THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER VOLUME 114 MAY 2017

Dear Readers,

March ended and April began on a high note as my treasured friends of so many decades came to see me and enjoy what has now become our annual tradition, spending time together catching up on all our family news, enjoying meals together, endless cups of tea, a glass of wine, shopping and making do on too little sleep! Becky was the first to arrive on Friday morning at the Kansas City airport where I picked her up and commended her for getting up in the middle of the night to leave for her first flight at five in the morning. It's most unfortunate that it is impossible to fly directly from Savannah to Kansas City.

Becky had mailed a box ahead of her arrival containing a present for me so I decided not to open it until she arrived: it contained a beautiful quilt that she had been working on for so long, a true labor of love. How she managed to complete this work of art while taking care of her grandchildren full time I will never understand. This will certainly become a family heirloom for generations to come. Amazingly she also has quilts underway for Evelyn and Sherry! Becky is such a talented quilter, seamstress and knitter with skills far beyond mine.

Evelyn was working the night shift as usual on Thursday, then meeting at Sherry's after work Friday morning to drive here. Thankfully Sherry drove. I thought they would probably be here by twelve thirty but it was an hour later before they pulled into my driveway - of course they had made more than the one stop that I allow! I think we spent the entire rest of the day talking, except for the time that Coryn and the children visited with us, then Ava Claire took over- very warmly greeting and entertaining my three grandma friends. She made a great impression as she helped lay the dinning room table, clear it , and load the dishwasher after my Martha Stewart supper : salad, shrimp pasta in red pepper sauce and an ice-cream cake for dessert! Ava Claire now looks so much like her mother as a child but she has a completely extroverted personality! Coryn was reserved around people outside of the family. Owen of course was into everything and I am sure my grandchildren were in part responsible for the girls heading upstairs to sleep at nine in the evening – never mind that one of them had had no sleep the night before and another only about four hours!

Saturday morning we shopped for our grandchildren, ourselves, had lunch near the mall (amazingly all four of us ordered fish taco's) and headed up Quivera to Sarah and Sean's new home. Unfortunately Sarah was in Pittsburgh that weekend for work so the girls were disappointed not to meet her but Sean made a 'nice' cup of tea for us and gave a tour of the house and explained it's ongoing and upcoming renovations!

Later in the afternoon we shopped some more and headed home for supper , wine and more conversation. At some point Becky invited us all to visit her in Savannah so that is definitely a fun idea!

Sunday came all too soon and after lunch Evelyn and Sherry headed back to Fort Madison with all their shopping in the trunk of the car whilst I headed to the airport with Becky. I truly treasure my friendship with these special friends.

Next on the agenda came my birthday and I was thrilled to share pizza and Ava Claire's specially made for Grandma chocolate cake- with blue “peeps” swimming in chocolate frosting -with all my Kansas City family. When I opened my gift from my children I was more excited then when the Chiefs score a touch down I think: a new Ipad! Ava Claire admonished me to calm down “you are too excited Grandma. Thanks to all eight of my children for this wonderful gift – my older Ipad was having trouble updating and loading my games and causing daily frustration so you have also helped lower my blood pressure too!

Speaking of health I am now signed up for Medicare parts A and B, and have supplemental and prescription drug coverage through AARP and am euphoric about the financial savings this means for me, plus I am now getting social security so this has been a wonderful birthday, love turning 65!

Bonnie and Gary Niehaus arrived the following week to spend a night with me after their travels to Arizona. It so happened that they were spending a Tuesday night' which meant that they would be awoken on Wednesday morning, shortly after seven, when Ava Claire enjoys ringing the doorbell non-stop until I open the door, after which she and Owen clamor for breakfast. Once Bonnie and Gary were up and breakfasting with the kids I suggested that they might want to spend the entire day with me enjoying my very demanding, non stop talking Ava Claire and my always flying in the face of danger Owen. They said they would love to spend time with my grandchildren but they really needed to head back to Fort Madison : this as I was chasing a naked Owen around the sofa trying to get him dressed.

The third weekend in April I flew to Orlando to spend a few days with the Remsburgs. My drive to the airport during rush hour was only slowed to a crawl on one of the three interstates on my route. Fortunately I always allow extra time for these things. I parked in the long term economy lot taking a picture of my parking location for future reference. Whilst waiting for the shuttle bus, I got into conversation with a fellow traveler who just happened to be on the same flight as me and he told a harrowing tale of having to change a flat tire en route to the airport. I definitely had not allowed enough time for such a disaster and worse I was wondering how much earlier he must have left than me to arrive at the same time despite this mishap. Once in the terminal I pulled out my driver's license and boarding pass( TSA pre-approved as usual) and stood in the appropriate security line. I would have preferred to be in the regular line as this line was much longer! Eventually my bags made it to the Xray machines and I passed through the metal detector but was promptly pulled aside and told that my bag was going to have to be hand inspected by a security guard who was already going through an elderly couple's bag while another senior citizen was selected for a pat down. Must be pick on Grandparents day I joked to my fellow passengers. The security guard was not amused and once he finally started opening my bag I urged him to pull everything out to speed things up , explaining that I needed to use the rest room before boarding. I reached my hand into my suitcase to help out and was promptly told that I was not allowed to touch anything. He zeroed in on two toys that I had packed – unwrapped- for baby Ray. One of them contained batteries. Both items were removed, hand scanned and then placed back in my suitcase which the security guard informed me would have to be placed back on the conveyor belt and re-screened. Looking at the by now humongous line I almost peed my pants on the spot. Fortunately he put my bag on for me and a few minutes later I was in the ladies room – another line – and vowing to add at least an hour to my emergency contingency time in future. Once at the gate it was time to start lining up to be seated and I was grateful to be in the B section as the flight was full and they were asking for volunteers to give up their seats for upgrades and vouchers. After this hassle I was going to sit in my seat, hopefully with my bag above me and would resist all and any efforts to budge me! I have been watching the news.

Ray had recently celebrated his first Birthday and was walking well - providing he had something to hold on to. Craig was very focused on when Ray would take his first steps unaided and was constantly asking my opinion on when I thought this momentous moment might occur – I explained that it could be within the next hour or even a month away. Unfortunately I just missed his first steps by hours as he finally let go and walked alone shortly after I left.

Ray demands attention and applause every waking moment. For example if he crawls up a step he expects applause, when he crawls down a step he expects applause and he is more than happy to lead the applause himself! I was amazed that Leslee-Ann allowed him to use her clothes as his personal snot rag. His nose was running constantly; when it bothered him he just clambered on his mom, and used her shirt to wipe it on! Even I wasn't that lenient! But she does have very set routines when it comes to sleep, meal and bath times.

We went out to dinner a couple of times and Ray was very well behaved save for the occasions that he decided to drop food over the side of his chair – a habit that he has from feeding the pugs who plant themselves under his high chair at every meal to eagerly eat every morsel that Ray drops to them.

On Sunday morning we went to a Farmers Market where I found a Ray sized table and bench made by one of the many artisans peddling their handicrafts: hopefully he will enjoy using it for his own arts and crafts. They had an area with water fountains shooting from the ground for children to enjoy splashing in – Leslee-Ann and I watched as Craig played in it with Ray.

His sleeping schedule is clockwork precision. He goes to bed at eight in the evening and wakes up at eight in the morning and takes a nap for two hours every afternoon. When he is asleep the television volume in the family room is turned down so low that I can't even hear it, we all have to speak in a whisper and Leslee-Ann shushes constantly. They also set up a baby gate in the hallway to his room and the guest room to keep the dogs from scratching at his bedroom door and my first night I was trying to lift my legs high enough to clamber over it fearful of knocking it over and waking Ray, fortunately Leslee-Ann caught me in the act, berated me for my stupidity and showed me how to open it. To add to my trauma both bathrooms in the house were undergoing renovations so I had to use the sink in their master bathroom to brush my teeth – I offered to use the bath tub faucet which was still hooked up in my bathroom but was told that the noise might wake you know who!

Marc Andrew had visited shortly before me and he was ordered into the master suite for his extended stay while they took the guest room because they were afraid that his numerous runs to the bathroom nightly- due to his over active bladder- might disturb Ray's slumbers.

In my next newsletter I will cover the month of May and some of June as I need to catch up after falling a month behind again – not that one of my children seems aware of this lapse on my part. I will writing about Joshua's return, Ava Claire's 4^th Birthday, Owen's 2^nd Birthday, Ming-Jon's visit this weekend, Kay's Masters Degree Graduation Party, Ethan's planned visit and my gardening efforts in my yard, my neighbors and Sarah and Sean's!

