Valentine's Day Goodies

Today, Miles received a package from Grandma and Grandpa Klinge.
He was pretty excited to see him name on a package!

The whole walk up to the apartment, he kept telling me the package contained valentine chips.  (Most likely because the surprise was wrapped in a Pringles-like container)

Here's the contents:

Valentine's S'mores

Pink Heart-shaped marshmallow, kisses, and teddy grahams!

Yum... What a clever idea!

Ooooh...and personalized ART! 

Hey, Miles!  Are you excited?

YES!

I'm Excited too!  I love S'mores!

We can't wait for Dad to get home so we can taste the goodies!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!  We loved the gift!


Want better pictures? Click here_Nate's sister takes much better photos!

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Posted in: Kelly,Klinge's,Miles

He loves me, He loves me.....

You want to know how my sweet baby shows his love?

In the way only the greatest of architects can......

     With beautifully composed monochromatic cityscapes brought to life by sexy technical jargon laced with carefully composed historical context!

Yes... He sent me each of these little beauties at work today.... they not only made me blush, but reminded me how much I love that little design nerd that dwells within!

Love you, Nathan!

I wish I was clever with my scientific nerdiness.....

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Posted in: Nathan

Happy Valentine's Day, 2012

We hope that you're Valentine's Day is blessed with the presence of loved ones. We wish we were close enough to give you all a hug, but since we're not, this Valentine will have to do!

Isn't he just the cutest?

My inspiration for his valentines were from pinterest, of course.

We made a bunch of these to give out at Miles' school for his Valentine's Day party!

Although, the actual valentine's have a real sucker inserted at his hand.

See?

Seriously...Love you!

Happy Valentine's Day!

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Posted in: Miles

If you pray REALLY hard.....

When we got home from work/school late last week, we found a package in the mailbox.

The boys ran back to the apartment and opened it up.

Nate: Miles... do you know what these are?!

Nate: Bulls Tickets!!

Miles: Bulls tickets for me and you and mommy?!?!

Miles: Mom, Look!!  Bulls tickets!! One, Two, Three!

Kelly: Can I see them?

Miles: Yup!

So, it's official.  We are going to see the Bulls one week from TODAY!

In case you didn't know, that's 7 days. 

We're counting!

Miles finally getting his way. What an answer to prayers, right?!

We knew he wasn't going to let this request go - and Daddy really didn't mind!

Go Bulls!

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Posted in: Bulls,Chicago,Kelly,Miles,Nathan,package

Things My Kid Says

Setup: Handing Miles a bit of dinner that I’m currently making….

Kelly: Miles, try this. You’ll like it.

Miles: Nope. I don’t like that.

Kelly: Ok. I’m going to eat it then.

Miles: Mom, I want some now.

[He tries the food]

Miles: You’re  right, Mom.  I do like this.

Kelly:  I knew it.  I’m glad you like it.

Miles: You’re always right, Mom. You’re always right!

(side note: I could totally get used to this!!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Setup: In traffic this morning…

Kelly:  Move it car…. Little faster please.

[The merge into traffic successful, but still need to move 4 lanes left in next 1/6^th mile]

Kelly:   Grr, now I just need this car to move.

Miles (from the backseat): Mom, that’s not a car. That’s a truck.  Mom, that’s a big truck.

Kelly:  Yes, Miles.  That was a truck. Sorry, buddy.

Miles:Mom, that was a truck. You were super wrong!

Nate: (laughs a little too hard, in my opinion>

Kelly:  [silence] Huh?

Miles: You are super wrong, Mom! That was not a car, that was a truck.

Kelly:  Yes, Miles. You are right.. Can you say some words that will make me happy now?

Miles: Yes. Hmm.  Mom, you are ALWAYS right. You said that it was a truck now.

Nate: [laughs again]  Ooh. That’s good, Miles.  Mommy loves that!

Setup (Part 1): Nate and Miles are sitting as close to the TV as possible, watching the only network televised Bulls game so far this season.  Miles sees the crowd and starts this conversation.

Miles:Dad, I want to go to the Bulls game too.

Nate: We can’t, buddy.  We don’t have any tickets.

Miles: Tickets? Why do we need tickets?

Nate:They won’t let us into the game unless we have tickets.

Miles: So get some tickets, Dad!

