The girl’s school hosted an open house for parents today; we got to look around the classrooms and explore the many projects they’ve been working on over the past few months. Among the highlights with Avery: her koala project, a Hebrew weather report (which she and Q are looking at below), a Marc Chagall-inspired piece of art, and a feature on her favorite body part. (It’s difficult to read the text, but she likes her eyes because if she didn’t them “I would bump into everything.”)

-M

We spent the weekend in Tahoe, where the girls had their fill of wintery activities: They didn’t ski, but they did snow-tube, ride on a snowmobile, make snowmen, and get in plenty of snowball fights. I love that, despite having visited cold-weather places plenty of times, they still get excited by the novelty of snow. (They’re such San Francisco kids.)

-M

Since right after the break, Avery has been hard at work on an animal research project. First she had to pick an animal, then read about the animal, and write a brief article and do a visual piece. She chose the koala and decided to do a little poster-board quiz about the animal for the visual component; the answers appear when you flip up the faces. Our family knows way more about the koala than we did before!

-M

Unlike when they were little, the girls have few matching outfits. But they do have one dress in common – and over the weekend they decided to pull it out and dress alike – right down to their socks and underwear!

-M

Avery loves her first-grade teacher and takes her words very seriously. One day last week, after a good chunk of students came down with colds or worse bugs, Mrs. Eisenhauer told the kids they should go home, drink a hot beverage and curl up with a book in order to ward off sickness – and sure enough, that’s just what Avery did. As soon as walked through the door, she requested that I make her a cup of hot milk “with a teaspoon of sugar” and plunked herself on our brown leather chair. (She wound up getting sick a few days later, but at least we tried…)

-M

Last night, Q and Avery surprised Zoe with a belated Valentine’s Day present – a large stuffed bear that Zoe has since named Snowball. Her reaction to the present took me by surprise: She grabbed and hugged the bear close to her and immediately started reading a book to him. Later I heard her tell him, “Tomorrow I’ll teach you how to read and introduce you to all my other stuffies,” and this morning I watched as she did indeed introduce him to her stuffed animals in the playroom.

Just when I think she’s getting so old, she reminds me that she’s still very much a little girl!

-M

Like her sister before her (and in honor of Presidents’ Day), Avery was asked what she would do if she was president. Her answer was a sweet one.

-M

…from our little lovebugs.

-M

Before our party last weekend, to make it easier for us to get ready, a friend offered to take the girls to the zoo. Zoe chose to stay home to help, but Avery opted to go – and, based on the fun she had on the new obstacle course there, I think she made the right call!

-M

Q (and then, later, me and Q) has hosted a Super Bowl party for as long as I can remember, and this year was no different: We opened our house yesterday to about 40 of our friends and their kiddos. There was a lot of prep work beforehand, but the girls were huge helpers; in the photo below they’re stopping for a little break.

-M

We’re ready for it!

-M

Another highlight of our time downtown: the girls ziplining near a replica of Golden Gate Bridge. It wasn’t as picturesque as our time in Hawaii – but fun just the same!

-M

In honor of the upcoming game, downtown San Francisco has been transformed into “Super Bowl City.” It officially opened on Saturday, and the four of us headed down to check it out.

-M

There is a big emphasis on spelling in the second semester of first grade, and Avery has been hard at work at her words. After chatting recently about the strangeness of the inclusion of the letter “k” in the word “know,” I jokingly said, “Why is the English language so difficult? Who should we talk to about that?” Her reply: “Talk to God.” (And when I asked, “Okay – what’s his address?” she told me, “You don’t need one – He lives everywhere.”)

-M

More school fun – this time a field trip to the Hiller Aviation Museum for the first grade. I tagged along and got some pics…

-M