THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER: VOLUME 137 DECEMBER 2020

MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

Dear Children, Family and Friends.

My Christmas tree and decorations are blazing brightly with working strands of lights and all my Christmas shopping is done! I feel so relieved! Now all I have to do is come up with a menu of easy to fix hors d'oeuvres for the Christmas Eve feast I am hosting this year! Sean and Sarah are hosting our Christmas Day dinner. I suggested that Coryn and Jeremy could hold a New Year's Eve gathering but Sean thought this might be too much togetherness for the Kansas City Lowe family members with Covid 19 raging in our area. I say masks on and go for it even if we have to eat in separate rooms!!

Kay and Richard will be with us for Christmas Eve but with his parents for Christmas Day. And this leads me into delivering some very exciting news! For weeks I have been laboring under the burden of keeping a secret for Kay and Richard until they decided to share with us all that a baby boy is going to join our ever growing family in June! Kay made me a Grandma at 39 and is making me a Great Grandma at 69! But this is pure happiness for me when I think that Ming Jon will be a Grandpa and the other siblings will all be Great Aunts and Uncles! I told Kay and Richard that this fact needed to be pointed out when they shared their good news! This means that next year I will have five granddaughters and five grandsons unless someone else has conceived to deliver more joy to our family! My sewing room is going to be full of nursery room fabrics again!

Josh spent some time in California with Marc and Bryn, then spent a few weeks with the Remsbergs in Florida – and they even managed to persuade Marc to risk flying out to stay with them for awhile. When I saw a photo of Marc, Josh and Leslee-Ann horse back riding together I was amazed as I never expected him to leave his condo let alone take a flight as he takes Covid 19 so seriously. And of course I was amazed to see him on a horse as he tends to be rather unadventurous. Apparently Danny Roach took him horse riding during his high school years. Another thing I knew nothing about! But I am glad that Marc did make the trip as I think months of isolation were beginning to have a negative effect on him – like most of us!

                          Marc, Josh, Leslee-Ann wearing their Ming Moves the Mountain T-shirts                             horseback riding in Orlando

When Josh returned to Kansas City in early December he spent a week in quarantine at a friends empty house before returning to Sarah and Sean's . Of course Emmy Lou, and Liam were delighted to have him back as were Ava Claire and Owen. And as if Josh didn't have enough incentive to stay at his brother and sister-in-laws house over his mother's - with their turning the entire lower level of their home over to him complete his own mini kitchen and of course a garage for his car - they upped the ante and brought two kittens into their home! We all know how much Josh loves cats! I hope he is responsible for cleaning their litter boxes!

Speaking of cats: after spending six hundred dollars at the vet's for diagnostic testing on my aging Sheba, she has been diagnosed with stage 2 renal disease and high blood pressure! When I saw the bill my already high blood pressure spiked ! She is now on blood pressure medicine – unfortunately not the same kind or dosage as mine- and expensive prescription food! If any of you are wondering about a stocking stuffer for that wretched cat just stuff some high denomination bills in it to help defray her medical costs! I am also spending a fortune on Kitty Litter as she she is drinking lots of water and peeing constantly!

Unfortunately Ming-Lee underwent another brain scan recently that showed his cancer continues to spread. He is going to continue his infusion treatments, drop the chemo therapy and undergo more radiation treatments. His ability to bounce back from upsetting and disappointing news is incredible! He never stops trying to move that mountain! I know he appreciates all the prayers, hope and love that he gets from all the family and friends supporting him.

Across the pond my nephew Ethan is hospitalized with a blood clot on his lung that unfortunately traveled from his leg. Ethan had actually been seen by a doctor when the classic signs of a leg thrombosis were present – redness, heat, swelling and pain. Somehow the doctor failed to diagnose this and it was a day or so later that Ethan- in great pain - was admitted to the hospital to learn that he would be on blood thinners for the rest of his life. As he heads into week two of his hospital stay he is concerned that he will miss his Christmas pud, the Queens speech and his mince pies! I have Face Timed with him - he looks good- but of course he is anxious to be home and terrified of contracting Covid 19 whilst in the hospital.

Thanksgiving was very quiet this year - I celebrated with Sean and family, Kay and Richard with his parents and Coryn and her family with Jeremy's family. No-one flew in for Thanksgiving and no one will be flying in for Christmas either as Covid 19 has us all grounded in our homes with our immediate family members. I am so blessed to be in Kansas City with eleven family members that I can still visit with – although we do have to quarantine from each other for a few weeks sometimes if we think we may have been exposed to the pandemic! Thank goodness we have a vaccine that will hopefully be as effective as claimed and prove to be safe as millions roll up their sleeves for the shot. Also I am sure that once Joe Biden moves into the White House masks will be mandated from sea to shinning sea. I just hope that we do not have to send in the Marines to get that buffoon Trump out first. Plus the place will need to be fumigated as well since their have been so many morally bankrupt Trump staffers stricken with Covid 19 there.

I recently purchased a cheap version of a fitbit in an effort to motivate me to walk at least five thousand steps a day and I have to say it does guilt me into spending less time on the couch with my iPad. I frequently walk with my neighbor Charlene and we both love hitting the five thousand steps! We hope to walk all winter, bundled up against the cold and masked up against the virus! That mask makes a great face warmer on a cold windy day!

I have been sewing a lot of Christmas masks to meet the demands of family and friends and am so glad that I can do something however small to help in this war against the virus. I also found time to sew a few outfits for Emmy Lou and up-cycled an old Christmas dress of Ava Claire's into a cute top for her. I am looking forward to being able to visit the Remsburgs sometime next year so that I can spend time making custom clothes for Callie!

I am glad that we can at least all zoom over the holidays and greatly look forward to the time that we can all be together again safely as a family. We are so blessed to have such a big close knit family to help us through these challenging times. I know that we would all love to be able to give Ming Lee, Lori, Claudia and Blake a big in person hug this Christmas but hope they feel our love, prayers and hopes for a Christmas miracle for Ming Lee. He has inspired all who know him with his ceaseless efforts to move his mountain. For his birthday last month he was honored with a fly over at the Indianapolis airport by many pilot friends!

