Ok, so it's been almost 3 months, life has been absolutely nuts, and I'm still in the middle of one BIG project. Fortunately I remembered to grab the camera from upstairs and don't much feel like working on house projects today so I decided to finally post Haddie's first birthday pictures. 

Our little bug turned 1 August 6 (see how far behind I am!) 

She turned one on her own terms, independent, adorable and toothless!

She now has 6 chompers that she "sprouted" over a period of about 3 LONG weeks. My baby was cranky, really really cranky about those teeth!

Anyway, here you go!

You can tell how unsure she was at first (she's totally girly and doesn't really care for getting dirty) then decided the frosting was too good to waste. I waited to give her the big cupcake until it was just us girls at home so we didn't create a big mess with a house full of people, but again she wouldn't just rip into it, she took a few tastes then was done....such a little neat freak!

Well, with everything except dirt that is....she eats dirt like candy....dirt of all things!

In honor of little miss birthday girl this will be in pink...to match the rest of her party. 

I can hardly believe my sweet little thing is already a week away from one year old! 

She's got spunk, smiles constantly, and is determined to do her own thing....well everything except walk that is, it's easier to squeal until her big sis comes and gets her. I don't know how many times a day I tell Syd to put the baby down that she's not a toy.

Haddie absolutely adores everyone that will smile at her, hold her and play with her. She has gorgeous blue eyes that melt you, just like big sis and is the lowest maintenance person in this house as long as she's not hungry, dirty or tired, but will let you know with auntie Caley's blood curdling squeal if she's not happy about something.

Here's to my itty bitty birthday girl! 

It's so much easier with kids that don't know you/will listen to you!

Syd didn't understand the concept of she's the oldest, she can sit and smile for periods of time that Haddie can't, so she needs to sit pretty while I try to wrangle a smile and a sitting position out of her sister...

Here's a few NEW pictures, like hot off the press...and I will start printing them at the other place in town after the runaround I got at the big store...absolutely rediculous!

It's amazing what a roll of sweetarts gives you!

I'm home, but it feels like part of me is still back in the mountains somewhere...

What a trip! It was absolutely gorgeous out in the mountains, we hit 3 states other than our own at some point. Only 3 of the 5 of us were carsick at some point. Average sleep per night=4 hours. Awesome hotel "suite" to keep the kids entertained in. Mountain views everywhere you look. One rock, lots of little girl souvenirs later and more gas than I think I have put in the Suburban to date and we're home. I still have piles of laundry in the basement, mostly because I've been too tired to think about all the trips up and down the stairs...thank you lack of sleep! 

Morale of the story...I'd be in the first Suburban going that way to do it all over again. I don't know why people move out of the mountains. Everywhere you look is green and gorgeous. The air smells of nothing but clean and trees. The water, although rushing, is crystal clear. There are more animals than humans in most places...and everyone you meet is kind. Yeah, absolute perfection. Then there's the roads. Pavement...perfect, they're kept up, it's the path you follow that's the problem. I'm happy to admit the windey little road through the bottom of some very popular mountains had me seeing more than one yellow line, and I was probably the shade of one of the trees we kept passing. A 40-mile trip took us almost 3 hours if that gives you a hint. You no more than got up to 50mph and were slowing back down for 3-4 curves back to back...uggh! I'm getting woozy just thinking about it!

Ok, so to the pictures, these are from my phone cause I didn't feel like going through the hundreds on my camera yet!

Name those beautiful peaks! We could see them from Laramie and I wanted to get to them so bad I bribed both drivers to keep going a particular direction...

And this one is past those beautiful peaks. There are very few places you'll find ice covered lakes and streams at the end of June, and we just happened to find one of them. I hardly took my eyes off the outside because every turn you went around it got more beautiful. I could live there easy...the problem would be the lack of every modern convenience you can think of!

Thank you Colorado for the amazing pictures!

