Poo Poo in the Potty

I think I can officially say that we're "potty training" now. With Joshua I read some book about potty training that encouraged you to start when they were a year old, introducing the potty because kids naturally want to potty train, right? Yeah... not so much. So I decided to try and potty train him young. Would you believe that he didn't actually decide to really get going with the idea until after he turned 3? At a completely developmentally appropriate age? I know. It was my first time and I was hoping we could get him out of diapers before Jeremiah came along. His mind and body had other ideas and just wasn't ready on my schedule.
Being much more relaxed this time around, we started introducing the potty with Jeremiah not too long after we moved into the house here. He wasn't ready and this time I fully expected that. Now with a little encouragement from Daddy and Elmo, we're officially heading in the right direction. Last week when Jeremiah told me ahead of time that he need to do #2 and we made it to the potty, I decided to set up a little rewards program for him. Each time we make it to the potty we get a star. 6 stars means he gets to pick out a toy from the dollar store. Fortunately for me he's not old enough to see this as cheap yet. Tonight we filled in our 6th star. Way to go, Jeremiah! Tomorrow morning we'll be off to the dollar store!

A Morning at the Beach

When our initial plans for the morning fell through, we decided that since we were out, it would be a good time to enjoy a walk on the beach (the first for the boys and I since we've been here). This is the beach Phil has had to do PT (physical training) on for the last few weeks.
There's this really interesting area with all sorts of bricks and metal almost like a ship or building has been just decomposing there for decades. I found it completely intriguing.


We're gearing up for a pretty busy week. Phil's squadron will finally be returning from Iraq so we're doing all we can to help with the homecoming. My folks are coming in for a visit. It'll be their first time to visit here in Virginia. We'll be taking a trip to Williamsburg and DC and just enjoying having time together. They boys are so excited they're counting down. I think it's the first thing I hear every morning. According to Jeremiah, "Be very, very happy when Nana Papa come!!" Me too, buddy!

Happy Moms Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

(Josh said sorry the p's are backwards)
From two little boys I am privileged to be Mommy to.

Last Soccer Game

Today was the last soccer game of the season. Josh has played so hard this Spring! I've have never seen him run so fast. Today was especially hot and humid after a really loud storm all night last night. The field was moist and the kids hot, but you could tell everyone involved were glad to enjoy this one last soccer game.

Josh making another goal

Josh's trophy for this year was really neat, actually

Strawberry Picking

This is one of my all time favorite things to do. The season starts here earlier and lasts longer, which is good news for me! We decided to head out this evening to pick some of our own strawberries at Cullipher Farm. We went home with way more then this!
Last year when we went it had been a bad season so it took us a good hour to pick enough little tiny strawberries to fill their basket. This year they are big and fat and flavorful. We weren't there very long before we had enough in our bucket that we knew we needed to stop.
The boys are getting better at these things and I'm grateful for their independence.
We also got to bring Daddy along to help.
Now to decide... what to make with all those strawberries???

Virginia Living Museum

I feel as if we're taking you on a journey through our new little area of the world as we go out and explore. This weekend we went to a museum in Newport News. We had to get out from under the rain a bit while we were there, but overall it was a great time! Lots of outdoor area for animals.
Lots of stuff to see and do inside as well, which was great for the rainy/not rainy day.

Joshua's favorite part: Jellyfish!

Jeremiah's favorite part: The dinosaur

Soccer's Almost Done

Next week will be our last game. We'll have trophies and pictures and everything. Should be a fun time.
Last year we were encouraging Josh to just keep up with the other kids running from one end of the field to the other and now this year our talks with him were more along the lines of encouraging him to let the other kids on his team have some time with the ball as well. What a change!