Gardening Gurus

Neil has wanted us to get an outdoor family hobby for a while now.  We decided that we would make a little container garden with vegetables, herbs, and fruit.  We decided that we wanted to have tomatoes, cucumbers, okra, carrots, and onions in our garden.  Lowe’s decided that we would have strawberries, basil, onions, tomatoes, parsley, zucchini and squash.  We are going to look for the other veggies soon.  Neil and Bennett went to the store and came home with all the goods.  I meant to go with them, but I had Hennie and I just couldn't tear myself away from Downton Abbey Season 2.  

Bennett was the biggest helper!  He filled all the pots with soil.

Date night/Brew night

Our church had Parent's Night Out on Friday night.  We love that our church does this for the parents.  We love going out on a date with no guilt of leaving our kids with our parents.  We decided to go to Abby Singer's in the Robinson Film Center for dinner.  We even got to sit outside on the balcony.  The highlight of the dinner besides the company was the live music playing below on the street.  We had a nice man playing the trombone and yelling nonsense for only about 20 minutes.

Live entertainment...and it was FREE!

After our date, we headed to the usual Friday night brewing over at the Beville's house.  We arrived just in time to get new Red River Brew Co. t-shirts.  The Shreveport Times interviewed them about 10 minutes before we got there.  We even got to see the beta model of their new, fancy website.  They are doing this thing well!!

Jared putting the water in the pot...I am sure there is a technical name for this, but I just don't know.

Checking levels and looking mighty serious while doing it.

Robert, Jared, and Beau....yaaaaaaay Red River!

Neil and I even got to pretend to help!

I am pretty sure I am helping with the hops.  

We are thrilled that Shreveport will have its first craft beer brewery and we know the insiders!!  Can't wait to help promote this great venture!

March Birthdays

We get to celebrate all kinds of birthdays in March.  Neil turned 32, my dad celebrated 23 years of sobriety, and Nana & Gigi celebrated their birthdays.  I’m glad that we were a part of all of these special occasions.

I planned a little birthday gathering at Outback, Neil’s favorite restaurant, on March 8^th for his birthday.   Sadly, he was being a birthday Scrooge and said “Bah Humbug” to his birthday dinner so it was cancelled and I have not one picture of him on his birthday.  He was really excited about his fancy birthday gift, though.  I have been saving up to get him a Nest thermostat.  He loves these things and has wanted one for a while.  When I was at the bank cashing checks, I saw Clint G. who said “welcome to your thirties, you get a thermostat!”  So fitting!

Dad had 23 years of sobriety on March 6^th and I went to my yearly AA meeting last Monday.  It is always a nice time to hear all the nice things said about my dad at that meeting.  There is ALWAYS talk of how much my dad HATED AA when he first got there but he just kept going back.  I always like that he says that because there were some new people there and maybe they will keep coming back!    Here is the cake that his sponsor got for him.

Finally, we celebrated Nana and Gigi today.  Nana shares her birthday with St. Patrick’s Day and Gigi will be 96 on March 18^th.  We had a fun brunch today at Squire Creek. 

They see me Rollin'

You guessed it!  I got a new car!  Well a new to me car because it is used, but I am so excited!  I got a Buick Enclave.  I'll admit that I was worried about getting a Buick because I thought that's what older people drove and I was a little scared it looked like a mini-van.  I have left my fears behind and am now "bouncing on 24's!"

Neil was my total wheeler dealer with this car.  I basically pulled up, signed my name twice, and drove off in this car.  Neil has been working on this car buying deal for over a month and spared me all the grunt work. He also had them install a DVD player for the kids as an added bonus. Thank you, Neil!  You are the best!

There is no end to all the amenities I have on my new car.  My favorites are the Bluetooth with my phone and the button to press to close the back end of the car.  I was telling Neil yesterday that this is the first car I've ever owned that has leather seats...and these are heated and air-conditioned!

James (our salesman) and me

Neil and me

James, the salesman extraordinaire

St. Patrick's Festivities

We had a total blast with St. Patrick’s Day this year.  From Pinching to parties, it was a fun holiday.  I told Neil the other day that I didn't realize how much people actually celebrated St. Pat’s…guess I've been in a cave for the past 30 years.  We went to the St. Patrick's Day parade, enjoyed an all green breakfast, and even went to Ruston for Nana and Gigi's birthdays.

I made the same exact St. Pat's favors I made last year for the boys.  It was easy and I already had the baggie topper made up.  Lucky Charms for all children under age 4...yes!

They say the same: "Lucky to be your friend"

I just changed the names of the kids and Volia... easy peasy.  I took it another step and made ones for the family as well.

My aunt sent the boys fun St. Pat's glasses and goody packages...even complete with baby pics of their mommy! Thank you, Auntie!

Gators for Good Carnival

We had our annual community carnival last Friday at school.  It was a fun time for the kids.  Neil did not love the carnival…he said it was more like punishment to be there. Ha!  He isn’t around teenagers all day every day so I guess I can understand.  The club I sponsor was in charge of the dunking booth and it was a hit.  Everyone likes dunking their favorite or least favorite teacher.  As much fun as it was, I had taken my Housing students on a field trip that day and visited Henry’s St. Pat’s party.  I was so tired I fell asleep in the chair when we got home!

Pinchin'

I was scanning Pinterest the other day and stumbled upon "Pinching!"  I am all about the whole "booing and elfing" craze so why not add in "Pinching," as well?  I wanted to start it at school to make the days at the swamp pass by with fun and gifts. As you may know, I am the "Faculty Spirit Coordinator" at the school.  It's not an official title, but it IS a title and I embrace it.

I got my 5 packages of all GREEN items ready for March 1st so that the pinching could take place all the way up until St. Patty's Day.  You just never know if these things will take off at a place like a school, but I am IMPRESSED!  These teachers have been going all out!  It is so much fun to see the "We've been Pinched" signs all over the doors of my coworkers!

Here are the ones I made up.

On Friday, I was absolutely shocked to get pinched!!!  This person made up a huge basket of goodies and had a student deliver it to me!  I was sooooo excited!!!

Mrs. Lewis was pinched WELL!  I love the green duct tape!