More Kid Stories

Okay, we've had average temperatures for August but we need rain (though we did have a shower this week). Farmers are still cutting tobacco and I can't believe we are already knocking on September's door. (Sorry Vicki...it got the best of me.)

STUBBORN LITTLE BOY. The other day Vicki and Ben ran errands. On their way home they picked Jenna up from school and Nate up from Pauline's. When Vicki parked the van Jenna got out. She gave Ben a moment to unbuckle she asked if he was going to get out. When he didn't respond she closed the door, walked around to get Nate and headed for the house. That's when Ben lost it and demanded that Vicki make Jenna come back to open the door for him and walk with him to the house. After discussing this with an unreasonable boy for a moment she laid down the law when she said, "I am not making Jenna come back here for you and you can sit out here until you are hot enough to want to come in."

Vicki had several trips to make to the van for all the things she bought that day. On the last trip she arrived at the tailgate only to hear Ben's cheerful voice exclaim, "Okay Mom, I'm hot enough now!" And in he went.

HOMEWORK. Jenna has homework now. It's all reading and spelling right now. She came home with a story she is to read for us and her vocabulary words are all used in the stories. She's picking up on it really well but there are a few words that trip her up. She is always anxious to come in and do her homework. I hope it is always this way!

SPEAKING OF WORDS. Nate really doesn't talk in English much yet. While he understands well enough to follow simple directions 99.44% of what comes out of his mouth is still jabber. What brought a smile to my face though was the other night when I was putting him to bed. I had told him to close the doors to his room and he closed one but walked out the other. Figuring he was stalling on his bedtime I took off after him saying, "Nate, get back here and close your door." He gave me this simple reply over his shoulder, "Bear." And after getting his bear he came back and closed his door.

DADDY'S LITTLE HELPER. We had new carpet put down in the children's Sunday School classrooms at church this week. Wednesday night several of us moved all the furniture out of those rooms so the carpet layers wouldn't have to do it. I had Nate with me as Vicki was teaching a missions class for kids (Ben is in her class). That Nate was a good worker. He did not waste a trip. Every time I hauled something he had a toy or chair in his hands and was right behind me. If it was too big to carry he pushed it.

A MOVIE REVIEW. Vicki and I went to see The Village Friday night. There are several twists in the plot which we were figuring out as the story was unfolding but I would never have guessed the ending from early on in the movie (one review said it was too predictable). What was nice was that it is a clean film. There was no language that really stands out in my mind. What violence there is was simply dealt with quickly and in a realistic way and the story moved on. Unfortunately we missed seeing this in Springfield (where admission is $1/$3 on weekends) so it was an expensive treat. If you don't make it to the theater put this movie on your list of things to rent.

Joe

News from All Over

In an attempt to keep all my opening paragraphs from being predictable and boring I will not talk about the weather, what farmers are doing, or how time seemed to have flown by this week. Please enjoy the news from the Swann household. (Vicki is happy now.)

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! I really should have said this two newsletters ago because Aunt Linda and Uncle Bob's 50th anniversary was August 1st. The reason I held off until now is that they are in Helen, Georgia, this weekend for a special anniversary trip. The trip was planned for them by their children, Ann Beth and Jim (and their spouses, Daryle and Dianna). And since this is such a special family occasion the whole family is in Helen together. I know they are having a great time celebrating with their kids and grandkids. Congratulations on 50 years!

ROAD TRIP. I got to take a short trip this weekend. One friend from church, his son and I drove up to Pinckneyville, Illinois, for their Threshing Show this weekend. We left Friday, spent the night in Benton, Illinois, and then drove over to Pinckneyville for a full day of looking at antique farm equipment, watching some tractor pulls, and seeing some equipment demonstrations. It is a lot like the show we have in Adams each July but bigger. One of the most interesting attractions was a 1903 Hart-Parr tractor billed as the oldest tractor in working condition known in the world (we assumed they meant tractors with internal combustion engines, putting steam engines in a different category). It is on loan from the Smithsonian. (A picture of the Hart-Parr tractor is currently on the American Thresherman Show's home page--you might want to check that out before they redo their page for their October show)

I had heard about this show because some of the people from Pinckneyville drive down for our show each year. Vicki, the kids and I went last year. I am looking forward to taking Ben and Nate back.

