Oops...It's Been A Week Since My Last Post!!!

Last Monday evening Claude and I went to a reception for a new Republican candidate for Kentucky's House of Representatives. We met him at the Republican picnic several weeks ago. His name is Ryan Quarles. He is a young man with several college degrees and lots of experience helping other candidates get elected that we think highly of. It was a very pleasant evening, met some other people in our community, enjoyed Ryan's remarks and left feeling really good about him as a candidate. There was another politician there names Stan Lee. He was a guest speaker. I totally enjoyed listening to this man talk. He has a beautiful southern accent. I'm from Louisiana so I can tell you ,as a southern girl, that some accents are beautiful and some are, well, not so beautiful. Stan Lee's was very pleasant to listen to and he had a good sense of humor. As he finished I leaned over to Claude and whispered in his ear, "He could do a great job playing Rhett Butler!" Tuesday, November 3rd - Claude and Papa spent their afternoon at the Family History Center. I spent my day at home getting a few more things ready for Christmas. Wednesday, November 4th, I was supposed to spend my morning with the Countryside Homemakers Club I belong to. I had all my gear ready for a craft project we were going to learn how to make. I had my green beans ready to get up early in the morning to fix for a side dish for lunch with these ladies. I had my bag packed for visiting Mimi at the nursing home and singing with Papa in the afternoon. I even went to bed early Tuesday evening so I would be rested. THEN IT HAPPENED...during the night my throat kept getting worse and worse. I just couldn't believe I felt so awful. Lots of aches and pains. I got cough drops and took them throughout the night but by morning I knew I wasn't going anywhere. I crawled out of bed and telephoned Papa that I would not be singing that day or spreading whatever germs I had around a nursing home. I called JoCarol and told her I wouldn't be at Homemakers club. Then I headed back to bed. I got home late and checked eMails and did my computer puzzle for the day. Then I drug this tired old body back up the stairs and crawled into my bed which I deliberately did not make just in case I needed it again. I took a great nap and spent the rest of the day just taking it very easy, drinking lots of liquid and resting. Thursday, Nov. 6th was more of the same. I knew I needed to be well by Friday. We were heading to LaGrange for Hayden's 5th birthday. So I stayed down and only got up to do a few more things on the to do list. By Thursday afternoon I was much better. Claude went to Vernon's, a friend here in Sadieville, to borrow his trailer. Friday, Nov 6, was Hayden's 5th birthday. Claude attached the trailer to his Jeep and we headed into Georgetown. Papa had a very old iron bed frame. He has had it in his extra room. Papa tells me that this bed frame was given to him and Mimi by his parents when they got married. It belonged to his parents before that so we are not sure how old it is. Mimi's parents gave them a mattress and box spring. That started their furniture when they were first married. Papa had me ask Andie if she wanted it for her spare bedroom. Currently Andie and Michael have a futon they use for a spare bed. Claude has helped Andie and Michael get the concrete in their basement etched, then cleaned, then painted. Andie is setting up a big playroom down there for the kids and having the futon in the basement makes a nice place for an adult to sit when in the basement with the kids. So we were going to put Papa's bed up in Andie and Michael's spare room and move the futon to the basement. In addition Papa decided to give away his chest of drawers from this spare room. So we needed Vernon's trailer to get all this stuff to LaGrange. Papa helped us load it to the trailer and we were off to LaGrange. Claude pulled the Jeep and trailer across Andie and Michael's lawn and into the back yard. Andie had taken the kids to a playdate that morning and was not home when we arrived. We were comfy in their living room when we heard the garage door open. I went into the garage and the mimi-Marx's were about ready to burst. They knew we were coming over on Saturday but they didn't know we were going to actually get there on Friday and spend the night. Spending the night is a very big deal to Hayden. I helped unbuckle the kids from the car seats. Hayden was a flurry of words. So many things to catch up on since we last saw each other. One of the cutest things he said was, "Ma, today is my birthday! I'm 5 years old!!!" Then he took his pointer finger and thumb and made a tiny little measurement gesture and concluded his thought with, "And my brain grew THIS much!!!" He was so excited to be 5 years old. We got the kids in the house. Andie was watching Preston, a little friend of Hayden and Bailey. Pretty soon Preston's mom came to get him to go home for his nap. Claude and showed Hayden and Bailey the Jeep was in their back yard with a trailer attached to it. The kids helped unload the trailer by carrying some of the wood slats to go in the bed frame to hold up the box springs. Then they set to playing in that trailer. Claude eventually showed them how the back went up and they were in a little box. Then I climbed into the back of the trailer and sat down and the kids sat down in my lap and beside me. Claude got behind the wheel and we did a couple of laps around the Marx back yard. I really thought Hayden was going to burst as we moved around in the back of the trailer. I know kids on the farm do this in the back of trucks all the time. But not so much for kids raised in the city. So it is a huge treat and lots of fun.

