Miles was helping me unload the dishwasher this morning. Take a look at what he found.
Watch this video.... there's really nothing else to say about it!
Inspired - Devoted - Zealous
Miles was helping me unload the dishwasher this morning. Take a look at what he found.
Watch this video.... there's really nothing else to say about it!
So as of this morning, I’m finally 28 years old! It’s an even year so its bound to be a good year, right!?
The day started with Miles wanting formula (sippy) around 5 am… Lucky for me, he went back to bed until about 6:15 am. While I got ready for the day, Nate played with and changed Miles. I opened a few fabulous gifts from Nathan (secretly a great shopper), shared a blueberry waffle with Miles, and shuffled my stuff to head out the door.
Meanwhile, Miles played with my cell phone, playing the music and dancing with his elbows (see previous blog for a visual). When the music stopped, Miles lost his temper and shot a beautiful right hook right into Cooper’s water dish. How disappointing! I would have snapped a photo, but my concern was directed towards the phone instead of the blog at that instant. Nathan retrieved the cellular device and shook out as much water as possible. Over the course of the day, the phone dried out and is now working at about 90%. Good enough for me!
Work was ok, but I ended up leaving early as Miles was having stomach/teeth issues. Though it was not the ideal ‘leaving’ situation, I had been trying to think of a reason to leave a little early. I was actually able to play with Miles for an extra 2 hours. That’s what I needed!!
When Nate came home, he swept Miles and I off to a great dinner at the Cheesecake factory. Miles’ moodiness kicked in. Nate and I took turns pacing in the hallway with him and eating our dinners. While Nate was pacing, I was able to talk to the businessmen next to me. I ended up explaining how Nate just wanted to take me out for a decent dinner on my birthday, but Miles apparently wanted us to celebrate his presence instead.
Finally, Miles fell asleep on Nate’s shoulder allowing Nathan to sit with me to enjoy the last few minutes of my birthday meal. The business guys showed off their iphones to Nathan (bad idea!!) and then secretly paid part of our bill. At the very least, it was great to see that decent people visit New York !!
When we got home, we put Miles to bed and then had a lovely cake that Nate picked up on his way home. Didn’t Nate do a fantastic job? It was really good!
Ohh.. take a look at Nate’s find!! The cake is sitting on the new addition to our kitchen. It was in the free-for-haul pile on the dock. It was in GREAT shape. We may just have to keep it…. :)
Thanks, Nathan, for a lovely birthday!!
The next video is also of my Miles with my cell phone. As the phone goes through a couple of the rings, he recognizes one of them right away.
That ring only sounds off when daddy calls!
Ahh.. Kids! I love them!
Posted in: Miles
The NY news is stressing the heightened terror alert. People’s bags are being searched in stadiums and other large social places. Mass transit locations are also thought to be a target for potential terror attack.
I was always concerned about terror alerts while living in Iowa, but these threats seem so much more real now that we are in NY and Nate is a daily user of mass transit. Everyday, Nate takes the metro north trains into the city and the beeline buses from the train station to school. I’m a little relieved that he usually doesn’t get into grand central. He exits the train one stop prior to entering grand central.
I know I’m probably stressing a lot over something that will hopefully never happen. I’m guilty of watching too much 24 – leaving me with an overactive imagination for what could be happening behind the scenes to stop potential terrorist actions. There’s always a few hundred innocents that lose their lives in order to save the masses. Oh.. please don’t let my Nathan be one of the hundreds lost…
On the lighter side, the president on 24 would have never been on the David Letterman show in the middle of dissolving a terror plot. Obama’s media tour is a good sign that nothing’s actively going on, right?
Ahh…. Relax! Time to try and get some sleep. Hope that Nate makes it home safe tonight!
Posted in: Nathan
Posted in: Miles
Today’s weather warranted some outside time, 70 degrees and sunny! We decided to pack a cooler, a picnic basket, and the whole family into the car to head 40 minutes Northwest to Bear Mountain State Park in upstate New York.
