Happy Place

I am in such a happy place this moment. I had the greatest morning. Possibly the greatest morning since becoming a mother. Seriously. I will explain in a bit. My mother's day was so nice. Since this is only my third celebration as a mother there is no routine or tradition established. My MIL was in town so it was nice to spend time with her. Basically our day was spent being lazy, talking, being outside with the three girls, being inside sipping on a cocktail while watching a movie during naps (felt like such a guilty pleasure, but so nice) and a light dinner then the whole bunch of us had an early bedtime. Perfect.
We paid a visit to Shangri La again, above, so my MIL could see the gardens. We also sewed. Man - I feel armed and ready to sew. She was very helpful and gave some great pointers.

I was able to finish up twirly skirt number two. I really like the skirt and it looks cute on Erika & Ainslee. I hope they like it. Neither one has asked to wear it yet, but it is sitting in their closet ready to go. If I make a second one for them I will make it a little longer which will be an easy adjustment. They are on the tall side and I just didn't account for that in my fabric cutting. I have also found a new sewing addiction - deconstructing clothes in my closet. This is so much fun. I have a shirt that could & was mistaken for a maternity shirt. Every time I wore it (twice so far) I thought twice about wearing it and more often than not would hang it back in the closet. The fabric is sweet which is why I decided to buy it even though it had an empire type waist and ties that went around back. Coming out of a maternity state the last thing I want to wear is a maternity-style shirt. Well, I wore it once to go pick up shrimp for dinner and the fish man asked me when I was due. The horror, for both of us. I laughed and made light of it since I expected it to eventually happen, but I felt so bad for him. He tripped all over himself apologizing. Hence the deconstruction. Off came the ties (they are now cute hair bows for the girls) and the side seams were ripped out and readjusted to make it much more slim fitting. I know I will wear it a bunch more. The fabric is so soft & thin which will be perfect for summer. I keep looking for more things to rip apart. I have some t-shirts I am going to try and play with based on an idea in Amy Butler's Midwest Modern book (puzzle tees). I'll let you know how it goes.

Lastly, this is the happy place part, we went to pick blackberries this morning. This was a first for Erika & Ainslee. We meet four other moms and their children at the farm and set out. I had no idea what to expect. It turned out to be a perfect outing. Aidan was so happy and content to watch all the other children run around, Erika & Ainslee stuck beside me rather than playing - they actually liked picking the berries. When Ainslee did get tired of it she sat on the blanket close by and munched on berries while Erika and I finished filling the buckets. The thorns & mud didn't phase either one. It was such a great morning. Seeing all the green acres, horses, cows, hearing the roosters crow; it just put things in perspective for me. I wasn't down or unhappy before the farm visit, but I feel so rejuvenated. It was a great start to our weekend. I hope ours continues and you all have a great one too.

p.s. our caterpillars arrived and have already transformed into chrysalids. I will post updates of their progress.