Here Comes the Bride...and Groom...

Today, Saturday the 13th of February, is our 40th Wedding Anniversary. Wow!!! We had a quiet day at home. The Michigan grandmonsters called in the morning and sang "Happy Anniversary To You". What a trip. I spent most of my time trying to clean out one of my file drawers. I have this urge to clean and throw away. I find that when that urge strikes I should take advantage of it. We have only lived in our home 5 years and a bit. I can't believe I have accumulated this much stuff again. So it felt good to try and get rid of all the extra stuff that is really not necessary for life. This afternoon we scrubbed up and headed into Lexington for an anniversary dinner. We chose to eat at Joe Carino's. We have never eaten there before and heard it was a good place. It truly is a wonderful place to eat. We had great meals and the bread is to die for. I really could be happy with breads and salads and sugars. There, I was honest!! After dinner we headed back to Georgetown. Claude had a BOGO coupon for Dairy Queen. We ate our Blizzards and visited. I pulled out my Palm Pilot. Several years ago I made Excel spreadsheets. One is the DVD's we own and the other is the VHS tapes we own. The purpose was to keep us from purchasing duplicates when we find sales and to keep a list in the piano bench so it is easy to pick what you want to watch. I scrolled down through them telling Claude the ones that piqued my interest. Then we headed back to Sadieville. When we got home Claude and I agreed we would check the eMails one more time for the evening. Then we would rendezous in the basement for a movie in front of that big TV. Claude asked me to wait before I headed down to my computer. He went to his office and came back with a card and a bag. We had agreed no gifts since we went to Hawaii and are headed to Tybee Island in a few weeks. But, nonetheless, my honey came out with a card and a gift. I opened the most beautiful card. It is pink with a ribbon and cloth with a rose imprinted on it stitched to the front. The front says, "For My Wife, My Best Friend, On our Anniversary and Always". Inside the poem says, "Loving you is the most natural thing in the world for me, and all the little things we share--the daily talks, the understood silences, and the trust and comfort of knowing we have each other to come home to--keep our love changing and growing and alive with all the promise and wonder of sharing our days and nights together. On our anniversary and always, I love you and the special life we share." (Not that you needed to read the poem but I want it in my journal.) Then Claude signed it, "If I had a nickel for every wonderful year you've given me..." C I'd have... Then I opened the gift. It was a little glass dish with a glass lid. Inside was a note that said, "40 nickels...I Love You." And under the note, inside the glass dish, were 40 nickels. Now isn't that just the cutest. My guy is a cowboy at heart. The first Valentine's Day we shared he gave me a heart box of candy with a cowboy on the front that said, "Please don't stomp on my heart little darlin'." I just loved that box of candy and still have the box filled with other stuff. Cowboy's have an interesting way of surprising a girl with just the right sentiment at just the right time. Way to go Claude...you scored many points today!! Now I'm off to listen to an Eagle's Concert a full volume in our basement on the big TV with my cowboy. I'm even going to do a little needlework while we enjoy the Eagles. What a good day!!!

Gymnastics...

