The Weekend of Family; by Sherry

We were lucky enough to have all four of our kids together over Memorial Day weekend this year.  Josh, Laura, Spencer and Caroline drove in Thursday evening, Jeremy arrived Friday noon and Justin made it Friday night.  The boys planned their turkey hunting strategy friday night and got up early Sat. to hunt a few turkeys.  Laura, Jessica, Caroline, Kendall and Gavin went to joplin for our own kind of hunting, shopping!  Jeremy and Josh got their turkeys , three of them on Sat. thanks goodness!  I don't have picture of that,  I was out shopping.  My mom and dad, Kay and Jeff and Jessica's family joined up at Triple S that night for supper.  

     Sunday morning was spent fishing with my boys.  I don't usually catch any fish when we go fishing.  I don't know why, I used to be able to catch fish.  I fished a lot as a child.  Anyway,  my second cast in the first pond, I caught a channel cat on a bass lure!  But no one was there to see it!  The boys hadn't gotten there yet and PHil was at the truck fixing his pole.  So i took my own picture to prove I had actually caught a fish.  No one else caught a thing at that pond so we went to another.  Justin caught a good size cat fish there and Josh caught some smaller ones.  

Justin's catch of the day

See I really did catch a fish!  

 That night we spent at Jessica's new house for a birthday party.  Sunday was Jeremy's birthday and the coming Wednesday was Jessica's.  The kids swam in the pool while the adults talked and laughed. Nathan cooked some great food and everyone had a great time.

Happy Birthday to Jeremy, Jessica and my BFF Debbie Potter, who shares a birthday with Jeremy!

 

Grandma with her fish

PHil had to help Jeremy land one of his.

Monday morning we went fishing again, this time with Grandpa and Grandma Von Soosten at their pond.  This time we were fishing for bass.  Grandma, Josh, Phil, and Jeremy caught some fish with Jeremy taking the prize for the most fish.  I tried taking pictures of all the fish we caught, but after a while I got tired of taking Jeremy's picture all the time. He caught 10 before we left that pond!  Next the boys went to the pond down in our pasture.  This time it was Spencer who caught 5 fish, with Justin and Josh catching fish too. 

Jeremy and Grandpa weighing one of his fish.

Josh caught a nice one too.

Phil had to be different, catching a small sunfish.

Grandpa and his boys!  

Spencer's fish.  Josh cleaned these to eat when they got home. 

It was so wonderful to have them all together, it doesn't happen often enough.  We had a great time!  And yes i made some of my famous homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast Monday morning.

By 1:30 p.m everyone was on the road again going home.  While the house was way too quiet, Phil and i had some great memories to keep up company until next time.  Love you all!  mom.

Grandma Nurse Health Tips

Since a number of my friends are entering the wonderful world of grandmahood, I thought I'd share some tips.  Health and illness tips.  As you may have guessed, things have changed since we were raising our own children.  My background includes working as an office nurse in a large pediatricians office, infection control nurse in a community hospital and school nurse.  So, pretty much children and germs.  And children with germs.  And children with bugs. For a number of years, I have referred to my three daughters as vectors.  By definition, a vector is a carrier, or more specifically an organism that shares germs.  
I now have five grand-vectors who are just the best thing ever.

Two of my grandvectors having a picnic - Vada on the left, Charlotte on the right.

All of my grandvectors have recently been ill with various childhood infectious diseases, so I suspect my daughters would agree with the vector title.   I think that it is all part of childhood.

Anyway, here are some things I've learned that I think might be helpful to share.

• Alternating acetaminophen (Tylenol) and ibuprofen (Advil) to treat a fever.  Urban legend folks.  Don't do this.  This got started somehow in the past ten years or so as far as I can determine.  There is no research to support this.   Acetaminophen is supposed to be given every four hours.  Ibuprofen is supposed to be given every six hours.  They both work.  Pick one and stick to it. 
• Hydrogen peroxide.  Years ago, we used hydrogen peroxide for all kinds of wound cleaning.  Now we know that hydrogen peroxide actually impedes healing.   Use soap and water to clean wounds, then cover with a bandaid.  I have a hard time convincing kids not to use hydrogen peroxide, especially on wounds that are several days old.  They think that the foaming is cleaning the wound, etc.  In reality, it actually delays healing.  The only reason we even keep peroxide in our nurse offices is to get blood out of clothing.  Works great for that.
• Healing wounds.  Cuts and scrapes (also known as lacerations and abrasions) are a normal part of childhood.  Wounds heal better and scar less if kept moist.  Antibiotic ointment can be used, but due to the number of student allergies, we use plain old petroleum jelly.  
• How to get after office hour health care without breaking the bank. Before you have a sick child, you need to know a couple of things:  What does your health insurance coverage for emergency care, where can you go for after hour care, and how to contact your family doctor after hours.  For example, our health insurance has a $40 deductible for a minor emergency clinic, or a $150 deductible for the emergency room.  For a true emergency (trouble breathing, bone protruding through skin, etc.), heading to the emergency room is a no-brainer.  And, our closest minor emergency clinic is an hour away.  However, you have to keep in mind that you may wait in the emergency room waiting room for over an hour while heart attacks, strokes and car accident patients are being treated. So, heading to the minor emergency clinic may be your best bet.  It is also helpful to know the hours of the minor emergency clinic.  The minor emergency closest to several of my kiddos closes at 10 pm.  Knowing all of the above info can help you make decisions when your kiddo is sick.

More grandma nurse tips later. 

Vada's First Birthday!

Vada celebrated her first birthday today, at a party hosted by her parents. 

The birthday girl was all decked out in a pink and brown tutu.  Love the little pigtails that her mommy did for her.