Time to have Alexa play some Christmas music and chase Sheba around the Christmas tree as I try to catch her to ram a pill down her throat and keep all my fingers! No mistletoe in my house but I am sending hugs and kisses to you all and know that I have a special place in my heart for each of you ! Love your ever ready for her cranberry infused Christmas cocktail Mother!

Liam enjoying a Christmas Oreo Cookie! He wanted Emmy Lou's so badly that I couldn't resist and what a clean up I created for myself but it was so worth it!

Coryn and Jeremy recently had some great family pictures taken !

                                                                                           Ava Claire 7 and Owen 5

 

THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER : VOLUME 136 0CTOBER 2020

DEAR READERS,

Ming- Lee opted to undergo his third brain surgery in August after a routine scan revealed that his cancer was growing. The surgery went well, with his surgeon feeling confident that he had successfully removed all the visible tumor. Ming-Lee has been in a drug trial since this surgery but sadly a recent MRI scan revealed that his tumor has returned so he is no longer participating in the trial and is looking in to other possible options. I know we are all keeping him in our thoughts and prayers every day as he continues to fight on! I recently face timed with him and Lori - they both look great! He is still eating well and exercising with no pain or symptoms. His calm acceptance of his challenging situation is an inspiration to us all.

On a happier note Ming Lee and Lori celebrated their 25^th wedding anniversary on September the 23^rd, and Claudia earned her private pilots license before graduating from high school just like her dad and bother! She just had her senior pictures taken – I think Lori sent everyone the link and posted the beautiful pictures on Facebook. Claudia is also applying to colleges and I am sure she will have no trouble in being accepted!

Sarah and Sean moved into their new house in early August. Sarah's parent's Cindy and Joe drove from Connecticut to Kansas over the course of two days to thankfully help with the move. .

In the many weeks that Sean and Sarah had to pack for their house move I was subjected to Sean's endless monologues in praise of his impressive organizational abilities: he claimed to have packed up their present home in a one man show of brilliance with boxes and household possessions. This was not going to be anything like the chaotic move we had all endured when Coryn and Jeremy moved a couple of years ago!

On moving day Cindy and I kept Emmy Lou and Liam at my house while Sean, Sarah , Joe and Josh loaded up a Uhaul, and their cars and drove it all to their new house and to my mind haphazardly unloaded most of the contents into their new three car garage. Sarah worked on getting Emmy Lou's bedroom and the kids playroom set up so they could be contained in a safe place once they arrived in their new home! The next day I returned to their old house to help load up all the stuff still waiting to be moved to their new one. I was quite surprised to see so much stuff still there! I wondered why on earth they had not rented the Uhaul for a second day so that it could all be moved in one trip but frugal Sean had decided that all our vehicles could be utilized for a few trips up and down miles of Quivera ! I returned to their old house for day three of this master class in efficient house moving to help clean it before the new homeowners moved in. I arrived with my Swiffer steamer and my Shark vacuum and started on the bedrooms and bathrooms working my way out through the kitchen and living room. I opened the oven doors and found both ovens and the microwave in a disgusting state: think of Marc's housekeeping skills! I considered using the clean cycles on the ovens but realized it would take too long so used good old fashioned elbow grease and whatever cleansers still remained in the house. Sean was not in the least concerned about leaving filthy appliances for the new owners to deal with assuring me that the double ovens in his new home were just as bad. I shuddered and scrubbed. Fortunately an hour later they were sparkling. We packed up the last few possessions into our cars and headed to their new home. Joe and Cindy were doing their best to sort out some of the chaos and clean as they went along. Sarah was working and nursing her baby at this time so was obviously already very busy but I am sure that she- like the rest of us- was convinced that Sean was going to magically wave his arms and have everything in place shortly.

On Saturday morning I was just stepping out of the shower when I got a frantic call from Sean: Cindy and Joe had left for their long drive home that very morning, Sarah was at the pediatricians with Liam for his four month check up and Josh was spending the weekend at a friends lake house. Sean was home with Emmy Lou . He had just been in the basement and discovered that water was leaking into Joshua's bedroom from the water heater in a nearby storage room.. He needed me to keep Emmy Lou from paddling in Uncle Joshua's downstairs bedroom while he tried to figure out what to do. As I mentioned before I was dripping wet when I took this call but Mother didn't waste a moment in rushing to my child's aid. I arrived with dripping wet hair , sprung out of my car and went down to the basement ready to rescue my precious baby boy!

The previous weekend Sarah and Sean had invited her parents and me to the final walk through of their new house. I had noticed a wet towel on the floor by one of the two water heaters and asked the Realtor what that was about. Oh just a small leak that happened sometimes apparently but no big deal! Mother would have demanded that it be fixed before I signed on the dotted line but the kids were much less concerned – after all there was a drain behind the furnace and a sump pump! Unfortunately neither one of these factors is of any relevance if the floor is not graded to direct the water into them!

On this Saturday morning it was evident that the water was draining into Joshua's bedroom carpet. A whole water heater's worth of water! Sean was trying to vacuum the water up and keep Emmy Lou from imitating Peppa Pig jumping in muddy puddles. We worked on shutting off the water, the gas and diverting the flow of water away from the carpet with piles of bedding - I had to make a couple of trips to my house to get towels as Sean had no clue where theirs were in the chaos of his well planned move! I was worried about carbon monoxide fumes and Sean was not sure if they had a detector in the house so he went off to the hardware store to get one. He had a home warranty plan but found that trying to talk to an actual person on the weekend was almost impossible. I called my plumber who was more than willing to install a new water heater that day but Sean didn't want to pay for it if the home warranty would cover it. Frankly if I had two babies I would have considered hot water essential ! Fortunately I live so close by that they could shower and bath the babies at my house and do their laundry as well since they didn't have a washer and dryer either for a few weeks! Luckily in a few days my plumber installed a new water heater which was partial covered by their warranty and everybody's stress level dropped.

