The Mergenthaler Family

 Dear University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Based on our consistent patronage over the past three years, and considering the fact that our children are among the cutest you have seen, would you consider a discount on your services?  We are loyal customers and I do not doubt that we will return in the future as it seems the Mergenthaler Family just cannot make it through one week without visiting your facilities. I think a Buy One Get One Free Deal is in order. Thank you very much! Sincerely, A Weary Mother and Her Stretched Budget

I'm starting to think that May might just be my favorite month.  May brings lovely spring weather with green leaves on the trees.  I get pampered on Mothers' Day.  We get to celebrate two of our boys' birthdays and our anniversary.  It is a busy, fun month.  Following are a few pictures and videos from the month of May at the Mergenthaler house. Ricky is playing baseball.  He loves to play, but honestly loves just about anything that involves going somewhere and doing something fun with friends.  Warmer weather means ice cream cones and popsicles at our house.  Sean is so happy about that! Sean also loves being outside.  He is very good at talking me and his big sisters into taking him out.  He'll bring us our shoes and sweaters and walk us to the door, asking "Side?  Side?"  Somehow, we always end up visiting the MacBride Raptor Preserve Park in May.  I planned Andrew's preschool field trip this month, so we went ...

I thought I would be able to get some videos up displaying our children's many talents, but uploading the videos just wasn't working well.  Following is one that worked: Emily wrote a lovely poem for Rick's birthday: The other two videos (Emily's piano recital performance and Sean's favorite game of climbing on the table) were too slow to upload and always came back with an error.  I think they were too long.  I'm working on uploading videos of the boys' birthdays, Ricky playing baseball, and Emily's track meet.  We'll see how that goes . . .

We have had an eventful month so far.  With only one week remaining, I have more news to write about than I care to write--especially since it is not all good news.  But, news is news! Rick turned 34 this month.  We were expecting a busy day on his birthday, so we celebrated on the previous Sunday.  The kids made him some thoughtful gifts including cards, poems, and coupons for "big bear hugs."  I think he had a nice day. It's a good thing we celebrated on Sunday because his actual birthday turned out even busier than I had expected.  I had already planned to go grocery shopping in the morning, get some laundry done, clean up the house a bit, help the kids with homework, make dinner, take Ricky to baseball, and then head off to a Relief Society meeting at the church.  But, even from the morning, things didn't turn out as planned. About five minutes before we were due to walk to school, I heard Emily frantically yelling at me from upstairs about s...

Good afternoon.  This is Sean with a very important public service announcement:  Never play with markers!  There is a chance you could fall victim to a condition known as Pink Unibrow.  This condition is known to remain for up to two days even in cases in which the irresponsible individual plays with washable markers. Another plausible risk of playing with markers is the humiliating experience of being called Unibrow Red Beard by your siblings.  Avoid this at all costs. Thank you for attention to this very important announcement.  Remember, color on paper NOT people .  That is all.

A couple of months ago, Rick and I decided to start having monthly interviews with each of our children on the first Sunday of each month.  We saw this as a way to stay connected with them and to provide opportunities to discuss things that might bother them that they wouldn't ordinarily bring up in every day conversation.  We have done these interviews for two months now and we are really enjoying the time we spend talking with our children.  Before our interviews, Rick and I decide whose turn it is to interview each child.  Last month, I had the opportunity to interview all of the kids except Reyes.  Emily was accidentally interviewed twice (by both me and Rick), but I don't think she minded all that much. Some funny things came up in our interviews that I thought I should write down before I forget.  With each of the children, I made the point to ask them if they could think of anything Mom and Dad could do to be better parents to them.  Emily and...

Most of you know we are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In fact, most of you who consistently read my stories are members of the same church. But, for those of you who don't know a whole lot about our church, I'm going give you a little bit of background so the following story about Andrew will make a little more sense. Members of our church live all around the world.  There are about 14 million members worldwide.  The church is organized in such a way that wherever you go, you can find a congregation to meet with where you will learn the same doctrines, and experience comradery with the members of that area.  We are grouped into what are called wards.  There are several wards (or branches for very small groups) in what is called a stake.  The Iowa City area has 8 wards in one stake.  It takes about 2 1/2 hours to drive from the northern boundary of the stake to the southern boundary.  In plac...