Memorial Day

I had to work very early today, before sunrise! That wasn't easy and I was tired all day at work. They started really picking up business just as I and my other department coworker were leaving to go home! Too bad, they scheduled the most of their help to leave early and then there was just one person left to deal with the crowd. I brought an apple pie we all had 'cut pie' for a snack, which was very good. Esme liked the apples in it, but not the crust. I was proud she tried it, though.. as she was doing her 'blech' routine at first. Then Grandpa and Grandma brought visitors over and we walked to the lake. Esme played shy. After they went back to Grandma and Grandpa's house I gave Esme the choice of playing in the lake more or having a bath. She chose bath. After the bath the attitude started in, throwing a fit over a diaper change and over not being allowed to bring her riding car toy upstairs etc... but she ate her dinner well and hopefully she will crash to sleep now.

I'm reading 'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy while at work.. it's depressing, but I keep hoping for some light at the end of the tunnel for the two.. I wanted to read the book before the movie comes to DVD, and a friend had a copy to loan to me.

Kangaroo shirt with pocket

Finished the kangaroo shirt this morning and it fits well. It is a size 3 to 4, which is leaving a little room to grow. I made it as short as possible in the skirt area, so it is more a smock shirt than a dress. It is also very cool for her, with room to let air up underneath it and as thin of fabrics as possible. The whole thing cost less than 5 dollars for materials - but took probably about four hours to make over the course of a few days. And there is enough of the two white fabrics to make something else with another fabric in place of the yellow gingham :)

The kangaroo embroidery was just for fun - and it will probably tear up some over the washings the shirt will endure. But the idea was too good to pass up :)



Here is the pattern used - it is Simplicity 8170 from 1977. It's something I got from a lot of patterns off of Ebay back when she was too small for this size. It is really for a nightgown or pajama set - but I was more interested in the shape of the top part of the shirt (bodice) and the size.


Drawing with Grandma


Investigating the hydrangeas
didn't let her pull any off - but she said they were pretty


Trying to ride our tolerant and very gentle white dog 'Bunny'

Esme's proud of her doggy, the dog just wants to be rescued : "Please? Hey, you're posting this on the Internet, aren't you?"

After lunch she asked Daddy 'Daddy, go fishing?' hehe but he had already been fishing so she didn't understand that. When Mom is at work she always goes fishing with Daddy after lunch! Then she was sitting on her floor pillow in her room watching SpongeBob.

Later we went to the lake with the truck and Daddy fished for a while. He tried to talk Mama into fishing too, but I wasn't in the mood. So, we all went for a swim. Esme wasn't too happy about that - she got out as soon as we let her and grabbed everyone's shoes saying 'on shoes NOW all done go truck - you Daddy on shoes NOW' etc etc... so we drug her back in the water for another short time - then we all went home. I'm happy to say the kangaroo shirt survived all of that (and chicken and crackers I found in the pocket after lunch, too!!) It is now freshly washed and folded on her clothes table, looking in good condition and ready for another day of hard use in the future...

A Friday in May with kangaroos

Kangaroo dress in progress
and sand/mud toys

I'm not too ambitious today. Twice last week I had twisted this one ankle. I've broken it long ago and every once in a while it twists along this certain way and I am hurting for days. Yesterday at work was no picnic, and I have another day today. It's not constant - mostly on turning and stopping.. so all the more annoying that I can do what I need to do, just have to be careful about how I go about it.

We let Esme play in the yard yesterday supervised from the porch. I didn't feel like running around with her or going to the lake - so she played while I embroidered and worked on her dress. Bunny dog and Misha dog kept a constant eye over her so I could look up every minute or so and still do something else. She was pretty good - we only had to call her back from the road to Grandma's once - and she came up and gathered up her sand/mud toys when she was ready. Then she had a bath, as she was filthy, with sand and mud and leaves all over her... but hey, a kid has to get dirty sometimes ;) and she enjoyed it. The poor dogs got water and leaves thrown on them, too... but they're more used to that sort of thing.

