Look out below!

The last week or so, maman has been delegated to write the blogs because papa has to been so busy at work. With another week of vacation on the horizon, papa has decided that it's time that he jump back into the blogging fray. Speaking of jumping, have I ever mentioned how I love to leap off of high objects. Although I prefer soft landings, I typically will take the plunge without giving much thought to what I'm going to find at the bottom. It's OK, maman and papa haven't had too many heart attacks.

Speaking of growing up, parrain and ma tante Joanne are getting married this weekend, so we're heading down to Bouctouche soon. I'm sure papa will eventually get some of those photos up as well as more from our Maine adventure.

Birthday parties!

I am happy to report that I have managed to make it to a computer and post pictures of my second one year old birthday party! My second birthday party was held at grand-papa’s and grand-maman’s on the 11th of August. I know, this is taking forever to be published….And to think that I am so cute in these new pictures. (I’ve also added one of Emmanuelle to stop her from complaining)
Anyway, back to the important subject, MY birthday party…Lot’s of people came to see me at my party. It was so much fun. I am really popular. I mean, how many kids need two parties for one birthday?

Well I am off now. We need to get ready for Mon oncle Claude and Ma tante Joanne’s wedding. Emmanuelle is in the wedding. I am not really sure as to why they put her in the wedding and not me! I mean really, I can capture the attention as well as she can. Just ask maman and papa how great I captured their attention last night! I was great. I managed to keep them up for almost 3 hours strait! God I am good.

Vacation: What a great concept

I know what you are all saying, how can a 2 and 1/2 year old need to go on vacation. Simple! I work very hard. I have to wake up in the morning, eat, get dressed, go to BElla-Connie's to play all day, come back home, eat, try to complicate maman and papa's life who are trying to get some order in the house, then I need to take a bath and try to stay awake until at least 9:00 to drive maman nuts! This is hard work you know.
So I was very pleased when grand-maman told me that we were going on a voyage très très loin and that we would go to the plage. WOW! Now this was fun. We got to go shopping. Well that was fun for maman but not really for us. The clothes she got us were cool.

Now the fun part about the trip was that we got to go to the beach and jump over waves and play in the sand. What more can 2 young girls ask for? And in the evening, grand-papa would make a fire and would let us eat popcorn (although, one must admit that grand-papa is not really good and making popcorn over a BBQ). All in all, Izzie and I would say the vacation was a success and we can't wait for the next one.

Connie's guest musician

This week at Connie's Izzie, myself and the rest of the girls were treated to a guest musician. Our sense of music right now is limited to what comes out of the CD player and from time to time, our Dora DVD player in the game room. Known only to us as Uncle Joel, he was a master on the drums, so as you can imagine we watched with rapt attention.

Izzie was already so impressed with his musical prowess that she almost fell down when he picked up his harmonica. It was impossible to distract her from the music that was coming from that little instrument. I'm sure that if she was given the opportunity, she would have went on tour with Uncle Joel and left us at home alone with papa's sorry attempts to play our little piano in the playroom. Maybe, if papa grew out his hair just a little bit that would bolster his ability to carry a beat?

Just to prove that she wouldn't be a liability on the road, Izzie then too over the drums to show that she had skills too. We were all so very proud of little Izzie this week, now if only she can channel that same amount of energy into helping me clean up my bedroom, we'd all be much better off.

Sharing? That's a joke right?

Now don't get me wrong, for the last year I haven't really minded having my entire life turned upside down by Izzie's crying, taking my food, diverting a significant amount of attention away from me, not to mention gifts, stealing my toys and pulling my hair. I understand the merits of sacrifice. I'm told this is all in the greater good, you know how it goes, it's far better to be a multi-lateralist than just going around doing things on your own. Just consider me the United Nations of sisters. So when I heard we were having a party to celebrate Izzie's first year, I thought the gifts were for me. What has she done in the last year to deserve presents? I'm the one that should be getting the gifts. So if she wants this water table from grandmaman and grandpapa, she's going to have to move me -- no matter what maman and papa say.

This present is bigger than me!

