Today I thought I would list the blogs I have in my reader.  Jonathan thinks I have way too many, but I enjoy reading each of them for many different reasons.  I decided it would be nice to break them out into categories.  Some could go in multiple categories, so… anyway, maybe you will find a new place to visit.  I don’t really have many readers myself, but most of these are  very popular sites.  Most of them I have read for several years now.  A few are new to me as I look at ideas for homeschooling someday in the future.  It always helps to see great ideas that I might could prepare for later.  So, here they are.  And, please feel free to make a recommendation in your comments.  I am always looking for a new one to read.

Money Saving/Bargains

These sites often post very similar things,but they are easy to skim through and find some really good deals!

http://freebies4mom.blogspot.com – Freebies 4 Mom

http://moneysavingmom.com – Money Saving Mom

http://likemerchantships.org – Like Merchant Ships – More of ideas to make the most of frugal finds.

http://www.couponing101.com - Couponing 101

http://kingdomfirstmom.com – Keeping the Kingdom First (from DFW area)

http://organicdeals.blogspot.com – Organic Deals and Coupons

http://www.survivingthestores.com – Surviving The Stores  (from DFW Area)

Crafty Places

http://www.skiptomylou.org – Skip to My Lou Love this place…lots of ideas, tutorials and links to other great places

http://pinkandgreenmama.blogspot.com – Pink and Green Mama – great ideas

http://needleinahaystackstitchery.blogspot.com – Needle in a Haystack – Embroidery patterns and ideas..now, if only I would learn!

http://littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com – Little Birdie Secrets – lots of tutorials for all kinds of different things

http://sassypriscilla.typepad.com – Sassy Priscilla’s Craft and Life Journal – If you can ignore her great obsession with Daniel Craig, you can find some neat ideas.

http://www.lollychops.com – Lollychops – has wonderful ideas AND lots of downloadable things for doing it yourself!

http://www.thenester.com – Nesting Place – The Nester has great ideas for home decor and making what you already have work!

http://grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.com – Grosgrain – I will NEVER be able to sew like her, but I love seeing her work and draw inspiration and ideas from her.

http://www.graceviolet.com – Grace Violet – brilliant tutorials and ideas!

http://www.prudentbaby.com – Prudent Baby – I LOVE this place!   It has all kinds of tutorials and ideas for all things baby ( and little ones too).

http://allsorts.typepad.com – Allsorts – a children’s artist who has a love for all things turquoise and red. 

Food

http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen-blog – Tasty Kitchen Blog -One word…yummy!

http://www.bakerella.com – Bakerella – Famous for her cake pops… always has such beautiful, fun, and tasty ideas!

http://www.mysweetandsaucy.com – My Sweet and Saucy – has beautiful cakes and treats and just opened her own store.

http://foodwithkidappeal.blogspot.com – Food with Kid Appeal – lots of encouragement for my picky eater.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking – Pioneer Woman’s Cooking Page – Everything looks so yummy and her cookbook is awesome.

http://www.cakejournal.com – Cake journal – for so many cake making ideas and tutorials.

Homeschooling Ideas

http://totallytots.blogspot.com – Totally Tots

http://prekinders.com – PreKinders

http://mymontessorijourney.typepad.com – My Montessori Journey

http://1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com – 1+1+1=1

http://homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com – Homeschool Creations

http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com – Confessions of a Homeschooler

Moms and Things I can Relate to

http://thehomespunheart.blogspot.com – The Homespun Heart

http://momadvice.com/blog – The Motherload

http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com – Rocks in my Dryer -The day I told Jonathan about this blog he laughed…he loved the title!

http://www.thepioneerwoman.com – Mentioned before for her cooking, but this whole blog is great…she has one on photography, homeschooling, home and garden…she has even written her romance with her husband as a multi-part novel on the site… she is too much!

http://www.passionatehomemaking.com – Passionate Homemaking

http://www.musesofmegret.com – Muses of Megret

Family and Friends

http://buffaloesandbutterflywings.blogspot.com – Buffaloes and Butterfly Wings – college friend Amy and mother to three cute little boys

http://jsnowcarpenter.com – Jonathan Snow Carpenter – my sweet hubby who never posts!  In his defense, he is constantly writing (music, that is!).

http://quirkybee.blogspot.com – Smart, witty friend Denyse  

http://hyattplace.blogspot.com – Elizabeth-she happens to be volunteering in am orphanage in Peru right now- I think that is pretty awesome!

http://pattiesmommydaze.wordpress.com – friend Pattie (met in Colorado) who lives in Kansas with a husband much like mine, two beautiful girls and a big, lovable dog, Kortot. 

http://davidsonden.blogspot.com – my sister-in-law, Lori, who is my go to for all things kiddo these days!! I love her!!!  Oh, and she spends her days caring for three of my nephews and one of my nieces.

http://shepherd03.blogspot.com – Paige has the cutest two little girls and is such a sweet person!!

http://agreaterhand.blogspot.com – I met Jenny through Lori.  We get to see each other at the family birthday parties.    She has three really sweet kiddos!

http://reflectionsjen.blogspot.com – If anyone knows my childhood circumstances, then this might make a little more sense.  This is Jennifer, my step-sister from my mom’s second marriage.  We recently reconnected by way of the wonderful world of facebook.  She has two beautiful girls whom she homeschools.

