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!

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Joshua J. Knight, M.D.

On the day of graduation, my true love gave to me,
All the love and patience I needed to get my M.D.


Well, I am finally getting around to blogging about Josh's graduation. I know, it was over three weeks ago! But, in my defense, we have been rather busy in the Knight household! So this will be short and sweet.

Here is Josh in the morning trying on his gown before heading over to the ceremony. He had to be there an hour before it started, so I dropped him off and then the rest of the family meet at my house and we all walked over.
Levi thought the black robe looked a lot like Darth Vader's. Josh could not resist picking up the light saber.All the graduates enter at the same time and the crowd stands and claps. Here is Claire when she sees Josh.

Can you see him? Fourth one from the right.Here he is getting hooded. Not a good angle, but it really happened!At the end they all stand and recite the Hippocratic Oath. All the happy family pictures!

The SECOND most supportive person in Josh's life!



We all walked home after graduation. It was a blast walking through U-Village with Josh while he had all his garb on! We got some looks!

We had a small party at our house after graduation.

This is the gift from Claire and Levi. It is a poem that we had professionally written in calligraphy about how MD stands for My Daddy. It is really a cute poem; their handprints are on either side.

Josh's aunt and uncle flew up from Kansas!


Saturday, June 20, 2009

The night before Graduation...

On the night before graduation, my true love gave to me,
A three-course meal and cruise of Elliot Bay on the ship Argosy!

This was such a fun outing! We had twenty family members come and join us for a dinner cruise. Representing the Knight side of the marriage we had: Kay & Randy of Gold Bar (parents), Jeannie & Brian of Kansas (aunt and uncle), Brent & Lora of Snohomish (sister and bro-in-law), and Christian & Veronica of Kirkland (brother and sis-in-law)

Representing the Labrecque side of the marriage we had: Ann & Jim of Alaska (parents), John of Alaska (brother), Rheta & Helen of Texas (grandmother and best friend), Bill & Connie of Ferndale (uncle and aunt), Aaron of Everson (brother), and Lindsay & Tom (cousin and boyfriend).

Not a bad showing! I hired a babysitter and forgot about my kids for the night. We had a wonderful time eating great food, drinking good wine, dancing and of course, the incredible Seattle scenery.




My Parents. Silly!


We had all 20 of us at one table.


My cousin, Lindsay. Isn't she pretty!


Brent and Lora brought Brodie! He looks just like dad!


Josh's family LOVES to dance!



Coming home; Seattle is spectacular at night.


Four days till graduation...

On the fourth day till graduation my true love to me
My in-laws and my sons piano recital party.

Early Tuesday morning, my parents and my youngest brother flew down from Alaska for the rest of the weeks festivities. On schedule that night was Levi's piano recital. Every time a student completes a music level book, they get their own recital, and since Levi just finished book one, we had a recital just for him.

Here is my brother John with Claire. John loves to play jazz piano (and is actually really good)! Claire fell in love with Uncle Johnny and still talks about him!


Here we are awaiting the great Levi. He is warming up his voice with some juice.

He played a duet with this teacher:
Then two songs on his own:
Here he is with his teacher, Shellie. After he hit the dessert table apparently.


The following Thursday my parents and I took the kids to the Burke Museum for our last free Thursday visit. My kids love this super small museum because they have an allosaurus and stegosaurus skeleton there. Plus they have a mastodon!



Lunch at REI! Another favorite!


On Wednesday my mom and I also took the kids to the zoo, but of course, my camera's batteries had died, so I have no pics. But we did have lots of fun!