A Middle Of The Night Scare

So last night I was laying in bed going through my routine of laying in bed for an hour trying to turn off my head and go to sleep. After about 25 minutes I heard a couple little bang-ee sounds and waited to see if someone was going into the potty but no one ever did. So I laid there for about 10 more minutes then thought I should get up and just check to make sure everything was alright.

So I peek into Emily's room and she's not there. I check Grace's room, not there. I check the potty, not there. OK, time to wake up Merkle. So Mark darts out of bed. Snoring to 60 in less than a second. So he rechecks the bedrooms then all the rooms downstairs. Living room, kitchen, family room, dining room, Ethan's room, extra potty. No Emily.

I'm cowering in the corner of our room on the verge of throwing up when I decide to scan the girls' rooms again and when I went into Grace's room for the 3rd time, Emily sat up from under Grace's covers and said "How did I get here?" Yeah, she's a sleepwalker. She got up and crawled into her sister's bed under the covers and disappeared from sight. And didn't even know it.

Yeah, she thought that was the funniest thing. Oh, my heart...

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

So earlier this spring we received a note in the girls backpacks telling us about sign-ups for softball. Grace sort of wanted to try it, Emily was slightly more reluctant. But, we insisted they give it a try. Now, $250 later we have a couple ball players. And...they love it! Can I say, they mostly love it because of the fully awesome, fully adorable uniforms! Look at my baby!! Look at those knobby knees!! Call a time out, Mommy wants hug!!

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Look at Grace on first base! She got a hit!

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And look at my Emily. Look at that stance!

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OK, so being at the ball park does give me a bit of anxiety (surprise surprise). I hate all those balls flying around. I'm sure one's going to whack me in the head. Well, guess what? Last night, I got whacked in the head. "Oh, Alice, a fly ball hit you in the head?" No, no, no. Something so much worse I wonder how many of you can handle this.

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A BIRD POOPED ON MY HEAD!

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You know all those slo-mo replays of JFK driving down Dealey Plaza? Yeah, that's how I see it play out in my head. I'm sitting there (in grainy black and white) innocently waving to my girls on the field. Bystanders are leaning on trees, munching on popcorn. The sun is shinning as a shadow, a teeny tiny little shadow slowly glides across the bleachers then BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

I'm hit! I'm hit! The poo splatters down my cheek and onto my pants. Witnesses would later say there was no bird. They saw no bird. Yet the evidence was right there on my face! A quick investigation was launched and the culprit was soon found sneering down from a nearby electrical wire. I glared, he glared, we all glared. It was over. He won. He...won.

Mommy, this is like a 1 day vacation...

So after school on Tuesday we surprised the girls with our 4th annual Merrill-Spring-Day-At-The-Beach day. We headed up to Silver Beach in St. Joe...is there a lovelier little town anywhere else in the world?...I think not. When we first arrived we strolled around checking out some of the local shops. Of course our favorite was Forever Books and their sweet dog Trevor. I love bookstore pets, dogs especially:





Hey! How did Gracie sneak her blankie out of the car? Ok, so then we headed over to see the shop Grace wanted to check out, The Easter Store she called it (because they had GIANT daffodils in their windows) but unfortunately they were closed. And then we got hungry and had our own little M-S-D-A-T-B miracle. JIMMY on the corner!!



Ok, so time to head down to the water...with a quick stop at the playset.






Emily kept shouting "I'm flying!"





It was soooo cold. Check out Merkle's blankie skirt:



My daughters are such climbers! I admire that about them. Emily just skipped right up that lifeguard tower. And from below it didn't look too high. So, I thought I'd give it a try. Yeah, not a bad climb but the view looking straight down gave me vertigo. Oy!

Do you know at one point I looked over and Emily had her HEAD in the water! I'm surprised she didn't get chunks of ice up her nose it was so cold! That girl can't keep herself out of water!

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Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

TEA Party

So seriously, how much fun was my first TEA party?



It was FULLY awesome! It could not have been more fun. The oncoming traffic on US31 was NOISY with all the honks and thumbs up and waving of American flags as people drove by. Who keeps a flag handy in their car to wave if need be? I'll tell you who...freedom loving Americans! That's who. Yeah Baby!



There were a couple folks who I'm sure accidentally raised their middle finger instead of their thumbs and there was one bright fellow who yelled out his window "Go back down south where you belong you confederates!" That got a good laugh from the crowd. Hey! I say if that guy likes paying taxes so much why doesn't he donate all his extra $ to the government?
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Ok, but my favorite was the ONE protester who stood bravely across the street with his sign that read: Taxes For the Living, Not For Killing.
And I said oh, he's on our side. He's pro-life, why is he over there on that side of the street all by himself? My mom, bless her heart said he was surly trying to help out by covering that line of traffic. Wow, what a hard worker!
Well, there was still some confusion, mostly caused by the silly hippie peace sign scribbled into the middle of an O. So, me and my mom went across to find out. Turns out no, the guy fully supports tax payer supported abortions to kill innocent American babies! just not middle eastern TERRORISTS!!!! So of course I had to get my picture with him to add to my collection of hippie protester pictures for my scrapbook...behold...BTW, do you think this guy actually has a job and pays taxes? He was actually chanting (all by his lonesome self) "more taxes more taxes" Really?



November can not get here fast enough!! REPEAL! REPEAL! REPEAL!
Get Joe Donnelly and Nancy Pelosi OUT!



Oh, and here is link to the article the South Bend Tribune did. Mark and Louann Kensinger...yep, my folks!

Our Easter

So...I realize it's been a while. Again. Easter kept us pretty busy. Excuses excuses I know.
But seriously, on Easter Eve, Grace and I started making the most deliciously fully packed with butter and sugar cinnamon rolls you've EVER had from our favorite wife of a cowboy:
Pioneer Woman. We started the process at 4 p.m. and they were finally done at 10. I am so not kidding. Between adding flour and letting the rolls rise we painted eggs with Emily and her friend Leah and made an egg omelet for breakfast at church the next morning.
Then Easter morning Merkle woke me at 5 so we could see if the Easter Bunny came and then get to church by 7:30 for Sonrise Service. Directly after that we went to Grandma and Grandpa Merrill's for some yummy KFC. Then home to clean the house, cook, stuff eggs for the hunt, and then my side of the fam over that evening.
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Funny story sidebar. Fair warning...it isn't actually a funny story at all.
So we live in a rather duck filled neighborhood. Great place to raise kids, great place to raise ducks.
So the girls and Lucky and I love to walk around our block and about a week before Easter I was walking Lucky alone when a mama duck flew off her nest from under a bush, almost directly into my face (though witnesses might claim a different story entirely). The duck, probably a teenage mother, thought it wise to set up house under a bush 6 inches from the edge of the sidewalk.
Ok, so everyday we walk by and mama duck flies away leaving her nest completely exposed to us. 10 lovely little greenish eggs.
So Easter Evening after a lovely dinner with my favorite people on Earth we decide to walk down to the corner to show everyone the nest. So along with Grandma and Grandpa, cousins and Aunt and Uncle we stroll down and behold...about 6 of the eggs cracked open and emptied out all over the sidewalk. It was tragic. An Easter tragedy. An Easter egg ducky tragedy. There were no ducky remains, just shells. Just sad empty shells.
I told you it wasn't a funny story.

OMGoodness! It doesn't get much better than THIS!

Oh man my feet hurt! So here I am at work. I know I'm whinning but it has been a long day!! I worked with the most awesome co-worker though and she helped me get through this day!!

Geek head Brenda hijacked my blog!!