Six Months and Crawling!

How do I have another mobile child already?!
She's eating sweet potatoes, she loves them.
Still no signs of teeth...
Still the happiest baby on earth.
LOVES her big brother. (Who, by the way, carried her all the way upstairs yesterday to my horror...I left the two of them downstairs to change Evey's diaper, and a few minutes later he pops in the door, "Mommy, I'm right here, I brought Addy for you.")
Loves bath time.
Favorite toy is a pink Nubi silicone teething ring.
Naps at least twice a day.
Usually wakes up happy.
Loves her blanket.
Gets super excited over food. *note to self, get a video of that*
And today (9/17/2010) she pulled herself up to standing!

I heart Faces Week 37 "Vroom Vroom" challenge!

Unfortunately, this series of pictures is lost on a computer with a crashed mother board. Sad Day...I had to hotlink it from my facebook. I don't know if that is allowed but if not..Oh, well..I still think the picture is hilarious. =)

Who Likes Mondays?

Not I....not this Monday anyway.....

Today was long...and challenging. The morning started with a headache, 2 crying toddlers, and a Parmesan cheese incident.

I could tell the day was probably not going to improve. I was right.

Addyson was awesome though. She slept most of the day so I could deal with her naughty brother and sister.

Ben and Evey have been really fighting a lot these last few days. Now that Evey can talk more, they yell at each other and they get in each other's faces, and now we've even started the occasional hitting.

I don't really know what I'm supposed to do, so sometimes I let them have at it, other times they get time outs..and many days I just separate them for periods of time. That seems to help.

Ben is always concerned with what Evelyn is doing, eating, looking at, playing with , drinking..etc. He always thinks he NEEDS to be doing that too..but if he is doing something that he doesn't want her to do, she'd better not go near him. It's frustrating, we're really working on sharing here!

Most of the time they play nice together. I'm still a little frustrated from the events of the day, so I'm probably doing more venting here.

The good parts of the day...grocery shopping was good. No one cried, or whined at all. The kids played outside in the evening when the sun came out...they both ate all their dinner...Evey asked to go pee on the potty 4 times today. Ben learned to use the Swiffer Sweeper Vac, he loved it and now he wants to "use the dreen baccoom" all the time. So that's cool. =) I ate a Reese's Pumpkin.

Well..it's 11:30...guess it's time for me to head to bed. Tomorrow's a new day...let's see what it brings!

I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
Psalm 121:1-2

My Own Little Farmhouse Table and Chairs

If you want to see all the progress and forget the boring details below Click Here

So...a few posts back, I showed you the wood we purchased to build our secret project...It's finally done, and it really only took two weekends. Which isn't bad considering our work space was our drive way and we had three kids under foot!

It all started right before our Michigan vacation when I came across a blog post by little bits of bliss. I was totally impressed by her creativity and wanted something similar for my house. Then, on vacation we wondered into Pottery Barn and saw the Hyde Dining Table. I loved it! But $700 for a table without chairs is a bit much for our budget..

So..we came home from our trip and I continued to scour Craigslist for something I could turn into my treasure. After a few months of searching and finding nothing and a little inspiration from Ana White's Knock Off Wood, we decided to take matters into our own hands.

My husband is a talented builder. He can just look at something and copy it. He liked some of the plans at Knock Off Wood, but ultimately we decided to go with our own design. Rick wanted to be able to take the legs off the table for when we move..etc. So he looked at how our coffee table was built and modified the design for a dining table. =)

So...We headed to Home Depot, picked up 4 sixteen ft long 2x6's and 1 sixteen ft 2x4. We cut them to make the table top and the apron. We also got a 10 foot 4x4 (like a mail box post) for the legs. Then we bought hardware, stain, and polyurethane...

After the sawing and piecing, we set to work hammering, chiseling, pounding, and adding all the character we wanted. I loved this part because the kids got to help and it really helped to make the table our own.

COST: We bought everything from Home Depot..because We can do it...they can help. =) (and they give military a 10% discount...)

• $38.88 - Lumber



• $16.02 - Hardware (screws, nuts, washers, bolts)



• $19.94 - Pre-Stain (because pine is a soft wood) & Stain ( Minwax Dark Walnut)



• $42 - Polyurethane (to seal and protect) We bought a gallon, but only used about a quart. (Economy size fore future projects!)

Grand Total = $116.84

Now...after we started on the table I was still searching Craigslist daily for chairs. Finally, after months of searching, I found the chairs I wanted and they came with a very heavy marble topped table. Sweet Day!

This table and chairs came in a very hideous light oak color, so I completely sanded the first chair and then I stained it. When it was dry, I decided I didn't like the way oak stained and we opted to paint the chairs black and leave the seats stained to make them look more like they matched the table. This craigslist find cost us $165. We painted the bottom of the marble top table black also and haven't decided yet if we want to sell it or keep it.

Anyway...WE LOVE our farmhouse table and chairs. I really couldn't be happier and it's even sweeter that Rick and I built it from scratch together. =)

...

It's Ben awhile. hehe (yeah, okay, that was lame...)

I was attempting to get some cute shots of Addyson, since she's almost 6 months old...But Ben always says, "It's my turn, Mommy." Then he gets in the shot and never smiles. Stinker.

Today, I was supposed to do laundry. I did 5 loads. Still not all the way done. Ew. I don't know how I let it get backed up so much. I hate laundry. Every time the dryer beeped today I had to keep telling myself that folding wasn't so bad. It didn't work. I never used to mind doing laundry..but with a family of five, it just piles up too quickly!

The secret project has been completed, but I can't blog about it until it's decorated. =)

We still have 2 other projects in the garage to finish. Including Ev's big girl bed.

We bought her mattress on Monday and tonight is her second night on the mattress. We've got it on the floor and she likes that she can just hop out whenever. So, I think it will be easier once we actually have the bed finished and it's up off the floor.

In other news...I'm not ready for the rainy season. It's just so blah. The sun came out for a bit today (that's normal)...but it's just dreary and makes me feel yuck.

Anyway......bedtime!