Emmy Lou enjoying tummy time on her rag quilt!

The last woodland creature I created, my Foxy Fox!

The tree that Josh made for me to display all the woodland creatures I made for Emmy Lou!

THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER VOLUME 125 MARCH 2019

Dear Family and Friends,

I thought last month's newsletter contained lots of great family happenings but another totally unexpected announcement from the Remsburgs was a true surprise. For years Leslee-Ann's mantra has been “ one and done” so I fully expected Ray to be an only child thus I was amazed to face time with them one day and see Ray wearing a Big Brother shirt!

LESLEE-ANN AND CRAIG ARE EXPECTING A SISTER FOR RAY IN AUGUST

I have just delivered a woodland themed nursery for Emmy Lou and now I am expecting another labor of love to deliver a Llama themed one for my newest granddaughter. I was surprised that Leslee-Ann had conceived of this idea until I checked it out on Pinterest and Etsy and realized that it is trending at the moment. Apparently Leslee-Ann has been inspired by a crib sheet and wants cacti, pompoms, tassels and rainbows incorporated into the theme. She has also requested that I make a huge play floor mat with a large Llama applique, and build in sensory experiences for the baby! She certainly has high expectations of her mother's abilities to deliver!

I am going to visit the Remsburgs in early April to celebrate Ray's third birthday and to shop for fabric to hopefully create the nursery my daughter envisions. I doubt that Craig has been allowed to voice any opinions on the decor! I was hoping that my next visit to Orlando would be the one where the sewing machine stayed in the closet while I floated in their new pool enjoying a few of Craig's cocktails! Oh well hopefully I will live long enough for that trip to happen!

KAY SAID “YES” TO THE DRESS!

On Saturday, February 9^th Kay pulled into my driveway with her friends from her college days at Tufts, Mckenzie from San Francisco and Jen from Boston. They had flown in the night before to spend the weekend shopping for Kay's bridal gown and bridesmaid dresses for themselves and the other girls. One more bridesmaid, Missy, who lives in North Kansas City met us at our first appointment and whilst there Kay had a change of mind about her wedding colors. She had been thinking cream, silver and rose pink but was much more taken by the darker wine shade of dresses aptly called merlot and so the colors were switched to cream, gold, rose pink and burgundy which I think will be well suited to an almost Fall wedding. Being a couple of generations removed from these girls I wasn't sure that we would see eye to eye on styles but despite being willing to put on my rose colored glasses if need be I was surprised that we we were all so in sync. I had told Kay beforehand that if she absolutely loved a dress that she should go with her heart and not our opinions but we were all pretty much in agreement at our first appointment. There was one dress that we all considered acceptable for Kay but it didn't really “wow” us so we decided to keep looking. However after trying on numerous dresses the three girls were unanimous in their bridesmaid dress choice and didn't feel it necessary to look any more so with their dress orders placed we headed off to Twisted Fresh, just up the street from my house, for lunch. Our first Bridal appointment was North on Quivera and the second was South on Quivera and of course my house is located right off Quivera. Location, Location! Is there a better address in the Kansas City area children?

Our second appointment was in a very rustic, almost dilapidated looking building and I was very dubious as we picked our way through the snow to the entrance . Once inside the barn like space we were surprised by the vast array of dresses at a price point that was definitely well north of our budget. Kay had told me that we could find sample dresses from many designers for a fraction of the original cost. We were led to a room at the back of the building that looked as if it might collapse at any moment. I looked around and questioned how they had ever passed a building inspection but we were soon settled in, offered Mimosa's, soft drinks etc as we sat on the distressed sofa and chairs. Kay was whisked behind a curtain in the room and helped into an assortment of beautiful gowns that I feared well exceeded our budget and finally we were down to the last two dresses that we all agreed were stunning on Kay and they were completely different styles, one being all lace and the other yards of tulle and bead-work, very much like Coryn's wedding dress. Initially Kay had wanted a lace dress with a sleeve of some length, definitely nothing strapless. However the dress she fell in love with was the strapless beaded gown and we knew that this was her dress. Our bridal assistant was a pleasure to work with, happily putting Kay back into and out of our top two contenders a couple of times and once the decision was made we were amazed to learn that the dress was under our top dollar because it was so heavily discounted! Since we were buying a sample dress we did not have to place an order and wait months to see it again. It went home with us and is safely hanging in one of my upstairs closets like Coryn and Leslee -Ann's wedding dresses. I am sure their daughters will all love dressing up in them one day!I was amazed that we had accomplished so much in one day !

