THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER: VOLUME 111 NOVEMBER 2016

DEAR READERS,

My bedrooms have enjoyed higher occupancy rates of late than any of Trump's hotels - if the news of his declining bookings is to be believed. Again this year I enjoyed a full house for the weekend of the Royal American Barbecue competition. Craig flew into town with production crew member Mike to join Josh and Bryn who were already staying with me. He was hoping to film footage to add to last years as he forges ahead to make a documentary about the huge event which draws people from all over the world.

Josh drove back from Texas where he had spent a few weeks helping build yet another hydroponic greenhouse and Bryn flew in from Alabama where he had been attending a wedding. For a few days I let the boys occupy my most comfortable bedrooms but down graded them once my VIP guests arrived, Josh to my double twin room and Bryn to a mattress on the basement floor. I laundered sheets numerous times to accommodate all the room changes! Josh is now back in his usual bedroom until the 22^nd of this month when he heads to Columbia – the country he had trouble getting out of last time he visited it if you remember! He claims those circumstances prevented him from sight seeing so he he is going to try again and brush up on his Spanish. I pointed out that he only had to go up the street to the Oak Park Mall where he would find hundreds of Spanish speaking people to converse with and if he runs into trouble in Columbia again I will not be putting up a dime to get him out!

Since Bryn has not seen Ava Claire and Owen for over a year I decided to have the children spend a night at my house so that he could maximize his time with them, before Craig arrived , as I assumed he would be filming for most of the time. So as usual I picked the children up from pre-school on Monday but drove them to my house instead of theirs . Coryn came by after work and stayed for supper and left looking forward to a night's sleep uninterrupted by waking children. That night I shared my bed with the two of them, placing a pillow between them whilst I clung to the bed edge all night lest I rolled over and woke Owen who would then wake Ava Claire. Amazingly enough we all slept well, at least I got enough sleep to feel up to taking the children to the animal farm. I thought this might be a fun outing for the uncles too to see their niece and nephew enjoying the animals but Bryn declined to join us as it turned out that he was working remotely and thus needed to put his hours in for his regular job! Apparently he didn't want to waste any vacation days on a visit with his mother and helping his brother-in-law! Fortunately Uncle Josh went which made the children very happy, especially Ava Claire who adores him. Actually she knew when he was coming home before I did as he called her to suggest baking a cake together for Coryn's birthday and she was happy to tell me all about their plans!

A few weeks prior we had made a trip to the farm with another Uncle -Marc. He called unexpectedly to announce that his boss was on a month long European vacation so he was going to spend a week with me! I immediately prayed for my toilets plumbing. I racked my brains trying to think of projects that we could undertake together but as Marc has no handyman skills and no interest in spending time in my garden (which he claims causes his allergies to flare up) I was stymied. I was pleasantly surprised when he actually managed to weed a few dandelions out one afternoon and spent an evening helping me clean out your dad's old paperwork. I still have file drawers to deal with, nearly all fodder for the shredder but I keep my eyes peeled in hopes of finding something of value!

It didn't take long for Ava Claire to declare that Uncle Marc was not as special as Uncle Josh, unfortunately he had no idea how to play her princess games and Owen was very wary of this new uncle. Marc muttered something about making semi-annual visits so that the children would be more comfortable with him.

Marc surprised me by offering to make us supper – I immediately thought of his beef stew, the last supper that your dad ate and of the inedible rock hard baked beans he spent hours preparing for us all another time. Once again he was soaking beans and putting them in my crock pot along with a mix of things that he deemed creole. Sausage was added to the pot – not one of my favorites either but once the whole mess was cooked for hours Marc pronounced it was ready to eat. I served myself a small portion, tossing all the sausage that landed on my plate back into the pot. Unfortunately even my small portion proved too much for my gastrointestinal system to handle as I awoke with race to the bathroom diarrhea the following morning. It is hard to understand Marc's constant focus on his bunged up bowels when his cooking clears mine out every time!

On Wednesday , November the 9^th Sean will be returning to Kansas City and I will finally get to meet his girlfriend Sarah. She arrived a couple of weeks ago and has been staying with a friend in Kansas City with plans to move to my house once Sean arrives. Sean did not want me to meet her before his arrival as he wanted to be the one to introduce us. As it so happened she hung out with Josh, , Craig and Mike at the Royal American Barbecue and the two that had not met her before were very enthused. Craig came bursting through my kitchen door asking me to guess who was just sitting in a car in my driveway – I took too long to answer so he blurted out “Sarah Byers”. I immediately headed out to meet her only to see that Josh's car was gone with Sarah in it back to her friend's house. I had missed my chance to become her new best friend, think how wonderful it would have been if Sarah had returned with Sean from the airport and acted as though she owned the place! I would have pulled off a coup but alas once again my children thwarted me!

THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER PART 2

Unfortunately my whirlwind life became so busy that I did not have time to finish my newsletter before Sean and Sarah's arrival and my trip to Indianapolis with Coryn and Ava Claire to see Claudia perform the lead role in her middle schools musical “Cinderella”.

Owen stayed with his dad and Auntie Choo Choo (Meghan) while we three girls flew to Indianapolis – don't say Indy in Ava Claire's presence as you are quickly corrected! Ava was extremely well behaved on our outward and inbound flights, enjoying the drink and snacks , she asked the amused stewardess who took our drink orders if she could have something to eat too! Fortunately Grandma was prepared with extra snacks: her mother grabbed a handful of candy from my basket for herself before we headed to the airport. I noticed that Ava Claire was not wearing any kind of outerwear and questioned if Coryn had packed a jacket for her, oops she had forgotten! As always Grandma came to the rescue with a sweater that Leslee-Ann wore as a little girl which miraculously matched Ava Claire's outfit!

Ming-Lee was so excited about our visit that he parked the car and came into the terminal to greet us! Once home we were greeted by Lori and her mother Diane whom we had not seen since Ming and Lori's wedding over twenty years ago! Over the course of three performances many relatives and family friends came to support Claudia in her theatrical debut! The house was so filled with flowers that I remarked anyone not in the know would assume that a death had occurred!

Once Claudia was home from school she was promptly whisked upstairs for hair and make up – Ava Claire had her nails painted simultaneously so she could watch all the cosmetic wizardry. Lori used a curling iron to fashion seemingly hundreds of ringlets that were cemented in place with hair spray and Claudia did a stellar job of doing her own stage make-up. Blake arrived soon after and joined us for a chilli supper while Lori and Claudia left for the school theater.

I was amazed by the high standard of the production, frankly expecting flubbed lines, off key singing, and staging issues. Instead the children , over eighty of them gave a totally high school level performance. Claudia was a spell binding Cinderella with her beautiful singing voice and stage presence. Lori and Ming had worked very hard to bring about the spectacular costume change necessitated by the scene with the fairy Godmother when she goes from scullery maid to the belle of the ball. It involved layering, bustling, and fish weights but it was a magical transformation! The Fairy Godmother looked spectacular herself in a lit up dress! And the carriage that a few of the dads had built was good enough to be in a Disney movie! Obviously there is a lot of parental support in Blake and Claudia's school system as there were a number of scene changes that called for everything from thrones to stairs to fireplaces.

Ava Claire was entranced through out the performance and during intermission all the little girls in the audience were invited to parade across the stage with one of the cast members in ball gowns. Knowing about this in advance many of the children were dressed like Ava Claire in Princess attire! They even handed out invitations to the girls in the audience prior to the start of the show to participate in the parade. The amount of thought and attention to detail given this production was incredible for Middle School level. As a former drama major myself I was most impressed and in the years to come will be following Claudia's dramatics!

After our return to Ming and Lori's home on Friday night Blake gave us a preview of his presentation about rockets for a speech contest the following day. He opened with Sinatra's' Fly Me To the Moon' – great singing voice too and then launched into an explanation that flew right over my head! Diane said she had followed his every word so I decided to up my daily Candy Crush games to keep my mind functioning – this was backed up by scientific fact as Diane is on a higher level than me and has obviously put in a few more beneficial hours!

Sarah and Sean arrived at my home for a Lasagna supper on Wednesday, November 9^th arriving in a car that Sarah had bought that day to pick Sean up at the airport! Josh had assisted her at the dealership earlier in the day – all tasks that I could have helped with had I been permitted to meet her prior to Sean's return! They moved into my paisley bedroom with six huge suitcases , thank goodness I had cleaned out the entire walk in closet in that bedroom prior to their arrival! I knew immediately that Sarah and I were going to get along well - she called up the stairs to Josh to come down and help them with all their belongings and he appeared immediately – not the result I would have got!

