The Zoe and Silas Show

4/1/14: I had a really, really fantastic birthday on Tuesday. This year I decided to bring back the "birthday month", so I've already had a couple of birthday dinners with friends. There is nothing like your actual BIRTHDAY, though! Zoe & Silas were very sweet both the night before and the morning of my birthday. On Monday night Silas told Julia that they needed to buy me a present. She asked what he thought I might like and he replied, "maybe some lotion!".   They also managed to squash Daddy as I was on my way out the door- At work my co-workers surprised me with delicious birthday cupcakes at lunchtime. We had a journal club meeting in the afternoon and I arrived to find the room decorated,  complete with party hats and a tiara! Yup, I actually led a paper discussion about infant ERPs wearing a tiara :) Derek picked me up at 3:00 so we could hang out for a few hours to celebrate. I snapped a picture of his face wh...

12/31/13: Derek was off on New Year's Eve this year. What a treat! We made twice-baked potatoes, grilled steaks, and good ol' green bean casserole (we didn't get it for Thanksgiving this year so we decided to put it on the NYE menu). Silas was VERY excited to help Daddy with the steaks! He was also VERY hungry, so once again he was the first to be seated at the dinner table. Everything was delicious, we had a great night. And that's it folks! We did it! We made it through Project 365 for the second year in a row!!!!!!!!!!! The Best of 2013 photos coming soon!

We got home from Newburyport at 2:00 on Saturday afternoon, just in time to get ready for S&Z's birthday celebration with Derek's family. They were soooooo excited to celebrate with their cousin Kaylan! All 3 kids had so much fun playing with S&Z's birthday presents! The campfire set from Grandma and Grandpa D. was a big hit, especially since we have had a tent set up in their bedroom for the last few weeks. When planning the party S&Z decided that they wanted flatbread pizzas and a chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream.  Everyone was exhausted by the end of the party... Happy birthday, guys! It's been an awesome birthday month!!

Friday couldn't come soon enough - it was finally time to celebrate our 5-year wedding anniversary! This was only our 2nd time leaving the kids overnight. The first time we did it was in August of 2011, which means we were long overdue for some "us" time! After throwing around lots of ideas for where to go - we wanted to stay within about 75 minutes of Boston - we finally settled on Newburyport, MA. Located near the border of MA and NH, Newburyport is absolutely adorable. We had a great time walking around when we arrived late Friday afternoon to explore. We stayed at an adorable boutique hotel called The Garrison Inn . It is a very special place that just may be our anniversary destination in years to come! We went out for dinner at a steakhouse located in an old church that was just down the street from the hotel. All in all, it was a wonderful night away - our only complaint was that it was too short! It sounded like S&Z had a great...

10/11/13: My mom and I went shopping while the kids were at school on Friday morning, and the kids enjoyed a mellow day in the backyard after nap. Derek had to work on Friday, but we can't wait to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary at the end of the month!!!

Zoe & Silas were so excited to wake up this morning to streamers, balloons, and party hats! Zoe is definitely her mother's daughter, excitedly saying "these are our BIRTHDAY decorations! ooh, it's so BEAUTIFUL here with our decorations! this is our BIRTHDAY breakfast!  it's not your birthday today, it's OUR birthday!!" Little did they know what surprises I had up my sleeve for the morning. My parents arrived late last night, and the kids had no idea they were coming. They got a big surprise when Grandma and Grandpa Dave came out of the guest room singing happy birthday during breakfast! They had a fun morning playing with Grandma and Grandpa, and then it was time to open presents! We gave them a few books, some footed pajamas, and a good nite lite for their bedroom. The best gift, however, was definitely the superhero capes and masks! They ran, and rode bikes to wherever there was someone in need! T...