On reflection I couldn't help but think that Josh had a wasted trip that weekend to the lake to go paddle boarding – he could have stayed home and paddle boarded in his bedroom!

Their large three story home works so much better for them especially since they now work from home and have a nanny for Emmy Lou and Liam instead of sending them to daycare. When Josh is in Kansas City he has the lower level to himself – his own bedroom and bathroom, living area with a projection television, and a bar with a fridge and a microwave! Unfortunately my home is no longer Joshua's place of refuge but this could change as I have a lot more opportunities for Josh to use his DIY skills! His brother's house is a fairly new build and completely updated.

Josh has been traveling again recently - finding it hard to remain in one location for months instead of visiting many countries in the course of a normal year before Covid locked us down. He flew out to Los Angeles last month – despite Covid and the raging forest fires, creating the most polluted air in the world . Marc was happy to have Josh sort out the mess I had left in his kitchen when I took down his ceiling last year! Unfortunately Marc is still unwilling to invest in the major renovation which is so desperately needed of his condo! The two brothers drove to Thousand Oaks to visit Bryn who is house sitting for friends who have spent the last couple of months in Kansas as they didn't want their young children exposed to smoke from the forest fires or the danger of fleeing their home if the fire came into their neighborhood. Now I just had to worry about three of my sons being barbecued! I questioned why they couldn't just all come home to the safety of my house since all three are working from home! I was relieved when Josh flew out of Los Angeles to Orlando to stay with the Remsburgs ! Apparently Craig needed some help outfitting a van for work purposes. Josh is definitely the family handy man and is always welcome at our homes and his many friends worldwide!

Kay and Richard are very comfortably moved into their new home with all our shopping finished so my last visit was to start work on the garden which needs to be totally redone. I took about a half dozen evergreen starter trees that had self seeded in my yard and planted them in theirs and so far the kids have kept them alive! In the Spring I will plant a lot of Rose of Sharon along the neighbors fence lines to give them some more privacy!Just last week one of my neighbors decided to redo his landscaping and had multiple plants delivered to his home just before a freeze was forecast. I thought it far too late in the season to plant but he wanted me to put them in places where they would look good and hopefully thrive. ready for the guys he had hired to plant them! Difficult as he had picked out a lot of Crepe Myrtles, Hollies and Nandina's which all need sun – of which his shady lot has very little ! I have a feeling I will be doing it all again next Spring.

Ava Claire and Owen got to have a sleepover at Grandma's awhile ago and unfortunately there was as much drama as fun. Coryn came over with them late in the afternoon, stayed for supper with us and then left for her home and a blissful night of peace and quiet. All was well until Owen stood on one of the stools Uncle Josh had made and somehow lost his balance and cut his ear as he fell on the edge of my rustic coffee table. He was screaming and bleeding as I tried to assess the injury! Matters were not helped when Ava Claire assured him that it was bleeding a lot when he asked how much! He screamed louder as I tried to convince him it was a very minor cut. Ava Claire with her take charge personality called her mother with the dire news : it took awhile for Ava Claire for her to hand over the phone so that I could explain how very difficult it was to evaluate the seriousness of the cut because of Owen's hysterics and the blood flow! Coryn decided it best that she return and while she was driving over I gave Owen an iPad so he could watch a show while I covered his cut with a band aid. Amazing how that calmed him down – even when Ava Claire helpfully told him that blood was seeping through the band-aid.

Unfortunately Owen became hysterical again when his band aid was removed so Coryn could assess the damage. I thought it might need a stitch or two, so Coryn decided that we would patch it up again and that she might stop by an urgent care for another opinion. I was surprised when she returned some time later with Owen. They had not gone to urgent care as the blood flow had decreased significantly and he had calmed down again and in fact wanted to spend the night at Grandma's – doubtless remembering that a box of donuts was sitting on my kitchen counter for our breakfast in the morning!Ava Claire - while full of sympathy for her brother's injury- had realized that she would enjoy an overnight at Grandma's all to herself maybe more than having Owen around too so she was trying to persuade him that he would be better off going home with his mother! We said goodbye to Coryn for the second time that night and as I closed the front door I remarked to Ava Claire that Owen seemed fine. She assured me that was not so, claiming that she knew her brother better than I did. and thus she could tell that he was being a very brave boy but she had seen tears in his eyes and she was sure he was going to wake us up crying for his mommy in the night! Ava Claire informed me that I should have sent him home with his mommy!

The rest of the evening passed peacefully enough with Ava Cl;aire making bedtime hot milk for her and Owen! It was the first time I had not been asked to make it for them! She can now reach cups, get the milk out of the fridge, pour it without spilling and use the microwave to heat it up!

Bedtime came and we all started out in my bed but in the middle of my telling them one of my made up stories about ' Miranda the Mermaid,' Owen started bugging his sister so he was banished to the pillow bed on the floor! He was not happy about this and soon after I heard him leave the room and after a while I found him curled up on the family room sofa so I covered him with a blanket and crept back to bed! Fortunately he did not wake us screaming for his mommy! I did get dragged out of bed in the morning earlier than I would have liked so they could eat donuts!

They each took a bath that morning as they love playing with the cans of bath foam I have for them and amazingly enough Owen demanded that I remove the band aid from his ear as he thought he looked dorky with it on! I said that after all the fuss he had made last night when I peeled it off that I wasn't anxious to go through that again but he assured me that he was not going to fuss so I took it off with hardly an “ouch” this time! Fortunately it has healed well.

I have been busy sewing masks for friends of friends , making a nearly eight foot long window seat cushion with matching bolster pillows for Emmy Lou's new bedroom and a double fox tail for Callie's Halloween costume. When Craig texted me about making it I didn't have a clue about the Sonic characters! I will be turning out seasonal Christmas masks next children! The kids enjoyed the Halloween one's I made! Let me know if you would like one!

