Scrapbooker transforms family’s everyday life into art NEIGHBORS NICOLE ‘NIKKI’ MERSON

Nicole “Nikki” Merson is a law school graduate, a onetime diving competitor and a former rock band vocalist.
These days, however, Merson, 34, spends her time parenting and home-schooling a 16-year-old stepdaughter and four children ages 5 and under.
Merson says tackling laundry piled as high as the dryer, peeling Play-Doh off the floor and changing diapers can be perceived as either mind-numbing chaos or artistic fodder.
And she has decided to turn that labor over to the muse.
At night, once her kids are in bed, Merson documents her family’s daily life in scrapbooks.
Her work has appeared in as many as 15 scrapbook periodicals. Her story titled “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff - Scrap It!” was accepted for an anthology titled “Chicken Soup for the Scrapbooker’s Soul - Stories to Remember.”
Merson doesn’t bother shooting pictures of milestones such as birthdays and holidays.
“Anyone who reads these scrapbooks in 50 years will know exactly what we did on ordinary days,” she said. “And I allow the kids to mess around with this stuff as much as they want. I’ve always felt that school is pure fun, and I want them to feel that way.”
Merson grew up near Baltimore. Throughout her childhood and teen years, she traveled around the country for springboard diving competitions.
She received a degree in education from the University of Maryland and a law degree from the University of Baltimore. She met her husband, Jeff Merson, while working as a cocktail waitress. Jeff Merson, who works for General Motors in Wentzville, is a singer, songwriter and guitarist.
The couple were married for six years before they had children. In that time they formed a cover band. “We performed for over five years. I sang in front of a rock band when I was 9 months pregnant,” she said.
The couple moved to Troy three years ago. Merson recalled that initially, the move to Missouri caused culture shock. She ended up feeling as though she “won the lottery.” She says she has fallen in love with the Midwest, Troy, her neighbors and fellow members of Calvary Church in St. Peters.
She is gratified to be far from the hustle and bustle of Washington, long commutes and a neighborhood where she was the only stay-at-home mom and the only one not driving an upscale foreign car.
“We moved here and I said, “Man, people actually drive American-made pickup trucks.” She said she and her husband drove a beat-up car and “live like normal people.”
Merson’s energy and scrapbooking inspiration are generated by her children, she said.
“When our teenage daughter asked us why we wanted so many kids, my husband told her sometimes it isn’t so much getting what you want as wanting what you get - and that’s called a rich life,” she said.

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