THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER : VOLUME 139                                                     MARCH2021

Dear Children, Family, and Friends,

We have more EGGCITING news in our family! Another CHICK will be hatching this summer! Sarah and Sean are breeding like rabbits as their third child will probably join us in early August if Sarah follows her previous incubation pattern of delivering one month and two days early! And this time they have elected not to find out the sex until the baby's birth! Of course Grandma is thrilled to have another chick in her clutch to cluck about! With Kay and Richard's baby boy due in June, I can guarantee that I will be running about like a chicken with it's head cut off trying to help out where needed! Fortunately I have Ava Claire to help out this summer as she has become immersed in the Babysitter's Club book series that her mother loved reading too and she loves helping me out with Emmy Lou and Liam! She is even willing to haul Emmy Lou up on the toilet – unlike many of the uncles in this family who refuse to do diaper changes or potty training!

Emmy Lou and Liam eating breakfast at Grandma's ready for a fun filled day!

Marc spent about six weeks with us in Kansas City and of course I was hoping that his enjoyment of his nieces and nephews would persuade him that moving his law practice here would be a good move. Unfortunately between our sub zero temperatures and the frosty reception given to him by Emmy Lou this option never became even a lukewarm possibility. Liam took to Marc Andrew immediately which was most unexpected as Liam has severe stranger danger syndrome at the moment and usually starts crying when he see's a strange face. Emmy Lou did not approve of Liam's enjoyment of Uncle Marc and would would impose all twenty three pounds of her dominating personality to order him very loudly to put Bubba down! “Bubba” is now her pet name for her brother, a decided improvement over her first choice of “That”.

She was happy to have Marc read her endless books , to play games of her choice with his role being very clearly defined – any deviation would result in a burst of tears as she wailed that Uncle Marc was mean. Marc - being generally clueless about human interactions - usually had no idea what he had done to upset her. One of the funniest times was when the Kansas City family members were at my house for a meal. Emmy Lou  left some food on her plate as she announced that she was done and left the table. Marc plunged his fork into her food and witnessing this she immediately told him that he could not eat her food. Marc tried to convince her that it was better he eat it than she waste it but she was adamant that it was her food and he was not to touch it and thereafter she spent the rest of the meal checking up to make sure her plate was untouched! If any of us had grabbed food off her plate I doubt she would have even noticed or cared but she had ice in her veins when it came to Uncle Marc!

Several members of our family have received the Covid vaccine! Coryn and Kay got theirs through their respective school districts, I got mine at my family doctor's office, Richard got his shots at a pharmacy a couple of hours drive away, Bryn got his one shot only dose of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine and Ming and Lori drove across the state line to get their shots in Illinois! I had the Pfizer vaccine and had no side effects but those who had the Moderna shots had some unpleasant side effects after the second dose. But so worth it as it will allow us to visit other family members outside of our bubbles! I am flying to Orlando in a few days to celebrate Ray's 5^th birthday and Easter. I have not seen the Remsburgs in person since November 2019! Then at the end of April I will be driving over to Indy to see Lori, Ming-Lee, Claudia and hopefully Blake – all of whom I have not seen since January of 2020!

In my last newsletter we were celebrating Ming-Lee's positive MRI results but unfortunately since that time he has undergone another scan which revealed some regrowth of his original tumor plus the appearance of a new one. Ming-Lee is presently undergoing targeted radiation treatment and we all hold positive expectations for success! The Indy Lowes have been up and down on a roller-coaster of good news versus not such good news for over two years now: they ride with the high's and lows knowing they have family, faith, and friends with them all the way.

Kay and I had fun on a recent weekend, shopping for nursery accessories. We found a cute plush elephant chair for a reading nook in the nursery, an elephant print for the wall and some cute elephant themed baby bath towels to match our gray, blue and white color palette. I also found some large elephant hooks on Amazon to hang the storage pockets I am making to match the rag quilt I am currently piecing together. Richard painted the nursery to match the blue in one of our fabric choices and he did a great job, especially considering how much he hates painting!

Joshua recently added a lot more shelving to my coat closet turned toy closet so that I could sort the toys into more age appropriate bins and hopefully make the clean up process faster and more efficient. Keeping toys with lots of parts together is a challenge without lots of storage bins. He also fixed my pantry door which was literally hanging off it's hinges! Josh removed three old hinges and replaced them with four new ones to better handle the weight of the door when filled with groceries. For the first time since I moved into this house the pantry door finally closes!

 I am seriously thinking about installing a composite material on my deck as the wood is an awful lot of maintenance. After only about three years it needs to be power washed, sanded, and stained again! I will do it myself of course as I am very reluctant to pay for anything I can do but it is very labor intensive and time consuming. The thought of a deck that requires no painting or staining is becoming more attractive ever year to me .Of course as I wander around my home I can see several other projects that need to be tackled and can only hope the my capable Josh is motivated to take one of them on!

Bryn's new rental home.

Bryn has moved into a storybook rental house in Silver Lake Hills. I loved his condo in Korea town but Bryn seems to feel the need to move every year or two! Will have to check it out on my next trip to LA! Of course nothing will persuade Marc to move out of his in desperate need of a major redo Condo.

Ming Jon moved into a new apartment earlier this year and is enjoying having his own space. He is still planning on visiting Kansas City over Labor Day weekend. By then we should all be vaccinated and hopefully life will be less restrictive.

Callie about 18 months

Ray almost 5

I am looking forward to being in the pool with my two water babies later this week, and springing back into action in my garden upon my return. The daffodils are in bloom, and green shoots are pushing through the mud trying to compete with the all the weeds! Too much rain lately! But Ava Claire and Owen will be here on Monday and Tuesday as they are on Spring break and Coryn is not! I have bribed them to help me clean up the front garden with dollars and chocolate! Soon I will have a crew of six grandchildren here to help me weed as long as I feed them all the junk their parents don't allow them and forget to watch the time when they are on line!

Love Mother.