To celebrate...

the boy's birthday.

We celebrated a week early. He didn't mind. It's supposed to be all about him, but he didn't eat and when his momma asked him why, after he so carefully chose all those special foods, his reply was, "I picked it for them." He meant his guests, those of us who came to help him celebrate his day. How sweet...how like him.




I made him a crazy, zany sort of alien card because he's a crazy, zany sort of kid. The idea for the card is not my original idea. I copied a very similar image I found online, but hey, isn't that why we have the internet?


I wanted to give him a special gift (no toys) and this one is straight from my heart. Last year, I took a series of photos of him launching himself off that big tire when we were on the beach in Grand Marais. He was so full of joy as he sailed through the air and I wanted his gift to capture that joy. Besides, who doesn't like to see pictures of themself? I used an exacto knife to cut the images of him from the photos, I collaged the water and sand from the photos onto the paper and placed his images so it would imply motion. When he opened his gift, his words were, "that's me!" Then he looked at me and said, "this is awesome!" Exactly what I hoped for while making his gift.


Oh, and there was cake, of course there was cake. And of course he ate his cake.

Happy birthday, darlin'!

Another Package

I have no idea how I raised my sons to be so thoughtful and caring when choosing gifts or planning surprises, but I could be rich if I could teach it or write a book about how I did it. Here's the latest package that arrived from Taiwan - for my birthday. Will you look at the goodies that have traveled literally halfway around the world just for me?

Not one, but two Cotton Friend books and two of his highly recommended teas. (We share a passion for tea.) The two of us looked all over Taiwan for Cotton Friend when I was there a year ago in October and finally found a copy at Carrefour. I'm touched that he sent me more because they are fabulous for gleaning ideas from. The cup in the upper left is the one he made at a pottery shop in Ying-Ge with the lovely Megan. See the book tucked under the envelope? You can bet it will be devoured quite quickly, probably in the next week or so. The card was written with a very personal and touching note to me so I'm not showing the inside, but he chose the card because he said it looked "like a birthday ensemble." It certainly does look like a party. One thing I can tell you about the card is there is a drawing on the inside that he did of himself and I sitting at a table drinking tea together. There's a steaming teapot, teacups and a package of cookies (assuming they are my favorite Taiwan biscuits) with two cookies broken in half sitting on the table and we're drinking tea on either side. So sweet - a mom and son moment. As moms, I don't think we ever tire of their drawings. I also like how he wrote Happy Birthday to me in Chinese and gave me the interpretation underneath. Really, it's just so cool - like making me a part of his adventures.

They say you can tell a lot about a man by the way he treats his mother. If that's the case then some day he's going to make a woman very happy. I love you Taiwan Son and thank you for the birthday package.

How did they keep it a secret?

Paula told me a few weeks prior to my birthday that they had come up with the most amazing gift for me and she could hardly keep it a secret. What I want to know is how my grandkids could keep it a secret? Because they have the typical busy family life, they went in shifts to the ceramic store to work on my gift, each child taking a different turn over a period of days. I've seen them off and on over the last few weeks and none of them, not one, ever spilled the beans. How could they keep this a secret?

It's a platter...with our family motto. How cool is that? Everyone chose different colors and stamps and added hand drawings on the platter. I love it! It's the perfect gift. My family rocks!

And then there's got to be cake...and a little help with blowing out the candles.

Harvest Moon

I had a beautiful day yesterday. I talked to all of my loved ones and received so many happy birthday wishes from my friends. I couldn't have asked for a finer day. I thought dinner with my best friend was to be the end of my birthday gifts. Not so. When I left Charlie's at 10:13 last night I found this 'gift' waiting for me in the sky. Lovely!

A beautiful Harvest Moon. We watched for quite a few minutes marveling that the moon at times seemed to be in front of the clouds, which is impossible. I'm such a fan of the night sky that I felt as if this could have been put there just for me. Even better is that I was talking to F.O.S. on the drive home, and he and d-i-l were outside looking at the moon at the same time. How nice to be able to share it with them. Thank you, everyone, for a beautiful and touching birthday. It was everything I could have hoped for.

Look what I found....

when I walked into work this morning.



Yep, today is my birthday.....oh, happy day! I started celebrating yesterday with a cookout with my siblings, my nieces and nephews, and my son and his family. JV was helping me with a project last night and he wished me happy birthday. Now, I walk into work to find my desk completely decorated (thank you, Laura), I already received a birthday phone call on the way to work (thank you, Keith), I'm having dinner tonight with my best friend (thank you, Charlie), and we'll celebrate again this coming weekend when it's my kids, grandkids and me. I think I like this birthday week business. Wish I had known about this when I was a kid. *grins*

I hope your day is as wonderful as mine is starting out to be.

On turning 5

When you're the perfect grandmother (which I am, of course!) you have to listen to the babes to come up with the perfect gift. This is especially true when you prefer handmade over store bought toys.

My grandson currently wants to be a policeman when he grows up and what 5 y/o doesn't?

I found the material for the pillow in the clearance bin for $1/yard and you know I couldn't pass it up.

This was tough to make. I had to create the hat myself after scouring the internet and not being able to find a pattern. I 'borrowed' Sir S's toy emblem 2 weeks ago. The visor material was left over scraps from having made chaps for F.Y.S. when he was 12 and very into WWF. I used my new bias tape maker for the trim on the visor. I didn't even know this clever gadget existed until reading Amanda's blog and I've been sewing for 35 years. The hat wasn't easy, but it turned out great. He loves it!

Oh, and this is me being all smug over my creation.

I so copied this card from here. How could I not when it was so perfect? The inside says, "This is your first warning to 'police' have a great day." Corny, I know, but he's 5 and doesn't care.

This picture cracks me up. My grandson has his hat pulled down so far his ears stick out and yet his cousin, behind him, has his ears tucked inside his hat. hehe I guess they figure it out themselves. Happy birthday, Sir S. I love you.