Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Memories with Grandaddy

My boys stayed at the river on Friday night with my in-laws (Mimi and Grandaddy).


They made TONS of pear relish. (disgusting, I hate the stuff, but my hubs and everyone else loves it).

It was especially sweet as my mother-in-law's daddy (our grandfather and my kids' great-grandfather) had been buried that morning.

Making Memories!

~CB~

Friday, August 27, 2010

See you (soon) Papa

Cecil’s grandfather (on his Mama’s side) passed away on Tuesday morning.  Early.  Like 5:55 AM early.  What’s the deal with the 5 am stuff?  When my Mama passed, hers was at 5:23AM.

Anyhow.  I have to tell y’all the SWEETEST man on earth went to heaven this week.  I LOVED Cecil’s Papa from the day I met him.  So kind and gentle.  Always a smile on his face.  And the several hundred people at his funeral (& viewing)?  A sure sign of the legacy he left and the impact he made on MANY people.

IMG_1360

Because we KNOW where he went, it’s not goodbye.  It’s see you soon.

christmastrip 172

We love you Papa T!  See you soon.

~CB~

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Keeping it real

I was home on Tuesday. It was a very sad day-one, because Cecil’s grandfather passed away early that morning, and two, it was my last Tuesday off from work (I get Tuesdays off during the summer).

Most of you think I probably sat around and ate bon-bons (and I realize I am large, but no, I didn’t eat bon-bons)….some of you may think I went to the grocery store. Nope. I didn’t do that either.

I did laundry. And cleaned. And balanced my checkbook. Paid bills. Organized. Lots and lots of organizing. I feel better when things are organized. My world seems at peace when things are organized. And folks, let me remind you. I’m just keeping it real.

See this set of cabinets? It’s under my kitchen sink. They may look nice from the outside. But OH BOY. Open ‘em up and it was BAD.

real 001

Let me show you how bad. Embarrassing bad.

real 003

Shameful.

real 004

I knew this called for a great Rubbermaid container, so I grabbed one from my ever growing stash and voila! It looked great!

real 005

Then. I tried to shut the cabinet. It was a NO GO. The container handle stuck out a smidgen too far. The next best thing was 2 box tops. It ain’t pretty, but it’s clean and organized. And that’s what counts.

real 006

Just keepin’ it real here folks.

~CB~

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

First Day of School

Monday was the boys’ first day of school!  Nolan started First Grade and Carter went to Pre-K.  My ‘boys’ are growing up!

school 008

school 009

school 007

school 006

 school 005 school 004

Carter goes to Pre-School at a different site than Nolan goes to school at, and I always enjoy getting a picture of him in front of the gate at his school.  Through the years, I’ve seen him barely touching the top of the gate to now, as you can see….his head is just above it…..

school 010

Nolan takes a lunch box every day to school, and Carter takes his lunch two times a week.  Of course, I had to enclose notes in their lunch boxes!  Cecil said they were going to get made fun of, but I don’t care!  My Mama wrote me notes in my lunchbox until I graduated high school!  These boys aren’t getting off that easy! ha!

school 001

school 003 

school 002 

Here’s Nolan walking up to his classroom.  Such a big boy!
school 011

Nolan also has a little friend in his class!  Coye W. happens to be in the same class again this year!  It’s so sweet, because Coye’s Mama and myself grew up together too!
school 012

Hope your kiddos had a great first day too!


~CB~

Sunday, August 22, 2010

School-time Pantry

Not that my pantry is usually “empty” but there are weeks where it is less-than-full.  You can definitely tell we made a huge trip to Sam’s and Wal-Mart this weekend, in preparation for school lunches!

