Keepin' Up With the Mini's...

Andie was a huge help to me in checking on Papa so Claude and I could go to Michigan. I was with him Thursday morning. He was set to go through the weekend. However, Andie came over Sunday afternoon so they could be with him in the afternoon. That only meant two days without someone close by. It gave me huge relief and, with my calls to check on him, he did fine. 

The Mini's are on Fall Break from school. This means a visit to Ma and Pa's home for a few days. 

Sunday, the Mini's entertained Papa with things that bring them joy and he shared some of his photo albums with them. They are the happy owners of a hermit crab each. Their neighbors are on vacation and the Marx family is also watching the neighbor's hermit crabs. They carried in their hermit crabs for Papa's amazement and enjoyment. One escaped and Hayden found him quickly. They also tried to give Papa some lessons in the use of a tablet. Every Sunday I give Papa a chocolate shake. He is diabetic and we have cut out his sugar so this treat is especially fun for him. The Mini's took him a chocolate shake. 

Claude and I got home from Michigan while the Mini's were with Papa. We unpacked and I took a quick rest since I was coming down with a cold. The Mini's were happy to find us at home when they arrived. We had a brief visit before Claude and I went to the Lexington Opera House to see Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell.

This was a really, really good concert for me. I had to keep a cough drop in the roof of my mouth the entire concert to keep from coughing. But I came to understand why I love listening to Emmylou Harris sing. She started out by telling us she and Rodney were going to sing lots of very sad, slow songs. Then it dawned on me, I love that mellow music. I remembered a snow storm one Christmas in Maryland where Andie and I stayed up all night working on a puzzle and listening to all her James Taylor cassette tapes. She was making a list of the songs I wanted a copy of.  After a bit she looked up at me and said, "I notice a trend here." Then we both realized I loved the slow songs, the ones with lots of good harmony to sing along. That is what Emmylou was going to do. They did fast stuff as well and it was all good. It was their last performance of their tour and they came back for a long encore. She said it was hard to quit playing. Great concert.

Monday we found a movie the kids wanted to see at the theater, Transylvania Hotel 2.  It wouldn't start until 5pm. Claude had a couple of things to do in town in the morning. So we snuggled up and enjoyed some family time. I sent Junie a picture of Hayden cuddled up in the beautiful afghan she made for me while I was in Japan. The kids loved curling up in this new bundle of family warmth. Just wanted her to know the joy this gift was bringing to multiple generations.

When Claude got home the kids gave him his birthday gift. His birthday was October 4th but they had not seen him until this last week. It was a bottle of some special cooking sauce and two basting brushes which they kids had painted on the handles. Then they had time to play while he tried to rest on the floor. Hayden was the photographer and Bailey provided his cover. We had a nice snack of apples and peanut butter and some peach slices. 

The plan was to go to Culver's for dinner and then to the theater to see the movie. We got to and inside Culver's. Then we realized the Mini's weren't really ready for dinner. So, we decided to have dessert first and then the movie and dinner after the movie. We are nothing if not flexible. Everyone ordered an ice cream treat and we found a corner table to spend a little time in.

The kids enjoyed popcorn and their movie. Love sitting by Hayden. He just belly laughs at the parts he finds funny. Such fun to enjoy a movie with a 10 year old boy. 

When we got home, Claude popped some pizzas in the oven and the girls opened Bailey's kitten puzzle (550 pieces) and set to work putting the puzzle together. We didn't get it finished that night but got a lot done on it.

Tuesday Evan's Orchard was open. We decided to go around 2pm so that any school field trips would be over and it would not be so crowded. This was a very good decision and the kids had great fun playing. 

The Mini's were there at the beginning of the summer.  Bailey missed the petting zoo portion and that was where she headed first. She went back again before the end of our visit to Evan's Orchard. The girl should be a veterinarian or something. She just loves animals. She carefully gathered the grain that had fallen to the ground outside the goats pens and fed it to them. 

The corn bin was a huge hit as it was earlier in the summer. Hayden loves being covered in the corn. Andie obliged and he laid that way for the longest time. This is good for adults because there is a place to sit along the sides and a cover overhead to protect you from the sun. It is truly a win-win situation. 

After a while Claude and Bailey joined us and Bailey also wanted to be covered. The kids eventually uncovered themselves and then went into imagination mode with the toys in the corn bin. Fun to watch their little minds work. Wrestling was done. Grampa tossed corn on them while they played. Great fun.

Before we left we found the place set up for a photo-op and took advantage of the moment. 

We got home and the Mini's got their showers. Then the girls finished the puzzle. I am so very happy this child loves to make puzzles. It is something I really enjoy and I love having that time with her and Andie. 