Were officially a traveling circus! 3 1/2 hours got us to valentine nebraska where we ate and were totally unsatisfied with our meals...our food was mostly cold and the portions for the price were rediculous....maybe that was just our attitude after waiting over an hour for food in a restaurant with 20 people in it. Way to start the trip out well! Thank the lord for smartphones and lots of room for toddlers to run their energy off, after all what does a place that makes you wait that long for food expect! Arrival at reStaurant 7:00 pm...departure 9:00pm...and the journey continues were up 5 full (well sort of) bellies and two crabby babies that have been strapped in too long...only 6 1/2 hours to go! iPhone in hand Laramie here we come! Maybe when I haven't driven half the trip and have some sleep I can figure out how to post pictures with my beloved iPhone....to be continued

Project 1...check! (that was the playhouse)

Project 2...check!

That was this fine piece of workmanship. I actually had to have a little help with this one.

The headboard is only a few inches shorter than I am, and outweighs me...I have all I can do to scoot the frame myself without any part of the bed in it!

So it's a little taller than I had envisioned, and the footboard is a little taller than I had envisioned but it sure is pretty! The master bedroom finally looks like a bedroom instead of a bachelor pad with the bed just thrown on the floor. I finally sleep higher off the ground than my baby...and the blue isn't so overwhelming anymore! I think I can finally say MY room is about finished, needs a few more things on the wall over the bed, but other than that it's about done...oh and a ledge in the windowsill...

It's only the last room in the house to be finished! 

Next up for the list that never ends....

Bathroom vanity, and get the trim cut and finished already! 

And I suppose since I'm so quick now that I have the process down get the ugly oak trim out of the last 2 windows in the house and replaced with sheetrock and a nice ledge...

If those two weren't so necessary it would totally be Syds Kitchen but that got put down further when the basement flooded so she's been making due seeing how many of her toys she can pack into the inside of her playhouse and still fit in herself! 

See, the list just never ends. And you think stay at home moms have it easy!

I"ll be the first to admit I'm out of time these days. Hopefully the rat race is over for a few weeks so I can finish up some of the projects that are laying around half started....biggest of which is my new king size bed! Next in line is a bathroom vanity for guests in the new basement. Yep, only a month overdue...So I've been really busy!

Here's what you all come here for anyway....notice the personality differences when you look through the photos, you can really see it!

This one of Syd cracks me up, it's actually a fairly accurate representation of her...baby medusa! She flat out refused to look at me so this is a side view of her. 

This is Syd's new pride and joy. We couldn't find one garage sale-ing so daddy went to wally and brought this home one sunday afternoon, and you could not find a happier baby on the block!

And this is my latest creation. Lil' sis wanted something different for graduation, so this is what we came up with...ok so it was more me than her, but she picked the colors! This little baby holds close to 100 cupcakes! and the zebra pattern was hand painted on the cake by yours truly! It's supposed to have a cute little bow with it but humidity and food don't mix well, something about 2 inches of rain in 2 days makes for a hot sticky weekend!

Oh, I almost forgot...today is the last day, so if you're reading this can you help out my little cutie?!! Hadleigh is in the local cutest baby contest. Huronregional.org has a contest going on that you can visit and vote for your favorite....Please vote for Hadleigh!

I'm done....done with a lot of things actually...read into it as you desire, I know you will!

The biggest project and the most beneficial for me is the one that comes to mind right away!

 HERE IT IS!!

Well, minus curtains, a kitchen for inside and the cute little door that I envision yet, but it's busy season in this house.

Ok, so we know I live in South Dakota, we know what happens here...I started this in march, so the majority...ok 99.9% of it was built in my kitchen. It's open, the slider isn't used in the winter and there's no good spot for a table, but there was a nice big open area calling out for a playhouse. Yes, this mom is a serious over achiever! It was built without much more than lifting and "how's it feel...smooth enough?" during the sanding. I'm unbelievably proud of this one....would build another one if the price was right to do so....and not change much. Ok, so honestly I'd probably sell this one cause I WILL NOT do another closet, that thing was a logistical nightmare...building, sanding...painting...assembling...everything! 

