Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Columbia Graduation Weekend!!!

This weekend was a huge weekend!!!  All of the sweat, tears, sleepless nights, and long commutes finally paid off. My brilliant, darling husband is an Architectural Master!!

Grandma and Grandpa Klinge even flew across half of the country to join in on the fun…  They arrived Sunday night, ate dinner with us, and snuggled up on the giant air mattress. On Monday, they helped us move Nate out of his studio one last time, browsed campus, and took a mini walking tour of White Plains.

Miles always has a great time hanging out in studio..

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Paul enjoyed trying on Nate’s designs…

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Then we walked through campus a little…

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and browsed through Nate’s exhibit…

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… while Miles climbed on someone else’s exhibit.

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Tuesday morning, we packed up the whole group for graduation in Manhattan.

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The graduation was outside on Columbia’s campus. This would have been a beautiful idea had we enjoyed 75 degree weather and sun. Instead, we got really soggy in 50 degree temps and constant rain.

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Paul went on an adventure to find poncho’s, an extra umbrella, and hot chocolate.  We were glad to see him again!

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We had a 2 hour wait for graduation to start…  By the time the festivities began, Miles had already given up.

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After the large university commencement, we watched Nate walk to accept his actual degree during the Architecture graduation.

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We were all super proud of him!

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We tried to celebrate with the free lunch, but it was still super cold – the food and the weather!

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We contemplated heading into Times Square to enjoy the city as much as possible while we were there, but quickly decided to venture back to the train station to head home and warm up instead.

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We were super exhausted from the emotional, icy, wet day. Miles decided to give us all a little time to rest.  He voluntarily locked himself up. Thanks, Miles! We needed that!

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Paul and Kathy brought gifts for the graduate, Miles, and me. A very unnecessary gesture that was much appreciated.  Then… we celebrated a little more with wine and a few new foods for Grandma and Grandpa: sushi, Pad Thai, and sesame chicken.  I understood their opinion of the dinner to be ‘interesting…’  I was soo proud of them for trying foods outside their comfort zone!

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In a typical fashion, this big day ended with a story or 2.

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On Wednesday, I headed back to work while Nate and Miles lead Grandma and Grandpa around the city. I wasn’t there, so I cannot comment of the details. We’ll let this photo montage narrate the adventure….

The train ride south.

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Times Square

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The M&M store

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Lunch at Friday’s

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the viewing deck @ Rockafeller Plaza

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Winding down the night with a soothing bath!

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We had a fantastic time celebrating Nate’s accomplishment and the arrival of our visitors.  They leave tomorrow afternoon, and we wish them safe travels. 

 

Wow…. Nate’s an Ivy League Graduate!!  That’s a phenomenological feat!  I love my distinguished, extraordinary husband!!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

What We’ve Been Up To….

I apologize for being so far behind with our updates.  I’m working on trying to figure out a balance between hanging out with Nate in the evenings and blogging about our family life.  It’s super weird having company after 8PM…  Weird, but welcomed!
Let’s start with the shoes…
The DC’s won over the white/red pumas by only a couple votes, but the size Miles needed was not longer available.  Nate’s ‘veto’ vote was that he preferred neutral colored shoes for ‘shorts’ season.  So, we combined the neutrality of the DC’s with the trendiness of the Puma’s by ordering the shoes pictured below:
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The shoes above are a much better choice than those shown below, Don’t you think?!  He begged me to take them off so that he could have a ‘go’??  My first thought was “I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller…..”
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Miles is due for another growth spurt.  My first clue was quite obvious – extreme hunger!
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Miles has been enjoying art time – Sometimes, he even colors on the paper!  I love the invention of washable crayons!
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We’ve also been gearing up for bike season.  I realize this picture looks bad, but here he is trying on his new bike helmet…
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Finally, a magical Mother’s day was planned by Nate and Miles.  They made panini’s for lunch, pizza for dinner, and a pineapple upside down cake for dessert. Nate took care of all baby-duties for the day too!  I felt loved my boys!
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Thanks!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Update: The Shoe Vote

As of midnight on 25 April 2010:

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We’ll give it a couple more days……

18 wild and crazy months

These last 18 months have been wonderful!  How did Nate and I ever fill our time before Miles?! He’s been such a high energy, adorable, irreplaceable blessing!

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Who could resist that face?!

To celebrate the half birthday weekend, Miles and I went shopping.  Our first stop was “The Children’s Place” store to look for shoes and a dress shirt for my bro’s wedding, but only left with sunglasses.  We did find snazzy shoes at payless.

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We played with bubbles, did a little cooking together, and read lots of books. The rain hindered a lot of activity options.  We found a couple of mini pots with soil and seeds in the $1 aisle at Target.  We planted tomatoes and red peppers!

Green thumb

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Let’s cook – BAM!

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Yeah for gourmet toddler food – Elbow Macaroni and Broccoli Alfredo and Chicken sticks!

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Miles has been experiencing a vocabulary explosion. He loves to help me do just about anything – including laundry and giving Cooper a bath.  He’s very high energy – always running, climbing, marching, and dancing. Miles has his own version of singing and associated actions for Itsy Bitsy spider. It’s super cute.  I’m on a mission to capture this on video ;o)  We are still working hard to increase Miles’ capacity for listening.

Tomorrow’s Miles’ 18 month appointment. We’ll give you a better update later.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Which new shoes to buy..??

Miles doens't get a lot of stuff, but we do keep him in really nice shoes.  I'm struggling with which shoes to get next.  Here's where you can help out.  Vote for your favorites to the right -->

Nate will reserve the right to veto a majority vote.  I think its a grandfathered in rule....
Here are your options...

Puma: red and white










Adidas green










Adidas blue










Puma lights (the cat lights up)









DC's










Adidas green with yellow










Happy Voting!

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