The Howerter Family Homepage

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.

Yesterday was Elijah’s first day of First Grade.  I talked to him last night, and he said it was “good”.  I asked him how his teacher was, and he said she was “good”.  I guess he had a “good” day.

The State Fair is on right now, and Sara and I took the kids last night.  Ryan, Jay and John are on their canoe trip, so it was just us girls and the kids.  The boys had fun riding the rides, but Josiah was still too short to ride some of them.  This did not make him very happy, but we got through it.  Lily was only able to ride the kiddie cars, but she really liked them.  Sara rode the Spider with Elijah, and both of them felt a little sick afterwards.   I got to ride the Himalaya and the Ferris Wheel with the boys, and it was fun.  I love riding rides.  After dinner, we watched Katherine and her group do their Scottish dances.  They performed for about an hour at the Ethnic Village.  Sara and I really enjoyed the dancing, but the boys, of course, were bored.  We left the fairgrounds at about 8:30, and everyone was tired.  I helped Sara get the boys to bed, and then I headed on home.  It was a good day.

Elijah has lost both of his front teeth.  He lost them at different times, but they were both knocked out while he and Josiah were wrestling on the trampoline.  The first one was so loose that he could turn it all the way around in his mouth.  I did not even know the second one was loose, and it was gone this morning when I got there.  He lost them just in time for school to start (August 20).  I guess his first grade pictures will be without his front teeth.  Everybody has one of those pictures, and we all love them!

This past weekend Jeff and Judy came over for a visit.  We always enjoy these weekend visits so much.  We play cards, eat, visit and just relax.  On Friday night, Ryan brought Elijah and Josiah out to camp.  They set up their tents by our firepit and got to do all the fun camping stuff without having to drive too far.  Sara and Lily came out for a while too, so she got to enjoy too.   We hung out with them for a while in the early evening too.  Lily and I went into our garage to get a drink, and there was a big black snake right by the fridge!  I grabbed Lily and ran out of the garage screaming for John.  I got everyone’s attention quickly, and they all came running.  Of course by the time John got there, the snake was behind the fridge.  He pulled out the fridge, and there was the snake.  When Sara saw it, she screamed and grabbed Lily.  She told me that she was not expecting it to be so big.  The boys loved seeing this snake up close.  Josiah did not want Grandpa to kill it, but Grandma insisted.  John carried the snake (on a garden rake) to the woods with all three kids following him.  Even Lily went along.  I don’t think she knew what was going on.  She just saw her brothers and Grandpa going, so she wanted to go too.  Just another exciting evening at the Howerter’s!

Yesterday for Father’s Day, we went to Jay and Katherine’s for dinner.  Ryan and the kids came too.  Sara is camping with her mom and aunts, so she was not there.  We had a wonderful time.  The pool was the perfect temperature, and we all got in.  The boys had fun with Grandpa while he chased them all over the pool or threw them up in the air for a splash and a laugh.  Lily watched the boys go off of the diving board, and then decided it was her turn.  She got up on the board, and Ryan put his hand on her chest.  She “jumped” in and laughed, squealed and giggled.  Then, the boys began telling us to watch them as they walked onto the board before their jump.  So, of course, the next time Lily went up on the board she yelled at all of us in her gibberish to watch her.  She then jumped off and screamed with delight.  We all laughed so hard!  It was great.  Katherine took video, so watch Jay’s website for it.  Thanks again Jay and Kat for having us!

The family all dressed up and ready to go.

Elijah with his diploma

As hard as it is for me to believe, Elijah graduated from Kindergarten last week.  The school had a very nice ceremony and tea to celebrate.  Grandma Nell, Grandma Betty, Grandma Tracy, Dad, Mom, Josiah and Lily all came to the ceremony, and most of us cried at some point.  The ceremony started with the kids coming in to Pomp and Circumstance.  That song always makes me tear up.  Mrs. Ames had the kids recite their “blends” that they had learned through the year; they sang a  song; they did some spanish and various other things they had learned throughout the year.  Then Mrs. Ames announced each student and what they wanted to be.  On the big screens was the picture the student had drawn about their hopeful vocation.  Elijah wanted to be a basketball player.  Finally, each student was called, and they received their diploma.  It was so nice.  Calvary did such a nice job.  I am so proud of Elijah.

