It's now race to the finish, ok, so maybe not race! We had an awesome productive weekend even with all the rain. My garage sale started out with a bang friday morning, and then moved on to please, come in, out of the rain! Even with the nearly 2 inches of rain in 2 days we managed to get rid of almost everything! We started with 10 totes, a few LARGE boxes, and miscellaneous stuff strewn about the house and garage. I began setting tables up a week in advance to try and squeeze everything in the garage, made a last minute trip to the store with grandma for one more table, and magically almost everything fit. I had a 2 car garage plum FULL of stuff to get rid of. Final tally on what's left....3 totes....yes THREE!!! And a couple of the big things that didn't sell really don't bother me, I can store them for a year, or use them in other ways for a year and try again! SO that leaves me with enough stuff gone and enough cash to do what you say? Well....buy baby stuff and a new lawnmower! I couldn't wait any longer for the mower, so we brought one home saturday night when I was sick of sitting in the garage and shut the door....Welcome new friend! We looked at sears, they no longer carry what hubby wanted....looked at runnings, I didn't want to pay the price....went back to runnings saturday, met the nicest guy in the store who convinced me I'd be able to operate the new honda mower no problem. I was even the first to start it....no more pulling on the cord 10 times before takeoff....first pull, and it's self propelled, a little too self propelled....if you aren't careful you could easily go on a jog while mowing!

Oh, and hubby decided that the front yard looked awful and borrowed a tiller from the neighbor....he was only supposed to be tilling up flower beds to make our yard look less new house and more someone lives here....apparently the front yard needs a lived in look as well, it's now pure mud! Morale of the story, be careful what you ask for! I do have a place for flowers now though, unfortunately it's going to be a while before I dare walk out front to plant any! The pickup was stuck in the front yard after all the rain, and miracuously only one person was dumb enough to go past the dead end sign and get stuck during the garage sale!

I promise I'll get pictures done up here shortly, no rest for the wary, still LOTS of stuff to do!

So here are a few of the finished product. LOVE LOVE LOVE the ones that show of his red hair! I would kill for his haircolor, there's just something about red hair! I have no idea which of the photos they will choose, but everyone has orders to pick them out then get them back to me so I can hurry up and wait for them....(aka, order them) As bad as the light was the day we took the photos most of them were salvageable, including the first in which poor baby brother looked like an alien. Ok, so maybe I shouldn't call him baby brother anymore, I have to look up to the little fart! Like a foot up, ok, so maybe it's not that far, but I still feel short next to him and I'm really not that short! How sad it's going to be to see him walk across the same stage I walked across....MANY years ago (ahem...10...ahem) Super proud of him, even though I'll miss him dearly when he takes off to Wyo Tech in September. YES...WYO TECH!!!...another thing I couldn't be prouder of! 

I promise I'll post some of our recent pictures soon, I just have a list of stuff to do that trumps pictures!
Things officially checked off the to do list...clean garage, finish Cole's Senior Pictures, Haircuts for 3 of the 5 in the house, Price Garage Sale Stuff....next up...a little paintin' and a garage sale, then to work on a new "buffet" style entertainment center to get the buttons out of Syd's reach as well as a few other ideas I have...oh, and a new lawnmower! Here's me on Saturday....I hate the yard Syd, can mommy mow? "mommy.....mowder!" I finished half the yard no problem, decided I needed a break and was going to let daddy finish...Moving on a few hours...."I can't stand having the back yard half mowed!" Syd, find your chair to watch again....and it went downhill from there! In my opinion I wasn't overworking the mower, I wasn't even breaking a sweat, however the mower had a different idea! Chris was laughing at me, I was so ticked off I was ready to drive to Mitchell at 7pm and break into Sears to get a new mower, and Syd was watching in awe. I seriously could have chewed the grass off faster with my teeth! Our awesome neighbor (same one with the big snowblower) was kind enough to laugh and add his 2 cents also...."Wanna borrow a mower"..."no thanks, I'm going inside to have a discussion about this damn thing with Chris" So....to make a long story shorter....I spent almost 2 hours doing a job that had it gone as well as the first half should take no more than 45 minutes! And that's with a Marci powered push mower! Unfortunately, it'll probably have to get used again before the next appointment in Mitchell, so plug your ears if you hear me screaming! At least I wasn't the only one fuming though, you should have seen the smoke from little orange! Man, am I glad hubby decided to drown the yard in fertilizer too....aiyiyi!