Witching time is upon us and I am hoping that our big orange presidential pumpkin will be smashed to smithereens next week when we vote in the lesser of two evils: an old man that can't keep his facts straight over an old man who does not believe in facts only lies! We deserve a treat after all the tricks that have been played on us this year!

Children – if one of you ever needs me to come stay for a spell I will cast caution to the wind and jump on my broomstick! Much safer than flying commercial these days! Love your always bewitching Mother.

THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER: VOLUME 135 JULY 2020

Dear Readers,

We are all months into living with the Corona Virus Pandemic in a country more divided than ever between Trump and his mentally and morally challenged followers eschewing mask wearing and those of us who support the proven scientific advice of the medical profession to wear a mask and social distance when out of our homes. This proven deadly disease is now running rampant in many states due to reopening businesses too early without proper safety precautions. Trump doesn't care how many of us die just as long as he can address huge unmasked gatherings and spout nonsense about our soon to be burgeoning economy and magically disappearing virus.

Then we have the murder of George Floyd at the hands- well really the knee - of a police officer while three other officers stand by watching the torture and death of another human being – a life that they are sworn to protect! This and too many other recent cases of police brutality have provoked a huge protest movement throughout the country where for weeks many have bravely risked their health and lives: not only in putting themselves at risk of catching Covid 19 but also of being peppered sprayed, hit with rubber bullets , beaten with police batons or tear gassed. A peaceful protest outside the White House was cleared away in just such fashion so that our hypocritical President Trump could walk to a nearby church and hold a bible upside down whilst using the Lord's name in vain. As we all know I am not a believer but I have the greatest respect for those whose beliefs are sincere and I was so glad that the church leaders called out his loathsome use of their church.

It has been so encouraging to see massive crowds of people of all races, religions, ages and sexual identities come together to say changes must be made to show that Black Lives Matter. And we all hope that this will be dramatically proven at the ballot box in November but this is another huge problem as it becomes obvious that voter suppression is being practiced in many areas of our country. I hope the election is not going to be another fiasco! Next to go should be the Electoral College. One person, one vote!

Mother will now step down from her soap box and cover some family news. Since my last newsletter Sean and Sarah decided that their house was just not big enough to contain them and two children whilst they are both working from home. Fortunately Josh had moved in with them after his return from Mexico and since his work load was relatively light he was able to remodel two bathrooms, the kitchen, spruce up the garages and the exterior of the house in a very short period of time. Josh did such a great job that they sold the house the same day it was listed with eight offers well over the asking price! They spent the day at my house and decided to spend the night after the decision was made to accept no more offers after nine o 'clock that evening so they could review them all and accept one. Sean had been watching all the activity at his house with his Ring Doorbell App and they had a constant flow of people into their home – some without masks and worse children were playing with his children's toys! This was another factor in the decision to stay at Grandma's as Sean and Josh decided everything needed to be sanitized before it would be safe for Sarah and the children to return home! Since then they have been house hunting on an almost seemingly daily basis as the housing market is very strong here. I have been babysitting Ava Claire and Liam a lot! Their first two offers didn't get accepted but their third was and they are now moving forward with plans to move into their new, very large home which is even closer to my home – south on Quivera instead of north!

There were benefits to my home from all of Joshua's remodeling projects: they upgraded their old kitchen counters with beautiful granite ones so the old ones were installed in my garage. I was thinking potting bench but my new shelves are helping to garage all of the riding toys that Coryn dropped off at my house in the spring explaining as a motorized camouflage four wheeler came out of her tailgate that Emmy Lou would have so much fun cruising around my driveway on it. I questioned whether she wasn't a few months too young for such a fast toy but Coryn assured me that Owen was zipping around the driveway on it at her age! Then came a tricycle with a push handle admittedly but short of attaching bungee cords from Emmy Lou's feet to the pedals there was no way she was growing into this one for years! Lastly I became the proud owner of a red car which would be usable ( it could be used like a stroller) but unfortunately the front wheels needed work – something I was assured her brother's could handle. Then came the day that Sean delivered an outdoor water play table, a pink pedal car, a toddler picnic table, benches and umbrella and a four sided play set with slide! Apparently the Realtor had strongly suggested ridding their house of all outside play equipment and since Emmy Lou spends so much time at Grandma's what better place could there be for it? Now my home, garage and deck look like a day care center. I already had a double stroller, single stroller, baby bounce seat,, baby sit up seat and a baby back carrier donated a few weeks earlier by Sean and Sarah so everything needed for the care of their two children was available when they visit me!

Amazingly enough Josh found time to replace several window sills of mine that had succumbed to wood rot despite my best effort to keep paint on the wood – hanging out of second floor windows- to do so! He also installed timers on some of my outdoor lights and that has been a great convenience! Of course I still have a long list of home improvements which need to be addressed but alas between spending time babysitting, and sewing masks for family and friends from coast to coast – I must be well on my way to a hundred now – I have no time for other projects.

Coryn, and her family recently flew to Florida, that hotbed of Covid 19, to spend a few days at the beach with Lesee-Ann and her family. Their brothers were appalled that they would fly in the face of such danger. However they followed all the guidelines: including a two week quarantine upon their return home. Happily both families enjoyed their time at the beach and have remained virus free.

Ray, Owen and Ava Claire 

Callie with Ava Claire

We all know that I was a dedicated Dance Mom for many years and the annual Dance Recital was a chance for every budding ballerina's mother to be on her toes. We mothers would arrive with armfuls of skimpy, overpriced dance costumes, huge bags of product – all our make up, curling irons, straightening irons, and enough hairspray to make sure our girls hair stayed stuck in place as they twirled across the stage We would be there all day at the dress rehearsal and of course for every performance in the following days. This was a role that I took very seriously – always praying that Sandy Fraise (the dance queen mother of us all) would be there to come to my rescue when no matter how hot my curling iron or how much mousse or hair spray I used Coryn's hair would always escape it's boundaries. Sandy would rush over with a mouthful of hair pins, an arm load of product and magically have Coryn's hair cemented in place. I was so grateful to her for the stress relief this afforded me especially when we reached the teenage years with numerous costume, hair and makeup changes! After my devoted services for so many years I was sure my daughter would be a pro at the job.

