Brooke's....Open For Business!

After work on Valentine's day Jon, Jude and I ventured out to look at monogramming/sewing machines. I had done my research and knew what I wanted but never thought I'd be coming home with one! Well...We ended up purchasing the beautiful machine pictured to the left! Happy Valentine's Day to me!! ;-)
I've spent nothing short of a small fortune the past couple of years having gifts and things of Jude's monogrammed. I KNOW many of my fellow mommy friends can relate! So the plan is simply this...I'm going into business!



Hopefully thru craft fairs, Etsy.com, word of mouth orders, etc, the machine will pay for itself AND I can save my friends money! :-)
The money I'll save in gifts alone will be substantial! Ofcourse for now I'm taking things slowly and day by day... I know with baby Joel arriving shortly I'll be quite busy BUT with that said, I'm totally excited for future potential and find myself day dreaming of what else I can sew, embroider, monogram... Just today I spent my lunch break at Jo-Ann's and bought 5 new kid's clothing patterns to practice with for my first craft fair booked for the end of March! They were on sale for $1.99 each....I couldn't resist! I have my DBA/Tax ID and a business account...I'm pretty set! I created a Facebook page and I have 50 fans...it's a start!

Who knows, God could provide in a way that allows me to stay home with Jude & Joel! Wouldn't that be just too awesome?! I have faith, feel so blessed and absolutely love my new machine!! :)

Here's a couple of things I did last week:


An apron for my cousin, Shannon's, Cake business


Some fun stuff for Jude bug

I'll take some more pics of things this weekend and post next week to show off! ;-)

Pregnancy Update - Almost 30 weeks!

How Far Along: Almost 30 Weeks!!


Size of baby: According to BabyCenter.com - Joel is about 15.7 inches long now, and he weighs approx 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage).

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 16 lbs

Maternity Clothes: Check! My favorite outfit is still stretch pants w/a sweater and tall boots. Trendy but comfy.

Gender: It's still a boy! ;-) Joel (middle name = still a question mark) Howerton. We keep going back and forth b/t Joel Oliver and Joel Philip.



Movement: Joel is VERY active - especially in the morning and at night. Hiccups have become a daily occurrence too. :)

Sleep: I'd love some... Pretty much tired 24/7. My OB told me to add more iron supplements. Silly anemia is kickin' my booty! AND my feet cramp so bad lately! Brings me almost to tears! It's the absolute worst feeling being woken up from a dead sleep and immediately I'm in pain grabbing my foot!

What I miss: Sleeping and maybe my memory...I can't seem to remember things to save my life! Lists are my friend! :)

Symptoms: Tiredness/Insomnia, muscle cramps in my legs and mainly feet, ternderness and swelling in my chest...I'm starting to look quite endowed, ha!



Best Moment this week: Feeling Joel REALLY move - he's not just kicking anymore - it's like I can feel his entire body moving around. So weird and wonderful at the same time! AND Jude rubbing my belly w/a smile on his face...he knows something is going on in there ;-)

Mommy's sweet lil' helper!!

I'm just going to believe that Jude will always be my little helper! :) He's such a cutie patootie...right?! ;-) He's learning something new every day & I'm just the proudest momma around!



He wants to help me vacum, he wants to rake the leaves... Love it & had to share!!



If this behavior does stick, he's going to be one heck of a hubby for some lucky girl one day! ;-)

I suppose Oklahoma is O-K! ;-)

This past weekend Jon, Jude and I made a trip to Oklahoma to see family and celebrate my sisters upcoming 27th birthday! My Nana and Poppy (mom's parents) live in Shawnee, OK and it's been almost 2 years since we've stayed AT their house. My sister lives about 30 miles away in Moore, OK...just outside of Oklahoma City. We couldn't have picked a better weekend for a visit! The weather was GORGEOUS so we spent most of our time outdoors!! Jon and I had a wonderful time visiting and Jude had a blast playing with his cousins!



My grandparents have a beautiful big backyard! They have a small portion fenced off right behind their house that was perfect for the kiddos when we wanted to keep them close. They also have a pond and lots of land that the boys love to go explore!




Jude had so much fun!! Swinging with Poppy & Daddy, snack time with Nana, playing with his cousins...it was such a great weekend! I can't wait til we get to go again and hopefully Joel will get to join in on the fun then too! I think my favorite part was watching Jude get to know my grandparents so well. My dad's parents live in Arlington so we see them a couple times a month but it was a real treat to see him love on Nana and Poppy and vice versa!! :) Not many are fortunate to have both sets of grandparents living...Jude has tons of loving family!! He's a blessed little boy for sure!!