Tah-Dah...

Meet the little alien. I'm still disturbed by the lack of ears/eyes/mouth....features in general. I was reassured that it's normal at this point....either that or the baby is going to look like it's father! As cool as the 4D pictures are, I was less disturbed by the 2D photos that go along with them, at least in those the baby looks like it has normal features! And the survey says, you're still not going to know what it is...Grandma was here this weekend, and saw the pictures of the legs, but even the ultrasound tech had to pull out all his tricks to get him/her to show us what we wanted to know. This one is a little spitfire, just like big sis Syd. Enjoy my little space creature!

I'm giddy again! Like the he he kind of giddy. We found out what the baby was yesterday, but don't think you'll be able to get it out of us! Unless that is daddy slips. You can go ahead and ask Syd, but she won't give you a straight answer either...bonus! She knows there was a baby on the screen, and she knows what we said the baby was, but asking her results in a mixed frustrating answer....she starts with one, and moves on to the other, going back and forth. We tried out a new vehicle yesterday too, but after sitting in the dealership getting no where with our questions I checked out halfway through and said absolutely not, no matter what kind of price you can give me! You know it's a bad sign when the salesman won't even give you an answer to how much....and that should have been our cue to exit then and there, but instead we sat...and sat...and sat. Luckily another guy had mercy on us and got to work, and we did more stuff in the last 30 minutes than we did the first hour and a half. And what did I learn about my preferences? NOTHING! Hubby told me it wasn't the smartest idea to pick a brand by the comfort of the front seat...there's definately a winner in that category, so I had to start adding up plusses and minuses for both "brands" so far, the ford is winning....much to mr. chevy's dismay! I'm more careful about this one, because if we choose not to lease (which for our mileage and history is looking like it could be a good idea) this new vehicle is going to stick around probably for good....so I need to make sure it's exactly what I want, no settling. Once I pick I won't be able to complain about lack of room, or awd, I'll just complain every time I pull up to the gas pump, which with my job isn't all that often, so it's a tradeoff, the space I want for the fortune it costs to fill. This could be a long process! On a happier note, daddy is no longer scared to death of twins....I tried bribing the ultrasound tech, but the very first picture only showed one little alien, so hubby took a big breath and said "whew!" Which means I have all the time in the world to pick my new vehicle, even if the baby comes before I decide it just becomes LOTS more crowded and difficult to maneuver kids in the one I have! I'll post ultrasound pictures later, so stay tuned for those!

I'm tickled pink! MY BED....ok, Syd's bed has been featured on Ana's bragging section of her blog....yes, little us, from the middle of South Dakota....are on an Internationally known blog! I was super excited to see an email in the inbox when I signed in this morning from the coolest mom herself....Ana White...she has totally inspired me to get to work now that it has a decent chance of staying warm out. Granted, I have a few must do's before I can seriously get to work on this....Finish Cole's senior pictures, Garage Sale to reclaim the rest of the garage (we seriously have half a double garage full of stuff to sell already, and not everything is even out there yet!), clean the car inside....in hopes of upsizing soon....paint the laundry room, bathroom and Syd's crown moulding.....Uh oh, this list is getting kinda long! Oh yeah, and I'd love to have a few of Ana's pieces built before lets say the middle of July when I'm not in the mood to do anything anymore. We all know after the middle of August I won't be doing anything fun for a few months! Oh yeah, and top of the list is the ultrasound...scheduled for Wednesday...daddy Syddie and I will know what the new baby is, but you'll have to beg, and hope we slip, we're keeping it to ourselves (well mommy anyway, daddy and Syddie are normally the ones that spill the beans)

So we decided to try something a little different....My blackberry was on its last life in the last 24 hours....so it needed to be dealt with. Every time I put it down or picked it up wrong the thing would turn itself off. SOO....instead of waiting a few more months (like we had originally planned on) to sync up the renewal dates on my phone and hubby's phone we had to bite the bullet and take care of it today. Must have been the hanging up on when I tried picking up his call this morning.... and I came home with a spiffy new LG touch screen phone that I'm still completely unsure about. You need a college education just to figure out how to operate this thing!

