just my simple life

i wish i was an oscar mayer weiner......

2011-03-06T22:04:00.005-06:00

yep, it's the weinermobile! it was parked at Brookshire's this afternoon so we had to stop for a pic! it was funny to look on facebook at all of the other pics of kids in front of it that the moms had posted. i guess it's just human nature to want to snap a pic in front of something "ignert"- looking!

on a side note, we got a call from brady's new t-ball coach this weekend so the season is about to take off! i can't wait to find out what team blake is on. i'm sure that baseball blog posts are soon to follow! the next few months are going to be hectic....between practices, games, end-of-school things, work, and everything else that gets thrown at us! although this is our busiest time of the year, i wouldn't trade it, or my sweet punkin boys, for anything!

i'm baaaaack!

2011-02-13T10:37:00.004-06:00

wow! it's been almost 2 years since i've blogged! i logged in today and started reading my older posts, and it made me really miss this! so, as my late new year's resolution, i'm going to try to share something occasionally. yes, it will probably be something silly about my kids....but they're the most interesting and entertaining part of my life!

check out my 2008 and 2009 posts while i'm pondering what i can share for this fabulous 2011!

they finally got hauled in

2009-07-12T22:33:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-07-06T21:33:00.005-05:00

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!

2009-06-21T22:19:00.003-05:00

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

2009-06-18T12:56:00.002-05:00

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......

2009-06-18T12:50:00.007-05:00

....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!

2009-06-18T12:23:00.014-05:00

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

2009-05-26T11:55:00.001-05:00

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

2009-05-20T17:39:00.005-05:00

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!

2009-05-20T16:57:00.003-05:00

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

2009-05-06T16:48:00.004-05:00

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

2009-05-06T16:21:00.004-05:00

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!

2009-05-06T11:09:00.007-05:00

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!!

2009-03-27T21:48:00.003-05:00

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'......

2009-03-21T09:20:00.006-05:00

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.....

2009-03-03T14:59:00.003-06:00

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

2009-02-16T15:11:00.004-06:00

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!

2009-02-08T22:32:00.006-06:00

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

2009-02-08T18:00:00.000-06:00

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

2009-02-03T17:02:00.003-06:00

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!

2009-01-30T21:50:00.004-06:00

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!

2009-01-18T21:52:00.008-06:00

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!

building the swingset

2009-01-11T21:10:00.006-06:00

kenneth and i got the boys a swing set for Christmas and we're just now finding the time to put that ridiculous thing together! i'm telling you, this thing has a billion different sized boards named "w4" and "h3" and such nonsense....but none of them are labeled, tagged, or stamped as such! saturday morning, we recruited some help. chess and john came over and between the three of them (four of us if you count them hollering for me to check behind them) some headway was made!

they don't really appear to have a clue at this point, but things picked up from here!

how many men does it take to screw in one bolt? ha! actually, this particular bolt that took such awesome teamwork ended up being WRONG! thankfully they had called me over to "see if this looks right" and it looked anything but right! that board was sloping down worse than my driveway. they admitted it was wrong, laughed about it, and kept on building! hopefully, we'll have it finished sometime this week. if you would like to donate some of your time to the Blake & Brady's Swing Set Foundation please feel free to drop by! you'll be blessed by giving your time so generously!

on a side note, a few posts back i shared pics of my horrible walk-in closet that i can't actually walk into.....and vowed to have it cleaned up soon with pics to prove it. well lemme just tell ya. i didn't get it cleaned through the holidays...so sue me! now i've started a diet and quit coke, dr. pepper, breads, AND sweets cold-turkey....i have a chronic pounding headache from it......and on top of that i'm breaking in some new bras so gimme a break!! wow. i feel a little better now. i will get it cleaned eventually, i promise. phew! i've gotta go to bed now! good night!

plate art!

2009-01-06T12:42:00.006-06:00

okay, normally i don't let my kids play with their food....especially at restaurants, but last night was an exception! we went to Outback with my parents and blake decided to get artistic with his french cut green beans. i post the following pics to display his art:

hey, what can i say?! at least he cleaned his plate of all the other food first! green beans are not my favorite either!

all the great moms have Santa's private number!

