Our Christmas Letter

We are being cheap this year and we are putting our letter on our blog for some to see.

I can't believe how fast this year has flown by! Some parts of this year have been good, some have been bad. We praise God for both, because without the hard times we wouldn't draw as close as we have with family.

We started out the year slowly. January was nice and slow since we still had a five month old at the time and things just move a little slower with a baby. At the end of January, my brother, brad, moved in with us while his wife, Andrea, was back at their house in MN wrapping up a few things to be able to move up here. Brad started a job where John was working at National Oilwell Varco. In February, Levi got potty trained over Valentines Day weekend and we started a house project that same weekend (maybe this is where the year started getting really busy). Brad and John started fixing up the room that Andrea and Brad would be staying in. We stripped the entire room down to the studs and with Brad's construction expertise the room was ready to be lived in about a month later. In March, I took a trip with the boys to visit John's sister and brother-in-law, Jenna and Bill, down in southern CA. We also traveled to Minnesota in April to visit my family in Bemidji and also to visit some friends in the cities. Both trips were so much fun as it was good to see family and friends and get out of AK for awhile. April brought the realization that things take a little longer to warm up here than they do other places-it was so cold when we got back from our vacations. May was BEAUTIFUL! Ahhh, we love Alaskan spring and summers. Over the summer we did some hiking, fishing, camping at the cabin with friends, bonfires in our backyard, yard work, and some biking. We are very blessed to live in a beautiful state and have so many beautiful things to look at around us. At the beginning of June, John's grandma Jane died, which was hard. Then in July, John's cousin Loren died, unexpectedly. We are still sad that he is gone and we are wishing he was here with us, especially around the holidays. At the end of July, John's sisters and families were able to come up for both funerals and then stay a few weeks as well. Beginning of August, John got a a new job with Smith and Nephew selling medical devices. He likes his new job very much. At the end of August, Levi celebrated his 3rd birthday and now understands what getting presents is all about. He likes to fold up a box and walk around the house singing happy birthday to him and Emerson (still). In September, we celebrated Emerson's 1st birthday and just had family over. For both boys' birthdays we were blessed with beautiful weather and we were able to celebrate outside. At the end of September and beginning of October my mom got to come up for about 10 days! Part of that time John was gone for training in Memphis so I was very thankful for the extra help. The kids always enjoy seeing Amma. In October we started our membership at The Alaska Club-a workout facility. We have been enjoying this thoroughly! I get up most mornings at 5:30 a.m. to run. John likes to take advantage of the racquetball courts with friends and the kids like the swimming pool and the rock climbing wall. November brought snow! I've had "It's starting to look a lot like Christmas" running through my head for quite awhile now. :) Also in November John's sister, Danielle, was able to come up with all three kiddos to hang out over Thanksgiving and thereafter. We had a good time hanging out and of course the kids enjoy seeing and playing with their cousins. December...it just feels like a blur at this point. I really can't believe it is already the 11th. It's fun watching Levi this year understand the birth of Jesus a little bit better. I made an advent calendar and on each pocket there is a different picture. Levi and I got to talk about the three wisemen, the shepherds, Mary and Joseph, and baby Jesus. It's neat to see the wonderment in his eyes as he processes the story. We are so thankful for a season where we can celebrate the coming of our Lord, Savior, Jesus Christ!

Other blessings this year:

*John got to go hunting for ptarmigan this year

*The boys and I go to Bible Study Fellowship every Thursday morning (we are studying Isaiah this year and they boys learn what I am learning except at their level)

*Brad and Andrea have been living with us for almost an entire year and we have enjoyed their company as well as the boys have enjoyed getting to hang out with their aunt and uncle on a daily basis.

*Two healthy boys

*The daily reminder that we are not on this earth to serve ourselves, but instead those around us and to do God's will.

*A real Christmas tree and the first one in our married life-we love the smell!

*To see our kids mature and grow up.