Thus on the day of Ava Claire's dance recital I drove over to Lee's Summit happily anticipating the joy of watching my granddaughter preform with no need to worry about costume changes, hair up do's or tousled curls. Unfortunately as soon as I arrived at Coryn's I realized that things were not as they should be. I asked Ava Claire where her costumes were. Oh she was waiting for me to help her pick it out! I couldn't believe that this had not been worked out days ago! Coryn explained that because of Covid 19 they were not required to buy costumes this year and that basically they were running through their routines in the parking lot outside the dance studio to ensure social distancing. So Ava Claire and I looked through her dresses and chose a pale pink one with lots of sequins which looked the most like a ballet dress to me. I then looked at her recently bobbed hair and said we needed something to make it more special. She pulled out a hodge podge of hair accessories from her bathroom drawer – none of which were appropriate in Grandma's eyes until she found a princess tiara. Relieved I took her to Coryn to see what she had planned for hair and make-up. She thought maybe she could flip her hair up or down? We headed into Coryn's bathroom only to discover that she had forgotten to plug in the curling iron! I was getting a little panicky as we were getting close to leaving time. Owen was sent to the potty and told to get some shoes on his feet. Ava Claire also had her ballet shoes and a leotard for her acro-dance routine – Coryn shoved them into a plastic grocery sack. I was horrified and immediately ran to Ava Claire's room for her bejewelled back pack. I explained to Coryn that her daughter was going to be so out of place – every other Mother would be bringing her best dance Mom game! Coryn applied some pink lipstick to Ava Claire's mouth but no eye makeup or blusher. Owen was still sitting on the toilet trying to poop so Grandma shouted down the stairs for him to hurry it up as my bowels were getting active with this total lack of organization.

We got to our destination and found the place virtually empty. I suggested that Coryn might want to check in with one of the instructors – she had the wrong time. We were half- an- hour early. Well thankfully we at least got a front row seat under the shade of a canopy. Coryn mumbles something about not checking the text and let the kids get blue slushies and cotton candy to help pass the time! Of course I was horrified that Ava Claire might drip blue ice all over her dress and attacked their blue sticky faces with good old fashioned Grandma spit on a tissue found in my prepared for anything purse. Coryn seems totally unconcerned by the near disaster as I make it quite clear that I would never have allowed such a thing and could she please note that all the other mothers were weighed down with garment bags, wheeled suitcases with dance motifs and bags of paraphernalia. I mutter how glad she must be that I didn't allow that grocery sack : Coryn dismisses this by claiming that all these mothers have their kids enrolled in the competition squads – of which she wants no part!

Ava Claire with the Disney Princesses at her  dance recital

Finally the kids start dancing and all goes well – apart from the fact that Owen keeps needing to go to the rest room – four times in two hours. I question the wisdom of that second slushy of course. Ava Claire does well in her ballet routine despite the fact that some of the class is dressed in Disney Princess costumes – why isn't my granddaughter I ask. Coryn states that Ava Claire didn't want to wear her neon green Tiana costume as she no longer has any interest in that stuff. She likes short shorts and short tops! Many routines later Ava Claire's class appears for their acro-dance routine and all goes well until Ava Claire realizes that she has missed her solo moment to shine and so she floods the sidewalk stage with tears as she is comforted by the staff. There is a brief pause and then it is announced that the studio strongly believes in second chances so they are going to run through the previous number again. A beaming Ava Claire nails her solo and is the best performer in my totally unbiased opinion - but really is this not just encouraging a crying fit every time something goes wrong. This would never have happened at Top Hatters!

Over Memorial Day Weekend I went shopping for the first time in weeks! As you may remember Kay and Richard had moved into their new home over Easter weekend and they were very anxious to do some furniture shopping. But of course all the furniture stores were closed for weeks until finally Nebraske Furniture Mart re-opened that Saturday. They asked me to help them pick out their new furniture and since I am so splendidly located they picked me up on the way to our shopping spree. The parking lot was packed and we worried that we were going to have to wait outside in the heat and humidity to be allowed inside the store to shop due to social distancing rules. But we walked right in and were surprised to find lots of customers without face masks! Thank goodness they are now mandatory everywhere in the Kansas City Metro but just think how much better the situation would have been if the entire country had masked up from day one!

We decided to shop for an cream sofa for the living room, a color we all agreed would work the best and we must have sat on every cream sofa in the store when by some miracle we all thought one model would work best in the space, it was comfortable and bargain priced. Unfortunately it was no longer available but we were able to buy the floor model at an even bigger discount. We spent some time looking for a coffee table and side tables, lamps and finally a king size bed , night stands and a couple of chests of drawers, one vertical, one horizontal and we finally found a padded headboard and bed frame that Kay was very keen to have and then picked out some co-coordinating pieces to match. We also found a cute ottoman for their family room but despite spending hours searching we didn't find the tables to complete the living room. So Kay and I shopped a few more stores in the weeks following and finally found some at Pier One. Fortunately Richard was with us that day and we were using my car as their SUV was full of other furniture. Richard thought we would have to make a couple of trips to get the three table in my car but I was determined, folding down two of the three back seats, placing the big coffee table in first and then several attempts to fit in the two smaller side tables when it was decided that Kay could hold one of them in her lap! Where there is a will there is a way, I remember when I shoved a twin size mattress into a Ford Focus Marc!

We had our first family get together on Sunday May 24^th to celebrate Ava Claire's 7^th birthday. Her Aunt and Uncle from the Lake of the Ozarks drove up with their daughter to celebrate with us so that made for a crowd of seventeen! Ava Claire had wanted to have her party outdoors but the weather was so oppressively hot that for the most part we had to be indoors with the air conditioning!

