Christmas Program

Last week, the afterschool program my kids go to had a Christmas program.  All the children were involved (the babies right up to the afterschoolers)!  It was just precious--I think we would all agree there is nothing more precious than seeing children act out the Christmas story!

Joseph got sick on Friday so they called on my Carter to play Joseph.  (oh mercy).  When I asked Carter if he knew Joseph's part and would he be okay to be Joseph he said yes.  I said "well, what does Joseph do?"  He said "Momma, I just sit there.".  HA HA HA HA  Guess he did have that part down!

Nolan was part of the choir....(good thing they didn't say choir of angels because Nolan has most certainly NOT been an angel lately).

I'm guessing that Joseph got bored at some point--check this picture out! HA!

All the children did so well and it was just so sweet!  It was a nice reminder that the birth of Jesus is TRULY what Christmas is ALL about.  Not presents, not money, not any of those material things.  Those things are fun and nice, but Jesus is the reason for the season.

Merry Christmas Y'all.

~CB~

a Family Christmas

Because we have a large family, we have multiple Christmas celebrations each year.  At least 5.  Last week was the first of several and we had such a good time just eating, laughing, and being together.

We celebrated with my mother-in-law's family--her brothers and sisters and her Mom (my boys great-grandmother).

This year, all the girls brought a girl gift and all the guys brought a guy gift.  We drew numbers and each person left with something!  It was nice to see what each person received!

Cecil's Mom received a nice lotion/bath gel gift set! 

 I received a gorgeous tealight holder that will actually match my kitchen year-round!

 

 The boys each got a remote control whirly car that they LOVE!  Here, they are waiting patiently to open their gifts!

 

I have a lot of pictures from that night, but forgot to ask the other family members if I could post them on the Internet, so I better not...just in case!

Merry Christmas Y'all!

~CB~

DISNEY Day 3...

Finally!  After posting about Disney days 1 and 2, then a nice, clean toilet, and some school parties, I'm back on blogging about our final day at Disney--Day 3. 

I love Disney at Christmastime.  It's just beautiful.  In true Disney fashion, they go ALL OUT to decorate!

Day 3 began with breakfast at the Polynesian Resort.  We had never (I know, can you believe it?) done the character breakfast there and we just enjoyed it so much!

The food was delicious and the characters (of course) came around to each table and spent a little time with each of the kids, signed autographs, and took pictures!

Even Grandaddy got in on the character business!

Toward the end of the breakfast, there is a parade through the breakfast area and the kids are invited to tag along while playing musical instruments.  "D" and Carter joined in and had a blast!

After breakfast, some of the crew went home, but we decided to stay a little longer and hit the Magic Kingdom one more time!  Both my boys wanted to ride Splash Mountain and talked their Daddy into taking them on it!  The picture is a little blurry but in the VERY FRONT are Cecil and the boys!  LOOK at Nolan's face!  I love his mouth in this picture!!!

After several rides we decided it was time to head back home, but not before a stop at the Confectionary!  I'll neither confirm or deny that I bought one of those vanilla cupcakes with TONS of frosting.

It was a wonderful weekend trip to DISNEY with wonderful people!  I hope you've enjoyed my recap of our Disney Family Vacation!

Merry Christmas Y'all!

~CB~

Nothin' beats a clean toilet

Do y'all recall that there is NOTHING I like better than a clean house??  (okay, well maybe Disney ranks up there with a clean house).....

We have horribly hard water here in the hills of nowhere.  It leaves awful rings in the toilets that I have (for years) been unable to get out.  Even after scrubbing with my favorite toilet cleaner and/or bleach, those nasty rings made a clean toilet look dirty!  UGH!

A friend of mine suggested trying a pumice stone.  I had not been able to find one, but one night while zipping down the cleaning products aisle, this just jumped out at me!

At $1.96 I figured I'd give it a shot.  It couldn''t hurt right?

Y'ALL.  It is the BEST thing since hair paste!  I LOVE THIS SCOURING STICK!  I thought it might scrape the ceramic, but it doesn't leave a single mark!  And it was so fun to use that I ended up cleaning 3 toilets in one night!

This is what the pumice stone looks like...it was bigger than this, but I broke it when I opened the package.

