of myself last week. I braved the Iowa winter weather to put up Christmas lights and my fingers did NOT freeze off!!! One thing I noticed around here is that not many people put lights up--at least not like they do in the Northwest. Well, it is because it really is sooo cold! The lights on our house are minimal, but compared to our neighbors and a good chunk of the neighborhood, we do have the brightest house on the block. Yay for me!!

Every year Grandma Mergenthaler makes church clothes for the kids for Christmas and Easter. The girls also get a special dresses on their birthdays. We use to live close enough to Grandma that she was able to take pictures of the kids in their new clothes. She is great at getting the children into the best pose with everybody not only looking at the camera, but also donning their sweet smiles. Now, however, the duty falls on me to take the pictures. You will see from the following pictures that I am not as talented as she is at getting the right picture. I did try, and I even enlisted Rick's help (he was nice about it), but you can see for yourself what we ended up with. At least the kids and clothes are cute even if the pictures aren't perfect! Thank you, Grandma!!