The Zoe and Silas Show

11/29/13: We hit the gym again this morning and then Derek went food shopping. This weekend is a little unusual because we're supposed to be hosting Thanksgiving here on Sunday. We're not sure if that's going to happen now, though, because Derek's mom went to the ER this afternoon and is being admitted to the hospital. I am writing this post without fully understanding what's going on... Hosting a big meal this holiday weekend means we won't be able to cook for the entire week  in advance. I do have a game plan though! Tonight I made Pumpkin Curry with Coconut Quinoa. The curry was not hot - the addition of honey balances the flavor profile - and both kids ate it (Silas devoured it, Zoe did her usual half-assed eating)! One thing I've realized is that when you cook with the intent of eating out of the fridge, you need to LABEL EVERYTHING! While I made dinner tonight S&Z colored in some recently re-discovered coloring books. The rest of

11/28/13: Derek had to work on Thanksgiving so it was a pretty regular day for us. The Y was open until noon so we headed to the gym in the morning. After lunch Silas decided to attach himself to Zoe with a rubber bracelet. Here are the two little turkeys jumping up and down, attached at the wrist. Derek lugged all of the Christmas bins upstairs before he left for work so that I could start decorating the house. S&Z were very excited about all of the holiday books that we got out. We also got out the Jingle Bell Santa, which my parents gave to S&Z last year. They weren't quite sure what to think... After dinner we watched a Micky Mouse holiday movie on NetFlix.  Of course this meant that we had to make popcorn. So many things to be grateful for this year. Here are S&Z's gems from the project at school.

11/27/13: Making play-doh cookies.

11/26/13: Julia had an appointment on Tuesday and Derek was off work, so S&Z had DADDY DAY! Don't get me wrong, Derek does tons of childcare - but for the first time in their lives he was flying solo from 8am until 8pm. I told Zoe on Monday night that Ta-ta and I had work and appointments and that they were going to spend ALL DAY with Daddy. She burst out laughing and then stopped short, saying "that will be WEIRD!". Derek decided to go big or go home. He took them to see their first commercial movie, deciding to see "Free Birds" at Legacy Place. S&Z absolutely loved it, they had special daddy time, ate popcorn and drank sugar-y drinks. After the movie they had dinner at Chili's. I got home from a massage at 8:30 and they were just getting out of the bathtub (typical bedtime is 8pm). They ran to the front door (naked) to tell me all about the movie.  Absolutely priceless.

11/25/13: On Monday  Dr. T. Berry Brazelton , a world-renowned pediatrician who just happens to be Emeritus in my department at Boston Children's Hospital, gave a talk at our departmental meeting... He is so inspirational and engaging at 95 years young! The best part was when he told the story of being a guest on Conan O'Brien, for whom he had been his pediatrician for years. File this under: #whyiworkatthebestplaceintheworld

11/24/13: We went to the gym on Sunday morning. On our way out to the car S&Z decided to trade sunglasses... After nap we ran to LL Bean to find a solution to my power walking outerwear dilemma. It was so cold outside that we had to pull out S&Z's [new-to-us] winter coats. No one was too happy about this weather development! *****  Cook's Notes : Looking ahead to a shortened work week, cooking was again dispersed throughout the weekend. On Friday I made fried rice, which is an old standby. You can use any vegetables that you have on hand. This time around I included red pepper, carrot, and broccoli. Easy Fried Rice CATEGORIES   asian, vegetarian, rice INGREDIENTS 1  T. vegetable oil 2  scallions, chopped 2  eggs, beaten 1/2  c. frozen chopped spinach* 1/2  c. frozen peas 1  c. leftover brown rice Low sodium soy sauce or tamari, to taste INSTRUCTIONS In a wok or saute pan, heat oil over medium heat . Add scal

11/23/13: I worked on Saturday and decided to bring my electric pencil sharpener home for S&Z to sharpen all of their colored pencils. They thought this little gadget was pretty darn magical.

11/22/13: Last Friday was a rainy, dreary day - perfect weather for some afternoon painting! S&Z started out doing their own projects, But as usual they ended up working on something together. I love this picture - using opposite dominant hands for painting, unused hands by their sides, heads close together in concentration... We added some new additions to the hallway gallery!