Other random places

http://withoutwax.tv – Without Wax- Pete Wilson (pastor in Nashville)

http://thebabygardner.com/blog The Baby Gardner’s Baby Bloggie- for all things vintage baby related..neat stuff

Well, there you have it.  Believe it or not, I left out a few that haven’t been posting lately.  I enjoy reading or skimming these every day or two.     Maybe you will find something interesting in some of them.  And don’t forget to give me any recommendations, if you know of one I might enjoy. 

This is the result of my hosting the Sunday School Christmas party.  The guys decided to take a walk around the block to one of the guy’s lot of land.  Somewhere along the way, they must have come up with this idea!  Thanks guys!

Of course, it fits right in with all the other weeds and overgrown things in our yard!

I’ve been doing a little sewing around here.  I thought I would make a few things for Heidi for spring.  Here’s a first attempt at a pillowcase dress.  I got the owl fabric on sale at fabric.com and found the ribbon at Michael’s.  They are made for each other!!!  The little flower clip is another brilliant idea and tutorial from Prudent Baby (one of my favorite blogs I follow).

She was much more interested in eating the ribbons when she found them.

I must say that while I really love the owl fabric and ribbon, this dress did not turn out as well as I had hoped.  I found instructions to make this type of dress all over the net.  I was especially excited when I found a template/pattern for cutting the armhole because I am chicken when it comes to just cutting away on my own.  When I buy fabric, I don’t want to just experiment with it!  So, anyway, I used this pattern that I found (it even came from a magazine publication, so I thought it would be well tested and such!) and the armholes are too small!  And I have little babies!!  So, lesson learned!  Even so, we will wear it because you don’t waste things like this!

The little flower clip made me smile so much!  It went perfectly with the dress and further supports my bad habit of needing to “bow and hat” my girl like crazy!   Since we live it Texas, she fits right in with all the other big bows around.  Heehee!

I’ll share my other projects when I when I get a free minute to take pictures and upload them.  (So, it might be a while )

We have been going and going for the past couple of weeks.  There has been so much going on that my house is a disaster zone!  Please don’t come visit for the next couple of days…if you do, realize the door will only open so far! 

Anyway, last Sunday (February 14th) we had Heidi’s baby dedication.  It was very sweet and I loved that Micah was able to participate.  He felt so important!

A few days later, we decided it was time to introduce Miss Heidi to the wonderful world of food.  She still isn’t sure if she is a fan or not!

But, she does enjoy the spoon itself!

This past week has been spent preparing for the evenstill CD Release Worship Concert Saturday night.  There were SO many technical issues along the way, but the concert went so well!  Praise God!  And, we had a great crowd!  You can purchase the CD for $10 or download the album on a “pay what you like” basis.  Just visit the website for more info.

My little girl is growing up so fast.  I am shocked at how quickly the months have passed by!  Last weekend, Heidi turned 6 months old!

…when you are feeling yucky…

…nothing makes it better like…

UP!

So, Micah became sick on Monday during naptime.  He was so worn out, he fell asleep on the floor much like his cousin did this past week.  It was so pitiful!  Nothing made him feel better than curling up in the living room floor (because Mommy didn’t want him on furniture she might have to clean!) with blankets and watch a new favorite around here, UP.  He finally started feeling normal on Tuesday afternoon.  Unfortunately, Mommy and Daddy were sick by Wednesday night.  Argh!!  I HATE stomach bugs!!  All is well now, thankfully, and Miss Heidi has stayed well despite the craziness.  That makes this mommy rejoice big time!

We went and visited Santa at the Bass Pro shop.   We made the special trip because Santa is free there!  I was very surprised that Micah wasn’t afraid of him.  He shyly told Santa he wanted an Eeyore cake.  Micah spent the entire month of December telling everyone that he wanted Santa to bring him an Eeyore cake.  He was very consistent!  Where he came up with the idea, we’ll never know, but he was sure that was what he wanted.  When asked if there was anything else, he would say popcorn.  I guess my boy is easy to please!

We built gingerbread houses at the church family night.  Micah may have eaten more than he decorated!

We also took a trip for a special family meal together.  Mommy “cashed” in some bonuspoints and got a gift certificate to The Rainforest Cafe.  We also had a nifty coupon, so it was a fairly cheap meal!  Micah enjoyed seeing the elephants try to get Daddy.  Before we were seated by the elephants, we were by the cheetah.  It made Micah very nervous and was not a very interesting part of the place, so we were moved right in front of the elephants!  There’s not a better spot in the place!

