6 Months WHAT??

Zoe Joy turned 6 months old on Saturday. I can't believe it!  She is incredibly precious, rolling over both ways, laughing a lot, working on her finer motor skills (she is AMAZING at pulling my hair: praying I go gray faster than I go bald =P), she is a great independent sitter but really doesn't like to be alone, she is working on crawling and can get herself on her knees and rocking instead of just baby push-ups (although she still does those), she loves the outdoors and her dada.

Can't tell which one I like better

She has started saying mama (sort of but I'm claiming it.) If she is asleep when dada gets home she wakes up at the sound of his voice.  So precious.  Shr's also been eating solid food for about 3 weeks now.  We DON'T like kiwi, Everything else has been acceptable.

Look at that wrinkled nose

Sometimes trying to crawl makes us mad.

LOL look at that face!

Happy half a year old birthday girl!!!

Long time no blog

So being a mom/homemaker has been more time consuming than I realized it would be.  Part of it is that I'm just learning how to do things more naturally.  I make our own granola cereal and granola bars now.  We eat WAY less processed food.  There are still some things we eat that are processed but it's significantly less.  I've also been trying my hand at making homemade cleaners as well.  And dishes, do they ever end? How about laundry? Didn't think so. 

In between all of the cleaning and caring for little Zoe, I have had the opportunity to take some pictures as well.  Here are a few from the last few weeks:

Snuggling up Dada

Trying to eat her ball

Watch this super funny short little clip of her:

Last time she wore this super cute little outfit.  And she's sitting in the chair my grandpa made for me. YAY for family heirlooms!

Super smiley :) Gosh I love her.

Yesterday's Photoshoot and Recipe for Worst Night's Sleep

Yesterday I went to visit my family at their camper 20 minutes away.  I hadn't been able to visit them earlier in the week and so I wanted to visit them and I thought maybe I could have my sister do a little modeling for me.  She wasn't super thrilled to be modeling but we still got some good photos.

 The Snapdragon Clip/Pin

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun clip/pin

Fraggle Rock Pin/Clip

Hey look she does know how to smile! 

The Jem Blossom pin/clip

The Girlie Girl Blossom

I love the 80s clip/pin

And this is what happens when you're too lazy to walk over to the table to put the ones you've already modeled over there!  HAHAHA I just started attaching them to my dress.  Yay fun times.  There will hopefully be more products added soon, just as soon as this cold goes away!

I was hoping to take more pictures of products today but when I came home yesterday my face started melting (not a good sign).  Apparently, my husband, the sweetheart that he is, decided to share his cold with me.  By 4 o'clock, my eyes were watering, then the sneezing began and the runny nose.

Last night, I slept terribly.  So did my poor husband because of me.  The cycle went something like this: nose is stuffed up so I breathe out of my mouth, wake up and my throat's sore so I drink lots of water, go back to sleep for a bit again breathing out of my mouth, wake up to drink water/blow my nose, realize I have to go to the bathroom, struggle to fall asleep again, and repeat at least three times.

Today, I knew I had a free breakfast sandwich thanks to Chick-Fil-A so I got up and got showered and even  dried my hair, not because I wanted to look cute, not because my husband likes my hair better straight, but because I'm sick and it's pretty chilly outside.  HAHA How's that for motivation?  Then we went to the store and got TP and tissues and some other necessities.  I came home and crafted for a bit, but I think for now I'll take a break.  Just too tired/sick to do much.

I told Aaron I'd have dinner ready for when he gets back from tutoring.  Any good suggestions of casseroles containing chicken and rice that would be easy to make??? We have some rice we need to use up and my some I mean my husband made way more than we could eat with stir-fry recently.

Linking up with Jana for Tuesday Glam Party #45..

Saturday Snapshot

It's that time of week again!  Time to link up with Kim from Yellow Songbird.  I really enjoy getting to look back on some old photos.  This week I'm posting one from the beginning of my relationship with my husband.  I can't believe it but tomorrow is our 1 year anniversary! Where did the time go??? Ooo, pick me, pick me, I know I know!  We went to Mexico for our honeymoon, then we went to Lynchburg, VA for his summer classes, then we went to a few weddings in this area, went to Pittsburgh for Christmas, back to Lynchburg after that, then to Illinois for another wedding.  We also started a youth group this year, what a blessing.  We both left Facebook.  We have had such a wonderful first year of marriage, sure there are some disagreements, but we can't stand to be upset with one another.  We always make up before we go to bed.  God is sooo good to us.  I know this may not always be the case but I'm so thankful for how much we think alike and work together.  Oh sweet husband of mine I love you!!!  Thank you for a wonderful year! 

In this picture, I stole his hat, which I did frequently.  He had "hat" for like 8 years.  Unfortunately somehow, hat disappeared last year, (no, I didn't throw out hat, I loved him as much as Aaron did). :( This was probably in our first 3 months of dating. 

Source: Kat Ritenour Photography

About an hour before the ceremony, our photographers decided to "torture" us by allowing us to be so close without being able to see each other. They backed us up against the wall so we couldn't see each other. . . I was just a hands reach away!  I loved it though because I could at least hear his voice even though I really didn't want him to see me before the I walked down the aisle!  Can't believe this was a year ago now!  Wow!

Love you Husband!!! (and don't call me Wife-band!) 

Thankful Thursday

1. I got to spend a lot of time with my family the last week.
2. I serve a risen Savior!!! That's the most awesome thing EVER!
3. I have two little girls that I watch that just love spending time with me.  Thank You Lord for the time I have left with them.  I love them soooo muchly!
4. Aaron and I celebrate our 1-year anniversary this weekend! :) So exciting to me!  So So So excited!!! So I'm sooooooo thankful for my relationship with my AWESOME husband!  I seriously love him so much.  I know that God put us together!  Too Perfect!

