The Mergenthaler Family

We had a nice, quiet Christmas here in Eastern Iowa.  I admit I felt a little sad leading up to the holidays when people asked, "Are you going anywhere for Christmas?" When I answered no, their inevitable next question was, "Oh, do you have any family coming to visit you?"  I felt a little pang of sadness when I replied, "No, we're just going to have a quiet Christmas at home."  After our painful Thanksgiving week, I was due for a real vacation and the thought of another two weeks at home with the kids did not sound relaxing at all.  What I was forgetting, though, was that Rick would be well and hopefully the kids would be healthy too.  In the end, I liked Christmas very much even if we didn't go anywhere or have any visitors. Here is some of what we did: Christmas Cookies Christmas Eve began with cookie baking and decorating.  Since I don't love baking or decorating sugar cookies, Rick took on this activity with the kids while I gave t...

When Ricky was a baby and toddler, people would always say, "He looks just like his daddy."  Now that Ricky is older, we don't hear that so much about him, but the two things people say about Sean are:  1.  "He has such beautiful eyes!"  and 2. "He looks just like Rick."  If people see Sean with me and don't know Rick they say, "He must look like his Daddy."  I try not to believe that they are intending to say, "That handsome little boy certainly didn't get his good looks from his mother."  Instead, I believe they are saying, "You must be married to a very handsome man."  I am. Sean found Rick's glasses on the floor a few weeks ago.  We put them on him just for fun and he looked so cute!  I guess he really does look like his daddy! People may not comment about Ricky looking like Rick as much as they used to, but we often wonder where Ricky gets his busy, happy, energetic personality.  I'm ...

I have been anxious to write a new post so that visitors to our blog would not be frightened by the view on their monitor when they see me in that crazy wig, but we have been sooo busy and I have had very little time to call my own. The week of Thanksgiving was difficult, and I would NOT readily repeat the holiday (at least this year).  Rick was due to have surgery to repair a hernia on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.  His surgery was an expected event, and I knew it would be challenging to carry the burden of everything on my own.  What wasn't expected was the timing of the stomach flu striking our house like a tsunami.  The Sunday night before Rick was to go into surgery, Ricky succumbed to the stomach flu that had been going through school and church.  Because Rick was afraid to get sick himself, I took care of Ricky all during Sunday night and into Monday.  Ricky's sickness brought the beginning of many days of laundry and bathroom san...

We got a little silly last Sunday and I ended up with a new hairdo . . .  Andrew liked my new look so much that he decided that he would like his haircut to look the same . . .   Makayla is still considering her opinion of the new hairstyle.  She was devoting so much thought to the idea that she required a "thinking cap."

The "Holidays" haven't even officially started and I feel like I have already done enough decorating, crafting, planning, organizing, etc for Halloween to carry me through the next year. Here are some of the things we have done: We made "Haunted Houses" with graham crackers, chocolate frosting, and candy.  I took the boys to the pumpkin patch.  We carved pumpkins.  The school had a "fall" party.  The kids here can wear their costumes (even in high school!).  Ricky was very serious about his BINGO game. At the elementary school, the children actually put on a costume parade for the parents and for each other.  Ricky was really excited about the parade:  On the same day as the school parties, we went to the ward Halloween party.  I was very grateful for Emily and her friend Katherine.  I was on my own with the kids because Rick was giving an exam to his students.  They helped me with the little ones so that I could ...