Sean was exhausted by his long flight from London, then Chicago to Kansas City but the next day he was at the DMV taking his driver's test as his license had expired whilst he was living in London. Fortunately he passed after not driving for a couple of years! He and Sarah spent their first weekend apartment hunting and quickly decided to buy a house instead and put an offer in on one the following day but unfortunately got outbid when it went over asking price. They are working with realtor Fred, our family friend, to find something in the area that Bryn and Elizabeth Woodbury lived in. In the meantime they will stay with me!

Josh moves out on Tuesday, headed for Columbia and Leslee-Ann, Craig and baby Ray will be taking over his vacated room on Wednesday so you see Mother is running a bonafide bed and breakfast, lunch and dinner business! It just doesn't pay although Josh fixed several problems around the house for me with his handy man skills which I greatly appreciated!

I must thank Craig for leaving a couple of bottles behind after his last visit – I found myself reaching for the gin as the election results came in on November 8^th as I tried to compute that Hilary Clinton was not looking like the huge winner I had anticipated. I was unable to comprehend how a nation that had voted for Obama twice could elect a man who was so much less in every way. This is going to be a very interesting period in American history and I hope that the country does not fall into a divide as deep as the Grand Canyon over issues such as race, religion and our role in the world.

One things for sure our late night comedians will have a wealth of material to use – like Milania Trumps intention to make cyber bullying her cause as First Lady – at least she knows something about it as she is married to the biggest bully of them all but unfortunately it is evident that she hasn't had any impact on him at all!

Well children, Mother must head to the garden where clematis, cleomes and roses are still blooming as cold weather is finally coming to us and I need to haul the canna's and rain lily's into the garage for winter. It has been a wonderfully warm fall, with trees still covered in green leaves, grass that needs to be mowed and even butterflies. This has been a strange year in many ways.

Just in case you may be thinking of visiting soon but are worried about finding a bed in my often fully occupied house be assured that I will always find room for my family and friends just as I make a place for each of you in my heart! Love Mother

THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER VOLUME 110 SEPTEMBE2016

Dear Readers ,

Ming-Jon made a quick weekend visit here in August , originally planned for just one night, but his early evening flight out to Washington DC on Sunday night was canceled so he had to spend another night to take the first direct flight out before dawn on Monday. Unfortunately he didn't know about the cancellation until he arrived at the airport. Kay had dropped him off and ended up returning to the airport to help her dad find a motel – fortunately he was able to alert her to his situation before she was too far along her route home. These sort of experiences just make me less inclined to travel than ever!

We were blessed with great weather for his visit so he and Kay spent part of Saturday afternoon at a huge multi - cultural fair in Swope Park enjoying foods, music, and exhibits from around the world.

That night I cooked supper for us all and we watched the Chiefs pre-season game. I am certain that we will make the playoffs this season. The next day the Logues came over as well as Kay and Theodore and we enjoyed brunch on the deck – ages since I have cooked for so many! The dog was happy to eat all the food the children dropped on the deck: a service that my cat regretfully does not provide. It was too bad that an otherwise great visit was spoiled by the delayed trip home and resulting expense and inconvenience.

Coryn returned to work August 1^st for just two days a week whilst I babysit Ava Claire and Owen. They arrive at an hour that I normally sleep through and usually stay until about six in the evening as Coryn hangs out here after work ends at about 4:30 to avoid driving home in rush hour traffic. My sleep deprivation will be cut in half this month as Ava Claire will return to pre-school and Owen will spend that time at the same building in the infant room so I will drive over to Lees Summit on Mondays after lunch to pick them up from school and stay with them at their home until Coryn returns. They will still come to my house all day Wednesday. I have to say that Ava Claire has been a terrific help with her brother since we started this new routine. Coryn has obviously given her instructions to help Grandma with Owen because she has stepped up into the big sister role very well. We recently went to the animal farm and beforehand I explained that Owen would have to ride in the stroller she usually uses because he is too little to walk far. To soften the blow I said she could help push it. I should explain at this point that Ava Claire is not the most energetic of little girls and on all of our many previous outings to the animal farm she usually opts to ride in the stroller for much of the time complaining that she is tired of walking. This day she immediately grabbed the handle bars on the stroller -once Owen was safely strapped in- and took off with him through the parking lot whilst I tried to grab on to it and steer her on course. She quickly informed me that she was pushing the stroller and did not need my help. I begged to differ as she forged ahead oblivious of cars and pedestrians. I explained that I was going to help her until we got to the entrance gates because I didn't want a car to hit us. She reluctantly let me hold onto one handle bar. Once inside the animal farm she firmly took charge and I could only hope that I could grab the stroller before she plowed into someone or something. Her spacial sense is definitely lacking. But she happily parked her brother in front of each animal enclosure and told him what we were looking at . Owen was a complete contrast to Ava Claire on his first visit to the animal farm, she was thoroughly unimpressed by all the animals, only showing enthusiasm when we stopped for ice-cream. Owen was screeching and cackling with delight as soon as his sister showed him the chickens at the start of the tour.

Eventually we arrived at the baby goat enclosure to bottle feed them. I stuck Owen's binky in his mouth terrified that he might try to suck on one of the baby bottles we purchased to feed the goats but fortunately he was so delighted to be among the goats that he seemed oblivious. Poor Ava Claire was immediately knocked to the ground by one of the frisky goats as he tried to grab the bottle in her hand but she made a quick recovery and was soon happily feeding goats as Owen fearlessly walked around seemingly on a mission to pet all of the couple of dozen goats in the pen. It was tough for me to keep an eye on both of them as they took off in different directions but they had the best time.

Ava Claire has a little purse that I keep filled with quarters that we use to buy animal feed from machines by each animals enclosure. Owen was very interested in this operation and demanded to feed the animals too, I was again worried that he would put the pellets in his own mouth but he copied his sister and was soon actually saying “more” when he needed a refill. Soon he was running over to the machines every time our hands were empty.

Ava Claire's stamina was amazing, she actually pushed her brother the whole time, and never once complained. I will definitely forget to bring the stroller if I take her by herself again!

I recently suffered another disastrous restaurant outing with Coryn: to thank me for watching the children while she and Jeremy were in Florida she invited me to dinner. It so happened that she had signed Ava Claire and Owen up for a parent's night out with free babysitting provided by her preschool. At the time she didn't know that Jeremy was going to be out of town at a roofing conference that weekend so I was her back up dinner partner. Coryn had decided that she wanted to try out a recently opened restaurant in down town Lees Summit that was getting favorable reviews so I drove over looking forward to a gourmet meal. Unfortunately Coryn had not thought to make a reservation so we had a a thirty minute stretch of waiting time to kill so we explored the mostly closed downtown shops.

Once we were seated at the restaurant and looking over the menu selections I realized that it was a decidedly southern style venue (which Jeremy would really appreciate) with very few healthy options. Coryn and I both ordered a shrimp appetizer and the grilled salmon for our entree.

Our salmon arrived and Coryn announced that her piece did not seem to be cooked in the middle, I checked mine and saw that it was raw too. We called a waiter over who pronounced our fish disgusting, apologized and took it away. Our waitress hastened over to apologize too, soon followed by the manager who said we would be served fresh portions of properly cooked salmon. My new fish was fine but Coryn's was so charred it was inedible. The manager appeared, looked with dismay at her fish and said of course there would be no charge for her inedible meal. Coryn opted for dessert as compensation. Unfortunately it seems that Coryn's restaurant and movie picks are always doomed.

Sadly my cousin Rebecca called recently to let me know that my beloved Auntie Margery had died at the age of 92 in Spain where she had spent the last years of her life enjoying being close to family who had moved from England some time ago. I have many wonderful childhood memories of my time with her and I am sure many of you remember the wonderful day we spent with her at Primrose Cottage , her home near Southampton, England .As always she had prepared enough food for an army – she was a fabulous cook, so generous , blessed with many talents and a great sense of humor. She led such an interesting life and was full of fascinating stories about her experiences.

