Monsters, Compliments, and Pictures

Ahh, springtime in Tennessee. A warm, slightly humid day with a storm on the way packing the potential to spawn tornados tonight. There's nothing like it.

LIVING IT UP. Jenna's mantra every morning is: "I don't have to get ready for school, I'm on summer break!" We've all had a lot of fun this week.

AUNT LINDA, YOU'LL LOVE THIS. The other day Vicki was putting on her mascara and Ben asked what she was doing. When Vicki told him he said, "What's 'scara for?" Vicki replied, "I put it on to make me pretty." Ben thought about that for a moment and then said, "But you not pretty!"

Vicki, in mock hurt, asked, "Not even just a little pretty?" With a gleam in his eye he refused to concede to even this small compliment.

MONSTERS, INC. This afternoon I was working upstairs. When I got a little hot I decided it would be a good time to put the air conditioner in the window. Vicki, Jenna and Ben were in their room playing. Hearing me struggle with the A/C he said, "What's that?" Vicki said, "Maybe it's a monster!"

Ben thought about this for a moment and said, "I'm not afraid of a monster." and walked over and checked out the hall. On seeing that everything was clear he turned to Vicki and said, "See, there's no monster." That's when Vicki played the part, opening her eyes in fear saying, "Watch out behind you!!!" This freaked him out and he put ripples in the floor trying to get back to his bed.

Ben realized the joke was on him when Vicki and Jenna began to laugh. This made him stand really straight, put his hands on his hips and retort, "I want you to know I was not afraid!" He took the joke really well and joined in the laughter.

DON'T LEAVE ME OUT. Nate is learning to fend for himself. Whenever he sees anyone sit down to eat, go anywhere, playing, etc. he is right there saying, "Me! Me!"

SHE EARNED HER MONEY. She was warned. I think Nate may have shaken her confidence. No comedian needs a room full of Nates. But we haven't had a family portrait made since September, 2001, and it was high time to have it done. After a two hour photo session I'm not sure we got a good shot. The photographer, her husband, and three kids pulled every trick out of their hats (including two rabbits) to get Nate to smile. I guess it was just that strange looking camera they kept pointing at him. He really is a smiley kid. And I must say they did everything they could to make the session as enjoyable as possible for us. They even served ice cream and cake at the end! (And I'll not even mention Ben here.)

Joe

School's Out So What Do We Do All Day?

Tobacco setting season is in full swing, the honeysuckle are in full bloom, and the lightning bugs are everywhere. They are so thick in the field beside our house it reminds me of seeing an aerial shot of a stadium on TV at night where the spectators' camera flashes simply make the stadium sparkle.

IT SEEMS LIKE YESTERDAY that we took Jenna for the first day of school. I told Jenna then that she was probably the only kid to be taken to school in a two car procession (Vicki drove separately as I had work to do at her school that day that would keep me there for a while). As of Friday she is no longer a kindergartner. It is just hard to believe.

FIELD TRIP. Jenna had her last field trip on Tuesday. They went to the Nashville Zoo. Vicki made it back from Estell Springs to go with Jenna and they had a great day together. You can't go wrong with lots of kids, animals, hot weather and messy snow cones!

SOCCER'S OVER. The last soccer games were Saturday. Ben's team won. Jenna's team lost. After the game we went swimming and enjoyed a cookout at the YMCA for the soccer players and their families.

THE BOY HAS RHYTHM. On Sunday evening the preschool choir performed their little musical at church. Several people commented on Ben's rhythm. He was certainly into the music with his whole body (which he didn't get from me).

One of the lessons from the musical was that we can pray to God any time and any where. Between two of the songs the choir director stopped and asked several kids if they could pray in specific locations (eg. a roller coaster, etc.) Ben was asked if you could pray in the bath tub. He responded with an enthusiastic, "NNNOOOOOOO!"

A NEW LOOK. Nate is sporting a new haircut. His baby look is gone now!

WITHDRAWALS. Jenna is having school withdrawals. Today she asked Vicki to write out the number words ("one", "two", "three",...) for her to copy. as Vicki was doing that I teased her saying, "When you get done with that I'll write them in Spanish for you to copy." She replied, "Hey, I know the Spanish words: uno, dos, tres, taco, cinco.... Hey, why are you laughing at me!!!"

MOVIE REVIEW. We rented Bend It Like Beckham the other night and really enjoyed it. It is about a British girl from India who is really good at soccer but plays on a team without her parents knowledge. Her parents are against her soccer activities because it is improper for a young lady of their culture to do. She pursues her dream to play soccer but also realizes the importance of her family relationships. This struggle and the depth of the characters makes for a good story. Expect some language.

Joe

Another Week in the Life of the Swanns

I think the corn grew two inches overnight. Bill Chatman had planted the corn last week and I came out the door this morning after it had rained all night and couldn't believe my eyes. It seems that everything is just popping up fast this year.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO G'ANNE. Mom's XXth birthday was Wednesday. We celebrated with a dinner at our house on Thursday. We had pork chops for the main course and a chocolate tort for dessert. We all had a lot of fun.

Vicki made the tort earlier in the day and Ben got to lick the bowl of icing. Vicki filmed him as he was doing this. He did not know she was there. He had the look of pure ecstasy.

FIELD DAY. Vicki spent the day at East Robertson on Friday. The Kindergarten and 1st Grade had their field day. Vicki said the funniest part was watching the tug of war contest. She filmed part of it and those little kids were pulling for all they were worth. It seemed like they would pull for 5 minutes before one team would wear out, have too many to fall down, and lose out. Jenna's class were the champs for the event. She was VERY proud of the calluses on her hands.