Last night, Wednesday, February 10, 2010, Claude and I scooped Papa up at his apartment and headed to LaGrange. The mini-Marx's are taking gymnastics again and wanted a full audience to view their amazing skills. All our kids took gymnastics when we lived in Denver. It is just a great sport to get your kids involved in. It uses lots of coordination and strength. Hayden and Bailey love gymnastics. This is their 2nd round of lessons. We made it to LaGrange in good time and stopped at Kentucky Fried Chicken to pick up dinner for all of us. We arrived at the Marx home just as Miss Bailey was waking from her nap. She and Hayden were so happy and surprised to see all this family coming for a visit. With the snow and ice on the roads, we were not sure if our plan to visit would happen. But we determined it was a go in the late morning. After a good dinner where we learned the Mini's will eat cole slaw, we dressed in our warm coats and headed to the cars. The drive to Louisville Gymnastics was slowed down a bit by a train. There is a plant that makes salsa and, I think, jelly down the road from the Marx home just before you get to the on-ramp for I-71. There are two buildings there and a train track from them to the main train track across our highway. The bar came down across the road, the lights were flashing to warn us to stop, and traffic all slowed to a stop on the snowy road. The engines of the train pulled across the road and then stopped on the road. A man got off the train and flipped the switch to change the direction of the train. Then the train backed up to 2 more tanker cars (it already had 2 coupled to the engines). It coupled these two cars to the two tanker cars already on the train. Then the entire train and cars pulled forward. Now Hayden and Bailey were enjoying this movement of trains. Bailey was sure it was Thomas and Hayden was telling her he wasn't believing that but she could if she wanted to. The engines got the cars on the road and stopped again. We could see the writing on the wall, we might be late for gymnastics. Then the engine started to reverse again and backed all it's cars down the track to the 2nd building. Finally the gate was lifted and we could proceed to gymnastics. When we were taking the kids into gymnastics Bailey said, "That's daddy's car!!" Sure enough, there was Michael. Good eyes on that child. I walked right past and didn't notice. Granted, it was cold and I wanted to be inside where it was warm. There are many classes going on at one time. Hayden's class starts at 6pm and Bailey's starts at 6:15pm. Hayden's class goes first to get a little padded plastic square. This is strictly for the kids to sit on when they are waiting for their turn to participate. There were only two other little boys in Hayden's class. They first went to the bars. They practiced doing flips on one bar. Then they walked on the parallel bars first with their backs facing the ground and second with their tummy facing the ground. When they got to the opposite end of the parallel bars they were to swing 3 times and then dismount. While Hayden's class was doing this, Bailey's class proceeded to the back of the gym. There was a great obstacle course made out of all kinds of shapes and sizes of mats. They even had tunnels rigged up for the kids to go through. Bailey and Coach Jennifer proceeded to the top of a huge incline shaped mat and Bailey was taught to put her hands in the air and slide down the mat. At the bottom she went through a tunnel, up some steps down a slide, through a tunnel, over a raised path and then did a foreward roll down a small incline mat. Well, it was something like that. There was only one other little girl in Bailey's class last night so they had lots of fun navigating this path and doing these skills over and over again. Hayden's class moved to the water fountain for a drink and then to the trampolines. They were to learn half-twists and full-twists on the trampolines. After their turn jumping and doing the twists, they were to go to an incline mat and do a forward roll into a pit of foam cubes. Great fun. Bailey's class moved to learning cartwheels over arch-shaped mats. Then they were off to their trampolines. Coach Jennifer drew a heart with chalk on each trampoline and the little girls tried to jump inside the heart and then stop when their coach said 'freeze'. Hayden's class moved from the trampoline to the mats on the ground to learn to do cartwheels on them. They had a succession of two mats so the boys could do a cartwheel and then walk a few steps and do a 2nd cartwheel. Bailey's class moved to another obstacle course. This course had a path to walk. At one point there were some steps and at the top you jumped onto the mats. At another point there was a spring board and the little girls jumped on it and, with a little help, bounced to the top of a high mat, then they walked across this mat to a little slide and back to their path. At the end of Bailey's class she gets stamps on her hands and feet and belly. It was great fun to watch Hayden and Bailey. Then we headed ourselves back to Georgetown and Sadieville with a quick stop at the Dairy Queen for ice cream to eat in our warm car as we drove. I'm posting a link below that should, if we are very, very fortunate, lead you to a slide show of Hayden and Bailey at gymnastics. http://s742.photobucket.com/albums/xx70/SandiPhotos_13/Gymnastics%2002-10-2010/

Wow, What a Day!!!

Thursday, February 9, 2010...what a morning this day brought. We headed to City Hall in Sadieville this morning. We left early enough to do our banking and post office chores in Sadieville. Then we walked down to City Hall. Brian Reese was out sweeping the snow off the sidewalk. Claude brought our snow shovel which made clearing the sidewalks in front of City Hall a bit easier. We got about 3 inches of snow overnight. This sounds pathetic compared to our friends in the Washington, DC area and their 28 inches with forecasts of 10 - 20 more inches tomorrow. The City Commission had their meeting from 9:30am to 10:30am. Claude conducted it. On the agenda was the resignation of Mayor Rob Wagoner. He had given Rand Marshall, the City Attorney, is letter of resignation. The City Commission accepted that letter and Rob's resignation. Then they nominated Claude as the next Mayor of Sadieville to fill out the remainder of this year's term. This office is up for election this fall. Claude was going to run on the November ballot. This just makes it happen a lot sooner. Claude accepted their request that he fill the Mayor position. Before the meeting was over, Rand Marshall executed the Oath of Office and when the meeting was done Claude was the new Mayor of Sadieville. Amazing. Now, I had my camera in my crochet bag. I had taken pictures of the Main Street portion of Sadieville in the snow. When all this transpired and I realized they were going to swear Claude in, I quickly reached into my bag to get the camera to take a picture. I couldn't find the silly camera. It had nestled itself in between several balls of crochet thread and I just couldn't see it. I finally found it and turned it on while they administering the oath but the camera was too cold to warm up quickly. It was ready to take the picture just as Claude put down his right arm. Hopefully there will be a picture in tomorrow's Georgetown newspaper. The reporter was there for what was to transpire after the City Commission monthly meeting. Toyota was making a most generous grant to the City of Sadieville to help with the restoration of the Rosenwald School. The president of Toyota in Georgetown was there with a big photo session check replica. In the picture below Steve Angelo, President of Toyota is on the left and Claude Christensen, Mayor of Sadieville is on the right. Claude gave a quick talk thanking Toyota for supporting our community in this wonderful way. Steve gave a quick talk explaining that in these economic times Toyota had looked at its charitable donations. They determined this one needed to be made because the Rosenwald School is a huge part of Scott County, Kentucky history but it is also a huge part of the history of the United States.

