Fair Photo Booth

We went to the Puyallup Fair last night. We walked by one of those little photo booths and couldn't resist. It was a tight squeeze getting the three of us in there, but we had fun! I think the third picture down is the best!

So Sweet!

Mercy is an accessory girl! She loves hair clips, hair bows, my earings and rings, necklaces, shoes, and anything that sparkles. I can't wait until she can play dress up!

Better Late Than Never- Mercy's 1st Birthday

The wrapping is the most fun part of presents!
Being pulled around by Grandpa is even more fun!

Snuggling Granny


Playing around with Grandpa.

Talking with Grandma!

Snuggling with Grandma!

(She has two grandmas named Sandy. My mom is Grandma, and Tyson's mom is Granny.)

Enjoying the frosting.

Not sure she got much in her mouth!

Her first taste of something sweet (besides fruit)!

Mommy and Daddy are so proud of their girl!

Blowing out the candle.

Showing off her crown!

Such a princess!

The tower of cupcakes.

Mercy loves to dance with Grandpa!

Tyson and I bought this musical table for Mercy for her birthday. We gave it to her that morning. She loves it!

My dad picked all of these blackberries out around our property. We have lots more.

Mercy's first birthday was on Sept. 13th. My parents and Tyson's mom flew out for her birthday weekend. It was so nice to have family here for her birthday! We had a nice time visiting with all of them. We had a party on her birthday with the grandparents and a couple of families from church. Mercy was pretty unsure about it all, but she seemed to like the attention! I can't believe she is one already. Here is a little of what Mercy is up to lately:

- Cruising! She loves to cruise. She'll be walking on her own shortly.

- Standing on her own

- Playing hide and seek

- Playing with musical toys

- Saying words: dada, mama, moo for a cow, woof for a dog, itty tat (kitty cat), detecta (smoke detector...I don't know, she loves to look at them), and hi.

- Signing. Mercy can sign for a lot of things now and she understands even more.

- Reading books....and reading books...and reading more books

- Eating table foods

- Drinking whole milk

- Drinking from sippy cup

I hope you enjoy the pictures! We have loads more, but I didn't want to post all of them.

Random Pictures

I don't really have anything to post about today, but I figured pictures are always a hit with the family. Mercy's hair is finally long enough on top for a little pony tail or two little pigtails. This was the first time I had tried putting her hair up, and she squirmed a lot, so it is kind of messy. Love it, though!

She has started opening up her mouth really wide to make a face! She cracks us up!

Mercy likes to go outside with her daddy and help him do yard work. She really likes looking at leaves and flowers. This leaf is from one of our many giant leaf maple trees.

She really just loves being outside. We bought her this wagon a couple of months ago. She likes to go for walks in the wagon down our dirt road. This picture makes it look like autumn with all the yellow and brown leaves on the ground! It is still pretty warm here, but since we haven't had much rain this summer, and we've had lots of unsually warm days, the leaves have been drying up and falling off.

I Love Your Mercy

Yesterday at church we sang a song with the line, "I love Your mercy", and I think Miss Mercy thought the song was just for her! Every time we sang that line, she would grin and look around at everyone while clapping. Too cute! Yes, Lord, we do love Your Mercy!

AND, I am so excited to announce that Mercy stayed in the nursery for almost 45 minutes! I got to hear most of the sermon! For those who don't know, we like to keep Mercy in the service with us during the worship music. She loves it and is well behaved. I take her into the nursery just as the sermon is beginning (which usually only lasts 30 minutes, but we had a guest speaker this week). I dropped her off on Sunday and she didn't seem too interested in me at all, so I left. She did cry at one point, but she allowed the nursery worker to soothe her. Yea!

It seems going cold turkey on the pacifier was the worst route to start out with, so we have moved on to plan B. Mercy seemed like she was going to adjust fine in the beginning, but each day got worse and worse. The breaking point for me was Friday, when she woke up at 5:30 a.m. and didn't go back to sleep. I got her to sleep for about 40 minutes later that morning...but that was it until bed time at 7:00 p.m.! She was sooo cranky and it is pretty unusual for her to go a whole day with only 40 minutes of sleep. So we're trying a few different things with the hope that a slow weaning from the pacifier will do the trick. Sigh. I almost wish we'd never given her one to begin with.

And, my last update for today- I begin the FINAL class of my graduate program today! The research class spans the entire school year, and requires that I work in a classroom on a regular basis. Before we moved I had just planned on stealing a former colleague's classroom a couple of times per week, but now I'm starting over somewhere new. It will be nice to get to know the school system here a bit!

31!

Happy 31st Birthday sweetie! Thank you for being such a wonderful husband and father. We love and appreciate you!

Love,
Sadie and Mercy

Such a Simple Thing

Have you ever noticed how the simplest things can turn into big blessings? Yesterday I received a phone call from a new friend. She was simply calling to talk, to see how I've been this week. I don't think I've had a friend call just to talk since...well, since college! It was such a blessing to take a few minutes during the day to chat with her and receive encouragement from a sister in Christ. My new friend shared with me some of her trials this week and asked for prayer, which left me feeling even more blessed, knowing she felt comfortable enough to do that. I'm thankful for friends who care!

On another note, our efforts to abolish the pacifier seem to be a success. Poor little Mercy cried for about twenty minutes at the beginning of both naps and at bed time yesterday . It just broke this mama's heart. But I persevered. Today she rewarded me by only crying 5-10 minutes at the beginning of her morning nap. Yea! I hope it continues to get easier!