The Mergenthaler Family

The kids are back in school, which should mean I have a lot more time on my hands.  Unfortunately, that's not as true as it would seem.  It is true that I have less noise and chaos during the day, but I still have just the same amount of things to do.  So, in short, I am still working hard every day, but maybe with a little less stress and chaos invading my every moment . . . a little.  Back to school means back to me spending at least an hour a day helping the kids with homework--especially reading and math.  I'm hoping to help Ricky make significant progress this year, but that will take a lot of time and work for both of us.  Sometimes I think I might have learned enough about teaching strategies for children that I could compile a book.  I still have a lot to learn, but I think we are learning what works for Ricky (and the others) and what doesn't.  No matter what, it is a serious time investment.  It has also stretched my com...

The kids were pretty bored their first week out of school.  I told them I wasn't going to entertain them or take them anywhere for the entire week so that I could get ready for girls' camp.  During nap time, they were sent outside every day.  Their instructions were to, "not bother mom for two hours." They did pretty good!  In fact, I didn't have to fight to get them outside much.  Their best idea included this homemade Slip 'N Slide.  They found a tarp in the garage and used Dad's screw drivers to peg it down in the grass on the slope.  They were busy for quite some time including set up, play time, and clean up.  They set this thing up for a few days in a row and had a great time with it.  I have a longer, funnier video to post, but my computer just couldn't handle it. The risk of posting this is admitting that my children were mostly unsupervised for hours at a time.  They didn't get into much trouble and I was able to get the t...

How is your summer going?  We are nearly halfway through ours and a lot has happened. I usually try to take the kids' pictures on the first and last days of school.  Somehow, I only got Makayla and Ricky coming home from school on the last day.  They were both happy (probably a little silly) and ready to begin summer . . . The day after school got out, we welcomed our visitors for Ricky's baptism.  Grandma and Grandpa Mergenthaler were able to come as well as Grandma and Grandpa Gudgel.  Great Grandpa Gudgel (my Grandpa) was also able to come.  It was a great weekend.  After our guests went home, I had one week to finalize my preparations for girls camp.  Can you believe I didn't take one picture of camp?  It was Emily's first year, and she really enjoyed it.  I didn't love camp as much as I have previous years, but I hope I was able to help make it a good experience for the girls. While I was ...

Today was the last day of school!  Hooray! . . . . I guess. . . . We are busy preparing for Ricky's baptism in two days.  After that, I will be in girls' camp mode.  I am a girls' camp director again.  I wish I could go back in time and thank the girls' camp directors from the years I went to camp.  They made camp such a great experience for me that I was excited about going again as an adult.  I had no idea how much work it actually is!  Now that I have been a camp director for a few years, I know how difficult and stressful it is, and I am sorry I wasn't more appreciative as a teenager. Anyway, because of everything we have going on right now, I don't have time to post all that I would like to, but I think this little video sums things up. Ricky brought it home from school today.  At Valentine's Day, Ricky's teacher had the students write compliments to each other.  She recorded the kids reading their compliments....

I'm still behind on news.  Since Easter was about a month ago, I'll keep my prattling on about details short and just let you see the pictures. On the Friday before Easter, we spent some time dying Easter eggs after school.  Sean loved his eggs so much that he insisted on carrying them around with him in a plastic bag.  I found them a couple of hours later on Emily's bed.  They had been abandoned so that he could "dress up" in a new outfit. Every Easter, Andrew and Ricky think it is so funny to wear their Easter baskets on their heads.  I have to admit that it is pretty silly! Andrew thought it was so silly, he had to wear his hat to the ward Easter egg hunt. I managed to find matching outfits for the boys and new dresses for the girls the day before Easter.  Our church starts and 9 a.m. and I wasn't feeling great that day, so we don't have many pictures.  The kids all looked very nice.  Maybe I am a little biased, ...