We Got a Package! and....kudos for good customer service!

We got a package, we got a package, we got a package, hey-hey-hey-hey....sounds like Annie's post huh?

I am ALL ABOUT a front door delivery from Big Brown (UPS!) Nevermind the fact that we're on a first name basis with our UPS man, he delivers things to my front door (even when we're not home), and lets my kids help him walk packages to the front door! That blessed saint even toted packages inside my house to my laundry room when I was pregnant! If that "ain't" service, then I don't know what is!

I know what you're thinking...WHAT was in the package? Patience, people, patience. If you know me, there's a story comin'.......

Recently, we were on a trip to Sam's and purchased one of our family's favorite things.....COTTON CANDY. I LOVE to get cotton candy at Sam's because they sell it in pre-packaged plastic containers. Normally, we only buy it when we are about to venture to Disney World, but on this night, I couldn't resist it. That pink and blue sugary goodness was calling my name, errrr, I mean the boys' names.

(story within a story)--if you are a frequent visitor of Disney, my suggestion is to purchase this cotton candy before you go there, stick it in your backpack, then whip it out during the parades....the kids think they have hit jackpot and you've saved MAJOR dollars by not purchasing the $6 bag from Disney. I say if Disney lets you take it in (and they do, trust me) then by all means, take it in and save that money!

Okay, back the rest of the story here.......anyhow, I get home and notice that one of the containers has a small hole in the side of it (eww) and there is about 1/4 of cotton candy in the package and it's hard as a rock. So....being the demander of customer service that I am, I promptly found the distributor on the Internet (thank you LORD for some Internet), and sent them a nice email asking about the QC on their cotton candy, etc etc etc......They did respond and said they would send me a replacement container of sugary goodness and guess what the package was????????

Yes ma'am, not one, but FOUR new containers of cotton candy! Bless 'em Lord for their customer service!!!! I'm tempted to give that as a praise on Sunday in Sunday School! HELLO! (I do believe I'm gettin' ready to have church right here in my computer chair!)


My other recent customer service experiences are as follows:

2 coupons for FREE Kid Cuisines since the last ones I bought were missing the sprinkles to the pudding. Can I tell you what sort of scene played out in my kitchen because one child had sprinkles and the other didn't? Yes, well. They didn't want to hear it either; hence the 2 coupons for free Kid Cuisines.

Kellogg's sent me a coupon for a free Kellogg's product because one package of Power Ranger chewy snacks we purchased was missing, shall we say, about half of its Power Rangers. I emailed Kellogg's and asked for a replacement and voila! A coupon arrived in my mailbox a few days later with a very nice note!

Some may think I'm crazy about this customer service thing, but hey--I'm spending my hard earned money and expect my money's worth! (if you think I'm bad, you should see my boss--he's the one I learned all this from!)

Here's to great customer service! (and the package that was left at the front door!)

~CB~

Preschool Graduation!

Sniff, sniff...my baby is a GRADUATE! of preschool that is..........Tonight was Nolan's preschool graduation and all the little children did SO GOOD. They did the pledge, sang a song and did sign language to the song (One Small Voice). They were TOO cute!

Here's our little "almost" Kindergartener!


Of course I had to get pictures of Nolan and his little friend Coye. Coye's mama is the girl who cuts my hair, and she and I grew up together too! We are so excited that our boys will be in school together and can't wait for them to grow up together and do "boy" stuff! We're already cringing at our grocery bills! We both have 2 boys at home!

Nolan (and Coye) have the best teacher in the whole world (Annie--if you were his teacher, you'd be the best teacher in the whole world too!--there's still hope you'll make it to JBES for Nolan's first 3 years.... : ) Their teacher is so good with kids (bless her heart, I don't know how she does it day in and day out) and she truly loves enriching their lives. Mrs. Lisa, as the kids affectionately call her, teaches outside the box and does LOTS of hands on activities!

Nolan has so many people that love him--here are a few that came to support him (I didn't get a picture with his other 2 aunts that were there)

Nolan and "Uncle" Travis

Nolan and "Aunt" Cori

Nolan with Mimi and Grandaddy

Nolan with his "big brother" Damon

Nolan with Mama and Daddy!
(the story behind this picture is that we didn't get one at the actual ceremony--we went to Damon's house afterward and he took this picture for us)

Even though I'm sad that my "baby" is done with preschool, I'm SO EXCITED for him to turn the page of a new chapter in the book of life and start KINDERGARTEN!

Mama and Daddy love you to the moon and back, Nolan Sapp Benton!

~CB~

Baseball Banquet

On Monday, the WHS Red Devil baseball team had their annual baseball banquet. Since Cecil is one of the assistant coaches, we were privy to the event! We had a great time and it was neat to see all the boys get their awards and pictures, etc.

