The Howie House: Weekly Highlights

Last week was crazy. We had our kitchen countertops replaced on Thursday, and I didn't realize what a big deal that would end up being. The installation itself wasn't a big deal - the whole thing took less than 3 hours - but the actual preparation was a major pain. It was mostly because we (meaning, David) were removing the old countertops ourselves to save a pretty hefty amount of money. Our old countertops were tile, so David had to break them up in order to remove them, which was LOUD. In other words, he couldn't work on it if the kids were sleeping. And when you work full-time and can't do anything after 8, that doesn't leave a lot of time, does it? He had to take a bit of time off from work to get it done, and it was still right down to the wire. He was removing old countertops when the people got here to install the new ones! It made SUCH a mess, too. Our whole house was covered in a fine layer of dust. Ugh. BUT, we're so glad to have it done! I'll post pictures soon. Now if someone would only come BUY OUR HOUSE! ;)

Sunday was church and Sunday School. We ate lunch at home and took naps that afternoon.

Little Monkey climbing in his church clothes!

No, it wasn't cold; Aubrey just wanted to wear her new jacket. Ha!

We had church that evening, and we went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner after church.

I took Aubrey to school on Monday, and then I rushed home because a nurse was coming over to do a little checkup for some insurance we're getting. She drew blood and other fun stuff ;) After she left, the little kids and I just hung out at home all morning. I put them down for rest time after lunch, and then we went to pick Aubrey up. The weather was gorgeous, so we stopped at a little park on the way home. We're usually the only ones there when we go to this park, but not that day. There was a man there who had apparently turned the playground into his own personal gym. The guy was literally doing pushups and pullups on the playground equipment while my kids walked awkwardly around him. He even had a sweaty towel draped over the handrail going up to the slide. Yuck! I was so beyond uncomfortable the whole time, and needless to say, we didn't last long. That evening, I cooked dinner, and we watched Dancing with the Stars.

We had Circle on Tuesday morning, and I enjoyed it! When we got home we ate lunch, and then I put the kids down for rest. I was SO sleepy that afternoon, so I tried to take a little nap on the couch myself. I rarely do that, but when I do, the kids are ALWAYS so high maintenance during rest time. I had to go up to Aubrey and Jude's rooms SO many times, and I just ended up extremely frustrated and not any more rested than I was to begin with :-/ David came home early to work on the countertops, so I had to keep the kids out of the kitchen. We played outside for a long time. It was fun, but the mosquitos were awful! That night, I went to Bunco. We had a VERY small group (not enough people to play Bunco), so we ended up just eating and talking until 10:00. It was really fun!

I took Aubrey to school on Wednesday morning. David went to work late so that he could get more work done on the countertops, and also because the plumber was coming over to take out our sink and our stove. So, we now had a non-functional kitchen. Jude, Alaina, and I went to Beagle Bagel for lunch. It was good, but Jude had several meltdowns during lunch.

After lunch, we went to Target before picking Aubrey up from school.

I put the kids down for naps when we got home, and then we got them up and went to church that night.

Thursday was the day we were getting our new countertops! It worked out well that the kids and I were going to the library with Aubrey's school. We left David working like crazy to try to get the last of the old countertops out before they arrived with the new ones!

We had fun at the library. The kids listened to a story and then did a craft.

Afterwards, I took the kids to Chick Fil A to eat lunch and play until it was safe to go home.

When we arrived home, they were finishing up in the kitchen! It looked good!

I put the kids down for naps, and David went to work. That afternoon, the kids and I went to tutoring. We hung out at church and played with our friends until David finished teaching karate. We then went to dinner at Corner Bakery. (We still didn't have the sink or the stove hooked back up.)

Friday, we spent the day at home trying to get everything put back together. It was a mess! The plumber came and got our sink and stove working. I cleaned and cleaned and felt like I barely even scratched the surface. While the kids napped, I got ready and packed an overnight bag because I was going to a church women's retreat that night. I left as soon as David got home, and I picked up my mom on the way. We went to a camp about 30 minutes away, and it was so fun! The retreat was wonderful. Good music, good speakers, people sharing their testimonies, and good company :) We stayed up fairly late talking that night, and it was fun! David and the kids also had a good evening judging from the pictures he took :)

On Saturday morning, we were up bright and early for breakfast. We then had a session with music, another testimony, and a message. I enjoyed it! Next was lunch. There was one more session after lunch, but I decided that I needed to leave a little early to get home. I just felt overwhelmed by the state of our house, and I knew I needed get more cleaning done in order to prepare for the week ahead. I hated to leave the retreat early, though! I'm so thankful for my church family :)

While I was away, David and the kids went to the Farmer's Market, climbed some trees, and colored with some chalk. Looks like a pretty good Saturday!

I got home, said hey to the kids, we put them down for naps, and then my phone rang. It was our realtor telling us we had a showing in two hours. I had literally just said, "I'm so overwhelmed by this mess, I don't even know where to start." Haha! David and I worked like crazy and got our house nice and clean :) I will say, it was nice to have that motivation to get a ton done in a short period of time! And I was SUPER thankful to have a showing. We left right in time, and we went to Target. We then ate Mexican for dinner and went to Kroger.