The Howerter Family Homepage

Well the weather is finally getting nicer, and that always brings out the need to do some spring cleaning.  Since we have the house on the market, I am trying to get some things done a little earlier than I usually would.  I have washed the outside of the windows, cleaned the bathroom in the garage (yuck) and cleaned Annie’s cage.  We also had the carpets cleaned for the first time, and they look great.  John straightened up around his truck in the garage, but he still needs to work on the big part of that garage.  It gets pretty cluttered over the winter.  My garage needs to be swept out, but it will have to wait until this wind dies down.  If the door is open, the leaves just come blowing in, so no need to work on it today.  Some folks from Sante Fe, New Mexico, are coming to look at the house on Friday, so I want it to look perfect.  I know John thinks I am crazy, but I feel like we have to at least do our part to sell it!

We have put our house back on the market, so we have to try to keep things in order again.  We have been slugs all winter in that regard.  We have some people coming to look at it on Saturday, but they are looking at it for their nieces moving here from New Mexico.  Then, the nieces’ realtor is coming on Monday to look at it.  I don’t know what to think about that.  I guess we will see.

Brandt was matched yesterday to University of Kansas School of Medicine in Wichita, Kansas, for his residency in General Surgery.  I think they will be moving sometime in May.  Congratulations and good luck Brandt, Angel, Oliver and Weston.

This week was spring break for Elijah and Josiah, so I got to hang out with them some.  On Wednesday, I took them to Decatur to the Children’s Museum.  It was great because it was not crowded at all.  We wandered around for a bit, and then they settled at the water table.  We built walls to funnel the water into rapids and watched our various boats and rubber ducks manage the rapids.  Somehow Josiah’s sleeves just could not stay rolled up, so the arms of his sweater were drenched.  Josiah always “immerses” himself completely in his playing.  Elijah came up with the idea to make the rapids, and he was very impressed with the whirlpool that was created at one of the turns. 

Then we headed to Dairy Queen (Grandma’s favorite) for lunch.  Again, it was not crowded, so the boys were able to play in the play area with the few kids that were there.  We had ice cream for dessert and headed out for a sight seeing trip.  Elijah wanted to see where his dad went to school, so we drove to TJ where Ryan went to junior high.  Our good friends Jeff and Judy live right across the street from TJ, and Jeff happened to be home raking leaves.  We stopped to say hello, and I believe he was quite surprised to see us.  Then we drove by our old house, and I pointed out Ryan’s bedroom window.  I don’t know if they enjoyed this trip, but I did.

Yesterday, Sara and I took all 3 kids to St. Louis for a trip to the zoo.  The day promised to be beautiful with a forecast of sun and upper 60’s.  We stopped by to pick up Grandma Nell, and headed over.  When we got there, the traffic was backed up across 44.  This line of traffic was bumper to bumper.  Grandma Nell knew how to get to the zoo a different way, so we bypassed that line of traffic.  Or did we?  We met up with it again on the other side of the zoo, and it loomed up the hill heading around the back of the zoo.  After 15 to 20 minutes of sitting in traffic just to get halfway to the parking lot, we decided to give up.  Even if we ever got to the parking lot, who knew if there would be any places left to park.  We headed for the Science Center instead.  I think the kids had a good time there, but we were all disappointed.  Lily wanted to see the bears, and we could not find any at the Science Center.  We did see the dinosaur exhibit which had big, moving robot-like dinosaur replicas.  We will try the zoo again another time.

Here I am watching the recorded Illini game with John, Jeff and Judy.  I checked the results and know that Illini goes into 2 overtimes but then loses.  I am enjoying watching their reactions while I know the outcome. 

We have had a nice time.  Jeff and Judy came over last night, and we had a nice dinner and then some Pinochle and Sequence.  The girls won at both!  This morning we went to Taylorville for breakfast at the Spring Garden (an old Burger King), and it was wonderful.  Then off to Big R for a walk around.  John and I did not buy anything which is a miracle.  We have just been relaxing since we got home.  Dinner and more cards are in our evening plans. 

An added bonus:  we booked a trip to Vegas for early April!  Yippee!

Friday night Ryan, Sara, Jay , Katherine, John and I went to the new Osaka Steak and Sushi restaurant in town to celebrate Ryan’s birthday.  I did not realize that it was such a nice place.  I thought it was just going to be another locally owned restaurant, but I was pleasantly surprised.  You can either eat in the sushi bar or at the hibachi grill.  Sara made us reservations in the hibachi grill.  Each grill has 8 seats around the grill.  The chef puts on a little show while cooking everyone’s meal right in front of you. Most of you have proabably been to a place like this.  The food was wonderful and plentiful.  We got soup and salad before our meal and any appetizers or sushi that you ordered.  John ordered sushi, and Jay ordered calamari.  Then came the meal.  We got rice and noodles with each meal, and the noodles were fantastic.  I could have just eaten a pile of those and called it a night.  You also get veggies cooked on the grill plus your entree.  It was way more than you need, but, of course, I ate it all.  We will definitely be going back there.  If you do decide to go, I strongly suggest having reservations. 

John started back to work on Friday, but he only made it a couple of hours.  He was just too tired.  He went again yesterday, and he made it to 2:00.  Today he made it until 4:00, so he is getting stronger.  I am praying that he continues to get better and has no setbacks.  He goes next week for a follow up chest x-ray, so I will be happy to see the results for that.  Thanks everyone for your prayers while he has been sick.