Tasty Tuesday!!

Ok. So my husband is a huge Mexican food lover. He can eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  He found a recipe for Charro beans that is seriously the. bomb. diggity.  I wanted to share!!

Yo quiero Charro beans:

2 lbs pinto beans
2 small white onions
2 fresh jalapenos (optional)
6 garlic cloves, minced
4 small roma tomatoes
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
3 ham hocks or 6 slices of bacon (we did bacon. ha!)
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons paprika
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon cumin
2 table spoons bacon drippings
12 ounces chicken stock
12 ounces dark beer (optional)

Soak your beans. (This very important if you want tender beans). Bring beans to boil in 8-10 cups of water. Remove from heat covered. Let the beans soak for 30-45 minutes until the beans start to swell from the water infusing into them.

Strain the beans. Bring another 8 cups of water to a boil. (The reason for this is to get all the excess dirt and debris out of the beans).

While beans are boiling, trim the ham hocks of fat; leave fat in large pieces. Cut the meat into small bite-size pieces. Put all into pot. Remove fat and bones when your beans are done.

Chop all veggies into small pieces. Combine veggies, meat, fat, and spices into large stock pot or dutch oven and simmer for at least 2 1/2 hours. Remove fat when finished. Taste, add more seasoning if needed.

Seriously soo good. We didn't even need to eat anything else with it, the beans are a meal on their own! Enjoy!

Tasty Tuesday

It's a dreary day where I'm at. Freezing cold and rainy. I thought this would be a perfect day to make a big ol pot of homemade chicken noodle soup. I'm not a huge CNS fan myself, but my husband is. I made this pot of soup a week or two ago and I gotta say, I'm now a CNS fan. This is by far the best I've ever had.  I thought I'd share the recipe with you guys!

Ch-Ch-Chiiicken Noodle Soup:

4-6 cups of cooked and shredded chicken. I use boneless skinless chicken breast.
1-2 cups of chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup of butter. (Now we're talkin')
12 oz of uncooked egg noodles
12 cups of water *You can add a little more at the end if you find you need it*
9 cubes chicken bouillon
1/2 tsp dried marjoram. *I always end up adding more bc I love it, 1/2 tsp is a good place to start*
1/2 tsp black pepper

Optional:
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon of dried parsley.
1/4 cup of chopped onion.

*I don't use a bay leaf bc I never have it on hand, I like to be able to throw it together and not make a special trip to the store for ONE item. If I have parsley on hand I'll use it, I haven't the last two times. My husband hates onion. I sneak it I when I can.*

In a large stock pot, sauté the celery and butter (also onion if you're using it) until vegetables are soft. Add chicken, carrots, water, bouillon cubes, marjoram and black pepper. Add bay leaf and parsley also if you're using it. Simmer for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, add uncooked noodles and simmer for an additional 10 minutes. You're done! Enjoy!

This, in my opinion (and my husband's!), is the absolute best chicken noodle soup. Ever. I hope you like it too!!! Thanks for stopping by on this cold and rainy Tasty Tuesday!

XoXo,
Brooke

LOVE

February is here!! The month of LOVE. I gotta admit I used to hate Valentine's Day. Of course, I was single...haha.  But really, while your husband should be bringing you home flowers every now and then 'just because', the 14th of February is the one day (and maybe your birthday) that they can't possibly avoid it. I mean, they can't go anywhere and not see the huge obnoxious teddy bear holding a heart, surrounded my cards, chocolates and roses.

But while it's become "tradition" for this to be the day for men to wine and dine their wives/girlfriends, why can't we make the day or even month about them?! Trust me. We get ALL year if we really think about it, there's no day for the men unless they're Daddy's, then they get Father's Day.