My only and baby sister, Staci, turns 27 February 28th! It's amazing to me how fast the years have started passing. She can't be 27! We all got together for dinner and cake Saturday night. Nana made her famous strawberry cake and we enjoyed every bite! Mmm, It's so delicious!! Even the icing is homemade! After dinner we couldn't say goodbye without playing a couple card games of "hand and foot." I hate to brag but...the girls kicked booty. HeHe.



We left Nana and Poppy's house Sunday morning and stopped in OKC to meet up with my sister's bunch for church and lunch before heading back home. We filled our bellies once again at Ted's before hitting the road!

Jude cheesin' up the other guests while we waited for our lunch table...

Thankful for the Slow...I mean Snow ;-)

Day 4 of ice and snow in DFW...I rescheduled my Tuesday morning OB appt for this morning at 9:30am thinking surely the weather would clear up by today! I got up early enough to get ready and allow myself an hour to commute from my Keller home to my Doctor's office at Baylor Grapevine, typically a 30 minute trip even with some traffic. I went out to start/warm up my car and scrape the windows and immediately started dreading the trip...the snow was a good 6" deep on top of solid ice and the flurries were coming down harder by the minute! I was still determined not to have to reschedule my appt AGAIN! So...against Jon's wishes, I said my goodbye and headed out...until I reached the first stop sign, LOL. There was just no way! It took me almost 5 minutes to turn around and get back in my drive way...and I haven't attempted to leave the house since. :) The appointment can wait...I rescheduled for next Tuesday.

INSTEAD...we played outside, ate and ate some more, watched "Finding Nemo" and a couple dvr shows ...AND we finished Jude and Joel's nursery (see prior blog for nursery pics:))...I love my family! It's been a great day!! :) Ofcourse we've experienced some cabin fever too but the slower pace has been really nice!

Jude is getting a roomie!!

We were going to wait until March to move Joel's crib into Jude's room but being "locked in" the past 4 days with the snow & ice, we just couldn't wait any longer!! Here's some pics of Jude AND Joel's room!! I'm so happy with the way it turned out! I'm amazed everything fit! YAY!!

Enters crib #2...


Jude helping his daddy move Joel's crib...

Jude in HIS crib...

Jude trying out baby brother, Joel's crib...

And done....

and DONE!!


Bring on baby! ;-) We. Are. Ready!!

Cowboy Cookie Recipe

Today marks our 2nd day staying indoors at the Howerton House! The combonation of the "lock-in" and the snow outside makes it feel very much like a holiday! And so....we baked! Per friend requests, here's our family recipe for Cowboy Cookies...



Ingredients:
2 Cups Flower
1/2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 Cup White Sugar
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Cup buttered soft shortening
2 Eggs
1/2 t Vanilla
2 Cups Oatmeal
1 Bag of Chocoalte Chips
1 Cup Chopped Pecans



Measure flour, baking powder, soda and salt together. Sift into bowl (I personally don't have/use a sifter; I just put all ingredients into bowl and wisk a bit).
In Large bowl - blend white sugar, brown sugar & shortening. Add eggs & beat together. Add flour mixture & vanilla, oatmeal, choc chips & pecans.

I then use a table spoon to help make dough "clumps" and drop them on greased cookie sheet.



Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Makes approx 6 dozen.

Hope you ENJOY as much as we do!! Happy Snow Days friends & fam!! XoXo!

Blessings,
The Howertons

Snow Day!!

What's the best way to start off the month of February? A SNOW DAY, duh! ;-) Jon and I worked a little from home but when you have an adorable 13 mo old wanting your attention, it's a little harder ofcourse. SO...we put the computers away and it was a fun lock-in that we hope to repeat again tomorrow! I made a valentine's day themed bundt cake and some yummy spinach dip...got caught up on laundry...watched some dvr shows and a movie we got for Christmas that was still unopened! AND now, blogging a little before bed. :) It's kind of nice to have a forced slow down every now and then for sure.

The roads were solid layers of ice (some covered with snow). Texans just don't know how to drive on that stuff, so we typical don't... or we wreck. ;-)


Our House: The snow had started melting off the roof some but the flurries have started up again since! I'm curious to see what the morning will bring...


The view looking out my front door...

Hope everyone is warm and safe and enjoying their SNOW DAY!! :-)
Hugs,
Brooke