A Special Visitor

I always thought that Santa travelled on a sleigh pulled by reindeer, but a couple nights ago, he was riding around our neighborhood on a big ole firetruck!!! To the delight of three kids who were already in pjs watching Charlie Brown's Christmas (love that that wonderful show with the true Christmas message is still on TV!) and eating popcorn (well, not Liz, of course), Santa arrived with sirens blaring right in front of our house!!! He and Mrs. Claus handed out candycanes and took a couple pictures and were on their way. What a wonderful treat! Thanks, Camden-Wyoming Fire Dept! That's a nice thing you do, loaning your big truck to Santa.

Santa's Little Helper

I put Lizzie in this outfit today for our ladies' bible study luncheon at church this morning. She looked so stinkin' cute, I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of her!

She had her 9 month check-up yesterday and she was 27 1/2 inches long and weighed 18 lbs 13 oz. Both measurements were 50th percentile. She's doing great.

Chruch Christmas Program

Jake in the back right, Jon smiling in the front wearing the red striped sweater
Jake's big line was "S is for the Savior born that Christmas day."

Jon practiced so hard and learned "Away in a Manger" BEAUTIFULLY. He was so tickled he got to stand right in front of the microphone. His Sunday school teacher was so happy with how well he learned his song. His friend, Evelyn, next to him in the silver dress did a good job, too.

Their teachers gave us CDs with their songs on them to practice at home. I decided it would be best to put them in the car and practice on the way to Jake's school every day. It worked great. Jon even learned Jake's 2 songs (before Jake, actually!!! and he didn't hesitate to remind Jake of that or correct Jake when he sang it wrong!!!)

It was a wonderful evening (following the kids singing was a beautiful play put on by the older kids and teens in the church and a couple adults). We were so proud of our boys. There was no picking of noses, scratching of crotches, chewing of nails...and they sounded great! Great job, guys!

Santa

We ventured to our local library for storytime and a visit from Santa on Friday. Jon wanted no part of Santa (though he did take a candy cane from him). Lizzie sat right on his lap and gave a big ole smile. We sang a few songs and Santa read a Christmas story to the kids. It was cute.

O Christmas Tree

We decided to get one more live Christmas tree to plant in our yard. We don't have much more room. This will be our fourth one. We found a dug tree in the front, but the guy told us we could pick a different one and he'd have it dug up by the end of the day if we wanted. So, even though we liked the first one, we kept looking in the cold. That's part of the fun, right? Yup, turns out the one already dug was just great.
How cute is that little hat?

More on Jake turning 6

Do we spoil them or what? We each get to pick what we want to eat for dinner on our birthdays. Jake picked...LOBSTER!!!! Fortunately, we had some fettuccine alfredo with shrimp leftover from the night before to kind of stretch the meal a bit. Jake also picked carrots and spinach and apple salad with blue cheese crumbles and toasted walnuts. What a food snob we're raising! Jon has already requested crab cakes for his birthday!!!

Jake with his big number 6 balloon

Jake just had his 6 year old check-up and he's 44 3/4 inches tall and 46 lbs 13 oz. Both are only 25th percentile. No linebacker in his future, huh? He's perfectly healthy though, so that's great. What a blessing!

Jake Turns 6!!!!

I can't believe it. We're the parents of a six year old. Seems like just yesterday, we were bringing him home from the hospital and Jamie Coldsnow was making us a steak dinner to welcome us. We were at Vance AFB in Enid, OK...SIX YEARS AGO!!! Wow, time really flies. Jake is just such an amazing kid. He's bright, sweet, fun...just a good kid. We are so blessed to have him as our son.

Well, this year, Jake asked for an ocean themed party. I was excited to do this one. Thomas was getting old. We got a few ideas and set out. Everything ended up coming together quite nicely. I made a big round ocean cake with a few different sea creatures and a shark popping up out of the water chomping on a number 5 candle. Andy likes to tell everyone he made the "fondant" which he thought was a word that meant decoration. He really did help...I couldn't have broken the corner off that graham cracker for the dorsal fin without him :-) He did get creative, too, aside from making the "fondant". He picked out a fishy assortment of beer: dogfish and landshark and bought the cool crab hat (and the $18 2-pull pinata) when I sent him to pick up the balloons. Okay, back to the food. You know me, I'm all about the food. We had hotdog octopuses (or octopi???) on a bed of green seaweed ramen noodles, shells and cheese, goldfish crackers, fish swimming in blue jello in my trifle bowl (note to self: don't make this again the day before. The swedish fish get saturated, absorb the blue color and quite frankly get GROSS! Lesson learned.) Then we had some shrimp dip and crab dip and landlubber's delight (pulled pork), sea creature-shaped cookies, as well as a few other basics (veggies, cheese and crackers, etc). It was fun coming up with "fishy" ideas.