This is a picture of the Rosenwald School. These schools were built many years ago as a philanthropic effort providing schools for black children who had no school buildings. These schools were often built near the church. I've blogged about the Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church in Sadieville and this Rosenwald School. The City of Sadieville bought them and plans to refurbish them as close to their original state as possible. They have been listed on the State Register of Historic places. Our Friends of Sadieville Renaissance, Inc., of which I am Secretary/Treasurer this year, was organized to raise funds for these two buildings and to identify and refurbish other old structures of historic significance in our little community. The picture on the left is the Rosenwald School. The picture on the right is Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church.

Sadieville is inextricably connected to Nicodemus, Kansas. Many years ago there was land to be given to people who could get themselves to Kansas. The African-American people living in the Scott County and Lexington area were told that for $5 they could have passage on a train to Nicodemus, Kansas where an all black community was being established. They would be given land to homestead. Sadieville was a railroad stop of significance in those days and these people all met and left from Sadieville. This Rosenwald School and Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church were buildings for the African-American population living here during these years. They are treasures to us and a great part of American History. We are having a Railroad Festival this October and plans are being laid and grant money obtained to have people from Nicodemus, Kansas return for a re-enactment of this important moment in history.

The picture below is the interior of the Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church. The guests from Toyota drove in a Toyota caravan to see the Rosenwald School inside and out. Then we walked down the hill on the concrete steps between the two buildings and viewed the interior of the Mt. Pleasant Church. This church has a beautiful wooden podium in the front and gorgeous windows that are pointed at the top. Really would have been a lovely building.

The Toyota guests headed back to the Georgetown Toyota plant. Claude and I headed back to City Hall. The reporter interviewed Claude about the school and the church. Then we headed to Wendy's for a celebration lunch. When we got home the Jeep left ruts in the snow. I got a quick shot of the front of our home. Claude is headed to the mailbox.

So we had a very full morning. I'm happy for Claude and for Sadieville. Claude really wants to do his best with this responsibility. He'll be a great Mayor. I told him before this ever happened when we were discussing the possibility of him running for Mayor in November that I would need a new wardrobe if I was going to be the 1st Lady of Sadieville. Claude asked me what that meant (I think concerns for the pocket book were mounting). I assured him that in Sadieville that meant I get a new pair of jeans!!!

A Chuckle...

