We need to take another family photo, since four new members of the Pierce/Knight family have been born since then!Friday, January 16, 2009
The Knight Family
I was looking over some past photos and found this one. It is from Thanksgiving 2006.
We need to take another family photo, since four new members of the Pierce/Knight family have been born since then!
We need to take another family photo, since four new members of the Pierce/Knight family have been born since then!
Monday, January 12, 2009
Hopefully there will be eight more...
Today Josh and I celebrate our eighth wedding anniversary.
Wow, eight is a lot. But let's be honest here. These past eight years have not been full of flowers and sunshine! We have had some rough goes over the years (and Saturday to be quite frank). There have been fights, cursing, sleeping in different rooms, and some serious threats made. Josh even claims the I hit him one time. I honestly do NOT remember that!
But there also has been love, affection, appreciation and gratitude. Josh may be sloppy, but he still gives the kids a bath every night. He may forget to compliment me on dinner, but he will eat whatever I put on the table, regardless of appearance or taste. Joshua may study a lot and work late hours, but he always manages to find time to read and play with Levi and Claire. He may consistently ask if we have any milk before he opens the fridge, but today, he made cookies with Levi. Josh and I may not agree on everything, but he believes that I am a good mother, and that means a lot.
Basically, Josh is not perfect. But, I know this is a shock, neither am I. In short, we are perfect for each other. I hope we have another eight years together. I will take the wonderful ones along with the crazy ones, by the way.
Wow, eight is a lot. But let's be honest here. These past eight years have not been full of flowers and sunshine! We have had some rough goes over the years (and Saturday to be quite frank). There have been fights, cursing, sleeping in different rooms, and some serious threats made. Josh even claims the I hit him one time. I honestly do NOT remember that!
But there also has been love, affection, appreciation and gratitude. Josh may be sloppy, but he still gives the kids a bath every night. He may forget to compliment me on dinner, but he will eat whatever I put on the table, regardless of appearance or taste. Joshua may study a lot and work late hours, but he always manages to find time to read and play with Levi and Claire. He may consistently ask if we have any milk before he opens the fridge, but today, he made cookies with Levi. Josh and I may not agree on everything, but he believes that I am a good mother, and that means a lot.
Basically, Josh is not perfect. But, I know this is a shock, neither am I. In short, we are perfect for each other. I hope we have another eight years together. I will take the wonderful ones along with the crazy ones, by the way.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
The Ribbon Series
My mother bought me a huge package of fat quarters that came wrapped in a fancy silk ribbon. Joshua took these pictures of Levi and dubbed them "The Ribbon Series". Enjoy!
Goodbye Indiana, Hello UW
Thursday morning a strange thing happened in Seattle. Joshua was offered a radiology interview at his own school, the University of Washington. Yes, this is a very late offer. Yes, we had cursed UW often for not wanting Josh. Yes, I was kind of pissed because I am now loving the idea of moving.
Basically what happened is that Josh had been put on the UW waiting list. On Wednesday, some other med student out there decided that they did not want to interview at UW and that student cancelled their interview. That opened up a date and it was offered to Josh. Only problem was the interview date is January 16. Josh already had another interview that day in Indiana.
Both programs are really good. UW being slightly better. Josh agonized all day about what to do. I am serious. ALL DAY.
For those of you who do not know Josh all that well, let me fill you in. He HATES being put in a position where he is forced to make a decision about something that is so concrete. He is totally indecisive. Of course, there really was no right decision here, or a wrong decision, for that matter. There was just A decision. But still, Josh tortured himself all day (he tortured me too, by the way) going back and forth about which program to interview with and which one to turn down.
In the end, he chose UW.
Friday morning he awoke with a serious case of "The Regrets".
By Saturday "The Regrets" had gotten so bad that he actually accused me of being unsupportive. Excuse me? Moi? Unsupportive? Whoa, that is just too much, mister.
Luckily, I constantly tell myself that I am the most supportive wife alive. I usually do this after I pick up the tenth pair of dirty socks off the floor, changed the fourth poopy diaper of the day, and washed the dark blue cup and spoon a zillion times. (Dark blue is obviously the only color cup and spoon that civilized children will use.) Anyway, I make a mental list of my supportive qualities at least on a daily basis. This came in very handy.
After firing off a few star qualities that I possess, Josh quickly apologized. Well, not too quickly... about seven hours later.
But the point to remember here is this: he realized that he was wrong and that I am awesome. Oh yeah, and that I am supportive!
Basically what happened is that Josh had been put on the UW waiting list. On Wednesday, some other med student out there decided that they did not want to interview at UW and that student cancelled their interview. That opened up a date and it was offered to Josh. Only problem was the interview date is January 16. Josh already had another interview that day in Indiana.
Both programs are really good. UW being slightly better. Josh agonized all day about what to do. I am serious. ALL DAY.
For those of you who do not know Josh all that well, let me fill you in. He HATES being put in a position where he is forced to make a decision about something that is so concrete. He is totally indecisive. Of course, there really was no right decision here, or a wrong decision, for that matter. There was just A decision. But still, Josh tortured himself all day (he tortured me too, by the way) going back and forth about which program to interview with and which one to turn down.