WHILE I WAS AWAY Nate spent Friday night with Pauline, Ben stayed with Mom and Aunt Mar, and Vicki and Jenna had a girls night out. She and three other friends from church and school (along with their moms) went to Springfield to see The Princess Diary 2. They also went out to eat at O'Charlies and the girls got a booth to themselves! Vicki says the ensuing gigglefest was not exactly princess-like.

A PARADE. This is one of those Kodak moments with your kids. Jenna and Ben have collected all their riding toys and tied them together with yarn. Then they all three load up on different toys in the train and ride through the house. It is a slow moving train and they have to help Nate make the turns but a cute picture (still picture that is--his squeals would not be pleasant to hear on a video).

WHO NEEDS GUARDIAN ANGLES WHEN THEY KNOW SCRIPTURE. Being a first grader Jenna is in children’s choir at church now. Tonight's practice was more of a fun time--a swimming party at the home of one of the choir leaders. When she came home we had her hit the shower. As I was walking by the bathroom I decided I would aggravate her by reaching in and turning off the light. When I cracked open the door I heard her talking to herself and after listening for a moment I just couldn't bring myself to pull the switch. She was reciting John 3:16, her memory verse for the coming week.

Joe

Overdue News

If you drive around Robertson County right now you'll see smoke drifting from our many tobacco barns. It's that time of year again. To me it is the smell of home.

A BIRTHDAY RECAP. You'll remember from the last newsletter that we celebrated Ben's birthday at Hollywood's in White House. Angela Arnold (a college friend) and her son Jackson were recently here for a visit about two weeks ago and we all went to Hollywood's for that occasion as well. Vicki wrote the following in a response to an email from Angie.

I think Jenna would go to Hollywood's every day if we took her. She is lousy at skee ball but enjoys it anyway! Benton is loving telling everyone that he is now officially four. He got two pairs of Spider Man boxing gloves from his cousin. (I initially called them "mittens" so as to disuade him from their actual use...tactic did not last too long!). I told him that he and Jenna would have to stop boxing if either one started crying. Jenna proceeded to lightly hit him ONCE and he started to "pretend" cry, I said nothing, and he looked at me with a concerned look on his face and said, "Hey, I'm crying now." So Round 1 came to an end as I laughed at my brave boy. He is a mess!

SCHOOL IS UNDER WAY. Jenna has had a great first week at school. We were sort of concerned about her since she has been used to taking an afternoon nap every day and you don't get to do that in first grade. But she has handled it just fine.

We also thought Ben would be pretty lost since he and Jenna have been big playmates all summer. But he has picked right up with Nate and done fine. I guess Nate will be the one who is lost when Ben starts school.

Starting school up is what really affects my job. Last year we had about 130 work requests submitted in the first week of school. As of Friday we were approaching 250. We do have one new technician at work. She is very computer savvy and is picking up on things quickly but it will be several months before she has learned enough to be an effective member of our team. It makes a difference when you know help is on the way.

ENJOYING QUALITY TIME. I read Miss Nelson is Back to Jenna and Ben the other night. This book is part of the series of children's stories about Miss Nelson, an elementary teacher, and Viola Swamp, Miss Nelson's alter ego and the meanest substitute teacher in Texas. What was so fun was seeing the kids get into the story, even covering their eyes in certain parts of the tale. One of those moments you want to remember forever.

A NICE VISIT. Back on New Year's Eve I drove to Clarksville to meet Mr. James Krantz and his wife, Mrs. Mildred. Mr. Krantz was the one who was a gunner on a B-29 just like my dad. I had been trying to get back together with them ever since and it finally happened last weekend. We all (Vicki, the kids and I) went to visit with them and then went out to eat and had a most wonderful time.