We had another family get together over at Sean and Sarah's for the 4^th July. Josh and Sean smoked a 13 lb brisket for the occasion, and I made my traditional holiday flag cake and fudge. Unfortunately the Logues missed this gathering as they were spending the holiday with Jeremy's family. But we all got together for a barbecue at Kay and Richards recently to enjoy their new home! And of course I have had my Kansas City family spending quite a bit of time at my house too! One afternoon Coryn, Kay, Sarah and I enjoyed fun in the sun with the kids as they enjoyed that water table I mentioned previously as well as my new toy for them this year, a splash pad!

Emmy Lou loves playing with Ava Claire and Owen who are so good to her and baby Liam. Ming Lee gave me a pop up kid's tent on my last trip to Indy that is a great way to keep the kids safe from mosquito bites!

Liam and Emmy Lou

Speaking of Ming-Lee he is doing so well as we approach the two year mark since his brain cancer diagnosis! He is definitely an outlier! This summer he has been spending a lot of time with Claudia as she is flying high these days literally! Just made her first solo flight! So proud of her! The Indy Lowe's have made the most of their time together due to Covid 19 and all four of them worked together on a home improvement project, assembly line style – new window shutters! Wouldn't we all love to have that team working on a project at our house? But of course impossible due to the pandemic!

Love a girl who knows how to use power tools Claudia!

Well time to cheer myself up be watching the nightly news which I can now do without aerial gymnastics as Josh has rigged my indoor antennas up outside and drastically improved my reception!I did ask if they would survive outdoors but he seemed to think it a silly question – like all the dare I ask him questions I pose. Love to you all from your sitting comfortably in front of the television these days, Mother.

THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER: VOLUME 134 APRIL 2020

Dear Family and Friends,

I was planning on vising the Indy Lowe family the first week of March but two things conspired to thwart my plans. Ming Lee was hospitalized for a week and asked me to delay my trip until he was home again and that week The Corona Virus – Covid 19 became a concern in our country. Thankfully Ming Lee is home with his family and feeling much better but no-one can visit him due to the pandemic. I am so glad that he and Lori have Blake and Claudia with them ( as their schools are closed and operating online) meaning they have a lot of family time, games and activities to enjoy together! And since they are all foodies they can appreciate each others efforts in the kitchen!.

The children were on Spring Break in mid March when it was decided that on the Kansas side of the state line they would not be returning to school for the remainder of the school year, and on the Missouri side it was determined that they would take another week or so off, which was gradually extended until the end of the year too. Coryn and Kay are both working from home for the remainder of the school year. Sean and Sarah are home with Emmy Lou, their company, Cerner had everyone who could work from home do so early in the development of this pandemic.

I am virtually confined to my house and garden as my boys think my age puts me in the high risk category and thus I am allowed very limited contact with my Kansas City family which is very hard as I adore being with my grand children. Sean, Coryn and Kay are making sure I have food! In fact I have never eaten so well in years thanks to them! Bryn and Sean went in together on a huge Costco order – they must have bought me at least 8lbs of cheese! Then Leslee-Ann and Marc purchased another lot of supplies for me a couple of weeks later!

During this trying time Kay and Richard moved from their home in Overland Park to their new one in Prairie Village over Easter weekend! Unfortunately due to social distancing none of our family members could help with their move. Normally this would have been an all out family effort but as Richard is out on the front lines every day he is probably most at risk of contracting the virus. I can't wait to see their new home in person and make some helpful decorating suggestions! Of course I have seen the online Realtor photographs and Kay gave me a virtual tour on Facebook!

Since the Easter Weekend coincided with my Birthday this year I had a small celebration with Sean, Sarah , Emmy Lou and Josh! Pizza and a delicious chocolate mousse cake! It was my first sighting of Josh since his return from Florida two weeks previously. My boys are taking this quarantining and social distancing very seriously, far more so than I think necessary but of course failure to comply means even more limited time with my grandchildren! We also used Zoom as a family so all eight of my children were able to interact with me and each other. Lainee had mentioned in a recent phone call that her family was using this to stay in touch. I had never heard of it but several of my kids use it all the time apparently!They have set up a weekly ' Happy Hour' during this time of home confinement.

The previous weekend Coryn had escaped to my house to pick up some masks for her family and asked if I could possibly make some more for friends who would be so grateful. She even contributed an old plaid flannel shirt to make some more macho looking masks. Of course I said I could and she suggested that I should get right to it! She would pick up lunch for us! I thought that she might want to mention her plans to Jeremy as she had left him with the kids under the impression that she was just stopping by my house to pick up some masks and then do some grocery shopping. I pointed out that Jeremy probably was expecting her back with lunch somewhere in all those grocery bags but she just shrugged and and said he'd figure it out. She needed a break from working remotely with two children around 24/7. I had mentioned to her and all other family members that I was running out of elastic for mask making so Coryn bought over a tablecloth I had made for Ava's bedroom when she was into Princess décor, which had an elastic casing to keep yards of sparkling pink tulle around the table. I set Coryn to work unpicking it all so I could use the elastic for her new order of masks. Of course she complained the entire time she was working on it but since she doesn't sew she couldn't switch jobs with me! Actually it was worth my time since I got a good lunch and a couple of bottles of wine for my efforts!

A sparkly pink  custom mask for Coryn!

patriotic themed one!

For friends of Leslee_Ann!

A couple of months ago I decided to ditch my cable TV as it was costing me north of a hundred dollars a month. I mainly watch British shows on PBS, the news, and football :I knew that with an antenna I could watch all these shows for free! I ordered two of them for Sean to hook up to my televisions. It has been well over four decades since I have watched television without paying a cable company so I was surprised to find myself taken back in time to when I lived in my flat in England in the early seventies and judged a boyfriend's worth by how many times he was willing to get up off the couch and walk the antenna around the room in hopes of getting a watchable picture with sound! My new antenna may be more compact but it seems to have improved very little in its ability to deliver a sharp picture without a lot of position changes! Every time I switch channels I seem to have to get myself off the couch and move it around to get a signal. With hind insight I can admit that perhaps this wasn't the best timing on my part going into our long quarantine! I just hope that by the time my Chiefs are back on the field I will have perfect signal strength or I may have to figure out another streaming device!