There was great excitement in Grandma's house on Wednesday . Ava Claire and Owen were here by seven thirty and she was fully aware of the fact that we were going to drive to the airport around lunchtime to pick up her adored Uncle Josh. Of course she was anxious to hit the road every half hour exclaiming that she could hardly wait to see him again as she missed him so much! Fortunately Owen fell asleep in his car seat very quickly and shortly before we reached the airport so did Ava Claire . This was a blessing as although Josh landed on time it took ages for him to pick up his luggage at the baggage claim so I had to keep circling the terminal, I lost count after the tenth time! The kids slept all the way home too so of course they were all over Josh to play with them. He didn't even have time to bring his luggage inside before he was outside playing ball, inside playing hide and seek and giving back rides!

Sean and his girlfriend Sarah may be back in the states by Christmas, if not by late Spring so that is good news as I thought he might stay in London indefinitely! Bryn and possibly Marc and Joshua should be here in a few weeks when Craig returns to film the Royal Barbecue and for Thanksgiving Leslee-Ann, Craig and baby Ray will be here so I have lots of family visits to look forward to!

Mother's world was recently shaken early one morning when I woke up to strange noises and the sensation that my bed was rocking. I thought that my worse fears about the stability of my home's foundation had come to fruition as I tore downstairs to see if a wall had collapsed but all was fine. I went back to bed and decided that perhaps I had dreamed the whole episode. I was relieved to learn later in the day that it was a real life earthquake. A very unsettling experience.

Love from your all shook up but now nicely settled (like my foundation) Mother.

THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER VOLUME 109 JULY 2016

Dear Readers,

Last month I was complaining about the rain, this month it's the excessive heat wave which has washed over Kansas City. We have been blessed with copious rainfall for much of the summer but this last week it has been dry, hot, and humid with a heat index well into the 100 degree range. Nightly I have been been in my chigger infested yard, dragging the hoses around my parched plants for a couple of hours. I was hoping to melt away some of my winter blubber but unfortunately the fat just seems to be frying my brain. I am so confused by the popularity of that clown Donald Trump and very nervous about the integrity of Hilary Clinton. It is incredible that they are the best this country has been able to put forth for the next presidency. I feel that my vote for either candidate could take me on a dangerous journey for the next four years: akin to deciding if I would rather go down on a sinking ship or up in flames aboard an out of control rocket. I just can't wrap my brain around this situation.

Ava Claire was recently snuggled up with me when she grabbed my upper arm and announced it was very squishy, she continued with her examination of Grandma's body informing me that my legs, tummy, and double chins were all squishy too. Coryn beamed. I explained that Grandma's are suppose to be squishy. Ava Claire looked doubtful.

Within days of this evaluation I was babysitting the kids at their home and as she left Coryn suggested that I go to the pool with them after she returned. Too bad she didn't think of this before I left my house as I could have bought my swimsuit with me – doubtless Coryn was not anxious to have her mother's squishy body floating across the neighborhood pool for all to see. In her defense I must admit that she did offer to swing by my house to pick it up after her work session but I didn't want to inconvenience her – after all I needed a bikini wax anyway and Ava Claire would probably find all kinds of new areas on my more exposed body to declare squishy.

Later that afternoon, once Coryn had returned, they changed into swimsuits whilst I planned to watch from a lounge chair under a shady umbrella. Within two minutes Ava Claire suggested I take my shoes off and stand in the water with her “Come on Grandma, it's not too cold”. I complied as always and soon Owen was splashing me and expecting to be picked up for a cuddle when he slipped under the water or something. I was drenched. Ava Claire asked me, in the innocence of childhood, if I would like to take some clothes off. I assured her that Grandma was fine in her wet shorts and shirt and would bring her suit next time. It was a nostalgic reminder for me of all the many summers we enjoyed at the Fort Madison Country Club pool.

Mid month Coryn and Jeremy took a long awaited vacation to Clear Lake, Florida with an overnight stop in Orlando to meet our newest family member Ray Remsberg. They departed on a Thursday morning and returned late Monday afternoon. The grandmas split the childcare. Sheryl moved into the Logues house for the first two days and I picked them up Saturday morning and brought them to my house for the last couple of days. Things went well that day, we spent the evening playing in the kiddie pool on the deck and eating pizza – made for easy clean up with Owen, I just sat him in the pool to rinse supper off him. Unfortunately my first attempt to fill the pool was a disaster when I realized that Owen had filled it with poop as soon as he stepped in. Ava Claire was very indignant as I cleaned it out and filled it again.

Saturday night I was exhausted from the nonstop activity of my grandchildren and hoped to get some much needed sleep. Owen was sleeping in my bed and Ava Claire was sleeping along side it on a pillowcase bed that I had put together the previous week. It's a Pinterest type project whereby you make four or five adjoining pillowcases and add the pillows to make a soft and foldaway twin size bed.

It wasn't long before I regretted placing Ava Claire on the floor on my side of the bed. I had trouble falling asleep and realized that my tummy was talking very loudly to me and soon I was talking right back to it: begging for mercy as I found myself scrambling for the toilet over Ava Claire repeatedly. I had rampant diarrhea and very painful stomach cramps. I took a double dose of Imodium and hoped for relief and sleep but it was not to be. Owen awoke looking for his “binky” and Ava Claire needed to go potty. By six O'clock I knew I needed help and began texting and calling Kay. I knew she had had a housewarming party the night before and was probably exhausted herself but I hoped she might wake up to let her dog out early but no luck. I called Becky Dickinson because I knew that one of her girls wakes up at six every morning and thankfully she answered and came over immediately. She and her husband had suffered a similar illness a few days before and she was sure I would not be able to care for the kids at all that day. She insisted on taking them over to her house where she dressed , fed and entertained them through lunchtime until I was able to contact Kay to help me. Once Kay arrived Becky drove the kids back here and I thanked her profusely for all her help as I was so incapacitated with my stomach issues that I could not possibly have cared for the kids.

Kay soon found herself changing Owens diapers, helping Ava Claire on and off the potty, fixing snacks and meals and playing endless games of hide and seek and Ava Claire's latest pretend game obsession “Life Guards.” This game has obviously been created by her experiences at the pool this summer. She is a lifeguard and appoints another person to share the job with her – usually me – and we have to sit in Norm's Harvard chairs and blow a pretend whistle every-time an infraction of the pool rules occurs which is about every ten seconds. She will announce that someone is eating chips in the pool or pushing someone under the water and order me to blow my whistle and say something and so it goes on until one announces break time for the life guards but of course after two minutes she is ready to play again. She definitely has an assertive streak ! Kay was a good sport about all this and was definitely my life saver that day and the next. She spent the night and we split the kids up after a fractious start with both kids in my room. Ava Claire was so restless that she threatened to wake up Owen so we had her sleep upstairs with Kay and that worked out better. Unfortunately I had little sleep again thanks to my queasy stomach and a migraine like headache – all part of the virus Becky described to me. I was very happy to hand the kids back to their parents on Monday evening but glad that they had been able to have some time alone as a couple.

You might remember my mentioning a pool for the kids a few paragraphs ago – I have a rather interesting storage place in the garage for it: the roof of Joshua's car! Since his car has been stored in my garage Coryn has driven it a few times but it is quite a job to get it out of the garage as the lawn mower and yard equipment are parked behind it , the pool is on the roof and there are often “things” sitting on the trunk as all my storage on the floor is gone so I can only store up – on Joshua's car!

Ming-Lee, Lori, Blake and Claudia had a great European family vacation this summer and had some great professional family pictures taken in one of the many cities they visited. Josh is still winding his way through Eastern Europe, I believe he is in Poland this week and Sean is passing through my birthplace, Portsmouth, England on his way to the Isle of Wight, site of Osbourne House where Queen Victoria spent her summers. I still remember visiting it as a school girl on a field trip eons ago!

During one of the heat waves I decided to expend some energy indoors and painted out the cabinetry in the upstairs family room to match the kitchen and it looks much brighter and updated. Now I am painting the hallway and woodwork. Unfortunately the frames that Josh built for the very tall paintings fell apart when I took them down to paint the wall so I have to gorilla glue and clamp them back together. I will probably have to move both cars out of the garage to have enough space for that project!

Now I have another disaster to deal with. This evening I came in from watering my yard and decided that a nice bowl of ice- cream was well deserved but on pulling the container out of the fridge it felt very squishy – just like me. My freezer is not working. In desperation I grabbed the manual, watched a Utube video on troubleshooting refrigerators and decided to pull it out, unplug it and clean the coils. Plenty of dust bunnies were rounded up by my seldom used coil cleaning brush. I plugged it back in, shoved it back into place and not a sound was to be heard. I pushed every control button and slammed the door shut. An hour later it started humming. At least the fridge part is working, I am hoping that the freezer will refreeze overnight, it's down a few degrees but we need about minus 25 of them. I guess I'll have to find a repairman and get an estimate.