 

 

Vada and her mommy - Stephanie

One year olds are so easy to entertain, blow up some balloons, and they have a great time.

Charlotte on the left, Maggie behind Vada.  And Great-grandpa Von Soosten watching them play.

Vada's quilt, made by her Great Aunt Kay.  Such a pretty quilt!

A close up view of the quilting.  This was quilted by Joan Westhoff.

Yours truly (Grandma Lorri) and Vada.  And yes, she is as cuddly as she appears in her pictures.

Happy Birthday Vada!

Bottle Cap BBQ Table

My husband loves to grill.  I love it when my husband grills.  Several years ago we were eating at a restaurant in Kansas City.  The tables in the restaurant were tiled with beer bottle caps.  It was fun looking at all of the different bottle caps.  So, we discussed several different possibilities for doing a project involving bottle caps.  We decided to make a table to put next to Mark's grill, so he could put his trays and whatnot (his bottle of Bud light) on it while he tends to his grilling.

And when I say "We decided to make a table" I meant Mark would make the table, and I would tile the table top with  bottle caps.  Fortunately several friends volunteered to save bottle caps for us.  I am grateful for this, otherwise we would have a table tiled only with Bud light caps. 

Here are a few photos highlighting our project. 

I sorted bottle caps for several hours.  I sorted them by color.

Mark building the table.  He used Thompson's waterseal on the wood.

 

 

This is a paper pattern I made of the area to be tiled.

Laying out the caps. 

Laying the caps in the mortar.  I was glad I put painter's tape around the perimeter of the tabletop.  I am a rather messy tiler.  Fortunately, my friend Debby helped me with this step.  She and I have done several tile projects together. 

A close up photo of the caps in the mortar.  Some of the caps are really pretty.

Grouting the tabletop.

Done!

A close up of the finished table top.

Next project, another table to sit next to the smoker.  I'm pretty sure my husband was a butcher in his former life.  I'm good with that.

Where's Waldo?

This is the sunflower that Sherry gave me for my birthday last year.  It is made from farm implement parts.  I have named this sunflower Waldo.  We have been experimenting trying to figure out the best place to put Waldo.  Since my husband tends to move Waldo around when I am not paying attention, it becomes an adventure. 

Last year the rabbits ate these; must not have been so tasty this year.  I thought these were pretty.

I spent several days in Iowa while Kristy and Derek went to a conference.  Becky (the other granny nanny) and I took the boys to the park one day while Adelaide was in school.  

If you look carefully, you can see Caedmon in the striped shirt.  It took him awhile to feel comfortable climbing up through the tree house to get that far.  Later in the morning, he climbed up another part of the playground but decided he couldn't get down by himself.  So, yours truly (Grandma Lorri) climbed up the through the playground equipment to help him down.  Fortunately, there is no video of this rescue.  

Charlotte and I at the Sedgwick County Zoo.

Vada at Botanica in Wichita.

Adelaide enjoying making smores at our house over spring break. 

Guess what I'm working on now?

Kay's Tale of Two Quilts

Last year I made a quilt top of star blocks that I had  leftover from a quilt I made several years ago.  My friend Candy and I decided that our friend Pam needed a quilt.  So we decided to have this quilt top made into a quilt for her.  Now all I had to do was make a back for it.  I still had some star blocks so I used some of them.  Then I decided that it needed to have her name and the year on it also.  I used the book Word Play Quilts by Tonya Rucci for the letters and the numbers.  I had the back almost done when I realized that I switched some of the letters. It was 2012 not 2021!  So I ripped it out and fixed it.  I thought about leaving it in there, because none of my quilts are perfect but this time it really needed to be fixed.  When I finished it I thought this was too  nice for just the back .  So after consulting with a couple of people it was decided to make two quilts instead of one.  Joan Westhoff quilted both of these quilts and she did an excellent job. On the Pam quilt she used a variety of motifs that were really spectacular.  From the back it looks like a whole cloth quilt.  Candy and I gave it to her recently.  I hope she likes it.  It was really fun to make this quilt.  I see more quilts with letters and numbers in my future!

Here is the other quilt which I  posted on the blog about a month ago.  I gave it to the ladies at church. 

Playing Catch-up by Sherry

OK. I really can't catch you all up since i last posted.  I apparently am a very bad blogger.  But finally here I am again.  2013 has been keeping me really busy.  Phil and I have moved two of our children and their families to new houses, not far from where they were living, but still, a lot of work.  I have decided I am never moving, ever, i am leaving instructions just to bury me right here, at home, cover me with fabric and I'll be quite content.  But everyone is getting settled in and happy with their new digs.  In the previous post, Kay showed you the doll quilts she made Kendall and Caroline, my granddaughters for their dolls. Here's a picture of my granddaughter with her new doll quilt.

Kendall loved her doll quilt. Purple is her new favorite color.  

I spent February taking a picture every day from a list I found on line and posted them on facebook. It was fun, but a lot of pressure .  It was also hard some days to get it done and to find a suitable picture to fit the prompt. I'd like to do it again sometime, maybe this summer.  I do have some favorite ones to share.

Something that starts with E:  Edgar Von Soosten, my dad

Walking:  two of my little guys going down the hall at school

Playing:  Gavin having a great time with the marble run.

Love:  Jesus died for us because he loves us.

Quiet:  road in front of our house after our first snowstorm. 

. Well, that's all for now.  you're caught up with me through the end of Feb.  March is a whole "nother post.  I promise to try to get it done sometime in April.  Oh check out our other blog, its listed on the right,  I have to update it to but may be another day.  We have a new exciting project to share and its a BIG one.  Later!