Time to catch up on the blog... Wednesday, November 5th sang at the nursing home and did some home teaching/visiting teaching. Thursday, November 6th was Hayden's 4th birthday. We called and left the birthday song on the voice mail at his home. He called and we talked for a long time. He was very happy he got to take chocolate covered donuts to his pre-school class to celebrate his birthday. Friday, November 7th we headed to Louisville early in the morning to go to the temple. Spent the morning there. Then headed to La Grange to join Hayden at his 1st official birthday party with his friends from Mom's Club. He had a "train" party. If you know Hayden, you know he LOVES trains. It was just a lot of fun to meet his little friends and their moms and to enjoy the afternoon at the party. Andie made train tickets and he greeted everyone at the door with a ticket he punched so you could enter the party. Another great thing Andie did was make little train engines for each child that attended the party. They were made out of copy paper boxes . Friday night we got to be the sitters for Hayden & Bailey so Michael & Andie could have a much deserved night out.

Saturday, November 8th, Andie took Hayden into La Grange to get a train. I traveled with them. While we did our errands and had our outting, Claude and Michael stayed home with Miss Bailey. That is fair--two grown men to one little girl not quite 2. She and grampa spent a good deal of time making things out of playdough. Andie invited Papa out to have the family portion of Hayden's birthday. So Papa came out for lunch and we ate, opened presents and had cake & ice cream. Hayden got the book Polar Express and we all took turns reading it again, and again, and again. That night we took the Marx's to Chick-fil-a (might have spelled that wrong) for dinner and to play at their playland. Miss Bailey climbs all the way to the top now. This time we didn't even have to climb up to help her out.

Sunday, November 9th, I had a meeting in Louisville. Claude enjoyed the grandmonsters. He even put Hayden down for quiet time. Then Claude and I hurried home in the afternoon to get him packed for his trip this week.

Monday, November 10th, Claude left in the morning to work his way across Kentucky for meetings. First at city hall in Sadieville, then to Georgetown for a Chamber of Commerce luncheon, then to Lexington for a BADD meeting. Not that the meeting is BADD but it has to do with and area development authority. Then on to Bowling Green, Kentucky for a training that will last until noon on Friday. I am left to my own devices this week. So I started my day with my 30 minutes on the tread mill. I love this portion of my day and have not been able to keep up with it because of poor health for the last couple of months and tripping on that silly stair and twisting my ankle. So it felt good to get back to my walk and to get back to reading Josephus, my book of choice for walking. Then I started working on my purse. In 2005 Claude and I made a trip to Israel. I purchased a great quilted purse to take on that trip in Berea, Kentucky. It was not the least expensive purse I have ever purchased but I really loved it for traveling. I wore it out last winter. I purchased 1 yard of quilted fabric I liked with the intent to try make me one. A few weeks ago I finally got around to taking the old purse apart to use for a pattern. Tonight I finished making my new purse from the old purse as a pattern. It is just great! Now I can make them whenever they wear out for a fraction of the cost of purchasing a new one. I was so proud of my efforts I called Claude in Bowling Green to share my joy at success. He was appropriately pleased at me. I also visited Papa and Mimi this afternoon. They are both doing fine. Mimi has been experiencing some days of bad health but today she was happy and chattered away.