I'm not sure that Cecil and I even got our picture made together on Monday night....but here's me and D. (the third son)--


Hopefully, D. will be able to continue playing baseball in college, like Cecil was able to. He had a tryout last week and should hear something soon about that school, but to my understanding there is another option available for him in another state (perhaps).

D's friend T also played baseball this year, and we couldn't resist getting a snapshot!


T. wants to go to school to become a doctor, so he won't be playing baseball during college, but I imagine you'll see him playing softball at WYAA over the summer.

Cecil had a blast coaching this year and is already looking forward to next season! He really enjoys it and it seems as though it's a gift and talent of his.

Boys--if y'all are reading this, we love you both and wish you MANY blessings!

~CB

How Sweet It Is...to be Loved by You!

Tonight, we had a GREAT supper! Cecil grilled steaks and I made twice baked potatoes (oh so yum!). This is what we had left of the potatoes after the BOYS and I ate them!


Speaking of BOYS, my blog name rang true tonight when there were FIVE boys at the house! Guess who was over tonight to eat? (yup, you guessed it--my "third" son and his friend) And merciful heavens can those boys eat!!?!! It's really giving me a glimpse of what my future grocery bills might be. Oh my. You see what is left of that steak that D. is eating? JUST THE BONE. I suppose I could look on the bright side and say that they cleaned up their plates? No leftovers, that's for sure!



I love my own two children to pieces--I adore them (well, most of the time anyway)--but the "third" son D. brought me something OH SO SWEET when he walked in tonight! (mind you I had just done a small load of his clothes, but I really didn't mind--I enjoy doing that for him)

D. brought me a Mother's Day card! Now that my friends just ranks right up there with buttercream icing, hair paste, and Spanx! D. wrote the nicest message inside the card (almost brought me to tears) and I can't wait to scrapbook the card with a picture of the two of us!
Suffice to say that when he graduates high school in a few weeks, I'll be right there next to his real Mama with tears runnin' down my face. (sniff, sniff) I guess I'll get good practice at that because my Nolan is graduating preschool in 2 weeks too! (DOUBLE sniff, sniff)

Just to set the record straight and since some of you have asked me who in the world this "third" son is--he plays(ed) baseball for WHS and since Cecil coached this year, he just sort of stuck on us and stayed at the house for about a week and a half when his parents were gone to Texas--then he kept coming back on the weekends and every now and then during the week....I don't mind a bit! He's got great, wonderful parents, but I'm so thankful he chose us to be his "other set"! WE LOVE YOU D!!! (and thanks for my Mother's Day card buddy)!

How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You!

~CB~

It's working!

Yahoo for me! I got my scanner to work! Can you believe that? I'm the most technologically challenged person there is and I got my printer reloaded and the scanner works! As promised, here are a few pics. of me and my mama. PLEASE keep in mind that these pics are VERY OLD. Very, very old.

Daddy, me, and Mama at high school graduation, 1998

Daddy, me, and Mama at Miss Williston 1997

Me and Mama at Miss Teen of Florida 1998

Did y'all have a good Mother's Day? Mine was nice. My mother-in-law had the boys Friday and Saturday night and Cecil and I went to his brother's house in St. Augustine Friday evening (after the WHS Baseball game). Cecil and Edward played golf Saturday morning and then went to TPC Sawgrass on Saturday afternoon while I went shopping all day on Saturday at the outlet mall! It was heaven on earth!!

Cecil got me 3 charms for my Pandora bracelet! Finally! I have some more charms!

That's all for now--I'll be postin' again soon (as soon as I have something to post about!)

~CB~

A Tribute for Mother's Day

I thought it would be fitting to do a "tribute to mom's post" with Mother's Day being right around the corner.

(Oh, before we get too far into this post, I should say that since most of us reading this are in the South, we all appreciate the word "Mama". Mother just ain't my style--I'm a mama kind of girl)

Many of you know (and some of you don't) that I lost my mom to cancer when I was 20--she turned 44 a few weeks before her death. (I know, I know...you're not supposed to tell a woman's age) I only noted it because I think that is SO YOUNG. I remember being probably 8 or 10 and thinking 30 was old--now that I'm knocking at the door of 30, it "ain't so old" anymore! hee-hee

Seriously though, when I was 20 and we knew that it was more than evident that Mama was going to spend her next Mother's Day in heaven (she died Mother's Day weekend, 2001), all I could think was how young she was! (amongst other things, but we'll leave it at that)

The older I get, the more of my mom's mannerisms I see in myself (& the more people tell me how much of her they see in me and how much I remind them of her). Mama was very organized and I do mean VERY. We had a weekly menu posted on our refrigerator every Sunday afternoon! Now do you see why I do a menu and make a grocery list?!?