Wednesday morning was the time the Mini's would pack up and head back to LaGrange. This was when Bailey decided she should practice 'cranking' Gramma. A 'crank' is a practical joke. I found this on the breakfast table and was so happy. We purchased Kid's Meals for the kids at Burger King. It came in a bucket and the lid to the bucket had instructions for drawing a zombie (Whatever this interest is in zombies can go away any time!!) and a dog. The note had a picture of the dog with the words "Hayden did this" underneath. Call me gullible. Write it across my forehead. I called Andie to come see what Hayden did. Writing is not something he enjoys. He will do lots of things by typing but using a pencil or pen he just does not do. So, I was extremely impressed with this artwork. Hayden heard his name and looked and it and said, "I didn't do that!"  Then Bailey started to snicker. She did it and signed that Hayden did it to 'crank' Gramma. She got me. She was very happy with her efforts. 

It was a great visit, even with me having a cold. Love these Mini's and that they want to take their time off to visit us. Love my family.

A Wreath...

Our Countryside Homemaker's Club made wreaths for a craft project October 7th. Bridgette Whitaker taught us how to make wreaths with the new wide material that seems to be so popular. I made one and brought it home, happy with my effort but it needed some tweaking. I purchased some embellishments to add to it. But the real problem for me was the loops were big and when I held the wreath up it looked hollow. 

The last day the Marx's were here, Hayden and I were awake before Andie and Bailey. I went to my dining room table where the wreath has lain and set to work re-making it. I found pipe cleaners that were gold in color in my craft supplies. The former ties were brown pipe cleaners and showed through the loose big loops of fabric. Then I carefully undid each loop and re-tied them to the metal wreath frame with the gold pipe cleaners. I made the loops smaller so there would be more of them and they would be closer together and fill in more. I also took the three extra ribbons I had previously placed around the wreath and put them all at the bottom of the wreath. Then I added the berry embellishments to those three ribbon centers. 

I showed Andie when she woke up and she said, "That is much better. It looks more like you."  I said to her, "Tight and compact?"  She chuckled and assured me it was just more like what I would like. 

I do like it better and it now hangs on the front door. Now...if the birds will just not make a next in this one, I will be ever so happy!!

The Next Step in Being a Great Gramma...

Well, we hit the road again. Thursday, October 15th, we pointed that red Buick north and headed to Michigan. As the movie says, "If you build it, they will come." Katelyn is growing our first great grandmonster and we are going to be a part of this experience as much as we can. She invited us to the baby shower and...well, we went!

After fighting and clawing our way through Ohio (this state will be the end of us), we enjoyed a wonderful evening with Jake. We met him at his office and went back to Ann Arbor for dinner at Joe's Crab Shack. Yummy! Then back to Chelsea to see Jake's new apartment. After stopping by CVS to get some more ice packs for Claude's feet, we checked into the Baymont Inn (formerly the Holiday Inn Express) and sat up and visited into the evening. We love visiting with Jake. 

Friday we meant to wake up earlier but we didn't. And that's okay. We checked out of our hotel and Claude drove toward Muskegon while I diligently crocheted the edges of burp pads. Then...this happened:

My text message to my children was something like:  "The car just kept turning and turning and we ended up here. Now we are trapped inside. Please DON"T help! Please DON'T help!!" We purchased two dozen donuts. Claude figured we needed one for Friday and another for the boys to enjoy during the big game on Saturday. You see, Michigan State and University of Michigan were playing Saturday. It is like the 'game of the year' and a very big deal in Michigan. Katelyn explains it as University of Kentucky versus University of Louisville. That kind of rivalry. Claude made sure the box of donuts for Saturday had football shaped and decorated donuts in it.

Claude and I made our way to Muskegon with some text messages from Katelyn. She was up and wanted to meet up with us. We told her we planned on lunch at The Pita Place when we got there and we would pick her up at the Tyler home. 

We went to Port City Automotive first to say hi to Todd and Nissa. We gave them their treats from Japan and got our hugs. 

After picking up Katelyn we enjoyed a great lunch at The Pita Place.  Now we just have to wait till January to eat there again. Katelyn looked great and ate well. Much better than our last trip to Michigan. We met Drew at the house and set out to get a few last minute tasks accomplished for the baby shower on Saturday. Water purchased, cups purchased, balloons ordered. Then back to the house to wait for Aubrey to get home from school.

After a brief visit with Aubrey we took her to work with the understanding that we would come and have dinner while she was working at her new job at Arby's. 

After Nissa and Todd got home, Drew and Katelyn left to visit his mom and then head home to Grand Haven. Nissa, Todd, Claude and I then stormed the Arby's to harass and tease Aubrey a bit...and enjoy a nice dinner. 

This is Claude placing his order and Aubrey Anne taking his order.  The next picture is the receipt she entered. The name she put on the receipt was 'Brilliant Pa'. During one Camp Christensen, Claude taught Aubrey and Paul that he was 'brilliant and gorgeous'. I believe it is a line from some movie. They took the bait and have called him that ever since. The man has super powers I tell you! So Aubrey typed in 'Brilliant Pa' and then added 'and gorgeous' in ink on the receipt. How cute is that. She loves her Grampa and he loves her.