We played until time for quiet time. I was reading Hayden a couple of books before I left him alone for quiet time. We were sitting on the floor with our legs out in front of us. Suddenly the little guy stretches out his leg and says, "Ma, do you know what that it?" There was only the briefest of pauses and then he said, "It is the leg of a 5 year old!!" While Bailey finished her nap and after Hayden had enough time for quiet time, Andie took Hayden out and Claude and I watched the cake to take it out of the oven when it was done. Then we had playtime with Bailey while Andie and Hayden were gone. Andie took Hayden to get his own library card for his 5th birthday. He and Bailey love books and the library so this was a real treat. They also stopped at a toy store in LaGrange and got an orange school bus for Hayden and a wooden garbage truck kit.

When Michael came home he went right to work helping Hayden put together his wooden garbage truck. Hayden sat quietly beside him and played with the pieces as they were finished and occasionally helped with the working of the screwdriver.

It was a fun evening with the Marx family.

Saturday, Nov 7th, was the day to have Hayden's birthday lunch and open presents. Papa was invited out for lunch and opening of presents. Andie got up bright and early and started to frost the cake.

Recently Hayden and Bailey have grown to love the Magic School Bus shows. Hayden originally wanted a shark cake for his birthday. Then he changed his little mind and wanted a Magic School Bus cake. Thank heavens he has Andie for a mom. She loves making cakes like this and she can create the detail that is so important to her little guy. Andie had a recipe of how to make a school bus cake. Hayden found a picture in on of his Magic School Bus books that was exactly how the cake detail should look. Andie set to work combining the two and created a most wonderful Magic School Bus caked for Hayden's 5th birthday. She iced that cake for 3 hours if she iced a minute. We were all very impressed with her accomplishment on this cake.

I told Andie when she was working on this cake that I had always felt good about our birthday tradition with Nissa, Andie and Jake. All of my cake baking was done from scratch (more an economic factor) except for their birthday cake. They were each taken to the store and allowed to pick out the cake mix of their choice and icing. After looking at Andie's masterpieces over the years, I'm still happy with my tradition for my kids but can see that a lot more can be done if one has that talent and patience.

Lunch was barbeque. Yum. We learned that Miss Bailey Marx loves ribs and you better keep your hands out of the way when she is eating them. She has quite an adorable barbeque face mess when she is done.

After lunch Hayden got his cake and tried to blow out those candles that keep relighting themselves.

Then we retired to the living room to open presents.

I'm just including 2 pictures of Papa with the kids. He enjoys these times with great grandbabies so much. Bailey was trying to check our heart beats. Amazingly this was done around one's stomach and Bailey never put the monitor thing in her ears. In the picture of Papa and Hayden, I'm not sure what just happened. But I loved their expressions. Yes, Hayden is in his pajamas. He wanted a pajama day on his birthday celebration day. Now, really, is that too much for any of us to ask?

Saturday afternoon Claude and Michael took the trailer to get a few sheets of sheetrock to put on the walls over the insulation in the basement. Then they spent their afternoon cutting and putting all that sheetrock in place. At one point Claude came upstairs to go out to the patio and trailer where they were cutting the sheetrock. You could hear Michael diligently hammering away in the basement. As Claude walked past Andie and I he said, "We have another Jewish carpenter!" Such fun.

I forgot my camera so I have to thank Andie for sharing all her pictures with me. What kind of Gramma is it that forgets a camera when going for a visit on a 5th birthday???

Sunday, Nov 8th I visited the Winchester Ward (congregation) with Lisa Adams, my counselor. We had a perfectly wonderful Sunday morning in Winchester. The lessons taught and the talks given were all very well done and so uplifting.

I dropped Lisa at her home and then hurried back to Georgetown to see if I could catch a bit of choir practice. Our choir is singing at stake conference in a couple of weeks and I need all the practice I can get. I made it for the last song and that was a good one to be there for.

Then I visited my mom at the nursing home, straightened out her clothes, and made sure she was tucked in for a nap before dinner.

Sunday evening I spent working on Seminary stuff. It was a good day.