*The ability to see lots of family this year, and spend some good quality time with them.

We hope you are enjoying the Christmas season this far!

Merry Christmas!

John, Renee, Levi,

and Emerson

Friendship

Emerson has become a little talker (and screamer-it hurts my ears). Levi likes to pretend that he is at the start of a running race and he will bend down and get in the starting position and usually has me say "go", but now Emerson does that job for me. Haha! He says a lot of other one-syllable words but that one just makes me laugh for some reason. He is also learning how to jump, dance, clap and throw his own diapers in the garbage can. Ahh, they grow up so fast. He is such a curious little one. For awhile he was obsessed with the garbage can and would throw all kinds of things away. I found a whole thing of baby wipes in there, some of Levi's toys, magnets, and he had started putting a stuffed animal in there one time but I caught him just in time. Emerson (we call him Simmy for short) is going through that stranger anxiety stage. Levi never went through that so this is a whole new stage for us. I have a very hard time leaving him behind and he doesn't want me to leave him behind so goodbyes aren't good for us. How long does this stage last? Anyone?

Today I noticed what good friends Levi and Emerson are becoming. They were out in the living room and I was in the kitchen and I could hear them laughing and laughing. I peeked around the corner and there they were throwing the football (a nerf one) up in the air and if it came down and it them on the head or another body part they would crack up laughing. :) My heart fills with joy at the sight of them having so much fun together and without my intervention even. My prayer for them is that they would continue to be good friends all throughout their lives. I know they will have fights, but that will strengthen their friendship. About 6 months ago, Levi was so rough with his brother. He would sit on him, step on him, punch him. Now he is a little rough with him (like you would imagine an older brother would be) but genuinely cares for his brother and would protect him from other people if necessary. Watching this friendship grow makes me want to have another...but hold that thought, we haven't decided yet.

Emerson's 1st Haircut!

Here are Emerson's luscious locks before the buzz and here is his new stylin' haircut. His hair was growing in the shape of a mullet before so we thought we would even it up a bit. We hope that he has curls like Levi but we will see when it all grows back out.

An interesting night

At 10:30 last night John and I heard Emerson cry out. This is pretty abnormal for him and so John went to check on him. Emerson had thrown up all over his bed. So John and I spent the rest of the night with a sick kid in the bathroom and in our bed. He felt much better today (no throw-up at least) and I am hoping that tonight does not mimic last night with either child. Yuck!

Horrible Blogger

I have decided that I am a horrible blogger. Here is my vicious cycle: I realize that I haven't posted for awhile so I decide that I need to update the blog. I get busy and update a few different posts. I then decide to take a few days off from blogging and I tell myself I will return to it when I have some more time. I get busy and forget about blogging and then a few days turns into a month-ha! I need to get better about being a more consistent blogger!

New pics of boys

The boys!

Life with boys keeps getting crazier and crazier! Today Levi flushed his Thomas the Train down the toilet on purpose and then got REALLY upset when he realized he wasn't getting it back. Hopefully that is the last time he will be throwing anything down the toilet! Levi enjoys cars, trucks, trains, building forts, football, soccer, bowling, and hockey. We have had many days where we just play hockey etc all morning. I realize why I need naps-these boys keep me on my toes consistently. Levi is also enjoying his BSF (bible study fellowship) class that we attend every Thursday morning. Levi is also a really good big brother. At three he knows he needs to stand up for his brother, and has on many occasions. I appreciate that I can have Levi watch Emerson for a few minutes while I leave the room. Levi is good about this most times but sometimes I will catch him "wrestling" with Emerson when I come back in the room. Sometimes Levi can be a bit rough with his brother.

