Great-Grandma

Nolan had a baseball tournament last weekend in Alachua and we decided that it would be too expensive to drive back and forth, due to gas prices!  Fortunately, Cecil's grandmother (the boys great grandmother) lives near there and we were able to stay at her house!

She loved it and so did the boys!  They had a great time together!  Only great-grandmas play Checkers with kids that have NO IDEA how to play! ha!

What a blessing she was to us and what a blessing the boys were for her!

~CB~

Easter cupcakes

For Easter (or Spring as we're now supposed to call it at school) I sent in cute cupcakes for Nolan's class!  Aren't they adorable? 

~CB~

I'm a Hard Working Man

A few days ago, I heard beating and framming (which is NOT unusual in a house full of boys), and when I looked out the window, this is what I saw.  Nolan was hard at work on his Big Wheel.  HA!

He's a Hard Working Man.

~CB~

Weekly Deal!

Last week, Hitchcock's had these boxes of Cap'N Crunch on sale for $1.00.  It happened that I had a bunch of .50c coupons for any size Cap'N Crunch, and Hitchcock's doubles coupons, so...

ALL OF THIS WAS FREE!!!!

Always good to get something FREE!

~CB~

Friends

My best friend from Utah, Jana, was here for a visit last week and I got to see her for a few hours one day.  Bless her heart, she was SO BUSY the entire time she was here and she had so much family that needed to be seen since she brought her husband and kids with her.

We did manage to get a few hours of girl time in!  And there may or may not have been some cake making, icing taste-testing, and dinner eating.  I'll never tell.  I love that we hardly ever see each other (i.e. sometimes it's years in-between our visits) and yet we pick up right where we left off!

It was SO GREAT to see her and hopefully I'll get to see her soon, on a trip out West, if my family ever goes skiing!

~CB~

Grow Baby Grow!

Guess you can figure out from these pictures what my husband does to stress me out for a living.  ha-ha

Our melons are growing beautifully every day--now we have to pray that they don't get any hail, or heavy windstorms, or too much rain, or too little rain, or a fungus, or bugs, etc. etc.  Then, after ALL that, you pray that they hit the market on the right day (pricing fluctuates every day or nearly every day and if you hit before Memorial Day you get a certain price--then if you hit after Memorial Day, the prices are usually lower).  See how STRESSFUL this is?

We had to go see 'bout the melons yesterday afternoon/evening and the boys wanted to run the lines and look at the melons....you can see a little one in Nolan's hand.....

 GROW BABIES GROW!!


~CB~

The Making of an EASTER basket.

It's no secret that I LOVE to do Easter baskets!  I love finding the items to put in the baskets, and I love putting the baskets together.

I got a lot of comments on my Facebook page about the boys' Easter baskets and a few comments on my blog about the baskets, so I thought I'd show you exactly how I put them together!  (and a few snide remarks on how many my kids got, but hey--they're my kids and it's my prerogative, right?)

I started by gathering everything that was to go in the baskets, including the grass, candy, eggs, etc.  In other words, EVERYTHING.

All those items were then spread out so I could "do work".  ha!

Then, the items were divided into two IDENTICAL groups.  It's important that you understand IDENTICAL because heaven help us if their baskets aren't IDENTICAL.  It's rare than one boy gets something different from the other.  For example, if they both get bath crayons, one might get a different color than the other, and Nolan likes dark chocolate whereas Carter does not, so that's a little different, but otherwise, it's IDENTICAL.

The baskets and grass were prepped.

Then, the filling began.  I usually do simple things like bath crayons, cracker jacks, Gatorade, Hawaiian Punch powder, shampoo or body wash, etc.  I don't (and didn't) spend a whole lot on "stuff" even though it looks like it.

I continued to add in "stuff" here and there until the baskets were overflowing full.  One can never have too much "stuff" in their Easter basket.

A close-up look at one of the baskets completely finished!  That toothbrush was free and the Pez dispenser I purchased last year after Easter for less than a quarter!  And I had some Mars coupons, so those Snickers eggs were FREE and I even made money on them.

And another one of their baskets.....yes, they each get THREE baskets.  One basket has nothing but candy filled eggs, and the other 2 baskets usually have candy eggs and the "stuff" in it.  The boys' cloth baskets are not very big, so that's why I had to move to multiple baskets.

It does look like a lot, but this basket for example was about $3 or $4 total.  The markers were on clearance a few months ago for about $1, the pencils were $1, the cotton candy was .10c, the Dove bar was .29c, and the Hawaiian punch drink powders were $1.  I had coupons and discounts on everything that went into their baskets this year. (well, almost everything)

Yummy candy eggs!

Then, the baskets were all set up on the table and ready to be "found" on Easter morning!

And that is the story of my Easter baskets!

~CB~