I am embroidering a kangaroo peeking out of the pocket of Esme's yellow gingham dress. It is very cute. The sewing machine was acting up some last night. After Esme went to bed I was trying to do the seams on the dress and broke two needles in just a few minutes.. then it was okay again for the night... not sure what is going on. I left one sleeve undone and will try to do it today, then take the rest of the kangaroo embroidery to work for my lunch hour.

Another long day

Mark did some mowing, visited Grandma and Grandpa, then went to the grocery store and butcher shop etc etc... and then we went down to the lake for a very short trip and left Daddy there to fish. Esme had a bath, requested to see a specific movie, watched it nearly all the way through then collapsed asleep on the floor. She hardly ate anything at the barbeque yesterday - but made up for it today with fish, bread, strawberries and cereal with milk. I bought a little bit more white fabric and now that Esme is asleep on the floor I'm getting ready to make another dress top. Esme picked out a specific "ye-woh zip zip" (yellow zipper) so trying to incorporate that and a little yellow gingham into the new dress.

Early day tomorrow - need to do a little laundry as well and get to bed a bit earlier...

Barebeque and horses

pictures in no particular order

White dress

Tried to make a white dress out of the lightest muslin I had - did some last night and some this morning and just finished it right now. Esme brought every toy she had to me and piled them at my feet - all night playing little games with her elsewhere and then getting back to doing a little more... etc. Then she fell asleep on a floor pillow by me with all the toys still spread everywhere on the floor. The dress is just a tiny bit big on her - but it looks like it will fit well soon. We are going to the flea market tomorrow if it isn't raining and we wake up on time (it's very late now) and are invited to a barbeque at a coworker's place in Henry, TN. Mikey from work is going as well with her little ones so we hope Esme can play with her youngest.

Goodnight!

more verbal

We were on the phone with Nana last night from Minnesota and Mark was telling her about as a kid he had once slept through a tornado in a doublewide trailer. Esme pops up and says 'Double-U(letter W) Y?' It took me a second to figure out exactly what she meant but I cracked up laughing. She was about to go get us some letters to show us what she meant.

She also had a long conversation with me about glasses and 'cow shirt' and a few other things last night. She wants another cow shirt. I found the green fabric that I had made the old one from (and she was wearing that one at the moment) and she draped it all over her and walked around hugging it for a while. But I told her I had no more 'cow' to put on the cow shirt (cow fabric), so I couldn't make another cow shirt. She went through my fabric some, to the extent I would let her, and was looking for 'cow.'

This morning it was thunderstorming outside and she says 'what's that?' I say it's thunder and Mark says the big doggie Bunny is afraid of it. We told her she had to tell the doggie it was alright and she would be okay etc.. and she hugged her and petted her and said 'alright? you okay? thunder okay.' etc...

I tried to sew a shirt last night for Esme but it was just too HOT, and that was eleven o'clock at night. That means we'll have to turn the A/C on soon... trying to put it off a bit longer.

Verbage

Even more words than usual coming from our little Esme - and she is trying to repeat things that make us go 'huh?' The other day she was saying 'Danny Kaye' when he was on an episode of the Muppet show, and she was also singing 'Happy Birthday to you' to kitties on Caturday that had birthday cakes. Today she is saying 'bad alien' to a Simpsons cartoon episode where Mr.Burns looks like an alien and scares Homer. She was also trying to say 'iguana' to her Starfall letter 'I' and that was hilarious as she has to stretch her entire face from side to side and stick her tongue out to make the 'gw' noise. I'm just not sure what else she is going to say next and neither is she!

I hear Grandma got a couple of earfuls today too, very little of it understandable.

I love it :)

saturday again and dreaming fours

It's been a whole week already again... so hard to believe.
I'm sewing some afghan squares together here and there. Esme is worrying me just a tad with a very odd color in her diaper - I'm blaming blue Kool-Aid. I just hope it gets "through" with soon or I'll start to worry more. Mark gave away the last of the puppies yesterday - so we are down to just two puppies (Nova and Esme). haha

It's odd how my imagination works. In my dream last night Esme was quadruplets - and I was trying to get them all ready for a trip to town. I was putting dresses on them - the raglan long sleeve dresses, but in different fabrics than I had made the real ones in. That was clue one I was dreaming (why wasn't the quadruplet idea clue one?) - the second clue was someone was asking what the girls' names were - and I said they were all Esme - as if it was normal - and that I usually only brought one to town but today we were going on a longer trip so we had to bring all four of them... which was difficult.

