THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER: Volume 164                                               January 2026

Dear Readers 

I am delighted to announce that we have a new family member! Congratulations to Kay, Richard and big brother Alex!

                              

                                             LUCAS LOWE FLAIG

                               Born:     November 25th 2025

                               Time:     5:33pm

                               Weight:  8lbs 4ozs

                               Length:   20 inches 

Lucas Lowe Flaig

Grandma's visit  to the hospital hours after birth!

He appears to be a  clone of his proud big brother Alex - they weighed the same and both have Kay’s huge dimples making them irresistible to this Grandma! His cousins are enthralled with him and all vie to hold him and  feed him. I will be splitting the baby sitting with Richard’s parents again so all the baby equipment which I had given to one of Coryn’s neighbors is now back in my house! 

A couple of days after Lucas was born we celebrated Thanksgiving at Sarah and Sean’s house.

Coryn and Jeremy contributed numerous dishes to our feast - I made Stove Top stuffing - along with Sean’s smoked turkey and ham and Sarah’s pasta salad! On their way home the Logues dropped off a lot of left overs for Kay and Richard who had been discharged from the hospital with baby Lucas that very day!

Once again I hosted  Christmas Eve with our present exchange and of course another feast straight from the freezer into the oven or air fryer Hors d’ouveres! I actually baked cookies from scratch this holiday season and Coryn contributed a  cheesecake with blackberry compote!  It was absolutely delicious and I hope her love affair with making them continues!

Lucas: our Xmas baby in a manger

Richard wih Alex and Kay with Lucas

Liam, Lochlan, Owen, Alex, Cillian, Ava Claire and Emmy Lou

Opening presents

This year's Chrstmas tree!

Coryn burbing Lucas

Sean and Jeremy snacking on my glorious spread!

Has anyone else realised that the school holidays seem to be getting days longer yearly?  The Thanksgiving  break used to start on the Wednesday before- now they have the entire week off! Then for Christmas break they had over two weeks - with an extra day for Teacher-in Service! Good thing Grandma's daycare is always open! It must be very hard for some families to find childcare for this long period of time!  Fortunately Sarah, Sean, Coryn and Kay were all on break too but frequently seemed to need a break from their kids - so if one family showed up at my house it was quite likely that more of my Kansas City family would decide to visit me too!

One day I was watching Lochlan and Cillian when Coryn came through the door about three O’clock  with Ava Claire,  Owen, and a huge spiral- cut ham - gifted to  a Buddhist neighbor who

obviously could not  serve it to her family so re-gifted it to Coryn!  I was to bake the ham,  she would be making mashed potatoes- by some miracle I had two sticks of butter,  kosher salt and Lowry’s seasoning which she needed ! Thankfully she had a bag of potatoes that I certainly would not have had in stock!  Apparently Sarah and Sean would be joining us for dinner along with Liam and Emmy Lou with Jeremy planning on swinging by after work! I quickly found a pan to bake the ham in and calculated how long it would need to be in the oven - fortunately I had the two hours and thirty minutes needed before the grandchildren would be starving. Coryn and I peeled potatoes as Sean arrived with peppers and onions to stir fry and Sarah  our beloved Stove Top stuffing !This saved me from digging in the freezer for some frozen vegetables! I was quite surprised to be eating another festive meal! There is never a dull moment at my house !

Another day Sean came over with his four children as he had offered to caulk the window in my laundry room which was letting in an icy blast. As I thought he was going to be spending just a few minutes doing so I elected to set the children up in the kitchen with cornmeal (play sand) and numerous containers - an activity that they all enjoy and I have to say that the cordless vacuum I received from the Logues for Christmas makes cleaning up much easier! Sean quickly finished his task so  announced that he had the energy to complete another minor home improvement. 

