my "walk-in" closet?

okay, i'm having to take drastic measures to motivate myself to clean my closet. i have a 10x6 walk-in closet in my bathroom.....and i use that term loosely......because i CAN'T walk into it! the horrible mess could be a little more understandable if i was sharing this closet with my husband, but he has his own 10x6 closet on the other end of the bathroom! (his is actually pretty neat!)

these two pics are of the above mentioned closet!

if you'll notice, there is a rubbermaid 2-drawer thingie buried in there. i can't open the drawers because of the clothes and shoes piled in front of it! also notice that the built-in shoe racks have ZERO pairs of shoes on them. i can't get the shoes on there until i get the clothes off! this is only the right side of the closet because there is a pile of stuff behind the door so high that i can't even get the door all the way open to get behind there! if you'll recall from an earlier post (i've been tagged) i have around a hundred pairs of shoes, and they are intermingled in those monstrous piles of clothes!

so, now that i have shared my ridiculous closet with the world, it's time to fix the problem! posting "before" pics requires that i eventually post "after" pics...which was the point of this little exercise! it may take several days, but hopefully i can rent a bulldozer and get this mess cleaned up! thanks for reading and being part of my motivation to clean! stay tuned!...and pray!

elijah is here!

it is with great pleasure, and pride, that i introduce to you

my eagerly anticipated nephew,

Elijah Allen Swanner

for those of you who don't know, elijah's parents are brent and aimee. brent is kenneth's younger brother. after being on modified bed rest for several weeks, aimee finally gave birth to elijah yesterday morning, November 14th, at 4:20 am. he weighed 8 pound and 9 ounces....we certainly make our swanner boys healthy!! thankfully, mom and baby are doing absolutely perfect. i'm sure that when they get settled at home, aimee will post lots of cutie patootie pics of our little man on his blog page. check back later to elijah's blog to watch him grow up.....but hopefully not too fast!

mud bugs

when it rains, it pours. and when it pours, there are awesome mud puddles! there's not alot to say about the following pictures....they speak for themselves! 5 words come to mind:

thank goodness for Oxy Clean!

3am in the ER

question: after working two 12-hour shifts at the hospital, name something fun to do just a few hours later at 3 o'clock in the morning?

incorrect answer: spend almost 3 hours in the emergency room with a sick child....and his brother....while the husband is out of town.

yes, that pretty much sums up my weekend! i heard brady making just awful sounds in the middle of the night trying to breathe. he was wheezing, had a "croupy" cough, and was making rasping sounds when he breathed. kenneth was out of town so i put both boys in my bed, just so i could listen to brady breathe. after about 20 minutes, i decided a breathing treatment was the answer so off to Glenwood we went! the boys, of course, thought it was an adventure! and leaving the house wearing their pajamas with jackets and crocs was the best!

brady had a chest x-ray and breathing treatment. he was so much better after that and was enjoying his little middle-of-the-night adventure....until the nurse came in with the shot! boy, did the mood change! for the next 2-3 minutes it looked alot like a UFC fight! when they finally let us go, it was almost 6am and they boys were starving. thank goodness for Waffle House! the rest of the day was spent laying around the house, chillin out and watching tv. brady is fine now and we've gotten back on our sleep schedule! hopefully, we're done with the early morning excursions!

look at those pearly whites!

yesterday, both my little chipmunks went to the dentist for the first time. yes, i know blake is 6 years old....but i also know he has perfect teeth! i was pretty sure blake would be okay during the process, but was not as confident about brady! luckily, they both enjoyed it very much! we got x-rays done, teeth brushed and flossed, and fluoride treatments.

dr. corder said both sets of chompers looked great! no cavities...no problems! one thing that disturbed blake greatly was when dr. corder told him none of his teeth were loose, and it may be 6-8 months before he looses one! he was crushed! all of blake's friends have lost at least 2-3 teeth....but his are just cemented in there! check out his x-ray. the permanent teeth are in the gums below his baby teeth, just waiting to pop through! that looks so cool to me!

after their exams, they both got to pick a treat from the treasure chest. unfortunately, it still had lots of halloween stuff in it and they picked out big rubber beetles! gross! all i have to say is beware whoever sleeps over at our house next....because we may plant bugs in your bed! we're due for another routine check-up in 6 months so maybe blake will have a big gaping hole by then. keep your fingers crossed!

trick-or-treat!

trick or treat! ~ wow! i heard that a million times Friday night! halloween was so much fun this year! the whole day was absolutely crazy. blake had a party at school then we started getting dressed around 4 pm. there are a few stops we have to make at family and friends' homes before we start knocking on neighborhood doors so we had to start really early! we drove all over town, hit the neighborhood across the street, then went to 2 different church carnivals. i was "plum wo out" when i finally got to bed! brady dressed up like a policeman and blake was his prisoner! they were the cutest little criminal and crime-fighter i've ever seen! friday morning, brady was practicing being a cop and he came into my room, being so serious, and said to me, "freeze! i'm under arrest!" ha! i had to tell him to say "you're under arrest"! our dog, cayman, even got in on the fun. he was a police dog! all chaos considered, we had a great day! maybe next year, since halloween will be on Saturday, it won't be quite so nuts!

family weiner roast!

i love the fall when the weather turns cooler! my whole outlook on life is so much better when i'm not sweating to death! my family has been waiting for just the perfect opportunity to build a fire outside and have a weiner roast...and this was the night! my brother, russ, and his family were in town this weekend so we made a fire in the backyard at my parents' house. we roasted weiners, sausage, marshmallows for smores .... and even canned biscuits.... on our sticks! it was yummy! and what is it about a fire that kids just can't get enough of?! brady found every little twig from here to mississippi to throw in that thing! he finally started picking bark off a nearby tree to throw in it when he ran out of sticks!

this is poppy and blake making their biscuits over the fire.

blake with his special dish: sausage on a clothes hanger!

russ and his family are moving here from Texas this month so hopefully this won't be our only roasting fire this season. daddy & momma are crazy excited about having all their kiddos within 5 minutes of them!

happy fall, ya'll! go grab a bag of marshmallows and set fire to some sticks!