The Zoe and Silas Show

2/29/12: Happily hammering away (@ 7:48am).

2/28/12: Zoe taking a picture of me with her "camera phone".

2/27/12: A boy and his blocks.

Zoe wanted to read "Today I Feel Silly" before bed tonight. As I've mentioned recently , the kids are really into talking about, drawing, and identifying feelings right now. This particular book covers specific situations that make a little girl feel everything from joyful to cranky to confused to silly. The book ends with the question, "How do YOU feel today?". When we got to the end of the book I was curious to hear their answers to the question. Both kids had a shorter than usual nap and they were pretty cranky. Zoe had also ingested NOTHING for dinner (Lal dal is apparently not her cup of tea), so I'm assuming she also felt pretty hungry by this point. Mommy: Zoe, how do you feel today? Zoe: I feel sassy. Mommy: Huh? Zoe: Feel sassy. Zoe sassy! I laughed so hard for so long that I forgot to ask Silas how he felt today. "Sassy" is definitely not a feeling covered in the book and I don't recall talking about feeling sassy before. I

We were waiting for my mom to call today to let us know when they were ready to get on skype. The kids ended up grabbing their phones and hopping up on the chair together. They are definitely speaking their own language for most of this video, so don't worry if you can't understand much of what they are saying :-) If you can make it all the way until the end, the look on their faces when the real phone rings is priceless.

I haven't posted any recipes since I started using Pepperplate , the most amazing recipe organizer app. I made these indian-spiced lentils last night, though, and they were just too delicious not too share. Adapted from Six Spices by Neeta Saluja 1 cup red lentils, washed 4 cups water 1/2 t turmeric powder 1 t salt 2 T olive oil 1/2 t cumin seeds 1 green chili, halved lengthwise, seeded and sliced (I use Anaheims) 1 small onion, chopped 1/2 t cayenne pepper 1 medium tomato, chopped 2 T fresh lemon juice 1/4 cup fresh cilantro Note: you can substitute one can of diced tomatoes with green chiles for the fresh tomato and green chili. 1. Place lentils in a medium-size saucepan with the water, turmeric powder, and salt. Bring to a boil on a high heat. Reduce heat as froth starts to build up. Remove froth from the surface as it builds up. When froth subsides, turn down heat to low. Partially cover and cook until they are soft and turn into a soup-like consistency, abou

2/26/12: Calling Grandma and Grandpa.

Both kids have started drawing faces recently, and most often they report drawing themselves. This is Zoe's self-portrait of the day, entitled "Zoe Sad".

Both kids had peed through their diapers when I got them up this morning. Since we were planning on showering right after breakfast, I decided to let them wear robes to streamline the getting-ready process. Here's what happened while I was clearing off the breakfast dishes. They were excited to wear the robes, but apparently they were more excited to disrobe!

2/25/12: S&Z in the Big & Little exhibit at the Children's Museum.

2/24/12: Enjoying the "fish tank" before walking out to the car after EI.

S&Z are at a very fun and funny age, so I'll try to record and post more videos. This one is a good glimpse into how they play together these days. So many of their mannerisms and speech patterns are the same, it totally cracks me up. You can also see the way they take turns being the boss.

2/23/12: Pancakes!!!  Daddy's nights off from work often lead to the best breakfasts.

I haven't posted any videos in a long time, so here is one I shot a few weeks ago. This is a great example of conversations that we have when I get home from work.

2/22/12: Mr. Clean.

2/21/12: Two-year-old heaven brought to Zoe courtesy of Julia.

2/20/12: President's Day trip to the playground, 32 degrees.

Speaking of art projects, I went nuts for V-Day this year. We made cards for all 3 sets of grandparents, my sister and her husband, as well as cards for Derek and Julia. I did different things for each one, but the cutest thing I did for the last set was tracing one of Silas' hands and one of Zoe's hands on construction paper. I cut them out, flipped the hands upside down and intertwined the fingers, making a heart shape. Then I picked out photos to put in the middle and cut them out in the shapes of hearts. As I was cutting out the last photos after work on the 13th, I was totally over it. Hard to believe that I didn't take pictures of any of the cards before we gave them away! But, here are the projects we started in EI on 2/3 that inspired the flurry of subsequent projects, along with the card we gave Derek. That, my friends, is a lot of love.

I love doing art projects with S&Z, but I'm not super creative. We do have a big bin of art supplies, though, including construction paper, tissue paper, pipe cleaners, stickers, paint, etc. There was no art class today due to school vacation week, so I was inspired to come up with an art project to do at home on the last day of a long holiday weekend. Ever since I decorated the  kids' room  with decals from "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", we draw a lot of  caterpillars . Here's what I came up with for a fun project today. I cut circles out of construction paper for the caterpillar bodies, I applied glue stick, and then the kids stuck them into their version of a caterpillar configuration. They decorated the caterpillar's with both regular and "do-a-dot" markers. Silas also decided the back of his project needed some jazzing up. We made antennae out of pipe cleaners which, btw, are no longer called pipe cleaners; they are now

2/19/12: Silas watching Daddy play video games at Mall Tots.

It was our turn to head up Timery's way to visit today. She lives in Ipswich and we take turns hosting since we live 1+ hour apart. Timery suggested meeting at an indoor kids playspace called Mall Tots  in Danvers. It was 40 minutes for us and 30 minutes for them, so it was a great midpoint spot to have a Sunday morning meetup. Mall Tots is huge and is geared toward kids 5 years and under. It costs $8 for the first kid and $3 for siblings, so we had a morning of fun for only $11. There are tons of cars and riding toys, Slides and other climbing structures, There are two bouncy houses, A "batting cage" for t-ball, Video games, And a PIRATE SHIP!!! The kids had a total blast playing for over 90 minutes.  Silas was pooped by the time we were packing up to leave! Everyone needed lunch before driving home, so we decided to be brave and try a sit down meal with all 3 kids at Buffalo Wild Wings. Between

2/18/12: Enjoying a beautiful morning on the trails at the Boston Nature Center and Wildlife Sanctuary.

The warm weather and lack of snow that we have had this winter is crazy! Today we decided to enjoy some fresh air and head to the Boston Nature Center . The last time we went there it was July and blazing hot. It was in the low 40s this morning when we arrived a little before 10:00. The vibe is quite different in winter gear, but really fun nonetheless! We stopped in the outdoor exploration area for a bit before hitting the trails. I used Derek's phone to take a few pictures and unfortunately the lens had a smear on it, so the pictures are a little blurry... The BNC is less than a 10 minute drive from our house, which means that the sanctuary is tucked away in a very urban neighborhood. The trails are great for kids because they are pretty short. The Snail Trail suited us perfectly today. After the walk the kids were ready for a snack. That is one happy boy!!! Derek had never visited the BNC before, but he fell in love with it the way

2/17/12: Painting with our friends at EI playgroup.