Well children despite my trials and tribulations I am maintaining my cool and and living in hopes that one of my handy dandy sons will visit soon! Love Mother - who is holding on with gorilla glue and foul language.

THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER VOLUME 108 MAY 2016

Dear Readers,

RAIN RAIN GO AWAY, COME ON BACK ANOTHER DAY – NEXT MONTH! My new mantra children as I keep one eye on my sump pump and the other on my dehumidifier in an desperate attempt to keep my basement dry. So far I have had little seepage which is amazing considering the torrential rainfalls of the last few weeks.

The last week of April flew by as I found myself hosting two sets of longtime friends from Fort Madison. Bonnie and Gary Niehaus drove to Kansas City's Airport to fly into Denver to visit their daughter Kari, and family in Longmont , Colorado: spending the night at my house to break up the long return trip. They decided to forgo their usual choice of my chocolate bedroom in favor of my recently redecorated paisley room. A wise choice, in my estimation ,because Joshua's clothes are seemingly permanently stored in the chocolate bedroom's closet and I fear that a couple of unwashed shirts may be responsible for the slightly male locker room scent which whiffs past my keen nose on the few occasions I venture in there to clean.

Coryn happened to be around in the days before their arrival whilst I was mulling over possible menus -she suggested that they might prefer to dine at one of my many neighborhood restaurants. I was confident that Bonnie and Gary would rather relax -after a stressful day of traveling- in my Martha Stewart dinning room but decided to offer this option to them and was delighted when they both adamantly confirmed my belief. I took great satisfaction in letting Coryn know that I was right yet again!

They had such a good experience using the Kansas City Airport that they are repeating it this week: apparently it is also more economical than flying out of Cedar Rapids or Moline where one nearly always has to transfer to a major airport anyway. There is so much to love about life in Kansas City.

They left on Wednesday and I spent Thursday preparing for the Friday arrival of my great friends Evelyn, Sherry, and Becky. Evelyn and Sherry were driving down from Fort Madison: Evelyn drove after working the night shift ! Her stamina never ceases to amaze me but I have to confess that her addiction to caffeine has me worried – she even drinks coffee before sleeping to ward off a caffeine deprivation headache on waking! Becky was up in the middle of the night to catch her flight at five in the morning on the first leg of her trip from Savannah. I am so grateful for their decades of friendship which has endured two of us moving out of state.

I picked Becky up from the airport at noon and we arrived home before the other girls who arrived about one-thirty. We drank tea all afternoon, enjoyed a shrimp pasta dish that I made from scratch and enjoyed an early evening visit with Coryn and the grandchildren. They saw that all though Ava Claire looks exactly like her mother at three years old she does not act like her at all – she favors her Auntie Leslee with her self confident, every one pay attention to me and lets do things my way attitude. Owen is a much less demanding child who loves to snuggle and wins everyone over with his huge dimpled smile.

Unfortunately the weather did not shine down on us for our reunion weekend so instead of heading to the arboretum we stayed out of the rainy, cloudy weather by shopping. As always we headed to the just up the street from my so conveniently located home to the Carter's outlet store where Sherry bought something pink for her third grandchild - in hopes that after two grandsons there would be a little girl to shop for and days later her hopes were realized when a sonogram revealed that baby number three would be a girl.

We fixed lunch at home and headed back to the stores, making stops for clothes , plants and garden accessories. We had dinner at Bolings and then decided to walk a couple of miles around my neighborhood of character homes in an effort to burn up some of the calories. The exercise must have improved our stamina because we almost pulled an all nighter, staying up until two in the morning on only one bottle of wine and we were all up by eight the next morning! It's a wonder I could function!

Evelyn had bought some plants for my garden from hers and I was happy to share some of my plants with her so we braved the rain and cold on Sunday morning to dig in the dirt. We ate lunch together and shortly afterwards Evelyn and Sherry headed back to Fort Madison while Becky and I enjoyed another cup of tea or two before heading back to the airport for her late afternoon flight back to Savannah. I was so glad that she had been able to leave Lysander and Merovy for a couple of days with their father while she had a much needed break although with all our activity and late nights and early rises I worried that she was probably more sleep deprived on her return than on her arrival!

Friday the 6^th of May began a week of woes for me . That morning I was up with the birds, thanks to Ava Claire, who had spent the previous night at Grandma's. After breakfast and tubby time we headed to the grocery store where Ava Claire rode the quarter horse surrounded by the bubble gum and toy prize machines and then- as always- insisted on sitting in an oversized shopping cart done up to look like a car. Grandma's engine barely revs up enough these days to steer the clunker up and down the grocery aisles. Ava Claire always happily cleans the dual steering wheels with a sanitizer wipe while singing about the wheels on the bus all through the store. Since I was planning on taking her to the animal farm and home to Lee Summit later in the day I decided to go to the gas station too. Once home we put away the groceries; picked up toys; ate lunch and then drove to Deanna Rose to enjoy all the farm animals.

As always the place was packed, especially with school children on field trips. This year they have started charging an entry fee so I decided it would be cheaper to buy a family pass since we will probably be there at least twice a month. I paid with a credit card and off we we went to feed bottles of milk to baby goats and quarters to machines that dispense food for the animals. Two hours later I decided to take Ava Claire home. Unfortunately our car had been baking in the sun and was uncomfortably hot so I downed all the windows and cranked the air conditioning on full blast. Soon Ava Claire was complaining that she didn't like the wind in her face so I rolled up the windows, noticing that the car still seemed baking hot. I played with the direction of the air conditioning vents but cold air did not seem to be blasting out. I was driving a different route home than usual : instead of the interstates I was on highways with multiple stop traffic lights: maybe I just needed a long stretch of road with no stops to kick my air conditioner into high gear. Ava Claire was a sorrowful sweaty sight in the back seat so I opened all the windows again only to be told to close them again. I tried to explain that Grandma was having a problem with her air conditioner. “Fix it Grandma.” I was getting quite hot under my collar about the whole lack of cold air and knew I was going to have to get professional help. Once at Coryn's Ava Claire was happily cool again and I decided to stop at Hancock Fabric on my way home, as they were having a going out of business sale. I took the interstate route there but had to admit that my car still seemed to be overly warm. Once inside the store I found some things I needed and headed to the checkout, rummaging in my purse for my credit card. I found one but not my preferred card with the reward points for using it. I also realized that my gas card was missing too.

Once home I dumped out my purse and wallet, then every purse I owned and finally searched the car thinking I might have thrown the cards on the front seat after gassing up but although I found a lot of stuff there were no cards. I checked my receipt from the farm and realized that I had used my less favored card there so I deduced I must have lost it at the gas station. I called both the gas station and farmstead in hopes that someone might have found and handed in my cards but no such luck. I notified the credit card company , canceled my card and had to wait a week for a new one to arrive in the mail. I went online to request a new gas card. I was too exhausted from all this activity to face my car problems so I waited until Monday to take it to the dealership. This was bad news. My magnificent fully loaded 2005 Ford Focus -which has needed no major repairs in the eleven years I have driven it- now required a two thousand dollar one. I palpitated and debated with my service guy the wisdom of making such an expensive repair on a car that's value is at best about four thousand dollars considering that I only have 50,000 miles on it. He said that if I was his mother (thank god he didn't say grandmother) he would advice her to make the repair and keep the car which should be good for at least another five years with my usage. I was surprised that he didn't shove me into the new car show room so decided that his advice was probably in my best interest. Apparently they were going to have to remove not only the engine but the dash board to replace my cracked unit hence the huge cost. I was given a loner as it was a two day repair. Now we come to an even more dire situation.

The day before happened to be Mother's day and Coryn and family came with lunch for us all. When I picked Owen up to snuggle I thought he felt warm so Coryn checked and sure enough he was running a mild fever but his appetite was good and he seemed to be his usual self. The following day Coryn reported that he had vomited during the night, was running a higher fever and had developed a rash so she had taken him to his pediatrician who thought he had a virus which would resolve it self in a couple of days. I told Coryn that I would come over the next day if needed after my car was fixed.

