Instafriday: Finally!

Linking up with Jeanette...

Finally downloaded all the photos off my cameras! 

Here are two of my favorites from The Avett Brothers when we took these cute girls with us.

We were that close...and he was that cute.

Two weeks ago, we went to this. 

We all had so much fun, but when we saw this, the Mecca for my Ellie, the Mac the Cheese Truck, we were very excited.

She was smitten.
We have all been singing all the songs from Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros after their fabulous show. Here is one of my favorite photos of Alex Ebert, lead singer.

Summer has been fun and we are taking advantage of all the local fun to be had. 

Sunday, our girls competed in a pie eating contest at The Chattanooga Market. Delaney was a return participant, determined to win.

 She did! 

We stopped mid week to celebrate Steve's birthday.

American Gothic has nothing on Silly Swanns.

 Chattanooga is a summer swim city and we take full advantage. Ellie has fun with her buddies and Delaney does it to stay in shape for fall and winter swimming.

Lots of swim practice and meets the first month of summer for all of us. 

The heat and time is worth it though.

We are undefeated! 

A little more local flavor. 

Happy First Official Week of Summer!

InstaFriday: Cool as we wanna be

 Instagram makes my life look so much cooler than it is! 

Have been hanging out with my mom doing what she loves to do, scour estate sales.

I scored these fancy glasses. Passed up the 8 track tapes, but dang it was tempting.

My newest obsession

 Summer means two things, swim team and good eating.

Salads get a lot more exciting at Casa Swann in the summer.

Swim meets twice a week go so much faster if you have a job to do. 

I like to be a judge. Love getting front row of all the swimmers, from hilarious 8 and unders "diving" off the blocks to the seriously fast seniors flying across the pool. 

My girls are middle of the pack summer swimmers, but love it.

salmon cakes and kitchen sink salad

 Did a crazy thing this week and convinced my reluctant hair dresser to darken my hair.

Right now, it is temporarily darker than it will end up. Which is kind of fun. It's shocking when people see me and I love seeing them try to figure it out.

 My husband is an 80's old wave guy and we went to hear the Psychedelic Furs at our local music festival. They were great, but about 102 years old which was really weird. Pretty in Pink? You bet.

 My girls are finally easing into summer. We have been up every morning and out the door by 7:45, but they come back and relax and goof off. Friends are over watching movies, I have been the chauffeur to the pool and library, and today we are heading off to hear music in Atlanta. 

Perfect, fly by the seat of your pants summer. 

Maybe we are cool.

Check out the really cool Jeannette.

InstaFriday: Hackers

 Hooking up once again with Jeannett

Uhm...hello!

Does anyone else's kids do this?

Selfies with Momma's phone?

I realize my children are the last two on earth above the age of 8 who do not have Iphones. 

Hence, they use mine to take 1,000 selfies of themselves. 

But seriously? They both have Ipads, an ipod and oh, yeah...an old fashioned camera.

Yet, when we are riding around town, they are selfie taking fools.

Guess I'll miss it at some point. 

In the meantime...

Instafriday: Mother's Day

Happy Mother's day to all the mothers in my life.

And to my children,

 

 who call me "Momma" and "Mommy" still, even though they are teen and almost teen girls... I love you more than there are words to express. You make my heart hurt, my hair gray and my life fuller then I could ever imagine.

I love you.

Check out all the other "cool moms" via Life Rearranged

InstaFriday: Warp Speed

Click for awesomeness by Jeannette

The last 10 days have really flown by! 

I always feel like the last few weeks of school are on fast forward. 

Between all the end of year events and finishing up the actual school year, our house is on warp speed all the time. 

A rare family photo

We had our daughters' school tradition of May Day last week, which is a festival and a show. With the exception of 6th and 10th grade which are mandatory dances, the girls in the other grades have the opportunity to dance for the seniors and the crowd.  Beautiful and old tradition (this was the 99th queen) and fun for everyone. I realized that my youngest will be in the 105th May Day. (If you are wondering, the school was founded in 1906.)

6th grade...my girl is in green

8th grade...mine is at the top right.

Last May Day as middle schoolers

May Poles

 Our weekend was fairly calm, with one kid at a sleep over, we enjoyed hanging out one on one with the other. We worked out, did homework and of course, prepped for the Main Event of April, my sister Karen's birthday! She,her husband and two of their kids came down for the day. We had a great visit complete with lunch and a cake. And candles. Apparently at this age, you need a lot of hands to light ALL the candles.

 We also went to the market, because after all, it was Sunday.

 The end of sports came on Monday, so we have been able to get home at a reasonable hour and get home work done in time to enjoy our beautiful spring.  (I loathe Spring, but I do enjoy my Azaleas).

 I bought a hammock and have enjoyed exactly 15 seconds in it as it is always occupied by someone else. Someone who loves to read as much as I do, apparently. At least that someone is cute.

As I said, the end of the school year brings lots of last minute projects and much studying. 

Very serious studying.

Three short weeks and it will all be over. Including middle school for one of my girls. I will cross that bridge when I get to it, but for now, I am looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend of live music and emptying a Uhaul for my parents. Like I said, warp speed.