Josh was babysitting Owen and Ava Claire who had been dropped off that afternoon by their parents who were spending the weekend in Excelsior Springs. Jeremy had called me early in the week to see if I could have the kids that weekend so he could surprise Coryn with a romantic getaway. Since I had already committed myself to dress shopping that weekend I said sure but I would need Josh to be free to pitch in while I was shopping and fortunately he felt his schedule could accommodate that request so it all worked out. Kay's friends were attractive, fun loving and adventurous spirits that would all be good matches for one of my bachelor sons but unfortunately they were all in serious committed relationships! I fear my boys are all getting too old to to reel in much of a catch now!

The weather has been brutal this year and we are into week two of school cancellations! There will be a lot of make-up school days. As you may recall Josh arrived back in Kansas City in December and I think he was very anxious to escape the arctic temperatures, ice and snow. So in mid February I took him to the airport so that he could fly to the Remsburgs to spend some time with them before heading to Columbia. Who knows how long he will be gone but I certainly hope he returns this summer as I have some wood rot and tuck pointing jobs that need to be tackled! I don't think mother should be twenty feet up in the air on a ladder at my advanced age children!

In January my furnace died. Fortunately it was not during one of our coldest spells and my heating, cooling and plumbing guy, Radi, came right over the evening I called and was able to temporarily get it going again so that at least it would put out some heat for a couple of hours to warm the house up a bit for the night. It died again the next morning and I was grateful that he was able to install a whole new heating and cooling system that day. What service! He had kept my 1993 furnace and ancient air conditioner running for years with small repairs but I knew the units were terminal. I added a humidifier to my new system as the static electricity and dry air in the house is not very enjoyable. The first night after the installation I kept hearing running water and eventually traced the source to the furnace room where I saw water trickling out of a large pipe into my floor drain..I immediately thought of all the money I was flushing down the drain with this new system I called Radi to let him know that I had trouble sleeping because I could hear the constant sound of water dripping. He assured me that it was normal,that I would get use to it in a few days probably and it really wasn't wasting that much water. Radi suggested that I could switch the humidifier off but as we all know your hi tech mother likes to be on the cutting edge so I decided to build up my tolerance of the waterfall that runs on and off at all times of the day and night. I will not open my water bill unless someone is with me in case I go into cardiac arrest and need to go to the ER .

In January Josh informed me that he was going to have two wisdom teeth removed. My blood ran cold. I had no idea that at the advanced age of almost thirty-nine that he still had them in his mouth. Josh thought it astounding that his own mother could not recall which of her children had or had not had their wisdom teeth extracted. I offered to drive him to his appointment but he said that would not be necessary as he was going to the dentist's office just a block from my house. I asked if he was going to be anesthetized for the procedure but being Josh he was going the cheap route and opting for a local anesthetic. He seemed very unfazed by the prospect of the whole operation while I was noticing my bowels churning, my blood pressure rising and fears of dry sockets, infections and weeks of complaints being part of his recovery. Having been through this procedure myself and with many of his siblings I was preparing myself for the worst. Ahead of his surgery I loaded up my fridge with jello and yogurt. Josh was not thrilled about some of my choices of soft foods which he deemed unhealthy but I noticed they were eaten! I suggested soup and he looked horrified. Was I trying to give him dry sockets he questioned waving his sheets of aftercare instructions in my face! No hot foods, no sucking motions! How could I possibly suggest slurping hot soup from a spoon? Since he didn't want to look like a chipmunk getting ready for hibernation he needed ice-packs for his face which fortunately I had in the freezer but none of them suited Josh. They were not conforming to the shape of his jaw so I had to crush ice and put it in zip-lock bags for him to shape to fit the contours of his jaws! Fortunately for me (and him too of course) Josh was very fortunate to have a trouble free recovery, strictly adhering to all the instructions on his aftercare sheets. I have heard from anonymous sources that one of the reasons that Josh is going to Columbia is to have his two remaining wisdom teeth pulled as it is of course much cheaper there! Frankly I believe that Josh would extract them himself with a pair of pliers but apparently he learned it was a two person job as the dentist had to enlist his help to hold his jaw open while he pulled and cut!