In our house, you quickly learn that you must fend for yourself. Anyone who has seen Gribouille can understand that he has learned that lesson quite well. Meanwhile, check out Toulouse, he is slowly coming to that realization. I digress. At my birthday party, when I crawled over to see a pile of presents in our family room, it was heartening to hear that they all belonged to me. One day when I can read as well as Elle, I'm sure I will be able to figure that out on my own. Opening gift bags and tossing around tissue paper is pretty easy for a one-year-old girl. When the present is a few inches taller than you and several pounds heavier than you, I think it is OK to call in the reinforcements. And in our home that means Elle (unless we're talking food and in that case Belle gets the call). There wasn't time to blink before Elle was at my side, explaining in no uncertain terms that she was taking over this present-unwrapping mission. Next thing I know, paper is flying in one direction, the card another. Connie and maman were bracing the box so it didn't smother me, not that my big sister would really have noticed in her haste to check out -- what I must stress -- my gift.

So what exactly do you do with cake

For weeks leading up to my birthday I kept hearing this chatter in the background about chocolate cake. Until that time, my only experience with cake was when Elle was having a tea party in our playroom and she offered me cake and coffee from Second Cup. Here I thought her pony tail was a bit too tight, so I just accepted the faux culinary gifts and played along. Seriously, who am I to question her? So on my party day, I was greeting all these visitors and, again, I kept hearing people talk about whether I was going to have chocolate cake. My interest was piqued at this point. What possibly could elicit this much interest? Was I walking into an elaborate birthday party ambush with chocolate cake? So when maman appeared signing a song with a flaming candle stuck in a piece of what I could only guess was chocolate cake, one could assume I was a tad bewildered.

But it didn't take long before I decided if I was ever going to fully appreciate chocolate cake I really had to get my hands dirty. Once that proved a success, I decided to get my arms dirty. And then my face dirty. And then, for fun, my hair dirty. Standing in a state of shock and awe were my beloved parents, grandparents and assembled friends. It's like they had never truly enjoyed the experience of chocolate cake. I'm now fully in support of chocolate cake for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Sadly after my first experience with this divine treat, it has mysteriously disappeared from our nightly menu. That is such a pity, we had such promise together.

Hey, back off, this is my present

Living with my big sister Elle brings many blessings. Unconditional love, constant hugs, an ever-present laugh and an unending sense of humour are just a few. That said, she isn't always the most, shall we say, open to others sharing what she perceives to be her spotlight. So on my birthday, it was absolutely crucial for me to put my little pink sandal down and say, "Elle, I love you, but these are my presents."

Is it nap time yet?

Grandmaman always makes wonderful meals each time we go and visit them in Bouctouche. Before lunch, there is so much to do. We run around outside on the deck, swim in the pool, play with all our toys, chase grandpapa around the house, jump on Belle, so you can imagine how tired we can get. So it's no surprise that from time to time, I'm too tired to finish my meal!

Some sisterly love

Elle likes to think she is the boss in our household and truth be told, there are many reasons why that isn't exactly a fictious belief. So on the days that she wants to prove that she is indeed my big sister, I don't exactly try and stop her, mainly because it is too much fun just to play along.
There could be many ways to emphasize this point and one doesn't have to go too far back to find the perfect illustration. Monday night we were enjoying some downtime in the post-New Brunswick Day festivities. I thought it would be fun to sit in my Dora chair and just observe the world revolve around me, Elle had a different idea.


Without wasting a second, she squeezed in behind the window and I. Her giggles gave away her sinister, sisterly plans. She thought it would be a lot of fun to make an Izzie sandwich.
Some one-year-olds would take such an assault with great umbrage, I however have become used to Elle's antics. She means no harm and it's hard to stay frustrated with her when she erupts into full belly laughs as soon as she finishes whatever it is she is doing. Her reaction is sometimes funnier, it is somewhat akin to a comedian laughing at her own jokes. It is also difficult to stay upset when each play session ends with a hug and a kiss. As far as big sisters go, she's not bad.

Get used to this smile

You better get used to this smile because over the next week or so, faithful readers of Elle and Belle's Excellent Adventures will receive a heavy dose of this cute little grin. Papa finally downloaded more than 70 photos that he has been storing on the camera for the last two weeks. Compounding this deluge of digital bliss, it was my Fredericton birthday party this weekend where my friends Bella and Olivia came over to visit and play with us. Elle and I also loaded up the camera on New Brunswick Day and just hamming it up in front of maman and papa. So as long as papa can spare a few seconds over the next couple of days, I expect you all to be treated to some fantastic photos.