Spiders Everywhere!!

Over the past week Katelyn has been waking up in the middle of the night screaming that there are spider webs all over her room. At first we thought she was just dreaming but it continued to happen on several occasions. She would be wide awake and we would ask her where the spider webs were and she would look around and point to different areas of the room. She said there were big webs and spiders. The child would literally be shaking! We kept telling her there were no spiders and go around swiping them down for her. This continued and finally Bart had to get out the "special spider spray" and spray her room and our room. That seemed to work for one night but then they were back. She would be laying in our bedroom and look around and claimed she saw them again! ROAR! What were we going to do? Had she seen them on a movie? Was it the halloween decorations around town spooking her? All we have up at our house are happy jack-o-lanterns. Who knows? Finally, Bart told her that there were no spiders and if she kept seeing spiders than we would have to take her to the doctor and get a "spider shot". That took care of that - no more spider sightings so far!!

Katelyn said...

Yesterday on the way home from school Katelyn said "Mommy I feel so neglected. I need my daddy!" I about ran off the road trying not to laugh! WHERE had she heard that?!? What 3 year old knows NEGLECTED?? I picked up the phone and immediately called Bart and put her on the phone. He asked her why she felt neglected and she said "cause I'm hungary." Oh my child!! Too funny!

Family Beach Portraits

It's been two years since we last took pictures on the beach as a family so it was time yet once again! Everyone was surprisingly cooperative. Thanks good husband! I love you!

Alabama National Shrimp Festival

Yikes! This post is long overdue! It has taken me a while to find the time to finally edit these images. The Mercer family (including Poppy, Gigi, Aunt Kaye, Chad, Stephanie, Cameron, & Hannah) headed south to Gulf Shores October 9-12th for our annual trip to the Alabama National Shrimp Festival. We had a great time and the weather was beautiful!


Katelyn and Owen got to spend some quality time with Poppy & Gigi. Gigi bought Katelyn a new coloring book and crayons. Owen got a new toy that giggles when he chews on it. He loves it but the giggling gets old fast! :)


I finally was able to get a good shot of Owen's "scrunched up" toe on his left foot. Dr. Wood said it is probably from being so tight in the womb. It will most likely straighten out when he starts to put weight on it. Gigi talks to it and tells the "little soldier" to get back in line with the others! Heehee! You have to admit it's kinda cute!


Most of our time was spent in Gulf Shores at the festival but we managed to squeeze in a few extra activities as well. While Owen went to the festival with Poppy and Gigi, Bart, Katelyn, and I went on our first dolphin cruise. It was nice but the dolphins weren't very active that afternoon. They guaranteed that we would see dolphins and we did briefly but it wasn't anything like I expected. As Bart likes to say "That wound that up - been there, done that!" :) We had a nice time out of the water and got to see some pretty scenics. Katelyn and the other kids enjoyed getting to drive the boat.


Another afternoon we went over to The Track for some amusement park fun. We pretty much had the place to ourselves so Katelyn got to ride several rides without a wait. Last year was her first time there but she really got to enjoy it this year now that she is older. She rode the go-carts for the first time with Daddy. This child has NO FEAR!!


Of course I couldn't go to the beach without attempting some family portraits near sunset. I'll post a few later in a separate post.

Kindermusik Family Time

Katelyn and I have been attending Kindermusik classes since she was three months old and she has loved every minute of it. I have watched her totally come alive dancing to the music, learning songs, and playing the instruments. This Fall has been Owen's first adventure in Kindermusik and I have seen the same magic in his eyes over the last 10 weeks. This semester we were in the Family Time class which is designed for siblings up to age 7 to be together in one class.

From the first class I started taking pictures and creating a collage for our scrapbook. In exchange for being able to document everyone for my scrapbook I created a class collage to give everyone at the last class. This has evolved over the years and it is neat to see how the kids have grown. Here is the collage from the Fall class.


To see more images from the Fall semester click on the image below.

KM Family Time - Fall 2008

Here's a look back at previous semesters. We've only missed one semester (Fall 2007) when we tried another type music class. It didn't take us long to realize that Kindermusik was the place to be!

Tuckered Out

The other day I put Owen in his high chair to play with his toy and to "contain" the little bugger for a few moments. :) It wasn't 10 minutes and I looked up and this what I found...

Fun at Hickory Hills Farm

On Monday, Katelyn's school went on a field trip to Hickory Hills Farm in Titus, AL. Owen stayed home with Rosie while I got to join her class on the trip. The highlight of the day I think was just the fact that they got to ride the bus! When we got there they had a quick snack and it was on to the petting zoo. There was a cow, a pig, a goat, and a rooster that I remember. They called the pig Wilbur and I even caught Katelyn looking around for Charlotte (the spider)! There was a tub of corn to play in and a mound of hay bales provided lots of jumping fun. We took a hay ride out to the corn maze. The maze was not as big of a hit as I thought it would be. The 3-4 year olds quickly grew tired of walking through the guided maze. All they talked about was when finished they would get to ride the bus again! :) It was a fun day resulting in a wonderful afternoon nap for all!





















And even after seeing all these pics if you want to see more or get prints, click on the image below.