What spurred this dream? Esme woke up at 3 in the morning and demanded a drink cup refill - but she wouldn't let me change her diaper. And it needed it! Luckily I didn't have to change her clothes, as it wasn't wet through yet. It was such a fight that when I went back to sleep for a few hours before getting up for work - I dreamed what it would be like times four! I also thought maybe these were the different 'states' of Esme - upset, awake, asleep etc... one Esme had her hair wild and was running away from me, another was crashed on the floor of her room asleep, one sitting reading in her bed, one sitting at a table with her hair nicely put back etc...

I really liked two of the dress fabrics in the dream... haha, imagining a dress in a different fabric felt odd too.



One was a muslin cream with brown flowers on it like the upper left - and another was blue stars with white sleeves.. her bumblebee buzz dress (real) made an appearance as did the fabric from her Christmas dress.

Rainy rainy days and old projects come back

I made this dress when Esme was four months old. I don't think I ever posted it on the blog - just on my flickr account. It was supposed to be a one year size - and I never completely finished it because I was annoyed by the seam tape in the armholes. I finished it today - BECAUSE - it fits Esme now. And she is in size 3 and 4 vintage patterns... so either I messed up at the time or the 'new' pattern I had made it out of had the sizes really off compared to the vintage. That is true in women's sizes but I didn't think it was in kid's sizes. Anyway, I finished the hem and added it to the pack of things that fit her now. I doubt the seam tape will wash well, but it's better than hiding away in the storage box forever. I put her Christmas dress from 2009 (in the pictures) away in the storage box. It is still in such nice condition and I would love her to have it when she is older.

Esme is doing something odd today - climbing up in my lap and then squeezing her eyes really tight and sitting there clutching me. She was either afraid of the lightning/thunder or about to sneeze.. we were trying to figure it out. We both slept for twelve hours straight last night so I was wondering if she is coming down with something. I took her temperature and it was normal. I asked her if she wanted a bath and she stopped doing it and ran to the bathtub, happy as could be. She's done it a few more times today but the rain is just now clearing up - so we'll see if it continues. Mark says he's seen it before, but didn't know what she was doing then, either...

Now that the power is back on (it's been out so many times this morning) I'll dig on my worktable and see what else I can find. Maybe I'll finish the hem on the size 5 dress and put it in the storage box. Then I have several pairs of pants to make when I get longer strips of time to work with.




Pictures of Esme playing with a ram sheep (Grandma's) and a frog last night. She is putting blankets over them because they are cold. The "blankets" were cleaning cloths I've made and were sorted out of the regular laundry in order to go back downstairs to the linen shelves.

NOTES Finished the size 5 and put it away. Finished a pair of shorts to match the blue sundress. Still have the others waiting for me over there -- thinking what I'd do with all this fabric if I didn't have a little girl that could practically use clothes.... as in: there will be a day she doesn't WANT me to make clothes for her - so what else will I do? haha. I do a little quilting but it isn't as interesting as the '3D' part of making clothes. And - it takes a lot more fabric and more time to make clothes for me!

I made Esme some cardboard houses with roofs that come off. She likes it - a good cheap toy! She put her Playmobil grandma and little girl in it and they asked if the other was home, etc... I'll have to make her something bigger when I have more time. Mark also made Esme a pair of pipe cleaner glasses and she was really excited about that toy :)


Then I drew a happy monster. Esme was scared of him before I had him offer her an apple. Then she wanted an orange instead. Then she thought he was friendly and had to have a hat and shoes - and the bird flying overhead had to have a hat and shoes, too.

