A Mix of Memories...

If feels like I have not blogged in two weeks! However, it has really only been one week yesterday. 

First, a few pictures of our great grandmonsters. Let's start with Joel, the Rock Star Potato!

Then we have his older sisters who shine in their own way, Emelia and Raelyn.

Monday, September 26th, was PJ day at Raelyn's school. The kids were surprised with a visit to the police station. If you understand that Raelyn has thought being a cop would be the best thing in the entire world for a few years now, you would appreciate the joy this kid felt getting to get into a police car. Her siblings were along for the cookies! They even got to see how a taser works. Let's hope that helps them learn they never want to have someone need to use a taser on them.

Our little Raelyn has tried her energy on cheerleading. These are pictures of her in her cheerleading uniform taken Saturday, October 1st. She is a very confident six year old.

Next, a little yard work update. I very much wanted ivy to grow on our hill. After a year of it not doing that, we came up with Plan B. We will let the grass grown on the hill except along the sides of the stepping stones up the hill. We would turn that into a flower bed with some type of decorative grass. This always depends on what Lowe's has on hand when we get ready to plant. 

First, we bought bricks to make the edges of the flower bed. Then Claude laid the bricks out where we would put them in the ground. The picture above and this one were taken Monday, September 26th. 

Tuesday, September 27th, was my day to shine. I spent my time pulling all the grass from what would be this new flower bed. It is amusing that, with each step of this process, we would sit in our chairs on the patio and look at this and be so happy with what we saw. Each day that joy got bigger and bigger.

Wednesday, September 28th, we dug up the soil and planted the mondo grass. We did mix good soil into the original soil as we planted. 

Thursday, September 29th, we purchased and added good soil all over the new flower bed.

I also added the left over soil to the clematis flowers on either side of the end of the house. I found blooming clematis still. Lovely.

On Thursday, September 29th, someone posted on Facebook this picture of paper dolls. This was a really fun part of my past. As a child, it was always a thrill when my mother would splurge and purchase a book of paper dolls. We would carefully cut them out and play for hours with them. When we couldn't buy them in a book, we would take the Sears & Roebuck catalogue and find models and clothes that would fit her pose in the pages of the catalog. We cut them out clothes in that pose, making sure we had tabs as we cut. These we would also wear out playing with. I saved this picture and printed it. I am taking a set for each of our great grandmonsters that are girls. I will share how it was part of my history and see if they enjoy them at all. With dolls that talk and walk, I'm not sure they will get it. But, they will learn a little about their great grandmother.

On to crafting. I am trying to crochet Christmas stockings. No pictures of that yet. I did finish a Halloween costume for Joel. His nickname is The Potato. To that end, he will be Mr. Potato Head for Halloween. I bought a brown pillow from Walmart and took it apart to use as the base for the costume. I found a picture of Mr. Potato Head and used it as a guide to draw on newspaper patterns for his face. These I cut out of felt and sewed to one side of the pillow. I reused the pillow stuffing with an added liner on each side of the pillow. I stitched the shoulders and we can clip them back as needed to fit Joel. I put Velcro on each side for under the arms to the hips. That way all we have to do is pull the costume over Joel's head and then Velcro under his arms as needed. Hopefully, there is enough flexibility in this to have it fit our little guy. Since he is in Muskegon, Michigan and I am eight hours away in Georgetown, Kentucky, we do the best we can. 

The next to last home football game for Oldham County High School was Friday, September 30th. This was also the Homecoming game and this was the night the 8th grade students are asked to join the OCHS Marching Band in the stands. Big night. This night was cooler than our other games and required long sleeves and a jacket. OCHS lost...again...but the band was excellent. Hayden and Bailey were definitely the best ones on their row! Jake made an appearance at half-time. I tried to sneak a picture of Jake and Bailey with my cellphone over my shoulder. You can see my gray hair to the left in the picture and you can tell by the grin on Bailey's face I was caught in the act!

Little children came to our home Sunday morning, October 2nd. We are facilitating the Emotional Resilience Self-Reliance course. We opted to hold the class in our home Sunday morning this week and offered bagels and juices for a treat. One of the couples has three children. I brought in toys from the shed and they played in Sandiland while we held the class. I brought in chalk and assured them they could draw all over the patio. Laynie opted to do this and Silas joined her. This is their artwork. The first one I found was Laynie with her mother. Love that!

We enjoyed watching all five sessions of General Conference on Saturday, October 1st and Sunday, October 2nd. It was excellent. A cup-filling experience. Here are a few quotes:

• You can build a joyful, happy life because Jesus Christ is your strength.  ~~ Dieter F. Uchtdorf
• Your testimony in Jesus Christ isn’t just what you say—it’s who you are. ~~ Gary E. Stevenson
• In coming days, we will see the greatest manifestations of the Savior’s power that the world has ever seen. ~~ Russell M. Nelson
• I bless you in your quest to overcome this world. I bless you to increase your faith in Jesus Christ and learn better how to draw upon His power. I bless you to care more about the things of God than the things of this world. Because Jesus Christ overcame this world, you can too! ~~ Russell M. Nelson
• The Savior is the master of simplicity. ~~ Ryan K. Olsen
• When we follow Satan, we give him power. When we follow God, He gives us power. ~~ Paul Johnson
• Jesus Christ is both the purpose of our focus and the intent of our destination. ~~ Tracy Y Browning

One more project for our home. This project is not quite finished yet. But close enough so I can take pictures and put it in my Blog. I have a propensity to fall. When we added patio, one portion was made so that you step up one step. It is a small step but one you would not want to trip on. Claude has taken wall splash rocks and put them on this step so that it will be noticed but not overpower you. I love how natural it looks for the yard. So proud of my guy for diligently studying YouTube videos so he could get this just right.

During this week, Claude was fitted for and received a new pair of shoes for diabetics. This is an annual thing for him. Medicare pays for one pair of shoes each year if you have diabetes. 

I managed to get an oil change for my car. Yippee!!

Claude had his 73rd birthday on Tuesday, October 4th. It was very low key. He slept in while I attended my Primary presidency meeting. Then we went for a biscuit breakfast. He worked on the step on the patio while I got the oil changed in my car. Then we went to Texas Roadhouse when he got steak and shrimp for dinner. He said his steak was really good. Home we came to watch more of Northern Exposure. It was a good day full of things done at our own pace. He was happy with his birthday.

Now, I must go iron!!