For the first time, we actually played games with the kids instead of letting them just play. It was more work, but really fun. We had them fishing with a magnet and some fish made out of construction paper and can lids, pinning the fin on a shark, and tossing various stuffed sea creatures into the square risers for my step aerobics step, marked with various point values. They also put together a giant under the sea floor puzzle and did the pinata (well, two kids did the pinata as it was a pull string one and the second kid picked the string that opened the flap...not bad for $18!). And the kids created oceanscapes with foam sea creatures, crayons, rubber stamps, and glitter glue for Jake to make his thank-you notes on.

And the coolest part, I thought was that we decorated the whole basement (the new party spot) with the art projects Jake made at the Little School last year for their big art show. His class did an ocean theme (convenient), so we had tons of cool things he made stuck on the walls and on tabletops, in addition to a couple big sharks I picked up at the party store and the one I made for pin the fin on the shark. With blue balloons and streamers, and blue walls, we felt like we were really below the sea!

We had a blast. Jake had a great time celebrating with his friends and family and so did we. Happy Birthday, Jake! We love you!!!!

Andy wearing his cool crab hat he picked out and his riversharks shirt. He was the only one "dressed" for the party theme and he was so proud of himself!My definitely homemade ocean cake. It wasn't perfect, but Jake liked it and that's all that counts. And it tasted really good, so that made me happy. I'll post the recipe: peanut butter...YUM!!! The fishing game
presents. lots of presents. Jake, you're a very lucky boy. Better get started writing those thank-you notes and you might be done by Christmas!

Happy Birthday to you....

Ewa leading the floor puzzle crew

Jon pinning the fin on the shark. Good call on the hat, babe. It also served as the blindfold.

Toss the sea creature...the squares got a bit moved around, but they had fun.

Okay, for the recipes so many of you asked me for:

Peanut Butter Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

1 box Betty Crocker SuperMoist butter recipe yellow cake mix
1 ¼ c. water
½ c creamy peanut butter
½ cup butter, softened
3 eggs

Heat oven to 350. Grease or spray 9x13 cake pan or 24 cupcakes (use wrappers). In large bowl, beat dry cake mix, water, peanut butter, butter and eggs for 30 seconds on low, then on medium for 2 min, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pans and bake for approx. 32 minutes (less for cupcakes) or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:
½ cup butter, softened
½ c. peanut butter
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. confectioners’ sugar
2-3 Tbsp milk.

In large bowl, beat butter, peanut butter, cream cheese, and vanilla until smooth and fluffy at medium speed. Add sugar and 2 Tbsp milk. Beat on low until blended and then increase speed to medium-high; beat 2 min or until frosting is light and fluffy, occasionally scraping bowl. If necessary, beat in remaining 1 Tbsp milk for better spreading consistency. Can tint frosting with Wilton gel coloring. Spread evenly onto cooled cake.

Also very popular were the cookies, so here's the recipe for those, too.

Roll-Out Cookies

1 cup butter (no substitutes)
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
3 cups flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Mix powder and flour, add one cup at a time, mixing after each addition. The dough will be very stiff. Do not chill dough. Divide into 2 portions. On a floured surface, roll each portion into a circle approximately 12 inches in diameter and 1/8 inch thick. Dip cookie cutters in flour before each use. Bake cookies on an ungreased or parchment covered baking sheet for 6-7 minutes. Cookies should be just slightly brown around edges. Allow a couple minutes to cool on sheet and then remove to cooling rack to cool completely. Makes 20-24 average-size cookies. Note: dough can be tinted with Wilton icing color. For chocolate cookies, blend in 3 ounces melted, unsweetened chocolate.

ENJOY!!!!!

The Rest of the Weekend

With our bellies filled...and filled again...and filled some more, we waddled back to Merkles for the rest of the weekend while Scott and Laura were visiting. We did some shopping, hung some Christmas lights, played some Wii, wrestled, visited, and of course, ate more of the fabulous leftovers (including the infamous "Bobbie" sandwich: turkey, mayo, whole berry cranberry, and stuffing on white bread or a good roll...sounds different and kind of wierd, but trust me, it's delicious!!!). Anyway, lots of fun was had, as always in the Merkle house, aside from listening to Toehead sing his "Pittsburgh's goin' to the Super Bowl" song a thousand times! Man that's a catchy tune!

Laura and Toehead...pre-Steelers game
Jon surfing? on Uncle ToeyMonster

Uncle Toe and Aunt Laura got this for Lizzie for Christmas, but when they saw her walking all around the house holding just our fingers, they decided to let her open it early. We'll see if she's walking before Christmas. I don't think so, but she might be cruising by then anyway. Thanks for the great gift, guys! And it comes in handy since the one the boys used to learn to walk with got run over by Daddy!!! Oops!