Sean setting up the step ladder in my crowded kitchen

Corn meal sand play

He decided to patch the crack in the wall by my kitchen table. I had fortuitously  decided  to set up my child size table and chairs by the kitchen sink rather than using the glass kitchen table!! We were out of Sean’s way! However once this was done he remembered that I had a chunk of plaster missing under my window in the bathroom so pushed past the kids to get there and mumbled about my choosing the most inconvenient spot possible to have them play while I protested that I had no idea he was going to be working in that area! He then decided to caulk a couple of  spots in the kitchen which meant dragging a ladder in and once up it  he noticed the gap between the top of my wall cabinets and the wall they were hung on.. This was appalling to Sean - I knew about it but since it’s not visible from the ground I have never been motivated to address it. Whilst trying to keep the kids from spilling cornmeal everywhere I was sent to find a tape measure, quarter round strips - which I have a stack off in my garage( already painted in my trim color left over from last year's floor installation ) and a saw with a miter box if possible. Then I needed paper and pencil to record measurements that he barked out to me. He handed down my dust laden decorator items that I have displayed up there so I could wipe all the dust off!  In between these tasks for Sean I was trying to scoop corn meal piles off the table back into the kid’s containers as they continued to bury objects in it, run cars through it or pretend to bake! My pretend sand kept them occupied for well over an hour!

This past weekend Kansas City  endured a winter storm of several days duration. Like hundreds of thousands in the storm's path I used the advanced weather warning to stock up on groceries - I grabbed one of the last packs of toilet paper left on the Hen House’s shelf and immediately texted my KC family of the need to shop sooner rather than later in the day!

This storm impacted Sean’s birthday plans: he was to celebrate it with Sarah at an evening culinary cooking event. I was planning on having their four children for a sleepover but the weather changed those plans! They were worried that they might not be able to pick their children up the next day or even the following if the dire storm predictions came to fruition so they decided to postpone their date night and celebrate Sean’s birthday at my house along with Kay,Richard,Alex and Lucus who had decided a visit to Grandma's was needed  once Alex’s school was cancelled due to the frigid temperature!  Sean and Sarah arrived at dinnertime with bags of Chinese takeaway, and a carrot cake. They also hauled in enough food to ensure my survival throughout the storm and  at least a week beyond despite my assurances that I had stocked up! Kay and Richard both offered to run to the store too but I assured them I had plenty of food! I am so blessed to have such caring children! 

After Sean’s birthday meal I filled up two bath tubs and let five kids play with bubbles and containers, whilst I washed their hair and urged them to do the same to their chocolate ice-cream covered faces! Then they all were dressed in pajamas with Grandma using a hair dryer to ensure that they did not go out into the sub zero temperatures with wet hair that would surely turn to ice in seconds! Home to bed while Grandma tackled two loads of laundry and relaxed with a nice cup of tea and my knitting!

The snow fell the next day  and continued into Sunday but frankly the frigid temperatures were the worst part of the storm! My neighbors were out in force on Sunday once the snow stopped with their snow blowers, leaf blowers and snow shovels! I assured them that there was really no need to do my driveway as I had no intentions of driving anywhere on icy, snow covered roads. One neighbor responded with great concern that an emergency with one of my grandchildren might arise needing me to drive to them to help out! I had not given this scenario a thought as I know full well that my children can make it over to my house  regardless of road conditions! Roads and schools may be closed but my kids will find a way to  unload their kids on my doorstep to save their sanity for a few hours!

I recently came across a drawer full of yarn in my sewing room  - after a cleaning session necessitated by Ava Claire needing half a yard of fabric for a school home economics sewing class- Coryn was sure I would have something on hand - which of course I did! However after pulling out  various leftover fabrics to see if Ava Clare liked any of them and even more crucially if they measured up to the yardage needed, she found one that would work so I closed the door of my mess and decided to tackle cleaning up later. I then came across a drawfull of yarn and have been knitting hats for everyone ever since! Three for baby Lucus - one of which he has already outgrown! Chiefs hats for Alex, Emmy Lou, Liam, Lochlan and Cillian, a Bronco’s hat for Richard, two girly coloured  hats for Emmy Lou, three hats in patriotic red , white and navy blue - two of which Sarah and Sean took while they went on a date - curling on ice in Blue Springs followed by dinner on the plaza.. Ava Claire did not want a hat but bought her own yarn for me to knit into something for her bedroom so I made a neck pillow which because of the stitch pattern I chose looks more like a peanut than the sea shell  I had in mind for her beachy themed bedroom! Needless to say I have made a  couple of trips to buy more yarn in order to have enough color selection but  do think I have used more yarn from my stash than I have purchased!

