The Mergenthaler Family

Ricky was looking forward to his Kindergarten Oktoberfest last Thursday. They were going to have a lot of fun activities including making scarecrows and carving pumpkins. When Ricky woke up on Thursday morning with a fever, he cried big tears. He would have done anything to go to school for the party. He even woke up me up several times during the night before to tell me, "I don't think I'm sick. My head only hurts a little bit . . . I'm all better now because my throat only hurts sometimes." I was also sad that he wasn't feeling well because I was looking forward to spending some time in his classroom getting to know his classmates and their parents. I had even managed to find somebody to stay home with Andrew during the activities. But, being a mom has taught me over and over . . . and over, that plans change and being flexible is much better than getting upset over things you just can't change. I had an idea that morning that helped the both of us...

Andrew had an orthopedic appointment on Monday. We were hoping that we'd be able to see his little legs again, but to play it safe, the Dr. prescribed 9 more days of cast life. So, in total, Andrew will have been in this cast for 5 1/2 weeks by the time he has it removed next Wednesday morning. I was very disappointed as I had a very busy week ahead of me and I was counting on being able to tote Andrew around town with me in a normal, safe car seat. Rick will be out of town for 4 days, which makes this extended isolation much more difficult with Emily's upcoming basketball tournament, basketball and soccer practices, a soccer game, and the primary program on Sunday. But, plans change, and I have rearranged my schedule as best I can. I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet and take Andrew in the car in his "death vest." I have a lot of anxiety about staying safe while he is in that pretend car seat, but we'll hope for the best. Unlike me, Andrew was not di...

I don't know how often I have told our children, "We color on paper." No matter how often I remind them, we still end up with "toddler art" on the walls. Ricky even managed to scrawl his name on the back of his bedroom door, and I didn't notice it for months. We had an exception to this rule on Monday for Family Home Evening when we decorated Andrew's cast. With only one week to go before Andrew gets his cast off (we hope) we finally made time to decorate it like I had promised. We used opaque markers meant for velum, and they worked great. Our original intention was to decorate his cast with a Halloween theme, but I think the notes the kids wrote were sweet. We managed to get a pumpkin and a witch hat. Andrew also drew himself a rainbow (a bunch of lines). I had a hard time getting everything in the pictures, but you get the idea. My favorite part is on the bottom of Andrew's foot. Makayla wrote, "I love you!" I don't have a pictu...

The first thing Ricky said to me when we walked in the door after school was, "Hey! Why does the house look so clean?" I said, "Hey! Why do you sound so surprised?" But, guess what? The house wasn't any more clean than it usually is (or isn't) when the kids get home from school. I guess he was just happy to be home.

Like the Sunday Funnies from last month, these are probably only funny to me, but I need to preserve them somewhere, so that I don't forget. Funny #1 Somebody left our basement slider open one evening. The lights were also left on, so we had quite a congregation of bugs in the basement by the time I discovered the mistake. One of the bugs was a HUGE moth. Ricky and Makayla ran upstairs to tell me about The Moth Giant (which I already knew about). Andrew, laying in his little wagon said matter-of- factly , "Oh, I don't like moths. They say MOTH at me." Funny #2 Makayla was following me all over the place one afternoon. I finally said, " Makayla , would you please stop following me so closely? I need a little space, you know." Ricky then blurted out, "Yea, Makayla . That's called tailgating and it's rude!" Funny #3 Emily would probably be embarrassed about me sharing these next two stories because she was very angry both times. This is jus...

Rick found this very important message in the Iowa City Press Citizen and he thought it expedient that our parents see it ASAP! Imagine a Spica cast on the little boy with his Grandpa in the picture. Are you feeling guilty at all? Do you have even a glimmer of a thought of moving to the great state of Iowa? . . . We didn't think so, but it was worth a try and good for a laugh. Really, you shouldn't feel guilty at all because we are the ones who moved way out here. We miss you and we love you. I guess it is just a dream that you could actually be our neighbors . . . but, if you're interested, we prefer an agent at Coldwell Banker to Skogman Realty. The grand kids send their love!

WARNING: The following pictures may frighten you. If you are afraid to see a very-rained-on-no-make-up-me, don't look. If you have small children nearby, you may want to wait until another time to view the post. Pictures like these can make a baby cry. OK, on with the story. I had a little adventure walking the kids to school today. I walk the kids every day until it is just too cold to bear. Last year, Andrew and I stopped walking them to school around Thanksgiving. This year, I think we will make it a little longer because Andrew now understands about bundling up and how important it is to keep his mittens on. Walking to school is much more convenient for us than driving because of how the parking lot is set up. It is hard to explain the mess that place can be, but just know it takes me about 1/3 of the time to walk to and from school when the school lines are backed up. The lines are at their worst on rainy and very cold days--rainy days like today are an exact example...