While we were there we started looking at the wireless cards, and learned they were free....so we took one of those home as well! The price is actually less than we are paying for our DSL through the cable company and we get unlimited usage with our smart phone plan (along with unlimited texting, internet and so forth on our phones). And to think hubby wasn't sure about wanting the plan when I fell in love with the blackberry 2 years ago! I'll keep you updated on this venture. So far I haven't been able to overload its' capabilities and I've had 3 internet screens open....and it's keeping up with every DSL provider we've had as far as opening the screens....may just be a better deal than we thought. Oh, other perk to it....with a laptop you can access internet wherever you have cell reception (and even more spots since data uses less of the network) so no more stuck to cables, or within x number of feet from the wireless router in the house....double bonus! 

Now to continue my search for cable....I've actually been looking to change that for quite a while now, there's no reason that cable and internet should cost us 100 bucks a month, is there? 

I admit it....I've been slacking off on almost everthing lately! I finally spent some time on the house this morning....and vacuumed up half a dog....and 3/4 of a cat! Welcome to our fuzzy home is what the front door should say. We made an awesome accomplishment this weekend, my only regret being not doing this project while hubby was at work! So last week when I stumbled across Knock Off Wood I fell in love with their toddler farmhouse bed (along with a LOT of other projects) but the toddler bed won first on the list to get Syd off the floor. 

And voila...here it is! 

The lavender looks better than I was expecting in the hot pink room, unfortunately it doesn't really matter if it matches or not as Sydney sleeps in our room yet. She was so excited she kept trying the bed out downstairs while it was being painted, so she was thrilled to get to use it last night. We strayed from the plans a little bit....the headboard is shorter, the corner posts are 4" wide and 3" deep, and we left out one of the boards that lays across the top, but either way I'm totally in love with this little bed and plan on making a large version of it when we replace our bed! Thanks to Ana at Knock Off Wood for the inspiration and plans!

Just to show you the size in relation to Sydney...She can fall out in the middle of the night and still only fall a little over 6 inches, which wouldn't even wake her up (super deep sleeper!) We have a rail built to put on the bed, but it needs sanded and painted yet, and if she continues to do so well, might not even get put on. 

Since I'm feeling inspired at the moment, these are my latest sewing adventures...if you haven't already seen them...

They are adorable on, but my model quit on me, so we had to improvise! They are available in any size and MANY colors! Hopefully I'll find the time to get the the idea I have for a boys' version soon! 

Oh what a week! Our house expanded by 4 feet on saturday! We stopped at the Beadle County Humane Society saturday morning and two of the four of us in this house fell in love (and it wasn't even me!)

Meet Mariah...

The picture is fuzzy cause the crazy fuzzball won't take pictures! She's the hairiest dog I've seen in a long time, but magically sheds less than the cat....only stipulation, her hair is like ours...must be brushed or will snarl! 

Things I've learned since saturday.....Mariah will eat Syd's poop.....she's a finicky eater....she forgets Syd sleeps on the floor next to the bed and bounces on her every morning....the cold doesn't bother her (neither does the rain)....she prefers to sleep in a kennel (bonus!)....she can't be somewhere in the house that she can't see you (high maintenance!)....She adores Syd and loves to play....the cats at the shelter didn't bother her but sees Tom as a moving target and a chase must ensue....Will eat cat food if left alone with it....for some reason won't poop outside (yet....this WILL change SOON)....constantly worries about Syd....isn't bothered by the vaccum (unlike Syd and Tom)...unfortunately has had table scraps, and isn't afraid to take food from Syd....AND IS POTTY TRAINED!!! 

