And I'm finished....with what you may ask? Well, other than snow, the dreadful quilt that I mentioned in the last post. It's been done since friday, and leaving small remnants of our history all over the house! I had to vacuum a 6ft square area for over half an hour today to try and pick up all of the stray strings! Kudos to me who takes the filters out of the new vacuum to clean them....and then WAIT for 4 days until they are dry! Our house looked like a bar floor that you can eat peanuts at and throw them on the floor...except we had no peanut shells! I told hubby to remind me next time I want to go for a quilt to just go for the fancy one, because it couldn't be any worse than putting this puppy together! I have so many hours invested in this thing I'd have to sell it for a thousand bucks to break even!

So here are the pictures....

Doesn't look that bad here....there were 90 large squares of fabric, 45 large squares of batting....360 small squares of fabric, 180 small squares of batting...45 each leaves, flowers, and middles....over 12 spools of thread....and one borrowed sewing machine involved! Thanks so much to Pat for lending me her little slice of heaven for this project!

I've been collecting the fabric since I was pregnant with Sydney, after finding and falling in love with the pattern at Ivy Lane in Elkton. I finally decided to give it a go and buy the rest of the fabric the first part of October, so on to cutting squares. After agonizing over how big to make it the pattern was supersized for Sydney's big girl bed....and off we went! Around 20 yards of fabric, and TWO trips to Mills End in Sioux Falls I finally had enough fabric to make all the squares! The small squares are what you see above...

after sewing all of the mini quilts together it was on to the flowers....each part was individually quilted with a fancy stitch on each of the 45 large squares....anyone else tired yet?

When I was finished with those, and after I hunted the house numerous times for the pieces Syd took off with I was on to laying the whole thing out....

Somebody kill me now! It turns out the most difficult part of the whole process was now staring me in the face. I tried to be careful laying them out so no colors were butting up....but found out that's quite impossible, so I stuck with spreading out the flowers so none of those were next to eachother. Notice Syd's empty antique bed? I've been lusting after that bed since I was a kid....and thanks to the new cabin in Crosslake Bob and Sharon were willing to part with it....it was my only personal request if it was going to be sold that I get lucky enough to get it for what was then our unborn baby. LOVE LOVE LOVE that bed!

Back to the quilt....after all 90 of those squares were sewn together it was time to start cutting the seams so they would frey....second most difficult step! My poor hand still hurts!

TAH DAH!

Finished product....minus endless trips through the washer to finish the fraying. Our poor dryer had a workout the first round, there were strings flying everywhere when I took it out! The best part is it was finished before Syd turned 5! The un-sewn squares look like the quilt was going to be extra large, when in all reality, it just fits on her bed! Hubby is still not super impressed with the final product but it's growing on him....and will grow more when it stops shedding! As for Syd....she's in love!

Snow snow go away, come again another day! I'm officially within 6 inches of not being able to see out the laundry room window. This is the first little snow lots of wind day that it's been this bad! Our 10 feet (ok, so maybe it was only 18 inches) of snow for christmas didn't even cover the window! And another note, we need a fence on the south side of the yard, then the neighbor can have all the snow!  Our back door (ok, so patio door) is continually filling up with snow, hubby blows it all out, then the first time there's wind and fresh snow...up to chest height again! It's no longer Syd's height, it's way over her head by now, and she complains about not being able to see her toys anymore!

Since it's been so long without pictures, I'll send you into picture overload for a while. I finished the big "B" project, which in adult language is Sydney's new comforter....if her bed ever makes it to her room! I'll save those for another day though...

Friday we were supposed to have a get-together with Jodi and Kaelyn, however the crazy weather didn't make that possible. We're looking forward to when you girls can come! Syd gets super excited to show off all her stuff when new people come! I had plans to make valentines cookies for the girls to decorate and take home, but that plan got pushed back a day since they didn't come, and daddy had the good fortune to help instead. Luckily I didn't try doing them with Syd myself, I needed 8 hands just to keep up with the little monster! She helped roll, cut and sprinkle every single cookie on the first pan, then I learned it was easier to roll myself and let her do the cut and sprinkle....even though some of her "cut" was on already cut cookies....these guys won't win any gorgeous cookie awards, but she's sure proud of them!

She couldn't manage to touch all those cookies and not have a test sample before they got to the oven....ok, so LOTS of test samples. Don't comment on the raw egg we all know that we love (or in some cases still love) the unbaked product...in my opinion that's the best part, and I'm still here!

And the stink face that we love to hate! This is the face I get 99% of the time when I get the camera out now!

And just because it's funny....I'll explain just so you don't think I'm crazy!