After paying for my car repair I wasn't feeling too good myself but headed over to Lee Summit to offer my help. Owen was much sicker than he had been on Sunday and I urged Coryn not to hesitate to take him back to the doctor if she had any concerns. Since Owen needed his mommy's full attention I took Ava Claire home with me where she stayed for a couple of days as early the next morning Coryn called with the frightening news that Owen had been hospitalized late the previous night at Children's Mercy Hospital. They were running tests and taking into account his Mastocytoma and suspected that he might have Kowasaki disease. Fortunately this was not the case but he was in the hospital for a couple of days with a very high fever. Coryn and Jeremy stayed with him there while Ava Claire remained with me, spending a night at her house to take care of the dogs. Thankfully Owen has made a complete recovery although the doctors were never able to figure out his illness.

After my harrowing start to the week I was glad that I was able to help Kay out with her schools “Fun Day” for the students to mark the end of the school year on Friday, May 13^th. I was warmly thanked as I walked into the school for volunteering and was asked to go to the art room where they desperately needed help. I walked in to find out that I was going to be face painting. My blood pressure soared, my heart beat frantically, I broke out in a cold sweat and confessed that I had no experience - I hardly even paint my own face these days. Apparently no one else had any training either – we were all new to the game. They had only been able to find one experienced volunteer and she was missing in action.

I felt sorry for the children as I did my best to turn them into wolves, dogs, butterflies and ladybugs and was so grateful to the ones who only wanted a spider or football on their cheeks. I consoled myself with the thought that they couldn't actually see my artistic handiwork on their faces until the lady who knew what she was doing arrived with her own materials and a huge mirror which all the kids were soon checking themselves in. Frankly I was glad that none of them burst into tears once they looked at my paint jobs! I think I was getting the hang of it by the time I got to my twentieth kid though!

That night I decided it might be a good idea to pay some house hold bills. I wrote out my first check- which happened to be the last in my current book- so I opened my drawer to reach for a new book of checks only to discover that there were none. I couldn't believe that I had to deal with yet another problem. Thank goodness for the days of twenty-four seven instant customer service! I ordered them that night and they were delivered a few days later. Another crisis resolved.

The next big event was Ava Claire's 3^rd Birthday Party – a princess themed gala event. Coryn had spent a lot of time on handmade invitations, turning her entryway and staircase into a Cinderella at the Ball scene, and the princess décor continued into the backyard which was decked out with a bubble machine , helium filled balloons, a shade canopy , Disney music and four live ponies to ride.

There were Disney Princess pictures to color at the children's tables and a box of princess dress up clothes which the girls enjoyed – I had spent hours altering a princess dress for Ava Claire because Coryn had bought a bargain Rapunzel dress that was too big and needed a laced corset back detail in her opinion. As any one who sews knows it can take longer to deconstruct and redo an outfit that it does to start from scratch but your ever anxious to make her children happy mother obliged and noted that Ava Claire spent all of thirty minutes in the dress before switching with another girl who wore the dress for the remainder of the party! I had also been coerced into making tissue paper flowers as centerpieces for the tables. Coryn was eyeing my in full bloom clematis trailing up the deck at my

house earlier in the week and musing about the possibility of my cutting it up into long pieces to lay down the center of her dinning tables. I made it quite clear that was not happening and suggested she head to the flower store- unless she wanted something more whimsical like the tissue flowers we used every spring at the store. She vaguely recalled so I quickly made one up and was told that would be perfect. I offered her my tissue paper to use but she looked at me and said she couldn't possibly figure out how to do it! Surely I could make up a couple of dozen for the table bouquets. Of course I caved.

Josh has just emailed to let me know that his return to Kansas City has been pushed back from July to early September, obviously he is loving Europe like Sean. Marc is also heading over there this summer and Ming-Lee and family should be there in a matter of days. Sometimes I think I would see more of my kids if I moved back!

If any one is thinking of staying in this country don't forget that Mother's home is always open to you, with my English country garden, standard English cuisine and authentic accent – why do you really need to cross the pond? I'll even fly the Union Jack, love Mother.   

THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER: VOLUME 107 APRIL 2016

Announcement: Ray Carson Remsburg

April 4^th 2016

8lbs 6oz

Dear Children, Family and Friends,

In November and December of last year I was summoned for both county and state jury duty : sentencing me to call in every Friday evening for a month to see if my services were required for the following week. It made it hard to plan events more than a few days ahead of the next phone call. I was not selected to appear by either court so I was eligible to be recalled and thus ordered to the Johnson County Courthouse on April 4^th at 8:00am! Such an injustice for someone who considers being up at 8:30 am early bird status. When my notification arrived I immediately called to plea my case for a dismissal at this time due to my conflict of duty. I explained that my daughter's due date was April 3^rd so there was a likelihood that I would be in Florida. If that were the case I would be excused.

Frankly I thought I would probably have been and returned from Orlando by the time my jury duty started as Leslee-Ann was hugely pregnant, gaining only 25lbs but carrying it all out in front of her. Apart from heartburn she had no other issues with her pregnancy and in early March she was out and about Orlando with Marc who came for a week or so. Of course I was hoping that she would go into early labor while Craig was out of town so that Marc would have to deal with her but he was spared! The week before her due date she was at her doctor's office and they decided to induce her on April 11^th if she had not delivered naturally by then. I am sure the idea of having her baby on Grandma's birthday was not appealing so doubtless she wished him out!

I talked with her on Sunday April 3^rd when she and Craig were out shopping , hoping all the walking would get things moving but she wasn't very hopeful. I went to bed that night resigned to the fact that I was probably not going to be flying to Orlando until after my birthday. I set my alarm for 6:30 am as I had to be at the courthouse at 8:00am in Olathe and they suggested allowing fifteen minutes for parking, plus I would be dealing with rush hour traffic.

I woke up to my alarm and a text from Ming-Lee announcing the arrival of Ray Carson Remsburg a few minutes ago. Unfortunately there were some complications at birth that led to the baby being put into the NICU for a few days. As I dressed for court I was able to talk with Leslee and Craig and was reassured that the baby was going to be fine. He had apparently aspirated some fluid into his lungs at birth and was not initially breathing. He has since fully recovered and is a very lusty, healthy baby.

We decided that I should fly out on Thursday, the day they hoped to be home.

I drove to the Johnson County Courthouse anxious to be free to check on the Remsburgs and book my flights. I hoped to be excused immediately but........the wheels of justice do churn slowly.

I was expecting far more people to be present for the selection process and was greatly relieved when I was not assigned to one of the most likely to be on the jury panel seats. I was benched in the just-in-case back up section. We all would be present for the jury questioning by the judge and lawyers in case those in my section needed to replace prospective jurors excused from service for various reasons. We were asked before a recess if serving would be a hardship so I made my plea with the jury co-ordinator, explaining that I had just become a grandmother again that morning and was anxious to leave for Orlando. She congratulated me but said that would be the judges call.

We heard the details of the case , a traffic fatality and people were asking to be excused based on their personal experiences with car accidents. Who hasn't been involved in at least a fender bender at some point? Many prospective jurors were excused and my stomach churned every time the jury co-ordinator picked a name out of the fish bowl . Fortunately my name was never called but I am sure I would not have been selected as it was an open and shut case for the prosecution from my viewpoint.

At noon we were finally excused so I checked for text updates on baby Ray (no cell phone usage in the courthouse) and once home I immediately booked my flight for Thursday. Ray Carson made a swift recovery and was breathing on his own within hours but out of an abundance of caution he was kept in the NICU which was a very challenging experience for his parents, fraught with worry. On Wednesday afternoon he was moved into a regular hospital room with his parents and discharged twenty four hours later. I flew out that day and was met at the airport by Ming-Lee, Lori, Blake and Claudia who were spending spring break taking in Harry Potter World and other delights at Disney. Once again in the months since I last saw them the kids seemed taller and more mature looking.

We all met up at the Remsburgs home, they had been discharged shortly before our arrival so we all admired our beautiful new family member who definitely looks like a mini-Craig – the Lowe genes are not dominant! Ming-Lee kindly volunteered to pick up a barbecue dinner for us all and we ended the evening at an early hour so that the exhausted parents could get some much needed rest.

