Och aye, what do you think of this wee lassie?

One thing I never realised before I had kids was the number of milestones that would leave you a bit teary. First day of school, sure. When the squiggles on the page suddenly make sense and your child can read, I could have predicted that one. But buying your first second hand kilt? Never anticipated that!

Louisa's been Highland dancing for over a year now and is still as keen as ever. Much more exciting than boring ballet apparently (although her sister would disagree!). So with a competition coming up in July, and many more to follow no doubt, I've bitten the bullet and bought this second hand one. A full dancing outfit can cost hundreds of dollars brand new from a fancy store (I think someone mentioned $900!) , so thankfully our studio organises for the costumes to be sold and resold and resold again second hand.

Now keep in mind we have a few adjustments to do: more elastic on the sleeves so they puff out more, a zip on the vest to replace the fiddly hook and eye, and of course hemming the kilt so we can see Louisa's legs when she's wearing the matching socks. We would have loved a green vest with gold braid and buttons to match to bring out the green and yellow in the kilt, but there were none available secondhand that fit - and I'm not sure I'm up for sewing one. Maybe a project for later in the year anyway?

And just for contrast, here's Lizzie from her end of year concert last year!