This year I've made it my mission to reconnect with my hubs. We're happily married, but if any of you have children, young children especially, you know that it's HARD to keep the spark, the flame, the connection, even conversation going!  We don't have date nights. Ever. On the weekends both of us are so tired from the week we usually cook (just like Mon-Fri) and stay in, maybe rent a movie. All the while our bundle of joy is right in the middle of us. Haha. I wouldn't trade him for anything, don't get me wrong, but we spend ALL of our time playing Mommy and Daddy, and NO time playing husband and wife.

I know we're 3 days into February, but humor me. I'm starting my own 28 day marriage challenge. Every day I am going to do something out of the ordinary, spontaneous, loving, even encouraging for my man. It's gonna be something that I wouldn't do on a regular day to day basis, (even though I know I should) I want him to notice. My hopes are that after this month, these things will happen more naturally for me, it won't take "work" for me to do these things on any given day.  I'm gonna start with "3" since it's the 3rd of February..

3. Let him pick a movie for tonight. Even if I KNOW it's going to be lame (It's my 6th sense) or if it has Will Ferrel in it. Oh Lort.
4. Have a encouraging note waiting for him on his steering wheel.
5. This is Wednesday. Let him pick out my church outfit. May sound crazy, he's gonna flippin freak.
6. Make him a pitcher of Horchata. (Mexican milk, ick) He loves that stuff, y'all.
7. Make him a tamale dinner. Ok, he's not Mexican. Or even Spanish. He was born in Bryan, Tx. But this guy could live, eat and breathe Mexican food for the rest of his life.
8. Clean the baseboards. Y'all, I'm dying. This has been a long running "disagreement" between the two of us. I don't do baseboards. Waste of time in my opinion. He thinks differently.
9. Kiss him first thing in the morning. We don't do that enough. Mornings are down right crazy.
10. Surprise him with lunch at work
11. Be the first to apologize. Admit I'm wrong even if I'm not. In the end, does it really matter who's wrong or who's right?!
12. Tell him how happy I am he chose me, and that marrying him was the best thing I ever did.
13. Buy lingerie. I'm not a lingerie girl. At all. I like the cutesy, comfy, polka dotted tank and shorts set. He doesn't. Lol.
14. Verbalize how thankful I am for all he does for our family.
15. Make him tres leches. Just because.
16. Hug and kiss him as soon as he walks in the door from work.
17. Stay up late with him. He's a night owl. I am not.
18. Ask him if there's anything I can do to make his day easier. Calling a vendor, ordering material, whatever.
19. Give him a massage and a back scratch. He lives for back scratches.
20. Compliment him on how good he looks.
21. Turn off or turn my phone on vibrate when he gets home. Nothing is more important than him.
22. Plan ahead for someone to keep Carter and take him on a date to his favorite restaurant.
23. Tell him how proud I am of him and his accomplishments.
24. Text him randomly throughout the day to tell him how much I love him.
25. Ask him about work. I don't do this enough, unfortunately.
26. Go online and start planning a surprise weekend trip. Somewhere he would enjoy.
27. Bite my tongue. Agree to disagree. Avoid any type of "argument" today, at all costs.
28. Write him a poem. He loves looking through my poetry books, he would be tickled to death if I took them out again and opened the pages to find a poem written for him.

Ok, believe it or not that took some thinking! Yours may have some similar to some of mine, or yours could be completely different! I'd love to hear about it! I hope your husband enjoys the challenge like I know mine will. Thanks for stopping by!

Xoxo,
Brooke

Stop this train

Why does life have to go by so fast?!  Parts of my life can pass as quickly as they'd like, but some need to sloooow down.  I'm talking about my baby. It literally seems like yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital!  I still have the (vivid) memories of fighting with the car seat straps when we were trying to leave the hospital, which, the straps won that battle, I won't even post a picture of him slightly leaning forward. OMG.  I totally just spilled that secret.

From night time to nap time, to jar food, pacifiers (briefly), bottles...in the blink of an eye he's about to be 19 months old.  He'll be 2 (!!!) this coming July! Stop! Just stop!!! I'm a huge John Mayer fan, for his lyrics mostly (ahem) and his song "Stop this Train" will send me into a slobbery, snotty, blubbery mess.

