Crafting with a Purpose...

History first...

My mother made my father something called a bone neck pillow. She actually made many of them for him. When he went to the nursing home, I kept two for him to take. One of those went missing so I made him two more so he would have two he used and an extra if one came up missing. After making these, I thought, now that would be a nice piece of history to make for each member of our family. So, I set to work thinking they would make fun Christmas gifts. 

History second...

Some time back, Katelyn sent me an item she found on Pinterest and really wanted. It was a little pillow with a cross-stitch label that stated the shirt the pillow was made from was from a loved one who had passed away. But, when you hugged the pillow, you would feel them near. Again, I set to work to make as many of these pillows as I had shirts of Papa's that he had out grown or worn completely out. 

Picture next...

These are a few of the creations. As it turns out, we will see all of our family over this week. It dawned on me that we could give these for Mother's Day and Father's Day and fill our family with a little family history at the same time. We took the Marx family theirs on Monday and will take the others to Michigan this weekend. It feels good to have done this and to share these with our family.

Just a Few Things...

Our Andie teaches 1st grade. She is always happy to create a costume or whatever is needed to liven up the day for the kids and other teachers. This is her rendition of a Derby Day hat made of tissue paper for this year's observance of Oaks Day and Derby Day in Kentucky. I am sure her fellow teachers and students will love this creation. I was particularly fond of the glasses on the end of her nose with this hat. She is stylin'!!

Claude and I will make a trip to South Africa this year. We are watching this television series about all of Africa done by the BBC and some on other channels. One of these programs had Robert Redford as the narrator. He quoted an African Proverb as part of the documentary he narrated. I really liked it. It states, "If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." I just find that profound,

Tuesday, May 7th, I had my final Twinplex shot. This is a combination Hepatitis A&B shot. Claude has also finished his series of shots. We should be ready for Africa now.

Also on Tuesday, Claude found an ad for the next Harry Potter movie accompanied by the Louisville Orchestra. I snapped this picture of the ad and sent a text to Hayden, Bailey and Andie asking if there was interest. Lots of exclamations points and capital letters of enthusiasm from the Mini's. I assured them they needed to clear that the date was okay before I bought tickets. Andie said we could work with the Saturday date. Tickets were purchased that evening. I sent a confirming text back to our Mini's and Andie to mark their calendars as tickets were purchased. Bailey said, "You have made me so happy!" How nice is that? 

Wednesday I opened my new curling iron. The old one gave up the ghost this week. I don't know why products can't last longer than 14 years...bwah ha ha ha. As I was blow drying my hair and decided to read the little paper with the warnings and instructions for amusement. Number 7 under warnings made me laugh right out loud. It read, "Never use while sleeping." I mean really. Has someone done that and then sued because they burned their hair off? Goodness. I posted this on Facebook so others could have a chuckle. The cutest response was our son, Jake. He is the youngest with two older sisters. His comment, "I think that instruction is there for older sisters who are inclined to antagonize little brothers." I wonder if we scarred him in some manner. Again, I had a chuckle at that. Isn't it interesting that a new curling could give so much happiness.

We attended our Adult Religion class Wednesday morning. Then we went on our mission to find a blessing outfit for Miss Emelia. Katelyn was going to use the one I made for Raelyn, however, Raelyn was about 3 months old when she was blessed so that dress is way too big. You know what, they don't keep a section in stores of blessing gowns or little white dresses for those occasions anymore. To me, that speaks of the world's losing touch with religion and the things that were important to us at one time. Very sad. I remembered needing to buy a white shirt for someone, I think it was Paul, and I couldn't find a white dress shirt in any of the stores in Georgetown. Again, we are drifting away from those religious things we used to practice. Now you can wear just about anything to church. I'm still a big proponent and believer in being at my best when I go to worship Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Any way, at the fifth store that morning, we found this cute little outfit. There had been a few 3 month dresses but they would also have swallowed our not quite 8 pound bundle of joy. Sent this picture via text to Katelyn and Nissa and received resounding approval from each of them. So, this is what our nugget will be blessed in on Mother's Day.

Bailey is Beta...

Monday, May 6th, our Bailey was inducted into the Beta Club. The Beta Club requires the student have and maintain a 3.5 grade point average or better and complete at least 20 hours of service each year. So, basically study and serve. Both are very good things to learn in your growing up years. Learning them and making them a part of your life will serve you well as an adult. 

As Claude and I drove to attend this event, we found ourselves the only car behind this vehicle! I mean really. We were in the Jeep. Nothing 'oversized' about the Jeep. We both did have a chuckle about this. The real 'oversized' vehicle was way, way, way behind us somewhere. 

We stopped at Steve O's and picked up pizza, salad and rolls for dinner at the Marx home. There would be just a few minutes to get them together and Bailey to Oldham County Middle School early. The kids were very happy to have pizza come in the door.

When we got the OCMS gym, Michael was already there holding seats for us. Bailey was off to meet the rest of the inductees in the library. 

A bit after 6pm they walked all the kids in and sat them in rows. Doesn't our girl look so happy to be there? To be fair she was up early for a full day of school and then track practice after school before hurrying home to get ready for this program. Whew!!

One of the teachers introduced the program and explained what Beta Club was about. Then the kids walked to the front as their row was called and, when their name was called, they went to another teacher who presented them with a certificate and pin. The entire program lasted 30 minutes. 

We wanted to take some pictures so we went outside the school to the picnic tables under a tree. 

Bonnie, Claude's mother, has her 91st birthday in June. We wanted new pictures of our family to give to her. We took the Marx family picture under the tree. 

