they finally got hauled in

couldn't resist posting this goofy pic of my boys! we went to the Childrens' Museum for a birthday party and they have the coolest police station/jail/fire station that even has a pole for them to slide down! i took this picture of blake and brady in the jail and sent it to kenneth's cell phone. i figured his response would be 'how cute' or 'they're a mess' or something like that. wrong! i got 'tell them if they don't start minding us a little better, that's just where they're gonna end up'! good heavens! (but it did make them stop and think....for about 2 seconds!)

i told them to make a mad face....but from brady's face, it just looks like prison smells really bad!

fourth of july!

what a great 4th of july we had this year! it wasn't even hot! kenneth was out of town, as usual, but the boys and i had a wonderful relaxing day. we just hung around the house all morning until lunchtime. lunch consisted of chicken nuggets and corn dogs....because the barbeque was coming up later! after a quick swim, we went down for naps. don't even try to keep my kids up for the fireworks on the river unless they've had a nap! bad idea!

we went to russ & eydie's house in the afternoon for more swimming....and grilling! there is nothing better than home grilled ribs, chicken, hot dogs and boudin! we even grilled the red snapper that the guys caught on our trip to gulf shores! we were miserably stuffed. russ was the grill master for the day. if my sweet papaw milton can't be around to grill for us anymore on the fourth of july, russ runs a close second to him!!

everyone loaded up after dinner for the fireworks on the ouachita river. my boys love a good fireworks show! last year, it rained and the show was kinda puny....but they made up for it this year!

so even though my sweetie wasn't with us this year, we still had a fantastic day! thank you to all of our military personnel, past and present, who stand tall in the face of danger to protect the freedoms that we enjoy. the freedom to say what we want to say, go where we want to go, and worship our God anytime...in almost any place. we've still got a ways to go on that last one. our own government, not the other terrorists across the seas, is who we need to fight for that freedom. hope you had a fabulous 4th!

happy fathers' day, sweetie!

yeah, he's cute, huh! i am so thankful that God gave this fella to me! today is fathers' day so i'm going to ramble a bit about the special guys in my life.

i've always looked up to my daddy and had so much respect for him because he's a wonderful Christian man, he has always put family first, he's considerate to other people, and he's just an all around cool guy! i'm blessed that my parents have been married for 40 years...so daddy's been around for me since the beginning of time! he's been the standard that i've measured lots of guys against...and when they fell short, i gave them the boot!

because of the example that my daddy set, i knew when i met kenneth and got to know him that he was my guy forever because he came pretty darn close to measuring up! as some of you know, my husband and my dad have the same name and the same birthday....so i took that as a sign too! ;) kenneth's "daddying skills" have always impressed me. he's never been one of those guys that wouldn't change a diaper or would never take the kids out anywhere because they might "act like kids"! he's been known to scrub throw up out of the carpet, clean poopie off the boys from head to toe, and has even squeezed the occasional "snot rocket" from their nasty noses without even missing a beat! he's always helped me in every way possible in raising our 2 boys, and i love him for that. i don't know if you're reading this, sweetie...but if you are, know that i love you so much and i'm so proud that you are mine. thank you for giving me my two crazy, adorable, 100% boys!

i am also very blessed to have my precious "papaw roark" still around! he is so special to me and i wish him a happy day also!

so on this day i honor all the fathers in my family. i love you very much and pray that one day my 2 sons will follow in your footsteps and be the kind of fathers that honor God and cherish their families!

summertime swimming

this was just a cute pic of the boys in the swimming pool yesterday! no, not our pool unfortunately. our pool looks like a pond at the moment! the pool guys are going to converge on our pool Sunday and hopefully have it sparkling again in a few days! we think a pipe has come loose underneath it. anyway, next week....pool parties at our house!

i scream, you scream......

....we all scream for ice cream!!

the boys went bananas when we heard the music from the ice cream truck coming down the street! i had to snap a pic of them trying to make a decision on what to buy!

gulf shores vacay!

i am lovin' some Gulf Shores! we went to the beach this summer with my parents and my brother's family. it was the first time my kids have ever been to the beach because brady is just now at an age where we don't mind taking him on a trip! babies are hard work! they were both in awe of the ocean when they saw it! blake told brady that there were no trees out there because the water goes "all the way to another whole country"!

while we were there, we took some beach pics of our families. getting everyone to cooperate was a task for sure!

we took the boys to The Track after dinner one night and had so much fun riding gocarts! the boys even found some child-sized gocarts that they could drive by themselves. scary! they couldn't pay me enough to work on the track where the 7 and 4 year olds were cut loose on gas powered gocarts!

we can't wait for vacation next year! hopefully it's "Disney, here we come!"

my mothers' day gift

i admit....it's very hard for my husband and boys to come up with gift ideas for me at mothers' day, Christmas, birthday, etc because if i want something, at any time, i just go out and get it! but this year, they did great!

