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~

Grandparent Love.....

When we were at the Happiest Place on Earth last weekend (Disney World), we all ate at The Polynesian for breakfast one morning.  I snapped these pictures in the lobby after breakfast.

Nothing like some Grandparent Love.....

Merry Christmas Y'all!

~CB~

A Birthday ..........

Carter had a birthday last week.  Hard to believe he's SIX.  I think I might be getting old!  Yikes.

His party was at Chuck E Cheese and I have to say--it's worth EVERY penny!

More pictures to follow of Carter's big day, but here is the birthday boy with all his nice gifts from his friends.  (I decided to let him open his gifts at home so I could see what he was getting and we could focus on each gift rather than paper flying everywhere, etc. at the party).

We're so blessed to have wonderful friends and family to enjoy birthdays with!

~CB~

A Few Christmas Touches...

I've been working hard on putting some Christmas touches around the house this week.  So far, I've got the tree up and decorated and a few of my knick-knack type things out.  Last year, I only put up a few of our trees (I have multiple Christmas trees) and that was it.  This year, I decided that even though I don't have a lot of time (or energy), I'm decorating more than I did last year!

I just have a few Christmas touches throughout the house.......

A nightlight in the kitchen.....

A candle holder on the kitchen counter....

A few little things here and there....

 I love checking the mail this time of year--I always have at least one Christmas card a day!  I hung my Christmas card holder --now I'm just waiting to fill it up!

 Our stockings are hung....(and filled)

 My snowmen in the big windowsill of the living room...

Even my dining room has a few touches......these decorations will be used Sunday evening at my annual dinner party as centerpieces on the table.

Saving the best for last!  This is my nativity!  I just love it!  I bought it last year at Family Christian Bookstore.  I just love the little faces on the people....it's the only nativity I own and I hope I can keep it forever (without my boys trying to ride the camel or throw baby Jesus like a football--ha-ha).

All the decorations are nice, and you know how I love me some snowmen--but the REAL reason we celebrate Christmas is in this photo.  Christmas isn't Christmas without the birth of Jesus!  HE is the reason we celebrate the season!

And because he was born on Christmas Day--we have HOPE!

~CB~