Ice Cream, Skis, and Katy Perry

Since taking the girls to get ice cream at Jersey Junction on the day that it opened, March first, they have subsequently asked to go to Jersey Junction every single day since. This, in spite of the fact that on about day three I told them that if they asked to go every day, I would keep saying no until they stopped asking every day. So here is something you don't know about parenting at the outset: Sometimes you will say no to your children seven days in a row, not because you don't want to do the thing, but because you can't let them become the kind of children who expect to go get ice cream every single day of their lives. They get upset when I tell them no about this, and I say, "Life is hard," and they are not amused.

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It was freezing last weekend, so the girls were able to finish out their ski lessons for the year. Annie is officially a waaaaaaay better skier than I am, and Jemma is well on her way. Jemma's New Year's Resolution was to learn to ski. I think she is the the only member of the family who has kept it.

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Two days ago, it was sunny and 65 degrees by the time I picked Annie up from school. We stayed for a while at the playground and then came home to play outside some more, where I waged a battle with Annie, who felt sure that 65-degree weather meant she should change into a bathing suit and flip flops, and could we have a picnic outside for dinner? We finally came to terms about appropriate clothing and spent over an hour outside, Rollerblading and scooting and drawing animals on the driveway in chalk. I had forgotten how wonderful and simple it is to do those things, and it gave me hope that spring coming will make everyone a bit happier.

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Annie is learning to play "Firework" by Katy Perry on the piano. It is awesome.

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House status: electrician wiring done, girls' new bedrooms being painted today and tomorrow, dresser and lamps and light fixtures ordered, curtain-sewing lady coming over to measure today, Jason's seven thousand instruments and piles of dental journals moved to the basement. The girls should be able to move up there in the next couple of weeks. It will be strange to have them on another floor, and I have visions of going upstairs for the first time in a few days and finding the floor covered with Polly Pockets, puzzle pieces, doll clothes, and markers. We are going to need A System. (Does anyone have A System?)