Sometimes silly things happen... Last Wednesday when I went to the nursing home I was going to play the piano for an hour in lieu of Papa singing. He had an awful cold and he basically just stayed in his apartment all week. I fed mom each day and played the piano on Wednesday afternoon instead of him coming and singing. I have a binder that I have copied, from the many books I own, lots of kinds of music. It has everything from bits of classical music to popular type songs from musicals and plays, etc. I made the notebook so I don't have to carry armloads of books of music when I need to do this. So I carried this notebook and then a big book of Church hymns to the nursing home. Papa usually plays and sings from 3:30pm to 4:30pm. By then they have the residents all gathered for dinner at 5pm. I got to the multi-purpose room and the residents were asking how Papa was. They really missed him being there and were truly concerned about his health. They are really like a family to him and he is really a part of their family. I announced that he was sick and had laryngitis and that I would play the piano for them today since he couldn't come and sing. They were okay with that change of plans. Just wanted some music 'Lawrence Music' on Wednesday afternoon. I sat down at the piano and opened my notebook and started to play. The little lady behind me kept saying really loud, "Play something we know!" However, the lady at the table to my left who is fairly new at the nursing home was singing every song I played that would have had words to it. It was amusing. Sometimes they would sing the melody notes and then ask me what the song was when I finished. It was familiar but they just could not remember what it was. The staff was enjoying walking through and listening to the music. One of the pieces was 'Moon River'. We got stuck on Katherine Hepburn as the star of 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' and couldn't come up with Audrey Hepburn who was the real star. The worker went on about her work and sent a runner back when she came up with the name Audrey Hepburn. This was just very relaxed and enjoyable. I kept on playing and watching the clock as it got closer to 4:30. But that minute hand just wasn't moving very fast. I began to think the clock was broken. I finished the notebook of music and picked up the hymnbook from Church. Hymns from the LDS Hymnbook are a little different from a Protestant hymnbook. We have a few of the same but most are entirely different. JoAnn gave me this beautiful hymnbook. It sits on my piano. It doesn't have all the hymns but the ones it has are beautifully illustrated with great works of art depicting the Savior's life and work. It is a truly beautiful book. I played in this lovely book for so long. I looked up and the clock still didn't have the long hand on the six for 4:30pm. But they were beginning to serve people their food. Hmmm...something was not right. Then I stopped playing and looked really closely at that clock on the wall. The hand was still not on the 6. But the long hand was just past the twelve. I had been watching the short hand (there was a plant under the clock kind of covering it a bit) and it was not going to be at the 6 for another hour. It was now 5pm and they were beginning to serve dinner. I had played for 1 1/2 hours. I just laughed at the silliness of it all. I closed up my books and went to Mimi's table to feed her dinner. She smiled at me when I came up to her. As she was eating her dinner she paused and looked right at me. She doesn't do that a lot anymore. But she stopped and looked right into my eyes. Then, surprise of surprises, she winked at me. I couldn't believe it. It was just really funny. I asked her if she could do that again. Of course that wasn't going to happen. But it was really a fun and very cute moment with my mom. So when you read my post that is two posts back about 'movin' bags', just know that in the middle of all that silliness was this really cute moment in time.

Wonderful Weekend...

Thursday morning we set our alarm to be up by 7am. Our plan was to go to the 10:15 session at the Louisville Temple, then have lunch, then head to the Marx home. That was the plan. At 7am I was still very sleepy, rough night in the sleeping department, so Claude changed the alarm to 8am and we slept for 1 more precious hour. When one heads to play with grandmonsters one should be a rested as possible.

We got ourselves ready, Claude packed the car for our overnight at the Marx home, and we were off to McDonald's for breakfast from the drive thru as we headed to Crestwood, Kentucky. It is called the Louisville Kentucky Temple because that is geographically the main city but the actual address is in Crestwood.

We arrived in good time for the 11:30am session. As we sat there waiting for the endowment session to begin, in walked Lisa Curran. The Currans were in our ward (congregation) in Maryland. Lisa and Pete are wonderful people and it was great to see Lisa enter the room.

After the session we made arrangements to meet at the local Dairy Queen for a quick lunch. Lisa teaches piano lessons and had to be home at a specific time to do that. What a wonderful visit we had. It is always just the best to run into former friends and feel like the friendship is just the same even with passing years and little contact.

Then we headed to LaGrange to visit the Marx Family. This coming Monday is actually Bailey's 3rd birthday but Andie and Michael decided to have her little family party on Saturday so it wouldn't be rushed.

The Mini-Marx's were down for quiet time when we arrived. We tried to quietly bring our suitcase and things in but Hayden has ears that would rival a dogs for hearing. We weren't inside but just long enough to put out suitcase in the extra room before the little guy appeared in the family room. He is always so much fun to greet. He is always a bundle of hugs. Honestly, grandparents can't get enough of these. Plus, you get the added blessing of Hayden needing and wanting to share lots of really fun information.

After a bit Miss Bailey woke up, she actually still sleeps during quiet time, not so much for Hayden anymore. Bailey reminds me of Katelyn when she wakes up. They both have long hair and it covers their entire head when they get up. You know there is a little girl under all those brown locks of hair somewhere but you have to wait until she is ready to reveal her little face. It didn't take her long to figure out that Claude was sitting on the sofa. She curled up in his arms. Melts Pa's heart. His is putty in her hands after that. She knows it, he knows it and we all recognize it each time it happens.

Andie was busy decorating Bailey's birthday cake. Bailey wanted a Bambi birthday. So Andie was in process of decorating that cake. This gave Ma & Pa lots of time to enjoy the Mini's. We read books, watched a video about numbers, and did some marching.

Andie and Michael were going to have an evening out. Andie left and we fed Hayden and Bailey their dinner and played some more games. We ended the evening with a video about letters and how they make words. Then it was upstairs for getting ready and heading to bed. Claude took Bailey to her room and read her stories and got her to sleep quite quickly. I read to Hayden and when I left I thought he was quiet. But when I turned on the monitor he was still singing. The video about words has a little song that goes something like, "First you take a 'c', then you take and 'at', put them all together and you have 'cat'." This song had progressed to a truly Hayden version that sounded something like, "First you take an 'aster' then you take a 'roid', put them all together and you have 'asteroid'". Eventually the music settled and they were both sleeping peacefully.

