Strawberry Fields, Again

I have told you before how much I don't like picking fruit. I generally disprove of the heat...and the dirt...and the bugs...and the fact it seems to take forever...and the fact that you do all that work and it saves you no money at all. However, I think it's growing on me. I'm starting to enjoy the process, the end result, and really how much Cordelia enjoys it.

It might actually be better priced than I think, due to how many pounds this little monster eats while in the fields.  

The day was warm, and overcast. I tried to dress Cordelia so she wouldn't get hot
(a loosing battle no matter what) which means it looks like I forgot her pants. That's the ok thing about being a kid, right? I'm trying to figure out if we are beyond the phase of ruffly butt diaper covers- thoughts? Part of me thinks I am just willing her to stay little. I've been feeling really down about how fast she is growing up, the glimpses of big girl independence and teenager attitude we get these days. Where did my little 8 lbs 10 ounces, 20.5 inch baby girl go? 

Cordelia likes to steal the berries out of Shauna and my bucket to eat when she gets tired of picking- or when she feels the bushes are too bare in our spot. It would be ok if she only stole from me because, I don't need that many. However, Shauna makes jam and such with hers and needs a ton. Especially with how fast Cordelia eats Shauna's jam- a spoon full in her Greek yogurt every morning. 

This sums up how Cordelia feels about being told she has to pick her own. 

Cordelia's favorite strawberries to pick were the abnormal ones. Berries that grew in funny shapes, or look like three stuck together, or are tiny, or flat. They are her favorite. I hope that it's a metaphor for how she will see life- that she will appreciate the things that are different, that she will see just how precious they are too. 

Would You Like Some Wine With That?

To reinforce what I said in my last post- I love novelty prints. So I was especially excited when I asked my good friend Sarah what she was looking to add to her wardrobe and she said novelty prints! I had been stumped on what to make her for her birthday and this made it all clear. 

I liked this wine/chalkboard print because the colors struck me as very her (well so does the wine for that matter) and I really appreciated that it was a print you could wear during pretty much any season. Sarah has a pretty big wardrobe so you have to work at finding the missing pieces to add. I love that with this skirt you could add sandals, a simple white tank, and a floppy straw hat for summer, or black boots, tights, and a mustard sweater for winter. Either was it looked like it would be fun to wear. 

I kept the silhouette simple and classic, nice clean pleats and a midi length and added pockets for practicality. Not enough women's clothing has pockets in it. 

And last, the skirt is equipped with size adjusters in the waistband, so it fits exactly the way she wants it too every time. 

Goodbye to the Dinosaurs

As I have said before, I really like that Cordelia takes interest in things I do not. I love learning about new things and I love watching her become her own person. Dinosaurs were never my thing, old and dusty with unpronounceable names- maybe if Dinosaur Train was around when I was little that would have been different. However, Cordelia loves them and the Natural History Museum is (well it already has, because it took me two months to write this post) closing down it's Dinosaur bones exhibit for five years while it gets a face lift. I hope Cordelia still likes Dinosaurs in five years so she can appreciate how magnificent the renovation is- but she will be eight years old then, and who knows what eight year olds like.

In true Katie fashion, I made Miss C. a dress appropriate for the occasion (the night before because I thrive on last minute it seems). My sisters picked up this fabric at some point- because we can't resist a novelty print, and it seemed destined for this very purpose. The fabric is cotton, and I accented it with light blue speckled cotton for the hem and sleeves, and store bought red piping for some pop. 

The exhibit is pretty old and dusty, but I always enjoyed that there were things to touch and that you could watch people work in the Fossil Lab. Now it's very common to have touching and interactive aspects to museums, but I got to go to museums fairly frequently thanks to my sister and it wasn't the case when I was younger. 

Pictures were pretty hard to take because of the lighting and because Cordelia just wasn't feeling them that day. Museum trips with small children always go smoother the less crowded the museum is (or at least they do with my child) and the day we went fell within spring break for many places. But she was well behaved enough that my sister got her a cute little Brontosaurus that Cordelia had lots of fun walking all over the place.