Emerson has been walking since the middle of September. Pretty much a week before he turned 1, he took his first step, but it hasn't been since the last few weeks that he has really taken off-I love it. I love that because he is walking, he is already that much taller when he is beside me. He looks like a little man now instead of a baby. Emerson is talking up a storm and is repeating so much of what we are saying. Mostly he just babbles, but he says (and I kid you not) the phrase, "what is that?" He asks this all the time and will point to an object. He is such an inquisitive little one that I think he is trying so hard to keep up with his older brother. I let Levi play with this certain coffee pot when he was Emerson's age so I have started letting Emerson play with the same pot. Today he picked it up and dropped it on the kitchen floor. The entire thing shattered and my toddler was sitting in a pile of glass. I acted quick and got it all cleaned up with no bloodshed. The coffee pot just had had enough. The other thing Emerson likes to do is dig through the garbage can-eww! No matter how many times we slap his hand and tell him "no" he continues to peep over the can to get a good view of what is in there. I suppose it is a bit interesting, but the other thing he likes to do is throw random things away. I have found numerous toys, shoes, and magnets all in the garbage. He definitely keeps me on my toes, to say the least. :)

We love our boys and are enjoying learning their strengths and quirks. They make us continually laugh and the cute things they say and do!

Amma's visit!

Levi and Emerson got the surprise of seeing their grandma for 10 days this fall! Needless to say, they had a wonderful time! My mom stayed out in a camper that some friends let us borrow out in front of our house, and still, every so often, Levi will ask where Amma's camper went. Levi got to spend a couple of nights in the camper with Amma. Emerson and my mom spent lots of time being silly together (last pics) and Levi and my mom spent a lot of time reading together. I was very thankful to have my mom here, because John was gone for two weeks in Memphis for training for his new job. Brad and Andrea were a great help as well with the boys.

Raw Milk

Last week we joined a raw-milk co-op. We get the cows milk from a farmer out in Palmer (about an hour away). However, the co-op is here in Anchorage. Whomever is in the co-op takes turns making the run out to Palmer. I will go out there about once every three months to get everyone's orders for the week. It's neat how it is all set up and we are enjoying having very fresh milk! I have transitioned Emerson from the formula onto the cows milk and he is enjoying it for the most part, but he had a little trouble getting used to the coldness of the milk at first. Levi even gets to enjoy it; he can't have pasteurized/homogenized milk because it gives him a rash on his face. I didn't think that finding raw milk in AK would be possible especially since it is illegal to sell it here, but it wasn't that hard. All I did was type in raw milk ak into google and up came a whole list of people. Farmers have found a loop-hole to sell it here; I bought a "share of a cow " and I collect my milk as part of a payment of owning part of the cow. It is interesting learning about how all this stuff works.

Potty Training

Well, phase 3 of potty training has been going well. We started out by taking Levi only to the bathroom right before we went to bed (around 11:00pm) and then he had a couple accidents in a row so we decided to wake him up, in addition to right before we went to bed, between 1 am and 2 am. That has been working out well for Levi. I was going to wake him up at 1 am last night and I ended up turning my alarm off unknowingly. Levi came and got me at 6:20 am this morning and told me that he had to go potty, and he was dry! We are very excited for this progress!

Levi's anecdote

After letting the kids be naked for a little while the other day, Levi came up to me, pointed at his butt-crack and said,"mom, my butt is broken." Haha, I haven't laughed that hard in awhile. :)

Emerson's 1st Birthday Party

The monkey cake I made for Emerson's 1st birthday.

John and the birthday boy!

Levi and cousin Raegan
Grandma and the birthday boy
Simmy eating some pizza
Simmy opening gifts
He got a giraffe-he loves stuffed animals
Time to blow out the candle, but he didn't do it, big brother did. I don't think Emerson minded.
A faceful of cake
A ride on the John Deere with Grandpa's help

John's cousin Michael and Levi and Emerson's 2nd cousin, Raegan

Auntie Andrea and Levi

It was a fun party! Beautiful weather and short and sweet.

Levi's Birthday Party Pics!

