The video below offers 17 seconds of something we see all the time (though not normally on the beach): Avery dancing and singing and generally acting silly. The added bonus is the crazy wailing of her older sister.

-M

We took a break from our decorating and organizing over the weekend to take a quick trip to Santa Cruz, where the skies were blue and the beaches (thanks to everyone being back in school) were empty. Here are some pics.

-M

Zoe isn’t the only miniature mommy in the family, which I’ve been reminded of several times recently. After Zoe got in trouble for not cleaning up and used the “But I said, ‘no thank you’ when you asked” defense one night, Avery told her in a scolding tone, “Mommy wasn’t asking you to do it, she was telling.” And on another occasion when Zoe was acting out, Avery looked at her and said, “Is that how a first-grader is supposed to act?”

-M

I haven’t posted this yet, but this photo from our recent Phoenix trip is one of my new favorites…

-M

Zoe’s school is closed this week for the holiday, but it offered all-day care on Tuesday and Wednesday for those who needed it. We planned for Zoe to go both days, which she was fine with (and even excited about), but when I dropped her off early Wednesday, I couldn’t help but feel a little bad. She was the first kid there, and it was just so… quiet. I rarely get working-mom guilt, but I left with deep pangs of guilt and regret. Was I abandoning her (and, worse, would she feel abandoned)? Was she going to have any fun? Should I have just taken the day off work to be with her?

Fast forward to pick-up, when I was told that Zoe had set up a play “spa” (massages, pedicures, etc.) and had been putting on dance shows for her schoolmates all afternoon. (She had even made tickets – “The Zoe and Reed Show” – for everyone!) I sat down along with the 6 or 7 remaining kids and watched her perform in the gym (below) before we left – and I couldn’t help but feel grateful over how happy and at home she is at school! (Even when there is no school.)

-M

In honor of Rosh Hashanah, I asked the girls what they could do to be a better person in the new year. My (many) video attempts were less than perfect – Avery wiggled and made silly faces in one; Zoe practically choked in another – but I still thought two were worth sharing.

-M

Today is our anniversary, and it’s crazy how much things have changed over the last nine years… Likely even crazier? What we’ll see in the next nine!

-M

We are in full-fledged decorating mode for our lower level (which no longer looks like this), and the four of spent a lot of time at various stores over the holiday weekend. We didn’t get it, but Zoe seemed quite taken with one colorful accent piece…

-M

“I wish I was Zoe,” Avery commented to me over the weekend. When I asked her why – assuming she would say that Zoe is bigger and/or first-graders get to do things that a preschooler cannot – she simply said, “Because she’s so cute.”

-M

At Back to School night last week, I got to visit Zoe’s new classroom, meet with her teachers and hear all about the school year. (More in a future post, but bottom line: First grade, with desks, homework, etc. is the real deal! In retrospect, kindergarten was really more like preschool.) Another plus: Seeing the family portrait she had just drawn and reading a special note she had left for me and her dad. (And, yeh, it made this sentimental mama tear up!)

-M