FBC Field Trip to Hickory Hills Farm

First Dance

ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP!! Ooohhh, I can't stress this enough! Sometimes I feel a little whacky having a camera in my purse and one in the diaper bag and even sometimes I have my pro gear in the car too. But this past week I was so glad I had those extra backups! Normally I have my little Canon S5 (my preferred point and shoot) in the diaper bag but for some reason it was left sitting on my desk. Last Tuesday afternoon we ran out the door to dance class where I was just expecting to drop Katelyn at dance off while Owen and I sat in the car to wait for her to finish. We got there a few minutes early and needed to go potty. I took her in and found out that it was parent observation night - one of only two for the entire year! I could stay and watch her dance!! Yippee! Uh-oh! No camera! Suddenly I remembered my original P&S was in my purse - my aging Fuji F30. Normally I would have whined to only have had that but in this case I was SO THANKFUL! It would take video and would definitely suffice.

My little princess just danced her heart out that night! It brought a small tear to my eye as I watched her dance I remembered my own dancing days. I think she loves it as much as I used to.

Here is a look at her very first dance...



She gets a little ADD near the end when someone comes in the door!!

Puppies for Sale!!

The most precious little papillon puppies are now available! They will be 7 weeks old on October 21st and are starting on solid foods this week. The females are $600 and the male is $500. They will be CKC (Continental Kennel Club) registered. They got their shots last week and each weigh right around 2 lbs. Let me know by email at lemmola@bellsouth.net if interested!!



Here's a look at the entire family.

Morning Snuggles

I have two early birds. It is not uncommon for Katelyn to wake up around 6:00-6:30 and then Owen is shortly behind. This is definitely a Mercer thing because I for one LOVE to sleep! But those days are long gone! Some mornings in an effort to squeeze in just a few more minutes I'll put these two birds in the bed with me with some cartoons. Normally they are both quite active and will not be still but one morning I caught them snuggling. Now THAT was worth getting out of the bed to find the camera! :)

HeeHeeHee...Ahhahaha...

Owen has learned to laugh! It is so precious and just warms your heart. The other night the kids were getting a bath and Owen just kept getting tickled with Katelyn. He just kept laughing over and over. All she was doing was pouring water on him. I couldn't resist getting the camera and holding on to this moment.

Cousins

Katelyn and Owen love their cousin Thomas! We spent an afternoon at Aunt Anna and Uncle Chuck's house recently and they had the best time together. Owen rolled ALL over the floor and Katelyn and Thomas pretty much distroyed Thomas's room with toys. It is really neat to see how great they play together.

Owen's First Bite

I had thought I would wait until 6 months to start solids with Owen but he recently started showing signs of being ready to eat. He would get all excited when he saw us eat and so I decided it must be time. He got his first bite of rice cereal on a spoon on October 4th and LOVED every bite! This boy loves to eat! He's been getting rice cereal in his bottle since about 2 weeks due to problems with reflux so it wasn't a big transition for him as far as taste. He did very well with the spoon. He gets very excited and fusses if you don't keep it coming! Bring on the solids!

Here's my little guy in action...

Hmm...I'm thinking I might look into making my own baby food. Anyone have any luck doing this? Have I lost my mind?

Award Winning Photographer

For several years I have been entrigued by the photography exhibit at the Fair. I have always wanted to enter but never got the information in time to submit a print for competition. This year I planned ahead and submitted an entry. Of course I still procrastinated a bit and waited until the very last minute to pick out my print and turn it in. I can't tell you how many times I almost chickened out! Anyhow, I was totally surprised to find out that BOTH of my prints placed in their category for the professional division!! It was so wonderful to see my images displayed at the fair. Many thanks to my precious nephew Thomas for being such a wonderful little model! I love you buddy!

Alabama National Fair

One of the sure signs of Fall is when the fair comes to town! The past couple of years Katelyn and I have gone during the day but this year Bart decided he wanted to take her to see the lights at night. So we made it a family outing on Friday night opening day. I thought it would be very crowded but it was rather pleasant.

Life with two kids has been quite the adjustment. We had to upgrade the stroller to contain them both. This is one of my consignment sale finds. It worked out very nicely!

Being the first night many of the animals were not there yet but we got to see a few favorites - baby chicks, sheep and the racing pigs.

Each year I have gotten a picture of Katelyn with the baby chicks. I didn't realize I had started a trend until this year! Look how much she has grown - but the chicks are still the same size! :)

Owen was such a good boy all night. He just hung out in the stroller and never made a peep. I think he enjoyed seeing all the lights too!

Katelyn really didn't have much interest in the rides this year but her one request was that she wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel. My fearless one! We had a great time getting a birdseye view of the entire fairground.

Five Months

"Big O" turned five months on October 2nd. I just love this little guy so much! He is definitely my angel baby. He is never fussy, just goes with the flow, and smiles to everyone he meets.

I've noticed his beautiful blonde hair has really grown this month. I even think it may be a little curly.

He is still nursing like a champ (what a blessing!) but doesn't like to hang out there too long. He gets totally distracted by the world around him very easily.

He LOVES his big sister and can't keep his eyes off her. She really enjoys getting his attention.

He's pretty close to mastering "the roll" and no longer stays in one place. There have been days when I put him down on the quilt and when I come back he's already across the room! Oh, the preview of things to come!

Here's a quick look at the past four months...

He is changing so fast, I couldn't let this time pass without documenting those cute little baby parts. He's starting to get little chubby legs! I could just eat him up! :)

Quality Time with Hannah

My niece, Hannah, has been traveling quite a bit this summer with her family so Katelyn has really been missing her. Whenever Hannah is home Katelyn loves spending time with her cousin. I caught them sitting out back the other day enjoying a book. Katelyn LOVES books and now that Hannah is reading they get to read together!

Birthdays Galore!

'Tis the season for birthdays! We've been on the road celebrating with lots of friends lately. So fun!