We checked into the Comfort Inn for the evening with the agreement to be at Nissa's at 8:30 the next morning to complete the preparation for the baby shower. 

Saturday we were at Nissa's at 8:30am. We scooped up Aubrey for a quick run to Apple Bagels so we could have a bit more time with her. She got a text from a girl she works with asking her to cover her shift as she had an ear infection. I told Aubrey to call her mom. Nissa said fine. Aubrey called the manager and we were now in mode to get her home so she could get ready and we would take her back to work. Whew!

Nissa made some treats for the baby shower and I tried to help by not getting too much in the way. I did stir while she did other things. 

The quandary was the best way to get us back to Chelsea after the shower. Grand Haven is half an hour south of Muskegon. I checked a map and there was a straight road from Grand Haven almost to Grand Rapids which is also a half hour east of Muskegon. It just made better since for us to go to Grand Haven together and then leave from there to make the 3 hour drive to Chelsea right after the shower.  The boys wanted to watch their game which started at 3:30pm. The baby shower started at 2pm. Claude wanted to see a movie rather than watch the game. So, he drove me to the shower and Katelyn found a theater close by showing the movie he wanted to see. Nissa led the way and we followed her stopping to get the balloons along the way.  These events must be carefully orchestrated I tell you.

The shower was delightful. It was held in the club house of the apartment complex where Katelyn and Drew live. The theme was 'Dr. Seuss'. Katelyn was dressed in a t-shirt Nissa had made for her. She is sporting a nice baby bump.

It was well attended, even though several people she invited were called in to mandatory overtime at work. 

I purchased a gift for the baby from Papa when I bought his groceries. I also purchased a blank card and had Papa write her a note. He was so happy to do this and that he was giving a gift. When Katelyn looked in the bag and found the card, she opened it and, as soon as she saw it was from Papa, the tears started to flow. She could not read the card at all and handed it to Nissa to read for her. Nissa choked up a few times but made it through like a trooper. Papa and I had been talking about this little bundle coming to our family. He will be a great great grampa for the first time. We talked about how I was his first daughter and I was a girl (of course). Then I had his first grandchild and Nissa was a girl. Then Nissa had his first great grandchild, Katelyn, and she was a girl.  Now Katelyn will give him his first great great grandchild and she will be Raelyn Jay Roper, a little girl. Papa wrote in his card about this and how he knew how to take care of little girls but not so much little boys and how happy he was with this new baby. Happy tears all around. 

I wrapped up and gave this gorilla to Katelyn. Nissa divorced and moved home when Katelyn was 1 1/2 years old. Jacob loved this little niece and was often her baby sitter. He would load Katelyn and her diaper bag in our Dodge van and head to Gettysburg for the day. That always amazed and delighted me. When she was living with us, Jacob gave her this gorilla. It just seemed that Raelyn should now get the gorilla that gave her mother so much joy as a baby. I must find that picture of her wrestling with this gorilla. 

I have been crocheting since May to get this afghan complete for the baby shower. Katelyn picked the colors and I think she chose well. She was delighted it was ready for her baby. 

We also gave her a pink kimono from Japan for the baby. I got that on video and have not figured out how to extract a picture from the video yet. 

It was a great shower. We finished, cleaned up, got things to Katelyn and Drew's apartment. Claude still had about 45 minutes on his movie so I had Nissa and Katelyn drop me at the theater where I could sit in my car and read my novel until Claude was finished. This was a very hard thing for them to do but I kept assuring them I had my book, my crocheting and games on my Kindle. I would have no problem relaxing and filling the time. They needed to head back to Muskegon to enjoy the rest of the big game with their boys. It was a win, win for everyone.

Claude was pleasantly surprised to find me sitting in the car waiting for him when he finished. We tried this new road across part of Michigan to Grand Rapids and then on to Chelsea. It was beautiful. Jake met us at our hotel for another nice chat. 

Sunday morning Jake treated us to breakfast at McDonald's before hitting the road. My favorite breakfast when we travel is a plain biscuit and a soda at McDonald's.  I enjoyed this 'Bacon Makes Everything Better' sign. It is a true statement, you know.

We made it home is good time. Ohio roads were a little better on us this time. However, we were about 100 miles from the border between Ohio and Kentucky when we started hearing a funny noise. Claude and I thought it was the truck next to us. Not so. It was us. We had determined we would stop at a Chipotle's for lunch after crossing into Kentucky.  The noise was getting worse so Claude took the next exit at about 90 miles from Kentucky. Amazingly, there was a Chipotle's there. We parked and went in for lunch. Then came out as we knew exactly what the problem would be. The flaw with my car is the under covering behind the front bumper. The front of the car is low and scrapes on every curb. Eventually it wears thin where it is attached and comes loose, then it drags the ground and you have to re-attach it. Claude does this with these plastic tie things. After our lunch, Claude laid down on the ground and I kept watch so no one parked on him. I watched as he took his belt off and used it for the tie part to get us home. We didn't have any of the tie things in the car and no place close to purchase any. Necessity is the mother of invention! 