I'm sure the list could get longer, I'm just going to stop there. Daddy and I have wanted a puppy for years....and with owning instead of renting we've really been getting anxious. My intent was to find a AKC Brittany Spaniel puppy that could be trained to hunt when the weather straightened out. THEN we found out we were having another baby so I was debating about waiting until the next one was a little less maintenance to get a puppy. I still want the puppy....Daddy and Syddie fell in love! Don't get me wrong, the more she's here (haha...24/7....with me) the more I like her....I MISSED HAVING A POOCH! AND she is already 99% housebroken which is a total plus for the potty trainer (me) and is for the most part past the chewing stage. So, with all the caution I had saturday it's fading to liking her around, and she's a whole lot less expensive than the new puppy would have been. Think 400 for the puppy....150 for spaying....50 for shots....who knows what in items chewed up....yeah, definately cheaper! Now if only she would drop her affection for Syd's babies and stuffies, those are really the only things she goes for of Syd's toys (we have however kept everything else picked up just in case)

In other news we tried crown moulding in Syds room....1 novice, with me saying hold on....let me see if I can find directions somewhere = moderate disaster! For our first attempt it turned out not so bad. Before we try it again, we will be finding a pneumatic finishing nailer, the trouble to use a hammer and nails just isn't worth it...not to mention the pain! After lots and lots of head scratching and daddy cursing with oodles of tiny pieces cut at angles to try and figure out the corners I searched for instructions and voila....we got it....ok so I got it....I still had to instruct daddy what he was going to do wrong and he didn't believe me until we got the pieces upstairs and oops....mommy was right for the second time in one day! After all the cussing and frustration we still decided to build Syd a bed to hopefully cure the bouncing.....and I came across a gold mine!

If you're at all interested in wood projects this is the most amazing site I've ever seen! www.knockoffwood.blogspot.com 

And it gives me hope...everything is built by a girl! And it's all spelled out well enough I think with the new saw in the garage I could do the toddler farmhouse bed for Syd all by myself! Not to mention the 5 other things I spotted and want! Definately worth your time! 

Going...going...hopefully GONE! I finally deemed it nice enough yesterday and today to venture outside with Syd. The wind was fairly calm, it was nice and sunny, and was actually fairly warm, so out we went. Yesterday we spent most of our time picking up the garage, digging out the 4-wheeler, and putting the climbing toy together....ok, so that was me. Sydney spent her entire time outside playing in the snow. She was thrilled that she got to dig in the snow and "scoop" it like daddy does. I do have to say, I didn't quite see her brave enough to walk across one of the snowbanks though.

I turned around and she was queen of her very own mountain! 

Then it was time to see the neighbors new puppy...she heard a bark, and started squealing like she does every time she gets excited. Daddy came home a while ago and told us the neighbors had a new little puppy that was going to get big, but never said what it was.....I'M IN LOVE!!!! I already warned them not to come looking at my house if he disappears....I SWEAR I wouldn't grab him and run! What is he you ask.....he's a twin to my baby, except a boy! I too saw him running through the yard tuesday and almost passed out. It's a baby German Shepherd. Looks identical to my baby Rylie except he has a "spout" and his ears stand up. Daddy later fessed up that he knew what it was, just wasn't going to tell me....Jerk! So we went over and saw him yesterday and here's how Syd fared with the puppy....

Luckily when his feet met her shoulders I had a good enough grasp on her coat to keep her from plopping right down in the mud. As much as I didn't want to wash our coats, he is absolutely adorable! I warned his "daddy" that he'd be cute and loveable for another month or two then....WATCH OUT! Rylie went on a growing spurt and I don't know that she stopped until she was about 2! She went from a cute little 6 pound thing to almost 100 lbs in what seemed like a week! His eyes got big when I told him this....he plans on keeping the little guy (hehe) in the house! Now that's breaking a house in! Fortunately for us we're pretty set on getting a brittany spaniel puppy (which daddy says will be outside....haha!) and should have less house destroyed! Daddy says he's always wanted a hunting dog....I just want a dog again period....so we went with one we knew would hunt, but wasn't outrageously big....wether he knows it or not....or accepts it or not...it's GOING to be in the house! He's already outvoted! Watch out Tom, you're going to have to find higher sleeping grounds! 

