Boys and Their Toys

Jon and Jake learning all about different countries...capitals, climate, landmarks, etc., all with just a touch of their finger on this toy from Mommom Kaycee and Poppop
Jon practicing his heading skills with this great giant tetherball game Aunt Kathy, Uncle Pete, Adam and Kara gave Jake for his birthday back in December.

They are having a ball with this game!

Jake followed the directions and built this Seattle Space Needle out of a K'Nex set Aunt Kristen gave him! He did an amazing job!

The Merkles Go Camping

This was our first-ever camping experience and, I'm happy to say, we had a great time! Andy's squadron planned the whole trip to Trapp Pond in southern DE, which made it fun. We all brought food to share and there were lots of people to hang out with the whole time. We even borrowed the Morris' fishing gear and the boys caught their first fish (it works much better with an actual hook and worm unlike the "dummy" fishing they did in the Poconos)! They were so excited! Jake caught two and Jon caught one!

Fishing was probably the highlight for them, but they had a blast just playing in a little clearing by our campsite with sticks, pine needles and stumps! They also enjoyed chasing after potatotes shot from a potato gun one of the guys made.

Daddy and Lizzie by the campfire...standing back this time ;-). The boys made s'mores, so you know they were happy!

We borrowed all our gear from our friends, the Playfords, who are camping pros! Kandi even jotted down some notes and tips for us! Thanks guys!

We were supposed to get some major thunderstorms (the pilots were all analyzing the radar on their fancy internet phones!! Yeah, really roughing it!) But, I'm happy to report that we only got a few showers and we stayed completely dry! The best part was waking up in the tent to Lizzie standing in her pack-n-play looking all around smiling and squealing with delight that we were all in her "room"!

I'm not sure we're ready to go buy our own tent, but we did have a great time!

Mother's Day

This year I turned 32 on Mother's Day! Andy did his best to see that the day was extra special for me. He started off by supervising all three kids making french toast for breakfast. They all did a great job! Here are some photos of the great event: Dad cooking with all three kids while I sat and read a magazine and drank my coffee (I couldn't resist getting up to take a few pictures though!)

After a wonderful breakfast, Andy's folks came down and his mom and I took the boys to church. Their Sunday school teacher, Mrs. Barr is a wonderfully sweet woman who does a special Mother's Day get-together/program every year. It's really pretty special. The boys sang songs, recited scripture, gave us flowers and a plate with a picture of them modge-podged onto the center...cute! While we were at church, Andy and his Dad stayed home while Lizzie napped and then took her to the grocery store to buy all the groceries for a great lunch and dinner! I tried to make it a little easier on Andy by suggesting that maybe he buy an ice cream cake from Coldstone, but he insisted he was going to make a cake.

Chef Andy continued by grilling up some fantastic burgers for lunch. Then we all rested for awhile and watched the Phillies play while the kids napped. I asked once or twice about the cake and got stopped short, so I quit bugging them. Right as they were about to start all the dinner prep work, I mentioned it again and Andy said, "oh no, I totally forgot! We don't have enough time now, do we?" I let them off easy and said we could just go out to get ice cream instead. I like the ice cream better than the cake anyway. We agreed that's what we'd do and then he and Kimmy made a great dinner: grilled shrimp, grilled chicken, baked potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, corn on the cob, and spinach salad (okay, I made the salad...they were working so hard to get all the rest done I just had to help out a little :-) ).Everything was yummy! Thanks, guys!

We all headed outside to play ball for awhile and then went in to get ready to go get ice cream. Up from the basement comes Andy carrying a big chocolate peanut butter cup ice cream cake from Coldstone!!!!! Little bugger got me! They all were in on it, even my neighbors, Al and Sandy who came over to go with us! So, it was a great day with lots of great food and I didn't cook a thing!!!

Thanks, guys, for making Mother's Day and my birthday so very special. I love you all so much and kids, I'm so thankful to be your Mommy. You all are so amazing and I just adore you and thank God for you every day.

T-Ball

Jake has started his second season of t-ball. He seems a little more excited about it this year, so that's good. It kills Andy that the boys don't want to play ball much in the backyard with him. Lizzie is actually the one who always goes for the ball and wants to have a catch. Andy says, "finally, I got my ballplayer." We're not giving up hope yet. They'll be fine. They'll start to get more interested when their little sister starts throwing and hitting harder than them :-).

Waiting for his turn to hit. Don't they all look like a bunch of bobblehead dolls?

Tiny little bodies, giant heads (that wobble when they run the bases!)

He's actually hitting the ball okay this year (though I'm sure your baseball fanatic Merkles will critique his swing :-) )

Firehouse Visit

Our little playgroup got the opportunity to visit the Camden-Wyoming Fire Department on Friday. Deputy Chief Tom took us on a tour of the whole building (fantastic!), the kids got to sit on the truck, practice stop-drop-and roll, squirt the hose, etc. It was great!Our group of kids in front of the big firetruck
Jon with Firefighter Brandon squirting the hose


Jon and Cameron, thrilled to be sitting on a firetruck (notice they both have firetrucks on their shirts...this was a big deal for them!)

Big Shoes to Fill

Spring is Here!

The weather had been so nice, it was time to break out the screens. Andy decided to clean them off before putting them back in all the windows. The boys...and later, Lizzie, too, decided it was more fun to squirt the water at each other than onto the screens. They had a blast!