We made it home and, after a bit, Andie and the Mini's joined us for a Fall Break visit. That on the next post.

Fall is Time for Chili...

It is getting colder. The leaves are changing color. Can't wear my sandals all the time anymore. Capri's are hanging in the closet and jeans are the order of the day. That means we are at the time of year to cook up pots of chili and see who makes the best. It's an American tradition all over the country.

The first of these was last Saturday in Sadieville. The Friends of Sadieville sponsored a Chili Cook-off and MusicFest.  

Merle Tussey brought his Karaoke equipment and set up in Warring Pavilion and played music and people brought lawn chairs, set them up and sang along and listened as others sang well into the evening.

In City Hall, tables were set up and chili received. Our judges were the Pastors of the two local church and their wives. From Eagle Creek Baptist were Greg and Kathy Mullins and from Sadieville Christian Church were Scott and Lisa Meadows. We had three winners in four catagories. Mike Mizelle won for 'Meatiest Chili', Sandy Whelan won for 'Hottest Chili' and Mayor Claude Christensen won two catagories: 'Most Original' and 'Best Overall'. The judges all agreed on each catagory.

The chili was donated and sold with beverage and cookie or brownie donated by the Friends of Sadieville. All the money received will be used for the restoration of the Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church.

A few pictures from the evening.  First, a couple of Sadieville. The City Hall and the old Mill.

Our judges: Kathy and Greg Mullins, Lisa and Scott Meadows hard at work. 

The winners: Mike Mizelle, Sandy Whelan and Claude Christensen all with Sandi Christensen, Chair for the Friends of Sadieville.

Enjoying chili and music. The last picture is Merle Tussey our Karaoke guy. 

I'm going to include a few pictures of the Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church. In the last month the lean-to portion on the back has been removed and the foundation has been shored up. The goal is to get it restored and use it as a community center for Sadieville.

And finally, the Georgetown News-Graphic published this nice story about our event.

The Friends of Sadieville pronounced this event a success. We'll try this one again next October.

Lost Children...

This week has brought tender feelings to the fore is a big way.

When Primary President, my secretary was Jamie Lott. She has a daughter named Madasyn Bonk who was very happy to give and help anyone. She cared for children and mowed lawns for others. Always willing to help. She was home schooled. There was an older sister who loves her dearly and younger siblings as well. In fact, Jamie had a baby a year ago today that was the joy of the entire family. All seemed fine.

Then, Sunday evening, I checked Facebook and found where her sister posted that Madasyn was missing and had not been heard from for hours. By this time it was about 18 hours. I was stunned. At first I just thought it was a mistake or one of those Facebook joke things going around. Although I didn't see anything funny about it in the least. 

I scrolled on through and, sure enough, Jamie also posted that Madasyn was missing and requested prayers and people to look out for her.

Later it was posted that they were able to get information that Maddy may have cut her hair and might be trying to use another name. They thought she was on foot and headed to Ohio. She has family in Michigan so that might be her destination.

I created a Facebook post to alert any I knew to look for Maddy and posted her picture.

Monday evening, Jamie posted on Facebook that they had a call from Maddy and were on their way to pick her up. Jamie later posted a Thank You to everyone for their faith and prayers and all the other help they had been given. She then stated that the Lord's hand was in her safe return. A woman saw Maddy and sat beside her. She could tell things were not right and simply asked Maddy if she would like to use her cell phone to call someone. Maddy then used this kind lady's cell phone to call her mother. Answer to prayers and faith...I am sure of it too.

This was very poignant to me. My grandson decided to leave home. He is such a good young man. His heart is good and he is very loving. But he has issues that need to be addressed and needs to accept that and work with those who can and would help him. 

He left behind his Mom, our daughter, with a broken heart and an ache that is very hard to mend. She loves him and is so very concerned for him. I know how I feel as his Grandmother and know that feeling would have to be magnified a hundred-fold for the mother that carried him and loved him for all those 18 years and tried everything she could to help him find his footing in life. 

I know where Paul is. I can communicate with him still through Facebook. But the ache is real. The concern is very real. The love doesn't stop no matter what happens. 

So the experience with Maddy was bitter in bringing reality to our situation. But it was sweet in reminding me that faith, prayers, love and a caring Savior and Heavenly Father watches over each of us individually. Knows our needs and cares for us. My prayers for Paul will continue daily. In time, this will be right. Faith moves forward.