2008-12-27T15:19:00.006-06:00

....and just so you know, i happen to be a great mom! hehe! every year on Christmas eve, just before bed, we call Santa's private cell phone number! he's always glad to stop and talk with blake & brady...and make sure he has loaded everything on his sleigh that they asked him for at the mall! sometimes we forget to ask him for something so that's our last chance to let Santa know. he is usually able to grab that toy on the way out of his workshop! this year was no exception! we dialed him up and he was just about to leave the North Pole. We even got to talk with one his elves! it was the very one that built the 2 scooters that Santa was about to deliver! wow! needless to say, it was an exciting phone call! thanks Santa!!! (you know who you are!)

cookies for Santa!

2008-12-27T14:54:00.006-06:00

this Christmas has been CRAZY! i haven't posted here in a couple of weeks because my internet has been down (by the way, i absolutely despise comcast) and have hosted 2 dinner parties and the Swanner family gift-opening tornado! whew! i'm sitting down for a few minutes before i go to my parents house for the Roark version of the gift-opening tornado! this year, the Christmas season has been a little out-of-the-ordinary. my papaw is in the hospital with respiratory issues so we opened gifts with him at Glenwood the other day. and just today, my dad got admitted to the hospital trying to pass a stinkin kidney stone! he's going to miss the festivities tonight, at his house might i add, but he's been so doped full of pain meds for the last day and a half that he probably wouldn't be an active participant if he was there! hopefully things will settle down in a day or two so we can relax in the new year!

just wanted to share a few pics of me and the boys baking cookies for Santa! we made chocolate chip cookies ( courtesy of Nestle Toll House....not homemade!) i think we may have eaten more cookie dough than the actual baked cookies! our blood sugar was probably through the roof! we had a great time, though....and i'm pretty sure Santa enjoyed his midnight snack!! more Christmas posts later!

weekend in New Orleans

2008-12-17T11:58:00.008-06:00

last friday morning, we headed to New Orleans to see West Monroe play football in the state championship. the boys were so pumped about going out of town so they could stay in a hotel! speaking of our hotel, we stayed at the Ambassador Hotel (which is a refurbished coffee warehouse with the original brick walls inside and exposed beams....really unique). there were 2 windows that looked like outside windows, but faced into the hallway because our room was so big. the second night, 3 drunk idiots staggered down the hall and crashed into one of our windows! there was glass on the sofa inside, all over kenneth's clothes, and the floor. we had to call security and the police....gee fun! yeah, right.

on the drive down there, blake and brady got to play in the snow! their first "on-the-ground" snow ever! it had snowed the day before in south louisiana and, even though the temperature was climbing to the upper 40s, there was still plenty of snow on the roadside to play in!

saturday night was when the rebels played at the superdome. they played a hard game and we are so proud of them, although they brought home the runner-up trophy. before the game we all spent the day in the french quarter and the riverwalk. talk about West Monroe people everywhere! this picture is of the boys in front of the cathedral in Jackson Square.

by the time we got home sunday evening, we were pooped! hopefully the rebels will give us all another opportunity to go back to The Big Easy again next year!!

oops! i almost forgot! cafe du monde for beignets was a must after the game! nothing like giving your kids a powdered sugar rush at 11pm right before bed! oh well, it was vacation.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-16T23:51:00.004-06:00

Merry Christmas from our family!

remember that the greatest gift of all was given to us during this season....Jesus Christ. amid all the scramble and craziness of shopping malls, wrapping piles of gifts, and cooking for an army of family, keep Him in full focus!

my prayer is that you and your family have a happy and blessed Christmas and a calm, healthy, and quiet 2009!

we love Santa!

2008-12-16T21:52:00.006-06:00

what a difference a year makes!

we took the kids to see Santa at the mall last week .... fully expecting to have to come up with another creative way to get brady close enough to Santa to actually be in the photo! boy, were we surprised. last year, blake sat on his lap while brady stood 2 feet away to his left side, just barely in the picture! this picture was from last year.........

pretty funny, huh?! well, for weeks we've been talking about how fun it would be to sit on Santa's lap, and how Santa brings lots more toys than if you just stand beside him, and all of those manipulative things! we also told him how proud Santa was of him learning to "go" in the potty. (for those of you who fought that battle with us, you know the struggle of which i speak!!) it obviously worked. blake just bounded right up to him like he usually does because "he's the biggest kid ever" and brady followed right behind him! we were speechless!

they told Santa just what they wanted and cheesed for the camera like pros! blake said he forgot to ask him for boxing gloves so we'll have to remember to ask for that when we call him on Christmas eve. yes, we call the real Santa right before bed on Christmas eve just before he gets into his sleigh to make deliveries!! i have a "special Santa phone number" that only moms have! (and Santa Claus, you know who you are so get ready!!)

we had a great time at the mall and brady was so very proud of himself. and we certainly were too!