Mr. and Mrs. Krantz are two of the nicest people I have ever met, and I don't mean that lightly. Every time we looked Nate was holding his hands up to Mr. Krantz and Jenna and Ben really really took to Mr.s Krantz. She is a short person and is ready to give out hugs to anyone. They are both fun to talk to and are genuinely interested in everyone they meet. They are the kind of people you meet and later say, "I want to be like that."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! We all (including Mom, Aunt Mar, and Pauline) celebrated my birthday with a trip to the Catfish House Friday evening. As we sat down at the table Ben spotted a gentleman at another table with black and gray hair. Tugging on my sleeve he asked, "Daddy, can I go over there and say hi to Uncle Bob?" (Uncle Bob, you may live in Florida but you belong at the Catfish House in Ben's mind.) Afterwards we went to Aunt Mar's for cake--the famous chocolate cake!

What was really funny was that Ben rode back home with Mom and Aunt Mar. Close to the end of the trip he noticed that Aunt Mar had not buckled her seat belt and called her on it. After she made the excuse of forgetting to buckle up he told her, "You need to do that. I would miss you."

Last night we continued the celebrations by going out with two other couples from church. We ate at Outback Steak House, played miniature golf, and stopped by Sonic for desserts.

Joe

A New Addition to the Driveway

Okay, my summer has been over for a month now but I still can't believe that school is about to start back up. Jenna and her fellow students in Robertson County report to school for a half day (registration) on Thursday and classes begin on Monday. I just can't believe August is here.

ABOUT THE NEW ADDITION. First of all, I sure didn't expect that we would have traded by now. I was thinking we would shop for several weeks. However, we went to Rivergate on Friday evening and spotted a gold 2002 Toyota Sienna and took it for a test drive. We liked it and the dealer allowed us to take it home for the night. When we got up Saturday morning we still weren't 100% sure about it so we drove it back in and shopped around a bit more that morning. In the end we felt like this vehicle was meant for us so we bought it. It has 20,200 miles and a bumper to bumper warranty until 2009 or 100,000 miles. We are very pleased with the way the deal worked out. (Actually, I am very proud of Vicki. I could not have pulled that deal off.) It is so nice to have sliding doors on BOTH sides of the van.

FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY. We left the kids with Pauline when we went van shopping. During the day Mom and Aunt Mar took Jenna and Ben to their house to give Pauline some relief. We stopped by there on our way home with the new van. While we were outside talking about it the kids were eager to get in and claim their seats. During a lull in the adult conversation I heard Jenna from the back seat ask, "Daddy, did we have enough money to do this?" (Earlier she had asked me how much the van cost. Putting it in terms she could understand I told her how many bicycles like hers we could buy with the same money. Her eyes got real big.)

A TRIBUTE TO A GOOD VAN. I can't let the old van go without a bit of a eulogy. When you have a vehicle for six years and two months you get a bit attached. It was a green 1994 Pontiac Transport and had 78,000 miles when we bought it in 1998. We were the third owners. It served us very well locally and on trips to Camden, Gatlinburg, Florida, South Carolina, Virginia, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. It had 167,000 miles on it when we let it go.

BIRTHDAYS GALORE. A week ago Saturday was Riley Dee's birthday (which I should have reported last week). She is four. We celebrated her birthday with a water party in their back yard. Since they live on a hill they had the best place for a water slide. The play house Derek has built out back was lots of fun too. If we keep partying like this the kids will have so much sugar there will be no calming them down. But that's the way childhood should be sometimes.

Ben is also four years old today. Hard to believe. We celebrated his birthday at Hollywood's Grill and Fun Center in White House. In short the grandmothers (including Aunt Mar), the Dee family, and most of the Kenny Swann family was there. We all enjoyed a good meal, cake, presents, and time in the game room. We all had a good time together.

Ben got several cool gifts. Among them were a book of the complete collection of Thomas the Tank Engine stories, Legos, a Playmobile Castle set, a video game, boxing gloves, and walkie talkies. Ben also got a plastic sword which Nate discovered. Before bedtime we found him walking through the house waving the sword, baring his teeth, and growling.

Joe