Jon's Cars Party

Jon's 4th Birthday Party: the Disney movie CARS

Andrea, Yolanda and Serena; candy racecar party favor; and Marie and Brian

Blow, Jon, blow!


Andy showing off his Doc Hudson tattoo; my bestest bud since the 4th grade, Michelle...who is due April 2nd with Tara's little brother, Tommy Junior; Jon opening his gifts; and Andy holding the McQueen pinata



Jon blowing out his candles...it took awhile, but he got it! When the pinata opened up, my smart little boy grabbed "Sarge's" hat and used it to put his candy in! And here are Kirsten, Jon, Tristan, Anna, Evan, Tara (who won!!!), and Tyler playing Sarge Says.

I lead the kids in a game of Sarge Says (like Simon Says). I felt like I was back teaching PE again. sniff sniff (just kidding. I LOVE staying home with the kids and wouldn't trade it for anything!) I had a blast doing this!


Jon and Jake goofing off

Happy Birthday, Jonny Boy! I hope you had a fun day with all your friends! Thanks to everyone who came to help Jon celebrate turning FOUR!!!

Jonathan turns 4!!!!!

Wow, does time fly! It seems like it really hasn't been four years! We lived at Travis AFB in CA, next door to the Brocks. I went into labor, called the doctor, called Andy, called Michelle next door, took Jake to lunch at Burger King on base with Andy (I learned from when I had Jake...I was starved!!!), took Jake to Brock's house, and Andy and I went to the hospital. A few hours later, at 6:41 PM, Jonathan Edward Merkle was born! We thought he was going to be Sarah Elizabeth, but he sure fooled us! And what a constant joy he has been for the past four years! And the surprises continue from Jon. He never ceases to amaze us. He is definitely our orneriest child, but is so genuinely sweet, too! He has a very compassionate, verly loving side and is very thoughtful. He's smart and boy is he ever funny! Just yesterday, we were eating dinner and Jon had been forgetting his manners a few times in a row. I said to Jon, "You better remember where you put your manners!" He said right back, "I know where I put them...in my heart." "Good," I said, "so you'll never forget them." "And a teeny weeny bit in my stomach, too!," he added. Where does he get this stuff??? What a riot!

Well, we spent Jon's fourth birthday up in the Poconos since it fell over President's weekend. Andy's folks and Kimmy came up with us and we had a great time, despite the fact that we didn't have a bit of snow to play in! Oh well, we still have a fun time playing games, taking a little hike, and swimming in the community indoor pool. Jon picked crabcakes, risotto, broccoli, and spinach salad with pears, toasted walnuts, blue cheese crumbles and champagne dressing for his birthday dinner. Who's kids are these? Jake picks lobster, Jon picks crabcakes! Talk about expensive and exquisite taste! Geez!

Enjoying his birthday dinner and showing me how old he is now"Oh cool, a lego racecar! Thanks Mommy, Daddy, Jake and Lizzie!" See, this is the sweet Jon!

Aunt Kimmy, Andy, Jake and Jon on the rocks down by the frozen Lake Wallenpaupack

And this is my goofy Jon

Little Lizzie, the purple puffy marshmallow on Daddy's shoulders walking down to the lake

Jake riding on Andy's back in the pool. They were racing against Kimmy and Jon and got smoked! Go Aunt Kimmy!

Jon loves his Aunt Kimmy!

Taking a little swim in the indoor pool...such a fun thing to do in the middle of winter!

Lizzie walking around with Mommom

Thanks for a great weekend everybody! And Happy Birthday, Jon! We love you!!!

A Visit from Gram

The last weekend in January, we had my Gram Flitcraft come and stay with us for a long weekend. The kids and I met her and Uncle Bill (who she lives with in PA) up in Wilmington which is roughly halfway. It was really great to see her and just get a chance to visit. We picked her up on Friday afternoon and the next morning, my sister, Jenn, came down with her boys to visit, as well. We all had a great time just hanging out. Jake and Jon love playing with their cousins and I think Gram enjoyed just watching them! Thanks, Gram, for coming! We really enjoyed having you! Love ya!!!