I'm feeling the warm fuzzies....maybe winter will be over with yet! I'm finally getting the view out of the basement windows back, we can use the patio door again, and it's no longer sub-zero! Oh, we can see grass again too! Syd has been patiently waiting for enough snow to melt in the back yard that we can put her playset together, she looks out the window and points it out every day....maybe by tomorrow we'll be able to make our way through the snowbank to get at it! It was finally warm enough to wash my car without worries of doors freezing shut. I took the christmas lights down (all by myself....I only had to stretch a little bit to reach them. Next job, straighten out the garage and hopefully someday soon shampoo the yogurt off the back seat of my car! I have been patiently waiting for spring to arrive....ok, not so patiently, and it seems like it's finally here! I think we officially live on the messiest street in town too! I get to experience mud bogging every time I go past the end of the driveway....makes me wonder what the rental parking space is like since that was 99% MUD! If you haven't been here lately, it's worth a trip, we've been busy busy with little things in the house!

Here are a few of baby brother I've been working on....with a FEW more to go....

Ha....just wasn't done for the day...so long name...amazing pictures....and work in progress, all rolled into one! I've finally sunk my heels into getting this monster under control. www.dotdotdotdesignsd.blogspot.com ....check it out! Hopefully it'll get updated somewhat frequently as well....and start making some money!

Where has the time gone? I look through pictures of Syd and she seems so big compared to just 6 months ago, and a year ago she was a completely different baby! She's so full of attitude and independence I long for a small part of the baby back. I get by with helping her dress about 3 times a week, otherwise I get screamed at and pushed away. Luckily, she still feels in a cuddly mood a few times a month as well, and we cherish every second...she's never been a cuddly baby!

Here's Syd about a year ago...AFTER the hospital stay, the seizure, and scaring me to death! She's such a happy little peanut, as long as she gets to do things her own way. (I should have known it was going to lead down a dark path!) The thing that gets me the most is the hair...

And here's Syd today....that attitude drives me nuts! Although the picture is darn cute, I'd love.....ok, I'd probably fall over dead, if I got just ONE cute picture of her....to show how she can be. Oh what a difference a year makes! 

I've had to make my way through her clothing at every wash for the last couple of months picking out the stuff that she's unable to squeeze into anymore. Daddy panicked when I mentioned we might not make it to garage sale season with the stash of clothes currently in her closet. Granted, I wasn't exactly thrilled either, it seems like she's wearing clothes a couple of times and then they make their way to the too small pile. I have learned one thing, and I've said it before....the better clothes are worth the price! The "name brand" clothes normally fit true to size, and last a whole lot longer than those you can buy cheaper. We are huge fans of Old Navy, Childrens Place, Gap, Osh Kosh, Nike and have a special spot for the clothes from Shopko and Kohls. As fast as the little weed is growing we're going to be test driving Limited Too shortly! If we didn't find such good deals on the clothes I am able to stash we'd be paying hundreds for these brands new! I am a garage sale addict....ask any member of my family, but when kids are outgrowing stuff faster than you can replace it, it's well worth the time and hassle! 

FYI....The little diva is wearing mostly 4's with some 3T jeans still in the mix for good measure...Hopefully she'll be able to wear all the summer stuff that size yet, or I'll be missing out on a lot of cute stuff, and scrambling to find bigger sizes this spring! Maybe that explains her being off the charts at the pediatricians...he was so proud of her growth chart he had to show it off....even though it wasn't ever news to us. He said he rarely sees kids that are off the charts...over the 100th percentile anymore, and Syd has been off the charts since birth. She's 33 pounds and 32 1/2 inches, so she may be chubby, but she's got more height than most kids her age at the same time. Way to go baby long legs! 

It's official....our taxes are done, and mailed! It's different for us to have to mail the papers, both of us have been e-filing since we had to file taxes! I guess it's worth the wait, especially since we were able to cash in on the stimulus opportunity for our house!