FULL PANTRY!

pantry 002

Plenty of snacks and chips, etc.!

pantry 003

This was organized a few days ago, until I had helpers putting away groceries….

pantry 004

I hate feeding the kids cereal for breakfast!  Most of the time, they get pancakes, muffins, waffles, etc. but occasionally, they DO get pop-tarts or cereal.  The hubs is charged with getting the kids up, dressed, fed, and to school (on time) because I’m at work by 6:30 each morning.

pantry 005

Fresh fruit ready to go.  Carter is not a big breakfast eater, so sometimes, fruit is the only thing we can get him to eat.  Yes, those are vitamins behind the apples.  Both the boys and myself take 2 every morning.  Also, apples/bananas are a great afternoon snack for the boys, especially if they have swimming that afternoon.

pantry 006

This is what gets put in the buggy if your husband goes to Sam’s with you! HA!

pantry 007

My “other” pantry, stocked and ready for goody-making, and snacks!

pantry 008

I love orange juice!  So do the boys!  This is the ONLY brand we buy because it’s the ONLY brand that is grown and produced all in our state!  SUPPORT OUR US FARMERS!!  Even if you live in another state, PLEASE buy Florida’s Natural!  It’s the ONLY one all done here in the U.S.!  (not that I’m turning into a political blog, I’m just sayin’ is all).

pantry 010

Enjoy the first day of school!


~CB~

Friday, August 20, 2010

Meet the Teacher

Friday was our "Meet the Teacher" event at Nolan's school. I knew who his teacher was going to be several weeks ago, but he had never met her before today (I don't think he had anyway).....Nolan's First Grade teacher will be......


MRS. WHITEHURST!!!!!Nolan was very excited to meet her and do a scavenger hunt in her classroom. I loved Mrs. W's classroom and thought it was so neat and organized! We are in for a GREAT year!
Nolan's spot at a table.....
My "big" first grader
As many of you know, teachers spend WAY too much of their own money so their students have ample supplies and items to learn with! Mrs. W had a Giving Gators table set up in her room so that parents could select items to purchase for the classroom......


I picked 2 items to purchase and Nolan picked one. We are buying non-gel shaving cream, play-doh, and an individual CD player with headphones!

Overall, we are very excited and ready to begin school on Monday!

~CB~

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Summertime means Ice-Cream and Surfing!

Peaches are in season and for our family, that means Pop (Cecil’s grandfather) calls everyone down for a big ole’ churn of homemade peach ice-cream!

summertime 001

The kids love, I LOVE it, everyone loves it!

summertime 002 summertime 005

 summertime 003summertime 004

 summertime 006

After getting a belly-full of delicious, fattening, peach ice-cream, we headed outside for some redneck fun! (HA!)

Pop has a golf cart and hooked up a big piece of plastic (from the bottom of a feed trough) to it, and lets the great-grandkids “surf” on it!  It’s hysterical and the kids LOVE IT!

summertime 007

summertime 009

summertime 016

summertime 017

summertime 010

What a great way to spend a summer night!

~CB~

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

A short trip to my favorite place

We left Monday afternoon for one of my most favorite places on earth, Disney!!!  We only stayed for one night, but were able to hit 2 parks—one on Monday evening, and one all day Tuesday.

We would have stayed longer, but a.  it was HOT, b. I have to work all the other days of the week, except Tuesdays, and c. it was HOT.  Did I mention how HOT it was?  Lawsie mercie I do believe I was going to melt.  I have NEVER been to DW in August and let me just say here and now, I’m not sure I ever will again.  The boys did good and the hubs and I did fine, but mercy it was hot.

We went because I am trying to do a few fun-type things with the kids before school starts next week and I thought they would enjoy being surprised with a trip to the most magical place on earth.

Disney’s Wilderness Lodge Inn was our hotel of choice this time around.  I got an AWESOME passholder rate on the room and couldn’t resist!
dw 007 dw 008

Cecil’s cousin Jennifer, and her BF, Matthew, met us at Animal Kingdom on Monday evening so Jennifer could spend some time with us (she moved to Orlando a few weeks ago).dw 002

~Cousins~

dw 003

We had a great time that night and saw some cool animals……

dw 004

dw 005

A few pics. from Animal Kingdom.

dw 001

dw 006

We were all exhausted from a long day at work, farming, and then Disney, so we headed back to the hotel for a quick snack and BED!

LOOK AT THESE HUGE CUPCAKES!

dw 009

dw 010

dw 011

Tuesday morning was Magic Kingdom!!  We all love Magic Kingdom and spent about 1/2 a day there, then headed back HOME! 

dw 012

dw 013

Don’t get me wrong, I love DISNEY, but there is just something about HOME……

~CB~