Nate: I can’t, Miles. They cost a lot of money.

Miles: Then get some money.

Nate: Ok, I’ll work hard and try to get you some more money. Ok?

[conversation dropped for the rest of the evening. Fast forward to dropping Nate off at work the next morning]

Setup (Part 2): Nate gets out of the car, Miles rolls down his window to say goodbye as usual. The usual conversation goes a little differently.

Nate: Goodbye, Miles. Have fun at school today.

Miles: Ok, Dad.  You work really, really hard so we can get more money to get tickets to go to the Bulls game, OK?

Nate:What? [looks at me in disbelief as I giggle while Miles repeats his instructions perfectly again]

Miles: I said  - You work really, really hard so we can get more money to get tickets to go to the Bulls game, OK?

Nate: OK, Miles. I will work hard today.

Setup (Part 3):

[Fast forward to dinner time that evening and every evening since....]

Kelly: Time to eat, boys.

Nate: Let’s pray.

Miles:   Dear Jesus, thank you for the snow.

              Dear Jesus, thank you for my red shoes.

              Dear Jesus, thank you for the food.

              Dear Jesus, help us to go to the Bulls game

              And Jesus, Amen!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Setup: Sorry, for most of you, this is a COMPLETE inside joke.  Just know that Nate and I are still laughing about it. Love you, Great Gram Gert!

Kelly:  Miles, are you ready for church?

Miles: Yes. [now yelling] Dad, are you ready for church?

Nate: [shouting from next room] Yes, I am. Waiting on you!

[Nate and Miles finish zipping coats and wrapping scarves]

Miles (swinging his pointer finger in a circular motion): Leeeeeetttttttt's Rotate!

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Posted in: Kelly,Miles,Nathan,Things my kid says

Impressed!

This weekend, we witnessed and tested the culinary prowess of one Miles Nathan Klinge!!

He made an entire dessert - unassisted. 

What dessert you ask?  Ah yes!  

He created a beautiful banana pudding pie!

Miles has repeatedly proven his love for baking and even for making pies.  However, the first few pies he tasted proved lack luster to his sensitive palate causing him to avoid all pies, regardless of flavor.

I was on a mission to change this… and at the same time give him more responsibility with a cooking project.

Here’s what he did – wish I would have taken progress pictures, but I forgot!!

Miles was given a box of instant banana pudding and a premeasured volume of ice cold milk.

He opened all packages and mixed everything with a whisk on his own!! I only helped at the very end to remove remaining lumps.

Miles peeled and sliced two bananas with a butter knife and spread them in a graham cracker crust.

All I did was “start” the peel at the top.

Miles poured and spread the pudding to cover the bananas.

I only provided assistance by holding the large bowl and helping to scrape out the last bit of pudding.

After an hour of refrigeration, he repeated the pour/spread maneuver with cool whip!

Once dinner was complete, he was SUPER excited to taste his creation.  

This is where I remembered to photo document. :)

Dip finger and taste.....mmmm!  That's not so bad!

Dig right in!!

Savor and appreciate it's delightful texture and balance.

It's REALLY good!  Do you want some?

How did you celebrate Super Bowl weekend?

Posted via iPhone

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Posted in: baking,Miles

Mom vs. Snow

Nearly a year ago, I experienced the most exhausting, nightmare inducing, helpless evening in my life thus far. I has just started my new job at Northwestern early January 2011.  That February, Chicago got 22 or so inches of snow in a 24 hour period, starting about noon that Tuesday afternoon.  Having no vacation stored up yet and having experience driving in Iowa blizzards, I felt confident that I could survive the commute - picking up Miles from daycare on the way. WRONG....   The snow wasn't my issue! The problem was the gridlock Chicago traffic - so much worse than I even imagined.

Fast way forward to today.....
There was a forecast of 5-8 inches of snow today.  The snow was supposed to reach the Western suburbs by 9am and the lakefront (where I work) by 11am.  The snow was predicted to get heavy by 3pm with snow accumulations piling up at an inch an hour through the evening hours.  Well, I got paranoid when huge snowflakes were spotted outside my lab at 10am..  Is the snow ahead of schedule?


Call it lesson learned.... I will NEVER make those mistakes again.
Call it overwhelming anxiety from last year's traumatic events.
Call it preparedness piggy-backed with actually having available time off..
Personally, I just like to think of myself as more of a caped-hero or a Chuck Norris-style mom....