Thrift store finds

Found a few old patterns and a box full of REALLY old thread. The box of thread cost less than one spool of regular thread does in the store... and that included the box. Some of this thread says 19 cents, 'will boil', 'boilfast' and one spool is even 'Fruit of the Loom' branded cotton! The dress pattern is size 6 child - so it will be put away for a while. The misses' dress is something that maybe I can work with to make something my size - if I ever get the time. For twenty-five cents... it was worth a grab.

Did a count of what Esme has in her wardrobe.
Just for me, not for anyone else - as I'm planning on what to make for her next.
These are the homemade 'current size' items she has.

Six pairs of cotton pants

Two pairs of flannel pajama pants

Five pairs of shorts

Six short-sleeved dresses (tunics, really)

Two sundresses

Three long-sleeved dresses (mostly too warm now)

Considering she can get three pairs of pants and/or shorts dirty each day.
The four pair I have on the desk are next in line, then think a bit more.

Puppy Humor

Mark took all the puppies down to the lake yesterday for a run.
Including our puppy, Esme ;)

Esme with a dog flood coming up behind her

Your ears look funny! What?

Smile Train

Mom Iggy says: I said you were WEANED!

Happy Birthday Grandpa

Happy Birthday Grandpa! Hope you have a wonderful day!
Here are the pictures of today's visit with Grandma.


puddle!

Picking Strawberries

Daily Hurricane Esme

Librarian in Training
Esme wearing Grandma's glasses

Mark says: 'It's like a chorus line!
Grandma, Esme and Mommy and one red balloon
(and a lot of dogs)

Hold my hand Grandma!

...and that's when we showed up at your house and said 'Happy Birthday!' :)

Hat

Esme loves Mom's hat

Also: Esme wants Mom to make her shorts with pockets, so she can carry her pretend cell phone. Daddy always puts his cellphone in his pocket before they go to the lake - and now she is always pointing to her pants/shorts and saying 'No pocket!' and perking up her ears whenever she hears the word.

Recharge my ambition!

I need to get more shorts made for Esme - and finish the things on my desk. So far it isn't happening. A whole week of the ten o clock blues just wouldn't let it happen. I have tomorrow off but we are planning to give away Iggy's puppies then - and then another week of up and downs until Wednesday of next week. *holds on tight*

In other news: Mark found strawberries outside in our garden. WOW. He cut them up and sugared them while I was at work. Tonight we are having them on ice cream and Esme has found out again that she really loves strawberries.

Tonight when putting Esme to bed I told her 'sit down in your bed and watch the show', which was Indiana Jones movie. I hear 'watch the show. not Sheep.' grumbled softly, then she picks up her Go Dog Go book and starts to read it instead.

Purple Gingham Dress

Here is the dress so far. Not what I intended when I started - but I think it will be functional. I have ideas for what would have made the pleated dress with the round yoke work.. but by the time I had the bright idea it was impossible with the current (somewhat mangled) fabric I had cut out. I trimmed the mangled parts, reassembled a new bodice out a scrap of the sparkly fabric - and ended up with this. The purple gingham fabric was considered 'expendable' @ (1.00/yd). I'm still glad I saved it, because Esme thinks it is VERY pretty, especially with the sparkly fabric added to it. She has tried to wear this dress three times already before it was done. I've had to hide it behind a notebook for the day because it still has pins in the one sleeve and I don't want her dragging it around. It needs the sleeve finished, the hem done and some sort of buttonhole worked on the back. The buttonhole is going to be fun in this nylon fabric -- maybe I'll have to make a loop for it. Off to work - maybe finish it tonight, maybe tomorrow... who knows.

The ten o clock blues (and purples)

Working every morning at ten o'clock this week, every day... *sigh* Anyway. That means I get home with just a few hours until "bedtime" rolls around for Esme, OR I stay up until nearly midnight with her and she isn't awake the next morning when I am getting ready for work. It's a tradeoff.

Tonight while she was eating her dinner I was working a bit more on the purple dress. This is sewing geekery time. I decided not to try to make it pleated like the picture I posted - made a mistake early on that means this particular cloth can't do that now. I think I did save the cloth, though. With a little recutting on one piece I saved the skirt cloth and just have to add some sleeves. One sleeve is in, another is pinned in - and then put a button on the back and a hem around the bottom. Esme says it's pretty. It's a nylon purple gingham, it might not last through many washings... but it will be cool to wear while it does.