In the end, he chose UW.
Friday morning he awoke with a serious case of "The Regrets".
By Saturday "The Regrets" had gotten so bad that he actually accused me of being unsupportive. Excuse me? Moi? Unsupportive? Whoa, that is just too much, mister.
Luckily, I constantly tell myself that I am the most supportive wife alive. I usually do this after I pick up the tenth pair of dirty socks off the floor, changed the fourth poopy diaper of the day, and washed the dark blue cup and spoon a zillion times. (Dark blue is obviously the only color cup and spoon that civilized children will use.) Anyway, I make a mental list of my supportive qualities at least on a daily basis. This came in very handy.
After firing off a few star qualities that I possess, Josh quickly apologized. Well, not too quickly... about seven hours later.
But the point to remember here is this: he realized that he was wrong and that I am awesome. Oh yeah, and that I am supportive!
Monday, January 5, 2009
Michigan
Josh thinks that I am sabotaging his interviews. Here is why.
Remember Portland? I printed the wrong directions to his interview and he was really late. Not a good first impression. Well, now we are in Michigan and a mere 12 hours before his first interview did we realize that we were on the wrong side of the state; and in danger of missing another interview.
Both of us knew that he had three interviews in three days. We thought they were in geographical order: east to west. We flew into Detroit on Sunday morning. Since it was a red-eye flight and the plane was PACKED, neither of us got great amounts of sleep. So Sunday morning we drove around Detroit, drove to Royal Oak (where the William Beaumont interview is) and found a nice parking lot and slept in the car for two hours. By the time we woke up, we could check into our hotel room. After cleaning up we checked out the town. The main attraction: the Antiochian church. And we were SO impressed. A bit bigger than what we are used to, but a beautiful Church.
We got back to our hotel around 7pm and Josh was going over William Beaumont's information in preparation for his interview the next day. That was when he noticed the date. It said January 7th. After some major freaking out by both of us, we realized that our interviews in Michigan went in a west-east direction, not the other way around as we thought. So his first interview, on Monday the 5th, was actually in Grand Rapids, 2 1/2 hours away.
We had already paid for our hotel and we were both exhausted from the flight that we decided to sleep at our hotel for the night and just leave at 5am to make the drive to Grand Rapids.
Not a bad decision I might add.
Now, I totally will take a majority of the blame for the Portland screw-up, but definitely not for Michigan! I finally conceded to 55% of the mistake.
On other notes....
Grand Rapids is awesome! I loved that place! Josh and I got there super early and we had time to grab breakfast. We found a quaint bagel place that had fabulous coffee and great breakfast bagels. Then we drove around and checked out the neighborhoods. This is my kind of place: large brick houses with tons of character.
After I dropped Josh off I found a Y and they let me use my WA membership. This Y had a water slide in the pool. Yeah, freaking awesome. Plus a two rock climbing walls, racquetball courts, indoor track, and a basketball court.
After the Y, I found a mall and treated myself to a manicure. They are SO cheap here! Oh yeah, I needed some perfume too... I was too paranoid to bring mine on the plane and risk confiscation.
Next stop, the local library. It was huge. And everyone was so nice.
Finally, I dropped in at a ReMax real estate office and chatted with an agent for at least an hour. He totally said we could afford a nice house in Grand Rapids. You will never guess what median home prices are there. $90,000. WOW.
Now were are in Ann Arbor and this place is really nice too. We didn't get in till late, so we did not explore as much and I won't have time tomorrow. My grandmother (Jim's mom) lives in Farwell (2 1/2 hours) and I am planning a quick visit with her. Should be fun!
So far, my only complaint about both places I have been to (Portland and Michigan) is the amount of lame radio stations. I know, I know. Who even listens to the radio any more? Well, I do! Anyway, it seems every station was either country or christian. Maybe Seattle is more anti-religion and anti-redneck then I thought... no wonder it is such a great place to live!
PS I totally forgot to mention my kids! What kind of a mother am I? The kind that needs a break, apparently. Anyway, my mom flew down from Alaska and is taking care of my kids for the four days we are gone. Things are going just fine there I guess. Neither Claire or Levi want to talk to us. For Levi, this is not surprising. But Claire? She loves the phone! I know why though. On Sunday her godparents gave her her Christmas present. My mother says that it has not left her hands for two days now. The perfect gift for my Claire: a pink, singing, blinking car. Complete with little people to go in and out. She loves it.
Remember Portland? I printed the wrong directions to his interview and he was really late. Not a good first impression. Well, now we are in Michigan and a mere 12 hours before his first interview did we realize that we were on the wrong side of the state; and in danger of missing another interview.
Both of us knew that he had three interviews in three days. We thought they were in geographical order: east to west. We flew into Detroit on Sunday morning. Since it was a red-eye flight and the plane was PACKED, neither of us got great amounts of sleep. So Sunday morning we drove around Detroit, drove to Royal Oak (where the William Beaumont interview is) and found a nice parking lot and slept in the car for two hours. By the time we woke up, we could check into our hotel room. After cleaning up we checked out the town. The main attraction: the Antiochian church. And we were SO impressed. A bit bigger than what we are used to, but a beautiful Church.
