Jonathan and Anne Marie’s Weblog

To all of my faithful followers…

Love is in the air…
Create some jewlery you can share!

We’ll have food, friends, and fun,
So bring yourself and bring someone!

With Valentines right around the
corner beading some custom jewlery
for your loved ones is the perfect gift!

Date: January 31, 2009
Time: 2:00
Place: Anne Marie’s

*Please comment if you need an address,
but you won’t be able to map quest us…
its impossible. I will email you and personally
explain how to get to my house.

I recently went to a friends bead party and it was so much fun. You can purchase from the catalog, but it is much more fun to make the jewlery yourself. I made 2 bracelets as Christmas gifts. I gave one to my mom and one to my sister-in-law Lauren. They were affordable to make and they loved them! All the beads are semi precious (No plastic cheap beads). You can make earrings, bracelets, and necklaces. If you would are able to join us, just let me know. There is absolutely NO pressure to buy, just good fun and fellowship with friends. And please feel free to bring as many of your friends as you would like!

OK, so since I have been doing the whole new blog thing and following other friends blogs, I think I have decided to move to www.annemarieunderwood1.blogspot.com because of all the really neat backgrounds you can choose from. I have not completely decided what I am going to do with or about this blog as of yet…I will continue updating both until I deciede…but you should definately check out my other blog at the web address above or by clicking “Our other blog” on my blog roll and add it on to your blogroll if you like. Maybe wordpress has the same options and I have just not figured it out yet…but any way I think I like the new one better…so check it out. I updated it with pictures from our “Christmas eve” gathering on Sunday evening. Also my mother-in law has started one too at www.ginnyunderwood.blogspot.com you can also get to it from my new blog as well. For now I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Since Christmas is right around the corner I have been doing lots of baking for the various events I have had to attend. I wanted to share some of my favorite recipes for now…

1. Yummy Bread
2 tubes of crescent rolls (I use reduced-fat.)
1 12-oz container of cream cheese (I use the whipped.)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 stick margarine or butter
Cinnamon-sugar mixture

Place 1 unrolled tube of crescent rolls on bottom of 9 x 12 dish. In a separate bowl, mix together cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. Spread mixture over unrolled crescent rolls. Unroll 2nd tube of crescent rolls and place on top of mixture. Melt stick of margarine (butter). Pour over top of dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 25-30 minutes.

2. Monkey Bread
Paula Dean recipe. I will update soon.
3. Italian Cookies
Mix 3 eggs, 1 c of sugar, and 1 c of crisco
Add baking powder and let stand for 2 min
Add half a bottle of anice
Alternate 4 cups of flour and 1 cup of milk and blend.
(you will need to put flour on your hands an on the surface you will use to roll dough).
Scoop dough into your hand and roll into a rope, cut 1 inch slices at an angle.
Place cookies on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 min.
Icing: Mix 1tsp of milk, 2tbs of butter, and 1 c of powdered sugar.
Cool cookies and ice.

4. Corn Casserole
Mix jiffy corn muffin mix (follow directions of box) with 1 stick of butter, 1 can of cream style corn, 1 can and water in can of corn, and 8oz of sour cream or cream cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 min.

Once a month about 4 couples of our friends get together for dinner. So far it has been a ton of fun and last night we went to our friends Kyle and Jessica Edenfields. They have a cute little house that is just minutes from ours. The theme was Christmas PJ’s and Breakfast for dinner. It was really yummy. Kyle cooked the biggest pancakes we ever saw. Some of which ended up on his PJ’s. We also had bacon, sausage, eggs, and biscuits. We sat around and played Catch Phrase until about 11:00. I have never laughed so hard. One of my words was Globe-Trotters. Here I am thinking it is a racing horse team…boy I think I laughed so hard I cried when I found out they were a basketball team. Here are a few pictures from the evening.

OK so pictures are not uploading so I will post later.

Here is a picture of 2 of the 4 pairs of booties I have sewn. They were super easy and fun. They are both sewn in patterns for a girl. I bought the epattern for $3.98 from etsy.com. I am in love with the booties and hope the bibs turn out as cute…I also hope I improve my sewing skills…this was the first time I have sewn something with a sewing machine.