Thanks to the generosity of family and friends for my birthday this year, my garden has bloomed with solar lit decorations, wind chimes, bird feeders and even a tea cup and saucer planted in a pot of morning glories! In almost every border I can find a reminder of one of my children or friends – some ornaments have been part of my garden since I first started one seventeen years ago! I plan to spend most of my summer edging out my beds, pulling weeds and feeding the wild life . You are all welcome to invade my habitat and plant your feet in my soil – within reach of weeds of course! Love Mother  

THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER, VOLUME 113 MARCH 2017

Dear Readers,

In late January, Sarah and Sean found their new home: so conveniently situated to mine, being right off Quivera , about 60 blocks northwest of my house, a ten minute drive straight up the street. They moved in on February 27^th and immediately set to work removing the dated wood paneling in the living room only to discover termite damage on the dry wall and framing underneath so that all has to be replaced. Coryn and I had both suggested painting the paneling as a more cost effective cosmetic change but Sean was determined to tear it down – a costly decision!

The first Saturday in March, Sarah and Sean painted their bedroom a grayish blue while I spent seven hours with a bowl of hot, soapy, vinegar water, a steamer, kitchen sponges and an upturned plastic kitty litter container - substituting for a step stool, stripping away three layers of wall paper on just one wall of their kitchen! I returned the following day with Kay, who proved to be a great stripper, until she hit one of the many sections that seemed to be super glued in place. After awhile we were joined by the Logues; Jeremy had hauled some stuff from their house in his truck for the new home owners. I immediately put Ava Claire and Owen to work, wetting and hopefully peeling off wallpaper. Ava Claire was more than willing to help whilst she chatted non-stop whereas Owen was only interested in dunking the sponge in the bowl and squeezing water out everywhere but on the wallpaper. He lost his sponge and the bowl was placed out of his reach as he charged off to wreak havoc in another room.

The following weekend I returned to their home to see all their new furniture in place. They had invited Kay and I to lunch so that we could sit at their first dinning room table, and admire the newly painted yellow walls that replaced the wallpaper we had stripped the previous weekend. After a great lunch, including desert, Kay and I volunteered to tackle more wallpaper removal in the kitchen so that they could paint the rest of the room. Their kitchen is the largest room in the house and has masses of cabinetry so it was a challenge to get to the wallpaper – and even more challenging to remove the two extra layers (making a total of five different prints) in that part of the kitchen! I eventually put the steamer up on the counter top and climbed up beside it so that I could reach over the top of the cabinets to pry off wallpaper. Sean was very concerned about the safety of this operation, not so much because he saw his aged mother losing her balance and tumbling to the floor dragging a scalding steamer with her but because he was worried about the effect of my poundage on his kitchen counters and lower cabinets!

Sarah and Sean have turned their formal dinning room into a media room as the sectional that they had purchased for the still needing to be dry walled living room was placed in there temporarily, but fit so perfectly with a wall large enough for Joshua's projection screen so thus Sarah is looking forward to shopping for another set of living room furniture , Sean not so much!

They have a lot of great plantings in their yard and a huge walled courtyard in front of their Spanish style home and a patio off their living room. Sean is planning to set up a gas barbecue on one and a charcoal grill on the other outdoor area.

At this point, I should explain that I am into week three of trying to get this newsletter written but every day I intend to do so something happens to take me away from the task. Take Monday March 20^th, a telemarketer substituted for my alarm clock by waking me up shortly before Jeremy called with the news that he was sitting outside the children's pre-school but the building was locked up with no cars in the parking lot. Apparently Coryn was unaware that it was the school's Spring Break week. I volunteered to take the kids immediately, thus giving up the two hours that morning that I had planned to write. Jeremy dropped the kids off and I noticed that they were both wearing long pants: knowing it was going to be in the eighties , I decided we needed a trip up the street to the Carter's outlet store to pick up some shorts and swimsuits to have on hand at Grandma's house. I had to use my back up car keys as I couldn't find my other set. Once the kids were buckled into their car seats we drove up Quivera and found a parking spot right in front of the store. I gave Ava Claire and Owen the usual talk about being quiet and staying right by Grandma. Ava is always good but Owen........

He took off as soon as we entered the store and quickly found the toy section with a fishing game. He is obsessed with fish, making me draw dozens of them every time we paint or draw with magic markers.

Painting and snacking on Grandma's kitchen floor!

I quickly saw that it was an educational toy. This justified my decision to purchase the gaily decorated magnetic fish and poles. Ava Claire hoped she could pick out something too but I explained that since it had two poles she could play with it too. Grandma was not going to cope with the toddler meltdown in a public place that would have ensued if I had the guts to deny Owen his new found treasure. He took off in hopes of finding something else with which to challenge me but was quickly returned to me by a store clerk. He didn't stay by my side for long. Ava Claire loves to shop and happily picked out some shorts, a top and a hot pink two piece swimsuit. She also dragged Owen over to the boys section where she pointed out all the cute outfits he could wear. She showed him a set with dinosaurs: he immediately started roaring like Tyrannosaur Rex so she declared that he had picked that set and grabbed a baby bib with fish on it because she knew he would “love it Grandma”. We selected a pair of lobster print swim trunks for him and headed to the checkout which unfortunately has toys displayed on it, under it and above it. I kept reminding Owen that we already had our toy and gave him the baby bib to hold so he could fixate on the fish. Loading our purchases and kids into the car I fumbled in my purse for my keys, buckled up one kid, walked around the back of my car and saw my other set of keys on the trunk! I couldn't believe that they had stayed there since I backed out of the garage and stopped and started at numerous stoplights! Even more amazing that no one had stolen my 2005 fully loaded Ford Focus complete with two gently used car seats!

Owen fell asleep on the way home so I put him on my bed where he slept for a couple of hours. No hopes of his taking a nap that afternoon. Once he woke up we headed outside to the deck where we played with the fish game and once the novelty wore off – about five minutes- I hauled out the bath toys, the outdoor pool toys and containers of water which the kids used to drench themselves and me. We had a picnic lunch outside which made both children thoroughly happy .

There was a dead squirrel on the street in front of one my neighbor's homes and Owen was thrilled to watch a huge buzzard swooping and landing to pick at his prey. While I was holding him on the deck rail so that he could get a better view of this carnage, Ava Claire was playing spa day, soaking her feet in a bowl of water in preparation for her pedicure.

About mid afternoon we heard sirens and soon fire trucks and ambulances were racing up the street and helicopters were flying overhead. Both kids were very entertained, with Owen pointing at the sky in hopes of seeing another helicopter so I took them to the front of the house when my neighbor Steve fortuitously stopped over to say 'Hi' and invited us to his house to see if we could figure out what was going on and sure enough from his deck we could see smoke and best of all a hovering helicopter which enthralled Owen. It turned out that we were witnessing the biggest fire ever in Johnson County, maybe even in Kansas City. A massive complex of residential, office and retail units was set afire- accidentally by a welder 's blow torch – huge embers landed on nearby homes catching the cedar shake roofs on fire! Many homes were a total loss but most importantly no lives were lost. The fact that we have been woefully short of snow or rain this winter did not help of course. Thankfully the fire went south of us because my house is just about three blocks from the development.

Wednesday I babysat the children all day again but did manage to type a couple of paragraphs on Thursday - I was intending to put in a couple more hours after supper but Sarah and Sean stopped by for a cup of tea after their ball room dancing class, and by the time they left, my must see Jay Hawks basketball game against Purdue was on the television.

Today , Friday I determined to finish my newsletter as soon as I mustered the enthusiasm to shower and dress for the day but before I could do this Coryn and the kids unexpectedly arrived hoping for lunch at Grandma's. Coryn was scandalized to see me still in my robe as noon approached- exclaiming that she had been up and dressed for hours and also visited her retired principal from one of the schools at which she previously worked. I retorted that I might have spent several more hours dressed thus enjoying the peace and quiet of my retirement home but I did headed for the shower and fixed lunch for everyone.

Tomorrow it's family friend Lola Rose's third birthday party to which I and the Logues are invited : after which I will have my grandchildren again for some time before I drop them off at Sarah's and Sean's home. No writing time tomorrow for sure! Coryn and Jeremy are attending an Engagement Party for close friends that night so we are keeping the children so that they don't have to make two round trips in one day from their home in the boonies. Ava Claire has made it quite clear that I am to just drop them off at Uncle Sean's house and go straight home. She is very excited about having supper and playing at their house! They will have to watch Owen like a hawk – apparently the last time he visited he scaled their garden fence and Sean had to run into the neighbors yard to retrieve him!

