Darnel in his Phillies gear
Gab got the American Girl Mia (and a book)
Nat got an American Girl doll, too (not sure her name)
My sister, Jenn
Lizzie trying to give Daddy her pacifier
Swiper no swiping! Good thing Poppop's glasses are those "unbreakable" kind
Kimmy, Liz, Jake and Mr. Don
Mr. Don with the boys
It was great to get to visit with Gram and Pop while we were up in Jersey
Lizzie checking out her new hat
Jake trying out his new rollerblades. He caught on pretty quickly! I was amazed!
While I taught Jake how to rollerblade, Jon tried out his new razor scooter. With each of the boys having his own scooter now, we can take walks around the block and let them scooter as I push Liz in the stroller. They're too fast on their bikes :-)
Once Jake got the hang of the rollerblades, I went in and got Jon's for him to try. He did great, too! They both seem to have pretty good balance. Neither one really glides yet, but at least they don't fall down all the time! Since they both caught on so quickly and Lizzie was still napping, I even put my rollerblades on! It was fun!
Jake showing off his gingerbread house he made at school (he had me take pictures from every angle, but I'll spare you the rest :-) )
My best friend from home, Michelle, and I took the kids to Longwood Gardens for the day. It was gorgeous there! The kids had a great time and it was so nice hanging out with Michelle all day. Michelle's daughter, Tara is a hoot and is in Kindergarten this year, too, like Jake. They were busy snapping pictures all day!
Miss Lizzie "helping" Mommy with the dishes
Such a cutie.
Well, that gets me through December! Yahoo! Small victories, right? Today we had SNOW!!! Double yahoo! The kids and I had a blast playing outside. I'll try to post those pictures before February comes :-)
My sister, Jenn
Lizzie trying to give Daddy her pacifier
Swiper no swiping! Good thing Poppop's glasses are those "unbreakable" kind
Kimmy, Liz, Jake and Mr. Don
Mr. Don with the boys
It was great to get to visit with Gram and Pop while we were up in Jersey
Lizzie checking out her new hat
Jake trying out his new rollerblades. He caught on pretty quickly! I was amazed!
While I taught Jake how to rollerblade, Jon tried out his new razor scooter. With each of the boys having his own scooter now, we can take walks around the block and let them scooter as I push Liz in the stroller. They're too fast on their bikes :-)
Once Jake got the hang of the rollerblades, I went in and got Jon's for him to try. He did great, too! They both seem to have pretty good balance. Neither one really glides yet, but at least they don't fall down all the time! Since they both caught on so quickly and Lizzie was still napping, I even put my rollerblades on! It was fun!
Jake showing off his gingerbread house he made at school (he had me take pictures from every angle, but I'll spare you the rest :-) )
My best friend from home, Michelle, and I took the kids to Longwood Gardens for the day. It was gorgeous there! The kids had a great time and it was so nice hanging out with Michelle all day. Michelle's daughter, Tara is a hoot and is in Kindergarten this year, too, like Jake. They were busy snapping pictures all day!
Miss Lizzie "helping" Mommy with the dishes
Such a cutie.
Well, that gets me through December! Yahoo! Small victories, right? Today we had SNOW!!! Double yahoo! The kids and I had a blast playing outside. I'll try to post those pictures before February comes :-)
On Christmas morning, all the Merkle kids waited at the top of the steps until they were all ready and told they could come downstairs to see if Santa came. As we waited, Andy and I kept saying, we're not sure if Santa came since it was so windy Christmas Eve. We weren't sure if the reindeer could fly in such weather and if Santa was a good enough pilot (like Daddy) to land on the roof like he's supposed to. So, they were getting worried. Then, they weren't sure if they were good boys...well, good enough...to meet Santa's approval and be put on his "good boy and girl" list. 
Then they ran out to the tree, but no gifts! Well, no new gifts. Jon was obviously disappointed. But then they thought about Santa coming down the chimney and that he might have been too tired to bring the gifts all they way into the living room. Maybe they were by the fireplace (how they didn't see them when they were checking the cookies, I have no idea!!! ha ha!!)
"YES!!!!! Santa DID come!!! YIPEE!!!" Three happy kids, eager to open their gifts. "Come on mom, no more pictures!!!! Can we open our gifts, PLEASE?????"
Andy's Grandmom Dickson made this little sweater and hat. I put Lizzie in it to take her to the grocery store the day before Christmas Eve just to pick up a couple items. It took me FOREVER to make it through the store because so many people kept stopping me saying how adorable she was!!! I'm really not complaining. It was sweet and everyone was full of "Aww" when I told them that her Great Grandmother made it for her. Thanks, Mommom and nice work!
Andy's mom came down and picked up the boys the day before Christmas Eve and took them up to Woodstown for the night. They had a blast, of course and it gave Andy and I a chance to get the last minute Christmas stuff done.
The boys picked out some cookies for Santa and sprinkled their reindeer food in the grass. Then we gathered around the piano and the boys played Away in the Manger (I labeled the keys with painters tape and wrote the notes in the book so they could learn...lessons in a couple years probably). Then Andy gave a pretty good performance himself. But we were all wowed with Poppop Dickson's jazzy number! Who knew he could play like that????? Awesome!
Here's Great Poppop and Great Mommom Dickson...aka: Wonderful Ed and GG (or GGM...for Great Grandmom. The boys gave her that nickname when they spent the day before Christmas Eve with them)