If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment…while I dont have expertise in sewing and can tell you about etsy.com

Baby booties for a girl in pink zebra print:

Any one have a remedy or Rx for baby fever???? Ok so I have to admit this… I have the worst baby fever I think that I have ever had.  I wanted to wait a few days to blog about this one…because I am so thankful for EVERYTHING Jonathan and I have.  I certainly do not want that misunderstood…but since my early childhood I have had a deep desire and love for children.  All I ever wanted were baby dolls…and the ones that looked like “real” babies would only do.  I started babysitting at the young age of 12 and I have just recently stopped babysitting…I think God is giving me a break in preparation for our own one day.  Like most girls dream of their wedding day (and of course I did) I have also had dreams just as big about the day we are blessed with children.  However within the last several months I have learned of a ton of pregnancies of some family and close friends.  2 of my science teachers at school are pregnant (and one is trying), 2 of my cousins are expecting (my cousin Holly, and Jonathan’s cousin Brandi), my good friend Katie, a neighbor of ours who lives across the street from our in laws (Kim) and whose husband works with me, another friend of mine who I worked with at Woolfson eye a couple years ago, and the list continues.  I have never had so many people around me having babies…I can’t help but dream even more about the day Jonathan and I will have a little one of our own.  I trust that God will bless us at the right time….but the waiting is so hard sometimes.  I struggle with thoughts of “well have we been married long enough”, “are we financially ready”,  “is this what I really want NOW”, or “am I just thinking these things because there are so many people close to me who are pregnant right now”.  All I know is that the desire never lessons.  My prayers have been for patience for a long time now.  God often reminds me of this phrase…While your waiting…pray.. pray for our marriage to strengthen each day, pray for Jonathan and his leadership and his father hood, pray for my role as a wife and as a mother when He does bless us with children.  I know by now I am rambling… but sometimes just writing about it makes it better.  Now on a another note…but kinda not…I absolutely love crafting.  I have recently discovered a website with some of the most adorable things baby.  www.etsy.com is awesome for buying and selling all things handmade and I found some booties and bibs that I will be making for ALL these people I know are pregnant.  Some great shops to visit while at the web site are Precious Patterns and Addyclairesboutique.  I have already made 4 pairs of booties that I will be posting pictures of tomorrow and I can’t wait to try the bib.  Until yesterday I had never touched a sewing machine, but my patient mother in law quickly showed me how and I got to work.  My 4th pair is the cutest by far…because most of the seams are straight etc.  I bought the patterns to make them for 3 dollars.  The pattern is an epattern meaning they sent it over email and I printed them out.  They came with complete and EASY instructions as well as patterns for 4 different sizes of booties…all for just 3 dollars.  Addyclairesboutique has pillow case dress patterns for as low at 3 dollars or you can buy a 1st time kit that comes with the pattern for the size dress you choose and a yard of fabric and ribbon you need to make your dress for only 6 dollars.  That will be my next project!!  I will post pictures when I get that one done.  Also in making my booties I decided that it would be cute to monogram the toes with the letter of the babies first initial…driving around D’ville I saw a new cute boutique called The Fancy Bee.  They do monograming and sell the cutest things.  They also buy from a ladie who makes the pillow case dresses and I was hoping she might like to buy my booties after I have perfected them…who knows, but I am going to start praying that some sort of ministry could come from them as well…maybe if I sell them one day I can give 10% of the profits to the pregnancy resource center or something of that nature…I also thought of having a little get together for some of my friends who have little little ones, provide the materials, and do a little devotional, have some hot chocolate and cookies or something (if anyone has any better ideas please feel free to share).  Well I gues that is it for now.  School starts tomorrow and it will be a very busy 3 weeks…but I know they will fly!  So some of you girls expecting..don’t be surprised if you get a little pair of handmade booties and bib…I am having way to much fun making them:)

GUESTS, GUESTS, AND MORE GUESTS…

We have had an exciting week.  Starting Monday with the pick of the feline sort.  Since Quentin (my brother) was getting married this weekend, we had to keep the kitty cats for my parents.  Here are a few pictures:

The girls from left to right: Jude, Skittles, and Kiley

Skiski (skittles) and Kiley

We also had family come in town for the wedding.  My moms sister Christine and her husband my uncle Tom, my cousin Tara and her husband Greg and their three children, twins Maddy and Gabby, and baby Lexi. Im so sad that my camera did not take better pictures of the girls…but they are so beautiful and precious in every way.  Greg is such a jokester and two of the girls have personalities much like his.  The other is a little more laid back….but so adorable.  Here are the few pics that I was able to get:

Maddy is on the left and Gabby on the right.  Maddy looks just like her daddy and Gabby a bit like her mom.  They are fraternal twins.  However, when they first arrived on Thursday I had a very hard time telling the two apart since this was the first time I got to meet them.  Maddy has brown eyes and lighter and thinner hair, while Gabby has green eyes and darker and thicker hair. Even once I got the hang of how each of the looked, I still had a hard time remembering the right name to call them.

This is precious little Lexi.  She has the most vibrant personality of them all and is her daddy made over!!!  She let me love on her the most.  I couldn’t stop starring at them all.  They were just to precious for words.  I fell in love with them the second I laid eyes on them.  They just stole my heart.  I got to play a good while with them on Thursday when they arrived and a little bit on Friday and Saturday.  They are leaving to go home Monday and we will miss them all tremendously.  I wished they lived closer.

