You've already had comments on the fragrant streps. Other new developments in streps. Everblooming streps. Crystal Ice is touted as being the first everbloomer. It is still hard to find on this side of the ocean. But some of the Bristol's come very close to everblooming. My Bristol X-Ray Vision pauses for a few days every couple of months before putting out a whole new batch of blooms. Variegated streps. Variegated flowers are more readily available at reasonable prices. I only have Bristol's Party Girl so I can't comment on what is best. Canterbury Surprise is the first variegated foliage strep.

Thanks for your comments, everyone. I have been going non-stop since I posted this, with 2 soccer games, a baby shower and a kid's birthday party on Saturday, and my son's First Communion and ensuing party on Sunday. Thankfully, my in-laws made the ham and a fantastic lasagna, along with eggplant fritters for the party yesterday. I made a ceaser salad with homemade ceaser dressing, Sol's honey rolls, shrimp cocktail, pineapple upside down cake and Amish Friendship bread. My mom made insalata caprese and a blackberry cobbler. And I purchased frozen Torta Stella from Costco as an additional appetizer. We had 17 adults and 4 kids. Everything turned out so tasty. Nothing quite like a homemade lasagna from an Italian mother-in-law. And when I get her recipe for those eggplant fritters, I'll be sure to share. They were inhaled! Nancy

Rail fence pattern leaves only a small strip to write on. If you want messages and best wishes, you might want to consider larger plain squares offset with colored squares and sashing. For fastest results, you can always send each a square of plain fabric and a Pigma pen and have them just write on it and send it back. If you do this, iron freezer paper to the back to stabilize it for the writing part, to be removed by you before the sewing. They also make fabric with a stabilizer on the back that you can run through a computer printer. You can scan the messages and reduce or enlarge each to fit on a fabric square and trim it to size, such as 8 x 8". The hardest part will be to get all the messages back from friends by your deadline. Set the deadline early to give yourself lots of time. Check your LQS for photo fabric. If they don't have it, go to a website such as this and order it. Here is a link that might be useful: photo fabric sheets

I would suggest Hawaii over Mexico. My friend went to Mexico with her parents and both she and her dad came back with digestive problems. The water in Mexico is not drinkable. With small children it will be hard to control. If you are on a budget, Europe can be very expensive with the weak dollar. You can check out the different islands in Hawaii and see which one suits you best. Oahu is a lot of buildings and tourists, but a lot of night life action. Maui has nice beaches and is not so contained in one stop full of tourists (depending on where on the island you want to go, Kona (the big island) is quieter than Maui but the beaches tend to be rocky unless you stay at a resort where they have shipped in sand. Kauai is even less tourists and although I haven't spent a lot of time there is suppose to be lush and beautiful. It tends to rain more on this island. I am sure where ever you pick, you will have a great time. Happy Birthday to your mom! Here is a link that might be useful: Coastal Vacations Call Center