while i was at work one day, kenneth bathed the boys and met aimee (my sis-in-law/photographer extraordinaire) at kiroli park for a photo session. the miracle was that they did this several days before mothers' day...and neither of them said a word about it! awesome secret keepers! here are a few shots:

cute kids, huh?! i'm so proud of them. blake is 7 and starts second grade in the fall and brady is 4. he's going to start pre-k this year! how sad! it seems like i brought him home from the hospital just yesterday! there are more pics posted on my Facebook, so drop by and look!

now he's a second grader...sniff, sniff

i am so very proud of blake and his first grade accomplishments! his awards program was tuesday....so now he's officially a second grader! wow! seems like just yesterday he was spitting up formula on the front of my shirt and discovering his hands and feet! =)

he got a certificate and a trophy for making honor roll all year! his teacher this year was our good friend, mrs. vallery, and she is so awesome! she really loves all her kids and does a fantastic job teaching the sometimes "unteachable"! we love you katy!

now that i have a second grader, that means i also have a pre-schooler. oh no! my sweet little tiny baby brady starts crosley pre-k in the fall! i can't believe both of them are "school kids"! although blake can be a handful when he wants to, brady is a mess all the time! in case there are any crosley teachers reading this.....rest up well this summer because brady's comin!!

tooth fairy time!

yay! blake finally lost a tooth!

for many weeks, blake has been telling me his teeth were loose....but when i would try to wiggle them, they were anything but loose! he just made himself believe it was because he wanted so badly for one to come out! all of his friends have lost teeth and his were cemented in!

finally, almost 2 weeks ago, one finally wiggled! he was so excited! while i was getting ready for church on sunday, he came in the bathroom and said, "hey mom! my tooth is in my hand!"

in case you're wondering, the tooth was his bottom right tooth so you can't see his gap when he smiles!

blake was a bit worried about the well-being of the tooth fairy. he was afraid she might suffocate under his pillow trying to get the tooth! i decided that we would make a pillow pocket for his tooth so she could just flutter over and pick it right out! no fishing around under the pillow trying not to wake him up for me!...er, i mean, for that tooth fairy!! pretty smart huh?

since blake and brady share a room, brady had some concerns of his own. he asked how she flew around the room, if she was actually a little flying bug, and was she going to sting him while she was in there! good grief! kids just over-think this stuff nowadays!

the fairy made it in and out of their room with no incident and left blake $3 and a pack of gum! i think the gum is to help loosen the other teeth. until next time.......

a very hot field day

field day at kiroli elementary was last friday, and it could not have been hotter! well, maybe it could have been....but at the time we didn't think so. blake's events were the football relay and class shuttle. their class placed 4th among the first grade classes. here are a few pics.....

kenneth was a judge for the 4th and 5th grade basketball toss. he was asked to run in the 1st annual parent races, but at 40 years old, was afraid he might die of a heart attack....or worse, embarrass himself!! lots of parents participated and did really well, although the parent races were not without a few injuries! because of a couple of falls and pulled hamstrings, i fear the 1st annual parent race was the 1st AND LAST annual parent race!

first fish

a few weeks ago while i was at work, kenneth took the boys fishing. on that trip, blake caught his very first fish! by that i mean he hooked it, reeled it in, and landed it in the boat by himself....no help! it's a little toot, but we're proud of it!

last week, we all went to mr. jim's house to fish and brady caught his very first fish, with no help! ok, i helped hold the pole while he reeled his in...not because he couldn't get his fish in, but because i didn't want to lose the whole pole in the water! as you can see, there's a little bit of difference in the sizes! kenneth and i are proud of our little fishermen! :)

baseball time!

gosh, it's been ages since i posted! our computer has been at the exorcist getting the demons out and then the laptop got sick. we've been computer starved! what in the world did we do before the computer age?! oh yeah, we made our own entertainment.

today i thought i would post a pic or two of blake playing baseball! he's really enjoying it this year. he played 2 years of t-ball but this year went up to pitching machine. i was a little worried that he would be intimidated by the machine and the slightly bigger boys....but he's holding his own! we're so proud of him!

maybe the cutest and funniest thing about this season is brady as the bat boy! brady just turned 4 so he can't start t-ball until next year. he wants to play sooooo bad!! our coach was really sweet letting him be the bat boy and he does it so well! when he runs out for a bat, he pauses just a second so the crowd can cheer for him! all of the parents think he's hilarious and clap and holler for him! ....and yes, i have it on video!

gotta run! my great husband is taking me to lunch today. hope to post a few other things this afternoon or tonight so check back!

yeehaw!!

it's rodeo time again! blake and brady absolutely love to go to the rodeo....and they look so great in their cowboy hats!

the boys and i went with my parents to the saturday night performance of the rodeo. that was the night the horse passed out! yes, that's what i said. a bucking horse came out of the chute and immediately slammed into the fence and collapsed! i mean....not moving, not breathing, nothing. it was very unsettling! about 1 minute into the drama, blake looked at me and said, "you're a nurse mom....go help him!" i couldn't help but smile! i was flattered that he thought i might actually be able to help! anyway, the horse finally jumped up and stumbled around. they said he knocked the wind out of himself when he hit the fence! the boys were so excited when he got up. brady said,"thank you Lord, he's not dead!"