Here are a few more pictures of the family:

This my aunt Ro on the left with my mom.  I picked her up from the airport on Thursday and I got to spend some time with her as well.  She looks just like my great grandma Laspisa.  My aunt Ro is my Grandma’s sister.  My Grandma was unable to come due to her health…we missed her greatly.

Maddy with her pretty pink purse Shannon gave the girls for a flower girl gift.

The Bride and Grooms parents from left to right: My dad and mom, Shannon’s mom and dad, and Shannons brother Eric.

THE WEDDING

WOW is all I can say.  It is such an honor to be able to say that I was able to stand along side my brother as he married the woman of his dreams on Saturday.  He is such a man of God who commits everything to our Lord and he was blessed Saturday with a woman who does the same.  It is truly a happy time when you see a union like the one I witnessed Saturday.  The wedding was beautiful and everything was just perfect.  When I think of the sister that Christine and I are gaining in Shannon my heart jumps for joy.  Within the past three years I have gained two sisters by marriage and I feel that I am blessed beyond measure.  There is nothing like a sister.  Someone to laugh and make memories with that last a life time and I look forward to doing that with Shannon.  She is such a perfect fit to our family and I am proud to call her sister…Lauren, I am proud to call you sister too!  I love you both dearly.

Here are some pictures from the wedding:

Shannon, her mom, and Olivia looking at a picture of her and Quentin.  This picture just captures the essence of their love for one another…too bad I don’t have it to post.

Shannon after she had just put her dress on.  The dress was so elegant and so Shannon.  She was gorgeous!

Heidi buttoning Shannon’s dress.  She had satin buttons all the way down the back.

The sisters and Bubbs.  He looked so handsome!  He always does.

Christine and I decided to each others hair, nails and make-up.  It was a lot of fun getting to spend time doing girly things!

LAST, BUT DEFINITELY NOT LEAST!

My precious husband was so understanding!  He allowed 3 cats to spend the night for a whole week even though is pretty allergic to them.  He put up with me drooling over small children and talking constantly about them.  He never complained about all the time we were spending with my family.  He even allowed one of the groomsman (who he had never met before) stay at our house because he had no where else to day.  On top of all this he worked all day Friday (from 6:30am to 5:00pm) and Saturday (from 6:30am to 12:30noon) all while attending the rehearsal dinner and wedding on Saturday.  He was in the wedding as well.  I can’t express the gratitude I have in my heart for all he did for me this weekend.  It means so much to have someone just put up with all the chaos that comes with wedding and still have a loving smile on their face when all is said and done.  I love you Jonathan and I am so grateful God blessed my life with you!

PS:  Praise Him From Whom ALL Blessings Flow….  My dear and precious friend Katie and her husband Chad are expecting!!!!!

We have had quite a busy weekend.  But Saturday me, my momand sister were able to throw our soon to be sister in law a shower.  It turned out beautiful and unfortunatly, being a hostess does not allow for picture taking so I will be getting pictures from others and as soon as I do I will post them.  I have learned one important thing…put the directions to your house (especially if you live in fairfield) in the invitations.   I actually had to go and meet some guests because they got so lost and I think one of them got lost and turned around and went home.  Never use mapquest, or even your Tom Tom to get to our house…just call me.  We are actually on the main road just 1.5 mi down on the right, but there is a back entrance that will take you around the world and back again.  Needless to say we had a wonderful time and Shannon and Quentin recieved some wonderful gifts.    We also found out some VERY exciting news (Katie youll love this since your cousin Kelly just had baby Ben)… my cousin by marriage, Holly announced she is 14 weeks pregnant.  She is the first in our generation of cousins to have a baby.  She also went to college with me and my other cousin Elizabeth.  She married my cousin Keith.  I can’t believe I didnt notice her little belly (she did have a catigan over her dress) with my pregnancy radar…but I guess with all the running around I was doing at the shower I didnt get a chance to.  Im so excited…another chance to give another shower and we have not had a baby in the family in over 13 or 14 years.  Hopefully the Underwoods won’t be to many years behind

We had a very exciting weekend. We got to go to the Rock Ranch and hear Jonathan play with his band Edenfield. We also got to enjoy the Ranch which had a nice pumpkin patch (a friend gave me some free pumpkin tickets), a corn maze, a petting zoo, among many other things. We had a blast. I couldn’t wait to get home to PAINT my pumpkin…since I don’t really like carving them.

I got the idea to paint my pumpkin from Mrs. Karen and Charlie Bell! You guys are sooo smart.