Fortunately Ray was able to go at least three hours between feedings during the night so this was a great help to his nursing mom and his diaper changing dad. Craig also has taken on the task of burping him and a jolly good job he is making of it – you can hear that baby burp rooms away! By the time I left after several days of cooking, cleaning and helping with the baby I knew they were all doing great. Leslee-Ann never had much interest in babies until she had her own, now she is fascinated with Ray. It's fun to watch the two of them enjoying their baby so much.

My 64^th Birthday has been a long running one! The day was celebrated with Leslee-Ann, Craig and Ray with flowers and an ice cream cake despite my assertion that given all they had endured I needed no fan fare that day, then the day after my return home Coryn and the children arrived with a pan of 'Better Than A Snickers Bar' made from a recipe in the Ivy Bake Shoppe cookbook and we had pizza for supper too. On Saturday night Kay treated me to dinner from Bolings and presented me with the cutest mini birthday cake, and the following Monday I received an edible fruit arrangement from Sean.

Josh friended me on Facebook for my birthday, how many years have I been trying to attain this status? I also got to spend a couple of days with him before he left for England. He plans to spend a few months exploring Europe, frugal Josh is going to be appalled at the high cost of living. I believe Marc is also planning a shorter trip there sometime this summer. I am sure Sean will enjoy seeing his brothers, last year Ming-Lee, Lori, and Bryn visited him.

Ming-Jon made a quick weekend visit to Kansas City while I was in Orlando but he spent time with Kay and had a nice visit with the Logues at their home for part of the time.

Next week will be a busy one for me as Bonnie and Gary Niehaus are planning on spending Tuesday night with me, they have been in Denver visiting their youngest daughter and family and flew in and out of Kansas City so that we could see each other. On Friday Evelyn and Sherry are driving from Fort Madison and Becky is flying in from Savannah. We will have a girls weekend! It's been awhile since we were all together so it will be a very special time.

I mentioned in my previous newsletter that Craig had gone to great lengths to regain favor with Ava Claire and to further cement his back in favor status he arranged tickets to a Disney on Ice Show at the Sprint Center here in Kansas City (his production company does promotional work for them).. Thus Coryn, Ava Clair , myself, and Becky and Elena Dickinson were able to enjoy great seats courtesy of Craig. Ava Claire was totally into the show, loudly singing along to all the songs, she seems to know them all. Both girls wore princess costumes of course, Ava Claire tried to talk me into wearing one of Coryn's old dance costumes (which barely fits over my head) but I told her that grownups do not wear costumes to the show. Only kids. Fortunately she accepted it without endless questions.

I now have a very balanced number of grandchildren, three girls and three boys so I wonder who is going to be responsible for tipping the scales in favor of one of the sexes? Marc?

Love from your happy to be a grandma again mother.

THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER VOLUME 106 MARCH 2016

Dear Readers,

Sadly on February 15^th the time came to free Delilah from her suffering. The last week of her long life she refused any kind of food, and drank very little, apart from tea with milk and sugar from my cup, one of her favorite things in her old age. I had very much hoped that she would fade away in her sleep at home but she was a always feisty. The vet was very kind and I was able to have her remains cremated. I had originally planned to bury her in the garden, next to Tiffanee, but thought the ground might be too hard to dig up at this time of the year. I asked Coryn if I could store Delilah in her garage freezer until the warmer months since I have limited space in my kitchen fridge/ freezer. She was appalled by my suggestion. I questioned whether storing a cat was any different than a butchered deer or half a cow. I promised to package her very discreetly but she was adamant that other arrangements would have to be made. Becky and Coryn with their children showed up that day to help me through it. Despite being a very demanding lap cat Delilah was amazingly good with small children. Firstly she and Mia Woodbury were fast friends, then she bonded with Elena, Ava Claire and Lola Rose. Owen was always trying to grab a handful of fur. Despite having a full set of sharp claws she rarely scratched a child even when being decorated with doll clothes and princess necklaces.

Delilah came into our lives many summers ago when Bryn came racing into our family room at the old Y claiming that he had seen a tiny black and white face behind some bushes while he was out watering. This is recorded in one of the many letters I have that I wrote to my mother. Apparently I told him that it was probably one of Norm's grape eating baby raccoons or a skunk but he insisted I look. So I clambered up the slope into our backyard and began searching the many overgrown bushes. Ten minutes later I headed over to the gravel road by the farm gate and there was a tiny kitten watching me. I couldn't get close enough to see if it was being cared for so headed back into the house. The kids went out with flashlights to try and find it. The next day Coryn, Leslee-Ann, Bryn and Sean spent all day trying to catch it. Success finally came in the evening when I returned from work: I baited her with a piece of ham. So that was how a scrawny female kitten joined our cat family: Toby, Tiffanee and my beloved Sam. The kids named her Madison. I renamed her Delilah to compliment my big boy Sam.

Delilah was a very demanding cat, a whiner constantly in need of attention. She meowed when her food bowl was not as full as she liked, she meowed to be let out only to meow seconds later to be let back in. She meowed if her litter box was not as clean as she liked. She woke me up most mornings with her incessant noise forcing me out of bed and into the kitchen to check her food bowls and make myself coffee: as soon as I sat down in front of the television to drink it she would jump up on me , kneading my lap with her paws and claws, further shredding my cat tattered robe until she got comfortable. She would then purr so loudly that I would have to turn the volume up on the television .

Norm never took to her like his beloved Tiffanee, she was always referred to as that black and white cat. I have to admit that she had a mean streak, she terrorized poor Sheba who lived in constant fear of being attacked by her. It has taken a few days for Sheba to realize that her nemesis is gone – she was still surreptitiously sneaking up and down stairs and around corners expecting to be set upon at any second. In the many years that they lived together Delilah never accepted Sheba despite having always lived in a multi cat household.

Craig made a work related trip to Kansas City the first weekend in February and was most anxious to win his way back into Ava Claire's favor. Last fall when he was staying with me - along with her uncles Josh and Bryn - Ava Claire was a frequent visitor enjoying all the male attention. At some point Craig toasted an English muffin, spread peanut butter on it and started to eat it. Ava Claire said she would like one too. Craig offered her a bite of his but she wanted her own so being a kind uncle he made her one. She looked at it dubiously and questioned if it was the same as his so Craig picked hers up and took a bite hoping to assure her that it was exactly what he was eating. Ava Claire immediately burst into tears and screamed for Grandma, telling me that Uncle Craig had eaten her muffin. Poor Craig was devastated to find that his well intentioned bite had come back to bite him. Henceforth whenever Craig's name was mentioned Ava Claire would state that he was the uncle who had eaten her muffin and made her cry until Grandma came to her rescue. She would run away when he tried to Facetime with her.

Craig decided that he was going to win his way back into her favor with presents. Upon his arrival he greeted her at the door with a stuffed Olaf behind his back which she deigned to accept so before her feelings changed he raced back to his rental car for another present – a microphone that plays a lot of Disney songs and lets you Karaoke along too. He scored big with this, we had to endure listening to her singing 'Let it Go' from Frozen over and over again. Craig was forgiven. At two Ava Claire knows the power of a few tears trickling down her cheeks on the males in the family. What is also amazing is how long she can carry a grudge for – her poor future husband.

I sent two baby monkeys, a crib blanket and some burp cloths that I had made back with him so that when I next fly out I can travel light . (Coryn recently informed me that she was planning on sending along Owen's outgrown baby clothes with me, more space bags in my suitcase I guess).We are now just weeks away from the arrival of my newest grandson. I am on standby ready to fly to Orlando as soon as the stork makes his delivery. Mother will be in such a flap that I will probably be able to use my own arms to get there.

My other son-in-law Jeremy has been losing bits and pieces of his body recently, a vasectomy followed by the removal of four wisdom teeth. He has done very well with his oral surgery at his advanced age! We all hope that no dry sockets are in his future. Ava Claire assured me that she was helping to take care of daddy, bringing him ice packs for his cheeks.

My friend Becky Dickinson called me last Friday evening about nine thirty to see if I could stay with her in the ER at my local hospital so that her husband could relieve their neighbor who was staying with their daughters. I hurried over and found Becky huddled over complaining about terrible pain from a procedure she had undergone earlier in the day to bust up some kidney stones. After calling her doctor she was instructed to go to the nearest ER. She said they had been there for at least thirty minutes prior to my arrival and she was feeling worse with everyone. I immediately approached the admittance desk and suggested that Becky should be seen immediately given the fact that she had undergone a medical procedure and been sent to the ER by her doctor. Within seconds she was taken back. Unbeknownst to me at the time she was mad with husband Fred for not getting her in sooner and said she was calling Megan because she knew how to get things done! Frankly it might have been a coincidence that we were admitted after my arrival but it confirmed Becky's believe that Fred was not up to dealing with her medical emergency. I hastily defended nice guy Fred by pointing out that I could be a royal bitch if so needed! Norm provided me with a lot of experience in learning how to work with medical personnel!