This year, I left early from work and picked Miles up from daycare just as the snow was starting to accumulate.  I even remembered to call ahead to daycare and asked them to keep Miles awake until I arrived. (planned arrival was 1pm, school naptime schedule 1-3pm)
As I arrived at daycare, Miles was reading a book in the corner by the window as the other kids were spread out on the cots starting to doze. Miles thought he was such a stud because he didn't have to take a nap..
By the time we got back out the car, at least an inch had accumulated on the roof... whoa!  I was glad I was already en route home. I headed towards the on ramp to the interstate and traffic got really slow.  I was calm and ready.  I had snacks and Miles was still on a big-boy "high" talking non-stop from the backseat.  We creeped for about 45 minutes on the long on-ramp... And just like in Chuck Norris's world, as I approached the entrance to the closed express lane , my "mind bullets" changed the direction of traffic and opened up the express lane! We were one of the first few cars to enter the freshly plowed express lane!!  We managed to get home within the next 45minutes; Miles was still in a good mood and awake.  Compared to last year, I gladly accepted the 90 minute, 7 mile commute with my happy little boy in the backseat.

We got home, Miles took his nap and then we went to the mail room to get a  package.
We ordered Miles a new pair of "fast" shoes since his current pair developed a hole in the toe.  We let Miles pick them out himself.  Boy are they fast!

I asked Miles to hold still while I took a picture of his shoes... this is the pose I got!



Want a better picture of the shoes?  More shoe, less boy?

Pretty awesome, huh?

Miles is a big fan!

Finally,  the only way to know if new shoes are truly fast is to try them out.

Oh yeah... in case you're wondering about Nate. He left work about 4 and spent 70 minutes navigating public transit before walking in the door.  Unfortunately, 2 packed blue line trains passed him before allowing him board the 3rd train.

See what good a little experience can do?

Here's to making sure that last year's disaster was a one time thing!!

Happy White Winter to you :)

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Posted in: Chicago,Kelly,Miles,shoes,Video

Athletic Mimicry

We all know that Miles LOVES sports.

We also know that Miles mimics things that catch his interest.  On this night, it was the hockey game on TV.  When flipping though our non-cable channels (all 5 of them), we found a hockey game. 

• Miles ran to his room and gathered the necessities.
• Dressed up
• Copied the professionals on TV…..   right in our living room!
• All on his own accord :o)

Cute  -  seriously, cute !

   

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Posted in: Miles

[Deep Breath] ..OK……

…….only because several of you asked

– very nicely –

for me to post a full head shot.

sigh


Against my better judgment, this is a public display of obedience to those I love and respect.

My awkward, but updated self-portrait

 

That is all.  Good-bye.

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Posted in: Kelly

cupcake boss

Miles is the newest, youngest cupcake boss! 

It all started with the iPhone app.

Miles has been super interested in playing with my phone, so I found this. Just for a little something different.

   

Miles actually gets to choose the cake mix, cake cups, and decoration….

Little did I know – I was creating a monster!  He loves to pretend cook and bake :)

However, virtual baking doesn’t compare to the real thing.   Miles has become quite the little baker! The holidays will do that to you, right?

     

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Posted in: Miles

Getting stronger

Nate and I have already registered for a race this spring!

Chicago’s famous Shamrock Shuffle (8K) on March 25, 2012

Therefore, it’s officially time to step up our mileage. Over the break, we took a family trip to the fitness room in our building. Miles was super excited to see Nate and I putting on running shorts and lacing up our shoes. He followed our lead and picked out his own outfit perfect for running, completed only by his ‘fast’ shoes and sweat band.

Please excuse the photo quality. My phone has issues with quick action shots.

  

Aren’t they the cutest things you’ve ever seen?!

The best part of the morning is that we all walked down our extremely long and winding hallway to get to the elevators. The elevator already had a passenger with a dog on their way to do dog business. We entered anyway. Miles looks up at the dog owner and says “We are runners!!” He was grinning ear to ear and loving his sweat band. He was so proud of himself. Such a big boy!

I was torn between thinking he was the most adorable kid in the world and feeling a bit embarrassed….. 

I can’t help but love that little boy (and his dad)!

