{"id":11739,"date":"2011-03-13T23:51:02","date_gmt":"2011-03-14T03:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/?p=11739"},"modified":"2019-02-24T00:20:13","modified_gmt":"2019-02-24T05:20:13","slug":"ready-for-two-toot-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/2011\/03\/13\/ready-for-two-toot-birthday\/","title":{"rendered":"Ready for Two-toot! Birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Alastair with his birthday tree. Now, they are the same height.<\/p><\/div>\n

Alastair is ready for his “Two-toot!” \u00c2\u00a0birthday party next week.\u00c2\u00a0 He and his parents were with us for a long weekend and I was able to finish\u00c2\u00a0embroidering his engineer\u00c2\u00a0birthday outfit before they left.\u00c2\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

While this may not seem like a big accomplishment, for me it was.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Saturday, the entire family was here, busy with a variety of activities.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Robert (5) and Laurel\u00c2\u00a0(6) kept busy playing with cousin Alastair (2), the guys and Alastair’s mother watched the Florida Gators basketball game,\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Laurel and\u00c2\u00a0Robert’s mother\u00c2\u00a0gardened and I spent some time gathering more clothes from Aunt\u00c2\u00a0Aileen’s apartment.\u00c2\u00a0I delivered these to her at the nursing home where she is getting therapy and visited for a while.\u00c2\u00a0 Correction at Rebecca’s behest\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u201c his mother was outside with the\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0babes all afternoon, not inside watching the Gators game.\u00c2\u00a0 Sorry, Rebecca!<\/em><\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Later, we all sat down to a big family dinner.\u00c2\u00a0 As we finished dessert, Laurel made a presentation to fulfill a school requirement.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Then\u00c2\u00a0it was time for a bonfire, which has become the piece de resistance of our family gatherings.\u00c2\u00a0 We used all the freeze damaged foliage for this roaring fire. The S’mores left everyone sticky and satisfied.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

There are 125′ of azaleas up each side of our driveway. It is a spectacular sight.<\/p><\/div>\n

The gorgeous weather was\u00c2\u00a0a huge\u00c2\u00a0distraction. Springtime in Florida is an awesome sensory delight. The air is perfumed with citrus blossoms and wisteria, while everywhere the eye travels it\u00c2\u00a0gazes on dogwood, azaleas and all other flowering plants in full bloom.\u00c2\u00a0 More about our beautiful\u00c2\u00a0spring after details of Alastair’s train suit.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The\u00c2\u00a0well-worn Oshgosh B’gosh overalls were already hanging in his\u00c2\u00a0closet, days away from being packed away.\u00c2\u00a0 The pant legs have\u00c2\u00a0a snap\u00c2\u00a0crotch for the convenience of Diaper Dandies, not big fellas\u00c2\u00a0like 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\u00c2\u00a0customizing with machine embroidery.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

When I showed Alastair his “train” pants, he\u00c2\u00a0examined the overalls and questioned, “Choo choo?”\u00c2\u00a0 So I removed the triangular Oshgosh label from the back and embroidered a train engine.\u00c2\u00a0 He was very pleased with that addition.<\/p>\n

Stacked up in my sewing room are the other teepee goodie bags in various stages of completion.\u00c2\u00a0 When they are finished and the dishtowels are embroidered, we will be ready for his party.\u00c2\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So many sewing enthusiasts are also gardeners that I hope some of you will enjoy\u00c2\u00a0these photos of our flowering yard. This is a glorious spring.<\/p>\n

The dogwood in the backyard has been showering white petals for several days now, so it is past its peak.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 But still it is lovely.\u00c2\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There are several nearly 100 year old tung oil trees in the yard.\u00c2\u00a0 The poisonous fruit from these lovely blossoms renders an oil that is used in furniture polish. Due\u00c2\u00a0to the late season freeze, this year’s blossoms are not as extravagant as in years past.\u00c2\u00a0 Normally, each cluster\u00c2\u00a0is like a huge hydrangea, but with larger flowers. Still, the trees are pretty.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Down in the woods, our old abandoned chicken house–from my Mother Earth phase–is nearly covered in wisteria.\u00c2\u00a0 The fragrance is heavenly.<\/p>\n

My husband and I count our blessings every day.\u00c2\u00a0 With our loving, closely knit family and\u00c2\u00a0precious children and grandchildren nearby, we are fortunate beyond words. To have all that, in addition to living in this beautiful area in\u00c2\u00a0our best-in-the-world country\u00c2\u00a0makes us appreciative and grateful.\u00c2\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

Especially in light of the terrible tragedy–multiple tragedies now–in Japan, we are ever mindful of our privileged life.\u00c2\u00a0 Our thoughts and prayers and sympathy go out to all\u00c2\u00a0 the\u00c2\u00a0victims and their families, as well as those working so doggedly\u00c2\u00a0for the\u00c2\u00a0welfare of the\u00c2\u00a0Japanese people.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alastair is ready for his “Two-toot!” \u00c2\u00a0birthday party next week.\u00c2\u00a0 He and his parents were with us for a long weekend and I was able to finish\u00c2\u00a0embroidering his engineer\u00c2\u00a0birthday outfit before they left.\u00c2\u00a0 While this may not seem like a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":13498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,4,18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11739"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11739"}],"version-history":[{"count":67,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38364,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11739\/revisions\/38364"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}