Saturday, January 31, 2009

A Max Post...

So Eli felt that I was being unfair on our blog because I did a post about Oskar but I never did one about Max. So, in all fairness, meet Max!


After about 3 months of having Oskar and all his craziness, we decided he needed a friend and so we went in search of the "perfect" match! We hit the jackpot about 2 years ago when we brought Max home!

Contrary to Oskar's personality Max is very CALM and DOES NOT like to pose for the camera! Additionally he is very LOVABLE and one of the most loyal dogs that I have ever met. He spends most of the day and night sleeping. When he's awake he enjoys playing tug-of-war, eating chew toys, chasing after Oskar, and getting attention from us!

One of the few pictures I have of Max awake and half-heartily LOOKING at the camera! And yes, we are those owners who dress our pets up in ridiculous outfits for Halloween, however, our pets don't look ridiculous, they look adorable!!! (Trust me, I'm not even being bias!)

Saturday, January 24, 2009

SHOUT OUT TO FRIENDS!!!

I was talking to Eli a couple months ago about how much I love living here in Moscow but also how much I hate it! Really, the only thing I don't like about Moscow is that everyone we make friends with always end up moving :( Moscow is very centered around the University so most people come here either for work or school, and then after a few years move on. I HATE that! All of my really close girl friend's that I met while in school have all left and I miss them so much! Just a few weeks ago another one of my really close friends left because of the Air Force. I realized though that in all of this, we have recently become great friends with three different couples all of whom we met in very unique ways! Throughout the month of January we have been invited to each of their places and have a had a wonderful time with them! So, this post is a shout out to them! We love you guys!

Last night Eli and I had the opportunity to go over to Rayce and Candi's house! We had so much fun playing the new Guitar Hero and Dirty Minds! And to top it off, dinner was DELICIOUS!!! I love all of the fun activities that we are able to do with these guys! Thanks so much for having us over! We love you guys!

Then a few weeks ago Tina and Jake invited us over for a Game Night! What fun we had there as well! We played a really fun game called Partini! This was a great game to play with a large group! We are so grateful for your friendship and thank you for having us over!

Finally for New Years we were able to go over to our friends' house Michelle and Brad! Everyone listed above attended this party! Eli and I really enjoyed being together with everyone since we weren't able to go to my sister's for their traditional Kick-Ass New Year's Party! Thanks as always for having us, we love you guys!

NOW, PLEASE DON'T MOVE!!!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

So Blessed

Eli and I feel so blessed to have witnessed a moment of history occur! Today I cried as I watched the inauguration. It's true, I'm a little emotional, but I was very moved.


The theme last week in my classroom was focused on Martin Luther King Jr. Many of my students had never heard of him. As we talked about all of the things MLK Jr. worked for, accomplished, and suffered, the students kept saying things like, "Why weren't they nice to the brown people?" "Well that's not fair?" "Martin was a nice man." "I'm glad Martin made it so that I can play with my friends!" so forth and so forth. It was very cute to see the innocence that each of them shared. Today we culminated our MLK Jr. study and talked about the importance of today, January 20, 2009! I feel so privileged to have taught these children during this monumental occasion because in reality, they have taught me so much more!

No matter your political stance, I hope you too feel blessed to live in a country where "The Dream" is beginning to become a reality. A place where "Men are not judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

Monday, January 19, 2009

I'm ready...

I remember the day Eli and I moved into our apartment. It seemed surreal--so exciting to have a place of our "own". We've fixed it up into what we call our home and we are thankful for the roof we have over our heads. Yet, our excitement for this apartment has diminished as we have quickly out-grown it during these past couple of years.

I am SO ready to have a place of our own. A place where we can let our dogs out in the backyard where they can play and take care of their business. A place where we can turn up the music as loud as we want and not worry about bothering the neighbors. A place where we don't have to stress over others not cleaning up after themselves or their dogs. A place where Halloween pumpkins don't sit and rot 3 months after the fact. A place where cigarette butts are non-existent on the property. A place where we can paint the walls any color we desire. A place where parking isn't an issue. A place where our neighbors live more than a paper thin wall away. A place to call our own.

I'm ready. And although I'm looking forward to living in the new, high-end apartment complex for free sometime this fall, I'm not looking forward to the new frustrations that come with living in such close proximity to so many others. My prayer is that we will be able to save enough money to afford a down payment on a house next summer.

Does anyone else ever feel these frustrations?

Sunday, January 11, 2009

An Oskar Post

Meet Oskar
Eli and I have noticed that whenever a commercial comes on that has a dog or any other animal, Oskar looses interest in whatever he is doing and focuses on the t.v. Tonight I purposely changed the channel to the Animal Planet. Oskar watched the t.v. turning his head up from side to side, even letting out some, "I want to go play!" noises! He also waved both front paws in a sitting up manner at the t.v. which means, "I want that!" Finally I let him run to the television where he put his paws up on the entertainment center hoping to get a good smell of those animals. To his dismay, the animals wouldn't come play! Good thing, we were watching an episode about lions!

Monday, January 5, 2009

WHEN WILL IT EVER STOP????

So I woke up this morning to more SNOW. This year was supposed to be an "average" year for snowfall with around 55 inches of snow accumulation over the course of the snow season. Thus far, we have had received 77 inches!!! Now, if I were teaching in a public school where they actually cancel school when the snow is crazy, I might be enjoying this massive snow fall....but no, where I work, we rarely close. Rain or shine we're there.

Anyway, I woke up this morning to almost 1.5 feet of snow in our parking lot. Explain to me how a car is supposed to maneuver in that? I called into see if school was cancelled...nope, just a 2-hour delay. Throughout the two hour delay it snowed about 6 more inches. Still, school wasn't cancelled. The entire Palouse was shut down due to the inclement weather and roads, but of course, we were still opened. After deciding that I was not going to make my way to Pullman in my car, I had Eli give me a ride in his truck. Can you guess how many students out of 18 I had in my classroom when I arrived? TWO! Two students???? Needless to say, I was very irate I had to go into work. Eventually four more students showed up, but seriously, it was ridiculous!

So what's forecasted for tomorrow? 1.5 to 2 inches of rain. Rain + a bunch of melting snow = messy driving conditions and FLOODING. Go figure. At least we live in an upper apartment so hopefully we won't have to deal with the flooding.

Sorry for the rant; I feel much better now. I hope you are all surviving this crazy winter!

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Top 10 Things I'm Looking Forward to in 2009

The following are in no particular order, but these are things that I'm looking forward to this year:

1. Completing my first year of teaching Kindergarten and SURVIVING!!!
2a. Moving into a new, fully furnished apartment....for free!
2b. Saving money while living for free so that we can buy a home in 2010!
3. Spending time with friends and family!
4. Two fun summer weddings!!!
5. Getting a gym membership that will actually be used on a regular basis!!! (At least that's a hope!!!)
6. Celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary!
7. Attending my sister's graduation from Medical School!
8. Celebrating our puppies 3rd birthday! Cheesy? I think not!
9. Exciting new life adventures both known and unknown!!!
10. Last but not least, I'm really excited to spend more time with Eli! It has been so nice to have both of us done with school! At night time, we actually can spend time with one another!

So what are the things that you are looking forward to?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!