The Zoe and Silas Show

8/24/14: The kids were awfully quiet while playing on the deck this morning, so I went to check on them. They had a bucket of water, their stomp rocket blaster, and several empty containers of bubbles. They excitedly explained that they were doing "an experiment!". I course I couldn't help but give them lots of positive feedback for their scientific curiosity! We had some additional excitement when Derek woke up and told me that he saw a mouse run across the living room floor last night. I decided to let our friend Lucy come in for a house call, sadly to no immediate avail. All of us had fun watching Lucy explore our house, especially since she has tried to come in at least a few times each week this summer! We went over to Tom & Jen's house for a late afternoon play date and dinner. Silas was such a sweet boy and helped Jen set the table :) Another great weekend, which helps to fortify me for another brutal work week ahead...

7/19/14: Mike, our landlord, was here with a locksmith today to get all of the doors on one master key. Unfortunately for Derek (I was at work), his boys were here too. Derek ended up on involuntary kid duty, including feeding everyone lunch! S&Z, of course, had a blast with their play mates :)

11/9/13: We had a fun afternoon having Oliver & Thatcher over to play on Saturday. Auntie Vanessa had some painting to do so we were happy to help out and entertain the boys for a few hours! Even 4-year-olds enjoy candlelight dinners! After dinner I got them hunkered down with a movie and popcorn. A good time was had by all!

7/27/13: It was beautiful outside today. I hit the gym first thing this morning, and then the kids and I met up with Tracy, Josef, and Nick at the Farmer's Market while Derek did food shopping for the week. The Rosi Farmer's Market has a nice kids corner set up with various activities - today there were hula hoops! The kids were chasing each other around, and the next thing I knew Zoe was actually hula'ing!!! She's definitely got the moves! ***** Cook's Notes : Between a trip to the farmstand at Allandale earlier this week and today's visit to the Farmer's Market, we have so much great stuff to inspire our summer palates! White peaches, plums, sungold tomatoes, napa cabbage, green and wax beans, white potatoes, scallions, radishes, beets, and cauliflower are included in this week's procurements. I made another frittata for dinner - this one included beet greens, potatoes, ham, and goat cheese. Both kids refused to eat the potatoes...

7/6/13: Derek went back to work today so I'm trying to batten down the hatches and get S&Z back on a more predictable schedule. The heat wave in Boston continues, so I opted for a solo trip to the Farmer's Market this morning. Afterwards we split up for grocery shopping - Zoe and Derek went to BJ's and Silas and I went to Stop 'n Shop. Our neighbor Tracy invited us over for a post-nap playdate. All the kids were very busy and had a blast! There was lots to do between playing in the sandbox, Playing with the sprinklers, And watering the vegetable garden and picking lettuce. The highlight of the afternoon for S&Z, though, was learning how to drive the "dune racer" that Josef got for his 5th birthday. First Josef took Silas on a test drive, And then Silas took over at the wheel. Zoe was up next,   And finally, double trouble ended up in the car together. Don't worry, Tracy - we'll be ove...

5/17/13: Derek worked a double yesterday so I was looking at a long day alone with S&Z. The day started off on a bad foot because Zoe woke me up at 3:00am crying, and then 30 minutes later Derek heard their bedroom door open and he found them in standing in the kitchen saying that Silas' stomach hurt. Two hours later they got up FOR THE DAY at 5:20am. I knew I needed to get them out in the morning but things were a little trickier under the circumstances. Regardless, I managed to rally the (exhausted) troops and we headed to Hale Reservation. It was a beautiful morning and they were very content playing with their shovels and buckets in the sand.  We had a picnic lunch and they were both exhausted by this point. Thank goodness they still nap - they slept for 3 hours once we got home! They woke up in much better moods and we played until Oliver and Thatcher came over to play. We had a fun Friday night playdate in the backyard and ate pizza for d...

3/17/13: Catching butterflies with Sydney & Ivy.

3/3/13: Master Chef Silas checking out our dinner progress. We had a fun and busy Sunday. This morning we headed to Josie & Theo's house for a playdate. As things wound down Tim read the kids a story. And when it was time to leave S&Z staged a sit-in. We headed home for a much-needed nap, and then my co-worker Lina came over for dinner. The 4 of us made soup; I think it was probably Lina's first time cooking with two small children "helping". She was so nice to offer to take a few pictures :) While the soup simmered the kids convinced her to play ball. I love Sunday night supper. It's an excuse to set an extra pretty table and eat great food together. Derek often works so I've started inviting friends over to join us. Last week Rhiannon came over for Moroccan Chickpea Soup and leftover birthday cake . Tonight Lina and I made  Chicken Barley Soup . Eating a nice dinner with friends also helps me reinforce good ta...

2/22/13: On Friday Zoe & Silas went to the dentist for the first time. We've talked about going since I added them to my insurance this calendar year. It took a little searching to figure out where to take them; we finally settled on a nearby practice that Vanessa took Oliver to a few months ago. Zoe nominated Silas to go first and we all trooped back to the exam room together. He was a little apprehensive at first, but our awesome hygenist made the cleaning experience pretty easy overall. The dentist we saw has 5-year-old triplets, so we had fun talking to him. Definitely makes having twins sound easy! It really helped Zoe to watch Silas go first. When it was her turn she hopped right up in the chair and opened her mouth WIDE. They did so great!!!!! We celebrated the milestone and good behavior by having lunch at Blue Star :) After nap we had a playdate with Tracy, Josef, and Nick. All 4 kids had a great time getting some winter ...

I should have waited until after our New Year's Eve dinner with friends to post today's picture. This would've been my choice for today :)

11/10/12: We had a very fun playdate with Joe & Nick yesterday.  Alex, Joe & Nick's dad, set the kids up coloring in front of the fireplace.  Josef, who is 4-1/2 years old, drew the most precious picture of he and Zoe holding hands. Awwww....

Our landlord mowed the lawn one last time this weekend and Derek asked him to make a big leaf pile in the middle of the yard. We had a playdate with our friends Josie and Theo, so we took the kids outside to play in the leaves before lunch. They were tired and wet kids when it was time to come inside :)