Much better weather last night, as re-scheduled, than a week ago during the snow storm.
While setting up a game, Margot said, "Mama, I don't play by the rules. I make up my own rules!"
Now I'm picturing her in black leather, riding on a motorcycle, and living life on the edge.
Grammy got Margot new fancy shoes and she hasn't willingly taken them off since they arrived. (I'll let you imagine the fights at bed time and the day when it rained.) To go with the sparkles and tulle and PINK, Margot will now only wear dresses or skirts or both at the same time. To show the depth of her devotion, she now refuses to go outside because that is where fancy shoes get ruined. She learned that after some exuberant puddle stomping destroyed a pair of suede flats.
I wish the shoes had come during a heat wave rather than the gorgeous not-too-hot that we've been having. Hot weather is coming, so the reign of the new shoes is probably almost over.
Someone has figured out how to use a sippy cup. It's amazing how quickly she is developing new skills. They just show up one day like someone flipped a switch.
Isla has had her first tooth (bottom right) for about two weeks now. It's not sticking up much, but it's there. Well, today I discovered that it's neighbor, bottom left, is just poking through. The age of biting has begun!
Big upload running on the Flickr side of the house tonight, wrapping up our week on vacation. Go check it out, or let me know if you don't have access or know where to look...
Let's just say the girls are having a certain amount of fun on vacation... More on Flickr - let me know if you can't get there.
Some shots of the girls...
Vacation shots from the Cape, for those keeping track at home... We'll try to keep up the posts. 'Cause, you know, we're umm, wicked busy.
Apparently we're entering the frightening age of having two mobile kids. I put Isla down on the floor-gym mat this evening . . . a couple of minutes later - "where's Isla?":
Isla fell asleep while sitting on my lap. She is doubled over forwards holding on to her foot. Not sure how long this will last, but it's super cute!
Margot's "Bears" class had their "closing ceremony" today for the first year of pre-school. It was a relatively low-key deal with parents and some grandparents and a short program including a bit of the kids' usual "movement" and music activities and a chance to say thanks to the teachers and staff.
This also is close enough to her "I see someone I like" smile to give you an idea of how cheery it is to be around Isla most days.
Margot likes to start the day by telling Isla about what we will do. This morning she said, "According to myself, we're not going to Tot Time today because I am sick."
Daddy and his girls are sporting their Valentine's themed outfits for the day.
Margot has two desires in life (three if you count wanting to be a princess). She wants to play ice hockey like Daddy and do ballet. We gave her a leg up on the first dream by finally taking her ice skating.
The first surprise came when she let Daddy put the skates on and didn't complain once about how tight they were. This was a big issue when we bought the skates.
Oddly, getting the helmet on was a bit of a challenge, but then she was safe to go out on the ice.
And they were off. There was some falling over and some holding on to the wall.
When Margot came off, she was so happy and excited. She laughed when she told me about falling over and how not-very-bad it was. 
Isla slept most of the time and woke up to celebrate her big sister's accomplishment.
Next year Margot will be old enough to take lessons. None of us can wait!
Margot fell asleep mid-play. Just after getting the bouncy chair setup for her doll, I looked over and saw her feet sticking out from underneath it. Then the snoring began.
It's times like this when I know I've kept her busy, entertained, and well worn out.
If you don't live near us, you might not know that we have gotten a lot of snow this month. Margot has had a snow day each week since the year started. We have huge piles of snow everywhere that is convenient to put them, but nowhere to put snow from the two new storms we're expecting this week. Our driveway plower came to the rescue. He rented a front-end loader and moved the piles of snow off to the side. This made for an exciting show while we ate our breakfast.
Margot has been working on dressing herself. The results have been pretty incredible. Here is an example of her sporting her best America's Next Top Model attitude.
Margot was playing with an ice cube today. She informed me that she had left it upstairs on top of her dresser. Fearing that it would make a mess, I told her to go get it before it melted and ruined something. So Margot jumped up and ran out of the room yelling, "Hang on, I'm coming Ice Cube!"
If her sister's going to be Queen, she'd better be a Princess, no?
(I'm trying out the photo-sharing link from Flickr to the blog . . . let me know if anything looks funny. You should be able to click through these images to the Flickr page and get multiple resolutions, etc.)