In the previous months since my last newsletter I have had two major social outings, one with Coryn and the other with Kay. Coryn took me to dinner at the Majestic restaurant followed by an ice skating exhibition at the nearby Sprint Center. Kansas City hosted the National Competition this year which Sean and Sarah also attended but on the day before Coryn and me . This outing was a Christmas present from the Logues – Jeremy definitely got the short end of the stick here as he was stuck babysitting the kids while Coryn and I enjoyed a night out on the town. Our dinner was wonderful, I loved the European feel of the restaurant with music and decor dating back to the twenties and thirties and the food was beautifully prepared.

After dinner we tried to find a spot in a parking garage near the event but the first one we tried turned us away as it was only open to patrons of other venues so Coryn had to pull off a U-turn into the exit lane and we eventually found a garage that worked. Unfortunately we had to climb up about five flights of stairs to reach street level and I was pleased to see that many of the crowd crawling up the stairs were struggling as much as me, some even having to rest on the landings before they pressed on. I took deep breaths and hoped I'd survive to start an obviously much needed cardio- vascular work out program.

Once inside the Sprint Center I noted how tiny all the ice -skaters were and an amazingly high percentage of them were Asian – just think I could have raised a family of successful skaters if we would have just lived in a city big enough to afford an ice rink!

Soon after I had afternoon tea with Kay, her Christmas present to me. We met at her Westport apartment and she drove us to the nearby Inter-Continental hotel. We were both looking for the parking garage entry, which I recalled was right off the main entrance way but we saw a sign for ballroom parking so decided to pull in, driving past piles of construction debris and towers of boxes holding new cabinetry. We knew the hotel was undergoing a major renovation because when Kay called to make our reservations she was told that they were serving afternoon tea in their rooftop lounge instead of the Oak Room. We decided to park alongside the other vehicles, past all the construction mess, and made our way to the ballroom entrance where a kindly male held the door for us. We walked through the deserted space and decided to take the elevator to the top floor, we entered the lounge and - also empty but a young girl soon appeared and had no idea that tea was supposed to be served in her space. She said she would look into it and sped off. We waited around for an eternity it seemed and eventually decided to go back to the parking garage and drive around the building in hopes of finding the right entrance. Just as we were stepping in the elevator she was stepping out and told us that tea was being served in the Oak Room that day after all as they had not been able to move things in time. So we retraced our steps through the deserted building, marveling that it was safe to leave towering piles of new furniture in an open parking garage and drove around the building until we espied the right entrance. Once seated in the restaurant I realized that the once scenic view was obscured by piles of construction equipment . I think they should have offered a heavy discount on afternoon tea that day but they didn't of course! Another group soon joined us and they too had headed upstairs expecting tea to be served there!

I am so lucky to have so much family around me! And I am going to enjoy having Becky, Evelyn, and Sherry here next week . I will be washing bedding, vacuuming up chunks of cat fur, scrubbing my kitchen, bathrooms, and trying to pull weeds and re dig the borders of my flower beds in the days before they arrive. I will be babysitting for a couple of days too which means nothing but creating endless messes on all three levels of Grandma's house. I just don't seem to possess the parenting tools needed to enforce rules anymore! I am sure that some of my older children think I had a screw loose by the time I raised their younger siblings but I now have no hopes of tightening things up as most of my tools are either at one of my kid's or their friend's home at any given time. Then Sean hit me like a sledge hammer when he tried to screw me out of my work bench and tool chests suggesting that they would be more useful in his garage! Mother lowered the boom on that one.

Love to you all, Mother                      

THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER: VOLUME 112 JANUARY 2017

HAPPY NEW YEAR ! HEALTH AND HAPPINESS IN 2017

Dear Readers,

Thanksgiving was very special this year as baby Ray Carson spent his first one at Grandma's house - of course his parents were there too! He also flew for the first time and was a model passenger according to his proud and dotting parents. Prior to their arrival a box of diapers, especially made for babies with delicate skin, arrived at my home and a mattress for the pack n' play because she said the one provided by the manufacturer was not cushy enough for baby Ray - this she knew from experience. The family had spent a couple of nights at family friends Jaimie and Skylars in Sarasota and apparently Ray protested loudly through out the night about the poor substitute for his crib. I asked if there was anything food wise I could provide for him but they were bringing his food with them to make sure his delicate indigestion system was not thrown out of balance by Grandma's usual food offerings to her grandchildren. She did ask me to buy a container of whole milk, plain, Greek yogurt. I checked at my grocery store , rows of Greek yogurt in every flavor imaginable except plain and whole milk was only available in vanilla - which I would say was plain but doubted that Leslee-Ann would agree. I drove to one of those fancy overpriced organic whole food stores and sorted through rows of low fat, no fat plain yogurt and finally spied one marked whole milk and rushed up to the counter with it only to be sarcastically thanked by the cashier for my big purchase of the day! Snotty place! I resolved to try Aldi's next time! Unfortunately Leslee -Ann pointed out that although the yogurt was plain and whole milk it was not Greek! Obviously it's all Greek to me!

Ray is so fair skinned with white blonde hair and eyes that are not noticeably Asian: he does not physically resemble his mother in any way. He is a miniature Craig for sure! However he definitely reminded me of his mother as a baby in attitude. Ray likes to be the center of attention and changes from a happy, adorable Ray into a loudly demanding Ray calling 'Mama' repeatedly until someone pays attention to him again! However Ray also likes to dictate the terms of the kind of attention he welcomes, he definitely prefers a slow introduction to new people and was not pleased with Owen's enthusiastic hug and big kiss planted firmly on his lips. He loudly protested this invasion of his privacy. Thankfully Ava Claire was more restrained in her welcome!

Ava Claire and Owen were drawn like a magnet to their baby cousin: Ava Claire offered him toys, Owen took them away, using physical force whether necessary or not! We all tried to rein him in as Ray became more upset by his aggressive playmate but Leslee-Ann and Craig quickly whisked him away for nap time to the safety of his pack'n'play upstairs in their room! I was amused to see Craig sorting through a toy basket before Owen's arrival another day in case there was something that might do mortal damage to his son if wielded by his terror of a nephew! A wooden hammer was placed high on the mantle!

Leslee-Ann has an established routine of naps, feedings, play times and daily baths – I did wonder if a daily bath was best for a baby prone to ecxema but wisely kept my thoughts to myself. I never managed to get any of my children into a routine at all ! The only thing she hasn't been able to regulate is his bowels which sometimes do not move for a few days and cause him to be even more demanding of his parents attention.

Ray Carson 

At their house they have a no flushing the toilet after Ray's bedtime rule and I wondered if we were going to have to adhere to that rule here, especially tough on Sarah and Sean who use the upstairs bathroom by their bedroom most of the time too. After testing it out Leslee-Ann thought the sound barrier was better in my house so gave permission to flush after eight. But we were not allowed to speak in anything above a whisper during his nap times and the television volume had to be so low that it wasn't audible to me! After a couple of hours of Leslee-Ann shushing us all every time we moved or spoke we decided to spend Ray's nap times downstairs. Very stressful with Ava Claire and Owen who have no idea about playing quietly at Grandma's!

Mealtimes were interesting when Owen was around. When we eat in the dinning room he usually prefers to sit on my lap and eat from my plate, preferably with my fork but on seeing Ray in his high chair he immediately tried to climb up it and doubtless push his cousin to the floor! Ava Claire insisted on sitting next to baby Ray so she could help feed him.

Ray slept well his first night at Grandma's, and Leslee-Ann was convinced that the new mattress was responsible, the second night we all heard Ray voicing his disapproval of his sleeping arrangements a couple of times and by the third night he was in the bed with mama, dad was in my English Country bedroom and Sarah and Sean were fully convinced that children are not in their immediate future, sleep being a high priority on their list.

Once Thanksgiving was over, I immersed myself in Christmas preparations, determined to have the decorations up inside and outside, all my shopping completed, wrapped, tagged and mailed if necessary by December 12^th as I was going to be babysitting Ava Claire and Owen for an entire week while their parents vacationed with Jeremy's family on Peters Island, in the British Virgin Islands. I knew doing anything other than maybe writing a few Christmas cards would be too much of a challenge with them around. I picked them up from pre-school early Monday afternoon for their vacation at Grandma's house and Coryn came by after work with a weeks worth of clothes for them (Grandma had already bought a few new outfits in case my washing machine broke down or something) and then she headed home to sleep before she and Jeremy left at three in the morning for the airport with a full day of traveling to their destination.

I had set the pack n' play up in my bedroom with the mattress Leslee-Ann had left behind and hoped Owen would sleep in it while Ava Claire slept in my bed with me. Owen threw a temper tantrum when he awoke and realized he was not in my bed so I grabbed him out of the pack n' play and popped him in the bed between Ava Claire and myself. Unfortunately he was not delighted to be sharing the bed with his sister and woke her up rolling into and over her in an effort to push her out of the bed. Ava Claire finally asked if she could sleep in his bed so I put her in and peace was restored. She slept there for six nights in a row! The children woke me every morning with either Ava Claire climbing out of the pack n'play onto my bed or Owen leaving my bed to climb into the pack n' play to wake his sister up. They actually spent long periods of time scrambling in and out of it using my bed as a launching pad. I hoped all the activity would wear them out at least as it was bitterly cold the entire time they were here and we only left the house once to go to the grocery store.