Overall, it was a great party and Levi had a blast hanging out with his friends, getting some new gifts, eating food, and eating cake. Maggie (Brad and Andrea's dog) enjoyed "cleaning up" after everyone had left. The kids painted with dyed cool whip some drawings that Andrea and I drew up.

Washing hands

Last night, after dinner, John told Levi he had to get down from the table and go wash his hands in the bathroom. Levi started licking his hands and said to John, "I don't need to wash my hands, I am licking them." :)

Phase 3 of potty training!

Levi is almost completely potty trained! In February we started potty training him and he caught on really quick as he was almost potty trained (during the day) in about 3 days. There were a few accidents for the next few months but in retrospect he did really well. In April/May Levi gave up the pull-up at nap-time and now we are in phase 3 which is giving up the pull-up at night. So far he has gone one (out of two) night dry. After ten nights of being dry he gets "Frank" the combine character from the movie "Cars". He is very very excited about this since he has collected most of the other characters from "Cars". He is doing very well and is ready for just wearing undies at night-or should I say that John and I are ready to be done buying pull-ups!

Levi turned 3!

Levi turned three on August 24th! He is growing into such a big boy. He is learning how to behave in social situations, especially at birthday parties. His own was a good starting point for him to say "thank you" when people gave him gifts. It's not that he hasn't done this before, but I think he is now starting to understand that a gift actually comes from somebody. Also, he handed goodie bags out at the end of the party which was a good lesson in thanking his friends for coming to his party and sharing his special day with him. We went to one of his friends' birthday parties tonight and while his friend was opening his gifts, Levi was trying to help him. John and I had to explain to Levi why we don't open someone else's gifts. He looked like he didn't quite understand why he couldn't take a part in opening them. Levi is really into the movie "Cars" and so he got quite a few "Cars" cars. Every night he gets to take two cars with him to bed. As far as pictures from the party go...I first corrupted all of the data on the CF card and then John had figured out a way to recover the data and Emerson had been playing with the card and lost it. I am still attempting to look for it and as soon as I find it and get the data restored I will post pictures, even if it is a few months late. All in all Levi had a wonderful birthday party and we are happy to have a clever, energetic, sweet 3-year-old. One last story, because our son is so sweet...Levi came out of his room tonight and I just figured he had to use the potty again, but he said, "Mom, sweet dreams, I forgot to tell you earlier and I wanted to tell you. Oh, and I love you, mom." It makes my heart melt!

Starting Over!

For some reason the previous blog's background wasn't working and after many attempts to try, I realized I am not computer savvy enough to fix it, so my solution: start a new blog! This means starting with something completely fresh and while some people don't like starting completely over, I do like it. This is the season for new beginnings anyway, that's right it's school time. Even though my kids aren't in school I still enjoy the feeling of this time of year. The season is changing in to fall and I still remember the way this season felt when I was in school. It meant new books, clothes, shoes, pens, pencils, and friends. It also meant my life became more structured and thus I became more organized. Now that this season is here I am trying to set a routine with Levi and Emerson. We have been squeezing walks in every morning after the kids eat breakfast, get dressed, and brush their teeth and before Emerson's first nap. Whew, as we finally head out the door with Levi walking and Emerson in the stroller, Levi starts whining about going on a walk. I say, "This is good for you, and maybe we will see a cool animal or a big truck." With a little more trudging along, he finally decides to walk beside me. After 20 minutes of walking, we see a huge yellow school bus coming our way. Levi jumps up and down excitedly yelling, "Mom, look at the huge yellow school bus. It is coming our way, we have to wave." The only thing I was thinking was oh no, I don't want to wave. He didn't wait for me to wave, he started right in. When he realized I wasn't waving he said, "Mom, you gotta wave." When I turned around to look at the bus, the awkwardness of waving at the bus was lessened because the bus driver was already waving at Levi and I. Haha, I just waved back. :) I am looking forward to many more innocent, 3-year old moments this year!