I call this the Ancestry.com trip, since a lot of time was spent teaching Silas about his family tree:
Finally (for this post anyways), Alden and Silas were reunited, and enjoyed a game of fishing.
And that's were I'll leave it this time...
Let's start with pictures of the cousins, shall we? These are all cousins on my side (ie. my sister's children). Adam helped Silas put together a Lego set.
It was Adam's 10th birthday while we were visiting. 10! Welcome to double digits, nephew.
Silas' youngest cousin, sporting the well worn sweater I made for him.
Bouncing on Grandma's knee:
More goofiness:
Silas loved playing in the "fort" my sister's kids built along the stream in their back yard.
Carefully crossing the bridge:
So much more to post...but that's all for now.
I've got a couple hundred pictures to sort through from out trip to Wisconsin. I'll post more soon, but to start us off, here's the last picture taken while in Wisconsin: My sister and I and all of our offspring. I love our goofy kids.
It was a happy Christmas morning here on Planet Silas, and a lovely day all together. We video chatted with Grandma and Papa, opened presents, played, and had brunch with Patrick and his mom.
Along with the wrapped presents, I like to hide a few things in the bows of tree. Silas found two fire dogs and several firefighters tucked amidst the branches. I told him a few days beforehand that there would be surprises left by Santa in the tree. The story got a bit confused as he reported to me on Christmas Eve that Santa himself would be hiding in the tree (sounds a bit scary to me but Si seemed to think it was a fantastic prospect).
I think he must have been a good boy this year. Santa done him right.
Hours of imaginative play. My favorite is when the firefighters have conversations. He does a different voice for each. Priceless.
Me and Squishy Bear. It doesn't look like it, but he wanted to have his picture taken. Hugs beat presents.
Later in the day...Brunch at Patrick's. Silas is waving to Drew's family. They are still trying to work out some kinks with Grandma G's computer so that we can video chat. They could see and hear us but we couldn't see or hear them. Half way there!
Patrick's mom, Silas, and a good book.
Patrick and Silas still had time to work on some art:
And that's a wrap! In closing, I wanted to say that this was, in many ways, Silas' first Christmas. We try not to make a big deal of things, try not to have too many presents, try just to hang out as a family and enjoy ourselves and each others' company. That being said, this was a big deal for Silas. This is the first year that he was really aware and understood what was happening. His excitement was infectious. Christmas can be a stressful and even sad time for a lot of people and I myself have struggle with that as an adult. But Silas puts everything into perspective for me. This was a largely stress-free holiday thanks to him and so, I will end with two quotes from our young sage:
Drew just commented that he couldn't find a very recent photo of the three of us. I said that in fact I had just inadvertently taken one while trying to get pics of the sweater I just finished. Hehe! Sometimes it's the un-posed images that are the most telling of what life is really like.
Peering down from the top of Grandma and Papa's stairs...
And, practicing his scales with his Daddy and Papa looking on:
It's hard to believe that our WI trip is more than half way over already. I still have a fair amount of pictures to sort through, and we still have more activities planned, including a trip to Madison! We were supposed to have a lot of snow today but thankfully, it seems to have passed us by, so far. Grandma G. is enroute right now to spend the day with us. I'll be back with another blog post soon.
We have been video chatting with my parents lately so that they can see Silas, and he can see them. We've had a lot of fun interacting in this way, and we're hoping to have this set up with Drew's mom soon too.
In front of the computer are some of the things Silas brought out to show them, including his harmonica (he graced them with a long solo), his cutting board and wooden vegetables and fruit, which he sliced up for them, and his keyboard, which we encourage him to pound on, rather than our laptop.
We hear it all of the time -- "He looks just like you, Amber." Looking at the two of us together in these pictures,well, it's pretty hard to deny the resemblance. I had the same light blond hair as a child, and the same smile. And if you saw pictures of my father as a tot, you'd never doubt the power of genetics again. They could be twins, seriously. Drew has also commented that there are moments he sees his paternal grandfather in Silas.
So, Drew's side of the family is in there, too. You can see that Silas' eyes are darker than mine--closer to Drew's in color. I always say they have eyes the color of olives. 
The boys also have matching beauty marks on their foreheads, which I think is pretty cute, considering that my mom, sister, and I all have matching beauty marks on our cheeks. 
Silas thought this sand digging toy at the park was the COOLEST THING EVER!
Most of the pictures in this post are from grandma's camera, so unfortunately, there aren't a lot of images of the grandparents with Silas. I did manage to take this one, though:
He likes swings more and more.
The playground has some musical/sound exploration activities, including this great xylophone. Since Silas loves music (he can sign the word "music" now, and he signs it both when he wants us to play some music, or when he hears a song that he likes), so he's very interested in banging on the keys.
And, the day is not complete without a hug from Uncle Patrick.