Emmy Lou wearing her new hat while crafting

Lochlan and Cillian ready for swim lessons in their Chiefs hats!

Several of my children gifted me a robotic vacuum this Chrismtas - another nod to their high tech mother and I have to say it almost cost me my life recently. After Sean had set it up and claimed that I had probably thrown some vital missing part out with the Christmas wrapping paper - he replaced the said missing part -  I decided to use the app installed on my Ipad to run it! I saw it vacuuming my basement carpet and heard it running for some time so assumed it had completed the rest of the floors down there so I started sewing burp cloths for Lucas and just as I started to iron my seams I heard a motor running and then the vacuum came into my sewing room and almost ran over my foot! I dropped the iron and sprung out of the way and then it became a dance to the death as I tried to rush past it and escape upstairs! ! No wonder Cillian is terrified of the one in his home! I thought that when it returned to its dock it was done for the day but apparently it will go back to recharge and then continue to clean!

Whilst on maternity leave Kay has been appointed Principal of Hale Cook Elementary school - she was vice principal of this school before her present job as vice principal at The Foreign Language Academy. I know we all wish her every success in her new position which she will assume shortly. Thankfully Lucas is beginning to sleep for longer periods during the night!.

Ming-Jon is moving to Austin, Texas in a few weeks so that will be quite a change for him after being in the Washington DC area for decades! Hope all goes well for him! Josh is still in Eastern Europe, Marc spent Christmas in Orlando with the Remsburgs, Bryn and Gabby were with her family in Arizona and of course Lori was so happy to have Blake and Claudia home for the holidays!

Earlier this month Sarah and Sean invited me to join their family at the Johnson County Community College for a theatrical performance of the Jungle Book! We had excellent seats, practically sitting on the stage!  I was interested to note how many elderly people were attending the performance without grandchildren present. The show was not the cartoonish rendition of the book I was expecting but quite a dark version: very cleverly performed by four actors playing numerous parts with a lot of lighting effects and set changing wizardry. I thought it might be a bit scary for the children but they were all enthralled in the performance. Liam was even invited to participate at one point  - willingly giving up the location of the heroine hiding from the villain but only after the actor offered him a monetary bribe! I am so lucky to live just a block away from this facility with all it has to offer! Maybe once all my grandchildren are in school I will have the time to take some classes there myself! I would not mind reliving some of my fun filled college days at all!

Love Mother

Making marshmallow snowmen at Grandma's

                 

Owen with Lucas! Everyone wants to hold him!

Emmy Lou's turn!

Lochlan's turn! He loves babies!

Alex, Lochlan and Lucas!

 THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER: VOLUME 163                                         NOVEMBER 2025

Dear Readers,

I recently had a rare Thursday night out - not on the town -  but in the Emergency Room of the hospital a couple of blocks from my house! Sean called me about seven o'clock in the evening and asked if I could take him there as he was experiencing some worrying symptoms. He had been battling a sinus infection for a couple of weeks at this point and was on his second round of antibiotics, plus a steroid and had been issued an inhaler for some reason! Apparently after using the inhaler for the first time he experienced some strange sensations and by the time I picked him up he was convinced he had suffered a minor stroke! I pulled up at his house and was amused to see that he was wearing a mask - in case he had Covid he explained when I questioned the necessity of wearing one! Off we went  to the ER and I knew we were in for a long night when there were no parking spaces in the lot adjacent to the ER entrance so I had to pull into the parking garage!

 Once inside the ER we were quickly evaluated and merited a gurney in the hallway as all the examination rooms were full. Sean commented on how busy they must be - whilst I thought they had already diagnosed my son’s ailments as Hypochondria - the Lowe boys chronic condition - and thus decided to park him in the hallway leaving the examining rooms to the truly sick!.They drew over a dozen vials of blood, administered a CAT scan, ran an EKG, did a chest Xray, tested his urine but never bothered to test for Covid!  