 And with 2 walls up Syd has already moved in....and was told that she had to be super careful, it was only clamped together...she played in it like this for a good week while I assembled more walls and waited for more wood. 

 Mostly complete, and taking up more of the kitchen every second

And the most time consuming part of the entire process...Literally! The painting! 

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask me, I'll do my best to answer! 

It's taller than the plans at http://ana-white.com that I referenced for a few parts, just so I knew my oldest darling would get more than a years use out of it...the railings are taller too, it's completely 1x6 boards up the front.   Thanks to Ana and the PB kids catalog for inspiration, and a lot of imagination and making decisions as I went!

So this mom is working some serious cool points...

The basement is starting to look like a trash collection with all the miscellaneous toys spread through it, so I'm building something for the girls that Syd won't outgrow a year after she gets it...will hold toys, and will hold their attention for more than a minute at a time...bonus on all three!

I should wait until it's finished to show it off, but it's so darn cute I just can't help it! Playhouse/bed...or in our case just plain playhouse, with an upstairs and a downstairs, and as soon as it's finished a big girl kitchen to match. Something about my oversize toddler doesn't fit well with the plastic kitchens. I promise to show you the finished product when it gets that far but here's the sneak peek...

Sydney learned something new this weekend...

Mom and dad aren't the only ones that can have fun with the 4-wheeler. The neighbor had his 3 girls here this weekend, and all of them were outside playing in the abundance of fresh fluffy snow....when daddy said we should put the girls on a sled behind the toy...he was in the house with the baby, and I was in no mood to injure someone elses' children so their dad took the toy and the girls and all four of em were riding somewhere....2 in the sled and 2 on the back. Syd had an absolute blast! So much so that after we forced her to lay down for a while and rest the first thing out of her sleepy little mouth was I want to sled daddy....so out we went again!

Notice how much the pooch has grown?

I did it....I finally figured out a stool I like....and I can make all 4 of 'em for less than I could buy just 1! Thanks to www.Ana-White.com again ...she had the plans for a chair, I took the plans and went like a runaway train. If you're handy and like them let me know and I can give you the changes I made to them! The base is awaiting a sander and stain, but on top of being way too cold, me being way too useless yet, and the girls not napping I had to make sure I liked the look before I spent too much time on it....just to be torn apart like the last one.

Hadleigh a few days ago....she can hold herself up now and is a pro at sitting by herself.

And a second when Sydney felt lovable.

Now here's my make of the week. I was getting super dizzy being up and doing stuff around the house from having the kidney stone treatment, so I hauled out the sewing machine and decided to take it easy on the couch. Syd picked this cake out of the Pottery Barn Kids catalog a while ago....and there was no way I was paying $40 bucks for it. So a few hours later, a couple sheets of felt and a fancy stitch or two we had a cake! Watch for this, it just might end up in my etsy shop...when I have a few minutes that is!

I'm back! So it's been over a month, and it's been incredibly crazy the entire month and a half!

I'm officially down one kidney stone, and the doctor wants to repeat the procedure two more times to which I directly replied that he was nuts! I was so out of it after the first shot at the big one that I'm not signing up for that again in the near future. I figure if they're not causing pain and not compromising my kidney's they can stick around for a bit.

On to the next order of business....it was warm out yesterday, REALLY warm out, and the puppy just happened to find the old dog's favorite digging spot, I swear there is something buried under our house that compels the dogs to dig out the corner! She best be getting it out of her system before my flowers come back to life!

And now everyones favorite two little girls!

Haddie is 6 months in this one...

Mom's creative genius to keep big sis at bay, and keep the toys within reach...

Oops...sorry baby, you're sideways! Haddie with her first cheeto

And two very sleepy girls...so busy playing they couldn't make it to a comfy piece of furniture

Now that you're caught up I'll try and keep up too. As long as the craziness stays at bay for a while!