This is definitely the cutest thing I've ever knit for Em. It's the Emma Peel dress from the Mason-Dixon knitting book. I used KnitPicks CotLin which is a cotton/linen blend.
Side view. I love it so much, I may need to start another one in the next size up.
The back has a sweet keyhole that buttons up. A first for me to make.
Em's got a case of the stripes. I knit this dress for Moo several years ago - Marfie returned it for Em and I paired it with a pair of Moo's hand-me-down tights. I have to admit to loving to dress Little Miss up in her little outfits. 
My knitting has been slow going this summer. Little Miss just needs a lot of attention and watching so I've only had time for a few small projects. A recent finished object is a head scarf for Em, matching her knit dress.
Yeah! It's Nana & Jonesie - in town for their annual end of summer fling. E is very excited to spend the week at home with his grandparents. Lots of projects and outings are planned. Tall House, Double Cup and I celebrated four extra hands to help take care of Em - she is all over the place these day.
We had such a good time with cousin Kallie in town. Tall House, Double Cup was off in Costa Rica for the week and I don't know how I would have managed without her. She and E spent their days together playing, watching Spongebob and going to the park. When I would ask E at night how his day was, he would sigh and say, "perfect." He had never had a whole week at home - no preschool, no camp, no structured activities - and he loved it. I am so glad he got to do it with Kallie.
I haven't posted a good cheesecake picture of Emme lately.
E had a great session with lots of improvement. I can see the true beginnings of the front crawl.
Em enjoyed class much more than this picture shows. She went completely under at least half a dozen times and came up gulping but not crying. What a girl!
Just one day left of swimming lessons. E is still underwater more thn above water. He's a little fish - though still working hard on his crawl - that's a lot of coordination to master - video below.
Em loved her swim lessons and went under several times - she didn't love it, but she didn't cry. Her video is all play with Papa.
This picture sums it up, don't you think? Traveling with kidlets is so much more complicated and crazy than I ever thought - and yet kind of fun when you successfully meet the challenge.
We love going to the Beavers baseball games. They are so family friendly and casual. Little Miss goes with the flow in the backpack and E bargains for as many treats and bouncy castle tickets as possible.
We'll celebrate the library with the Summer Reading Day toward the end of August - all of the participants in our program get a free ticket to the game. I love seeing hundreds of kids wearing their Summer Reading shirts at the same event.
We had a crazy fun 4th that started at 9:30am and ended at midnight. We are all still a little bleary and sleepy this morning. For the second year in a row, we celebrated with Marfie's crew at a fabulous pre and post parade party hosted by Auntie B. 
She treats us to a gorgeous brunch and super fun decorations for bikes and wagons. We marched in the Eastmoreland parade - which is a sweet little slice of Americana. The kids revel in the party.
We had a visit with the grandparents after the parade - which gave Em a chance to nap. We then headed home for a neighborhood bbq and then fireworks in the street. E was wired and wide awake so he and I went for a sneaky midnight walk around the neighborhood. It was so fun to walk the streets in the dark with just the sound of far off fireworks. Tall House Double Cup and Little Miss were fast asleep when we tiptoed in and finally feel into bed.
Okay - so as you can see in the picture, shopping for Em's first pair of real shoes didn't go so well. As soon as the salewoman got close to her, screaming ensued and didn't stop until said saleswoman was long, long gone. I whispered to her, "Lovey - this is the Nordstrom's shoe section - it's the beginning of a lovely friendship!" She wasn't buying what I was selling. But the shoes worked out great. Sweet little Tevas that fit her sanding-block-shaped feet.
She tried out the new shoes at the park and recovered quickly.
This was my week to finish crafty projects for Little Miss. This is the second knit/sew sundress I made this week out my stash of yarn and fabric. It's so simple and right up my alley as I don't like a lot of detail work. She inaugurated her dress at Tiny Tots storytime - and had a total blast. She was totally into the other kids and got into in the whole rhythm - even though this was our first time.
Em suffers from neglected second child syndrome - E was a storytime regular at 6 weeks and Em has to be one before she goes to her first. Terrible, I know. But I made it up for her with the homemade dress, right?
Another finished object - a one button flyaway cardigan for Little Miss. I knit it with Cascade Cotton from a Debbie Bliss pattern in an 18-24 months size - which Em wears already - but I knit so loose, it turned out much bigger as you can see. Putting it away for next winter.
It is a lovely red - a cross between barn red and watermelon red. Really it's the perfect pedicure color.
I finally finished one of my crafty projects - I've had several in progress knitting and sewing piles going this spring. This is a sweet combination of knitting and sewing and the result is a very sweet sundress for Little Miss. You can get the pattern from KarthrynIvy.
We had a lovely Father's Day - celebrating Tall House, Double Cup in all his glory. We went out to breakfast at Zell's, the boys took the submarine tour at OMSI, and we went to dinner at our friends' house and ended the night with E playing on Wi for the first time (he talked of nothing else the whole way home). It was a good day to celebrate our best Papa. Love you so! Picture outtakes below. 
Posts
All Comments