11 years!

2008-12-06T22:01:00.004-06:00

i've just gotta say...i'm married to a really good man! God has allowed me to spend 11 years married to kenneth and they've been happy, funny, hectic, crazy, blessed years for sure!

for those of you who don't know, i'll tell you how we met. way back in 1995, my friend kristi literally MADE me go to an NLU football game with her. yes, back then it was Northeast! we sat in the BSU section. we were either winning really well...or losing really bad....because people started leaving the game early. the stands where we were got kinda sparse, and suddenly we were left with a handful of loud-mouth nuts a few rows up from us! kenneth was, obviously, one of those nuts! we all introduced ourselves and cheered the rest of the game together.

kenneth was, without a doubt, hopelessly smitten with me from the very moment he laid eyes on me .... or so i tell it! (wink!) he and his friends were about to leave to go to his house to watch a movie and they invited kristi and me to come. well, we were idiots who apparently had a death-wish and we said yes! i mean, come on. he could have been a serial killer luring us into his torture chamber, but we decided if we were gonna die.....we would die together! turns out, they were all very sweet Christian people and we had a great time.

i gave my phone numbers to kenneth that night but really didn't expect to hear from him. yeah, right. this is what happened the very next day! i worked in the customer service phone center at Entergy, where lots and lots of calls come in every day. i later found out that he took out my number and decided that if he called the center and i happened to answer the phone, he would ask me out for a real date. you know, what are the chances that i would actually get his call with all of those operators there?? so he took a deep breath and pushed 9 to speak with a representative----"Thank you for calling Entergy! This is Tess. May I help you?" hehehehehe! how funny is that??!! (cue the light shining down on us from heaven!) so, we went out that very night! and the rest, as they say, is history!

we met in 1995, got married in 1997, had blake in 2002, and brady came in 2005. we've had such a blessed marriage and i thank God for kenneth and my sweet boys everyday. hopefully the best is yet to come!

today is our anniversary but unfortunately, it was just kinda blah! i was up and at work at 7am and kenneth left right after lunch to go out of town. this morning at work, one of the babies in my care started getting really bad so i had to ride with him in the back of the ambulance to another hospital on transport. that's really NOT a good thing for a nurse that gets CARSICK! ha! i was feeling sort of icky when i got back to my unit but there in the nurses station sat the prettiest bouquet of roses! (cue the light from heaven again!) they were sent from my precious husband at just the right time! the rest of the day was uneventful so i was able to stare at and smell my flowers all day. i suppose it was a good day after all!

kenneth, if you're reading this, please know that i love you til my heart gets sore! you do so much for me and the boys.....and i can't tell you enough thank you for being the best daddy and husband ever. you're the BEST!

my "walk-in" closet?

2008-11-24T10:25:00.006-06:00

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!

2008-11-15T19:21:00.004-06:00

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

2008-11-14T10:09:00.008-06:00

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

2008-11-10T19:35:00.007-06:00

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!

2008-11-06T11:00:00.008-06:00

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!

2008-11-03T21:42:00.006-06:00

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!

2008-11-02T22:38:00.006-06:00

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!

4th folder pic

2008-10-29T22:03:00.003-05:00

i look at several blogs of friends....(and some complete strangers!).....and saw this idea for a "photo tag". i thought it was a good idea so i'm going to share it and then tag a couple of friends to do it! what you do is go to your picture folders on your computer. you open the fourth folder and upload the fourth picture in it. the above pic happened to be mine! my folder was from the Washington, DC vacation that we took last new years. we spent 4 days there and had a really great time with our boys. blake was 5 years old and was able to understand the things that we were teaching him about the United States, freedom, and the people that died to give it to us. i must say that it was extremely cold that week! one of the main reasons we headed north was so the kiddos could see snow. they had only seen snow on tv! well, we didn't get any snow that week....but saw a handful of flurries/sleet on the way to the airport to fly home! bummer! the funny thing is that we flew to the northeast US to get a glimpse of snow, and then we got to see it right here in Louisiana 2 months later....in March! go figure.

