Potty Update!

Josh vs. Mom scoreboard:

Josh - 5 in underwear
Mom - 3 in potty

I am catching up! He actually told us at dinner last night that he needed to go...even with his underwear on! That is a first! Keep it up Josh...we are proud of you!

Rapid City

Jon put away his ties for the week and decided to dress "west river" style for his work out in the Black Hills last week! We all decided to tag along to make it a working vacation...is that possible? I think we made it work pretty well!
We could not resist a stop at Wall Drug on the way out to Rapid City. Besides, the boys needed a potty break and we all needed a break from the car. This is a perfect place for both! Jon and I always enjoy reminiscing at Wall Drug and we have even more fun making new fun memories for the boys!

"Which way to Rapid City?"

Josh could not wait to get on the Jackalope!
He was staying far away from the roaring T-Rex this year...I think he remembers him from last year!

We finally made it to Rapid City and quickly found our way to the pool! The boys were soooo excited to use the water park!

Josh is overcoming his water fears more and more each day! He goes down all the big slides on his own now!

Caleb continues to improve on his swimming skills and went down the "big people" enclosed water slide...about 100 times during the week!
Jon and I tried it once and got pretty beat up...we will leave that slide for Caleb!

We did manage to pull the boys little water logged bodies away from the pool a few evenings and this is what we did...

Jon rescuing Humpty Dumpty from his fall at Storybook Island!

Enjoying a lollipop with the 101 Dalmation's!

Reading with Dr. Seuss!

Taking a ride on the Storybook Line Express. Josh thought this was a fabulous idea until the train started up...very loudly!! Plus, I think he realized that we were not going along! The crying lasted about 10 sec. and then I think he enjoyed the ride!?

The next evening we went to Custer, Keystone for dinner and Mt. Rushmore. We decided to take the hike this time and Caleb was out tour guide with his trusty maps!

Taking a break from all the stairs...must have been over 300 of them!

Our final evening and 15th anniversary was spent at Dinosaur Park and Borders Books (because of rain)! What a way to spend our anniversary...Joe and Margaret plan to let us have a date night next week...yeah! Anyway, we had a lot of fun even in the rain!

Josh tickling the dino's tummy!

Some cute video clips of the pool...

Yea...Josh went in the potty!!!

We are going to fast forward a week in blog land to announce that Josh had a BM in the potty today!!! He has been on a 4 month revolt and he decided to end it today! He has been doing great with pee in the potty but REFUSES to have a BM in the potty. I cannot tell you how many hours Jon & I have devoted to talking, scheming, brain storming and fretting over Josh's poop and his stubborn streak! Only those of you with kids could appreciate how the topic of poop comes up way too often once you become a parent!!

So here is how the momentous event unfolded:

This morning Jon noticed that Josh was doing his usual thing...finding a hiding place and doing the squat. He quickly told him that he was not to go in his pants and removed his shorts and underwear...therefore removing his "safety net"...quite literally. We have noticed that Josh will tell us that he needs to go if he knows there is nothing to "catch" it! In the past, this has resulted in a false alarm and freeze up once he is on the potty. Jon went on a run and we had breakfast. After breakfast Josh came up to me and said very loudly, "mommy I have to go poop!" Well, I dropped everything and rushed him to the potty. I asked him if he wanted Caleb to sit with him or me...he picked Caleb (this was a first by the way). So, I left the room and let them go at it. Caleb had to leave for a minute to go potty himself in our bathroom only to come back and hear a little splash. Ahh, music to my ears!!! Caleb yelled out, "mommy, I heard a splash...I think that Josh went in the potty!" I once again dropped everything and lifted the little guy off the potty and saw a beautiful thing...he did go! I never thought I would be so happy to see such a gross thing!? We celebrated, jumped, danced and gave Josh lots of hugs & kisses. Caleb was almost more excited than Josh! Josh had one thing in mind...getting up on the counter to get his coveted prize...Doc Hudson from the Cars movie. He also got a fist full of candy! The boys could not wait until Jon got home to tell him. Jon was shocked! We are still talking about it and hope that this is not a one time deal. Pray that it is not...I am sooooo tired of cleaning out dirty underwear!!

We were in Rapid City last week and will get those pictures posted soon...I just had to share this great news!

--- Update---

Since writing this post this morning, Josh has pooped in his pants twice this afternoon. I guess my celebration was premature...augh!!! :(

Batter Up!

Caleb's coach was not able to make it to the next game, so Jon volunteered to coach. That meant that we got to take all the gear home for a few days until the next game! The boys enjoyed using "official" stuff and having a little baseball practice in the backyard. Josh dressed up like a little slugger and tried some batting with Jon's help. He had a few "swing and a miss" attempts but pulled it off in the end. Josh is a lefty, so Jon wants to teach him to be a "switch hitter!"

