The girls’ school have a tradition that I love: Once a year, each grade leads a prayer service for their families and fellow students, something that takes months of preparation. It was the third grade’s turn on Thursday, and it was so nice to see Zoe – so much bigger than the last time around! – up there.

-M

Avery and her first-grade classmates just completed a read-a-thon (thank you to those who pledged!), and their project, and the photo of Avery below, were featured in the school newsletter today:

For the third year in a row, first graders in Ms. Barbara Eisenhauer’s class have been reading to Heather Sanders and her therapy dog, Ginger, from the San Francisco SPCA. Students learning to read often face obstacles, including feeling shy or anxious when reading aloud. To overcome these obstacles, first graders have been practicing their reading skills by reading to Ginger. And to give back to the San Francisco SPCA and their Puppy Dog Tales program, first graders recently completed a read-a-thon to raise money for this wonderful program. After collecting pledges for reading minutes from family and friends, first graders took on the reading challenge by reading at home during a seven-day period. While pledges are still being collected, so far first graders have raised over $1,000!

“I can’t tell you how my first graders look forward to Wednesday mornings!” exclaims Ms. Eisenhauer. “The students have such a wonderful rapport with Heather and Ginger. They feel so safe and supported with their reading.”

This was the scene at pick-up one recent afternoon…

-M

As mentioned, we were visited by Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Sandy last week. Here are a few pics from our time together, which included visiting the Ferry Building downtown, drawing with Grandma, and playing Groovy Girls with Sandy.

-M

Avery’s class got really into Opening Day; see below for a Giants cheer and classic song.

-M

The Giants play their first home game of the season this afternoon. The girls won’t be there, but they still showed their team spirit today!

-M

I haven’t posted in a bit – there’s been a lot going on! My parents and sister arrived for a visit last Thursday, and the girls have spent a lot of time with them (photos coming soon). Avery has been keeping busy reading for her school’s read-a-thon (which raises money for the SPCA) and practicing for a musical that her class is performing late next month. Zoe, meanwhile, just joined a running club at school, and when she’s not playing with her sister or playing school at home, she has her nose in a book. In other words: It’s business as usual for all of us.

-M

If we’re in town on Easter, we like to visit the Union Street Spring Celebration. (Look how little the girls were four events ago!) We didn’t make – or win a prize – for a hat this year, but we still had fun. Here’s a pic from our time there on Sunday.

-M

For a long time now, the girls – and Zoe in particular - have enjoyed playing school, running restaurants or spas, and putting on various shows; they can spend hours doing it at home. During a recent mellow day, Zoe got the idea to put on a magic show, and flyers (along with attached tickets) like the one below were put up all around the house. The opening line – “Attention magician lovers!” – got my attention.

-M

The girls celebrated Purim in school today: There was a parade and carnival, among other activities. Avery wanted to use her Halloween costume again and dress as a witch; here she is (in the back row, of course) with her classmates.

(As for Zoe, she didn’t like the idea of wearing a costume – uh oh, has she gotten too old for that? – but opted to wear a fun clown hat and wig instead.)

-M

The girls came home from school one day last week inspired to do a project: Avery had made some sort of dough in class and they wanted to replicate it. They said they knew the recipe, and they whipped on their aprons and out came the flour, the corn starch, and a few other kitchen staples. Their project wound up being very, very messy (thankfully, Q cleaned up what the girls couldn’t), but they had a lot of fun.

-M

The girls didn’t have classes today (parent-teacher conferences), and I gave them the choice of going to school for “extended care” or staying home with me while I worked. Their choices say a lot about their personalities: Avery wanted to go to school, where she could run around and play with her friends, and Zoe wanted to stick to home, where she could read and play quietly.

Zoe was, indeed, quiet and mellow; the more independent of the two girls, she barely needed anything from me all day. And I had to laugh when I commented how quiet it was and she answered, “Yeh, it’s just so relaxing when Avery isn’t here.” (The girl needs some sister-free time sometimes, and that’s okay!)

-M

Each year the girls’ school opens its doors to grandparents and special friends for one afternoon; this year Safta flew into town to serve as the girls’ guest. I love this photo from their afternoon together.

-M

A few days before her sister celebrated St. Patrick’s Day, Zoe’s class got into Pi Day. As described in the school newsletter:

Students in third grade used Pi Day as a segue into their new Singapore math unit on geometry. In pairs, third graders measured various-sized circles using string. Through this activity, students discovered that regardless of the size of the circle, the ratio of the circumference to the diameter was always approximately 3.14. “As we tallied up our result [of the circle-measuring activity], students were excited to see who came closest to 3.14 with their measurement of the various circles,” says teacher Lori Galante. “One group actually got 3.145!”

We don’t celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, but Avery’s teacher does! Today Avery walked into a holiday-themed classroom, and Safta was there to see it.

-M