The Mergenthaler Family

I will describe this lovely outfit from top to bottom. On top: a white onesie topped with a blue Spiderman shirt, topped with a "I saw the baby chicks at Hills Bank" shirt, topped by Makayla's cute pink night gown. On bottom: jeans, topped by Ricky's red pajama pants, accompanied by green and yellow socks (these are his favorite "bear socks" that I referred to in the previous "episode"). If you think Andrew looks upset in these pictures, you're right--and it's not because I dressed him up in this outfit and made him pose for a picture so I could put it up on the blog---I'm NOT that kind of mom. He created this outfit all on his own. He is crying because as I was loading the washing machine, he found another shirt that he wanted to wear on top of his ensemble. I quickly threw it in the washer and started the machine, so the door would lock and he couldn't get it out (we have a front loader at his level). He was really mad at me...

He's just two months shy of two years old and cute as a button!!

The big news around here lately is the tree house . While exploring in the woods, the kids found a half-built tree house . They have spend some time restoring it, and they are loving that place! They literally have spent hours out there. Yesterday, Emily had her two good friends over to play and they spent a long time renovating the tree house . They made a welcome sign: They invented a mail system (the bucket on the rope). They found an old bike tire in the forest and use it as the wreath on their "front door." They have twigs for coat hooks, a garbage can, a sitting area, and more. I am glad the kids have found something that they are enjoying so much. I'm also glad that Emily has good friends and siblings who enjoy exploring and inventing as much as she does.

We are only 3 days into spring break, and I have a lot to report already! The girls have been busy with basketball camp each morning from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. They are enjoying it so far, but it is hard work--especially for Makayla , who is among the youngest in the group. A former University of Iowa player and a coach (I can't remember from where) are teaching this week-long basketball clinic. They are nice guys and the girls are enjoying themselves. On Monday and Tuesday we picked the girls up from basketball and had a picnic at two different parks. The weather was around 70 the first two days of the week, so we stayed outside as much as possible. We played at the park and when we were at home, I worked in the yard and vacuumed the van. They were also able to have friends over and go to friends' houses. The kids have loved playing with their friends and being outside, but we have all been worn out by evening. Today has been a little more relaxing as the weather has coole...

I was skating backwards while taking these videos, so they aren't great. I was so afraid I was going to crash into somebody and drop our camera that I kept looking behind me.

Makayla is taking an ice skating class. Part of the registration fee includes 8 free practice passes at the ice arena, so I took Emiy , Makayla , and Ricky ice skating on Saturday for 3 hours. We had a great time. I didn't fall down once! But, that doesn't mean much because I was skating slowly by Ricky most of the time. There were a few times when he almost pulled me down, though. I would skate backwards in front of him and try to get him to catch me. He would barrel at me so fast and grab my arms with all is weight. I almost crashed, but managed to steady myself--yep, I'm an ice skating professional! Since this was the first time, they had been ice skating (except for Makayla who has had two classes), they all had some learning to do. Ricky was the quickest at picking it up because he wasn't afraid to fall (and he fell down a lot!!). Emily has had some roller skating experience, so she picked it up quickly too. Makayla was the most determined to keep on...

Andrew is really cute lately--actually, we have thought he was pretty cute since the day he was born. He'll be a 2-year old in 2 months and he's Mr. Independent. Today he wanted to "dress-up." I told him to go ahead. He spent about 10 minutes up in his room trying to pick out clothes. Andrew's challenge is that he wants to wear all his favorite clothes all at the same time. Most of his favorites are pajamas. He also loves his church suit, but I only let him wear that on Sundays. When I could hear him getting frustrated with his clothes, I went up to help. He picked a gray T-shirt with his Superman pajama top. He is wearing a swimsuit on the bottom and these goofy-looking shoes he found in his closet. He wanted socks with his shoes but couldn't decide which socks to wear. He was upset about his bear socks being dirty. One day last week he wore 4 pairs of socks (one on top of the other) because he loved them all so much. I knew if he wore all his favorite socks,...

When we first moved here last summer, we joked about how there is nothing on the news but weather and football. They seriously spend at least a half hour or more on the weather, and then another half hour or more about UI football and high school football (when it is football season). The amount of time they spend on high school sports could be less, in my opinion, but, hey, everybody needs their day in the spotlight. The weather, on the other hand, is really interesting here--especially the swings in temperature from day to day and the crazy-loud thunderstorms (not to mention tornado warnings). People who have lived here for a while say March is maddening because it will be snowy and cold one day and two days later, you'll have cozy 60 degrees temps. With spring just around the corner, I am especially excited about warmer temperatures. We had a cold week last week with highs around the 20s. Monday's wind chill factor kept us at a "real" high of 15. But today, our hig...

"What did I do to deserve this?" That question is often asked in exasperation when things just don't seem to be going right. We all have those bad days when we wonder if we can handle one more unfortunate event. Last week, however, I was wondering this when two good things happened. The first was on Thursday morning. My visiting teaching companion and I visit three women whose husbands are all finishing up their residency at the University of Iowa. Therefore, they all have found jobs outside of the state and all three have their houses up on the market in anticipation of their upcoming moves. Because of this, my companion and I decided that rather than visiting them in their homes, we would have them over to one of our houses for a simple brunch. We decided to have it at my house so their children could play in the basement while we ate and visited upstairs. So, on Thursday morning, while the girls were at school and Ricky was at preschool, I was busy making cinna...