'Stop this Train
I want to get off and go home again
I can't take the speed it's moving in
I know I can't but honestly won't someone stop this train'

Aahhhh! I've rocked Carter to sleep since he was a baby. He's my first so it's been trial and error for sure. I now know to, and plan to with my next (maybe), to start laying them down in their crib wide awake when they are much younger so they can teach themselves to fall asleep and not depend on Mommy to rock them to sleep and back to sleep...that explains why he took so long mastering his sleep. Ha! But I gotta say, I LOVE rocking my baby. I've recently decided that I need to stop, he's just  not comfortable, he's almost too long now. I've rocked him so long he thinks he needs it, whether he's comfortable or not. We've gotten the naps down, but night time is where it breaks my heart the most. I can't stand leaving him in there crying or fussing. He doesn't fuss or cry long, but just enough to make me a slobbery, snotty, blubbery mess.

No one told me about this part of parenthood. I never even thought about the possibility of Carter hating his car seat, which he does, HATES it. I'm talking screaming fits since he was a few months old.  I didn't know I would be so worked up over it not being super quiet during his nap time.  I didn't think about having to bottle break him.  There's a lot I didn't know and a lot I still don't know.

I DO know this. As fast as that train brought us to this point, Carter being 18 1/2 months old,  I'm going to blink and he will be 3, 4, 5, 6 years old. I'm savoring every second, every minute, every hour, every single day I have with him. I'm making my time with him count! Every day is a new memory.

You know what, I gotta go, I need to go and rock my baby....

DIY leggings or pants from an old Tshirt

I love love LOVE Saturdays! That might sound a little funny coming from a Stay-at-Home Mommy but Saturdays are my one day that I can drink coffee all day, watch movies while Carter naps, craft to my content...all guilt free! Monday-Friday I'm taking care of the house, chores, meal-planning, cooking, cleaning, etc. Sarurday is my one day that I don't do a thing except for what I want to do.  So again, I love love LOVE Saturdays!

Today, I've been at my sewing machine. I love the embroidery and appliqué side of my machine, but I first loved to sew. I whipped up my baby boy a Ca-yuuuute pair of pants out of one of my hubby's old t-shirts.  It has been in the donation pile forever, it doesn't fit him anymore but was otherwise in perfect condition! Look.

Cute, right?!?! Your silence speaks volumes, don't worry. I'll give you a moment to catch your breath and come back................................you good? Ok. Let's get started.

I'll begin by saying that this tutorial is every I-struggle-with-written-instructions-give-me-pictures persons dream. I'm visual. I need to SEE what you're doing. So let's start with the shirt. Jersey knit is a good material because it stretches and moves with your little one, it's my fave but this particular shirt happens to be 100% cotton, and it worked great!

You'll want to start off by cutting front of the shirt at the seam line where it connects the back, like this: 

Go all the way around the shirt cutting at the seam line only, you'll go past the arms, over the shoulders, up around the neck and down the other side of the shirt. When you're finished, it should look like this:

Take either piece and fold in half, long ways so that the folded part of the shirt is on the left hand side, like this:

I traced a different pair of my sons pants on to a piece of wax paper, first folding them in half long ways, like this: (use a pair of pants or leggings that you want this pair of pants to have the same fit, tight or loose)

Once folded in half like this ^^, trace using a black pen or marker on to a sheet of wax paper. Then cut around the traced pants leaving an inch all around for seam allowance. When through cutting, lay on the shirt with the straight side of the pants up against the fold of your shirt, like this:

You can see where I originally traced, and then the seam allowance I left.

Cut around the wax paper to get your pant form. Like this:

When you're finished, unfold the shirt and it should look like this!

Now take the other half the shirt, the front of the shirt in my case, and follow the previous steps to get the other side of your pants, you should end up at this step with two identical pieces like the one pictured above!

