School Supplies, Oh How I Love Thee!

Y'all know I have a SERIOUS fettish with school supplies, right? Seriously. I. LOVE. SCHOOL. SUPPLIES. When I was in school, my FAVORITE memory was my mom taking me to buy my school supplies (not my clothes!).

We decided to take Nolan on Wednesday night to finish up his "need to have for Kindergarten school supply list." (see list above) I envisioned a nice, quiet evening as we browsed the aisles looking for the right color scissors, glue, and markers, and discussing how much FUN he would have in Kindergarten.

HA! That angelic picture (did you hear the nice calm music playing?) went to pot the second we walked in the store. Not because the store was crowded (it wasn't), but because we had BOTH our BOYS with us. Really, Lord? Why did you give me boys who could CARE LESS what color their scissors are and whether or not they have 8 glue sticks instead of 12? Not to mention, they could care less about "classic" markers versus "tropical" colored markers. Sigh. These boys really need to get a grip on the important things (ha-ha!) It became a trip of hurry up and get this stuff, let's get out of here!

My little "glue picker-outer"

Here's Nolan picking out one of the items on his list! So many choices....which one do I choose, which one do I choose?.....
So proud to have Expo markers.....

And...you ALL know it's TRUE--nothing like the smell of a fresh box of Crayola brand crayons! And my heavens, NO! I did not pay $2.39 per box! They were only .25 per box!

At the end of the night, here's what we ended up with! The ONLY thing we didn't get on the list was 6-inch paper plates. If any of you find 6-inch paper plates, PLEASE tell me what store!


Also, because I LOVE a bargain and because I LOVE school supplies, I usually stock up on various items for the boys' teachers as well. Here's a stack that will go to Nolan's teacher. She's getting some bathroom passes (which are ADORABLE), bookmarks, notepad and pen, construction paper, word strips, crayon box papers that you write words or whatnot on, binder clips that have an apple on them, a Dr. Seuss bag, and all kinds of other goodies! Oh! How I wish I were a teacher!

I get to find out on Monday who his teacher is, but here's the characteristics I listed:

-mature
-thinks and teaches outside the box
-does not put heavy emphasis on standardized testing
-creative
-energetic
-able to discipline lovingly (ha! Like I really discipline lovingly at home)
-not a screamer (I mean, the poor child gets to hear me scream enough, he doesn't need a teacher that screams too)
-I can't remember what else

I'm sure he'll get a fantastic teacher though! The entire Kindergarten team is really good, so I know I'll be happy--well...there is one...........

~CB~

See What the Professional Can Do!

Remember in yesterday's post that I said a friend of ours that we vacation with took some professional photos of us on the beach? We've been vacationing with them for....let's see here...ummm...well....A. Really. Long. Time.

I've known her husband since I was 6 or 8...so that's anywhere from 23+ years ago.....We met Lydia several years later and we just love both she and Chris. It's awesome that we vacationed together as "children" and now our children are vacationing together!

You can view our pictures on her website, Lydia Hubert Photography! Look under Portraits, and then Children...and there are a few of Nolan and Carter....(they're in turquoise shirts and plaid shorts) and then under Portraits, Family, there are a four of us as a family....I'm pretty sure I tried to link you directly to the pictures, so if it doesn't work, let me know. Otherwise, browse around in the Family Portraits section and you'll see us at the bottom.....

A HUGE thank you to Lydia for capturing us on our vacation and hers! We Love Y'all!

~CB~

A Family Portrait

This will be a short post (cause I'm posting early in the morning before I leave for work). I normally am at work by now but I'm taking the boys to school today instead of the hubby......so I'm going in later today.

While we were at the beach, we had some family portraits done. We took some with my camera, and then we had one of our friends, who is a professional photographer take some as well. She takes gorgeous pictures, so I can't wait to see hers, but for now....

Here's one of ours...

I was also able to get one of Nolan and Carter when they weren't trying to kill each other..isn't this sweet???????????

I'll keep posting little by little about the beach......I'm doing good to get the few pictures up that I have!

~CB~

Home Again, Home Again

It feels great to be HOME again!!! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the beach, but after two weeks in the glorious sun (working on my melanoma as my brother says), I'm ready to sleep in my own bed and get a shower in my own bathroom, etc.

I have 940 pictures (seriously) to edit from the beach, but for now...here's a few to get you started!

This is Nolan, boogie-boarding. He discovered that he can boogie board now and LOVES it! I had to beg and plead with my niece and my husband though to take him, cause I'm a big, fat wimp and do NOT like the ocean! There are critters out there--haven't you ever seen Jaws?

Here's Carter coming in from boogie-boarding. His idea of boarding was to stand on the board and have someone pull him around. ha!


We had a great time with our family and friends and now it's back to the real world!

~CB~

Let Freedom Ring! (Part III)

To cap off our "fourth of July" weekend, we spent Sunday afternoon at my in-laws river house and Sunday evening with my brother and SIL at their house.

It was a nice, relaxing day and it was great just to visit (and eat, of course).

Here's Tarzan again at the river (I'm just waiting on Tarzan's voice noise to surface from him one day as he's jumping off the dock)....



and Tarzan and his father.....(see Cecil jumping over the top of Nolan?)



This is Carter...doing what he does best, which is eating Oreos and watching the boats go by on the river.


Hope you all had as much fun as we did on our "Fourth of July" weekend. I'm slightly sad that I won't get to read everyone's posts for the next two weeks...I'll have to catch up on your comings and goings when I get back.

On a side note, this is only SOME of the stuff that is going to Daytona with us....well, almost all of it. My bag and Cecil's bag aren't there and neither are a few other things....Good thing I drive a van. What you can't see are the 5 other bags behind that chair next to the noodles...beach bags, clothing, swimsuits, towels, sunscreen, medication, etc. etc. etc.