We've been talking about wanting a bigger vehicle for quite a while now....or I have been, and hubby just agrees with me. I love my equinox, but I wish it would grow up already! We don't used it all that much just running around town putting miles on it, so I can justify taking a hit at the gas station for bigger trips. Whenever we leave the house we pack strategically, and try to keep in mind what will be returning with us as well...so normally something is forgotten. And the equinox is the one that always goes out of town with us. I've been searching all over for a suburban or something equivalent because we've had such good luck with the bowtie.....however I discovered something this weekend, I'm a convert. I want a FORD! Oh, won't daddy (as in my daddy) be proud! His "brown" is his pride and joy and he's never been too impressed with my bowties. I spent most of the weekend holed up in the house carusing the internet for a bigger vehicle (there's more to that story on another day) and stumbled across the Expedition....it's between a Tahoe and Suburban, and looks like it would work perfect! Not to mention (here comes my only political thing) that Ford Motor Company did NOT take a government bailout, so I'm becoming more partial to them every day. I fell in love....the only problem is it's in Roseville MN, and too far to drive to just look. It's perfect! Color, interior, options, everything! So while I sit and pout about not being able to look at it more than on the internet we're keeping our eye open around here. If you know of anyone in the market for a crossover that's been babied, let me know! Anyway, the morale of the story...When I went out to try and figure out wether I needed a right or left tail light for it....I looked at Syd's new jeep sitting in the garage, and decided to bring it in to figure out the issue with the tire. We struck gold when we replaced Syd's other stroller....she LOVES this one, only problem is one of the tires continually goes flat. So in the house with it to warm it up....Syd CAN'T leave it alone....so I unfold it, and she spends most of the afternoon crawling in and out of it and playing with the steering wheel. Fine...daddy thinks we're nuts, but keeps her busy. Apparently someone else got jealous of the jeep....

I pointed this out to Syd and I thought she was going to pass out it made her so excited! He really wasn't that smart though, she was going to give him a ride around the house but he didn't stick around and wait for it! We own (or parent) one crazy cat!

FYI this stroller takes up less room in my vehicle than it's predecessor....a full size normal stroller....weird! Now if only Jeep would make one like the Phil and Ted's double, it'd be perfect!

Something to think about....

On valentines day Syd will have been on whole milk for a year. Although we haven't had any problems with her and the lactose, lately I've run into a different problem. How can Wal-Mart's Great Value milk go rotten (like cottage cheese rotten) overnight? Whole milk is more expensive to begin with, so it bugs me, but I've never had this problem! Since all their labeling changed we've started waking up to curdled milk. If I buy milk at the grocery store (Kemps) it goes well through the night, and halfway through the next day before it starts smelling funky. We just had a half gallon of Land O Lakes and it was the same way.....so explain to me how the Great Value milk can be so much different....I have a huge note to self now....spend the 30 cents a gallon extra for the good milk! Our grocery store even has coupons for the milk...buy 10 get one free, so it probably turns out to be the same price as the cheaper funky milk. I've told daddy we're going back to making an extra stop when milk is involved, just to avoid dumping chunks out of the sippie cups.

Does that say anything about the quality to anyone else, or am I the only one that's noticed the price jump and lower quality with the new labeling? (canned soup is now super expensive as well...even for the Great Value brand....)

woo hoo...it's been 2 weeks since I last put anything on here! Apparently with the new year I've also gotten lazy....don't get me wrong, it's not like I do nothing, I just have too many things to share, and not enough time to share them in! Syd's quilt is almost finished....that's been taking most of my time in the last week or so....it's so close now that I want to finish it, but it's been the hardest of the whole process, give me 45 more flowers to sew on anyday! I'll share that whole story when it's finished. The biggest news will have to wait a little longer....so for now, more on Syd (isn't that why you come here anyway?)

I FINALLY caved about cutting her hair this weekend. I decided it was time when even she had started to brush it out of her eyes. Until now, it was just daddy and I that would sweep it to the side so it wasn't in her face. We tried at a salon that a friend works at but they were booked for the day so we went to the backup....wally....and let me tell you, that was the first and LAST time we will be going there! In fewer than 5 minutes they took a few snips off her bangs, a slice off the back, and charged 10 bucks! I will be cutting her hair myself from now on! If I can do hubbys without him losing any vital facial features, I can definately do hair that's LOTS longer! I'm more upset that it turned out exactly like I asked it not to. I hate the straight across bangs that kids run around with, I wanted her hair to look like it hadn't been cut and still be cute and feathery...instead....

they ruined my poor baby! She apparently knows it, as she refused to take a picture! She's definately not my sweet little baby anymore, even though she refuses to be 2....still to this day!

Brr! Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, it gets to 30 below! Come back global warming! So in lieu of heading out this weekend like we were trying to make plans for the 3 of us hunkered down and stayed in Huron all weekend. I partook in one of the nice after christmas sales and got a new pretty for the front yard next year. This year we had nothing, by the time our snowmen showed up the ground was too frozen to try and get them outside! Next year we will have 3 me-maws (in Syd's terms) and a Santa in a helicopter buzzing around the front yard. The best part of the santa is he was only 12 bucks! Not bad at all when he started at 99! I'm still working on a nice tall tree for our nice tall ceilings, but haven't persuaded enough for that one yet (i'll wait for more off then try again) New years we had invites to a couple of places but don't know people well enough yet to find a sitter, so had fewer choices, and instead chose to spend the night just us 3. Sydney went bowling for her first time!

Minus complete terror at the beginning she went on to bowl 2 games! We settled on helping her get her ball down the lane after the first few, and especially after one that she did all by herself made it down there, didn't knock a pin over, survived the cleanup, then came back down to her at the other end of the lane. Oh the times you wish you had a video camera with. Daddy did a whole lot of head shaking in disbelief and all I could do is laugh! I've never seen it done! When I mentioned the idea to daddy he thought I was nuts wanting to take a 2 year-old bowling, but she almost beat him one game! And don't you dare try to help her carry her ball, she manhandled all 6 pounds by herself, and tried to take on my 15 pounder! Not bad for our first New Years out in 3 years! We were home in bed long before midnight too...