Fred was sent home to check on the girls while I stayed with Becky. She ended up with a catheter, a two night stay and a stent. Her stone had not been passed and the whole procedure will be repeated next week. After a couple of hours I switched places with Fred, sleeping at their house for a few hours to be with the girls. Elena woke up about six that morning and was very matter of fact about my being there. I fixed a bowl of cereal for her just as Fred emerged to let me know that Becky was still in the hospital and that her parents were coming up to stay. I left for my bed and after filling Coryn in on her friend's plight I crawled into my own bed and slept until three that afternoon. I was exhausted because the previous night Ava Claire had stayed with me and awoke numerous times because her nose was congested. Mother's days of pulling all nighters are over.

Josh has been helping Marc do a partial remodel of his condo's bathroom. In my opinion it is a total gut job but my frugal sons decided to replace the toilet and sink, paint the existing vanity and clean up the tile floor. The disgusting blue bath tub remains. Marc indulged himself by adding a bidet - doubtless hoping to help his hemorrhoids. When I was growing up we had a bidet in our bathroom but it was strictly for females. Marc assures me that his is gender neutral, like himself I guess.

However instead of hauling the old toilet and sink to the dumpster Marc and Josh decided to turn them into a crappy piece of patio art - using the large ceramic pot and pump that I helped Marc set up as a beautiful plant filled water feature. They set the sink on top of the pot, and balanced the toilet on top of that and ran tubing from the pot below the sink to the toilet tank. Anyone walking by is treated to the sound of peeing water. Those of my readers who follow my blog will be subjected to a visual of this installation in a corner of Marc's patio that is hopefully hidden from his neighbors views. If only all this effort had gone into installing a new bath tub!

Sean is no longer one of my eligible bachelor sons, he has moved in with his girlfriend Sarah who is also an American working for Cerner in London. They are having a wonderful time traveling to different European cities on their weekends. Sarah took Sean to Rome, Italy for his birthday and for Valentines Day he gave her a thousand piece jigsaw puzzle which once put together revealed that he was taking her to Prague, Czechoslovakia next month. So romantic. They are in Edinburgh, Scotland this weekend. Frankly this has given me renewed hope for my remaining bachelor sons.

Coryn took Kay and me to a spa for a massage and hot stone treatment followed by lunch at a Thai restaurant and dessert at Irina's bakery – all just blocks away from my oh so conveniently located home. It was a Christmas gift from her and Jeremy that was put on hold until after my beloved Chiefs were out of the playoffs as I refused to make any commitments which might cause me to miss a game.

Owen is now pulling himself up and can walk around furniture if he holds onto it. He has also mastered stair climbing so he requires constant monitoring. Exhausting for Coryn as he only takes a couple of short naps during the day and still is not sleeping through the night. Ava Claire still tends to enjoy “accidentally” knocking him over or dropping a toy on him. She is usually very solicitous to him following these mishaps and he for the most part seems to find her highly entertaining. I certainly enjoy her attitude. Coryn told her to stop interrupting the other day when we were trying to have a conversation and Ava Claire admonished her mommy with “ I am allowed to talk.” She was given a time out and I almost had to join her because I was laughing so hard. It is almost impossible to find Ava Claire not talking, only when watching a movie or her shows on Utube is there any peace. Sometimes if I am slow to respond she will say “Grandma don't you know I am talking to you?”

Love from your mother who is expecting to find out the name of her newest grandson very shortly, I just hope it doesn't send me in a tailspin all the way back to Kansas!

THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER VOLUME 105 JANUARY 2016

Dear Children, Family, and Friends,

On December 22^nd I drove to the airport, parked in the economy parking lot, and boarded the shuttle bus bound for my flight to Orlando. Once again I was pre approved for boarding so I sped through security to eventually board yet another completely full flight .Since it was holiday week I had decided to pay the extra fee to ensure that I was in an early boarding group thus securing bin space for my carry on.

I called the Remsbergs upon landing and they met me in front of the terminal in Craig's SUV. I scrambled into the back seat and devoured the Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich they had picked up for me – I was famished as it was a couple of hours past my usual five 0'clock suppertime and we all know how a late meal affects me.

Once at their home I unpacked my suitcase – I had squished my few clothes into a space bag so that I could bring the completed monkey and five other bags of monkey body parts, some strips of piping for the bumper pads and a couple of Christmas presents into my carry-on. I then toured the newly painted soft gray nursery and noticed that no branches were hanging for the monkey's gymnastics. The kids had decided that they needed my help with this too, claiming they had no idea what size or kind of branches they should use and short of cutting them off their own trees no idea where to find any. I knew they regularly jogged along the trails by their home and suggested there must be broken branches somewhere en route. They were dubious.

Leslee-Ann was extremely concerned about my ability to get everything done in the next five days: she is like a rabid pit bull with a meaty ham bone when she gets her teeth into an idea – she does not let it drop for a second. She gnawed on the subject until my nerves were as frayed as some of my monkey seams after she used chopsticks to ram stuffing into them. I did not relax for my entire stay until the last day when all the must do sewing was done. Those monkeys were off my back.

In the weeks leading up to my Christmas vacation I had thought about setting up shop in their huge screen enclosed back patio and perhaps enjoying the view of the garden I had helped plant last year. Unfortunately my visit coincided with a heat wave so I stayed inside with the air conditioning but still felt like I was working in a sweat shop: literally on the day I emerged from the laundry room -where I was steam pressing fabric strips to make bumper pad ties- in desperate need of a shower and a bucket of ice. Leslee-Ann had no sympathy, berating me for not taking the ironing board off the door and moving it to another one. She at least moved it for me after I suggested that she take over the ironing.

The first day went well with the completion of the bumper pads but day two was more challenging. I decided to tackle the crib skirt and had to use the floor to have enough space to lay out and cut the fabric. Unfortunately the pugs decided that I was making a comfy napping spot for them on the hardwood floor and kept plopping themselves on it just as I was ready to cut and proved hard to budge. Leslee-Ann thought it was cute. Frustrated I decided to tackle the baby blanket but had trouble mitering the corners so I put it aside and returned to the crib skirt. The pugs took up residence on leftover blanket fabric instead.

I woke up on Christmas Eve with Craig suggesting that we take advantage of the slightly cooler morning air by walking the nearby trail. After sitting for a couple of days I was even enthused about this idea and borrowed a pair of Leslee-Ann's sneakers. We all know how I feel about exercise:I find that just getting out of my lovely cozy warm bed is enough of a physical challenge for me every day. Craig jogged ahead as Leslee-Ann and I walked. Unfortunately I did not enjoy sharing the pathway with swarms of cyclists that would shout out “on your left” as they sped by. I kept to the edge. However as soon as we hit the trail I noticed that we were surrounded by trees with piles of broken branches everywhere. Leslee-Ann claimed she had never noticed them before in all the years she's used these trails. We decided to pick some up on the way back and found some gray colored branches with interesting bark which worked out perfectly. Craig volunteered to carry them back home for us.

While I was sewing monkeys ,Chuck, their wedding photographer from seven years ago showed up to paint some trees on one of the walls in the nursery. The leaves were painted in the exact shade of green on the monkey fabric. I opined that after hearing Craig offer Chuck a drink or something to eat that he was being treated as more of a guest than sweat labor like myself and this netted me a cup of tea! At least we enjoyed a longer lunch with his presence! They even took me out to dinner that night !

On Christmas day we opened presents and face timed with Sean, my brother Trevor, Angela and Ethan in England and then it was back to the sewing machine. A monkey wrench was thrown into my progress when I ran out of gray thread on the one day of the year that all the stores are closed. Leslee-Ann was incredulous that I had not foreseen this happening but fortunately I was saved by a neighbor

who sews and luckily had the very same color which she brought right over. She admired our efforts and hoped I would get a break to eat my Christmas dinner! Fortunately I did, Craig cooked the whole meal as Leslee-Ann claimed she was too busy helping me – laying on the sofa stuffing monkeys and trying to decide whether she wanted a chevron or color blocked tail on monkey number four. When we sat down to dinner she had the nerve to complain that Craig should have cooked the green beans for another five minutes!