Before we took these pictures, I had the Mini's sit on the picnic table to be sure we could use that spot. I managed to get this picture of Hayden while practicing some shots. Boy is our young man growing up!!

It is always fun to support the family. We will make two more trips to LaGrange in May. This was a fun trip for sure. Proud of our Bailey for wanting to fill her life with good things.

A Post About Papa...

Wednesday, May 1st, I took Papa for a drive. On these drives I am often overwhelmed by scenes we see. Kentucky is an absolutely beautiful state. This is Moors Mill Road. Papa loves driving these back roads. This one you know you must be careful on. It had no lines. Easy roads to drive have a line down the middle. One knows there is plenty of room for two cars to pass each other. Sometimes the road only has white lines on either outside edge of the road. Those roads you might be able to pass but it is best if one of you pulls your car as far to the side of the road as you can and waits for the other car to pass. When driving these roads there is always a prayer in my heart for us to not see another car or to be at a driveway to a home or a field or a pull off where the mailbox is located. That gives a bit more room for two cars to pass each other. Then there are these roads. No lines. These you really, really, really want to drive slowly and just enjoy and not pass anyone at all. The drive this day was a good one.

Friday, May 3rd, was my father's birthday. He turned 91 years old. Bailey was supposed to have a track meet in Georgetown at Scott County High School Thursday evening. Andie was going to bring her. Hayden and Michael would not be able to attend. Claude and I planned to go in to watch Bailey compete. Andie asked if she and Bailey could spend the night after the meet and go home on Friday. Andie didn't have to teach that day. They let the schools out for Oaks day in the Louisville area. Well, it turned out to be a day with severe thunderstorms. They canceled the meet. I had told Andie about Friday being Papa's birthday and that I was planning to bring him out. I told her it would be great fun for him to have Bailey here on his birthday. After the meet was canceled, Andie determined she would bring Hayden and Bailey and spend Thursday night so they could be here for Papa's birthday on Friday. Yeah!!

I was at the nursing home at 10:30am to pick up Papa. They had him all cleaned up and ready to party hearty. This is Bailey listening, again, to one of Papa's stories. So grateful for this interaction.

Claude made a nice lunch of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, salad and rolls. We all enjoyed that very good meal. Bailey iced Papa's birthday cake. Claude helped her light the candles and then she nervously brought that well lit cake into the dining room to Papa. 

We all sang Happy Birthday to Papa. He loved the candles and the singing. Then I had Hayden slide the cake directly in front of Papa so he could try to blow out the candles. It took him two puffs but he blew them all out. Then he grinned from ear to ear and said, "I did it!" It was a truly fun moment.

I had a few presents for him to open. Then Hayden brought in a Bluetooth speaker and his cellphone. He brought up his school band playing the two songs they won excellent ratings at the Kentucky Music Educators Association competition. They were the only middle school group to receive this rating. Hayden was wise enough to crank up that sound and Papa totally enjoyed listening to these professional sounding bands play really good music. Love it when the grandmonsters think to do something to give him good moments in his life.  

At 4pm I loaded Papa into my car and returned him to the nursing home. He had a wonderful time for his 91st birthday. So grateful to Claude for doing the cooking and to Andie and the Mini's for coming all the way over just to be here for his birthday.

Today I took Papa for another car ride. Papa is always saying how he misses living real life. Today, when I got him in my car, I explained that he says that to me a lot. So I thought we would start our ride by doing one of my real life chores. We drove to the new car wash by Walmart. Papa asked if he needed to get out and run around. I assured him he just needed to sit there and enjoy the experience. As we were pulled into the car wash and the water started to pour over the car, Papa was amazed. He said, "This thing does it all! Look, it has soap going all over the car!" I explained that the things going over were actually washing off the car. Then the rinse water came and after that the dryer tried to get some of the water off. Papa was sure he had never done that before and he really thought it was amazing. It was sure a fun experience for me to watch and listen to my father. We drove out of the car wash and onto the highways for a nice drive through the countryside.

Time to Meet Emelia...

So, let's start with this picture. This was the day before. Raelyn and her Mom, Katelyn, playing by taking selfies. So much fun for Raelyn's final day as an only child. 

Katelyn went into the hospital Monday evening and Emelia Maebelle Roper was born Tuesday at 11:25am. She weighed in at 8 pounds 3 ounces and was 21 inches long. Katelyn tells us she cried until 3:00pm.

Emelia's named after two great great grandmothers, one great great great grandmother and one great great great great grandmother. How cool is that? These are all good, strong ladies. She has a lot of heritage in her name. 

After a few hours we received some more pictures. Nissa, Katelyn's mother and our oldest daughter, kept Raelyn. She brought her to the hospital to meet her new sister. This is Drew, Raelyn's dad, helping Raelyn hold her new sister for the first time. How precious is that?

I loved this one. These next two are Nissa with Raelyn who is holding Emelia.  

This is our happy family. Drew and Katelyn with Raelyn holding Emelia. Oh be still my heart! 

A day later we got this closeup of our little Lady's sweet face.  

After a couple of days, the Ropers made it home. There were a few concerns about Emelia so they kept Katelyn and Emelia in the hospital for a few days to watch her closely. To say that Raelyn is over-the-moon with Emelia is an understatement. I am so happy that Drew and Katelyn are making sure she has safe and happy time with her new baby sister. I am particularly amused with the feeding of Emelia in the last picture. 

We are very happy to welcome little Emelia to our family. Can't wait to hold this little bundle of love.