Ready for Two-toot! Birthday

Alastair with his birthday tree. Now, they are the same height.

Alastair is ready for his “Two-toot!”  birthday party next week.  He and his parents were with us for a long weekend and I was able to finish embroidering his engineer birthday outfit before they left. 

While this may not seem like a big accomplishment, for me it was.  Saturday, the entire family was here, busy with a variety of activities.  Robert (5) and Laurel (6) kept busy playing with cousin Alastair (2), the guys and Alastair’s mother watched the Florida Gators basketball game,    Laurel and Robert’s mother gardened and I spent some time gathering more clothes from Aunt Aileen’s apartment. I delivered these to her at the nursing home where she is getting therapy and visited for a while.  Correction at Rebecca’s behest – his mother was outside with the  babes all afternoon, not inside watching the Gators game.  Sorry, Rebecca!  

Later, we all sat down to a big family dinner.  As we finished dessert, Laurel made a presentation to fulfill a school requirement.  Even in front of her family, she was a little nervous as she read her report on the 5K fundraiser walk she and her mother did to benefit research for juvenile diabetes.  But she did a fabulous job, following up with a photo of her “team” as they completed the walk and displaying the medal she earned for her participation.

Then it was time for a bonfire, which has become the piece de resistance of our family gatherings.  We used all the freeze damaged foliage for this roaring fire. The S’mores left everyone sticky and satisfied.

There are 125′ of azaleas up each side of our driveway. It is a spectacular sight.

The gorgeous weather was a huge distraction. Springtime in Florida is an awesome sensory delight. The air is perfumed with citrus blossoms and wisteria, while everywhere the eye travels it gazes on dogwood, azaleas and all other flowering plants in full bloom.  More about our beautiful spring after details of Alastair’s train suit.

The well-worn Oshgosh B’gosh overalls were already hanging in his closet, days away from being packed away.  The pant legs have a snap crotch for the convenience of Diaper Dandies, not big fellas like Alastair who has graduated to big boy pants.His mother pulled out the pants, I ordered an engineer cap and we were ready for some customizing with machine embroidery.   Simple AMTRAK text was typed into my PE-Design, transferred to the thumb drive and stitched on the cap and bib pocket of the overalls.

When I showed Alastair his “train” pants, he examined the overalls and questioned, “Choo choo?”  So I removed the triangular Oshgosh label from the back and embroidered a train engine.  He was very pleased with that addition.

Stacked up in my sewing room are the other teepee goodie bags in various stages of completion.  When they are finished and the dishtowels are embroidered, we will be ready for his party. 

So many sewing enthusiasts are also gardeners that I hope some of you will enjoy these photos of our flowering yard. This is a glorious spring.

The dogwood in the backyard has been showering white petals for several days now, so it is past its peak.   But still it is lovely. 

There are several nearly 100 year old tung oil trees in the yard.  The poisonous fruit from these lovely blossoms renders an oil that is used in furniture polish. Due to the late season freeze, this year’s blossoms are not as extravagant as in years past.  Normally, each cluster is like a huge hydrangea, but with larger flowers. Still, the trees are pretty.

Down in the woods, our old abandoned chicken house–from my Mother Earth phase–is nearly covered in wisteria.  The fragrance is heavenly.

My husband and I count our blessings every day.  With our loving, closely knit family and precious children and grandchildren nearby, we are fortunate beyond words. To have all that, in addition to living in this beautiful area in our best-in-the-world country makes us appreciative and grateful. 

Especially in light of the terrible tragedy–multiple tragedies now–in Japan, we are ever mindful of our privileged life.  Our thoughts and prayers and sympathy go out to all  the victims and their families, as well as those working so doggedly for the welfare of the Japanese people.