The Zoe and Silas Show

1/4/14: Derek's cousins hit the nail on the head with giving S&Z three different Spider-Man vehicles for Christmas! Thank you Joyce & Darlene!!!

1/1/14: We woke up to a bright, cold morning on New Year's Day, so I got out first thing for a 3-mile long walk. I'm feeling very grateful for having a healthy body to start the new year! We celebrated a late Christmas with my Dad & Mary on Skype. S&Z were sooooo excited to get a pair of LL Bean head lamps for camping! Later in the afternoon we headed to Mansfield to celebrate Christmas with Derek's extended family. Uncle Johnny set up a reel-to-reel to play some old home movies. There was lots of food and family fun had by all! Happy New Year, and thanks for joining me for another year of Project 365!

12/25/13: S&Z were very excited on Christmas morning when they saw the gifts and candy canes that Santa left for them! They didn't want to open any presents until they each ate an entire candy cane. And a couple of hershey's kisses! Finally they started unwrapping the stocking gifts- Santa brought the kids a new craft table and chairs, a bunch of new art supplies, and a fort building kit. After the excitement of the Santa gifts died down we set up the craft table and they started working on some projects. Later in the afternoon Derek's family came over the 2nd annual Christmas Mexican Fiesta. This is a tradition we started last year , and one we will definitely continue in the future! The kids were spoiled with gifts as usual. It was a very merry Christmas indeed!

12/24/13: We frosted the tree cakes for Santa on Christmas Eve morning. Our little bakers were in fine form! Derek worked that evening and it was a quiet day otherwise. I cooked all afternoon and made a big Christmas Eve feast - chicken cordon bleu , steam-sauteed green beans, and mustard-roasted potatoes . And a Christmas meal wouldn't be complete without some of my mom's delicious homemade lefse! Silas was so hungry waiting for dinner that he sat down at the table an hour before everything was ready! One of our Christmas Eve traditions is to give the kids a new pair of pajamas. They were sooo excited! Of course we had to read a few special bedtime books. Santa's elves were busy after the kids went to bed. It was a very merry Christmas Eve!!!

12/23/13: I took advantage of my parents being here and went to the gym before getting a massage late Monday afternoon. While I was gone my mom got the kids involved in helping her wrap a few Christmas gifts. There was also time for some portraiture! Derek got silicone tree molds at the lab Yankee swap so we decided to make confetti cake trees for Santa instead of cookies this year. We baked the cakes on Monday night before bed so that we could decorate them Christmas Eve morning. I love Christmas traditions!

12/20/13: Friday morning was S&Z's holiday concert at preschool. I got a few pictures of them in front of the tree before we left. We were curious to see if either of them would sing this year, as  last year they did not. Zoe was totally into it, and Silas just covered his ears and turned away from everyone. I took a couple of videos so the grandparents can see how they did. As much as I love having them in school, I'm looking forward to a 2 week break from the Getting-Ready-For-School Morning Olympics!