Now take the skinnier end of each piece and fold over the fabric 1/2in-1in, and pin in place, this will be the hem for bottom of your pants. Pin and stitch each piece separately, don't sew them together.

After you've sewn your two leg hems, turn the pieces to get to the top of the pants, where it's wider. Place one piece of the pants, right side up (where you can see the print) and place the other piece directly on top of it, right side down (where you can see the inside of the shirt), the two "right" sides of the shirt should be facing each other. Match them up as best you can, focusing on the  two "points" each piece has, that's the crotch and you want that to line up for sure. Starting from the wider top, pin each piece together going down until you get to the "points" (crotch) and stop. 

Stop at the "point" or "notch". Sew each side together, again, stopping where the fabric is pointed.

Now, take the sewn waist and open it up so you can fold the pants in half the other way. Make sense? Look.

Fold the other way so that the two running seams are in the front and back, and in the middle. Once you do it should look like this:

Eek!!! They're starting to look like pants!! That's a GOOD thing! It's what we want.

Now, pin up along the inside of each leg to get ready to stitch the legs, keep in mind that where you stitch, either close to the unfinished edge or further inside, will determine how loose or tight the pants are.

I didn't want mine tight or baggy so I pinned a little closer in, but not too close.  Don't forget to curve around the crotch, if you have to stop to lift your presser foot and readjust a few times it's ok. I like to stitch, back stitch, stitch, back stitch several times around the crotch, just for reinforcement.  After you've stitched the legs, you're ready for the waist! But first, your pants should look like this:

Next you'll pin all around the waist so you can stitch your waistline.

Stitch around the waist, stopping before your two stitches meet. Keep that opening to insert your elastic.

 Pin a safety pin on the end of your elastic before you run it through the waist, it makes it easier to grab while your pulling it all the way through

Here's a picture of what I'm referring to.

When you're finished pulling it all the way through, take the two ends of the elastic and run a stitch over them to keep them together inside the hem. Again, I do stitch, back stitch, stitch, back stitch over and over for reinforcement. 

Once that is stitched, you can sew up the closing that you left open earlier for the elastic. 

This next step is completely optional. I took my elastic that was already sewn in the pants and stretched the pants to where I could get a straight stitch on TOP if the elastic that was already in the waist line, all this does is prevent the elastic from twisting and turning in the wash, during wear, etc. it also just gives the pants a more "finished" look. 

See? You can see the two stitches and it just looks better in my opinion.

There you have it! Wallah! Your little guy (or gal!) will be super cute in his very own, one of a kind. pair of pants!!! That's all for today, until next time!! 

XoXo.

Brooke

Opportunity awaits...

Happy Friday!! Yesterday's post got me thinking about the things we want in life. From day to day. I'm talking a prayer you may have been praying about, the last piece of buttermilk pie (true story), a better job, a promotion at your current job, or even wanting to learn to sew!

I am a firm believe in the power of prayer. I'm also a firm believer in getting off your butt and making it happen! Sometimes God will open doors for us (create opportunities) that we don't even see because we're too busy whining and complaining about our job (when we should be thankful we have   a job) or we're waiting on something to just fall in our lap. God sometimes gives us the opportunity, but we have to make it happen.

-Sign up for a sewing class! Better yet, do what I did and watch videos on YouTube. No joke. Everything I have sewn I've either watched a YouTube video on how to make it or I've found a step by step tutorial on another blog.

-Ask for that promotion! I highly recommend dressing your best that day and walking into your boss's office with a list of reasons why you deserve a promotion. What's the worst thing that could happen? They say no. Ok, well you still have a job, you're not making any less and you've planted a seed. Boom.

-And, you'll have to excuse me, this is MY style. Take that last piece of pie! Gobble it up real quick and then, even more quickly, leave the room. Wipe the crumbs off your mouth! Go in the kitchen later saying how much you'd reeaally like another piece of pie. *GASP* it's gone!!!! Oh well, someone must have wanted it more than you. The early bird gets the worm, right? Muahahahahahaha.