anyway, looking at these pics brings back wonderful memories of our little family vacation and makes me ready for our beach vacation next summer! (they haven't been to the ocean and the beach yet either!! what kind of parents are we??)

i'm going to tag jennifer and aimee for this game of photo tag! can't wait to see their pics!

my cowboys

2008-10-24T22:51:00.006-05:00

every now and then, my crazy kiddos decide that they are real cowboys....with guns, boots, hats, the works! this was one of those nights! they went so far as to say that real cowboys don't sleep in beds, but they sleep on the ground under the stars. luckily, on the ceiling of their bedroom are about 150 glow-in-the-dark stars! so tonight we had to make "cowboy beds" on the floor. we turned on the room light for a while before bed so they stars would really glow when we turned off the lights! the funniest thing was that they parked their boots by their pillows.....you know, so they could ride the range in the morning! brady laid out his hat beside his boots and blake set out his guns (in case a snake crawls into camp??)! i just had to get a pic of it!

halloween party

2008-10-18T18:24:00.009-05:00

what time of the year do you get to act and look like a complete fool and get away with it? halloween, of course! last night, we had the best time at brandon & jennifer's halloween party! everyone was ridiculously dressed and we laughed the whole night! the digital scavenger hunt was so much fun.....running around town (while we looked like idiots anyway!) taking pics with strangers! kenneth and i dressed like Silky Johnson & a sugar mama! that's about as foolish as it gets!

everyone dressed up so funny so i have to post a few pics of them! hope they don't mind! our hosts, brandon & jennifer, were awesome pirates! aimee and brent came as snoopy and charlie brown (with the help of elijah-in-progress!). john mccain and sarah palin even showed up (matt & jennifer)!! and landon was absolutely hysterical as lawanda!

happy halloween everyone!

fireproof

2008-10-09T21:34:00.005-05:00

this evening, kenneth and i went to dinner and a movie. we planned this morning to see the new movie, Fireproof. i had heard from several friends that is was a really great movie that really opened their eyes to things that they needed to work on in their marriages. i expected a good movie, with an encouraging message, but took away from it alot more. the movie addresses some of the fundamental things that we allow to go wrong in our marriages....issues of respect, encouragement, and just plain ole love! i realized that no matter how wonderful we think our home lives are, there are always things to work on. one of the statements in this movie that hit me between the eyes was "destroy the addictions that claim your heart". wow. that could mean a million different things to a million different people but it boils down to not letting ANYTHING come between you and your spouse.....because God allowed them to claim your heart FIRST. i pray for the guts and strength to put pride aside and fix things in my own heart and my own marriage so God can be glorified in the union that He made 11 years ago. i highly recommend this movie to anyone who is married or ever plans to be. yes, it's just that good!

pumpkin patch

2008-10-08T21:29:00.007-05:00

kenneth and i took the boys to the pumpkin patch tonight....and the weather was fabulous! we had a great time and picked out 3 perfect pumpkins. tomorrow, i'm on the hunt for a bale of hay so i can fix my front porch for fall! we visited the pumpkin patch at the methodist church by the interstate....because they are always so nice there! thanks to the sweet girl who took our family pic! jessica was supposed to be our "official photographer" but she bailed on us! this year, the patch had the regular pumpkins and the white ones; but also had some pumpkins that looked like they had warts all over them. they were pretty nasty looking! anyway, it's worth going over there to have a look at those gross things! happy fall!

my boys with Les Miles!

2008-10-06T21:59:00.007-05:00

my kiddos were so pumped to meet Coach Les Miles of the LSU Tigers this past weekend! brady met him at the Rebel Club luncheon.....and blake was so jealous! luckily, we ran into him again tailgaiting before the WM Rebels game. they were so thrilled to have their picture made with him! he was very gracious and sweet to the boys and seemed to be a great guy.

notice how we have all of our favorite teams represented in their shirts! go rebels, tigers, and saints!

blake playing football

2008-10-05T22:58:00.008-05:00

hope you all had a great weekend! mine was full of football! rebels on friday night; blake played flag on saturday afternoon; and we went to the ULM vs. ULL game saturday night! speaking of blake and his flag football, i thought i'd post a pic or two of him playing! he loves playing but says it's too hot....and up until last week, i agreed! check out that awesome green mouthpiece!

he plays on the flag 2 Kiroli Komet team for 1st graders. they have pretty much the same team as they did last year so they are used to playing together. we're not a very dynamic team as far as winning is concerned, but they are having fun....and that's all that matters!