It has been a while since I have posted, so I will catch up on things.  Both Elijah and I have had our birthdays.  Mine on November 5, and Elijah’s on November 7.  John was in Europe that week, so I missed him.  Mom came up on my birthday, and we spent the day together.  That evening we went to the Cracker Barrel with all the kids, and it was wonderful!  Thanks Mom, Ryan, Sara, Elijah, Josiah, Lily, Jay and Katherine for spending my birthday with me.

Elijah had his birthday at Kicks.  Four of his friends came and played video games with him, and three of them spent the night.  He had a great time.  Ryan and Sara were very brave having 5 boys over night.  Josiah spent the night with me and Grandma Nell, so at least they did not have to worry about him. 

Then next morning, Ryan cut his thumb while working on his roof.  It was pretty deep, so I had to take him to the ER.  The doctor thought he cut the tendone in half, so she stitched him up and sent him to the hand doctor the next day.  Luckily, he can move his thumb fairly easily, so the hand doctor did not open it up to do anything.  He has to wear a splint for 3 weeks, but it has not stopped him from going bow hunting.  He actually went that afternoon.  Luckily, it was his left hand, so it is not the hand he pulls the bow with.

This weekend is shotgun deer season, so the boys are all a twitter.  Zeke came over this morning, and they all are practicing at our house this afternoon.  They will head out quite early in the morning to be in their stands before sun-up.  Hopefully, they will all have a succesful season this year.  It is so wonderful to see John, Ryan, Jay and Zeke enjoying something so much together.   Male bonding!

A very amazing thing happened yesterday at our house.  Ryan, Sara and the kids were over, and we were all outside.  Elijah asked Grandpa John if he would give him a ride on the tractor.  We were all in the barn when John and Elijah got on the tractor, and John started it up.  The tractor started to make a horrible banging sound!  John quickly turned off the engine, and we all looked at each other.  He tried it again only to have the horrible banging start again.  It sounded like a piece had broken off in the motor and was banging against the casing.  John took off the one side of the casing, and there was a dead mouse stuck on some cable.  Although this was pretty exciting for the boys, it was not the cause of the noise.  John then took off the casing on the other side of the tractor and looked in.  Pretty soon he said, “What’s that?”  He stuck his hand in and felt something cold and clammy.  He looked in again, and said, “It’s a snake!”.  We could not believe it, so we each took our turn looking in.  Sure enough, you could see the head of the snake as if it were posed just looking out with its mouth open.  It was obviously dead, but it was still pretty creepy looking to me.  Elijah and Josiah thought it was pretty cool though.  John got some tools to try to get this snake out.   We were all a little worried that the snake may have damaged the fan or broken something.  John grabbed the snake by the tail, and he was able to pull it out in one piece.  It was about 4 feet long and pretty chopped up.  It was coiled around the fan.  John threw it in the woods, and he started the tractor up.  It ran fine, so off John and Elijah went for a ride!  I don’t know what it is about these snakes, but they keep turning up in the most inconvenient places.  Life in the country is  . . . .

Elijah has started school at Calvary Aacademy, and he loves Kindergarten.  Ryan told me that on the first day of school he came downstairs with his backpack on at 7:00 a.m.!  He goes all day, so he is pretty tired in the evening.  He is doing very well and learning lots of things.  I miss him because he is not there all day when I babysit, but I have been trying to hang out with him some after school.  He loves getting to buy his lunch, but he also has a very cool lunch bag.   He looks so big with his backpack on when he comes home.  It makes me sad because I don’t want him to grow up.