Lizzie loved Gram's heart necklace!

Darnel, David, Jake and Jon enjoyed some outside time together. The kids, Jenn and I took a walk/stroller ride/rollerblade/scooter ride around the block in our neighboorhood. Darnel who turns 14 next month wore Andy's rollerblades and they just barely fit his BIG FOOT!!! Wow!

Uncle Andy doesn't take it easy on anyone when he's wrestling!! ha ha!! Was this in response to Darnel's comment, hun? This cracked me up:

Darnel: "So Uncle Andy, Poppop told me you played in the State Championship [baseball] game [in high school]."

Laura: "Yeah, we have it on tape upstairs in our VCR if you want to watch it."

Darnel: "Is it in color?"

And on Sunday, we all enjoyed the Super Bowl game. This one's for you, Uncle Toe (and the Burkes in CO Springs)! Glad your team won for ya. If it couldn't be the Eagles, I guess the Steelers are the next best thing.

Snow!

Okay, so it wasn't as great as the snow you get in Colorado, KB, but we sure had a great time!

The Camden Aquarium

We took a trip to the Camden Aquarium January 20th. We had a great time! It was a Tuesday, so no one was there. The kids got the whole place almost to themselves! We had a great time walking though the huge tunnel that goes through the biggest tank. Sharks were swimming all around us, literally! It was so cool! Below, you'll see Jake giving a high five to one of the divers that was cleaning the tank and feeding the sharks. They actually throw the fish into the shark's mouth! Pretty cool.

Jon giving Lizzie a kiss as we check out "Dory"

The three of them checking out the turtles

The boys LOVED sticking their hands into several different tanks to touch sharks, rays, jellyfish, sea cucumbers, starfish, and an array of other sea creatures (Okay, I'll admit, I thought it was pretty cool, too!)

Engagements!!!!

Lizzie's first MESSY picture. She really enjoyed the lasagna until it got in her eyes. Poor thing! Straight to the bathtub!

So, it's a big year for the Merkle family! We had Lizzie, Kristen and Chris got engaged, Scott and Laura found out they're expecting their first baby, and on New Year's Eve, Mr. Don proposed to Kimmy! Wow! Talk about your big years! (not to mention a ton of other milestones along the way) Our family is expanding and we couldn't be happier about the new additions and additions-to-be!

Here is Chris and Kristen:


And Mr. Don and Kimmy

"Mr. Bean" (Chris Nelson) and Kristen are engaged to be married Aug 22nd. They were visiting from Nashville, so lots of wedding plans were going on over the visit, including a bridal fair at the University of Delaware, dress shopping, photographer meetings, etc. Kimmy and Don are planning a possible March 2010 wedding, so they're just starting the planning process. It was great to spend the weekend with all of them!
We got them each a little engagement gift: wine glasses and a bottle of "Two Brothers" wine. Andy wrote a cute little note inside the card (well, Kimmy and Don's anyway :-), Kristen's just said, "see Kimmy's" )anyway, he wrote about the two brothers (Toe and Andy) who will be there standing up for their sisters, so you better be good to them and also that he was excited to have two new brothers join the family. It was typical Andy...witty and "tough guy-ish", yet sweet and sincere.
Thanks for a fun weekend, guys and congratulations to you all. We couldn't be happier for you. Oh, upon hearing the news that Kimmy and Mr. Don were engaged, the boys cheered and said, "Yeah, now we can call him Uncle Don and he can finally be part of our family!" I thought that was cute...and apparently, Don did, too. He keeps having Kimmy tell the story over and over to all their friends :-)

Cute picture of Jake reading to Lizzie.

The Rest of December

Okay, I got lazy...or busy...or something...and never got around to posting the rest of these pictures from Christmas and the latter part of December, so without any more discussion, here are the pictures. I know that's what you really want to see anyway instead of my ramblings :-)

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 :-)