Andie and Michael returned from the outing and we had a little 'adult swim' time. Then we were all off to bed so we could get up rested and ready to have a Bambi Birthday Party Lunch.

Saturday morning Andie made chocolate chip pancakes. Bailey and Hayden took their places at the island on their respective footstools. The pictures below are of Bailey practicing holding up her 3 figures for being 3 years old. Hayden has learned to cut pancakes. Never fear, the knife is a kid's knife from Pampered Chef. He can't cut himself, but he can cut the pancakes. What a great thing to practice and learn holding and cutting with a knife and fork. As fast as Andie could make the little pancakes, Hayden was cutting them in half and giving us each two halves of pancake at a time.

Andie finished breakfast, then she finished the icing on this wonderful Bambi cake. She took a Bailey approved picture of Bambi. She put paper with the picture on it in a cookie sheet and taped it down. Then she decorated the picture with icing so she had a perfect topping for the cake of Bambi with a butterfly on his nose. Andie froze this Bambi. Then she turned the paper over onto the top of the iced cake and pulled the paper off. There was a perfect Bambi on top. Then she put 'Happy 3rd Birthday Bailey' on the top next to Bambi. It was a beautiful cake and Bailey was extremely happy.

Then the boys headed out for a morning of haircuts for Hayden and Michael, a stop at Kroger for some incidentals and the final stop at the barbeque place to pick up our lunch. Yum!! While the boys were gone, Bailey got a bath. Then we had beauty shop time and I cut Bailey's hair and then Andie's hair. Then the girls got all dressed for lunch and finished just as the guys were getting home.

As Andie and Michael put lunch on the table, Hayden headed upstairs to make a special Magic School Bus. Hayden has some blocks and they are constantly being rearranged to make different versions of the Magic School Bus. His project this time was a Magic School Bus Birthday Cake for Bailey's 3rd birthday. Here is his finished product. The 3 red towers are the candles for Bailey's 3rd year on planet Earth.

We had a great lunch and totally enjoyed watching our little Miss Bailey devour her ribs. This little lady really enjoys her ribs. Her macaroni and cheese were made extra special by dipping them in the barbeque sauce. Then the table was cleared and they kids played a bit while that was going on. Then it was time for Bailey to take her place of honor as the 'birthday girl'. This has got to be one of my favorite pictures of the weekend. Bailey has enormous brown eyes. Getting her bangs cut reveal them again. Now I tell you, how can you not look at this picture and know that we have many very fun years in the future with this little lady?!?!

Michael let Hayden pick out the appropriate candles for the Bambi cake when the boys were out doing their errands. So Andie had him come into the kitchen with her an get the candle on the cake and help carry it in to the waiting birthday girl. We sang 'Happy Birthday to Bailey' and she blew out her candle quickly. We did manage to get a quick Marx Family photo before we cut the gorgeous cake.

Bailey chose the first piece. She picked the butterfly with a bit of Bambi on it. That cake was really good folks. Hayden speared his piece completely through with his fork and ate it quite like a shishkabob. Then we cleared the table. Hayden and Michael got the gifts portion ready in the family room.

Bailey got some fun gifts. The big gift from Andie and Michael was a doll house and lots of furniture pieces to go in it. Hayden and Bailey had lots of fun arranging all that furniture.

After a bit of play, it was time for Hayden and Bailey to have quiet time. It was also time for Claude and I to head back to Sadieville. We had a bit of snow during the night and we wanted to drive during the light of day while the roads were clear and before they started to ice up. After lots of hugs and kisses, Claude and loaded the car and headed down the road.

We were just close to getting up on I-64 when Claude's cell phone rang. It was Katelyn. She was keeping the home front together while Nissa and Todd had an evening away. She just needed a little adult conversation and called Claude and I to chat. It was really good to talk with her again. It is wonderful that the kids know they can call whenever they need us a bit. It sure makes us feel needed and helpful and just a bit loved.

Today we had a really good day at Church, choir practice after, a nice lunch and then we both managed a nap. Hallelujah!!! Claude is much better at napping than I am. I tend to get comfortable and then have the proverbial 'hot flash' and that pretty much kills the napping. But today I actually napped for about a hour.

So today, life is really good. Papa is getting over his cold. Mimi is doing okay. I'm enjoying a quiet evening at home. What more could one ask before the business of the week begins tomorrow.