The grocery store was another adventure, where they both rode the quarter horse and insisted on sitting in that cumbersome two kid sized shopping card. Unfortunately Owen got bored in the check out lane and I made the mistake of taking him out of the cart and putting him by my side. As I was using my credit card , he grabbed the shopping cart filled with most of my bagged groceries, pushed it out of the check out lane and started spinning it around in circles with his sister still sitting in it. I tried to chase him down but he took off with it and almost made it to the door before I could grab him and return for my remaining bags of groceries. He was delighted with himself and gave all the customers in line behind me something to talk about. I was mortified that an eighteen month old could push the cart around better than I could and he couldn't even reach the handle bar! And yes children: none of you would have behaved like that in public at any age but Grandma seems to have lost all control of her charges.

A couple of days into their stay a box arrived on my porch and the kids were very excited. Ava Claire immediately asked if it was something for them but no, it was for me: a Christmas gift from Marc Andrew. I opened it up to quell the children's curiosity, finding a smaller box with a picture of a snowman on it. I realized that it was an inflatable. For years, some of my sons have tormented me with the threat of gaudy plastic blow up lawn decorations appearing overnight in my front yard and I have made it very clear that I would immediately and permanently deflate them. I herded the children down stairs thinking I could inflate it in the area which has become their playroom rather than my entertainment space. I quickly read the instructions, pulled it out of the box and plugged it in. I was expecting something about three feet high and was alarmed to see the snowman's head threatening to take out my newly painted ceiling before he was even fully inflated! I quickly pulled the plug and was immediately treated like a spoilsport by my very confused grandchildren. I explained that Frosty was a lot bigger than Grandma thought so I would have to find another spot for him. I was certainly not going to have him next to my towering Martha Stewart Christmas tree for all to see so I decided to put him out on the deck. It was too cold for the children to be out so I told them to watch me from inside. I bundled up, grabbed the cording supplied with the snowman and found some concrete blocks and bricks under the deck which I hauled up to attach to the snowman . Every time I left Owen's sight he screamed – even though I was back in thirty seconds every time. Very stressful. Once Frosty was secure I plugged him in and watched him grow to gigantic proportions, I had to hurriedly drag my outside dinning set out of the way of his growing bulk. Ava Claire and Owen were fascinated with the whole process, especially that evening when it became dark and Frosty was fully lit up from inside – I wasn't expecting that and worse a wind had sprung up and with his raised arm Frosty appeared to be waving at all the rush hour traffic on Quivera. I immediately wondered if he would prove such a distraction that it might cause an accident: would I be held responsible? As the wind continued to blow harder Frosty was dancing on the deck, so terrified that he might fly across Quivera like a Zeppelin, I pulled his plug. Owen was furious with me! He ran back and forth from the kitchen and family room windows, frantically gesticulating at Frosty who had melted to nothing before his eyes! I tried to convince him that Frosty was taking a nap but he obviously didn't think he needed one. He was besotted with that oversized, tasteless plastic yard decoration all week and was very unhappy when I put him away after the holidays. He still looks for it every time he visits!

Unfortunately Owen came down with a cold mid week, making him even more needy of my attention. I was glad that I had picked up a couple of extra snap and play Disney princesses with new accessories that Ava Claire played with for hours daily.

Sarah was away on a business trip for much of the time and unfortunately Sean had sinus issues so wasn't feeling very well, virtually going to bed as soon as supper was finished. Once Sarah returned it was great to have an extra person around to entertain them, she and Sean made a gingerbread village with them and had movie nights with hot cocoa and plenty of yummy snacks while I zoned out for a few hours with my Ipad. Kay pitched in too, picking up McDonalds one night(just a block from my conveniently located house ) and then cooking an excellent Sunday lunch. Owen loved the casserole she made, he ate three helpings which was great as his cold had definitely negatively impacted his appetite but not his activity level.

Coryn and Jeremy picked the children up about ten thirty Sunday night probably as tired as sleeping Ava Claire and a needing to sleep Owen. I slept for at least ten hours that night and woke up with a cold. Sarah and Sean came down with it too. I accomplished nothing that week except getting some Christmas cards in the mail, having never found time to do so while babysitting. I spent Christmas Eve with Coryn and Jeremy and stayed through Christmas dinner. Jeremy had stayed up until four thirty in the morning assembling an enormous three story doll house for Ava Claire. There was an massive mound of presents around the tree, stretching out in front of the fireplace where the dollhouse was placed front and center for Ava Claire to see on Christmas morning along with a battery powered car for Owen and a very noisy rocking horse. There was a treasure chest full of dress up clothes for Ava Claire, dolls everywhere, and lots of balls for Owen and these were just the unwrapped gifts! No wonder it took a minute or so for Ava Claire to zoom in on her doll house! She has played with is every day since and it is still sitting in front of the fireplace. How well I remember the days when my girls were not going to have toys all over their house! Both of them have toys in virtually every one of their carefully put together rooms! Motherhood has certainly changed their priorities!

Sarah's sister, Candace and her boyfriend, Eric came to stay with us with for about a week including New Years Eve. They live in Maine and she is working on a PHD in genetics at Kay's undergraduate school, Tufts in Boston, so the two of them had something in common. Jaimie and Skylar were also visiting Kansas City so they joined us New Years Eve for an evening of snacking and watching the ball drop together, the most company I have had in years on that occasion!

My house was definitely the liveliest in the cul-de-sac this past holiday season as once again my room occupancy soared with all my guests. I already have bookings for Spring when my great friends Becky, Evelyn and Sherry are coming! Better make your reservations now children before I am fully booked for 2017! Love Mother

THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER: VOLUME 111 NOVEMBER 2016

DEAR READERS,

My bedrooms have enjoyed higher occupancy rates of late than any of Trump's hotels - if the news of his declining bookings is to be believed. Again this year I enjoyed a full house for the weekend of the Royal American Barbecue competition. Craig flew into town with production crew member Mike to join Josh and Bryn who were already staying with me. He was hoping to film footage to add to last years as he forges ahead to make a documentary about the huge event which draws people from all over the world.

Josh drove back from Texas where he had spent a few weeks helping build yet another hydroponic greenhouse and Bryn flew in from Alabama where he had been attending a wedding. For a few days I let the boys occupy my most comfortable bedrooms but down graded them once my VIP guests arrived, Josh to my double twin room and Bryn to a mattress on the basement floor. I laundered sheets numerous times to accommodate all the room changes! Josh is now back in his usual bedroom until the 22^nd of this month when he heads to Columbia – the country he had trouble getting out of last time he visited it if you remember! He claims those circumstances prevented him from sight seeing so he he is going to try again and brush up on his Spanish. I pointed out that he only had to go up the street to the Oak Park Mall where he would find hundreds of Spanish speaking people to converse with and if he runs into trouble in Columbia again I will not be putting up a dime to get him out!

Since Bryn has not seen Ava Claire and Owen for over a year I decided to have the children spend a night at my house so that he could maximize his time with them, before Craig arrived , as I assumed he would be filming for most of the time. So as usual I picked the children up from pre-school on Monday but drove them to my house instead of theirs . Coryn came by after work and stayed for supper and left looking forward to a night's sleep uninterrupted by waking children. That night I shared my bed with the two of them, placing a pillow between them whilst I clung to the bed edge all night lest I rolled over and woke Owen who would then wake Ava Claire. Amazingly enough we all slept well, at least I got enough sleep to feel up to taking the children to the animal farm. I thought this might be a fun outing for the uncles too to see their niece and nephew enjoying the animals but Bryn declined to join us as it turned out that he was working remotely and thus needed to put his hours in for his regular job! Apparently he didn't want to waste any vacation days on a visit with his mother and helping his brother-in-law! Fortunately Uncle Josh went which made the children very happy, especially Ava Claire who adores him. Actually she knew when he was coming home before I did as he called her to suggest baking a cake together for Coryn's birthday and she was happy to tell me all about their plans!

A few weeks prior we had made a trip to the farm with another Uncle -Marc. He called unexpectedly to announce that his boss was on a month long European vacation so he was going to spend a week with me! I immediately prayed for my toilets plumbing. I racked my brains trying to think of projects that we could undertake together but as Marc has no handyman skills and no interest in spending time in my garden (which he claims causes his allergies to flare up) I was stymied. I was pleasantly surprised when he actually managed to weed a few dandelions out one afternoon and spent an evening helping me clean out your dad's old paperwork. I still have file drawers to deal with, nearly all fodder for the shredder but I keep my eyes peeled in hopes of finding something of value!