I kept Sarah informed about all the tests - she was as skeptical as I was of the need for them - 

but as we all know the better insurance coverage one has the more coverable procedures will be ordered! While Sean was relaxing on a gurney with a IV drip to flush the contrast dye used for the unnecessary CAT scan out of his system, Sarah was busy putting their four children to bed when Emmy Lou had a massive coughing attack, puked and decided she needed to sleep with Mom! I surmised that she was probably hoping to join her dad at the hospital!

Unfortunately I had failed to eat dinner that night as I was busy in the garden but thankfully had a package of Belvita’s in my purse and a blanket around me that I had pulled off the couch as I left knowing that it would probably be very cold at the hospital. In the summertime they cool to a temperature that a polar bear would love and in the winter it’s heated to  feel like a sauna!

Sean explained that his rationale for thinking that he may have suffered a mini-stroke was that after using the inhaler he had felt numb on one side, and that Sarah said he was chewing peculiarly on one side while eating.Then came the real qualifier for his fear - a co-worker in his thirties had suffered a stroke and subsequently been diagnosed with a heart condition that required surgery and he was in his thirties like Sean! I questioned why on earth he had been prescribed an inhaler as he was not having any breathing issues that would warrant one!

At about  eleven thirty that night a doctor arrived with a fistful of papers and said that Sean’s tests all showed that he was in excellent health apart from his sinus congestion and they recommended that he lose the inhaler and keep taking his medications as previously prescribed! Sean came home with me where I made us both a sandwich before we headed to bed! The next day Sarah arrived with the children who I babysat while she drove Sean home to sleep for the day! On Saturday morning Sean returned with the kids -all but one that Sarah had taken to his soccer game- and promptly went upstairs to go back to bed for a few hours! I shook my head - Sarah and I agreed that most men would not make it through a month of pregnancy!

Shortly after this late night escapade with Sean I did find myself out in the dark with him again, along with Sarah and the children but fortunately he was feeling much better for our outing to see the light display at the Kansas City Zoo! Tthe kids enjoyed a hay ride -Grandma was worried about her butt getting wet sitting on the damp hay as it was drizzling that night - but of course the kids wanted me to ride too so I gingerly clambered on board and promptly developed a cramp in my foot! But I clung onto Lochlan for dear life, terrified he would fall off the hay bale as I flexed my foot and realized I was probably in more danger of losing my balance than any of the grandchildren! Emmy Lou was very into reading the pages of a story book that were scattered throughout the display and they all loved painting and decorating their own miniature pumpkin! I treasure these outings with my grandchildren!

I have been a busy sewing bee lately making a rag quilt,  a bee hive covered in bees that light up, and a  storage cube! I have enough fabric left over for a couple of burp cloths too! Kay and Richard are probably just days away from the birth of their new son .   

Bee themed Rag Quilt

Storage basket

Bee Hive made out of yards of homemade piping and covered in lighted bees!

This year our family and friends fundraising walk for the  Alliance of  Cancer Gene Therapy - in honor of our beloved Ming Lee -took place on September 27th and raised over $8,000 . Our Kansas City family  met at the Logue’s  home in Lees Summit where we enjoyed a baked potato bar with everything from sour cream, cheese, and chopped vegetables to chili to ladle on top of our potatoes! After stuffing ourselves we walked off a few calories reaching a nearby neighborhood fishing pond. Coryn and Jeremy had plenty of fishing poles and live bait  for  all those who wanted to fish! Owen  - our most experienced fisherman caught nineteen fish that day while novices Emmy Lou and Liam caught eleven and sixteen respectively! Kudos to Coryn and Jeremy for diligently working with all the kids to show them how to bait and cast a fishing rod! Alex, Lochlan,  and Cillian quickly lost interest and ran off to explore the waterfalls and woody trails around the pond whilst Kay and I  found  a bench to sit on and enjoy all the splendors of being in a beautiful setting on a rather hot and humid afternoon! Ava Claire kept a watchful eye on her younger cousins which gave us all a break! After a while Alex asked to go to the playground and within an hour many of us had joined him with the promise of cookies to come at Coryn’s house afterwards! Emmy Lou and Liam - who have their Uncle Jeremy twisted around their little fingers- stayed out fishing for a couple more hours with him! At some point I mentioned to Sarah that it was a shame that Sean was not there to see how amazingly the children were catching fish  on their first attempt at the sport but unfortunately he wasn’t feeling his best that day so elected to walk alone  close to  home.

