The girls were off school for parent-teacher conferences last Thursday and since I had to work, Avery set up a little desk and settled down right besides me. (She wound up working on her first-grade activity book for awhile. As for Zoe, she just sat in her favorite chair and read Happy Potter most of the day.)

We later went to the library, where Avery picked out a series of books and magazines and made me laugh when I asked her to smile for a picture. “Um, please don’t distract me, Mama,” she said. “This looks like a good book.”

-M

Literally moments after I published my last entry, Zoe ran to the computer and excitedly asked, “Mommy! Do you want to play Ring Around the Rosie with me and Avery!?” She and her sister had set up a “school” in the playroom and were dancing around; when I joined them and saw the happy, sweet look on her face as we held hands and moved in circles to the song I couldn’t help but think, “Well, I guess she hasn’t changed that much…”

-M

I’ve been so busy chronicling our day-to-day life and sharing photos that I haven’t talked much about what the girls are like these days.

Avery is in one of her best phases yet: Silly, loving, super fun to be around. With her big eyes and innocent look, she’s right on the border of baby girl and bigger girl. (I remember clearly the transition happening with other kids sometime before first grade.) She climbs on our bed and wakes me with an “I love you, Mama” almost every morning, and she’s always jumping on me, caressing my face and hair, and just wanting to chat. “You remind me of a puppy dog,” I told her just this morning. We just had our conference with her teacher, who reported that she is quiet and serious (!) at school and very into whatever is being taught. She’s where she needs to be at academically; she’s still an “emerging reader” but she’s also younger than most of her classmates – and I’m thinking she might follow her sister’s lead and begin to fully read shortly after turning six.

Zoe, meanwhile, is in a bit more of a challenging phase. Over the past month or so she has been sassier and testier than normal (especially with me!) and she pushes boundaries much more than she used to. Part of the problem, which I recently talked about with her Hebrew teacher, is that I’ve always held Zoe to a bit of a higher standard. She’s always been a bit more mature and helpful than her peers, so when she acts her age by acting out, I’m totally thrown off and wondering what’s going on. The good news is that she doesn’t exhibit difficult behavior all the time, and her teachers say they haven’t seen any change in her at school, where she’s happy as ever and still doing really well. Most of her time at home is spent reading; she finished the fifth Harry Book this weekend (a real feat – considering it was nearly 1,000 pages) and she’s absolutely in love with the series. I”m not sure what she’s going to do when she’s read all the books!

-M

Q and I went out to dinner with friends last night, and I wore something other than my daily uniform (i.e. skinny jeans and a little top or sweater). When Avery saw me in my black pants and high-heeled booties, she commented, “Oh, you look fancy. I hardly recognized you.”

-M

Two last pics from my parents’ recent visit… (The first is from the fountains at Yerba Buena Gardens, which the three of us explored while the rest of the gang was at a movie.)

-M

We usually stick close to home when people visit, but we built in some time for touristy things with my family this time around. Included on the agenda was a trip to the Wharf and a boat tour of the Bay.

-M

My sister surprised me by coming along with my parents for their recent visit here. (Imagine my surprise when she sauntered into my garage, as Q – who had picked everyone up at the airport and kept this secret for me for three months – and I were unloading the car). I was so happy to see her, and the girls were too!

-M

It’s been a busy month for us – first with our Florida trip and then with my family’s visit. My mom and dad’s trip here happened to fall over Grandparents Day at the girls’ school – perfect timing!

-M

It was a long time coming, but Zoe’s fish, Talia, died last week. She lasted longer than many Betta fish do (they usually live 2-3 years, and we’ve had her for at least that long), but that was just a small comfort to Zoe. She was very sad when we broke the news to her (though, actually, she handled it better than I thought she was going to), and she worked out her feelings by penning a letter to her first grade teacher, Mrs. E., and writing a poem in her fish’s honor.

-M

Of course we also visited Zoe’s class for Open House, and the highlight there was the students’ poetry – done as part of their unit on Japan.

-M

Open House is a big deal at the girls’ school, and luckily we didn’t miss this year’s: It was held the day after we got home from Florida. Our first stop was Avery’s classroom, where we got to look through their workbooks and journals and read about what they’ve been focusing on in science (dinosaurs, and the chicken’s life cycle). We also got to see the kids’ self-portraits; bright and festive Purim decorations set out on a pretty table; and a poster of all the “princes” and “princesses” in the K-B (that’s “kindergarten blue”) Kingdom.

-M

Life with a “loving-able” (her word) five-year-old can be pretty sweet. Case in point: Avery saw me in a dress the other day and commented, “You look pretty, Mommy – like a princess.”

-M

One last note about Florida… You may have noticed a photo of Zoe on the boogie board in the water. Out of our two girls, she’s the one who’s often hesitant when it comes to physical activity. And she’s also the one who was once totally freaked out by the ocean and waves. I was so happy, then, when she jumped on a board and rode a few (biggish!) waves with her dad. She’s proving to be a real California girl!

-M

And, of course, much of what we did in Florida was hang out with family – including the girls’ new cousin, Lily!

-M

Some more photos of our trip, including ones of the girls in our rental (we surprised them by getting a convertible, which they loved) and two  from the b’nai mitzvah. The photo of Avery dancing with her cousins is blurry but too good to not post. She was just so… happy!

-M