It didn't take long for Ava Claire to declare that Uncle Marc was not as special as Uncle Josh, unfortunately he had no idea how to play her princess games and Owen was very wary of this new uncle. Marc muttered something about making semi-annual visits so that the children would be more comfortable with him.

Marc surprised me by offering to make us supper – I immediately thought of his beef stew, the last supper that your dad ate and of the inedible rock hard baked beans he spent hours preparing for us all another time. Once again he was soaking beans and putting them in my crock pot along with a mix of things that he deemed creole. Sausage was added to the pot – not one of my favorites either but once the whole mess was cooked for hours Marc pronounced it was ready to eat. I served myself a small portion, tossing all the sausage that landed on my plate back into the pot. Unfortunately even my small portion proved too much for my gastrointestinal system to handle as I awoke with race to the bathroom diarrhea the following morning. It is hard to understand Marc's constant focus on his bunged up bowels when his cooking clears mine out every time!

On Wednesday , November the 9^th Sean will be returning to Kansas City and I will finally get to meet his girlfriend Sarah. She arrived a couple of weeks ago and has been staying with a friend in Kansas City with plans to move to my house once Sean arrives. Sean did not want me to meet her before his arrival as he wanted to be the one to introduce us. As it so happened she hung out with Josh, , Craig and Mike at the Royal American Barbecue and the two that had not met her before were very enthused. Craig came bursting through my kitchen door asking me to guess who was just sitting in a car in my driveway – I took too long to answer so he blurted out “Sarah Byers”. I immediately headed out to meet her only to see that Josh's car was gone with Sarah in it back to her friend's house. I had missed my chance to become her new best friend, think how wonderful it would have been if Sarah had returned with Sean from the airport and acted as though she owned the place! I would have pulled off a coup but alas once again my children thwarted me!

THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER PART 2

Unfortunately my whirlwind life became so busy that I did not have time to finish my newsletter before Sean and Sarah's arrival and my trip to Indianapolis with Coryn and Ava Claire to see Claudia perform the lead role in her middle schools musical “Cinderella”.

Owen stayed with his dad and Auntie Choo Choo (Meghan) while we three girls flew to Indianapolis – don't say Indy in Ava Claire's presence as you are quickly corrected! Ava was extremely well behaved on our outward and inbound flights, enjoying the drink and snacks , she asked the amused stewardess who took our drink orders if she could have something to eat too! Fortunately Grandma was prepared with extra snacks: her mother grabbed a handful of candy from my basket for herself before we headed to the airport. I noticed that Ava Claire was not wearing any kind of outerwear and questioned if Coryn had packed a jacket for her, oops she had forgotten! As always Grandma came to the rescue with a sweater that Leslee-Ann wore as a little girl which miraculously matched Ava Claire's outfit!

Ming-Lee was so excited about our visit that he parked the car and came into the terminal to greet us! Once home we were greeted by Lori and her mother Diane whom we had not seen since Ming and Lori's wedding over twenty years ago! Over the course of three performances many relatives and family friends came to support Claudia in her theatrical debut! The house was so filled with flowers that I remarked anyone not in the know would assume that a death had occurred!

Once Claudia was home from school she was promptly whisked upstairs for hair and make up – Ava Claire had her nails painted simultaneously so she could watch all the cosmetic wizardry. Lori used a curling iron to fashion seemingly hundreds of ringlets that were cemented in place with hair spray and Claudia did a stellar job of doing her own stage make-up. Blake arrived soon after and joined us for a chilli supper while Lori and Claudia left for the school theater.

I was amazed by the high standard of the production, frankly expecting flubbed lines, off key singing, and staging issues. Instead the children , over eighty of them gave a totally high school level performance. Claudia was a spell binding Cinderella with her beautiful singing voice and stage presence. Lori and Ming had worked very hard to bring about the spectacular costume change necessitated by the scene with the fairy Godmother when she goes from scullery maid to the belle of the ball. It involved layering, bustling, and fish weights but it was a magical transformation! The Fairy Godmother looked spectacular herself in a lit up dress! And the carriage that a few of the dads had built was good enough to be in a Disney movie! Obviously there is a lot of parental support in Blake and Claudia's school system as there were a number of scene changes that called for everything from thrones to stairs to fireplaces.

Ava Claire was entranced through out the performance and during intermission all the little girls in the audience were invited to parade across the stage with one of the cast members in ball gowns. Knowing about this in advance many of the children were dressed like Ava Claire in Princess attire! They even handed out invitations to the girls in the audience prior to the start of the show to participate in the parade. The amount of thought and attention to detail given this production was incredible for Middle School level. As a former drama major myself I was most impressed and in the years to come will be following Claudia's dramatics!

After our return to Ming and Lori's home on Friday night Blake gave us a preview of his presentation about rockets for a speech contest the following day. He opened with Sinatra's' Fly Me To the Moon' – great singing voice too and then launched into an explanation that flew right over my head! Diane said she had followed his every word so I decided to up my daily Candy Crush games to keep my mind functioning – this was backed up by scientific fact as Diane is on a higher level than me and has obviously put in a few more beneficial hours!

Sarah and Sean arrived at my home for a Lasagna supper on Wednesday, November 9^th arriving in a car that Sarah had bought that day to pick Sean up at the airport! Josh had assisted her at the dealership earlier in the day – all tasks that I could have helped with had I been permitted to meet her prior to Sean's return! They moved into my paisley bedroom with six huge suitcases , thank goodness I had cleaned out the entire walk in closet in that bedroom prior to their arrival! I knew immediately that Sarah and I were going to get along well - she called up the stairs to Josh to come down and help them with all their belongings and he appeared immediately – not the result I would have got!

Sean was exhausted by his long flight from London, then Chicago to Kansas City but the next day he was at the DMV taking his driver's test as his license had expired whilst he was living in London. Fortunately he passed after not driving for a couple of years! He and Sarah spent their first weekend apartment hunting and quickly decided to buy a house instead and put an offer in on one the following day but unfortunately got outbid when it went over asking price. They are working with realtor Fred, our family friend, to find something in the area that Bryn and Elizabeth Woodbury lived in. In the meantime they will stay with me!

Josh moves out on Tuesday, headed for Columbia and Leslee-Ann, Craig and baby Ray will be taking over his vacated room on Wednesday so you see Mother is running a bonafide bed and breakfast, lunch and dinner business! It just doesn't pay although Josh fixed several problems around the house for me with his handy man skills which I greatly appreciated!

I must thank Craig for leaving a couple of bottles behind after his last visit – I found myself reaching for the gin as the election results came in on November 8^th as I tried to compute that Hilary Clinton was not looking like the huge winner I had anticipated. I was unable to comprehend how a nation that had voted for Obama twice could elect a man who was so much less in every way. This is going to be a very interesting period in American history and I hope that the country does not fall into a divide as deep as the Grand Canyon over issues such as race, religion and our role in the world.

One things for sure our late night comedians will have a wealth of material to use – like Milania Trumps intention to make cyber bullying her cause as First Lady – at least she knows something about it as she is married to the biggest bully of them all but unfortunately it is evident that she hasn't had any impact on him at all!

Well children, Mother must head to the garden where clematis, cleomes and roses are still blooming as cold weather is finally coming to us and I need to haul the canna's and rain lily's into the garage for winter. It has been a wonderfully warm fall, with trees still covered in green leaves, grass that needs to be mowed and even butterflies. This has been a strange year in many ways.

Just in case you may be thinking of visiting soon but are worried about finding a bed in my often fully occupied house be assured that I will always find room for my family and friends just as I make a place for each of you in my heart! Love Mother

THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER VOLUME 110 SEPTEMBE2016

Dear Readers ,

Ming-Jon made a quick weekend visit here in August , originally planned for just one night, but his early evening flight out to Washington DC on Sunday night was canceled so he had to spend another night to take the first direct flight out before dawn on Monday. Unfortunately he didn't know about the cancellation until he arrived at the airport. Kay had dropped him off and ended up returning to the airport to help her dad find a motel – fortunately he was able to alert her to his situation before she was too far along her route home. These sort of experiences just make me less inclined to travel than ever!

We were blessed with great weather for his visit so he and Kay spent part of Saturday afternoon at a huge multi - cultural fair in Swope Park enjoying foods, music, and exhibits from around the world.

