Neil and Kaley Visit and St. Patty's Day Parade

Neil and Kaley were on Spring Break last week and spent a few days with us.  They came early Thursday and went to the Dallas Aquarium until I got back into town.  I have been wanting crawfish and thankfully they were up for it too so we went to eat crawfish Thursday night.  

Brett had to miss out on the Thursday night fun.  He was supposed to come home but instead got to spend his 2nd night (or hours) in a row on a couch at the hospital because they had a surgery go until 3am that night.  

 After crawfish Neil decided we needed some frozen yogurt so we went to Yumilicious. He got the largest cup available and filled it up! 

I had to work Friday morning so they went to the zoo until  I was done.  Then we went to the Arboretum that afternoon.

The feature at the Arboretum is tulips right now.  There are thousands and they are so pretty.

We had to go to the Apple store later that afternoon and were early for our appointment so guess what is next door-  Wild About Harry's!  At Neil's request (not mine for once) we had to get some frozen custard.  Neil and I  decided the love for ice cream must be genetic because we both could it multiple times a day and never get tired of it!

Neil went overboard again with the largest serving possible!

Friday was Neil's 20th birthday which I can hardly believe!

He wanted to go to Dave and Buster's.  We had a blast. 

Kaley and I couldn't stop playing a game where you drop coins into a big pile of coins and try to push them over edge for tickets.  She hit the jackpot and that was so much fun!!

Focused

Saturday morning Neil and Brett went in the jeep to pick up breakfast tacos.

Neil and Kaley had to head home Saturday morning so they missed out on the parade fun.    

Headed to the parade

Resting during the parade

Green and people everywhere!

"The Green Dog"
People were hilarious about Dot.  She was a hit.  Probably 50 people commented on the green dog.  I colored her with food coloring.  

Every year several miles of Greenville gets blocked off for the parade and all of the bars and restaurants have green beer and food and people have block parties and house parties.  It is crazy but lots of fun.  

After the parade we walked back down Greenville to 2 different house parties.  

Here are the dogs at the 2nd party.  We probably walked 4-5 miles that day and they were totally exhausted.   

We met up with Nelson and Winston at the 2nd party.
It was a long but fun day!

Jackie's Bridal Shower

In about a month I'll have a "sister"!  Jackie's bridal shower was this past weekend.  They got a lot of really nice gifts. 

Megan and her girls and her lack of an 18 week baby bump with her little boy!!!

Lots of pretty things for their new house!

Gran Gran checking it all out.

 I don't know if other places do it like this, but in Center we register at the local stores and someone goes and picks the gifts up the day of the shower.  They are not wrapped.  We display them for everyone to see.  It is a nice way to do things because the bride gets to visit instead of open gifts the entire shower and everyone gets to see the gifts for the bride and groom!

Clayton even got some man gifts from ACE Hardware.  He was totally against registering at all at first then he went to ACE Hardware and went crazy.  He later asked me if he could register at other places such as Cabella's.  I cracked up.  He was totally serious.  He said he needed to hunt to provide for his family.

Me and Mom :)

More man gifts.

Gran Gran and 2 of her girls. 

Jackie, The Bride!

The Bride to Be and her hostesses 

Opening gifts

I volunteered to make the cake.  I was pretty nervous but I was happy with the way it turned out and it tasted good too. The cake stand was made by my uncle Jimmy for Megan's wedding.  It made the cake look much cuter.  I used Kabob sticks and cut burlap and lace to make the banner.  Below are the links to the cake recipe I used:
White Wedding Cake
Wedding Cake Buttercream
How I iced the cake
I used 9 in cake pans.  Each one took an entire recipe so I quadrupled the cake recipe.  I then stacked two, put support sticks (cake pop sticks) and a 9 in round cardboard circle then stacked the last two.  I made the cakes and put a crumb coat of icing on the day before then made the icing the day of.  I didn't assemble it until I got there.  I ended up making 6 recipes of the icing.  I am not sure how many this will actually serve.  I would guess about 50-60.
This is a really good cake recipe that is pretty easy because it uses a box mix and adds additional ingredients.


Looking forward to Jackie and Clayton's big day!  It is going to be a really pretty, DIY, outdoor wedding with the reception in the barn.  I can't wait to see it all put together!

Babies!

Lots of babies in our lives these days!

This precious boy, Gavin Reese Montgomery, made his appearance at the beginning of February.  Ryan and Randi sound like they are loving life as parents and send me cute pics almost daily.  I hope we can get to Kentucky to meet him soon. 

Clayton and Jackie were planning on getting one of Bandit's puppies but somehow ended up with two at the last minute!  They are super cute and playful.  

Roux

Gumbo

I stopped on the way back to Dallas last week and got to hang out with this growing boy.  Drake will be 6 months in April and loved chillin' in my lap!

I don't think this is news to anyone who reads the blog, but speaking of babies we are having one of our own in August! 

We are so excited!  This is from the 12 week U/S.  I'm 16 weeks this week and we find out the gender next Friday!  

We both think it's a girl for some reason but of course we are just praying for a perfect, healthy baby no matter the gender.

Lately

Brett has been working a lot lately (nothing new) so I have been finding things to keep myself busy.  I pulled out my sewing machine Aunt Rachel gave me and some fabric I already had and made this table runner.  I'm still trying to figure out what to put on top of the table.  It took me forever to make because I'm slow at getting the machine set up but I like the way it turned out.  

My parents got tickets to see Kid Rock one Wednesday night in Shreveport that I was working in Center.  I was worn out but it was a good time.  He puts on a great concert and the people watching was even better.  Don't ya love dad's real coon skin hat?  

David and Mariana hosted a sushi making night.  Always lots of fun to make your own sushi rolls and if you have never done it, it's much less expensive than going out.  

I have been riding to Fort Worth with Brett on the weekends he has to do rounds.  We go have coffee and breakfast at a coffee shop there.  Even though I don't get to sleep in Sat/Sun we get to hang out and he has company on the drive for a change.  

The random warm days we have tried to spend outside.  We got the jeep out and went for a ride one weekend.  It didn't have the backseat in for a long time so Brett put it back in a while back.  Dot loves it because she now has a perch in the middle which is her favorite riding spot! 

We have a busy few months coming up.  Showers, weddings and even a few trips to look forward to!

Clothing Dye

I guess I forgot I had a blog!

Not that what I blog about is all that interesting or anything, but I think it may be fun to look back on one day. 

I randomly got the idea to dye a pair of jeans I never wear.  I bought these thinking I would like the color, but something about it doesn't look good with my pale skin so I never wear these gray/silver pants.  

I got some Rit Dye, green of course, and this is how they turned out.

(I used 4.5 gallons of water, 1.5 cups of salt and 3/4 a bottle of liquid dye, Kelley Green-stovetop technique.)

I love them!  I wore them to work today.  They are going to be perfect for St. Patty's day :)

I have a dress that I never wear for the same reason and I'm thinking of dyeing it.  Just trying to figure out what color.