The Zoe and Silas Show

This is the 3rd year that I've taken Silas and Zoe to the Nelson Lab holiday party at Chuck's house (see pictures from 2010 here and 2009 here ). As usual, we were some of the first guests to arrive. Chuck & Gwen had an array of crackers on the coffee table, so naturally they made a direct bee line. There was a delicious smoked bluefish spread, and that's basically all they ate for dinner. Once the other kids arrived we got them settled in the sunroom with some toys. They had a lot of fun, although Zoe looks none too pleased in this circle of boys... Zoe and Silas, 26 months; Oliver (striped sweater), 27 months; Auden (fireman coat), 35 months In addition to the "big kids", there were a few little ones as well, including another set of twins! Liam & Madeleine just turned 1 last weekend! Thatcher is Ollie's baby brother, almost 6 months Zoe made the rounds and befriended all the ladies. Zoe and her bestie, Rhiann...

2011 [insert birth of two small children who subsequently hijacked my life] 2008 The year we got married 2007 So cute and (relatively) young and not even engaged.  Funny we made a Christmas card. Merry merry merry Christmas!!!

Because this blog gets bound up as the kids' baby book , I'm posting a couple of recent quotes. Quote 1. Zoe is cutting two more molars. Her mouth was actually bleeding yesterday and she has been MISERABLE the last two days. Her first 2-year molar came in a couple of weeks ago and I didn't even realize it was happening. She was so crabby I was convinced she had an ear infection and actually took her to the doctor. So tonight she was having meltdown #379 of the weekend. I took her over to the rocking chair where we have literally spent hundreds of hours over the last two years rocking crying babies/toddlers. I covered her up with a blanket and we snuggled for a few minutes. Silas brought a ball over to her and gave her a hug. She said "all done sad", and wriggled out of my arms to go run and play. Atta girl, Zoe, atta girl. Quote 2, from FB. Alissa Westerlund Silas points to my forehead tonight at bedtime and says "boo-boo". I said, "n...

I wish I could come up with a good analogy for the experience of decorating a Christmas tree with two 2-year-olds. Look at those faces and let your imagination run wild on this one. They loved the whole experience and created havoc with the tree and decorations for over an hour! Once they decided they were done, I kept decorating and they pretended they were going night-night with Daddy. Then they played and played and played... Silas in particular is having a hard time keeping his hot little hands off all the Christmas decorations around the house (although amazingly only one ornament has been broken so far!). You can see him actually holding his hand back in this picture. Zoe does her share of poking too! Silas is obsessed with an ornament tree that I set up for the first time this year. I caught him getting his nose really, really close to it. And then he touched it. And then he boy-handled it and started shaki...

We're always looking for ways to get vegetables into S&Z (although thankfully their pickiness has resolved a bit since I wrote about it this summer ). When a friend mentioned them, Derek immediately ran with the idea and started making lunchtime smoothies. We all love them and they're a breeze to make so I thought I'd share the instructions. All amounts of approximate, use whatever sounds good to you or you have on hand. Fresh fruit would of course be great, but we use frozen since the fresh fruit is consumed so readily around here. The main goal for serving smoothies to toddlers is to make them liquid enough to be able to be sucked through a straw. If the consistency is too thick, just add more juice! 3 carrots, cut into 1" pieces (a stalk of celery is yummy if you have it) A few handfuls of fresh spinach (~ 1 c.) or ~ 1/2 c. of frozen spinach 1-1/2 c. of frozen fruit of choice 1/2 c. of greek nonfat plain yogurt Orange juice Blender Combine the car...

S&Z are really curious about everything this holiday season. Santa is one of the biggest icons of the season, so they have definitely learned who he is. They don't understand anything beyond recognition, but it's really fun nonetheless. And honestly, who doesn't love the jolly fellow in red, especially when little kids are involved?! We took the kids to see Santa for the first time last year when they were 14 months old. I was shocked that no one cried and that we got a decent picture from buying a Kodak photo package. This year I got wind that Bass Pro Shops at Patriot Place in Foxboro gives one free 4x6 printed picture with the option of buying digital or print packages. We've never been to Patriot Place (near the stadium where the New England Patriots play football), so we decided to see Santa on the cheap. I was worried that the kids might be wary of the big fellow, so we looked at the picture from last year and talked a lot about going to see Santa again. T...