**a little something to make you check my blog in a day or so!**

friday we went to the rebel club luncheon and were very surprised (like everyone else!) when coach les miles walked in! LSU had a free weekend and he spent the day at WMHS. kenneth chatted with him a few minutes after lunch. that night, we saw him again before the football game and he took a picture with blake and brady! they were thrilled! be looking for that pic here soon!

the fair!

2008-09-28T20:13:00.007-05:00

last week, the fair was in town! i am lovin me some fair! it reminds me of waaaaay back in the old days when i was a little girl! ha! at the fair i used to attend, you had to walk through the "fair barn" to get to the rides. that meant you had to suffer through looking at jars of homemade jelly, homemade quilts, tractor exhibits, and the occasional prize calf before you even got to climb into the Tilt-A-Whirl! and remember those ugly little metal necklaces you got when you threw darts and popped a balloon? that cheapo thing ended up costing about $20! i always got the 2-piece broken heart one...i kept one side and gave the other piece to my best friend. at least the best friend for that week!!

fortunately, my 2 boys are more into the kid rides and the food than playing those horrible games. my parents, poppy & mimi, went with us and we all had such a great time! they bought armbands for blake and brady so they could ride as many rides as they wanted....as many times as they wanted! gee, thanks. we haven't been up that late on a school night in a while!

hope you enjoyed the fair as much as we did! see ya there next year!

my cool football players!

2008-09-27T21:44:00.005-05:00

wow, this has been a crazy week! in addition to school everyday, monday night was football practice for blake, wednesday was church night, thursday we went to the fair, friday night was the rebel football game, and this morning was blake's flag football game! that's with me working 12-hour shifts and kenneth leaving to go out of town for 6 days. we are plum "wo out"! i had to post this cute pic of the boys before the game last night. they are just hams when a camera is pointed at them! (and check out the cheese on brady's face.....and i don't mean the smile!)

yearbook yourself

2008-09-24T21:24:00.013-05:00

landon stumbled upon a hilarious website and passed it along from his myspace! thought you all may be interested in it....for a laugh! it is http://www.yearbookyourself.com/ . you upload a pic of yourself and it puts your face onto old yearbook photos going back to 1952! as embarrassing as this is, i've posted a few of myself! i actually look alot like my mom in some of them!

this one is "me" in 1952!

this is "1966 Tess"!

and this is some FINE 1962 hair!

now that i've shared such fabulous pics of me "through the years", you have to share yours with me! hope you are all having a great week!

myspace

2008-09-21T23:29:00.005-05:00

just wanted to post a link to my myspace. i have found so many old friends through myspace that i had lost touch with over the years! i try to post lots of pics of my family, friends, and just crazy off-the-wall stuff when i can. anyway, send a request and we'll be "friends"!

i've been tagged!

2008-09-21T22:19:00.007-05:00

my friend jennifer tagged me to play this little blog game! the rules are as follows:

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

i had several things in mind to post here, but decided on 7 of the more docile things....in fear that if i put some of my other quirks, the loony bin guys may come and cart me off!

OK so here goes a little about me:

1~in addition to my degree in nursing, i also hold a bachelor's degree in psychology. i really didn't plan on that as a career, i just thought i may need the knowledge to deal with my goofball family! um, okay, moving right along.....

2~i have a serious pet peeve issue with people who have pierced ears but don't put earrings in them. i hate to see empty holes! my friends at work know how i am...and some have even left for work, realized their holes were naked, then turned around to get their earrings! you go, girls!

3~my favorite tv show, and really the only one i have time to watch on dvr, is Survivor! it just warms my heart to see 16 people starve and torture themselves for a month for 1 million dollars when they can answer 5th grade school questions for 1 hour to win the same amount of money! i mean really....do they not research their options?

4~i have to sleep with one arm under my pillow, no matter which side i'm laying on. often i wake up with a paralyzed limb, but it's worth it.

