The Mergenthaler Family

(This was written on Thursday night, but for some reason didn't get posted until I posted the Easter pictures.) It has been a horribly busy week for me, so I didn't expect to find myself on my own tonight with nothing to do. (In all honesty, you all know I don't have "Nothing to do"--it's just that I am worn out enough that I don't really want to do the things that I can be doing). So, I'll put some random pictures up from the last week or so. Then one day these gems will maybe be in a printed blog book or at least fun to see online instead of in a shoebox where our pictures go when I finally print them once every other year. Ricky learning about the responsibilities of the preisthood with his dad one Sunday afternoon.  Messing around with crazy haircuts before we made Ricky's hair look decent.  Sweet baby boy at the St Patrick's Day Parade.  Facetiming Grandpa on a Sunday afternoon.  Andrew got 2nd place at the Pinewood Derby last night. I am ...

I'm not allowed to put our Easter pics up on Instagram or Facebook because the girls don't approve. I agree with them. They did not turn out as well as I had hoped. Andrew was being a stinker about pictures. Out of about 30-40 shots, I think there was only one that Andrew smiled. The other kids were pretty distracted. But since nobody in our family knows that I have been trying to  keep this blog up-to-date, I can put them here---hee, hee. They won't figure it out until they stumble upon the post years from now.  Easter Sunday was exhausting and difficult. The kids behavior at church was sub-par. (The big girls were good, but they should be since they are 14 and 16!). Gavin was fussy, so I missed most of sacrament meeting. When I was in the meeting, I noticed the boys taking too loud and not even pretending to listen to the speakers. Brooklyn didn't want to go to nursery unless I stayed in there. I stayed with her as long as I could, but Gavin was pretty grumpy and loud...

I know blogs are soooo 10 years ago, but I still find this to be a good way to write and share some of what our family is up to. I like looking back on the pictures and stories and reminiscing, even if nobody else is reading this. I know somebody will read it eventually and appreciate my preservation of memories.  We had a rough February with a lot of sickness. I can't even say which kid had the worst of it, because all four of the youngest were tortured on and off for a month. Each time somebody would pull through five days of high fever or something, I would get excited and think, "we are through it!"  And then a couple of days later, that person would be sick again--or maybe was never really better.   For example, I had Andrew and Sean home from school one day. They were feeling better after a long stretch of sickness (but not well enough to be at school yet), so they helped me make brownies. An hour later . . .  It was such a delight when Gavin was feeling w...

It has been about five months since my birthday, but I wanted to record these sweet notes somewhere. I woke up on my birthday to find these little phrases on sticky notes all over my mirror. I loved them so much that I kept them up for a few months. Emily is a sweet, caring daughter and did just the right thing to help me feel special on my birthday: 37 Reasons Why I Love My Mom By Emily Mergenthaler You are a good wife. You are my personal fashion confidant. You are a good cuddler. You tell me funny stories about your childhood that I still remember. You are really smart and I know you can always help me with homework. You are the best example of the good, strong mother that I want to be. You smell good. You make dinner for me and the fam EVERY NIGHT which is way under appreciated. You give good hugs. You listen to my silly problems and give me advice. You always help me learn what I need to learn, even if I am stubborn. You make me laugh when you know I am feeling sad. You are an exa...

Brooklyn knows a lot of important things like the plot to Star Wars: Dark Vader starts a little bit happy, then he gets mean and just turns to awful.

Brooklyn's personality is so fun. She seems to have found the perfect balance between social interaction and independent play. She loves to talk with people--especially if she is out shopping with me or at a doctor appointment. At her 3-year old check up, I hardly did any talking. She had a long conversation with the doctor about her likes and dislikes, what she eats, when she sleeps, and how she stays safe. Needless to say, there were no concerns with her ability to communicate. Though she handles herself pretty well in social situations, she is also happy and content playing independently. This has been such a blessing for me lately as she has suddenly given up naps. The loss of nap time is always an adjustment for me. Suddenly, those 1-2 hours of down time in the afternoon where I can clean and listen to my audiobook or pay bills or plan lessons is gone and I have to readjust how and when I do things. When the non-napper is good at independent play, this adjustment is a little e...

We love our baby boy. These pictures over the last few months show how fast he is growing and how much we love to snuggle with him.  He is the best cuddler!