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Posted in: Miles,Nathan,running

I’ve had Dreams like this….

I’ve had dreams like this! Really,  I have!  I love having a little boy that adores his father and wants to be exactly like him.  I love that my husband’s DNA was a little more aggressive than mine, giving me an exact replica of Nate.  One Nathan walking around on this planet is just NOT enough! The girl Miles chooses to marry (someday in the very, Very, VERY distant future) will be a lucky girl.  Been there – LOVE that!

Anyway, as I get all chatty blogging in front of the fireplace, sipping on hot chocolate -- my boys are playing in the 2 inches of snow we got last night.  Miles (see previous post) has been impatiently waiting for snow.  It should be no surprise that waking up to a little fluff this morning was the best thing since Christmas morning!!

I remember snow days when I was little. My mom could look out the window and see us moving around as small blobs of brightly colored winter clothing at the sledding hill across the street.  I, too, have that eye-level view of my family playing in the now – from a 3rd floor apartment.

Here’s the view from my living room.

You don’t know where I’m looking?  Oh, here – let me zoom in!

Ha…Because I know that most of you reading this live in Iowa, I know that most of you are still confused. Where’s the sledding hill? The park? The ditch, backyard, anything?! What are you looking at??

Here – let me get a little closer yet!

Yes… now you are getting it!  I am trying to get your attention to the roof parking lot across the street.  That little black and orange blob is Miles! They plow the parking lots and pile up the snow in the corners of the lot.  That’s where the boys were able to find enough snow to play with.

And by play with, I  mean throwing snowballs, building snow castles, and making urban snowmen.  We define the urban snowman as small human-esque figure comprised of three snowballs, no more than 18 inches in total height. Also, the urban snowman can be found firmly planted on a variety of foundations, including, but not limited to sidewalks, park benches, street curbs, parking lot curbs, or speed humps.

Here’s another look…. zooming way, way in!

That’s Nate in black and Miles in orange :)

Ah, how I love my boys!

I should really hurry and finish this up before they get back and want their own mugs of hot chocolate :) Thanks so much for tuning into my last-day-of-vacation thoughts as I take in a few moments of silence.

Oops! Too late!

Ah… a mother’s work is never done!

Counting my blessings!

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Things my kid says

I was trying to get Miles dressed for church on a Sunday morning.  I kept telling him that we needed him to look nice.  Meanwhile, Nate is getting himself dressed and walks over to check on my progress with Miles, still buttoning up his dress shirt.

Nate: Hey, Miles, you look nice.

Miles: Dad, that shirt is purple. That purple shirts makes you look like a lady.

Nate: (eyebrows furrow, jaw drops a bit) What?!

Nate walks away

Miles: That silly daddy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nate: Miles, would you like to pray before we eat?

Miles: Yes.  Dear Jesus, thank you for this food and please let it to snow. And Jesus, A-men!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kelly: Miles, what would you like to eat?

Miles: Noodles

So, I go ahead and make some star shaped noodles and add  a little butter.

Kelly: Miles, your noodles are ready.

Miles: Mom, I want regular noodles. I want cheesy regular noodles, not star noodles. (sigh, now talking to Nate) Mom is driving me crazy…..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I went into the bathroom and found a few unusual suspects in the toilet, some floating and some already sunk.  Yes…. I am the mother of a little boy and I’m accustomed to finding unflushed presents.  This was different – worthy of identification…

I called Nate over and he didn’t know what it was either – little black even-sized black chunks. Hmm..

He calls Miles over to get more information. The dialogue tells the rest of the story……

Nate: Do you know what’s in the toilet?

Miles: It’s garbage. I’ll flush it.

Kelly: What is it? Where did you get it?

Miles: I don’t like them. It’s garbage

Nate: Miles, where did you get this stuff?

Miles: From the pizza. I don’t like them.

Nate: What? You got this from the pizza.

Miles: Yeah…

Nate looked at me a little puzzled.  I had set out a frozen supreme pizza out on a pan while the oven was preheating. Miles yanked off all of the olives within his reach, tore them into little pieces and failed at his attempt to destroy the evidence.

Kelly: Miles, daddy likes olives. Oh no!

Miles: I don’t want to make you sad, dad.  I just don’t like them.

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Posted in: Things my kid says