I spent Easter Sunday with Sarah, Sean, Emmy Lou, and Josh feasting on steak and smoked ribs and would never have believed that a few hours later Sarah would be delivering her baby! On Sunday afternoon she was putting together an outdoor activity center for Emmy Lou and was in great spirits. She was still comfortably pregnant and actually hoping to make it into her ninth month with this baby but it was not to be. The next day she went into labor about four in the morning and gave birth just over three hours later to:

LIAM ALEXANDER LOWE

APRIL 13^th 2020

WEIGHT: 6LBS 5OZS

LENGTH: 181/2 INCHES

I awoke to a text shortly before the baby was born to let me know what was happening and that Josh would be arriving with Emmy Lou soon. Once again Sarah delivered one month and two days before her due date! I guess we should all place an educated bet on the next baby's birthday!

Emmy Lou stayed with me for a couple of days before her parents came home from the hospital with her baby brother. Emmy Lou refers to him as “THAT” and to date is doing a great job of showing him who is in charge!

At my earliest opportunity later in the week I drove over to Lee's Summit to spend some time with Ava Claire and Owen and to belatedly give them their Easter Baskets! They had made me some beautiful hand painted dollar store ceramic bunnies for my birthday which are now proudly displayed in my garden .Ava Claire was very upset that she couldn't be with me on my birthday but unfortunately she and Owen had been playing with their neighborhood friends and so it was decided to err on the side of caution. Frankly I think Grandma is more likely to die of a broken heart than the Corona virus!

I saw Kay and Richard a couple of times around Easter as they stopped over the weekend before to pick up some masks , insisting on remaining six feet away in the front yard and again the following week when in the midst of moving they dropped off some beautiful plants and a cheesecake for my birthday. So thoughtful and totally unexpected with all that they had to accomplish that day! I am so looking forward to being able to gather with all my Kansas City family and to visit my other family. I was hoping to make frequent trips to Indy this Spring but of course the Corona Virus has most of us confined to our homes!

I think the most stressful part of this pandemic has been watching the President of the United States of America prove that he is totally unfit to lead us. The nonsensical remarks about dousing our internal organs with bleach and somehow finding a way to get a strong light inside of us as a potential cure was so ludicrous that it is hard to fathom that his own party has not said enough of this crap and had him declared medically insane! Of course his thinking is probably affected by all the bleach he pours on his head and the hours he spends in his tanning bed! We can only hope that he tries to shove a plugged in light bulb in one of his orifices!

Hoping we can plan a full family reunion in the not too far distant future! I miss and love you all and hope you all stay safe ! Family and Friends are the most valuable of all in this time although toilet paper is a close runner up! Love from your Mother who's bowels are always in an uproar over something!

THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER: VOLUME 133 FEBRUARY 2020

Dear Readers,

Since the start of the New Year I have been busier than ever with my grandchildren. There have been snow days, days when Lee Summit schools have been closed but not Blue Valley, and too many days that Emmy Lou has been battling recurrent ear infections! Grandma's daycare has been operating five days a week sometimes! Just be glad that my diet and exercise plan seems to be working for me children! This body has not been worn out by exercising or deprived of a delicious calorie. I seem to be in fine fettle! Maybe you should all consider giving up your gym memberships, protein shakes and organic groceries!

We have had a cold, snowy, icy winter but I was determined to make a trip back to Indianapolis and found a window of opportunity on Thursday, January 23^rd – coincidentally Sean's 32^nd birthday-. We had freezing rain the day before and more was forecast for the weekend with snow . I decided to go for it when I got up early Thursday morning as I knew that once I made it to St Louis the temperatures would be above freezing making the roads safer. I hoped the road crews had done a good job as I headed off to I70 E! I texted Ming and Lori to let them know I was coming and Coryn who was planning on flying out that night and driving back with me on Sunday. Fortunately the roads were fine, despite having to drive in rain and drizzle for most of the way! I had to make a couple of stops, once too pee, and then for gas and food but I ate as I drove so wasted little time! I did arrive during rush hour again but it wasn't as bad as the traffic is here!

I was happy to see Ming-Lee looking so good : amazed by the amount of food he was eating and his high energy level after completing his second round of radiation treatments just that week. Ming's strength in the face of such adversity is awe inspiring! After supper we gathered around the dinning room table and started to put a jig saw puzzle together, another Lowe family favorite activity!

Claudia joined us later in the evening after a theater event at school, bumping Lori out of her seat as she took over her spot! This is a competitive family! Coryn arrived about 11:00 pm after taking an Uber ride from the airport. She had worn a face mask on the plane and car ride as Ming-Lee had very low blood counts meaning his immune system would have a hard time fighting off germs.

The next morning I missed Claudia – Lori had taken her to the airport as she was flying to Dallas with her Karate team to compete in a meet that weekend. She won two firsts! Her medals are quite spectacular! Mother would not have won a medal for being first one up that morning! I slept until about 10:00 am and found only Coryn at home as Lori was driving back from the airport and Ming was out on a walk in the drizzle. Mother drank three cups of coffee and ate a blueberry muffin thoughtfully provided by Lori who knows I am not a healthy cereal and fruit eater!

That day Ming and Lori taught us how to play Mahjong which seemed incredibly complicated when they started explaining the game but fortunately after a couple of hours I caught on and actually found it enjoyable! Another new skill learned! I was very impressed with the tile holders that Ming had made to help facilitate the setting up and playing of the game. He is so good at figuring out how to shape a piece of wood into something attractive and practical.

The next day Lori and Coryn decided to work out with Denise Austin on the big screen, while Ming was on the treadmill. Mother was on the sofa with a cup of coffee exercising her brain playing words with friends on her Ipad Later that morning we bundled up against the cold and headed out into the falling snow to walk the trails at their nearby state park.

