catching up

Here is a story that all the mom's will appreciate about stubborn children. First, for those of you who don't know the ladybug story, let me summarize it. When I was around Jessie's age I was at grandma's house and she had these ladybug magnets on her fridge. When it was time to go home I refused to put the magnets back. My dad and I fought for over an hour and he finally forced me by taking my hand and the magnet and putting them on the fridge. No one has ever let me forget that. Well now I have one of my own who is more stubborn than me, except this time it was coins. We have a container that Scott and I keep spare change in and the other day Jessie decided to dump the coins onto the floor. Now she has done this in the past and always has picked them up without a problem, except this time I said the dreaded words that she had to pick them up because we were going to go to grandma's for dinner soon. That did it, she refused and the battle was on. Now since I am just as stubborn as she is and the ladybug story was running through my mind, I was not about to let her win. She did the standard run into the other room to get away and I would bring her back in screaming. She is at that age where she thinks that if she doesn't see me she is invisible, so she runs and lies flat on her stomach covering her head like I can't see her now. I told her we would not leave until they were picked up and Brandon would go over by himself. Well she started to pick them up after I left the room for a minute and then I messed up by telling her she was a good girl when I came back in and of course, she quit. Brandon even tried to help her pick them up so we could all go over together, but then I noticed that she had left the room and he was still picking them up. When I asked her what she was doing she said Brandon was helping her. I informed her that she had to be in the same room at least for him to be "helping" her and told him to quit. About a half hour passed and the coins were still on the floor and it was time to go to dinner. Brandon went over by himself (with mom watching for him) and we were still at it. My mom told me that maybe I should do like dad did with me and put the coins in her hand and "help" her put them in. Well after 45 minutes I even tried that but she just laughed, which made me madder. At one point she even told me that she couldn't do it because she didn't feel well, her back hurt. (her exact words) Scott happened to call during this ordeal and he talked to her hoping that maybe she would do it for him, which she didn't. Over an hour later she finally started picking them up while she sat in my lap and as I handed them to her she would stick them into the container with her foot sitting by her hand and say "stinky foot" every time she put the coins in. I thought "I won" because she was basically doing it herself with no forcing from me but after we were all done she said, "Put my shoes on now so we can go to grandma's, I can't wait to tell her what a good job I did." So I am not sure who won after all.



Brandon had his 6th birthday parties. We had one for the family on Saturday and then he had his first friend birthday party on his actual birthday. The parties went well, but he gets a little overwhelmed with so many people around. He got a new fishing pole for his birthday, one of those that cast for you with the push of a button, and Scott told him that when he gets back from California he will take him fishing. Now Brandon is upset because he thought that meant that Scott should take off from the fire to go fishing immediately. He got over it pretty quickly though but I have a feeling that as soon as Scott gets home Brandon is going to make him take him. He got lots of toys and I think he had a really good time. He enjoyed having his friends over for a party also, we just had a few over to the house. Will have more pictures on shutterfly soon.



Brandon has been taking swimming lessons this summer and moving rapidly through the stations. There are ten stations total and he is already on three. He really likes it and then goes swimming in our pool and shows us what he has learned and he is trying to teach Jessie. I will probably put her in next year, you have to be three for the program.