The second weekend in March I am going to fly to Indy with Coryn, Kay and Ava Claire so that we can spend time with Ming-Lee, Lori, Blake and Claudia. Since we are in the path of another snow storm today I am hoping that we will be able to make the trip safely next weekend with no delays, cancellations or bad road conditions to get to and from the airport.

Since I am helping Kay and Richard with their wedding decorations I was thinking back to other family weddings and this is one of my favorite memories from Leslee-Ann and Craig's wedding in Iowa City on Saturday, May 3^rd 2008 that perfectly illustrates Ming-Lee's determination to conquer any challenge that befalls him. The following is taken from my June 7^th newsletter, volume 40, page three for those of you who might want to read the original which I am sure is carefully stored somewhere in a binder or hard drive by all my children!

“It was decided months ago that Leslee-Ann would be walked down the aisle by her brothers because Norm was going to be in his wheelchair so that he didn't steal the scene at the wedding by keeling over during one of his spells. Besides as I was elected to push him down the aisle in his wheelchair everyone would get a chance to see what a dedicated wife looked like! Leslee-Ann had decreed that her brothers should all wear black suits, white shirts, and matching gray ties. Leslee gave each of her brothers their tie as as a present and presented her dad with a darker gray one to wear as an option to his bow-tie. Naturally he chose Leslee's tie! Family photos were set for 3:30 Saturday afternoon so about forty minutes ahead of time the boys began to get ready. We had a crisis: Ming Lee had a suit jacket but no pants! Lori was doing a great imitation of me as she vented her disbelieve that anyone would pack without checking to make sure that they had the suit pants hanging under the jacket. Of course, being male, Ming Lee just assumed that was where they would be..... However Ming Lee showed impressive resourcefulness under tremendous pressure. Having ascertained that none of his brothers had a pair of dress pants that would fit or come close to the shade of his jacket he grabbed the phone book, found a men's clothing shop within a block or so of the hotel, and with jacket in hand raced to it. He was back in no time having found a great match that the shop agreed to hem in fifteen minutes. While his pants were being hemmed Ming got his top half ready for the family pictures, ran back to the shop for his new pants, returned breathless and sweaty but perfectly attired for our family photos. I have to say that I was so in awe of Ming's save of the day that for once I didn't need to pop an extra Zoloft to keep me from freaking out!”

Ming -Lee always rises to a challenge and so far has always come out on top and I have no doubt that he will do so again in his ongoing battle with cancer. He does not waste time fretting about problems, he quickly weighs his options and comes up with a plan of action and follows through! He perfectly demonstrates the power of positive thinking, the PMA that you dad was so fond of talking about.

Coryn and Kay have both been nominated by their schools for recognition as Teacher of the Year – very interesting as neither of them are classroom teachers! The former being a part-time school psychologist and the later an ESL -English as a second language- teacher! So proud of them both for the positive impact they are making!

Owen has suddenly developed a fondness for singing and even enjoys coming up with his own lyrics. One of his favorites is the little ditty “ I am going to pee in my underwear” which he was singing in full voice one morning as one of the grandma's was helping him out his car seat. She asked if he had made up the song, which I assured her he had, this Grandma did not encourage those sort of lyrics! As Coryn noted though Norm would have roared with delight and probably have joined in with his bathroom sense of humor!

One of the highlights of my week was spending three hours cuddling my youngest grand daughter for whom I have just made my first rag quilt and I enjoyed the process so much that I know I will be making more!I love every minute that I get to spend with my grandchildren! Blake and Claudia next week and Ray next month, such a lucky Grandma! Love to you all, Mother.

Mother nature created this perfect cupids bow mouth on Valentines day!