How about this...you guys email any questions you have about me, family, life, etc. while I'm gone (sort of a "get to know you" thing) and I'll answer them when I get back home from the BEACH (before my beach posts of course, which will probably be a 10 part series)

~CB~

Let Freedom Ring! (Part II)

On Saturday, of our "Fourth of July" weekend, we went to Daytona for the NASCAR Coke Zero 400 race! We had a blast! We go to this race with our good friends, Brad and Shannon E.


Cecil and Brad do business together and are in the same business (farming), and Shannon and I met through them, and just by generally living in in the same town which is extremely small. Everyone knows everyone here.

Like Annie, I could tell some serious stories about the way these people are dressed at the races! HA! Trust me. I'll spare you the details though. Too much to tell....... hee-hee-hee.

We met Brad and Shannon about 1:00 and from there...the FUN FUN FUN began! We are all a barrel of laughs whenever we get together......just food, fun, and friends. It doesn't get any better than that people! We started out in Daytona by eating lunch, errr....I mean, gorging ourselves on every food imaginable....as evidenced below.


After lunch, Shannon and I went shopping at Marshall's, which is adjacent to where we park. I bought the cutest bag there (sorry, no picture) but trust me. It's CUTE. And...Brad wanted a new shirt so here is the (back) of Brad as he's escaping my picture.......and let me tell you, Brad getting a new shirt is a story in itself.



And..wouldn't you know it? My favorite song in the whole world (okay, maybe not favorite song in the whole world, but one I really really like) has it's own brand of jeans....hmmm.....

Are you humming it yet? I am. Apple Bottom Jeans...boots with the fur..the whole club was lookin' at her......

Here's Shannon sitting in the car, waiting on the guys to get ready to head over to the track. She will probably kill me for posting this...but who cares...I'll be at the beach for two weeks, and maybe she'll have forgotten about it by then....

After we ate and shopped, we ventured over to the race track where the real fun began! Brad tells us every year that NASCAR is truly the only true American sport left. I am starting to agree with him, although, if it's the only American one left, why do some of them drive foreign made cars? Figure that one out.

Before the race begins, fans are treated to the BEST flyover EVER by some of the most talented service men EVER. Check out this flyover! If this doesn't give you chill bumps, then you have wet wood.




When the American flag comes out and the jets are flying overhead and you hear the Star Spangled Banner, it is the MOST touching moment you can imagine....



Here's me and Shannon during the race, listening to the drivers talk....um, okay she is listening to them talk and I'm all about keeping my hair lookin' decent.


The other "most touching moment" is when someone other than Kyle Bush (sp?) won the race. I do not like KB!! I don't care for him because he whines about everything...it can't ever be that he just had a stinky day driving...it's always someone hit me, or NASCAR should have better rules, or yadda, yadda, yadda.....Cecil doesn't like KB because he drives a Toyota. Um. I gently reminded my husband that I drive a Honda. Go figure. I'm so glad Tony Stewart won!!!! Dale, Jr. is my favorite, but if he can't win, then it doesn't matter to me WHO wins, as long as it's not KB.

Here's Brad and Cecil after the race headin' back to the car to come home...it was late...


Stay tuned for Part III of "Let Freedom Ring"......it will be the last post for 2 weeks, cause these.......are going to the BEACH baby!! (Yes, I have flip flop tan lines on my feet cause I wear flip flops ALL the time. YES. I wear two toe rings--used to be 3...then I tamed down a little, hee-hee. Yes. I wear a gold anklet all the time.)

Stay tuned......

~CB~

Let Freedom Ring! (Part I)

Happy 4th of July y'all! We had a great weekend! This is Part I in a three-part series, so settle in, get a snack, and start readin'. I'll have to post the rest of the series this week, cause I leave for the beach on Saturday and I'll have beach stuff to post when I get home in a few weeks.

On Friday, my brother hosted an awesome Fourth of July party! He hosts this party every year and has the BEST fireworks EVER! Lots and lots of people that he works with come to the party, and some people that my sister-in-law work with come to the party....in between all those people are the brothers, sisters, and friends that they have too. Everyone just kind of sits around, relaxes, swims, plays horseshoes, cooks, eats, chit-chats, and general "fourth of july" shenanigans.

(me and my brother)

The guys had fun playing horseshoes and launching water balloons....don't ask. Yes, they tried to hit the cars that were going by on the road. Merciful heavens, do guys EVER grow up? Clearly not.

There was TONS of food--here's the beer in the rear chicken we had. If you've never had this delicacy, you should try it. Really. Yes. I was scared too. Trust me. It's GOOD. Very very moist and holds flavor really well. Yes. The alcohol cooks out of it.


Here's the "great grilling guru"..his name is Joe F. and he works with my brother! Joe is very down to earth and has a great sense of humor!

After dinner, we just sat around and ate some more...dessert that is. AND....we waited on THIS.......

THE FIREWORKS!! I'm positive you can't tell from this picture how good the fireworks were, but trust me, they were awesome! This picture just sort of looks like a bunch of lightening bugs but really, I promise. The fireworks were the highlight of the evening!

The guys did a really good job of getting the fireworks to go off in series and such. Semi-professionals if you ask me.

A good time was had by all and I can't wait for next year.....stay tuned for Part II in the series....what else could there be you ask? A NASCAR race...that's what!!

~CB~

Another new look?

I just realized that what I thought my blog looked like, it does not. (does that make sense?) Yesterday, I had it all spiffy looking and had some green on the edges with some pink on the inside and a yarn looking thing all tying it together. Today I look and it's a plain white background. Yuck.
Sorry y'all. I'm trying. Really, I am. I will take a look at the blog this weekend and see what I can fix.

~CB~