11/21/13: Things that I am usually on top of: lists of any kind (grocery, weekly menus, whiteboard reminders, and to-do's); Things that I usually keep up on, but just barely: picture of the day, blog posts, work e-mails, laundry; Things that frequently get away from me: mail, personal e-mails and phone calls. On Thursday night I had an "oh shit" moment when I realized shortly after I put S&Z to bed that I didn't get the picture of the day. It happens very rarely - last year I missed  just one day  - when I realized it I took this instead...

11/20/13: Taking care of business.

11/19/13: The end-of-the-day TV show is dangled as reward and punishment throughout each day, every day... It's crazy how powerful that behavioral modifier can be.

11/18/13: Ready for bed in their Spiderman pajamas, perusing "Pancakes, Pancakes!" while Mommy takes the picture of the day.

11/17/13: This weekend has been pretty busy so I had to spread the cooking love out over 3 days. Next weekend will be the same because I have to work on Saturday. It worked out pretty well this time around, and depending what we have scheduled on a given weekend this may be the way things usually go! On Friday I baked up some lavash crackers , and made two pans of what is still referred to in our house as Eliza's Baked Pasta . Yesterday afternoon I roasted a head of broccoli, tried some  Baked Kale Chips , and cooked up a big batch of brown rice for the week. Last night after the kids went to bed I put together Spicy Ethiopian Lentil Stew (recipe below, not for the faint of heart!). Today Derek made Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, and tonight I did  Mongolian Stir-Fry with Broccoli and Crispy Tofu, as well as Thai Curry Spaghetti Squash in the crock pot. The lentil stew, kale chips, and spaghetti squash were all new recipes. I'd make the stew again but use less Berbere spice

11/16/13: Silas got a much-needed haircut yesterday, and when checking out at the salon we were randomly offered a free calculator or calendar. I politely declined, but the receptionist motioned towards Zoe & Silas and handed me two calculators. The kids have been obsessed with the calculators since we brought them home! Seriously, new 4-year-old gift idea! Zoe likes to put in '4375' (our house number) and proudly show me the numbers; Silas likes to put in really long numbers - today he showed me '123456789'. Today's other news: S&Z are eligible for free pre-K next year through the Boston Public School system. 'K1' spots are limited and are assigned via lottery. Today was the "Showcase in Our Schools" open house so we had Sarah, one of my research assistants, babysit so that we could visit 5 elementary schools without kids in tow. It turned out to be an interesting and exhausting morning. Thankfully Derek and I walked away with our

11/15/13: Zoe and Silas were racing their bikes around the house before school this morning, and they decided to make a 'STOP' sign. We have some letter stickers so they pulled them out and got to work. The funny part I realized later is that they didn't ask me how to spell stop - they knew how, they just put the stickers down backwards! After nap they started racing bikes again, although this time one of them played the gatekeeper and held up the stop sign (to which they added a stoplight on the back) to indicate whether the other should go, slow down, or stop. Reason #579 that being a twin is awesome.

11/14/13: I got home on Thursday after work and dumped my stuff in the living room as usual. Next thing I knew Silas had put my earbuds in and was asking to listen to some music. I had just shut off iTunes where Morphine was playing, so I started it back up for him. Of course Zoe came right over and grabbed a bud to listen for herself. Shortly thereafter one of them informed me that they like Daddy's music better :)

11/13/13: Preschool pictures came in on Wednesday!!! S&Z had fun naming every single kid in the class picture. The pictures turned out SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love.

11/12/13: We planned on going camping one last time in September but it just didn't work out. We had even bought "special treat" camping cereal, so S&Z have been eating their way through the little boxes this week. Picking out the morning selection was quite the process each day!

11/11/13: Unbelievable that it's November and S&Z still getting time at the park with Ta-ta (4:30 sunset notwithstanding)! 

11/10/13: This is the 2nd week in a row that Derek and I have gotten a bunch of cooking done on Sunday morning. The weather is turning cooler and we're in the full swing of fall. Our fun summer outings on weekend mornings have naturally come to a close the last few weeks, and now we're focusing our energy on getting organized for the coming week. The weekday grind is hectic for many reasons - opposite work schedules, off-the-clock work demands, and trying to maintain exercise routines to name a few. Considering I have lost nearly 20 pounds in the last 4 months, healthy eating is also a priority on top of everything else! The last few weeks I've managed to get the menu planning done on Thursday night, and then Derek does the grocery shopping on Friday. We still squeeze in two trips to the gym every weekend, and now we've got ambitious plans in the kitchen on Sunday mornings before Derek leaves for work at 2:00. This week's make-ahead menu included: - Yellow dal