My "biggest" sale so far with my appliqué business happened because I reached out to a friend and showed her what I was doing. She has 3 little boys so I showed her pictures of the shirts I had made for Carter. She freaked (obvi) OUT. I offered her free shipping since she lives a bit away, and the rest is history. LOL, I won't start that again. I mean, word of mouth is my best friend right now. I made it happen.

Fear and doubt are the biggest dream killers, for real. Take a deep breath, and jump the fence of opportunity. You never know what is waiting on the other side.

Waiting on His promise

Being a Mommy can be one of the most rewarding and the most challenging things I have ever experienced. I can't imagine my life without my little bear but sometimes I am scared to death and think to myself  'what am I doing?! I'm responsible for another human being!' Life has it's ups and downs for sure, Mommy-hood has it's mountains and valleys.

Carter is my greatest accomplishment.  I mean that in every sense of the word. My husband and I went through a lot before he finally entered this world and changed our lives forever.

I was pregnant 2 years before Carter's arrival in July of 2012. It was July 2010 when I found out I was pregnant and I was over the moon excited. I honestly couldn't believe it! Up until that point I never could imagine myself actually pregnant...maybe that sounds crazy. But I couldn't wrap my mind around it for the first few weeks. I remember going to my In laws with pee stick (hahaha) in hand to tell them the news. I printed out 'Pregnancy by week' because I couldn't wait to go get the book. I remember being irritated when people would ask me if I had felt the "flurries" yet. What flurries? Typical. If there's anyone that won't feel the flurries, it would be me. Oh well.

My 9 week checkup was nearing and we were to hear the heartbeat. My husband wasn't able to go because of work, I was disappointed but understood. They weren't able to pick up on the heartbeat but said not to worry, it wasn't too uncommon for that to happen this early on so they scheduled me for the next week to try again.  The next week my husband was able to come with me and we were both so excited!! I laid on the bed for what seemed forever while she lubed my stomach and explained what she was about to do and what it would feel like, etc.  The moment was here, and I almost couldn't stand it I was so excited!  I even thought for a moment that maybe they would pick up on two heartbeats!  Being a twin myself, an identical twin, the possibility for twins was there.  There are twins on both sides of our family, and my husband even told me he was praying for twins. Ha!  I can still remember the look on the nurses face while she frantically tried to pick up the heart beat. My husband was sitting across the room and I shot him a look, I must have looked terrified because he jumped out of his seat to stand next to the table. The nurse excused herself and came back with my doctor. He did the same as the nurse before him did, moved around my stomach to try to pick up a heartbeat. It wasn't long before he said, "well, what has happened is what we call an early term miscarriage..." He said several things after that but I honestly couldn't tell you what else he said. I could feel my stomach in my throat. Before I knew it I was sobbing uncontrollably and the nurse kept handing me Kleenex. We walked past the checkout desk and left. I couldn't even grasp what had just happened. I had walked into my appointment a Mommy, and walked out child-less.  I was almost 11 weeks pregnant.

The next several months I walked around in a haze. Excuse me if I sound 'dramatic', if I wouldn't have suffered a miscarriage I'm afraid I would be thinking the same thing. But...I lost my baby. The baby that without even knowing the gender, I had named. My baby had a name. My baby had a future with me and my husband. My baby was due in April, a few days shy of my birthday. My life lost  meaning.

We decided almost 3 or 4 months later to start trying again. Unlike before, I was determined this time. My poor husband. Ha! Also unlike before, it didn't happen immediately. Actually, we tried for 6 months, nothing. Some would say that's normal, and maybe it is. But you also have to understand that we were doing everything possible to get pregnant, and it wasn't happening. I knew my ovulation days and would freak out if Justin had to work late, I mean, FREAK out. See what I mean, my poor poor husband. Finally, after being prompted by my mother, I went back to my doctor to see if he could help. He ran some tests, took some blood, etc. The results came in about a week later and guess what, I wasn't releasing eggs. Whaaaaaatttt!?!? Why?!?!?!? Ugh!! Ok, so now what? He promptly put me on progesterone (which blew me up like a blimp) to help my body release the eggs. We'll see what this does.