We'll see... but it does look like a pretty purple and sparkly stripes (scrap from what Elizabeth sent us a while back) dress is in the near future.

/ten o'clock blues end on Friday... but I think we already have that day planned out for us.

Slurp times two

Slurp times two

Our thinking creature

Some thoughts I want to save for later.
It still amazes me. I am standing in the bathroom about to brush my teeth - and there are two plants there that Grandma gave us yesterday. I hear Esme behind me say 'What is that?' clear as day (something not common for her at this age, yet) and then she turns around and runs off before I can answer. A moment later, she returns with a stepstool in hand and gets up there beside me to look at the plants. She asks where the flowers are. I told her they won't ever have flowers, they are just plants without flowers. She says 'hmmm..' in a discerning tone. Then she gets down and drags the stepstool back to the kitchen (because she gets in trouble if she leaves it where we can trip on it).

Later I am making my lunch for work and she drags the carrots out of the fridge - asks me for a plate because she needs carrots. I put the carrots on a plate and get ready to go upstairs and she starts crying 'no CHICKEN' If we are having carrots we need chicken. I get upstairs with it and say that maybe Daddy will make her some chicken later (it's too late for me to do it now, because of leaving for work). So she should eat the carrots now and maybe later he'll make chicken. She stuffs all the carrots into her mouth one after the other. Now she's 'all done' - and now there should be chicken. While she is talking to Daddy about how he needs to come make chicken happen on her empty plate (which is on the bed) I put some cheerio cereal on her plate. She gets back and stares open mouthed at the now full-again plate - NO OH NO oh no oh no! Food appeared on her plate but it wasn't what she wanted - and she doesn't know why Mom and Dad are laughing at her this hard.

Another thing - we borrowed Scrabble last night, and she 'assisted' in putting tiles on the board, telling us all the letters etc.. confused utterly by the blank pieces. This morning she is pointing at the box and saying 'P'. I am confused - you want to go pee? You did go pee? No. She stares a very 'you are idiot' stare at me and points directly at the box. 'I want a P.' She wants a letter P from the box. She's mad because I say no. Maybe Daddy will play with her later.

Pleats on this dress - how did they do that?

The pleats on this intrigue me - especially the way they migrate to the second yoke type, turning slightly inward but obviously it was the same pattern piece used differently.... HOW did they do that? I hope I won't have to buy the pattern to find out.

Remind yourself:
There are a pair of blue shorts waiting to be made + Esme needs lots more pants and shorts (ripped one pair today at the lake and never seem to have enough)

The green size 5 is still holding a lot of pins because you have never finished the bottom hem on it!

With the basic size patterns already in the box (dress, coat, pants in sizes 3, 4 and 5) - almost everything else is just trial and error.

Still one of my favorite things is to look through all of the patterns for sale on Ebay and find the bits of patterns that are interesting - make me wonder how they did that -- and wonder if I need to know badly enough to interrupt other projects I need to do. And especially, do I need to know badly enough to buy their pattern?

Mother's Day

We've been at the lake and outside for a good part of the day. At one very cute point a very muddy and wet Esme brought me two daisies and said 'for you!' Then we got home, bathed and fed - and went back out into more dust and leaves etc... A moment ago we came inside again and Daddy went back fishing by himself with the puppy. Esme threw a giant fit but she is very much due for a nap. I've put on Shaun (which she loves usually) and she continued to throw a fit through the first ten minutes - but now she is laying on the floor watching it. I expect the nap will follow...

Happy mother's day to all of the other mommies!

dog crowd and Esme camera ham

Mark tossed the puppies into the side yard with the Great Danes. They're big enough and it's warm enough out.



Esme was hamming for the camera, but only two pictures actually came in focus. She had a lot of tongue out and goofy expressions at Daddy. This other expression - I'm not sure what to call it!


She thinks it's so funny when she gets to see her tongue out on the pictures.


It's very much 'this is a pose!'


Esme and the new coonhound puppy 'Nova'.