It was practically deserted. Fortunately the trail selected was relatively flat so I was able to keep up with the exercise fanatics! Once home it was time for lunch and more Mahjong! We spent our evenings doing a jigsaw puzzle. watching the DVD of Purdue's Christmas Concert, enjoying picking Blake out when his group was performing, and watched Renee Zellweger in her Oscar winning role as Judy Garland. I swear it took Ming Lee and Coryn longer to decide which streaming service or store rental would be the most economic as it did to watch the movie! Frugality runs in the Lowe children's genes but I would not say it comes from Norm or me!

Sunday morning Coryn and I were up early, ready to head back to Kansas by 8:30am! Ming and Lori insisted on scrapping the snow and ice off my car windows as we headed out into the cold but sunny and dry day. I had hardly driven a mile when something prompted me to ask Coryn to check my purse for my phone. It wasn't there! I pulled over and searched my suitcase in the trunk. Not there either. Coryn called my phone. No sound so I turned around and headed back to Ming's thinking that I had probably left in the kitchen at breakfast. But then a more terrible idea came to me. I had set the alarm on my phone to wake me up that morning and had probably tossed it on the bed as I was getting up and oh dear – I had stripped the sheets and thrown them into the washing machine where they were probably on the spin cycle by now with Coryn's sheets. Coryn let Ming and Lori know we were heading back to look for my phone which might be in the washer. They were pulling out the sheets as I arrived but thankfully no phone! I raced upstairs to check the bedroom but could not see it anywhere but then Lori called it and a muffled ring was heard in the corner of the room where I had thrown the comforter on a chair – with my phone wrapped in it! Much better than having it tangled up in the sheets. On my previous visit Lori had found my nightie in the sheets when she did the laundry!This drama led us to lose some time but we only made two quick stops and made it back to Lee's Summit about three thirty that afternoon, gaining an hour as Indiana does not do daylight savings time. I spent some time with Ava Claire and Owen, glad to see that Jeremy had survived a long weekend with them and headed home for a nice cup of tea.

After a fifty year wait my beloved Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl and I was literally bowled over by their amazing come back in the final seven minutes of the game. I had actually had to tear myself away from the television late in the forth quarter as I was so stressed by our seemingly hopeless situation and was distracting myself with a sewing project but hearing that we had just scored I raced back to the television to catch the replay and watched in amazement as we did the seemingly impossible and won by 11 points! A decisive victory after playing well below expectations for the first three quarters. The whole city was elated and all the schools closed on the following Wednesday so people could attend the huge downtown parade! Mother watched from the warmth and comfort of her couch! I am so looking forward to our next season.

On the Saturday evening prior to the Superbowl game,Kay had picked Coryn and me up for an evening she gifted to us at Christmas before the Chiefs made it to the Superbowl. The Power and Light district was a very busy sea of red bodies! It was not easy to get around as there were lots of road barriers, pedestrians and blocked streets and it took us awhile to find a parking space within walking distance of our dinner restaurant and the Sprint Center where we were going to watch the newest Cirque du Soleil show on ice. We were eating early as the show started at 7:30 so Kay was surprised that the restaurant was heaving at such an early hour. The line for the ladies restroom was out the door – largely held up by some poor girl who had locked herself in a stall and was obviously under the influence of drugs or acholol. Coryn alerted management and a group of people were sent to deal with the situation.

This was not the only drama that evening. Once in our seats to watch Axel, four late comers sat in front of us and proved a huge distraction to our enjoyment by continuously waving their arms in the air and swaying in their seats. Coryn mumbled something about not being able to deal with them and needing to move seats. She insisted there were some empty seats further down but I couldn't make them out in the dark with my aging vision so I tapped the lady on the shoulder and explained that I had come to see the show – not her performance. Unfortunately my words did not deter her bobbing around so I had Coryn lead the way to the empty seats several rows in front of the rude and thoughtless members of an otherwise lovely audience!

Sarah has been to Canada and Los Angeles for work these past two weeks , only being home a couple of nights a week so she is thrilled that her advancing pregnancy should preclude any further work trips. Leslee-Ann was also in Canada for a work trip at about the same time but in a different city. Marc and Leslee-Ann are spending the last weekend in February visiting Ming-Lee and Lori and I plan to visit the following weekend! Road trip with Mother anyone? We are all so grateful to Lori for putting up with us all and can not thank her enough for taking such great care of Ming-Lee! We are all so blessed to have her in our family.

Kay and Richard had a wonderful time in Singapore, Paris and Barcelona and almost as soon as they returned from their honeymoon they decided to put their present home on the market and hopefully move even closer to me! Richard's dad has been doing a lot of the handyman projects needed to get the house ready for market as determined by their Realtor. He has just retired and seems to enjoy fixing up houses which is very fortunate as Richard is not a handy man!

Sean and Sarah are also actively thinking about moving too and plan to meet with their Realtor for suggestions on what needs to be done to their house to make it as marketable as possible and I think they also appreciate the convenience of my location right off all the major interstates! However with a new baby due in a couple of months it may take awhile to get everything done that needs to be! Hopefully Josh will be around for awhile when he returns in April to Kansas City.

Valentines Day has just passed, I was fortunate enough to spend some time on Thursday with Ava Claire and Owen as schools were closed due to the frigid sub zero temps and icy streets. They gave me a cute card and a box of candy which they were ready for me to share before lunch which Coryn had bought over with her for us all. Chicken tacos which the kids turned their noses up at asking me for apple slices, English muffins, peanut butter and of course chocolate milk!While I fixed their lunch Coryn fixed ours. She returned the following day to work from my home while Owen was at preschool as she had the day off. Fortunately I had scheduled a mammogram for that morning that allowed me to be home in time for her to pick up lunch for our Valentine's day celebration and Sean and Emmy Lou stopped by with supper from McDonalds! So fortunate to spend so much time with my family here !

A heartfelt hug and kiss to all my Valentines, big and small. There is nothing I enjoy more than being right in the heart of everything happening in your lives! Love Mother

My little Valentine Callie in an outfit I made for her

My slightly older Valentine in an outfit I made for her