5~when my second son, brady, was born we banked his cord blood with CBR (Cord Blood Registry). we felt it was definitely worth it with so many diseases and childhood cancers these days. his stem cells, God forbid we should ever actually need them, could also be used to treat his brother.

6~i have a ridiculous adoration for shoes, especially when it comes to flip-flops. i own more than 80 pairs of shoes....and 31 pairs of flip-flops! yes, i just counted. and no, my husband doesn't even fight me on it anymore.

7~my favorite time of the year is fall. not because of cooler weather, pumpkins, or cute long-sleeve clothes....but because it's CANDY CORN time!! yay! i just love me some candy corn!

well, there you have it! now i'm supposed to tag 7 other people but i don't know that many bloggers so i'm just gonna tag aimee! she's my sister-in-law who's pregnant with her first baby, my nephew-in-progress, named Elijah. poor aimee is 31 weeks and has been put on bedrest. for any of you who know her, you know she's NOT a bedrest kind of person! pray for her. the good thing is that she'll have plenty of down time to come up with her 7 "things"!

until next time, have a great week!

our house

2008-09-14T18:16:00.010-05:00

a few of my friends who live away have been asking about the new house we built last year. this is our second house to build in the last 5 years....and hopefully will be the last! the first house was 15 minutes out of town so i figured we would eventually want to be closer to the almighty Wal-Mart! now we are in a great part of town and hope to be here forever! i decided to go ahead and take a quick pic today before another hurricane blew through and demolished my little baby landscaping! hey, it will flourish eventually!

i remember

2008-09-10T21:12:00.010-05:00

on the eve of September 11th, i just wanted to stop and think about that horrible day in 2001 when evil struck our lives and caused so much pain to so many people. i remember that morning so well. i normally would have been sleeping late that morning but, being pregnant with my first son, i had to get up early to go to the bathroom! i switched on the tv just after the first plane hit a tower...and was mesmerized for hours after. aside from the realization that hundreds of people were probably dead, i remember thinking how very afraid i was for the child i was carrying. how i just wanted to hold on to him forever inside me because the world is so crazy and dangerous. i loved my son from the day i found out i was pregnant, but that was the day i learned what real motherly love and protection was all about. i still feel that for both of my boys....every single day. in the weeks and months following that attack, we were consumed with charity and kindness...and most of all patriotism. sadly, we've lost alot of those feelings. most people "got over" it and slowly began to forget about helping others.....and stopped praying for our country. if ever there was a time that we need to start praying for grace, mercy, and protection for the United States, it's right now. of the two men wanting to be commander-in-chief of this country, one just scares the life out of me. a Muslim-raised man who has no morals or Christian values wants to occupy the highest office in our country and throngs of people support him in that mission. for the sake of our freedom and the safety of our kids please pray that God allows the man that He wants to win this election. tomorrow pray for the families of those victims who still miss their husbands, and wives, and mommies, and daddies. fly your flag proudly. and smile at a stranger.

Jesus' last name?

2008-09-09T22:23:00.008-05:00

my youngest son, brady, is 3 so he was able to go to vacation bible school this summer. i was really excited about that because it meant, most importantly, that he would be learning about God and his teachings...and also it would give me a few quiet hours of "mom time"! the boys and i were riding in the van one evening during bible school week so i decided to quiz them about things they were learning. blake told me about his story from that day and i was impressed he actually remembered it several hours after he heard it! then i asked brady what he thought about bible school. he said, "i love Jesus Price!" i asked, "who?" and he said again, "i love Jesus Price!" then i realized that Christ sounded like Price to him so he thought that was Jesus' last name! i was trying so hard not to laugh! i just smiled and told him that mommy loves Jesus Price too! (we'll just deal with the name correction a little bit later!!)

first blog!

2008-09-09T21:58:00.009-05:00

i've been so inspired by aimee, jennifer, and liz that i decided to start my own blog! i really do have a very simple little life .... so just grin and bear it when i ramble about the everyday things that go on in the swanner household! i'm happily married to kenneth, my husband of almost 11 years! we have 2 precious little boys. blake is 6 and brady is 3. these three guys are the best and they honestly just make me smile all the time! i'm a registered nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit and just love my little babies. i've been blessed with a wonderful family, a great job, a beautiful home, an awesome church family, and some pretty darn cool friends! so, just check back here when you get a dull moment in your day....and i might just have something here to make you smile! God bless!