Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Boy Problems

It seems like Josh and I have a bully on our hands. Okay, that may be a bit of a harsh assessment, but I have noticed lately that Levi has been using violence lately as a tool when he is mad. Today it went to the extreme. He pushed Claire down this morning and was given a time out. This afternoon, while I was gone, he tried to push Luke off a chair. Leslie gave him another time out. This evening, as we were at the doors to the YMCA for Claire's swimming lessons he pushed Claire again. This one was quite bad.

At the entrance to the Y there is a handicap button that opens the doors. Levi and Claire both like to push it. Today Claire beat Levi and she pushed the button. Levi got mad, grabbed her dress and threw her to the ground. She scraped up her knees and they were bad enough that she could not go in the pool, hence, no swimming lessons.

Immediately after, I took both of them to the car and decided that Levi would have to spend the rest of the night in his room. He could come out for dinner, but no stories, no tv, no playing. I hope this punishment gets through.

Is this normal? Is this just boys? Or a stage of 4 year olds? Maybe it is too much Star Wars? I don't know. All I know, is that I have to nip this in the butt before it gets to be too much of a problem.

Here is a Claire funny: You know the youtube video of the wedding couple walking down the isle to Chris Brown's song Forever? Okay, if you don't, where have you been?? Anyway, that song just came on while I was typing this post and Claire said "Oh, Mama! The wedding song! I wanna get married!"

Here is the link, if you have been living in a cave for the past week!


The No Girls Club

Will and Luke are over playing with Levi and Claire today. Well, I guess I should say that Will and Luke are over playing with Levi today. That is right, today is the first day that they have verbally forbidden Claire to play with them. In their defense, Claire did have this coming. For the past three or four days, she has been slowly testing their patience (which, in four and five year old boys, is already non-existent). Anyway, for their past few play dates, Claire has been intentionally breaking their lego millennium falcon ships, she steals their light sabers, she purposely takes their water glasses, runs away with them, then, when they have caught up to her, she spills the water all over the floor. In short, Claire is asking for some sort of retribution from the three boys. Today, she got it.

Levi, Will, and Luke made a fort yesterday in my linen closet. Yesterday it was just a fun place to play. Today it became the Boys Club. They even went as far as to make signs to keep Claire away. They asked for help spelling of course. I was able to talk them out of the first sign they wanted to make "No Stupid Girls Allowed". Luke came up with that one. I told him, that since Claire was not stupid, she would think that she was allowed in their club. He quickly changed his mind to just "No Girls".

So here are the boys and their signs.



And this is how I found Claire. Sitting against her bedroom door, by herself, reading dinosaur books and playing with her dinosaurs. Poor Claire.

Actually, as I type this post, all four of them are playing in L & C's room, rather pleasantly, I might add! They are talking about which one of them will teach Claire Jedi Knight moves, because, since she is Princess Leia, she does not know any and has to be taught. Levi just offered Will 50 dollars to teach her. Now they are searching for Claire's light saber. Cute!

On another note, Luke did make Claire the happiest girl in the world the other day. Since they are moving and Will & Luke do not play with their Lightning McQueen cars anymore, Luke decided to give them to Claire since she is totally obsessed with Mr. McQueen.


Friday, July 24, 2009

Wicked

Since April, I have been dropping some serious hints to Josh about potential Mother's Day presents. Okay, not presents, but present. Singular. That is right, I only wanted one thing for Mother's Day: tickets to see Wicked in September.

Of course, Josh put it off. And put it off. My birthday slowly rolled around, so I changed my mind. I now wanted Wicked tickets for my birthday present. Again, ever the procrastinator, Josh remained true to himself. I, however, did not. I begged, I pleaded, and I cried.

It finally paid off though, because last week he purchased two tickets (good ones too!) for the play in Seattle. I am so excited! He is taking a week off in September and we are going to take the kids to Yellowstone and then to Seattle. Should be fun!

My high-society-ness does not end there. Oh no! Leslie and I are treating ourselves to Fiddler on the Roof here in Spokane in September. The dad's get kid duty. And then in December, The Lion King is coming to Spokane and I am taking Levi. I wish the whole family could go, but the Lion King tickets are freaking expensive!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Seattle vs Spokane

Our first month in Spokane has been fun, but it has also made me realize just how much Seattle impressed Levi. He seems to have this amazing little memory and he is constantly pointing out to me the differences between Seattle and Spokane. He is a funny guy! My favorite thing he does lately is this: when we are driving around town he will notice a store like Costco, or Taco Time, or UPS and then say "Mom! They have a (insert store name here) in Spokane! I didn't know they had a (insert store name here) in Spokane! I thought it was only in Seattle! Wow!" He is genuinely impressed that Spokane has the same type of stores as Seattle!

That got me thinking about the other Seattle-y ways that he acts. Here are a few that come to mind!

You know your children are true Seattlites when they:

1. Complain about how little the Spokane recycling trucks take from our recycle bin, and wonder why they did not take our empty cereal boxes.

