I don’t use Facebook that much anymore (which is a big reason we still use this blog to share photos and stories), but I log in almost every day for work and usually see the “your memories” graphic that often pops up. Avery happened to be at my computer when I logged in today, and she cried out, “Oh! It’s me!” when she saw the photo below. She put on a pouty face (and I’m not sure she quite believed me) when I said that no, this is actually her sister…

-M

Before Saturday night’s bar mitzvah party I let Avery play around with my make-up and – a rare treat – wear some lip gloss and blush. She had so much fun using my blush brush and smiling at herself in the mirror of her hotel bathroom that I just had to take some photos. (She was in there for a good 10 minutes…)

-M

We went to a bar mitzvah (for the big brother of one of Avery’s closest friends) over the weekend, and the girls had a blast at the party. Among the biggest hits: the dancing, the personalized spray-painted hats (which Q is wearing below) and the photo booth, where tons – and I mean, tons – of silly photos involving Avery were taken. (Oh, and those big blue sunglasses she’s wearing below? She liked them so much that she kept them on the entire day on Sunday – even when indoors.)

-M

Though it seems soccer just ended… it’s happening again! Avery signed up for the spring season, and she and her little Quidditch Queens (named after the game in Harry Potter) are having a lot of fun!

-M

To be silly I recently asked Avery what she thought of Zoe. Her response? “She can be a little annoying sometimes, but in general I like her.” (Sounds about right, coming from a little sister.)

-M

To cap off their unit on Japan, Avery’s class made sushi. It was our first day back from the trip, and Avery was exhausted – but she had enough energy to assemble and eat!

-M

Like the last time I flew alone with the girls (last summer), the three of us had some travel troubles: Because of a cancelled Madison-to-Denver flight, we wound up having a 14-hour travel day. It was a tough day but three things made it better: 1) Q, who was in Michigan with a client, helped from afar by booking us on later flights (if he hadn’t, we likely wouldn’t have gotten home until the next day); 2) The girls were unfazed by our difficulties getting home; and 3) My mom came back to the airport to play games and keep us company. “This is so much fun!” Avery said during what I think was Hour Three at the airport. And, later: “Just think, if we hadn’t gotten delayed we wouldn’t have been able to see Grandma again!” I love her positivity.

-M

As mentioned, lefse was one of my favorite foods growing up. Making it is a laborious and time-consuming process, so I’ve never attempted it – and I was so happy when my mom suggested we make some during this trip. We spent one whole morning in the kitchen, and I loved that the girls got to watch their grandma make it, just as I watched mine when I was a kid. Even better, they seemed to like lefse as much as I do!

-M

My parents didn’t think they could make their annual spring trip to San Francisco this year, so we went to them instead. It was a quick trip – only three full days there – but we packed a lot in. And a real highlight was the whole family making lefse, one of my favorite treats from childhood.

-M

Speaking of holidays, while I was sick the girls were busy celebrating Purim. It’s a big deal at their school: There was a family game event one night, a school-wide celebration another day, and a variety of other activities throughout the week. They also got to dress up (Avery was Queen Esther), and the second graders, in particular, seemed to really enjoy themselves.

-M

They may have been on her mind because of the recent Tu B’Shevat holiday but the other day, quite out of the blue, Avery mentioned how much she loves trees. “They do so much for us,” she told me, before asking aloud, “What can we do for them?” She thought for a minute and then suggested, “Maybe we should write on a piece of paper, ‘I love you’ and tape it on one of them. They’re just so sweet…”

Oh, Avery.

-M

There’s been a lot going here lately, and once again I went silent on the blog for far longer than I intended (or wanted)! A few days after Avery got sick, I got the sniffles, which turned into something much worse: I wound up in bed for much of last week with a flu-like virus. The four of us then headed to Madison to visit my parents last weekend, and a cancelled flight and 14-hour travel day (why have we had so much bad luck with flying lately?) left us all very tired this week. Luckily (knock on wood) we’re all better and back to our routine — and I’ll have more photos and stories to share soon.

-M

At Open House each year the fourth-graders have a Health Fair, during which they display the work they’ve done on their health-related topic. Zoe chose sleep, and she spent much of the last month doing research and putting together a presentation. (I even hooked her up with a sleep doctor I work with at Stanford; he was nice enough to do a 15-minute phone interview with her after school one day.) Included on Zoe’s presentation was her Q&A with the doctor, a summary of the amount of sleep people need (did you know 75% of teens don’t get enough sleep?) a breakdown of the stages of sleep, a description of some common sleep disorders, and lots of photos. When I asked Zoe just now her favorite part of the project, she told me, “I enjoyed researching because there were a lot of interesting facts. I also liked presenting and teaching people about sleep.”

-M

Open House is a big deal at the girls’ school, with each classroom displaying the kids’ many post-winter break projects across subjects. In Avery’s class, we heard about the work the kids have done in their Japan unit, watched them read their haikus (also done as part of the Japan work), saw their Henri Rousseau-inspired artwork, and read Avery’s Hebrew essay on her good friend Mila. (Mila showed her mom her essay on Avery at the same time, which made it even cooler.)

-M

Zoe and her classmates have been working on two major projects since the break: the health project (as mentioned below) and a project on Jews of the World. For the latter, Zoe picked a country (Scotland), researched and wrote a report on the Jewish community there, and presented her work (and offered a Scottish Jewish treat that she made) at a parent event on Wed. morning. She and two friends explain more in the video below.

-M