That night I cooked supper for us all and we watched the Chiefs pre-season game. I am certain that we will make the playoffs this season. The next day the Logues came over as well as Kay and Theodore and we enjoyed brunch on the deck – ages since I have cooked for so many! The dog was happy to eat all the food the children dropped on the deck: a service that my cat regretfully does not provide. It was too bad that an otherwise great visit was spoiled by the delayed trip home and resulting expense and inconvenience.

Coryn returned to work August 1^st for just two days a week whilst I babysit Ava Claire and Owen. They arrive at an hour that I normally sleep through and usually stay until about six in the evening as Coryn hangs out here after work ends at about 4:30 to avoid driving home in rush hour traffic. My sleep deprivation will be cut in half this month as Ava Claire will return to pre-school and Owen will spend that time at the same building in the infant room so I will drive over to Lees Summit on Mondays after lunch to pick them up from school and stay with them at their home until Coryn returns. They will still come to my house all day Wednesday. I have to say that Ava Claire has been a terrific help with her brother since we started this new routine. Coryn has obviously given her instructions to help Grandma with Owen because she has stepped up into the big sister role very well. We recently went to the animal farm and beforehand I explained that Owen would have to ride in the stroller she usually uses because he is too little to walk far. To soften the blow I said she could help push it. I should explain at this point that Ava Claire is not the most energetic of little girls and on all of our many previous outings to the animal farm she usually opts to ride in the stroller for much of the time complaining that she is tired of walking. This day she immediately grabbed the handle bars on the stroller -once Owen was safely strapped in- and took off with him through the parking lot whilst I tried to grab on to it and steer her on course. She quickly informed me that she was pushing the stroller and did not need my help. I begged to differ as she forged ahead oblivious of cars and pedestrians. I explained that I was going to help her until we got to the entrance gates because I didn't want a car to hit us. She reluctantly let me hold onto one handle bar. Once inside the animal farm she firmly took charge and I could only hope that I could grab the stroller before she plowed into someone or something. Her spacial sense is definitely lacking. But she happily parked her brother in front of each animal enclosure and told him what we were looking at . Owen was a complete contrast to Ava Claire on his first visit to the animal farm, she was thoroughly unimpressed by all the animals, only showing enthusiasm when we stopped for ice-cream. Owen was screeching and cackling with delight as soon as his sister showed him the chickens at the start of the tour.

Eventually we arrived at the baby goat enclosure to bottle feed them. I stuck Owen's binky in his mouth terrified that he might try to suck on one of the baby bottles we purchased to feed the goats but fortunately he was so delighted to be among the goats that he seemed oblivious. Poor Ava Claire was immediately knocked to the ground by one of the frisky goats as he tried to grab the bottle in her hand but she made a quick recovery and was soon happily feeding goats as Owen fearlessly walked around seemingly on a mission to pet all of the couple of dozen goats in the pen. It was tough for me to keep an eye on both of them as they took off in different directions but they had the best time.

Ava Claire has a little purse that I keep filled with quarters that we use to buy animal feed from machines by each animals enclosure. Owen was very interested in this operation and demanded to feed the animals too, I was again worried that he would put the pellets in his own mouth but he copied his sister and was soon actually saying “more” when he needed a refill. Soon he was running over to the machines every time our hands were empty.

Ava Claire's stamina was amazing, she actually pushed her brother the whole time, and never once complained. I will definitely forget to bring the stroller if I take her by herself again!

I recently suffered another disastrous restaurant outing with Coryn: to thank me for watching the children while she and Jeremy were in Florida she invited me to dinner. It so happened that she had signed Ava Claire and Owen up for a parent's night out with free babysitting provided by her preschool. At the time she didn't know that Jeremy was going to be out of town at a roofing conference that weekend so I was her back up dinner partner. Coryn had decided that she wanted to try out a recently opened restaurant in down town Lees Summit that was getting favorable reviews so I drove over looking forward to a gourmet meal. Unfortunately Coryn had not thought to make a reservation so we had a a thirty minute stretch of waiting time to kill so we explored the mostly closed downtown shops.

Once we were seated at the restaurant and looking over the menu selections I realized that it was a decidedly southern style venue (which Jeremy would really appreciate) with very few healthy options. Coryn and I both ordered a shrimp appetizer and the grilled salmon for our entree.

Our salmon arrived and Coryn announced that her piece did not seem to be cooked in the middle, I checked mine and saw that it was raw too. We called a waiter over who pronounced our fish disgusting, apologized and took it away. Our waitress hastened over to apologize too, soon followed by the manager who said we would be served fresh portions of properly cooked salmon. My new fish was fine but Coryn's was so charred it was inedible. The manager appeared, looked with dismay at her fish and said of course there would be no charge for her inedible meal. Coryn opted for dessert as compensation. Unfortunately it seems that Coryn's restaurant and movie picks are always doomed.

Sadly my cousin Rebecca called recently to let me know that my beloved Auntie Margery had died at the age of 92 in Spain where she had spent the last years of her life enjoying being close to family who had moved from England some time ago. I have many wonderful childhood memories of my time with her and I am sure many of you remember the wonderful day we spent with her at Primrose Cottage , her home near Southampton, England .As always she had prepared enough food for an army – she was a fabulous cook, so generous , blessed with many talents and a great sense of humor. She led such an interesting life and was full of fascinating stories about her experiences.

There was great excitement in Grandma's house on Wednesday . Ava Claire and Owen were here by seven thirty and she was fully aware of the fact that we were going to drive to the airport around lunchtime to pick up her adored Uncle Josh. Of course she was anxious to hit the road every half hour exclaiming that she could hardly wait to see him again as she missed him so much! Fortunately Owen fell asleep in his car seat very quickly and shortly before we reached the airport so did Ava Claire . This was a blessing as although Josh landed on time it took ages for him to pick up his luggage at the baggage claim so I had to keep circling the terminal, I lost count after the tenth time! The kids slept all the way home too so of course they were all over Josh to play with them. He didn't even have time to bring his luggage inside before he was outside playing ball, inside playing hide and seek and giving back rides!

Sean and his girlfriend Sarah may be back in the states by Christmas, if not by late Spring so that is good news as I thought he might stay in London indefinitely! Bryn and possibly Marc and Joshua should be here in a few weeks when Craig returns to film the Royal Barbecue and for Thanksgiving Leslee-Ann, Craig and baby Ray will be here so I have lots of family visits to look forward to!

Mother's world was recently shaken early one morning when I woke up to strange noises and the sensation that my bed was rocking. I thought that my worse fears about the stability of my home's foundation had come to fruition as I tore downstairs to see if a wall had collapsed but all was fine. I went back to bed and decided that perhaps I had dreamed the whole episode. I was relieved to learn later in the day that it was a real life earthquake. A very unsettling experience.

Love from your all shook up but now nicely settled (like my foundation) Mother.

THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER VOLUME 109 JULY 2016

Dear Readers,

Last month I was complaining about the rain, this month it's the excessive heat wave which has washed over Kansas City. We have been blessed with copious rainfall for much of the summer but this last week it has been dry, hot, and humid with a heat index well into the 100 degree range. Nightly I have been been in my chigger infested yard, dragging the hoses around my parched plants for a couple of hours. I was hoping to melt away some of my winter blubber but unfortunately the fat just seems to be frying my brain. I am so confused by the popularity of that clown Donald Trump and very nervous about the integrity of Hilary Clinton. It is incredible that they are the best this country has been able to put forth for the next presidency. I feel that my vote for either candidate could take me on a dangerous journey for the next four years: akin to deciding if I would rather go down on a sinking ship or up in flames aboard an out of control rocket. I just can't wrap my brain around this situation.

Ava Claire was recently snuggled up with me when she grabbed my upper arm and announced it was very squishy, she continued with her examination of Grandma's body informing me that my legs, tummy, and double chins were all squishy too. Coryn beamed. I explained that Grandma's are suppose to be squishy. Ava Claire looked doubtful.

Within days of this evaluation I was babysitting the kids at their home and as she left Coryn suggested that I go to the pool with them after she returned. Too bad she didn't think of this before I left my house as I could have bought my swimsuit with me – doubtless Coryn was not anxious to have her mother's squishy body floating across the neighborhood pool for all to see. In her defense I must admit that she did offer to swing by my house to pick it up after her work session but I didn't want to inconvenience her – after all I needed a bikini wax anyway and Ava Claire would probably find all kinds of new areas on my more exposed body to declare squishy.

Later that afternoon, once Coryn had returned, they changed into swimsuits whilst I planned to watch from a lounge chair under a shady umbrella. Within two minutes Ava Claire suggested I take my shoes off and stand in the water with her “Come on Grandma, it's not too cold”. I complied as always and soon Owen was splashing me and expecting to be picked up for a cuddle when he slipped under the water or something. I was drenched. Ava Claire asked me, in the innocence of childhood, if I would like to take some clothes off. I assured her that Grandma was fine in her wet shorts and shirt and would bring her suit next time. It was a nostalgic reminder for me of all the many summers we enjoyed at the Fort Madison Country Club pool.