2. Notice people smoking and constantly ask why he/she is smoking.

3. Hum along to NPR's All Things Considered theme song.

4. Ask when it will rain again. And then admit that they miss rain. Then complain that the sun is too hot.

5. Get as excited about going to the Farmer's Market as they get when going to a toy store.

6. Ask why Spokane does not have a Space Needle, and then say that everybody needs a Space Needle.

7. When asked to put something in the garbage, pause and ask, "which garbage Mom? Recycling or regular?"

8. Recognize any and all Obama signs, posters, adds and pictures.

9. Get upset at Mom because she forgot her reusable grocery bags when going grocery shopping.

10. Ask why we can't see Mount Rainier any more.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Life in Spokane

I hate to admit it, but I actually like Spokane. The weather is incredible, the parks are impeccable, there are not a lot of people, and the scenery is beautiful. There are somethings about Spokane that I do not like however. A lot of people smoke here. A lot. They have uncontrolled intersections and there is no Trader Joe's. I can get over all but TJ's!

Here are some of our recent activities:

Climbing Trees



Swimming





Gone to Splash Pads


Strawberry Picking

Hiking


On the schedule for this week? Farmer's Market on Wednesday, Playgroup and The Cherry Festival on Thursday, a kid's concert on the Riverfront called Kid-Stock on Friday and bike riding the Centennial Trail to find bat caves on Saturday.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Our New Home

The Knight family has officially spent three weeks living east of the Cascade Mountains. We are actually liking it over here, although, I am nostalgic for Seattle. Perhaps I always will. There is just something about living within walking distance to Anthropologie... ahhh...

Anyway, here are some photos of our new place. The front of the duplex; we are on the left.
Here is a view from our driveway looking down the road. We are on a dead-end road, with only two houses past us. Needless to say, we hardly have any traffic and the kids ride their bikes in the dirt. Levi calls it "off roading." I can't wait for winter! I think we will have an awesome sledding hill!
At the bottom of our dead-end dirt road is this path that leads to a nice park. Right now they are building a huge outdoor swimming pool at that park complete with water slides and indoor changing area. Supposedly it will be finished in September. I just hope that we get a couple swims in before fall!

Here is our back yard.


And here is the house! This is what you see when you walk in the front door.

Here is another view, just looking at the front door.

And the kitchen. Basically, you walk down the above all, and run into the kitchen.

And from the kitchen you see...
The rest of the downstairs! My kitchen is great. It is so huge, with electrical outlets everywhere! I also have a pantry. A pantry! I love it!
Various shots of the living room and dining room.

Next is the upstairs. All three bedrooms are upstairs together with (get this) the laundry room! It is AMAZING having the washer and dryer on the same floor as all the bedrooms. What a great idea! I also have a linen closet. It is divine. Here is the guest room/sewing room.

Levi and Claire's bedroom:


Their bathroom:

And their play area that is outside of their bathroom and the guest bedroom.


You will notice that there are some pictures missing from these shots. The garage and Josh's and my room. Right now the garage is home to the boxes that I do not want to open and all our outdoor equipment. It is such a mess; Josh and I both keep putting off organizing it. Ugh. I have to do it soon though; it is so bloody hot here! Our van is such a sauna.

My room. Also not done. But, I can tell you that our room is flipping huge! A bit too big, in my opinion. But we have a huge walk-in-closet (which I love) and our own bathroom (also love it)!

So eventually, I will finish this place, take pictures, enjoy it for a few months, then take it all down again. Ahh. The joys of moving!

Basically, our house is great, but our neighbors suck. Well, I should say ex-neighbors. As of today, they are officially gone! Now, anybody that knows me, knows that I am kind of nosey. So, the other night as they were chatting on the front porch after loading their u-haul, I poured myself a big glass of iced tea, and plastered my ear to the door, as to better hear what was being said.

Oh My Gosh. I am so glad they are gone! One of the many discussions the ex-neighbors were having was an argument about how many times the cops had been called on them in the six-month tenure on Hartson Avenue. Now, in my opinion, having the cops called one time on you is already too much, but apparently, to my ex-neighbors, one is normal. I would even guess that two, or even three would have been acceptable. But lo, the police had been called to our duplex-sharers six times in the past six months. Now, the police have been here two times since we have moved in, but the exes were not even counting those times!

The reasons the police were called just prove how glad I am that they are gone. Here are two, just to give an example. The mom was out clubbing one night and apparently got a stalker who followed her home and she then called the police. Keep in mind this mom has two boys at home. A five year old and a three year old. Her partner (?) is serving in Iraq. Anyway, stalker, first example. Second? Seems as if she was yelling at her kids so much that the people who lived in our half called CPS because it sounded like she was beating her kids.

As this mom, her mom, and two friends that were helping the family move, were talking about the police incidents, they were laughing. As if it was all normal. Oh yeah, and she constantly cussed at her children and in front of her kids. Wonderful example.

Hopefully we will get some great new neighbors soon. But not too soon!

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Yaak, Montana


Last Thursday morning the kids and I drove to Yaak, Montana. My friend, Aurelia and her two girls,

spend a week there every summer visiting her dad. This summer,since Aurelia's husband could

not go, our friend Rachel came along too! Bonus! Two friends, one visit!


Aurelia's dad and his wife live on the Yaak River in a rustic

cabin that any Alaskan would be jealous of. No hot water, wood for heat,

fresh goat milk in the morning and afternoon, three large

gardens, bear rugs in each room and no bathroom door. Needless to say,

we had a blast.

We did several hikes, played with the goats (Heidi and Peter are the ones in the pictures), swam in the rain,

played by the river, cooked dinners and lunches on camp stoves

and charcoal grills, and let the kids explore

to their hearts content.

It was much easier doing a slide show since I had so many

pictures!