Leslee-Ann putting some effort into stuffing a monkey part!

Finally Leslee-Ann and Craig decided to hang some branches from the nursery ceiling and arrange the completed monkey's swinging from them like trapeze artists. This took them hours. At one point Leslee apparently climbed the ladder to twist a branch and Craig was most perturbed. I assured him that it was fine for a pregnant woman to do so – he has bought into the idea that she can do even less than she normally does in her condition.

Amazingly when left by myself my productivity at the sewing machine soared and I flew through the next couple of monkeys! Leslee-Ann was thrilled but puzzled. I said it was because I was now in the swing of things having made so many but I think it was probably because I was freed from the endless “do you think you will get it done?” to remarks about possibly having created a cross eyed monkey, or one who looked like a stroke victim.

In Leslee-Ann's defense I must admit that she helped by doing a lot of cutting out, body stuffing and even undertook to embroider mouths on some of the monkeys. I could not convince her to sew on the eyes or try the sewing machine but there is hope that she might learn eventually.

Celebrating Christmas with no possibility of snow was strange, even the decorations seemed odd in the July weather but perhaps after a few years one would adapt. I know the kids don't miss spending the holiday in the Midwest at all, and Leslee -Ann actually baked assorted Christmas cookies to share with their neighbors. I grabbed a few here and there to keep my energy up at the sewing machine.

Craig took pity on me a couple of evenings claiming he was lonely and felt like watching a movie with us so we did and we actually went to dinner another evening and found it cool enough to eat outside on the restaurant courtyard. Of course Leslee-Ann was clock watching to make sure I got back to work in time to produce something before bedtime.

Since my return the monkey jumped back on my back when Leslee-Ann decided that her nursery would be perfection if I could make a couple of baby monkeys to hang off a couple of the bigger ones. That project is done but the blanket is still still sitting in my to do sewing pile. I might wait to take it with me when I return for baby boy Remsburg's birth.

Unfortunately my return trip from the Kansas City airport to my home was a near death experience.

When I left my biggest fear was that my car wouldn't start after sitting for so long out in the parking lot but the weather forecast was for warmer temperatures than normal whilst I was away so I was not happy to see freezing rain out of the plane window as we landed. There was snow on the ground too and I was wearing high heels! I caught the shuttle bus to the parking lot, and found the pavement wet but not slippery. My car was covered in ice. Fortunately I always keep an ice scraper in my car so I started the car which caught immediately (one less worry) and while it warmed up I started scrapping all the windows. That done I climbed into the car, exited the parking lot – the parking attendant said conditions had been terrible the night before but the roads were much better now so I confidently drove off down interstate I29 and eventually exited to I635. A sleety freezing rain mix was falling and the traffic was sparse which probably saved me as I lost control and went spinning across the interstate not once but twice and amazingly I hit no other vehicle and was spared crashing into the concrete median. I calmly noted that it was nice that Adele, a favorite of mine was singing on the radio – my usual classical station was off air – and that all my children were grown as I felt sure my time had come but miraculously I eventually came to a stop and a nearby pick up almost lost control as he fishtailed past me . I realized that for every ones safety I needed to get moving so I gripped the steering wheel and had a very treacherous drive home the remainder of the way as the roads quickly deteriorated. I felt myself sliding several times. Later that night I heard on the news that there were so many accidents that the police asked people not to call them in unless there were injuries. It took quite a few cups of tea to settle my nerves after that close call.

The sight that greeted me as I pulled into my driveway after my scary drive home.

Ava Claire was very happy to have Grandma home again and promptly invited herself over to spend the night – as usual. Since my return I have a seen a lot of her, Owen,Elena and Lola Rose. I am always glad to help their parents out when they need a break. My downstairs now houses most of the toys including the playhouse, more of a child's than adult space now.

One morning Coryn invited me to join her for lunch at a tearoom not far from her rural home so off we went with the children. It was part of an antiques store – what I with my English sensibilities refer to as junk from Grandma's attic , a true antique being centuries old! They had a rustic tea room set with round to the ground table clothed tables, regency styled upholstered chairs and mis-matched plates hanging all over the walls. Ava Claire was entranced. Kay had invited me to afternoon tea at the Inter Continental Hotel on the Plaze the day before I left for Orlando and I thought how fun it would be to invite all the little girls in my life to a tea party there. What was I thinking? I gave thanks as we were seated that there was only one other person there. Owen was happy to sit in his car seat and teethe on his toys. Ava Claire declined the offer of a booster seat and ordered lemonade. There was no lemonade on the menu. Two huge silent tears rolled down her cheeks, the waitress hurriedly made other suggestions. We reminded Ava Claire that she could drink tea with Mommy and Grandma. Happiness was restored. The waitress returned with a tea pot but only two cups. Coryn explained that Ava Claire had been drinking tea from a cup since she was six months old so the waitress hurried off to get another probably thinking that the cup of tea was going to christen the chair and tablecloth but Ava Claire was very careful, a few fraught moments when she decided that it wasn't cooling down fast enough stirring it with her spoon so she grabbed her fork and plunged that in too. We hurriedly snatched it away shaking our heads at such un lady like behavior. Ava Claire was not very happy when she couldn't order chicken nuggets or french fries but settled on a grilled cheese sandwich announcing that she would have a cup cake for dessert. Once again the waitress looked askance explaining that there were no cup cakes but offered a chocolate bread pudding, a lavender cake, and a caramel chocolate cake. Coryn ordered all three -dessert lover that she is- saying it would be fun to share. Ava Claire ate a small bite of her sandwich and waited for dessert. No danger of her mother threatening no dessert if she didn't eat her lunch first: her mother had a father that let her order and eat dessert first if she wanted to!

While waiting for dessert Ava Claire commented loudly on the décor despite our efforts to have her use her library voice ; by then the other customer had left so she rightly observed that there was no one else around to disturb so she decided to sing. She knows an amazing number of songs but she sings very loudly and often with dramatic hand gestures. Thankfully nothing was knocked over. By then baby Owen had had enough and was sitting in my lap eating from my plate. Once dessert arrived Ava Claire ate with gusto picking the chocolate cake. When asked if she would like to switch desserts she replied “not yet “so just Coryn and I switched. Ava Claire never relinquished hers. Frankly I was exhausted by the time we had the children back in their car seats. I bet the poor waitress was too, probably thinking Ava Claire a thoroughly spoiled brat!

Last week Ava Claire spent a couple of nights with me and to save either of us making the hour long round trip from her house to mine Coryn suggested we meet somewhere in the middle and have lunch. Why I just didn't drive her home instead of enduring another tension inducing lunch I have no idea. Coryn had picked a place near Longview Lake in a cute down town area. I was surprised to walk into an empty restaurant at noon on a Saturday but thankful that my grandchildren would not be bothering any one. Once we were settled our waitress took our drink orders and Ava Claire was delighted that lemonade was on the tap here and they offered a children's menu with a Mickey Mouse pancake – perfect .Despite being the only customers it took quite some time to be served, fortunately they did have some crayons and paper for Ava Claire, and once she was drinking her lemonade she declared it fresh and refreshing every time she took a sip. Once our food arrived Owen sat on his mother's lap and ate french fries whilst his sister ate most of her enormous pancake and bacon - declaring that she would take the eggs home for later. We were amazed to see her eat so much at one sitting, it reminded us of her baby days when she ate enormous amounts of food. She informed us that she was going to grow bigger because she wanted to fit into one of her mother's dance costumes which looked like a Disney princess dress to her. Ava Claire is very into dresses and having her hair curled just like her mother as a little girl.

I have lost my roomie again. Josh left last week to drive to LA to spend time with brothers Marc and Bryn until he leaves for London. I believe he is also planning a hiking trip across parts of Asia. This might be be one of the cheapest times to travel with such low fuel prices but I am not sure that venturing out of the Midwest in these violent times is very safe. But of course the former rather than the latter will have figured into Joshua's decisions.

I am enjoying my days with no breakfast mess, no clumps of brushed cat fur added to my floral arrangements and no unflushed toilet bowls because Josh subscribes to the green theory : if it's yellow be mellow and don't flush it until a number two plops in. Ugh!

Love your Mother whose sanity is hanging by a thread – a gray one.