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.