Lizzie opening her first Christmas gift. Christmas morning is going to be so fun this year!

Turkey Day, Part Deux

Jake and David playing foosball
Kara holding Liz; Kara is going to make such a great babysitter in a year or so!

Kara, Darnel, and Nat entertaining Lizzie

So as to not completely stuff ourselves on Thanksgiving Day, my side of the family gets together the day after at my Aunt Bev's house. We have a family of wonderful cooks and bakers, even the kids, so it always proves to be a fabulous meal. Each year, we have a few of the basics and some have their signature dish that we all look forward to: Kathy's corn casserole, Cheryl's sweet potatoes, Dad's homemade rolls...YUMMY!!! Then we experiment with new things each year, too: Dad's eggnog bread pudding, Darnel's chocolate dipped Ritz and peanut butter sandwiches and blueberry cream pie, my peanut butter topped brownies (oh-so-rich! Grab your milk!) and warm blue cheese dip, even Stef's semi-homemade apple pie. Good food is never hard to come by. With our family, there are lots of kids, so that's always fun. Their ages range from Darnel who is 13 all the way down to Lizzie who is 8 months. And also, there is Stef and Joe who are 18+ who still get into the mix. But they all manage to play so nicely together. They had a blast playing tag outside, hide-and-seek, pool, air hockey, ping-pong, foosball...fun central!!! And while they're playing, the "grown-ups" have some interesting, to say the least, conversations!!! Always a fun time...

Turkey Day

This Thanksgiving, as in years past, we have so much for which we are so incredibly thankful. We are truly blessed with an amazing family, good friends, a beautiful home, plenty of good food to eat, clothes to wear, a good job for Andy, and most importantly, an abundance of love and happiness in our hearts. I pray that each of you took a few moments on Thanksgiving, if not every day, to give thanks, as well.

We spent the actual turkey day at the Merkles in Woodstown with Mommom, Popsy, Kimmy, Toehead and Laura (who ventured up from Nashville) and the five of us. Delicious food, as always, and lots of fun.

Jonny devouring a turkey leg!!!

Jake took this picture of Andy and I.

Cheesing it up for the camera himself

Toe and Laura (aka the Tennessee Merkles)

Lizzie enjoying some Cheerios


Mommom hard at work getting a wonderful meal on the table

Jon, Kimmy and Popsy anxiously awaiting the dishing out of the famous mashed potatoes

Football and Wrestling

Striking a pose. What a tough-looking crew! Ha!

Protect the ball, Jake!

After church on Sunday, the kids and I decided to head up to Woodstown to spend the day with my family. The boys always enjoy playing with their cousins and it's always nice to visit with everyone. Darnel's cousin, Elijah, Darnel, David, Jake and Jon took advantage of the nice weather and played football for awhile then brought the games inside to wrestle. Jon is a hammer! Man! That kid was taking on everyone, even the big guys and holding his own, I tell ya! That kid is tough!

Thanks for a fun day, guys!

Catching Up

Okay, it's been awhile and a lot has been going on with us, as I'm sure it has been with all of you; It's the nature of this time of year, I guess. So, I'll go back to Nov 21st. ANDY TURNED 33!!!! His folks, Kimmy and Don, Tait and Jack Stamp all came down to help celebrate. I made a big lasagna dinner and Andy's favorite Jewish Apple cake for dessert. We all had a great time.

Andy left on a trip, his first in months, the next day, trying to squeeze in one before Thanksgiving, Jake's birthday, and of course, Christmas. If he didn't make it out before the end of the year, he'd go non-current, which is a big no-no, I guess. Anyway, we were a little nervous that he'd get stuck out and be gone for his favorite holiday ever...turkey day, and wind up spending it in Turkey, instead. But, he made it back in record time...four days!!! Yahoo!

Pumpkin Scones with Berry Butter

YUM! That was the consensus when I made these for our little playgroup a couple weeks ago. Many of the mommies asked for the recipe, so here it is, for you all to check out. I had never made scones before and they were surprisingly easy and oh so good!