Mid month Coryn and Jeremy took a long awaited vacation to Clear Lake, Florida with an overnight stop in Orlando to meet our newest family member Ray Remsberg. They departed on a Thursday morning and returned late Monday afternoon. The grandmas split the childcare. Sheryl moved into the Logues house for the first two days and I picked them up Saturday morning and brought them to my house for the last couple of days. Things went well that day, we spent the evening playing in the kiddie pool on the deck and eating pizza – made for easy clean up with Owen, I just sat him in the pool to rinse supper off him. Unfortunately my first attempt to fill the pool was a disaster when I realized that Owen had filled it with poop as soon as he stepped in. Ava Claire was very indignant as I cleaned it out and filled it again.

Saturday night I was exhausted from the nonstop activity of my grandchildren and hoped to get some much needed sleep. Owen was sleeping in my bed and Ava Claire was sleeping along side it on a pillowcase bed that I had put together the previous week. It's a Pinterest type project whereby you make four or five adjoining pillowcases and add the pillows to make a soft and foldaway twin size bed.

It wasn't long before I regretted placing Ava Claire on the floor on my side of the bed. I had trouble falling asleep and realized that my tummy was talking very loudly to me and soon I was talking right back to it: begging for mercy as I found myself scrambling for the toilet over Ava Claire repeatedly. I had rampant diarrhea and very painful stomach cramps. I took a double dose of Imodium and hoped for relief and sleep but it was not to be. Owen awoke looking for his “binky” and Ava Claire needed to go potty. By six O'clock I knew I needed help and began texting and calling Kay. I knew she had had a housewarming party the night before and was probably exhausted herself but I hoped she might wake up to let her dog out early but no luck. I called Becky Dickinson because I knew that one of her girls wakes up at six every morning and thankfully she answered and came over immediately. She and her husband had suffered a similar illness a few days before and she was sure I would not be able to care for the kids at all that day. She insisted on taking them over to her house where she dressed , fed and entertained them through lunchtime until I was able to contact Kay to help me. Once Kay arrived Becky drove the kids back here and I thanked her profusely for all her help as I was so incapacitated with my stomach issues that I could not possibly have cared for the kids.

Kay soon found herself changing Owens diapers, helping Ava Claire on and off the potty, fixing snacks and meals and playing endless games of hide and seek and Ava Claire's latest pretend game obsession “Life Guards.” This game has obviously been created by her experiences at the pool this summer. She is a lifeguard and appoints another person to share the job with her – usually me – and we have to sit in Norm's Harvard chairs and blow a pretend whistle every-time an infraction of the pool rules occurs which is about every ten seconds. She will announce that someone is eating chips in the pool or pushing someone under the water and order me to blow my whistle and say something and so it goes on until one announces break time for the life guards but of course after two minutes she is ready to play again. She definitely has an assertive streak ! Kay was a good sport about all this and was definitely my life saver that day and the next. She spent the night and we split the kids up after a fractious start with both kids in my room. Ava Claire was so restless that she threatened to wake up Owen so we had her sleep upstairs with Kay and that worked out better. Unfortunately I had little sleep again thanks to my queasy stomach and a migraine like headache – all part of the virus Becky described to me. I was very happy to hand the kids back to their parents on Monday evening but glad that they had been able to have some time alone as a couple.

You might remember my mentioning a pool for the kids a few paragraphs ago – I have a rather interesting storage place in the garage for it: the roof of Joshua's car! Since his car has been stored in my garage Coryn has driven it a few times but it is quite a job to get it out of the garage as the lawn mower and yard equipment are parked behind it , the pool is on the roof and there are often “things” sitting on the trunk as all my storage on the floor is gone so I can only store up – on Joshua's car!

Ming-Lee, Lori, Blake and Claudia had a great European family vacation this summer and had some great professional family pictures taken in one of the many cities they visited. Josh is still winding his way through Eastern Europe, I believe he is in Poland this week and Sean is passing through my birthplace, Portsmouth, England on his way to the Isle of Wight, site of Osbourne House where Queen Victoria spent her summers. I still remember visiting it as a school girl on a field trip eons ago!

During one of the heat waves I decided to expend some energy indoors and painted out the cabinetry in the upstairs family room to match the kitchen and it looks much brighter and updated. Now I am painting the hallway and woodwork. Unfortunately the frames that Josh built for the very tall paintings fell apart when I took them down to paint the wall so I have to gorilla glue and clamp them back together. I will probably have to move both cars out of the garage to have enough space for that project!

Now I have another disaster to deal with. This evening I came in from watering my yard and decided that a nice bowl of ice- cream was well deserved but on pulling the container out of the fridge it felt very squishy – just like me. My freezer is not working. In desperation I grabbed the manual, watched a Utube video on troubleshooting refrigerators and decided to pull it out, unplug it and clean the coils. Plenty of dust bunnies were rounded up by my seldom used coil cleaning brush. I plugged it back in, shoved it back into place and not a sound was to be heard. I pushed every control button and slammed the door shut. An hour later it started humming. At least the fridge part is working, I am hoping that the freezer will refreeze overnight, it's down a few degrees but we need about minus 25 of them. I guess I'll have to find a repairman and get an estimate.

Well children despite my trials and tribulations I am maintaining my cool and and living in hopes that one of my handy dandy sons will visit soon! Love Mother - who is holding on with gorilla glue and foul language.

THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER VOLUME 108 MAY 2016

Dear Readers,

RAIN RAIN GO AWAY, COME ON BACK ANOTHER DAY – NEXT MONTH! My new mantra children as I keep one eye on my sump pump and the other on my dehumidifier in an desperate attempt to keep my basement dry. So far I have had little seepage which is amazing considering the torrential rainfalls of the last few weeks.

The last week of April flew by as I found myself hosting two sets of longtime friends from Fort Madison. Bonnie and Gary Niehaus drove to Kansas City's Airport to fly into Denver to visit their daughter Kari, and family in Longmont , Colorado: spending the night at my house to break up the long return trip. They decided to forgo their usual choice of my chocolate bedroom in favor of my recently redecorated paisley room. A wise choice, in my estimation ,because Joshua's clothes are seemingly permanently stored in the chocolate bedroom's closet and I fear that a couple of unwashed shirts may be responsible for the slightly male locker room scent which whiffs past my keen nose on the few occasions I venture in there to clean.

Coryn happened to be around in the days before their arrival whilst I was mulling over possible menus -she suggested that they might prefer to dine at one of my many neighborhood restaurants. I was confident that Bonnie and Gary would rather relax -after a stressful day of traveling- in my Martha Stewart dinning room but decided to offer this option to them and was delighted when they both adamantly confirmed my belief. I took great satisfaction in letting Coryn know that I was right yet again!

They had such a good experience using the Kansas City Airport that they are repeating it this week: apparently it is also more economical than flying out of Cedar Rapids or Moline where one nearly always has to transfer to a major airport anyway. There is so much to love about life in Kansas City.

They left on Wednesday and I spent Thursday preparing for the Friday arrival of my great friends Evelyn, Sherry, and Becky. Evelyn and Sherry were driving down from Fort Madison: Evelyn drove after working the night shift ! Her stamina never ceases to amaze me but I have to confess that her addiction to caffeine has me worried – she even drinks coffee before sleeping to ward off a caffeine deprivation headache on waking! Becky was up in the middle of the night to catch her flight at five in the morning on the first leg of her trip from Savannah. I am so grateful for their decades of friendship which has endured two of us moving out of state.

I picked Becky up from the airport at noon and we arrived home before the other girls who arrived about one-thirty. We drank tea all afternoon, enjoyed a shrimp pasta dish that I made from scratch and enjoyed an early evening visit with Coryn and the grandchildren. They saw that all though Ava Claire looks exactly like her mother at three years old she does not act like her at all – she favors her Auntie Leslee with her self confident, every one pay attention to me and lets do things my way attitude. Owen is a much less demanding child who loves to snuggle and wins everyone over with his huge dimpled smile.

Unfortunately the weather did not shine down on us for our reunion weekend so instead of heading to the arboretum we stayed out of the rainy, cloudy weather by shopping. As always we headed to the just up the street from my so conveniently located home to the Carter's outlet store where Sherry bought something pink for her third grandchild - in hopes that after two grandsons there would be a little girl to shop for and days later her hopes were realized when a sonogram revealed that baby number three would be a girl.

