Ten years ago today,  I married my sweet husband. I got up that morning sort of floating on a cloud.  Ok, that sentence might make you laugh, but I was certainly oblivious to the world around me.  You see, I am a planner… an ‘everything must be perfect and just right’  kind of planner.  I fret over details and panic over the minorest of issues.  But, on the day of my wedding there were so many things going on around me that sort of just seemed like no big deal for me.  That is big for me!  It rained all morning and the church began to leak!  I didn’t seem to care.  There was a breakfast and lunch to be eaten, but I kind of forgot. (I had to have a reception food snack brought to me before I passed out!)   I had no sense of time.

By afternoon, it stopped raining and we had pictures made outside by the beautiful gazebo.  But, before that, I met my future husband in the church chapel.  Evidently, he was a little more panicky.  I was running late, and he had heard I was a bit sick (from not eating).  This made him a little on edge, but the minute we met in the chapel all that went away.  We were so excited for the day ahead (and years to follow).

These past ten years have not been without their troubles,worries, and obstacles, but we have done it all together.  I have loved all that we have experienced (good and bad) together.  We have learned so much about each other.

I have enjoyed watching Jonathan become a Daddy, too.  There is nothing like watching your spouse and his children find pure joy in one another.  It melts a Mommy’s heart.  We are truly blessed with wonderful children.    I look forward to the next ten years (and more).

For our anniversary, my sweet husband will be taking me to Germany.  We went together to Germany during our second year of marriage on a quick little ‘backpacking-train hopping’ tour.  We hope to do some of that again and try to travel light.  For various reasons, we will be going in November, and I can’t wait.  We both have a love for Germany.  We both have a minor in German (though I think we are VERY rusty) and my ancestry comes from there (could you guess that with a name like Schmeckenbecher??).  It is such a beautiful place, and we both enjoy traveling so much and seeing new places.

pictures from our last trip to Germany and Austria

We have had a few trips in the past month and a half!  First, we took a little family vacation to Nashville, TN (about a week and a half before the floods).  We enjoyed visiting the Zoo, shopping in downtown Franklin, eating at popular ‘meat and three’ diners, checking out the downtown Ryman Auditorium, and even making a trip over to Bowling Green, KY to visit our former voice professor, Dr. Pope, and family.  Here are a few pictures from our fun.

We stopped off at Opa’s on the way and on the way back home to break up the long drive…

Then, a few days later we went to visit Grammy in Oklahoma.  She is building a pond, so when we arrived we went to the pet store for Micah to help pick out some fish.  During our visit, we got Heidi’s ears pierced.  I was about her age when mine were pierced.  :)  Uncle Chris and Aunt Lesley came to visit, too, and we ate lots of yummy food made by Grammy and Uncle Chris.

After that, we were home for a week and a half before heading to Mimi and Da’s house in Arkansas.  We went for the Armadillo Festival.  We (Jonathan’s mom, Erin (sis-in-law) and I) were singing our little trio at a luncheon.  :)

I’ve been doing a little sewing….

a nursing cover for a friend (and a matching taggie blanket that somehow didn’t get photographed)

first attempt at a pillowcase dress (had to be taken apart later and reworked!) and Prudent Baby flower hairclip

another pillowcase dress with Daddy and Micah’s favorite fruit  :)

matching sister dresses for a family that handed down so many things for Heidi

Taggie blanket- gift for Baby Kate

taggie blanket for Miss Heidi, she loves it so much (BTW-this fabric is a favorite and discontinued and I can’t find a scrap of it, which makes me very sad because I only had this little piece for her blanket-Feathered Friends by Wendy Slotboom)

a onesie dress with a yoyo flower (tutorial by Prudent Baby-they are the best!)

Heidi’s Easter Dress – very easy until the buttonhole issues…every practice and scrap piece made beautiful buttonholes, but every time I would get going on the actual dress, it would jam up and make a mess.  I pulled it out I don’t know how many times, but if I had to pull one more out, I would have had to remake the dress.  Yep, that bad!  Let’s just say this, I didn’t have the cut the hole too much after the last stitching…the hole was nearly there already.  :(

To be continued……

Time is going way too fast for this mommy!  My baby bird, Heidi, is nine months old today.  It does not seem right that she is that old.  She is growing and learning so fast.  She can now crawl on her knees and sit up for a break before heading out for more fun.  She loves playing with little toys and things.  She loves all the blocks from her shape sorter that big brother handed down to her, but she is more excited by the empty spools mixed in.   She may be getting ready for sewing lessons soon. 

She has said her first word (by our way of thinking).  Daddy may be disappointed, but BaBa is Micah’s name from her, and she says it anytime she wants his attention.  VERY CUTE!

She doesn’t have any teeth (just like her brother),  so we are taking it somewhat slow with finger foods, but she is a very good eater.

Heidi’s silly face

She likes to get our attention with her little snorting face.  She’s  funny and cute and smart…ok, maybe I’m overdoing it!   Anyway, we love her so much, and we are thankful to God for blessing us with her.  We love you, little birdie!

More than Colored Eggs

Check out this youtube video!  Thanks for posting it, Amy!

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!