We left our goodies out for Santa…he is fond of Sunkist and snickerdoodles or fudge.

(Pardon my exhausted look, but I was, well, exhausted!)  Soon, Micah was in bed and trying to fall asleep so Santa could come.  And, this is what was waiting when Micah got up the next morning…

The Eeyore cake

Micah and Heidi’s presents

And, the stockings!  (one of Mommy’s favorite things)

Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures of Micah opening his packages because I captured that fun on the video camera.  Take my word for it…he had so much fun!  We had Eeyore cake (for breakfast!), and then we packed up and headed to Arkansas.  I will have to do another post on our family visits. 

Well, this week is our week before Christmas.  We are celebrating as a family next Monday morning before heading out later that day to Arkansas.  So, this week is our week of Christmas activities.  Last night, we (Micah and I) made homemade pizza and got to work making the Carpenter family fruitcake.

Jonathan grew up grinding the graham crackers just like Micah did last night.

He had such a great time!  It was hard work for him, but he loved grinding the graham crackers for Mommy.   Afterwards, we put all the components together (after eating a marshmallow or two ourselves) and rolled them up.  Meanwhile, Heidi had some Daddy time at the piano.

Such sweet moments!

I don’t think this is supposed to be a family secret, so here is the recipe if you’d like to try it.

Carpenter Family Fruitcake

1 box of Honey Graham Crackers

1 pkg. marshmallows

1 stick butter

1 cup chopped pecans

1 jar marachino cherries

1 lb. chopped dates (that is two packages, but I will often use just one)

Grind graham crackers in meat grinder or food processor.  Mix in dates, pecans, and chopped cherries (chopped in food processor or chopper).  Melt marshamallows (I do it in the microwave), then melt butter in marshmallows.  Stir; pour over other ingredients.  Stir well.  Use cherry juice to get mixture to appropriate moisture (What is appropriate?  It should be sticky and thick, but stirrable…so, maybe thicker than cookie dough???).

Spoon onto 2 pieces of plastice wrap and roll up into a log.  Refrigerate.  To eat, slice off pieces from the log.

After typing that, I am thinking pictures would really help these instructions…should have thought of that last night!!!

Well, today is the day for The Nester’s Tour of Homes. I tried to pick just a few things to show you, but it was hard to really narrow done everything, so here it is…

Starting in the dining room, I got out my Christmas China.  It makes me happy! I am in love with birds, so these are the perfect dishes for me!  Next, is the dining room tree covered in berries, pine cones, gold and red accents, and birds.

Next, we move to the living room.  Here we have our family tree with all the ornaments Jonathan and I have exchanged over the years, Jonathan’s childhood ornaments made by his Mom, and Micah and Heidi’s ornaments from Mimi.

Here is Micah’s newest ornament, Gepeddo.  This finishes his Pinnochio Storybook set.

And, here’s Heidi’s first ornament,

and her stocking.

Speaking or stockings, here they are hung with care on the mantle.

But, my favorite part of Christmas is the nativity.  This one on the mantle was made by my Granny.

We would always set it up together at the beginning of the Christmas season.  It was always my favorite thing to do.  You can read a little bit more about it here.  We try to focus a lot of our time around here on the nativity and what it means for us.  So, Micah has his very own nativity.

Right now, Baby Jesus and the Doggie play together a lot.

Well, this concludes our little home tour.  It was a little cold, so I forgot to get an outside shot.  So, I will just tell you it is decked with garland and wreaths and small rustic trees by the door.  You’ll just have to take my word for it, though!  Merry Christmas!

So, I have wanted to get back to blogging for a while, but I haven’t been satisfied with my current site. Unfortunately, I use WordPress and it is kind of limiting. I want to switch it over to blogger of something, but I am not really capable of that undertaking. I have to rely on my tech savvy hubbie for that, and right now he is very busy recording and mixing the album for evenstill. So, instead of continuing to wait (like I have been for a month or two), I decided to get over it for now and live with what I have. At this point I would venture to guess that if I had any subscribed readers, they are gone at this point, but I am okay with that. I am starting fresh in some ways. I want to write about different things and make this more about our family and a way to keep a journal of sorts for me and the kiddos.
People ask me all the time, “what do you do during your day (other than child-rearing)? Well, maybe I can add blogging back to the always growing list!
So, for a quick update, Micah turned 3 in October, and in August we gave birth to our daughter, Heidi Corene. It has been an exciting few months. We have adjusted to a new baby in the house and a potty-trained little boy (that was fun!). Here are a few pics to enjoy for now.

Couldn’t you just eat her up?    We go for her 4 month checkup Friday!  4 MONTHS!!  I am not believing how fast this is going.  WAY TOO FAST FOR THIS MOMMY!!!