Sunday, May 26, 2013

USTMBA Graduation!

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After a long three and a half years, Kyle is now the proud recipient of a Master's degree. MBA to be exact. So much has changed since he started almost four years ago. The first semester he was in class he networked with a classmate which landed him a job at his current company, a very good career move for him. Which actually made getting his MBA a little harder since the motivation to find a good job wasn't the leading factor anymore. But he pushed on and after many nights of studying, weeks/months of only seeing me one or two nights a week, and ALL the stress that all brings he is FINISHED!!! Such a big accomplishment and I am so proud of him!

His graduation was last night, at the undergraduate campus of St. Thomas. His classes were all downtown Minneapolis at the UST graduate school campus. Being the photographer I am, my main focus was making sure we made time for pictures. And since he wasn't getting his hood until he got there (and wasn't able to keep it) I was worried we wouldn't be able to get photos before with the hood. But we did! So he went in, got his hood, asked someone to help with how it goes on because I attempted it but it was wrong. And we ran outside to get some photos.

Here is Kyle with his folks who came to town for his graduation.
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Not sure how I captured this one, but I kinda like it. Isaac and I gave Kyle a new watch for a graduation gift
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Another reason I wanted to do photos before hand was in hopes that Isaac would be more cooperative... nope he had no interest in getting his picture taken.
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But he did enjoy running around. Here is grandpa keeping up with him.
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Shot of the hood:
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Once we were done with pictures we went in to find our seats while Kyle went into a gym to get in place for the procession. Kyle's parents held our seats and I used that time to walk Isaac in the hallway, saving the sit still time for when the ceremony had actually started. And I was able to get some more photos of Kyle.
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Seven o'clock was near and I was told by an usher the ceremony was about to begin. So we wheeled ourselves back to our seats and watched as every entered. Isaac was pointing and saying "Dada? Dada!" It was so cute!

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We lucked out on the same side as his row so I got some good photos of him making his way to his seat.
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Isaac was so good throughout the entire ceremony. Playing on mama's phone, having snack, jumping from mama's lap to grandma's. He made it the whole time (better than he does sitting through church, lol)
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Then it was time for the names. They had a lot to go through, but it went surprisingly quick.
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Handing his name card to the reader
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Shaking the Dean's hand
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Looking proud
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At the reception after the ceremony.
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And just like he does, Isaac didn't fall asleep in the car until we made it to our exit a few blocks from our house! Stinker.
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Water Table

I took these a few weeks ago sometime and forgot that I had them all uploaded ready to blog about until now (when I sat down to blog about something else. I'll get to that in a sec.)

Having a background in child development I have these great activity ideas in mind and Isaac is entering in to that phase and age that we can start having a lot of fun. I have wanted a sensory table for a while and when I saw this water table I just had to get it. I had browsed craigslist for a while but the asking price wasn't much different from what I could pay at Costco. So I just went ahead and bought it there, and glad I did because on our next trip they were all gone.

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It has a water side and a 'sand' side. But we aren't planning to put sand in it this summer. Maybe next summer when he can play with it a little better. But we have been putting oatmeal in it! And that's been fun. (obviously not at the same time the water side is in use)
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It keeps him busy and he loves it. We haven't been able to play much with the water this past week, since the weather has been cooler. But I know this will be super fun once it's hot out and we can add the hose into the mix.
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Sunday, May 19, 2013

17 months

I'm a little late at writing this post but I wanted to get these memories down before they fade.

Words he will do on command: mama, dada, ball. Other words rah-rah (harpo), hi, yeah (yes). Sign words: milk, please, more, & sometimes thank you. 
Animal sounds: dog, cat, turkey, elephant, lion, snake, sheep, pig, duck, cow
Favorite book: hop on pop - but it is starting to fade 
Into fire trucks at the moment and says "ssssss" for the water. Also into putting things to his ear like a telephone and saying hi. 
Loves balls & doggies still. 
Clasps his hands at dinner to pray. 

Overall just a wonderful bundle of joy and so much fun. (although he is quite serious in this first photo, lol)

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ETA: He was so cute when we went to get his blocks to bring them in the living room to get his 17 month picture. He knows just want to do with them now :-)
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Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Potty News & Park Photos

Way back when, I missed Isaac's first poop in the bathtub. But I've been lucky to experience it since. Yesterday I missed Isaac pooping in the POTTY for the first time!!! WOO HOO! He peed and pooped for Kyle yesterday morning while I was working at a photo session. The story went like this: He had been constipated for a few days and we knew when it came it was going to come! He was grunting and pushing and pooped some in his diaper. Kyle asked "Isaac do you want to poop in the potty?" Isaac shook his head no. Kyle responded with "Well I'm going to walk into the bathroom and if you want to come sit on the potty you can". He then followed Kyle into the potty and pointed toward the toilet. Kyle sat him up there and Isaac pointed to the other room making his noise "uh uh". Kyle asked "do you want a book?", Isaac made his yes noise. Kyle kept bring books back and forth but it wasn't what Isaac wanted. He didn't even want his favorite book: Hop on Pop. Kyle could here him grunting and pushing every time he left the bathroom, then at one point he heard 'plop!'. Poop in the potty!! It happened again when he was out of the room. Kyle made a big deal and made sure Isaac knew he was proud of him.

Then tonight after bath-time he pointed to the potty and made  his grunting like he does. I asked if he wanted to sit on the potty and he did. He wanted to play with my phone (which we let him do on the potty or read books). I was thinking "Oh he just wants to play on my phone" Then I hear the trickle... he peed! We aren't really pushing the potty training just going along with when he shows interest, but it's kinda exciting! I'm not sure if it's just a fluke or if he is on the track to wanting to go in the potty more.

So we had a beautiful weekend (I worked) but the weather was great. Isaac has been loving being outside everyday! We went to the park last night, which was so nice because it is very rare right now for all three of us to be home together in the evening. With Kyle's school and my evenings working they just don't line up but every Tuesday.

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Today was rainy and snowy! Yes SNOWY! May 1st! WTF. It is suppose to snow tonight.. this is nuts!
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