I tackled my outside bathroom Saturday and took pictures so y'all would believe me when I say this thing is the BEST!

This is the before picture of the "ring around the toilet".

And after scrubbing with my newfound friend, here is the after!

NOTHING beats a clean toilet! 

~CB~

School Parties

I still have one more day of DISNEY to recap, but wanted to share with you 2 adorable pictures of the boys at their school parties!

School is winding down for the semester and of course, it's parties galore (not really, they are still doing a significant amount of classroom work).

I was able to take off work and spend time with both boys in their classrooms yesterday at their Christmas parties.  I suppose the school would like me to say holiday party, but let's be realistic here--it's a Christmas party.

Carter and his wonderful teacher!  We nearly had to beg him with the world on a silver platter to stand there and have a picture made with her.....who knows why he was playing shy!

Nolan and his most wonderful teacher!  He of course, hammed it up for the camera!

Today is the last day of school until January and both boys were able to wear their pajamas to school!  What a wonderful thing!  I think it's great to offer fun things like this to the children in reward for working so hard for a semester!

Hoping you and yours are having a fantastic "winter" holiday!  It's hot and sunny here in Florida!

~CB~

Disney Day 2

We spent part of "the most wonderful time of the year" in Disney World the first weekend in December (as evidenced in my previous post here).

Day 2 of our trip began at Epcot where we had a blast riding Soarin' (by far our favorite ride on earth), Living with the Land, Test Trac, and a few other rides.

Our cousin, Jennifer, met us at Epcot (she lives in Orlando) and was able to spend the entire day/night with us!  Jennifer is getting married in 2012 and we can't be any happier for her!

 Gettin' ready for the Test Trac !

After we exhausted all fun to be had at Epcot, we hopped over to the Animal Kingdom where we saw animals galore and rode the safari as well. 

 This is probably the best picture of a lion that I've ever taken at the Animal Kingdom!

Our evening ended at the Rainforest Cafe where Carter had a surprise birthday dessert!

Don't worry--our trip to Disney isn't over yet--there's still one more day for me to recap!  Stay tuned for more adventures during the most wonderful time of the year!

~CB~

It's the MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR....(Part 1)

....in the HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH!  D-I-S-N-E-Y 

We took a trip to the big DW (that's Disney World y'all) the first weekend in December.  It has been our tradition for the past 4 years or so to attend Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.  After our first year of enjoying it so much, we had a few add-ons the next year, and a few more the next.  Now it's my family of four, my brother in law and his wife, and my in-laws all attending the Party together.  Yes we compete with the Griswolds, why do you ask?  HA!

The Party is always a delight and the kids just LOVE it.  I'm so glad that not only my children, but my husband and his family love DISNEY.  We're a DISNEY family, that's for sure!  It's the best place on earth to get a nice break from reality!


This year, my brother in law and his wife brought her niece "D" along.  My boys and D get along great and it was fun to have a little girl along with us!  This is about the best picture of the three of them I got all weekend and don't you love it (read: HATE) when someone messes up the whole picture with bunny ears?  I can't stand it when people do that to others in pictures!  Anyhow--all the kids are smiling and having a good time and that (should be) what counts, right?

Before the big parade, we were able to ride a LOT of rides with hardly any wait times at all!  I think the longest we waited was maybe 5 or 10 minutes.  Disney even let the 3 kids ride by themselves (is that a word?) on the teacups!  I don't think they were supposed to but it's Disney....let 'em get away with it, right?  HA!

 Peter Pan is always a hit!

 Buzz Lightyear is a MUST for all families!

My kids both love the PeopleMover so we HAD to ride that at least twice during the trip.

Finally it was time for the parade!  We claimed our favorite spot in Frontierland and sent the guys to grab lots of hot chocolate and cookies!

As we all know, Disney DOES parades!  They have some of the best I've ever seen!

 These soldiers are always amazing!  We all love to watch them!

After the parade, it was time for some fireworks--and again, Disney DOES fireworks.  The best I've ever seen for sure! 

Nothing like watching fireworks through your children's eyes......

Our night ended with a bang and once again...a very successful trip to DISNEY for a most wonderful Merry Christmas Party!  But stay tuned!  There are 2 days left in the "Griswold" vacation!

~CB~