We ate a quiet little lunch on top of a huge flat rock. We had ham and cheese sandwiches, yogurt, blueberry muffins and cheese puffs! Miles walked all over the place, chewed on a few sticks, attempted puddle jumping, and chased after Cooper. Miles is turning into quite the little outdoorsman!! I can’t wait to take him camping. He was enthralled with his first picnicking adventure!! He was a super happy little man all day – well - until it was time to leave!!
After lunch, we put Miles into the carrier, hiked up to the tower at the peak and saw one of the most incredible views. There were rolling hills of trees – the green leaves were just starting to change to their warmer fall color. In the distance, you could see the faint outline of the city. It was nuts!! I haven’t been able to see such a distance since I was in Iowa. The Eastern landscape just doesn’t allow for a broad view. We couldn’t help but ask someone to take our family picture. I would love to upload the pictures from the day for you all to see, but that’s another story. You will have to facebook Nate for the details.
After the tower trek, we returned to the car and got the jogger stoller. We hiked for a very long time along the scenic curves of the state park…. 4 hours later, we called it a day and headed back to White Plains!
The day was fantastic and all of my boys were tired from the activity and exhausted from fresh air overload. We made some great memories on Bear Mountain today :) Don't worry, the location of today’s adventure was saved in the GPS. This is sure to be a repeat Saturday! Personally, I hope the trees still look as great! Early fall/later summer is proving to be super beautiful out here!
Today is Nate’s first 29th Birthday! What a glorious day! It’s nice to wake up knowing you have something fun that you get to spend all day celebrating.
Miles woke up in a great mood, piled on Nate, and gave his dad a small gift to start the day off right (that’s making a long story short) .
After we got home from CT, Miles and I finished up Nate’s cake – What a catastrophe! (see pictures later) So much for the mocha roll cake :(
Miles ate his dinner while I started the prep for Nate’s special dinner. Miles made a huge mess of himself.
Dirty, dirty!
Needless to say, Miles’ clothes needed to be removed promptly! He wanted to play with his Daddy! Dad walked in the door and the 2 of them wasted no time before they started wrestling!
After dad-time and bathtime (for Miles), Nate opened his gifts. Sadly most of them are still stuck in the mail… Grr!!
Miles finally fell asleep and I started in on Nate’s special dinner. To get to a man’s heart and make him feel really loved, you’ve got to feed them something great, right?
I made one of Nate’s fav’s! Sesame seed encrusted Tuna steak (medium rare), roasted asparagus with a shallot and garlic infused olive oil, a fancy salad, and a great red wine. I forgot the bread! What was I thinking. Luckily, Nate’s heart of gold has already forgiven me!
Finally – a not so perfect ending to a great meal… My Mocha cake roll was a total flop. Here’s the short story……
I made the cake and rolled it up to let it cool. Apparently, I let it cool too long. When I unrolled the cake to add the filling, the roll just broke into pieces. I put the filling in and tried to salvage it as much as possible. I thought that it was going to be ok… Then – I ‘frosted’ it with the cool whip stuff. It kept melting – even while in the refrigerator. Sad, I know, but it tastes pretty good. Nate even had seconds….
The cake as a whole – a poor example of a ‘roll’, but it does have 2 and 9 candles…
a slice of the mocha roll – I really wanted the perfect spiral. Like McMahon, Kramer, McNown, Grossman, Orton, and Cutler – much practice was required before mastery and being considered one of the profession’s greats!!
All in all, I think that it was a mildly successful 29th send off! I pledge to order the gifts months in advance (instead of weeks) and do several practice runs on the food/cake next year. I CANNOT mess up the 30th 2nd anniversary of Nate’s 29th birthday!
Oh – By the way – we have a quote of the week!
“Chicago is where quarterbacks go to die…” – Nathan
So sad, but so true:(
Miles got to stay up a little late tonight since the BEARS had their season opener. Kick-off was 8:30pm. Bedtime should have been 8… oh well! Who knows when the Bears will be on TV in NY again!
Miles was crazy with anticipation, Uncle Caleb style! He was all dressed up with the perfect attire so not to jinx the Bears’ performance…

