Sewing has been going on...as well as life

Amelia gets to go first this time. This is her crawling on the dog pads which seem to be her favorite spots!! Dog hair is just so interesting for babies as are the dogs that shed it.On to the sewing part...Here is the smocked sundress I made for Ella (niece). Sophia got one too but as always she will not wear it. I am so psyched that Sonja (sister) brought me her mechanical Brother. It shirrs and making these dresses is easy and very satisfying especially since I tried for about two weeks earlier and FAILED. (http://grumbeere.blogspot.com/2009/04/few-failures-come-my-way.html) And now to my most recent success and giddy-moment. These super cute skirts are for the girls to wear on Fourth of July as well as for pictures with Dayna (http://grumbeere.blogspot.com/2009/05/no-sewing-just-some-family-pictures.html). The photo session was set for tomorrow so I made the skirts today :) As I said earlier, deadlines are great. Of course that is if you meet them. Today is Father's Day and although I got Eric's cool pants made, I failed to get my own father's present even thought of. Back to the skirts, they are my second attempt at the napkin/bandanna skirt found at http://amazingmae.blogspot.com/2009/03/napkin-skirt-now-doesnt-that-sound.html.

These turned out really well because Sonja (still the sister) got me to decrease the width and so they are a little different from the previous two that I made. I still have no hope for Sophia but she better wear them for the photo shoot. I still have to make the tops (just embellishing t-shirts), but since Dayna rescheduled for Tuesday instead of Monday I have another day, yea!!!

Exciting Happenings

Okay, this has been a great summer so far. Amelia got baptized at St. Paul's Catholic Church on June 7, 2009. Her godparents, Melissa and George, came with their families. We had 12 kids in all at the pool afterwards, so it really felt like a celebration.

Then there is swimming...Sophia and our neighbor, Kelsie, started swim lessons two weeks ago. The first class went great, but the next two were a bit hairy. Poor Tante Sonja had to deal with them though since Eric and I were gone. Eli started his swim lessons a week later and has loved both of them.

Well, love 'em or hate 'em the results are wonderful. After a few days in the pool practicing what Mr. Sam taught them and having their Papas' encouragement here are the results. I am totally floored by the whole thing. I tell you what...summer is a great thing.

Not to be outdone, Amelia is officially crawling and doing so all over the house. While sister and Eli were all over the pool, she was all over Sadie.

Big Show Continued...

Just one more video. I love them so...

Sophia's Big Show

Oh my goodness, I can not believe how much fun I had today watching Sophia's big show at The Little Gym. We have been going there for a year and a half now, but this was her first dance class and her first solo class (no mama). It has been a hard transition and each week could be either great or horrible. At home, she always talked about it and ALWAYS wanted to wear her leotard. However, sometimes we got there and she didn't want to do anything. Today started that way too with her just sitting on the floor and not doing the practice run. Then the audience came in and man, she thought she was a star.

It was great and I was very impressed with how well they did. I have never seen them do the whole routine. I was also impressed that all the other parents got their girls to wear things in their hair!! She wouldn't even consider a ponytail let alone something on top of that! I felt somewhat bad that I didn't buy Sophia's outfit from TLG like the other parents, but $35 seemed a lot when I was not sure that we would make it to the end of the semester. I ended up buying her a red leotard and making the tutu just a week ago when I was sure that she would participate. She chose red out of the choices of red, yellow, and purple but as you can see purple was the overwhelming favorite.

They did a tap and ballet dance and then went into the gym to do a floor and balance beam routine. By the time they got to the balance beam they were all a bit wild. I think it was about as much as 3 and 4 year olds can handle. Today almost made me feel bad about not signing her up for next semester, but after this one and 3 days of school instead of 2 I just don't know if I could handle it. I hope that she will actually ask about it when school starts and then I will feel like it is worth the money and hassle. Until then...

BRAVO girls!