The Zoe and Silas Show

9/14/14: Derek recently requested a change to his work schedule and it was approved as of this weekend. He will now work 10-hour shifts, 4:00pm-2:00am. This means longer workdays and less sleep, but more days off. After years of having a work schedule on a 6-week rotation he will now have EVERY OTHER Friday night off, EVERY OTHER Saturday-Sunday-Monday off, and EVERY OTHER Tuesday-Wednesday off! The schedule took effect today, so he enjoyed a day of football, I enjoyed a day of shopping, and we all enjoyed a Sunday night family supper! The kids even helped set the table...

The week is a blur of 11-hour workdays and I think I missed a picture on Friday. Here is one  from Saturday morning instead (sorry for the toilet shot)! #superwomansupercutiepie

8/27/14: Zoe & Silas came to lab on Wednesday in order to help us pilot some new physiology equipment. Zoe volunteered to get wired up first. You can tell by those smiles that she was a super trooper! The equipment she is wearing allowed us to measure her heart rate, respirations, and overall activity level while she participated in a series of tests that measure a child's temperament (aka, personality). Of course they were fascinated by watching the various signals on the computer (Silas, in particular)... Silas was up next and he also did a spectacular job! They are our super star scientists in training!

7/18/14: Silas participated in an EEG study at the lab on Friday. As always, he did great!! I've been dealing with some major work headaches lately. Silas was helping me puzzle over one of them Friday afternoon :)

7/11/14: We are getting ready to launch some new tasks with older kids for one of my studies, so Zoe & Silas came in today for some piloting.  They did great, and had a very fun morning at Mommy's work!

I am really behind on my posts! Between being back to work full-time and doing lots of fun stuff this summer, I officially am in a blog hole. I haven't even finished posting pictures from Maryland a few weeks ago and now we just got home from an awesome weekend of camping on the Cape... Unfortunately, the blog as we know it is coming to an end. I will have to decide ASAP if I can backfill the last few weeks or not. In the meantime, thanks for hanging with me, dears!

6/11/14: Reading books while I got ready for work on Wednesday morning.

5/30/14: We had a goodbye lunch for Lina on her last day. I'm not in the lab on Friday's so S&Z came with me to the lunch. They did SO GREAT, tolerating a 1-1/2 hour lunch with 7 adults! GOODBYE, LINA!!!!!!!!!! WE MISS YOU ALREADY!!!!!!!

4/20/14: The Easter Bunny was hard at work last night after date night. The kids were SO EXCITED when they got up this morning! They came running into our room promptly at 7:00 to tell us there were EGGS and BASKETS in the living room! They had a BLAST doing the egg hunt, narrating every single step of the way! They made a nice haul of money, play-doh, and a little candy. There is nothing like chocolate easter bunnies for breakfast! After the Easter madness died down we continued our organizational kick of the weekend, putting away the winter gear and pulling out the summer hats. The "kids" in the house took a break to show off the assortment of hats :) Derek had to work at 3 so we made our weekly run up to lab with my work clothes and food for the week. S&Z wanted to document this week's food assortment, which included bananas, apples, avocado, tomato, greek yogurt, string cheese, hummus, Ezekiel's sprouted bread, crack...

4/9/14: I felt better on Wednesday morning and was soooo happy to have a cup of coffee first thing in the morning! At work I was wearing a new Stephanie-inspired outfit, so I had to take a picture to send to her! The first thing Silas wanted to show me when I got home was a phone book that was delivered to the house. He sat at my desk "working", which involved pretend typing on the keyboard and making notes in the phone book :)

3/29/14: On Saturday morning we hosted a neuroscience-focused field trip for a group of 6-7 year old girls who participate in a STEM club in Milton, MA. We talked to them about the brain and showed some of the different methods we use to study brain development. These girls were AWESOME! Total girl power! In the afternoon, I dragged S&Z to the Verizon store so that I could take care of my 2-yr phone upgrade. Upon arrival I could tell we would be there for a VERY LONG TIME so I parked them in front of sales floor iPads for the duration. Of course they were enthralled, since they don't play on any devices at home. #dowhatchagottado

3/2/14: This afternoon we made our weekly trek to lab to drop off my work clothes and food for the coming week. This weekly ritual helps ensure healthy eating during busy workdays. Typical "groceries" include yogurt, fruit, crackers, carrots, hummus, cheese, almonds, granola or cereal, and lunches for the week (this week is Lentil and Spinach Masala  which I'll eat in Joseph's Flax, Oat Bran & Whole Wheat Pita Bread). This trip is also a necessity because I power walk 5 (total) miles every day as a part of my commute, which requires wearing exercise clothes and changing when I get to work! Silas worked on a self-portrait on the (15 minute) drive over. He's wearing "sunglasses" in this one. They know the drill and waited patiently under the awning while I got everything out of the Pilot. My friend and colleague Sandy was working today so we stopped by to say hi on our way out. She's got an awesome view - S&Z agreed!

2/21/14: Silas has been obsessed with our old flip phones and anything related to electronics lately. When the kids woke up this morning they "played games" on their phones before breakfast. The lab had a going away party for Vanessa, who is moving to Chicago, over the noon hour today. I'm lucky to have amazing co-workers. Here is a picture of Juliana playing "lions" with the kids after lunch. 

1/28/14: Somebody got up early on Tuesday morning and wanted to help Mommy get ready for work!

1/24/14: Taking a break in Mommy's office after helping out with one of the research projects.

12/27/13: There were power tools to be played with first thing in the morning! Mom & Dave helped us a lot with watching the kids after Christmas - I worked on the 27th and they once again held down the fort after Derek went to work.