Pumpkin Scones with Berry Butter
2 Tbsp craisins
1/2 c. boiling water
1/2 c. butter, softened
3 Tbsp confectioners' sugar
Dough:
2 1/4 c. flour
1/4 c. packed brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 c cold butter
1 egg
1/2 c. canned pumpkin (not pie filling)
1/3 c. milk
2 Tbsp chopped pecans, optional (I didn't use these)

Place cranberries in a small bowl; add boiling water and let stand 5 min; drain and chop. In a small mixing bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy. Add confectioners' sugar and cranberries; mix well. cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
In a large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, pie spice, salt, and baking soda. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a small bowl, whisk the egg, pumpkin and milk; add to crumb mixture just until moistened. Stir in pecans if desired.
Turn dough onto a floured surface; knead 10 times. Pat into an 8 inch circle. Cut into eight wedges; separate wedges and place on a greased baking sheet.
Bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown (took mine longer). Serve warm with berry butter. (I took butter out to soften just a tad before serving).
ENJOY!!!!

We Have Music!

Well, in trying to keep up with the "Tennessee Merkles," I've added some music to our blog. I hope you enjoy the songs as you read and check out the photos. All you Merkles, make sure you click on Apache and do our little dance once in awhile! ha ha!!!
Thanks, Laura, for helping me get that set up!
See you guys in a few days! We can't wait!

Fun Times Around the House

Can I just tell you how blessed we feel that Jake and Jon are truly the best of friends? So rarely do they fight and when they do (come on, they're brothers, of course they do once in awhile) it's over and forgotten so quickly. Whenever there are other kids around, they still play with each other. It's amazing.
While the boys played in the sandbox, I sat with Lizzie on the Air Rider and swung us a bit. SHE LOVED IT!!! Her little legs were just kicking away and she had a smile on her face the whole time!

Jon giving his little sister a big hug. He is so sweet with her and is always trying to make her laugh (quite successfully, I might add!) He dances, sings silly songs, you name it, all in the name of getting his sister to smile!

Isn't this just the cutest?

Lizzie dancing with her Daddy. How sweet is that? Can you say "wrapped"?

I have the best husband ever!

We have a CRAWLER!!!!

Look out world...or at least look out Jake and Jon! Your toys are no longer safe! Lizzie is on the prowl! We've been waiting for this and she's finally got the crawling thing down. Yeah Liz! So today, Jon and I filled all the little plugs with outlet covers and the boys are trying extra hard to keep all their little toys, books, papers, etc. out of reach. Nothing is safe from Lizzilla!!! ha ha!!!

Also, she's recently started eating Cheerios. Can I tell you how much this girl loves Cheerios? She chows!! And, I also bought her one of those little mesh bags that you can put food in (bananas, ripe pears, etc.). She loves that thing, too! What a big girl she is!!! It's nice that I can sit her in her booster seat, put a few Cheerios on her tray to hold her over until I can actually feed her. She is the happiest little girl, but not so patient when it's time to eat!! This actually buys me some time.

The Burkes in Taiwan

Jon and Kristy Burke, our very dear friends that used to live here in Dover are now stationed in Colorado Springs. Jon is working at the Air Force Academy and Kristy is staying home with their two awesome kids, Jackson and Grace. They've been in the adoption process for a LONG time now, trying to adopt a baby from Taiwan. Finally, they are in Taiwan ready to bring little Andy home. I just read her blog for an update and as it turns out, they are also hoping to bring home Andy's sister who is in foster care. So, please PRAY for them. And if you don't believe in prayer, think lots of positive thoughts for them, please! You have no idea what an amazing family this is and what a blessing this would be to them as well as to these children. Gook luck, Jon and Kristy and we can't wait to see pictures of you WITH little Andy and hopefully even his sister! That would be fantastic! Praying, too, for safe travels...
Miss you guys!

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Watching the World Series, Jake asked, "what's J.C. stand for?" "You know, Jake, I'm not sure," Andy said. "How 'bout Jokes Cat," Jake decided. "Okay, Jokes Cat Romero. Sounds good to me," Andy agreed.

Jon, while trying to relieve an itch on his foot says, "I have a scratch and I can't get it off!"

And now for the kicker:

We were talking about the dimensions of new sofas we were looking at buying (overall size versus the size of the actual seat part) and Andy said, "so you would think a + b would = c." Jake responded, "I didn't know you could add letters! So, there could be no u + u because there aren't 40 letters in the alphabet!"
Okay, so he was off by one letter, but pretty sharp for a 5 year old that he assigned numbers to each of the letters to figure that out in a matter of like 2 seconds!

Trick-Or-Treat!

Little Miss Lizzie Ladybug

Yup, decided to get creative and make the boys' costumes this year. Jake was a tractor-and-trailer (Poppop, you ought to like that one) and Jon was Thomas...again. The boys did so much of the work themselves and we had a lot of fun putting them all together. We had some walking issues (we'll have to downsize next year!! ha ha!), but we managed to make it around the block. I was tickled and so were the boys at the wonderful response the neighbors gave them (and Jake's classmates at their school party earlier in the day). Everyone thought the costumes were great.