Our Two Year Dating Anniversary

Photo Courtesy: Holly Wood (My Mother-in-Love) 

Here is a photo from when we got engaged:

Photo Courtesy: Holly Wood (My Mother-in-Love)

Our Wedding Day

Photo Courtesy: Kat Ritenour Photography (Our ROCKIN' Photographer)

What are you thankful for this week???

Please write a post and link up with what you are thankful for on this Thursday! Or feel free to share in the comments! :) 

Saturday Snapshot

Hello Everyone!  This weekend Aaron and I will be in Pittsburgh getting our car worked on.  As a result, we'll be spending time with my side of the family.  That means we'll be visiting many family members this weekend.  We're going to be visiting my grandparents who celebrated their 58th wedding anniversary in March.  Here's a picture of them with their grandkids.  I know it's blurry a bit, but I didn't take the picture and it's the best out of the bunch!  Thanks for stopping by.  Please make sure to go to Kim's blog to look at all the other entries for Saturday Snapshot.

Crafty Saturday

So these are some of the projects I worked on last night and this morning.  I will be linking up to my friend Laura's blog.  You can check out the other entries over here.  She's soooooo awesome.  I absolutely LOVE her etsy shop.  She's a believer and always posts things that are so encouraging. :)

And without further ado, here is the frog I made for a friend's bridal shower this weekend.  They have a frog theme for the baby's room so I made this little guy.  I used this pattern, sorta.  I made it bigger and added more detail.  And I still didn't make it big enough.  Turning those front legs was nearly IMPOSSIBLE.  I ended up ripping out one seam and then turned the foot and sewed it by hand.  :/ Not the best job I've ever done, but I am learning.  I still think  he's adorable. :) :) :)

 I made this little pillow last week.  Gah, I keep calling it a pillow, it's not.  It's actually a rice filled heating pad you put in the microwave.  I looked at it and loved it immediately when I was done.  Until I noticed I forgot one of the most important words in the entire verse.  BOOOOOO!!!

I can't believe I forgot that little word NOT.  It makes all the difference in the world with the verse though.  I tried squeezing it in by hand stitching it, I don't really like it as much, but I do still like it enough.

I made this little heating pad out of desperation last week when my tooth pain was soooooooo intense I was trying everything to make it stop.  Through prayer and the help of a wonderful dentist, I've been pain free for two days :).  Thanks be to God!

I made this little headband for a one of the girls I am a nanny for.  She LOVES pink and purple.  Oh and red and violet, but I just stuck with pink and purple since that's what I had.  I'm going to give it to her on her birthday.  April Fools Day.  Maybe I'll go in wearing it and saying it's mine, but then tell her April Fools and give it to her.  We'll see. Ignore the angry look on my face, I wasn't really angry but a little frustrated because I couldn't stop shaking the camera and all my photos were out of focus.

I made this flower headband for myself.  But I did this close up because I made the same flower into a little flower clip for the other little girl that I watch.  Love it.  You can see in the bottom photo that it's lime green and denim. 

 Some day I'm hoping to be able to sell some of the things that I make so I am trying to practice for now.  I made this headband for myself.  I made another one for myself, and I made a wonderful mustard hair clip I will have to share tomorrow.  I'm hoping to wear it to church tomorrow.

I am having so much fun with crafting lately.  I realized that I do much better with smaller projects than larger projects like quilts.  I need to finish my husband's quilt.  I promised one to my nephew too, but after that I'm not sure I'll make any more quilts.  Maybe I will, but send them to someone else to quilt them.  I love piecing them.  I dislike quilting them.  

I'm so thankful that God has blessed me with time this weekend to craft.  It's so relaxing and fun for me.

Oh and before I forget.  A very happy birthday to my nephew Ryan and My friend Sky of Many Dreams Come True & Some Have Silver Linings.

Have a Happy Lord's Day tomorrow everyone :) 

Just for Sarah

This is a special post for you Sarah Lou!  You wanted to see some pictures of our "old" oven.  I love our oven but these pictures don't do it any justice.  I love it so much :) I feel like I don't take very good pictures so sorry about that.

Our BeautyRange :) :) :) Love this oven :)

There you have it Lou.  Our "vintage" oven/stove.  Love it :) 

Saturday Snapshot

Kim at Yellow Songbird does a link party on Saturdays called Saturday Snapshot.  This week she posted a photo from her wedding.  I'd been thinking about what I would use this week and also thought I'd post a wedding photo. I LOVED our wedding photos.  Our photographers Kat and Jake Ritenour of Kat Ritenour photography are AMAZING!!!  Just love them :).

Here is one of my favorites of the wedding photos.

Photo taken by Kat Ritenour Photography!

Love this shot!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! 

I love my husband :) He's a handsome, Godly man who loves me and makes me laugh, wipes away my tears, shares my joys, and is an all around great guy!

New Blog New Blog

now that we're a married pair, new blog, new blog, now we have a place to share. . .

(to the tune of the "Clean Up" song).

Hello Everyone,

I decided to start a new blog now that:

1. I'm married to Aaron and we can now share this blog

2. I have a new email address

3. I have more time to blog again (since I'm not working/planning for a wedding)

Aaron and I have been married just over 2 1/2 months now! So exciting! We are loving married

life. We received our wedding photos back from the photographer. There were so many great ones! We decided to get a photobook made through snapfish.com. They are so awesome! I am so excited for it to come in. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the wedding.

We hope this blog post finds you all doing well! We love you all!

Aaron and Amanda