SILLY SONGS WITH BENTON. Those of you with young children will be familiar with Veggie Tales and the Silly Songs with Larry segment. One of the songs we all like is Song of the Sebu (not sure of spelling, pronounced "say-boo"). Ben had this song on his mind the other morning as he was walking around singing, "SHAMPOOOOOOO!"

A SOGGY RELAY. Our Relay for Life is held every year on the third weekend of May. Most years there are ominous clouds on the horizon. Sometimes they dump a quick shower. Usually they just look threatening and move on. This year they moved in and parked over Middle Tennessee. We grabbed our umbrellas and went anyway. It was a lot of fun and they had a great crowd in spite of the rain. Mom walked the survivors lap with all of the other cancer survivors. This is her 14th year to be cancer free!

SUBTLE MISCHIEF. At supper the other night Jenna got up to get herself a spoon. While she was at the drawer she asked Ben if he wanted a spoon. He said. "No." When Jenna was about 3-4 feet from her chair he said, "Yeah Jenna, I do want a spoon." She happily turned around to get it for him and he softly giggled and said to me, "I changed my mind!"

A little later we were all cleaning up before putting the kids to bed. Vicki had asked Jenna to do something and Jenna said, "I don't wanna do that. I want to play something." Vicki then said, "Okay, let's play housewife." Jenna's response: "I don't want to play HOUSEWIFE!!!"

MIMMIC. Vicki was ironing clothes this morning and Nate was sitting nearby in his highchair. She kept noticing that he would sigh every few moments. It took her a while to figure out that he was copying the sound the iron makes every time she would set it on its end to reposition the clothes. You know, the sound from the little gasp of steam that is relaesed when you turn it from its ironing position to its sitting position.

PLEASE PRAY. It breaks my heart to bring this news. You may remember me reporting on March 26 that Vicki was visiting with Sheila, a college friend of ours, and her father, Mr. Herman Floyd. Mr. Floyd was recovering from surgery where part of his lung was removed as a result of lung cancer. Mr. Floyd passed away Friday. Vicki has gone to Estell Springs, Tennessee, to help Sheila out with her kids during the visitation and funeral.

Joe

School's Not Out but Summer Has Started

It is the time of year when corn is being planted and tobacco is about to be set out. We have had a nice week but have gone straight to warm weather. With all the rain we have had the mosquitoes are out in full force.

NATE AND THE MAGIC ROOM. I guess Wednesday night at church was the first time Nate had ever ridden in an elevator while standing on his own feet. I could tell he thought the doors opening and closing on their own was just the grandest thing. Then when the elevator started moving he grabbed my leg real tight. On seeing I wasn't concerned he started laughing again. What really puzzled him was when the door opened again and the room on the other side was totally different. Needless to say, we took a couple of extra trips just for fun.

KITCHEN PROGRESS. We spent two evenings painting trim and hanging border next to the ceiling in the kitchen last week. It is really starting to look nice. The other day Vicki and Pauline went to get some fabric for the curtains and Pauline has started making them. Once we paint the trim around the windows and hang the new curtains the kitchen will be done--for the next nine years.

A BUSY SATURDAY. Jenna and Ben both had their soccer games and from what I understand they both played really well. The yards had gotten to the point where they all needed mowing at the same time so I stayed home. I started early and if Vicki hadn't helped when she got back home I would have still been at it after supper. As it was, I could turn my attention to the garden when I got all the trimming done.

CUTTING BACK. Speaking of the garden, it is a lot smaller this year as I kept thinking of all the things on the agenda for the summer while tilling it up. Actually, I had it so small Vicki made me enlarge it some but there are two little boys in Florida who might be disappointed in the size when they visit next month.

NEW WORDS. Nate is starting to slip some English into his jabber. The other day he had a ball in his hand and would toss it away. As he was going to pick it up he would say, "getit."

We went to Sonic in White House for supper tonight and then visited the park across the street. Nate quickly learned to say "fies" [fries] and "tot" [tater tots].

AUNT HELEN. We went to see Aunt Helen this evening before going to White House. She came home from the hospital the other day but will probably go back tomorrow. Her legs look really bad. It is hard to see her like this because it seems like she has suffered with her legs more than anyone should have to suffer with anything. Please continue to keep her in your prayers.

Joe

News from a Quiet Week

As I sit down to write the entry for this week nothing really stands out in my mind. Vicki has been busy painting the trim in the kitchen so we could move our stuff back in. I have been trying to dodge rain showers with my mowing.

MORE WORK ON THE HOUSE. The guy who repaired our bathroom floor has turned his attention to our front porch. Years ago the porch roof was repaired and a rubber roof was put on. Since then the rain water has been getting under the roof and seeping into the area above the porch ceiling. We are just fortunate that when the roof was repaired before the old tin roof wasn't removed. This saved us from having to replace the porch. There is still a lot to do to the roof but he has a good start.

THE WRONG SIZE. Pauline asked me to hang a small flag pole (5 feet long) on her front porch. As I was doing that she found the flag that was given to he by the US Navy when Jessie passed away in 1988. (He served in World War II.) We all got a good laugh as the flag dwarfed the pole. In the playfulness of the moment, before discussing more appropriate uses for the flag, Vicki suggested she use it as a comforter for her queen size bed.

SOCCER MADNESS. Yesterday was one of the few days Jenna's game was not scheduled at the same time as Ben's game. This wouldn't have been such a bad thing except that it was picture day and we had to be there an hour earlier than game time. Since Nate was with us as well it was a bad day for Vicki to be sick. I was very happy when Mom asked if she could go. She saved the day!

Nate kept me pretty busy but from what I could tell Ben is getting more of an idea of what the game is about. Jenna's whole team played well but they lost. Their opponents had one boy who was very good.

Joe