It has been an exciting few days around our house! For the first time in 7 years, Andy and I went somewhere without kid(s) in tow!! We escaped to New York City for a Broadway show, great food, and a chance to be grown-ups. And what did we do? We went to FAO Schwartz, the flagship Toys R Us in Times Square, and shopping in Chinatown for Zoe. Even without the kids we were doing things for the kids...and we had an absolute blast doing it. Meanwhile, the kids were home being entertained by Andy's Mom and Dad (affectionately known as Gaga and Poppa). Among other things, they took the kids sledding, as you can see from the picture. Caleb loved, loved, LOVED it! Zoe thought it was ok, until she got snow in her face (compliments of her big brother, we think). It's hard being the little sister, I know. I'm still waiting for my chance to get even with my three older brothers for everything they did to me when I was Zoe's age. I keep telling Caleb, "You better be careful...she may be smaller than you are now, but her memory is long." He'll get his someday, I'm sure. Truth be known, Caleb is much nicer to her than she usually deserves. Take yesterday, for example. Caleb is minding his own business, sitting on the couch, watching Animal Planet, when Zoe walks in and stands right in front of the TV. (She does this to him all the time!) Then she plays deaf when he asks her to move...over and over and over again. So yesterday, he poked her. Nothing big, just one finger to the chest to get her to move. Miss Dramatic comes limping into the kitchen to tell on him. I asked Caleb, "Did you poke Zoe?" His response, "Uh...no?" I said, "Are you lying to me?" He said, "Yes." (At this point, I'm just trying not to laugh because while I'm grilling Caleb, Zoe has started favoring several other body parts. I can see what's coming next - she's going to try blaming him for her month-old hang nail, her stuffy nose, and her latest haircut, among other things.) Anyway, it's too late to make this a short story, but Caleb grudgingly admits that he poked her, so I turn to Zoe to ask her what she was doing standing right in front of the TV...when she suddenly decides maybe she's ok after all and getting Caleb in trouble isn't worth it if it means part of the blame is going to fall back on her and so she runs away, suddenly very interested in whatever the dog is doing. And can you believe that the whole time I was in New York, I missed them both like crazy?