It's been a long time since I've written about what my kids are up to, so I thought I'd update you.

Zach and Ben

Ben is 18 now, and he will be graduating from high school soon. There's no actual date set because he's homeschooled, so whenever he takes his last final exam, he is done He's taking a gap year because he thinks he's been working very hard and deserves a break. He completed his Eagle Scout project earlier this year, is the President of our Temple Youth Group and is a teacher's assistant at Hebrew School. So he was busy, but he doesn't believe me when I tell him it's only going to get worse.

Zach, my 16-year-old king of angst has been at the Palace Theatre and UNH summer camp for the last couple of years. He loves musical theater and has been in:Pocahontas, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Annie, Shrek, Oliver, Xanadu Seussical and is now rehearsing for Fiddler on the Roof. His taste in musicals runs more toward the dark side - Repo: The Genetic Opera, Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, The Devil's Carnival and Next to Normal, but there don't seem to be any children's productions of these available.

Josh as a gargoyle

Josh is studying for his Bar Mitzvah, which will be in November. Our cantor says he's doing well and she is going to have him lead more of the service along with the usual Bar Mitzvah responsibilities. My husband promised Josh that if he led the entire service, he could make my husband shave or style his beard any way he wanted. I'm a little afraid of what might happen, but I'm going along with it.

Tirzah has just turned 11 and is as goofy as ever. The pink hair is permanent, but the tattoo mustache is temporary. She reads like nobody's business and even though she has to go to her bedroom at 8:00, she's often still up reading at 11:00. She claims she can't fall asleep, but it's surprising how quickly she does once the lights are out. It goes against my nature to tell a kid to stop reading, but she gets very crabby when she doesn't get enough sleep.




They're all fine - happy and healthy and on their own paths to adulthood. I'm proud of each of them and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think how lucky I am to be their mom.