We got back to our hotel around 7pm and Josh was going over William Beaumont's information in preparation for his interview the next day. That was when he noticed the date. It said January 7th. After some major freaking out by both of us, we realized that our interviews in Michigan went in a west-east direction, not the other way around as we thought. So his first interview, on Monday the 5th, was actually in Grand Rapids, 2 1/2 hours away.
We had already paid for our hotel and we were both exhausted from the flight that we decided to sleep at our hotel for the night and just leave at 5am to make the drive to Grand Rapids.
Not a bad decision I might add.
Now, I totally will take a majority of the blame for the Portland screw-up, but definitely not for Michigan! I finally conceded to 55% of the mistake.
On other notes....
Grand Rapids is awesome! I loved that place! Josh and I got there super early and we had time to grab breakfast. We found a quaint bagel place that had fabulous coffee and great breakfast bagels. Then we drove around and checked out the neighborhoods. This is my kind of place: large brick houses with tons of character.
After I dropped Josh off I found a Y and they let me use my WA membership. This Y had a water slide in the pool. Yeah, freaking awesome. Plus a two rock climbing walls, racquetball courts, indoor track, and a basketball court.
After the Y, I found a mall and treated myself to a manicure. They are SO cheap here! Oh yeah, I needed some perfume too... I was too paranoid to bring mine on the plane and risk confiscation.
Next stop, the local library. It was huge. And everyone was so nice.
Finally, I dropped in at a ReMax real estate office and chatted with an agent for at least an hour. He totally said we could afford a nice house in Grand Rapids. You will never guess what median home prices are there. $90,000. WOW.
Now were are in Ann Arbor and this place is really nice too. We didn't get in till late, so we did not explore as much and I won't have time tomorrow. My grandmother (Jim's mom) lives in Farwell (2 1/2 hours) and I am planning a quick visit with her. Should be fun!
So far, my only complaint about both places I have been to (Portland and Michigan) is the amount of lame radio stations. I know, I know. Who even listens to the radio any more? Well, I do! Anyway, it seems every station was either country or christian. Maybe Seattle is more anti-religion and anti-redneck then I thought... no wonder it is such a great place to live!
PS I totally forgot to mention my kids! What kind of a mother am I? The kind that needs a break, apparently. Anyway, my mom flew down from Alaska and is taking care of my kids for the four days we are gone. Things are going just fine there I guess. Neither Claire or Levi want to talk to us. For Levi, this is not surprising. But Claire? She loves the phone! I know why though. On Sunday her godparents gave her her Christmas present. My mother says that it has not left her hands for two days now. The perfect gift for my Claire: a pink, singing, blinking car. Complete with little people to go in and out. She loves it.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
New Year Resolutions
I really do not like New Year Resolutions. Why would anybody want to sit down and write a list of things they do not like about themselves or things they would like to change? Then only to be disappointed when they fall back into their inevitable ruts...
Well, I do it anyway. Yeah, that's right. I don't sit down though; I stand.
Seriously, it actually is really therapeutic to make mental or actual notes on ways that I can make myself better or my relationships better. I love organization and order, and for myself, I feel the best and happiest when my home and finances are in order. Needless to say, the top "resolutions" I made had to do with these issues. Josh and I need to watch our spending money. I need to spend less on groceries. I need to plan weekly menus. I need to work on paperwork/in our office at least once a week. We need to clean out under beds/in closets/cupboards. We need to downsize our possessions before we move.
I was slightly disappointed this afternoon to find my new years resolutions list from 2008 hanging on our cork board in the office this morning. Although the "moving" references were not on my list last year, everything else was.
So does this mean that for the entire year that was 2008 I did not make menus? Does this mean that I spent too much on groceries and too much on meaningless crap? Does this mean that my house is even more unorganized and loaded up with junk than this time last year? Basically, yes.
Also on the list last year was to eat healthier, work on relationship and exercise more. I think I will add those three to 2009 as well. This is exactly why I do not like New Years Resolutions. Oh well, at least I try, right?
Well, I do it anyway. Yeah, that's right. I don't sit down though; I stand.
Seriously, it actually is really therapeutic to make mental or actual notes on ways that I can make myself better or my relationships better. I love organization and order, and for myself, I feel the best and happiest when my home and finances are in order. Needless to say, the top "resolutions" I made had to do with these issues. Josh and I need to watch our spending money. I need to spend less on groceries. I need to plan weekly menus. I need to work on paperwork/in our office at least once a week. We need to clean out under beds/in closets/cupboards. We need to downsize our possessions before we move.
I was slightly disappointed this afternoon to find my new years resolutions list from 2008 hanging on our cork board in the office this morning. Although the "moving" references were not on my list last year, everything else was.
So does this mean that for the entire year that was 2008 I did not make menus? Does this mean that I spent too much on groceries and too much on meaningless crap? Does this mean that my house is even more unorganized and loaded up with junk than this time last year? Basically, yes.
Also on the list last year was to eat healthier, work on relationship and exercise more. I think I will add those three to 2009 as well. This is exactly why I do not like New Years Resolutions. Oh well, at least I try, right?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)