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

The morning after Avery’s proclamation about boys, she spent a long time lingering at Zachary’s desk (in Zoe’s classroom) at drop-off. From the looks of it, Zachary didn’t mind the attention!

-M

The other night I asked Avery if she had played with any boys at school that day. “I don’t like boys,” she told me, echoing a comment from earlier this summer. “The only boys I like are Zachary, Daddy, Grandpa and Pop Pop.”

She’s not her sister – that’s for sure!

-M

The other evening, Avery came running up to me, sniffling and complaining that her sister had squeezed her arm. I called Zoe into the room and the following exchange took place:

M: “Zoe, did you squeeze your sister’s arm?
Z: “Welllllll, I wouldn’t really call it that.”
M: “What would you call it?”
Z: “I would call it lightly touching and grabbing it.”

Someone would make a good laywer, I think!

-M

Hard to believe, but Avery has started her last year of preschool! She’s now a big kid at school (she’s in the Elan class, along with other 3.5- and 4-year-olds), and she sure has changed a lot since her first day two years ago!

-M

I forgot to mention that Zoe experienced a (not-so-pleasant) first when we were on our recent trip: She got stung by a bee. The girls and I were in the lazy river when Zoe started hollering and saying her hand was “paining me;” once I realized what had happened I plucked the girls from the water and ran through the water park to the first-aid area. (I’m sure we were a real sight, with me and Avery dripping wet and Zoe screaming and holding up her hand.)

Zoe wound up being fine, of course (the good thing is that we know she’s not allergic!) and Avery wound up enjoying herself (she got free Dippin’ Dots from the hotel out of the deal). And what I’m most happy about is that Zoe hasn’t developed a fear of bees after the experience; when a bee landed on my floral bathing suit the next day, Zoe was calm and told me not to panic. “Don’t worry, Mommy,” she said, knowingly. “The bee just wants to pollinate.”

-M