Honeymoon Check!

I just booked our tickets for our honeymoon in the UK!! No, we won't be going to the Olympics (I REALLY wanted to). We will be going in July for 12 days and will split the time between Chris' family and friends and honeymoon time. Just booking the tickets feels so real and that we will be going back to see loved ones and finally get our honeymoon. It will be 6 months after the wedding, but definitely worth the wait. I'm not sure where we are exactly going other than Norwich where the majority of Chris' friends and family live. Chris has talked about visiting Holkham Hall. I mentioned that I want to go see where Downton Abbey is filmed and my snooty husband said that all of the castles look alike. Not to me though!!
Here is a picture of Holkham Hall.

And this is Highclere Castle, where Downton Abbey  is filmed.

Either way, I am excited to go abroad and see different parts of England. I know Chris misses his grandparents who were unable to come to the wedding and hasn't seen them in almost 2 years. We're hoping for a memorable and fun time in the UK!
Only one little problem...

How do we tell Doris??

Such a fun Easter

Doris wanted to say, "Happy Easter!" with her biggest smile. The Easter Bunny brought her a new squeaky toy, name tag, and bones that she has already buried in the backyard.

On Holy Saturday, the Sylvester family got together for lunch and Easter Egg Hunt. We had hamburgers, salads, fruit, and many tasty desserts As usual, we brought too much food. I made whoopie pies again. I dyed the filling neon green to make it look more Easter-ish.

But it sort of made them look like sandwiches.

I guess they tasted good because I had a lot of compliments and most of them were eaten.
My cousin made a train for the younger kids to ride on. They had so much fun!

My nephew came and we gave him our Easter presents. He loved the bubbles. He didn't like the bunny ears at first, but once I put them on my head he wanted to wear them.

I had to capture this picture of my sweet cousins together.

We started to hide eggs around 1:30. We wanted to find some creative places to hide them so this is where we put them

She was such a good sport.
Here are a few more pictures of my family: Grandad and my cousin and one of my nephew hunting for eggs.

We hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

Changing the house some more

I decided to make these

Source: glamour.com via Sheri on Pinterest

 But I changed to blackberries with vanilla yogurt

It was easier to dip with a toothpick

These looked fantastic, until I remembered rule number 1: always make sure that your cookie sheet will fit into your freezer. After I realized that they wouldn't fit, I tried to transfer them to a smaller cookie sheet. That turned into a big mess because the yogurt got every where and there wasn't near enough on them as there had been before. I was frustrated and just put them in the freezer. You need to let them thaw a few minutes before eating because they are extremely cold and do not break easily. If you have a texture issue then you probably will not like this. Once they start to thaw you need to eat them fast because the yogurt thaws quickly and ends up goopy. I am going to experiment with this one again in the future and remember to put them on a smaller cookie sheet.

Chris was off for a few days last week and I came home to this...

I was wondering what he could be making...dining room chair covers, wall decorations...I don't know. Well this is what he made...

A headboard!! I was so excited. I had been bugging him about working on our bedroom and this just added so much color to our dull room. I love it and can't wait till he makes our bed frame to go with it.

And the DIY projects go on. We have been collecting Shiner bottle caps for a few months now and plan on placing them on a table top. Chris bought an old sewing machine table this past weekend at Canton for it. I can't wait until this becomes a reality.

We made Easter Cards!

Elegant Script Easter Card

Cheerful Christmas invitations for your friends and family.

View the entire collection of cards.

We didn't have enough to send everyone so we thought we could post our Easter card on our blog. Easter isn't until next week, but if I didn't post it when I put my order in, I would have no way of figuring it out on my own.  Happy Easter!!!

Our Weekend

Friday evening, I went to Stations of the Cross and then headed home to make Chris a new meal. Since we cannot eat meat on Fridays during Lent, I found a recipe on Pinterest: Creamy Shrimp and Mushroom Pasta.

Source: chaosinthekitchen.com via Savannah on Pinterest

It was amazing!! We both gobbled it up so quickly. I wouldn't say that it was healthy, but for anyone who likes mushrooms and shrimp this would be a hit! Here is my version.

Saturday was St. Patrick's Day and we celebrated by going to the St. Patrick's Day dance at the KJT. My dad's band, Jodie Mikula Orchestra, and Czech and then Some played for the dance. We had a great time hanging out, having some Shiner, and dancing.

Doris wanted to say, "Happy St. Patrick's Day!"

Also on Saturday, we went to Tex-Scapes and bought a peach tree. They were having a sale and it was very tempting to buy more than the peach tree. We planted it Sunday morning and can't wait to see it grow.

We hope to start our garden this weekend. We have had a lot of rain, so the soil should be soft to till. We just have to see what the weather is going to do.

Family Day at Bri's

This past Tuesday, my sister invited all of the Sylvester family to come over and have lunch at her house. Since Brianna travels so much with her job as a flight attendant, she hasn't seen some of the fast-growing babies we have in our family since our wedding in December. We all brought a dish, kicked back, gabbed, and played with all of the kiddos. We had chicken salad, veggie and meat trays, brownies, fruit, red velvet whoopie pies, and hot dog crescent rolls. I made hot dog crescent rolls and red velvet whoopie pies with cream cheese filling. They looked and tasted delectable. I will definitely make them again soon. Here are some pictures to highlight the afternoon.

   My nephew is already becoming like his father...glued to the TV

                         How much is this little boy?

        Never saw such children that were so excited to play with kennels!

                    Jumping on the bed

Weekend and What We're Up To

This past weekend, the taping of the Mollie B Polka Party took place in our little town of Ennis. This show airs on RFD-TV weekly and showcases polka bands around the country. Mollie was in for a serious Texas welcome as the entire hall was packed all weekend with polka fans and dancers. It felt like Polka Fest on steroids. There were so many people from all over the country that wanted a glimpse of what the show taping is like, to be on TV, and of course to meet Mollie B. I didn't get to meet her, but she seemed liked she was made out of cream cheese with her constant smile and bubbly attitude. All in all, it was a great weekend and got us amped for Polka Fest in May.
Here are some pics of the Ennis Czech Boys[my brother, Corey, is the drummer for the band] on stage. The Jodie Mikula Orchestra[my dad is the drummer for the band] was also featured, but I forgot my camera at that point[sorry, Dad:( ]  Both of the bands played a fantastic set and drew in a huge crowd around the stage.

The many dancers of the Mollie B Polka Party

  Lauren and I joining in on the festivities while Ennis Czech Boys were playing

 Oh, and we also worked in the kitchen to help out my Aunt Tina. It was actually fun to help because we got one of the best seats in the house and got to chat with everyone while eating some [most] of the product...shh don't tell Aunt Tina

After Sunday night, we were exhausted and glad that we both had the next day off. I'm on Spring Break this week and Chris took off a few days so we could get some things done around the house. Today, we worked on usual house chores, i.e., mopping, laundry, and dishes. We wanted to start our garden this week, but I think it's too wet and we are due for more rain later this week. Tex-Scapes Greenery, a local nursery, is having a Spring Sale this weekend. We're hoping to buy a few fruit trees, like peaches or apples to put in our garden. I love the thought of picking your own fruit right from your backyard.

I'm almost halfway through The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I mentioned in my last blog that I wanted to see the movie, but I really wanted to read the book first. I had a hard time getting into the book, but now I can hardly put it down.

I'm hoping to finish it this week and then begin reading the craze of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

Here's to Spring cleaning, gardening, and reading!!!