a not-so-happy Fourth of July

I completely love this picture, but it is a TOTAL misrepresentation of the
morning that'd preceded its taking. Jones was whimpering and squirming,
until Daddy started dancing a jig across the front porch to get him to smile.
Thank you, T-Dogg. Mission accomplished.

Next to my birthday, the Fourth of July is my favorite day of the year. This goes back to some very idyllic Fourths gone by; however, this Fourth wasn't nearly as spectacular. It'd been a WHINY, whiny week for the Pressley boys. I'd hoped that, somehow, they'd realize how much their mama loves this once-a-year occasion and get their acts together for the day.

They didn't.

Back story: all week, Jones whimpered like a wet puppy, while Freddie started to practice the fine art of pitching a fit. This is uncharacteristic for both of them, which made it all the more frustrating for me. A perfect example came Friday morning when Lila and I took the boys to buy Mom a birthday present. I told Jones to hold Lila's hand, so I could carry Freddie.

My Son the Elder would have NONE of it. He screamed; he whined; he demanded, "NO!" to doing as he was told to do. "I hode YOU, Mama," he insisted. When he refused to change his ways after being corrected multiple times, I refused to give him his way and carry him into the store. So we left, and Mom STILL doesn't have a birthday present from me (sorry, Mom; blame Jones).

On the Fourth, Mom, Daddy, Jeremy, and I took the boys to the Miniature World of Trains in downtown Greenville. While the boys were as excited by the trains as I'd thought they'd be, they were not nearly as sweetly dispositioned as I'd HOPED they'd be. As we left, I told Jeremy, "This makes me never want to take them anywhere, ever again. It's just MISERABLE."

After their naps, then came the cousins, and all was right with the world ... until we went swimming. Jones was good for the first twenty minutes, and then the whining resumed.

And then I had to fight the urge to bury myself in a box in the farthest recesses of some remote dungeon and spent the rest of my days hugging my knees to my chest while rocking back and forth like a man insane. Because that's what whining makes me: INSANE.

I'll tell you this: I'd rather deal with a fit than whining ANY day of the week. Fits are quick and easy to contain (or, if you put them in their cribs to calm down, ignore). Whining, however, you just have to endure. They're not really breaking any rules; they're just being annoying, and you can't punish anyone for THAT (at least not when they're, like Jones, too young to understand). That's why I've been so thankful that my boys haven't really done it up to now.

This week, though, Jones has made up for lost time.

My hope and prayer is that, by this time next week, we are celebrating our FREEDOM from this nasty habit.

Freddie's saying, "CHOO CHOO!"

I'm trying to be really intentional about getting
pictures of just Jeremy and me. My hair is
definitely looking worse for the wear,
but at least, it's proves that Jeremy and I were there, too!

totally love this picture; Freddie's now obsessed
with wearing shades, just as Jones was when he
was about Freddie's age. 

Every now and then, Freddie will randomly say, "SeaSea,"
and then he'll say, "BoBo." Don't tell anyone else this,
but I think BoBo may be his favorite person alive. 

While we were in the pool, this group of four
World War Two era planes flew overhead.
That's what they're watching here.
It was absolutely awesome.

Is #fromthecuttingroomfloor still a thing on Instagram?
If so, here's my latest entry. The boys are either
practicing their synchronized swimming routine
or, more likely, watching the WWII planes fly by.

Though we got dressed and headed to church,
we had to skip the service, because we noticed a huge rash
had broken out on Jones's chin. Freddie had the same thing
show up a week earlier. Rather than infect all of the
other two year olds, we just skipped church altogether.

What is more American than a coupla
brothers "driving" their Pop's
Chevy truck?

We went to downtown Canton
for its holiday celebration on the evening
of the 5th. While there wasn't much to see
there, I did get to give Freddie a ride
during our short stay.