We had a potluck at Avery’s school on Friday night. It was the last time we’ll attend the annual event, and it was so sweet watching the girls light candles with Director Jan, play with their friends, and (as in the last video) dance around.

-M

The girls, also big fans of the TV show “The Voice,” have taken a liking to “American Idol” this season. The three of us were watching the other night when one of the contestants sang Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come.” The first line is “I was born by the river,” and a few minutes after the boy sang it, Zoe very seriously asked me, “Mommy, do you think he was really born by the river?”

-M

Last weekend, a friend of Avery’s invited us to a children’s theater performance of Cinderella (now Avery’s second-favorite Disney story). The show was short and sweet, but  the real highlight was the meet-and-greet after. Avery – once afraid of characters, both live and stuffed – kept pulling me and heading over to meet the various characters, including Cinderella and one of her evil step-sisters (below). She loved it!

-M

I’ve said it before, but I’m continuously impressed with (and envious of) the natural optimism of children. Take the other evening, when Avery spilled hot chocolate on the fancy little dress she was wearing. When I started to fret that her dress was going to be stained (which, ultimately, it was), Avery threw up her hands and told me, “It’s okay, Mommy. People will just think it’s decoration!”

What a sunny outlook!

-M

Avery and her classmates gave a little performance for the parents last Friday; here they are singing about friends (old and new).

-M

Turns out that I’m not the only sentimental one in the family. Just before we bought our new car on Saturday, Zoe got very sad – saying she didn’t want us to get rid of “her car” and asking (once we explained we were leaving it at the dealership) if she could visit it. We suggested we take a few good-bye photos of her and car, so we can remember it, and here they are.

-M

We bought a new car this weekend (an Acura RDX) and it occurred to me shortly before doing paperwork just how many good times we had with our old car, which we traded in. We got our Camry hybrid just before Zoe was born, and we brought both girls home from the hospital in it. The picture below, in fact, is one of my all-time favorites from the girls’ early years. (Look how happy Zoe is to see her five-day-old sister!)

Thanks for the memories, car!

-M

When Avery was a baby, I would often take the girls to a nearby lake on our way home from school on Friday afternoons. We hadn’t been in a long time, but we stopped by on one recent sunny Friday.

-M