We fixed lunch at home and headed back to the stores, making stops for clothes , plants and garden accessories. We had dinner at Bolings and then decided to walk a couple of miles around my neighborhood of character homes in an effort to burn up some of the calories. The exercise must have improved our stamina because we almost pulled an all nighter, staying up until two in the morning on only one bottle of wine and we were all up by eight the next morning! It's a wonder I could function!

Evelyn had bought some plants for my garden from hers and I was happy to share some of my plants with her so we braved the rain and cold on Sunday morning to dig in the dirt. We ate lunch together and shortly afterwards Evelyn and Sherry headed back to Fort Madison while Becky and I enjoyed another cup of tea or two before heading back to the airport for her late afternoon flight back to Savannah. I was so glad that she had been able to leave Lysander and Merovy for a couple of days with their father while she had a much needed break although with all our activity and late nights and early rises I worried that she was probably more sleep deprived on her return than on her arrival!

Friday the 6^th of May began a week of woes for me . That morning I was up with the birds, thanks to Ava Claire, who had spent the previous night at Grandma's. After breakfast and tubby time we headed to the grocery store where Ava Claire rode the quarter horse surrounded by the bubble gum and toy prize machines and then- as always- insisted on sitting in an oversized shopping cart done up to look like a car. Grandma's engine barely revs up enough these days to steer the clunker up and down the grocery aisles. Ava Claire always happily cleans the dual steering wheels with a sanitizer wipe while singing about the wheels on the bus all through the store. Since I was planning on taking her to the animal farm and home to Lee Summit later in the day I decided to go to the gas station too. Once home we put away the groceries; picked up toys; ate lunch and then drove to Deanna Rose to enjoy all the farm animals.

As always the place was packed, especially with school children on field trips. This year they have started charging an entry fee so I decided it would be cheaper to buy a family pass since we will probably be there at least twice a month. I paid with a credit card and off we we went to feed bottles of milk to baby goats and quarters to machines that dispense food for the animals. Two hours later I decided to take Ava Claire home. Unfortunately our car had been baking in the sun and was uncomfortably hot so I downed all the windows and cranked the air conditioning on full blast. Soon Ava Claire was complaining that she didn't like the wind in her face so I rolled up the windows, noticing that the car still seemed baking hot. I played with the direction of the air conditioning vents but cold air did not seem to be blasting out. I was driving a different route home than usual : instead of the interstates I was on highways with multiple stop traffic lights: maybe I just needed a long stretch of road with no stops to kick my air conditioner into high gear. Ava Claire was a sorrowful sweaty sight in the back seat so I opened all the windows again only to be told to close them again. I tried to explain that Grandma was having a problem with her air conditioner. “Fix it Grandma.” I was getting quite hot under my collar about the whole lack of cold air and knew I was going to have to get professional help. Once at Coryn's Ava Claire was happily cool again and I decided to stop at Hancock Fabric on my way home, as they were having a going out of business sale. I took the interstate route there but had to admit that my car still seemed to be overly warm. Once inside the store I found some things I needed and headed to the checkout, rummaging in my purse for my credit card. I found one but not my preferred card with the reward points for using it. I also realized that my gas card was missing too.

Once home I dumped out my purse and wallet, then every purse I owned and finally searched the car thinking I might have thrown the cards on the front seat after gassing up but although I found a lot of stuff there were no cards. I checked my receipt from the farm and realized that I had used my less favored card there so I deduced I must have lost it at the gas station. I called both the gas station and farmstead in hopes that someone might have found and handed in my cards but no such luck. I notified the credit card company , canceled my card and had to wait a week for a new one to arrive in the mail. I went online to request a new gas card. I was too exhausted from all this activity to face my car problems so I waited until Monday to take it to the dealership. This was bad news. My magnificent fully loaded 2005 Ford Focus -which has needed no major repairs in the eleven years I have driven it- now required a two thousand dollar one. I palpitated and debated with my service guy the wisdom of making such an expensive repair on a car that's value is at best about four thousand dollars considering that I only have 50,000 miles on it. He said that if I was his mother (thank god he didn't say grandmother) he would advice her to make the repair and keep the car which should be good for at least another five years with my usage. I was surprised that he didn't shove me into the new car show room so decided that his advice was probably in my best interest. Apparently they were going to have to remove not only the engine but the dash board to replace my cracked unit hence the huge cost. I was given a loner as it was a two day repair. Now we come to an even more dire situation.

The day before happened to be Mother's day and Coryn and family came with lunch for us all. When I picked Owen up to snuggle I thought he felt warm so Coryn checked and sure enough he was running a mild fever but his appetite was good and he seemed to be his usual self. The following day Coryn reported that he had vomited during the night, was running a higher fever and had developed a rash so she had taken him to his pediatrician who thought he had a virus which would resolve it self in a couple of days. I told Coryn that I would come over the next day if needed after my car was fixed.

After paying for my car repair I wasn't feeling too good myself but headed over to Lee Summit to offer my help. Owen was much sicker than he had been on Sunday and I urged Coryn not to hesitate to take him back to the doctor if she had any concerns. Since Owen needed his mommy's full attention I took Ava Claire home with me where she stayed for a couple of days as early the next morning Coryn called with the frightening news that Owen had been hospitalized late the previous night at Children's Mercy Hospital. They were running tests and taking into account his Mastocytoma and suspected that he might have Kowasaki disease. Fortunately this was not the case but he was in the hospital for a couple of days with a very high fever. Coryn and Jeremy stayed with him there while Ava Claire remained with me, spending a night at her house to take care of the dogs. Thankfully Owen has made a complete recovery although the doctors were never able to figure out his illness.

After my harrowing start to the week I was glad that I was able to help Kay out with her schools “Fun Day” for the students to mark the end of the school year on Friday, May 13^th. I was warmly thanked as I walked into the school for volunteering and was asked to go to the art room where they desperately needed help. I walked in to find out that I was going to be face painting. My blood pressure soared, my heart beat frantically, I broke out in a cold sweat and confessed that I had no experience - I hardly even paint my own face these days. Apparently no one else had any training either – we were all new to the game. They had only been able to find one experienced volunteer and she was missing in action.

I felt sorry for the children as I did my best to turn them into wolves, dogs, butterflies and ladybugs and was so grateful to the ones who only wanted a spider or football on their cheeks. I consoled myself with the thought that they couldn't actually see my artistic handiwork on their faces until the lady who knew what she was doing arrived with her own materials and a huge mirror which all the kids were soon checking themselves in. Frankly I was glad that none of them burst into tears once they looked at my paint jobs! I think I was getting the hang of it by the time I got to my twentieth kid though!

That night I decided it might be a good idea to pay some house hold bills. I wrote out my first check- which happened to be the last in my current book- so I opened my drawer to reach for a new book of checks only to discover that there were none. I couldn't believe that I had to deal with yet another problem. Thank goodness for the days of twenty-four seven instant customer service! I ordered them that night and they were delivered a few days later. Another crisis resolved.

The next big event was Ava Claire's 3^rd Birthday Party – a princess themed gala event. Coryn had spent a lot of time on handmade invitations, turning her entryway and staircase into a Cinderella at the Ball scene, and the princess décor continued into the backyard which was decked out with a bubble machine , helium filled balloons, a shade canopy , Disney music and four live ponies to ride.

There were Disney Princess pictures to color at the children's tables and a box of princess dress up clothes which the girls enjoyed – I had spent hours altering a princess dress for Ava Claire because Coryn had bought a bargain Rapunzel dress that was too big and needed a laced corset back detail in her opinion. As any one who sews knows it can take longer to deconstruct and redo an outfit that it does to start from scratch but your ever anxious to make her children happy mother obliged and noted that Ava Claire spent all of thirty minutes in the dress before switching with another girl who wore the dress for the remainder of the party! I had also been coerced into making tissue paper flowers as centerpieces for the tables. Coryn was eyeing my in full bloom clematis trailing up the deck at my

house earlier in the week and musing about the possibility of my cutting it up into long pieces to lay down the center of her dinning tables. I made it quite clear that was not happening and suggested she head to the flower store- unless she wanted something more whimsical like the tissue flowers we used every spring at the store. She vaguely recalled so I quickly made one up and was told that would be perfect. I offered her my tissue paper to use but she looked at me and said she couldn't possibly figure out how to do it! Surely I could make up a couple of dozen for the table bouquets. Of course I caved.

Josh has just emailed to let me know that his return to Kansas City has been pushed back from July to early September, obviously he is loving Europe like Sean. Marc is also heading over there this summer and Ming-Lee and family should be there in a matter of days. Sometimes I think I would see more of my kids if I moved back!

If any one is thinking of staying in this country don't forget that Mother's home is always open to you, with my English country garden, standard English cuisine and authentic accent – why do you really need to cross the pond? I'll even fly the Union Jack, love Mother.