Mama loved cookbooks--I must admit I'm a sucker for a good cookbook--I have 2 cabinets FULL of them--(hmmm...I sense another blog post about cookbooks in the future). Mama also liked to cook and bake! She was a great cook! I very fondly remember some of our family dinners and her "Cathy peas" as well as her homemade biscuits...mmmmmm...my stomach is growling! To this day, I can't make her biscuits the way she did. Must be something about the hands that made them.......

I scoured my photo albums for some pictures of my Mama and I.....and found a few....BUT...I got a new printer and can't figure out the stinkin' scanner so...you'll have to wait until next week (or until I get time to read the stupid manual) to see pictures.....sorry!

I miss Mama every day of my life.....don't think that will ever go away--Mother's Day just isn't the same without her. She wasn't here for my engagement, wedding, or my babies...but I feel her presence many times. I have my boys now to wish me a Happy Mother's Day, but I can't wait til they are really old enough to "understand" what it means! I wish many times over that I had "gotten it" years before I did so that I would've had more quality time with my Mama, but there were other plans that were greater than mine.

Some things I remember about Mama:

• Above all--her love for the Lord in every situation. I'm sure she struggled but I always saw a faithful follower.
• Her handwriting--it was PERFECT.
• Her organization skills--they were awesome.
• Her cooking--have you seen pictures of me? Yeah. The weight tells it all.
• Pictures--she was always taking them--we have very few of her in front of the camera.
• Her telling me stories of when she was younger and lived in different countries (she lived in Turkey once) and states (Texas, Florida, Montana, and a few others).
• Her sewing skills--this one I did NOT inherit.
• Love of Family--she always enjoyed getting together and making a big "to do" about family functions, Christmas especially.
• Her love of Christmas--I definitely inherited this one!
  

Before you think I'm having a pity party (which I usually do on Mother's Day) I will tell you that I have an AWESOME mother-in-law! I mean, really--who else (besides your own mother) can you call at 4:30 in the afternoon and say "whatcha cookin' for dinner? Got enough for us?" and she says "yes, come on over!"

My mother-in-law also makes sure we are always included in family plans. She is great about taking the whole family on trips and making sure that we all have a good time. My M-I-L does great Christmas shopping and always gets me things I like (Vera Bradley purses, Pampered Chef, Longaberger, etc.) ! M-I-L also is a great grandmother to my children! She really does a lot with the boys--spoils 'em rotten! I mean R-O-T-T-E-N!
Love to you J.B.! I have the BEST M-I-L!

All that to ask......What's your fondest memory of your mom? Mine is probably making root beer floats with vanilla ice-cream and an IBC Root Beer (don't be making no root beer float with ANY other brand root beer than IBC, said my mama!) Many, many, many memories of my mom..but that's a quick, short one for you....

Here's to all Mamas I know, Mamas I don't know, current Mamas, future Mamas, AND Mother-in-Laws!

~CB~

It's Beginning to Look a LOT like..........

SUMMER!!!!!!

Cecil's watermelon broker came by today with good news about our melons AND a melon for us! Wasn't that great? As soon as Cecil came in the door with this priceless gem my boys and their cousin, K. were ALL over it (as evidenced by the pictures below)!!



Yummy! My kids LOVE them some watermelon (good thing too, since that's what pays the mortgage)!!

On the "kids" note...guess who we had back with us this weekend? Here's D. going inside the house after helping the little ones get situated on the concrete pad with their spoons!


Speaking of kids.....can I PLEASE just brag a little bit on my oldest? His Pre-K year is drawing to a close and look at this selection of work that was sent home with him Friday from school!




His writing has improved SO much this year (okay, it has improved SO much only because going in, he could only write a little bit, and now...LOOK! He can write WORDS!) He also started reading short sentences back in April! How exciting! I'm hoping he LOVES books like I do! Books open up a whole new world!

Other than cleaning up a little, having my niece over for the weekend, and eating some watermelon, our weekend was rather quiet......OH WAIT! I forgot to tell you...Nolan was jumping on his bed Friday afternoon, (no, I didn't know this until he came in the kitchen screaming and holding his head) and I was in the kitchen cooking supper--anyhow--he was SCREAMING and kept saying "it hurts, it hurts!" I could only imagine the worse, but seeing no evidence of what "hurt" I said "you're okay--go play!" And then....(Dum..Dum..Dum)..he removed his hand from his head--BLOOD EVERYWHERE. You know how much your head bleeds anyways, so mixed with his drama, it was bad. I was convinced he needed a butterfly stitch in the side of his head, but Cecil (who was pulling in the driveway at the time) said no...and Lord knows Cecil would know, cause he's a medical student's dream! He's had pins, rods, fractures, broken eye sockets, and all kinds of other goings on through the years!

Now that we've got all that drama out of the way, I hope you had a great weekend!

~CB~