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!