Happy New Year!

We had a fun, busy day today. First were services this morning. I sat on the bimah and opened the Ark, dressed and undressed the Torah, and got to look out on the whole service. It was fun. Buppie came with us, which was a nice treat. M paid attention but A was squirmy.

Then we had brunch at Abigail’s house. At one point, M was sitting on the porch, eating with Jessica and her sister Julia. They looked like three ladies at tea. At one point I came out to see them and they stopped talking. I said, "What are you talking about?" They started giggling. I asked, "School? Barack Obama? What you’ve read lately? TV shows? Food?" Each topic I suggested made them laugh dismissively, like "Mom! Why would we talk about THAT?" Finally I got them to confess – they were talking about birthdays.

This afternoon we took the girls to Tashlish, a nice tradition where people from the synagogue go to Rock Creek Park and throw bread into the creek to symbolize the washing away of sins. Daddy told the girls to think of something bad they had done, and they couldn’t think of anything. So he suggested they think of something nice instead. A said, "I am thinking about hugging M, and also about birthday parties."

Here are some photos of all of the girls at brunch wearing dress-up clothes.