Check out some cute video clips!

Random Summer Fun Pics

Some friends of ours invited us to their lake cabin for some boating and BBQ. Josh gladly got on the boat but soon decided that he needed to pee. We tried to get him to pee overboard, but that totally terrified him. So, we made an emergency pit stop at the cabin so that he could go. After that, we could not get him to board the boat again. I think the trauma of having to pee and not having a potty available caused him to have a negative association with the boat! Go figure! Maybe by next year he will have forgotten about his traumatic experience and feel brave enough to go again. Caleb on the other hand, totally enjoyed his time!

Denise and her parents came by Sioux Falls for a few days to see the boys. We had lots of fun at the park and flying kites. They were also able to catch one of Caleb's T-Ball games!

Josh's Quote

We all celebrated after a long two days of running our garage sale with a trip to Coldstone Creamery tonight. While at the table eating cotton candy ice cream with M&M's, Josh looked around the table and pointed to each person, "Mommy, Daddy, Josh & Monkey!" I guess Josh has seen his goofy big brother running around in his Halloween monkey costume one too many times!!!

Pierre

One great advantage of summer and Caleb being out of school is that we can all go along with daddy once in awhile when he goes out of town. We decided to tag along with him to Pierre the end of May. He stopped in Mitchell on the way to visit a few accounts and the boys and I explored Cabela's while we were waiting...fun!

When we got to Pierre we quickly made our way to the riverfront and the boys got to work throwing rocks in the river. I am not sure why there is such a fascination with this...but they love it! It must be a guy thing! Cheap entertainment as well!
They also have a nice pier area where we watched a man fishing for wide mouth bass and he caught one just as we walked by! Good timing!

After some time at the playground and dinner, we made our way to the hotel for an evening of swimming...

The boys absolutely love the pool! I think that they think the only reason to stay at a hotel is to use the pool...we could never get by going to a hotel that did not have a pool. Josh even got brave and got his face wet and jumped into Jon's arms this time. He has never done the jumping before and we were surprised at his willingness to get his face wet(see the bath hat blog earlier)! Caleb on the other hand is an experienced jumper and thoroughly enjoyed his time. He also made a few friends at the pool...something he usually does as well. Check out some cute video clips at the end of this post...

A close second place after the pool...donuts for breakfast...something we never do at home!
You can tell that they REALLY like donuts!!

Before heading home we went to the riverfront one last time to throw in a few more rocks...

Pool video clips...

Fun at the Farm

When we arrived at the farm, Josh's first mission was to find Ally! He ran into the garage and quickly emerged through the doggy door to tell Jon that he saw a little mouse sleeping in the garage. Jon's first thought was that it was indeed dead and not "sleeping!" Well, after further investigation, he saw a tiny bunny "sleeping" in Ally's bed in the garage. Then, later that evening the "sleeping" mouse disappeared. We told Josh that the mouse must have gone home after his nap! The next morning, Josh was eager to see if the mouse had returned! Indeed, it had and it was alive and well! This story repeated itself for days and it was our conclusion that Ally must have found a little bunny nest somewhere and decided to pull a fresh "mouse" out each day and let it hang out in her bed all day until that night...I know...it is a bit sadistic! Many times they were happy and cozy in her bed all day totally oblivious to the fact that they were soon to become a doggy snack! Josh still thinks that the little mouse just decided to nap in Ally's bed all day before returning home for the evening! We didn't have the heart to tell him that his favorite puppy loves to snack on cute baby bunnies!

Josh enjoyed some time driving his new "monster" tractor...with BIG wheels!

Josh also enjoyed putting a few miles on his little 4-wheeler!

Playing on the swing set with Cassidy & Caleb!

Caleb wanted to try climbing a tree...with our help! He is getting so heavy...it was hard to give him a push up this time!

A visit would not be complete without a few miles on the BIG 4-wheeler!

Josh sizing himself up against Papa Joe's tractor..."I am sooo big!"

"Green is my new favorite color!" Josh enjoyed running around in Papa's new shop and exploring these tractors while Caleb was at Cassidy's house. It was especially fun because it was full of fluffy dirt hills because the cement floor has not been poured yet...even better yet for my little dirt lover!

Caleb had a sleepover at Cassidy's house and got brave enough to climb up her tree house! He was pretty proud to show me his accomplishment when I came to pick him up! Good job Caleb!

We stopped by the cemetery in Aberdeen to place some flowers with the Miller/Frericks family on Sunday. Then off to lunch and Sioux Falls! We had a great week!