Ava Claire made this sign for the event!

Uncle  Jeremy unhooking a fish to release back into the pond!

Kay, Grandma, Ava Claire, Alex, Emmy Lou and Cillian

Alex and Cillian

Ready for our fishing trip to the pond!

Owen, Liam and Lochlan crossing the bridge!

I thought all afternoon about how much Ming Lee would  love to be there with us and  so happy to see all his nieces and nephews loving being outdoors, exploring and learning new skills! Such a beautiful way to embrace Ming Lee and his love of family, the great outdoors and making memories together. I hope he knows that he is always on our minds and in our hearts.

As I mentioned in my last newsletter, my home has  been under construction for quite some time ! I have  endured  jack hammers removing concrete along my entire southeast interior basement  wall to lay a perforated drainage pipe with drain tile, gravel and a concrete overlay. All this drains into a second sump pump which is set into the floor near my bar area. Sean has come up with the brilliant idea of hiding the sump pump under a beer barrel and adding shelves for glasses and booze! I am now waiting for some heavy rains to test out my new system which is hopefully  going to keep my basement bone dry so that I can lay carpet to cover over the bare concrete. Otherwise I shall have to get down on my ancient knees and paint it all again ! Once I had cleaned up all the concrete dust from this project , I was ready for the dry wallers to come in and replace all my cracked walls which have hopefully been shored up by the peers I installed last year! This was a hugely messy job too - which spanned over five days waiting for the mud to dry between applications and endless sanding  !With Sean’s assistance I have repainted most of the basement!

The drainage pipe hidden by gravel, the jagged edge of my foundation left by the jack hammers

My new sump pump

What a mess!

Progress! new dry wall, and cement!

Ready to paint!

Back to normal!

I have my basement back!

 

Prior to these two projects I was able to finish all the work that needed to be done in my master bathroom to rectify the damage caused by a water valve replacement . I found a reasonably priced contractor who tore out all the old tile around the tub and separate free standing shower enclosure, replaced it with concrete board, added a new, slightly larger shower pan and drain. I purchased the tile, grout and caulking myself at Mennards and ordered new shower doors from Amazon. My contractor sub contracted the tiling to a professional tiler who moonlights on weekends so that worked out well for me! My contractor even built a couple of cubbies to hold body wash and shampoo - fortunately I had some 2x4’s under the deck so no charge there! Cillian thinks these cubbies look like holes in the tiles and insists they need to be fixed! I am hoping that nothing else happens to my home for a while - although Jeremy is contemplating some roof work for me! 

Tiling took 3 days!

Speaking of roofs, you are always welcome to shelter under mine! Ming Jon is contemplating a visit over the Christmas holiday! Hopefully flights will be back to normal by then! Thank goodness the government shutdown is over and that all the millions of people whose lives depend on government subsidies are once again covered and that all the government workers who were expected to work with no pay throughout this mess are now being paid again. I can not imagine how much stress these people have been subjected to. Having Trump in office is definitely very stressful for me! Every day I wake up and wonder which of his puppets or arsenal of weapons - which he seems to love toying with- is going to lead to a major world incident. 

Thanksgiving is just a week away and we are celebrating it at Sarah and Sean’s this year! It’s always lovely to have so much family here with which to celebrate! We will also be celebrating Cillian's third birthday which falls on the following day! I have high hopes that my great grandson will be making his debut into the family by then too!  As we all know there is nothing I enjoy more than cuddling, cooing and singing to a baby! So thankful for each and every-one of my babies no matter your age! Love Mother

                       

Here are some more pictures from our recent walk to support our cause and honor Ming Lee!

Lori had a great turn out in Indy!

Bryn took to the Hollywood Hills with Mazzy

Sean suffering with his sinuses walked alone!

Claudia doing her thing

The Remsburgs took a bike ride

Marc and Ming Jon walking together in LA for Ming!

Josh walking in Armenia