It was an exciting time around our house this past week-at least for me :-). Our friend, Andy, came by on Tuesday to move an outlet for us to prep for the TV cabinet. Then our contractor, Andy, and another guy were here most of the day Wednesday putting in the cabinet. Andy built it all at home and brought in three pieces. He does such an amazing job and we love it. It took longer to install it than they thought it would, but he got it to fit really well. Thankfully we had a nice day on Wednesday and they were able to set up a saw outside to keep adjusting the pieces. It is much bigger than what we used to have, but since it better utilizes the space, it actually gives us a little more room. I was able to find things around the house to put on the shelves, so I think I just need to find a few more things. And we were able to fit all of our DVDs and some toys in the cabinets at the bottom. While Andy was here, we talked about him building the closets up in the "barracks" for Lincoln and the twins. He will hopefully be able to do that in about a month. Then he came back early Thursday morning to do some touch-up painting and it was a good thing the weather the day before wasn't like what it was on Thursday. We got a lot of rain along with the melting snow. And then Thursday morning we also got new carpet in the family room. Andrew and the kids cleared out all the furniture Wednesday night after small group while I ran to Wal-Mart to get a few more cables to finish hooking up everything in the new cabinet. The kids loved having the big open space so I let them stay up a little longer that night and run around. Then Miles and Bennett ate breakfast on the old carpet one last time before it was torn up.
I finished getting everything hooked up with the TV before the carpet installer got there and then we headed down to the basement. The installer was done around one and then it was time to vacuum and vacuum again. The Lincoln tried to help me move all the furniture back in. And I am really loving our "new" room. I am still getting used to a little darker carpet, but I know it will be so much better at hiding stains. The kids love all of it too when they got home from school.
After some distractions, we finally got around to finishing up homework so we could head over to my parents for dinner. Ellie had my mom French braid her hair. She has been really interested in braiding and even found a book about it on her Kindle. So I guess I really need to learn to French braid so I can do more with her hair. She told me I could look at her book too.
Friday I worked a little more figuring out how I wanted things in the new cabinet. I also tried to finalize paperwork so Andrew and I could get our passports. Andrew and I were going to meet at the post office to send everything off but then I realized that his birth certificate was laminated and couldn't be used to apply for a passport. So we are waiting on a new one and then we can get our passports because we are excitedly starting to plan our trip to Italy. We have made a couple reservations so far and it has been kind of entertaining. Andrew sent an email to one of the hotels we were interested in and he took the time to write it in Italian...they replied back in perfect English :-). Then I made a reservation online but then got sent back to the original reservation page that notified me that the room that we wanted was no longer available. But then I got an email confirming our reservation. So I emailed the hotel just wanting to make sure we did get the reservation and that we would get the room we requested. Then I got a second reply email but it was addressed to a Terrence Jalbert. It had similar information on confirming the same room number. So another email went out just making sure there wasn't any confusion. Followed by another email from the hotel addressed to, "Mrs. Allison Farwell and Mr. Terrence Jalbert" saying that they had us confirmed for the room. I explained to them that I didn't know who Terrence Jalbert was and we were not together. Our party was Andrew and I. Their replay email said something like, "Oh. I sorry-I make mistake. Anyways..." So I hope we are good to go :-). Andrew and I have spent a lot of time looking at areas we were interested in, hotels, travel tips, etc. Andrew had actually spent many hours looking at areas of Italy over the past several years. I am so excited that he will get to go on this trip.
Ellie had a busy Friday night. First up was doing her Tigerina dance at the basketball game. She was supposed to be there at 4:45, so we got there a little before Andrew and I decided to just go ahead and go in to get a seat. The lady collecting money tried to figure out how much I owed (Ellie and one parent got in free) and then she said, "Never mind, you can just all go in for free." :-). Several of my relatives were there watching a couple of my cousins play and my parents came too. Ellie couldn't find us in the crowd, so she just smiled and danced for Lori Ann. We were only there about an hour, but it was enough for me to reaffirm that Miles and Bennett are still not ready for that type of sporting event. But Ellie did a great job with a big smile. And then it was time to head to church for her Girls' Night Out. Andrew dropped her off there and picked up some Colton's for dinner while I met my parents at our house. Then Lincoln got to go home with them for a sleepover all by himself. At the Girls' Night Out, Ellie got to make a crown, a washer necklace, paint her nails, have her hair curled, and eat some fun snacks. She had a fun time but was upset that she didn't get to have a sleepover at my parents. So then we had to have the talk about her tendency to say things aren't fair a lot and that she needs to learn to be grateful for what she does have. But then I let her and Jackson stay up and watch a movie that night and sleep downstairs.
Andrew had to put hay out the next morning. With basketball over, it was nice to not really have anything on the agenda. I got my bike and run in before the kids got up. Jackson and Ellie really appreciate when they get to sleep in. We headed over to my parents around lunch time since Andy, Autumn and their kids were in town. Ellie and Briley immediately got busy working on loom bracelets. Andrew got home after lunch and I ran the twins back home so they could take a nap and he just stayed with them. Then the rest of us came home later that afternoon because I had a dinner planned with some friends. I didn't have anything planned for Andrew and the kids for dinner (we left at 5) but he took it pretty well-after some joking about it first. We went to AJ's for dinner and it was just a great night out. We were there until 9, but it looked like they always had a few open tables, so I wasn't too worried about keeping our table all night. Andrew and the twins were already in bed when I got home while Ellie and Lincoln were staying up to watch a movie. Jackson spent the night at Zach's house. Then Sunday morning Andrew went to the office and came back a little early so I could make a quick trip to the store before church. After church and lunch, we went over to my parents to see everyone before they left. On our way over there I was talking to the kids about what they learned in church that morning. I also talked about what we learned about-the main point being that Jesus told us to "go and make disciples". Then Lincoln said he knew what "recycle" was-you take old things and make them new. So he thought I said "recycle" when I said "disciples". :-) Andy and Autumn headed back to Kansas City that afternoon and we stayed until dinner time since my parents were making fried chicken. The kids always get so excited about fried chicken. I also helped my parents sell Molly's old car, the green Skittle. As Sara put it..."it was the last of our character-building/college fleet". I helped them put it on Swap Shop and they had it sold in about an hour. The couple that bought it were at Aldi's and came over immediately to test drive it, then said they would buy it, went to get the cash, and then it was gone...that quickly. They got if for their son and he was very excited about it. After dinner it was back home to get ready for school the next day. We did watch a bit of the Olympic closing ceremonies though.
And lastly, I have to show a picture of Ellie's latest loom creation (and her two assistants)...
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