The money must have given me enough energy to get the couch cleaned....FINALLY! I have a love hate relationship with the thing. LOVE the microfiber....sharpie marker comes off with the shampooer...HATE the light color and the recliners! We traded in my purple furniture for something a little more neutral about 2 years ago, and in my opinion should have spent a little extra on a better piece of furniture. If you're going to use something 365 days a year for extended periods the money is worth it! Now that the entire thing is soaked, step one is complete. Step 2 will be ripping all the guts out to fluff them so the boards no longer protrude into vital body parts. My only concern with this whole thing is how many times I'm going to forget I did it and sit down on the soaked cushions....and how many times it will take to learn my lesson!

No new pictures....although I have  to figure out how to get a cute one of Syd pushing Kaelyn around in the little tykes car that's currently saved to my camera instead of memory card....note to self, next time go get the card!

OH, and the snow is melting...FINALLY!!!!

So here's the dish I was eluding to around christmas....For those of you that don't already know this we are expecting!....AGAIN! Although I'm not so sure I'm ready for a second with Syd under the same roof. You'd understand if you've ever seen her with her babies or her poor cousin Jalyn! We've got an ultrasound in about 5 weeks, which means we're right around 13 weeks down the path. The due date is set at August 11, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE be a mild summer! Hopefully it sticks, or someone could very easily be sharing their birthday that month! I think auntie Caley is hoping for early....give you any clue when hers is? We have family birthdays Aug 5, 17, 19 and 25....

We accomplished all kinds of things this weekend, lucky for us, daddy got to spend 3 days at home, so Syd is rather spoiled right now and keeps asking for daddy. He used some of his time to fix 2 more annoyances in the new house....one of them was his very own fault! First up was the bathroom faucet, it's been backwards since we moved in, and we either waited forever for hot water at the faucet, or froze our fingers at the others...how can you manage to only get ONE faucet backwards? After that the dishwasher was up. We had to wait for a dishwasher on back order when we moved, since the one we thought came with the house ran away on us...so daddy got lucky again and had to install the shiny new black dishwasher....unfortunately a culmination of things led to it's demise. After about 3 uses the entire thing came loose from the cabinet, and it's been a game to close it ever since. Although I was used to the trick to close it, it sure is nice having it function properly now!

The last part of the agenda was trying to take pictures of the little demon to coincide with valentines day. She had a super cute outfit for christmas eve services which we never got to, and before the weed outgrows it I wanted a picture. Easier said than done! It was easier to corral 3 of my sisters kids than it was to get Syd to smile....at all! She was in the mood to destroy, the basement that is! I couldn't get her to sit in one spot for more than a minute at a time...so of the 50 or so pictures I snapped, here's the ONLY one of her looking at the camera with half a smile!

We might have finally made it! Syd is going on day 2 with no accidents....she even stayed dry yesterday for nap time....much to daddy's appreciation as she was in his spot on our bed.  Hopefully we can keep going strong!

In other news....we had a death in the house this weekend also!
Syd brought me her puppy one morning last week saying "boke"....it was pluto, one of the toys that gets played with until the batteries go dead when she discovers him in the bottom of the toy box. I took a look at him, and he was definately slacking off....his barker didn't work, his tail didn't work, and the most disappointing part for Sydney were his feet. So...he got put up and I told her we'd have daddy try and fix him when he got home. Well, with mommy brain, I forgot until Friday night, when daddy and pluto sat down in the recliner with a screwdriver. The buttons for him have been taken apart and re-assembled numerous times, mostly to make his barker work again, but the buttons weren't the culprit this time. Here's the pluto we love....

cute little fella....

daddy asked what would happen if he took him apart to try and see if something was wrong inside his body....so he found what looked like screws to get him apart and here's the little fella now...

the pop that made Syd's eyes almost pop out of her head meant pluto wasn't going to be put back together! Our poor little guy! Of course daddy didn't do any more damage than was already done, since he didn't work at all! Looks like mommy has something to look for at garage sales...

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....)