It was almost a year later and we still weren't pregnant.  It was then I decided that God was punishing me for something I had done in the past.  It was either that or he was trying to teach me a lesson.  Either way I didn't want to hear any of what He was trying to tell me. I yearned for a baby. That's all I could think about.  I couldn't understand why me, a good Christian woman couldn't get pregnant.  Women and young girls got pregnant all the time, and on accident!  I went to church, I didn't smoke, didn't drink, didn't do any type of drug, I paid my tithes, I had a job…so I started bargaining with God.  If I join the choir, You have to let me get pregnant.  I mean, there was obviously something He wanted me to do that I wasn't doing or hadn't done.  If I run around the church tonight during song service, then will You let me get pregnant?  That's completely out of my comfort zone, surely that will work.  Those thoughts really happened.  I didn't know what else to do!  I cried a lot and stayed angry a lot. I was angry with God, my family for, what I thought, not understanding like I thought they should.

Meanwhile, my Sister gets married and 6 months later....yep, she's pregnant. I've since apologized to her but I couldn't even be happy for her. I was so mad at her! She knew, she KNEW all that I had been through! Then she's gonna get pregnant??!! How selfish of her. Right? I get a lump in my throat thinking of all the ways I envied and sometimes hated her during her pregnancy. I hate myself for it. I hate that I never rubbed her belly, I hate that I never wanted to feel Chloe kick. I can't take it back but I am ashamed, so ashamed.

It was nearing the end of October 2011 and I can remember just being fed up with everything. We were having financial struggles, and it just seemed that everything was going wrong. I remember exactly where I was when I pulled my car over and beat, BEAT the steering wheel of my car until my hand was blood red and throbbing. I was screaming at the top of my lungs. I shook my fist up at God and demanded he tell me why. Why he chose me to go through this trial, why he was allowing us to go through financial struggles, why he wouldn't just let me get pregnant! I told him that we went to church every Sunday, we paid our tithes, we were involved in areas of the church, and that I had paid my dues. I wanted him to tell my WHY. I demanded that he tell me audibly! I sat there awhile and then finally drove off. I had no idea, but I was already pregnant.

12 weeks!

I didn't want to share the news as quickly as I did the first time but I also didn't want to give in to fear, I believed this was God's promise fulfilled to us. This was what I had sobbed and prayed for the past year and a half. This is what I laid at the alter for until my face was swollen and splotchy. I needed to claim it!

My pregnancy was a dream. I never puked, had minimal morning sickness and didn't put on a lot of weight. My husband wanted a boy so when we found out it WAS a boy we were both ecstatic. We already had a name. The same name we had picked out for his brother. Carter Samuel Gage. July couldn't get here fast enough and I was already planning the night time songs I would sing to him, how I would dress him, how I would fix his hair...I had everything down to his nursery ready for his arrival.

6 months pregnant 

On July 16, 2012 at 10:06pm, Carter Samuel Gage entered this world. And he was perfect.

Love at first sight

I still struggle with 'God's timing' because it's not MY timing, but His timing is perfect. We had Carter at a time when I was able to stay at home with him. I wouldn't have been able to 2 years earlier. Besides that, I can NOT imagine my life without this baby. He completes our family in every way. I think of his brother or sister almost every day and I can't wait to see him or her in Heaven. I truly look forward to it. Until then, I've got a baby to raise down here on Earth. He is God's gift to us and we will forever be grateful.

Newborn pictures

Carter and Chloe

Napping with Daddy

6 month checkup 

1 year pictures

1 year pictures 

1 year pictures 

Do any of you have a story to tell of Gods promise fulfilled in your life?? If you do, I would love to hear it!