The Mergenthaler Family

Dislike: Lemonade Stands I think lemonade stands are obnoxious unless they are in conjunction with something like a family garage sale or an appropriate fundraiser . I'm not exactly sure what bothers me about them. Is it the fact that little children are not only talking to strangers but waving them down as they drive or jog by? Is it that they are begging for quarters? Is it the time I have to spend helping to set up a table, gather supplies, make lemonade, clean up, etc.? I'm not sure, but every time my children ask me to do a lemonade stand my answer is, "No." Then why did we have a lemonade stand set up in front of our house last week? The answer is another dislike of mine: persistent begging mixed with a little disrespect. When the children asked, and I said no, our little neighbor proceeded to give me reasons why they had to have a lemonade stand today and it would be easy. As annoyed as I was, I caved when they promised that they would do all of the work and...

A couple of months ago at dinner, Andrew asked "Where is Dad." I replied, "Oh, he had to stay at work tonight to get some things done. He'll probably be home at bed time." Andrew muttered to himself, "Busy, busy, busy. Work, work, work." I don't know where he learned that, but it made me laugh. Ever since then, when I am particularly busy running from task to task, I hear Andrew's little voice in my head repeating that phrase. I haven't been posting much lately not because there isn't much going on, but because I have been trying to keep up with all that is going on. Spring Thanks to some beautiful weather and very nice big sisters, Ricky has mastered his bike without training wheels. It sure took a long time--not because he couldn't catch on to the skill, but because we removed his training wheels right before winter. Last November, Ricky was begging to have the training wheels removed from his Spiderman bike. Dad helped him pract...

You all know Emily is crafty and loves "projects." Well, she is lucky to have a good friend with the same interests. For the past two weeks, Emily and her friend, Katherine, have pursued the fashion arena. One Saturday afternoon, they got into designing an outfit for one of Makayla's Barbie dolls and their project ballooned from there. The next thing I knew, they were spread out on my dining room table with material, measuring tape, scissors, needles, thread, buttons, and all kinds of wardrobe-designing supplies, along with all the Barbie dolls they could find in the house. Each one of those Barbies was going to receive their very own outfit designed by the E. K. team. They worked for hours (I am not exaggerating). At bedtime, they cleaned up their supplies and resumed the next day as soon as they could get together again. When school started up after spring break, they met as soon as they could complete their homework nearly every day after school. In the end, they des...

I was diligently cutting out coupons this morning when I came across this hilarious ad: What a deal! I can have a couple of these lovely "loungers" for only $22! In fact, I can save a couple of bucks if I double my order!! And look at all the colors there are to choose from! Before I order, I'm going to let all my moo-moo-wearing friends in on the deal. The more we buy, the more we save; and we have the benefit of saving on shipping charges. Anybody in? On a more serious note, this ad brought to my recollection a happy childhood memory: My mom is in the kitchen making pancakes on a Saturday morning. Guess what she is wearing with her light blue bathrobe?

Last night was a tough one for us. At six weeks old, Sean was beginning to sleep for a good 5-6 hour stretch in the night. However, as many of you know, a little congestion changes everything. He has a little cold, so he was miserable last night. As a result, my total hours of interrupted sleep can be counted on one hand. I am exhausted today, but since it is Spring Break and the kids are home from school, I don't have my usual 1-hour window for a quiet afternoon nap. In addition, construction continues on our house. The contractor who installed our new built in shelves in the family room finally got a missing part in for our fireplace and they have been installing it for the last couple of hours or so. I thought they would only be here for a short visit in the morning, but as nap time draws near, they are still banging on the outside of the house, re-installing the vinyl that they had to remove to adjust the fireplace venting. My sleepless night has caused me to think about the sa...

Andrew had a fall last Thursday, which changed how his teeth look. He was climbing in the snack cabinet to get Lemon Heads (no surprise to those who know him). He fell and bumped his teeth on the bar stool. There was hardly any blood, but it hurt. The impact of the fall pushed two of his teeth up into his gums and one out toward his lip. I took him to the dentist the next day just to be safe, and regretted my visit. I spent two hours at the dentist office (and I don't know how much $ yet) just for them to tell me what I had already guessed--no major damage. His permanent teeth forming above seem to have avoided injury. The roots of his baby teeth are fine. Over the next few months, the teeth that were pushed up into his gums will re-erupt. So, that was just one little adventure to add to the many we have had in the past few weeks. I do have a question for my dental friends . . . Andrew saw a dentist that he has not seen before. This guy is new, and I'm not a big fan. Andrew a...

A few weeks ago, the boys dressed up as clowns: I know . . . interesting outfits, huh? Speaking of clowns, Ricky has said a couple of funny things lately. Tonight at the dinner table, the kids were all talking about how school went. Ricky was telling us his friend's mom is out of town. He then pitched into a story about where she was and what she was doing. He said, "Oh, she's in Washington and she was probably looking at our old house today." He was presenting this idea as the truth and the girls called him on it. Makayla said, "That's not true Ricky. You're telling a lie." He angrily countered back, "How do you know Makayla ? You can't see through my brain!" The week our visitors left, it took me a few days to get into a good morning routine. My sleepless nights with Sean were making me want to sleep in later in the mornings and I was having a hard time getting up in time to get the kids ready for school. So, making lunches became v...