i know, what kind of mother puts her children on the back of a real bull??!! must have been the cotton candy talking!

gone fishin'......

tuesday afternoon was an adventure for the swanner family! we all loaded up and took off to caney lake for an evening of fishing and family time! it really was a great day. the boys enjoyed riding fast in the boat and i can't resist posting this pic of brady's fluffy hair after we stopped flying down the lake!

blake and brady are both pretty good little fishermen. we started off casting out their bait for them, but it didn't take long to realize that they do almost as well as we do! good arms on those kids!

we didn't catch anything but i'm thankful for times like this when we can escape together as a family and enjoy just being together. next time we go, i'm sure i'll be posting some big fish pics!

drum roll please.....

oh, yes. yet another miracle has occurred at my house. my closet is clean! way back in November, i posted pics of my horribly messy closet in hopes that it would publicly humiliate me enough to do something about it! well, 3 months later (i was really shamed, huh) it's finally done! as promised, i'm posting "after" photos......

this is a picture of the other side of the closet, the one you couldn't see on the former post because the clothes were piled so high behind the door that i couldn't open it enough to get a photo!

whew! it took me 5 hours and i'm just worn slap out! kenneth and brady just got back from a day trip to shreveport and brought me back 2 huge chocolate dipped strawberries from the boardwalk! i love those guys! (if i'd have known i'd be rewarded so well, i would have cleaned it before now!) have a good week!

my fountain

anyone who has ever been into my house knows that love anything fleur-de-lis! so, imagine my glee when my husband, who is just fabulous, bought this for my flower bed!

i've been telling him for a while that i wanted a fountain...and thought that i may get one for Christmas...but this one he just got out of the blue! yay! i can't wait to add some more landscaping to that bed now that it has something pretty in it! if you see my sweet man, pat him on the back and tell him he did great! ;)

they actually camped OUT!

i must say, a miracle occurred at my house friday night! blake had 3 friends over for a camping birthday party....and they actually slept outside in the tent all night! i left the french doors and the door going into my bedroom unlocked, fully anticipating that they would all trek in about 2am but they didn't! the weather was perfect for camping outside. they boys roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire pit, ate cupcakes, opened presents, watched a movie, played on the trampoline and swing set, had a war with plastic guns, ran around in the dark playing hide-n-seek, and played xbox.....all before i tucked them into the tent at 10pm!! no wonder they slept out there all night! they were pooped!

kenneth slept in the tent with them (which was the second miracle of the night). he said he slept pretty well even though the tent was full to capacity! it was a 4-man tent with 4 seven year olds and a grown man. there would have been 5 kids but brady (my intelligent child! hehe!) said he would rather sleep in his own bed! smart kid!

we gave each kid their own flashlight to keep and off to the tent they went! the boys took turns telling ghost stories and then it was kenneth's turn. i was hiding outside the tent while he was telling stories about water monsters and the headless horseman.... so i was able to give the tent a shake or two at just the right moment!! the boys were screaming like crazy! i was trying so hard not to laugh!

i really enjoyed having jon-mical, ian, and connor over and they all seemed to have a great time. i think next year, we'll just go to Excaliber or something! i'm still worn out!

photographer brady's pic

okay, i'm only doing this because brady said he wanted me to show everybody how good he takes pictures! he took a picture of me sitting on the swing the other day and he's proud of it! you'll notice that my arm is out bracing the camera. i'm a little nervous any time a 3 year old holds my thousand dollar camera! i kept asking him, "can you see me through the little square?" he kept telling me he "kinda" could so i'm surprised this photo turned out as well as it did! okay, i promise it will be a loooooong time before i post another pic of myself....especially this close!

blake's birthday cake

just wanted to show off a picture of the birthday cake that i made for blake today! his birthday is on Friday and he's having some friends over for a campout (or camp-in if it's too cold!) but tonight is his "family Party" at Cici's Pizza. i made this cake for the family.....and hopefully they'll be gentle in the criticism! i'm kinda proud of it but next year i'm paying chrissy to make it! this was my first, and probably last, fondant iced cake!

he just wants a little privacy!

today i was reading jennifer's hilarious blog about her son's first-grade-messy-boy's handwriting and it made me think of something that blake wrote a few weeks ago. my niece and nephew were over at our house and i suppose blake just wanted everyone to stay off the top bunk of his bunk beds. i walked into his room and found the following sign taped to his top bed........

.......i just had to crack up when i saw it! hey, i think the word "aloud" is still a pretty impressive word for a first grader! we'll work on "allowed" at a later date! thanks jennifer for jogging my memory about this! gotta run for now. i've got to go force-feed some medicine to brady. he's sick this week and pukes on demand, so medicine is always a battle. have a great weekend!

snow day!

on saturday, mimi took the grandkiddos to snow day at New Chapel Hill Baptist Church. they blew in 4 tons of snow for the kids to play in! talk about a great time for a bunch of Louisiana kids who never see any snow! they loved it!

they served cookies, snow ice cream, and of course hot chocolate....just to warm your hands and your guts!