About Face *updated with cuter pic

Announcing the new...the improved...the "it was there all along but we just couldn't see it" cuteness of Mr. Zach. ("Z for Zach," he calls himself, proud to be able to identify his favorite letter of the alphabet.) The long-haired plan just didn't work out. Dave really wanted to hold out for a few more months until it got attractive; I reached the end of my rope with it about four months ago, somewhere around the time that the sunscreen and sweat set in. Apparently I was not alone: His teacher at school said happily on Tuesday, "Hey - only two more days until the haircut!"

Dave is completely stretched to the limit. He has been training for a marathon, coaching a soccer team, maintaining his blog, picking up the household slack for me when I work on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and working triple-time to hold his Oregon campaign together until election day. Last Thursday there was a concert at the Hollywood Bowl that he was dying to go to; so on Tuesday night when I climbed into bed I whispered into his ear, "I think you should go on Thursday night." The next morning he looked at me and said, "Do you really think I should go to Oregon on Thursday night?" (What?!!?) It was then that we realized he truly needed a break, so he went ahead to the concert and had a great time.

Now I have a dirty little secret to share: Work is actually fun. My Tuesdays and Thursdays in the office are actually kind of cool in a way that I didn't experience before. People are appreciative of the work I am doing, and they pamper me with meals and treats. It is entirely different from being at home where small people are unappreciative and demand me to give them meals and treats. So it's a fun break, and working just on Tuesdays and Thursdays is the perfect balance. I wouldn't want to do any more at this point because I want to be home with the boys, but hey - it's nice to be appreciated every once in a while.

Oh, and another little thing - I ran the hometown 10K on Saturday. I have to say this is a town that really loves its fitness. There were 3,600 runners in the race, out of a town of 30,000 people, so almost one out of every eight people in town ran the race. I came in 137th out of a whopping 243 in my age group (women age 40-44). But who cares about the time, really? I had a good time and felt good doing it.

Later that day was Luke's soccer game and then the hometown fair, at which Luke and I worked in the booth for his school. As a thank you to the mom volunteers, the organizer set us up with 10-minute foot massages at a swanky local salon. So after our shift, I dragged Luke back downtown and he dutifully sat and waited while I got my toes deftly kneaded and rubbed. When it was over, I pried one eye open and gave the man a big thumbs up, after which he smiled and proceeded to work on my hands for a few more minutes. (This is an unrelated but gratuitously cute picture of Luke holding one of the dogs up for adoption at the fair.)

Later I brought Luke and Zach back to the fair and we got two more fish (that's right - more fish). They are two friendly little goldfish that the boys named Rocky and Joe. I have rarely seen Zach's tender, protective instinct come out as fiercely as it has with these fish. He took control of their little tank almost immediately, and very carefully carried it through the park and all the way to the car, then held it in his lap for the ride home. In this (pre-haircut) picture he appears to be giving his best Don Corleone look that says, "You wanna mess with these fish? You're gonna have to mess with me!" I told him how proud I was of how well he took care of the fish, and apparently this struck an important chord for him, because he has been asking me repeatedly to tell him again how well he took care of the fish.

So I guess it goes without saying that this was not meant to last. Joe the Fish apparently died last night and (shhh!) before the boys knew about it Dave ran off to the pet store to get a replacement. I still don't think either one of these fish has much time left on this earth, but miracles have been known to happen. Or who knows, maybe we'll adopt a dog to take their minds off the fish.