The Mergenthaler Family

Rick promised the kids that when he finished his PhD, we would go to Disneyland or Disney World. Well, it has taken a year and half to get there, but we finally went. We had a great time on our trip. It was our first visit to Florida (for everybody except for Rick and his parents) and we have already planned a return trip for Makayla and the baby's birthdays in 2011. Rather than boring you with a travel log or uploading 150 pictures for your viewing torture, I'm just going to share some of the highlights from each of the kids. Makayla and Andrew said and did some funny things while we were there, so if you can make it through the "blah, blah, blah," to the silly stories, you'll get a few laughs. Emily was probably our most cautious tourist, but she still had a great time and managed to try a few things she was afraid of. She was nice enough to go through Minnie's house with Makayla even though she didn't really want to wait in the line. We got a pic...

Andrew has been out of his cast for 11 days. Last night, he finally discovered his legs were strong enough to walk without support. I filmed him this morning. He was still a little unsure, but managed to waddle over to me. By bed time, he was getting around pretty well. We have enjoyed watching him learn these things things over again. He's already back to getting into trouble--climbing into the snack cabinet, standing on the table, and putting his little fingerprints all over the house. That's good, I guess.

Yesterday was a beautiful day for November. It was 74 and sunny. That's just what I need before I hunker down for winter winds and snow. Because the weather was so nice, we spent most of the day playing before we finally got to the actual yard work. This left me helping Rick to rake leaves in the backyard as the sun was going down. I sent Rick in the house to order pizza. I was happily raking, enjoying the warm evening and quiet (the kids were in the house playing) when I looked up to see a buck running right at me! My first thought was, "AAAaaaaghhh! What is he doing?" So, I stood behind the wheelbarrow, held up my rake and yelled, "Don't you see me?" He slowed down within 15 feet and changed his course to the woods. He walked toward the edge of the woods and then just stood and stared at me. Let me tell you, it was creepy. He was the biggest buck I had seen since we have moved here (probably because I saw him up so close and also because he was...

Tomorrow is Andrew's one-week post-cast anniversary. I have had intentions to post the story of the big cast-removal day, but now that we can get out and go places, I am taking full advantage. On Wednesday morning, I took the older children to school and headed to the hospital with Andrew for his 9 a.m. appointment. On the way, Andrew was suddenly anxious. He was saying things like, "I'm not getting my cast off today . . . not yet. My leg is still broken. I don't want to get my cast off." Over and over, no matter what I said to convince him this was a good thing, his response was, "Not yet." Once we got checked in, Andrew was sent for yet another X-ray. After all the X-rays he has had, I'm surprised he doesn't glow in the dark! After the X-ray, they determined his femur appeared healed and he have the cast removed. So, we were sent back to the cast room. We waited there for nearly an hour while the nurses worked to remove or apply casts to other ...

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...