The Mergenthaler Family

School started just over a week ago. I had mixed feelings about the kids going back to school mostly because we had such a busy summer. On one hand, I felt like we didn't do our usual summer things like spending time at the pool, going to the movies, playing at the park, going to the lake, etc. because we were just so busy. On the other hand, our busy summer left me looking forward to a little more peace and quiet at home. The day before the first day of school turned out to be a perfect day to actually experience some of our favorite summer activities that had been neglected in the previous months. For the first time for practically the whole summer, we had no prior commitments scheduled on the calendar. We had the full day to do what we wanted to do. That morning, I presented the children with a list of ideas, and we were busy until dinner-time, savoring our last day of freedom. The first thing we did was go to Wilson's Apple Orchard. That place is tons of fun. W...

Sean:  "Excuse me, Andrew, are you going to finish that Popsicle?" Andrew: "Well, I am quite enjoying it, but I am happy to share." Sean:  "Oh, thank you, Andrew!  That was absolutely delectable!!"

August 5th was a crazy day for us. Many of you know that Emily turned 11 on that day, but that's not all that happened at our house . . . We had been on schedule to have our roof replaced for quite some time. There were no thunderstorms forecasted on Emily's birthday, so the roofers were going to try to replace our entire roof in one day!! At 8 a.m. a crew of about 20 workers arrived along with a dumpster and several trucks of supplies. By the time I was leaving to take the kids to swimming lessons at 10 a.m., the roof was almost completely stripped. When I arrived back home at noon, the workers were leaving for lunch. They already had some of the new roof on! At 4 p.m., they began cleaning up, and by 5 p.m. they were gone! In the midst of our roof getting replaced, our new backyard play set was delivered and set up. The kids were so excited about the playset that I could hardly get them to eat lunch. They camped out on the screened-in portion of our porch to watch t...

I'm not sure what I was thinking last time I posted when I said, "things are settling down a bit and I feel like I can take more time to write." I must have had a calm hour or two, but we're still just as busy as ever with no "slowing down" in the near future. I suppose I like to be busy because it's much better than the alternative. We have less than two weeks until school starts up again, so in the midst of buying school supplies, filling out emergency forms, and registering a high schooler for the correct classes we have been trying to enjoy the last bits of summer. These next two weeks will be even better without having to spend two hours at swimming lessons each day or two nights a week at soccer. Swimming lessons this year were successful for all of the children. Emily has passed all of the Red Cross levels and is looking forward next year to taking a class in diving and eventually getting her lifeguard certification. Makayla passed a level and ...