Technical Difficulties

My computer crashed. It seems to be going around. I have several friends that had the same thing happen to them. Hubby took the tower to a computer shop not too far from where he works and they were able to salvage a great deal of my documents, pictures, and music. The hard part is getting it all back on my desk top. It probably would have been easier to replace it, better even, but we didn't. Now I'm trying to get all my stuff back on. I still don't have my Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc. If any of you can help me out, I would love that. I would also be very appreciative.

Tonight was decorate for Christmas night. We got all the trees up and the decorations. We have three trees that we put up. One is our 6' tree that is our main tree. We also have a 2' and a 3' tree. I love them. I am actually going to our church's thrift store to look for one more. I'm going to use them as a bribe for the kids to keep their rooms clean. If they can keep them clean, they can each have a tree in their room. The big girl has been wanting to do that for awhile, like years. I can really work a deal with her.

This year was a little different. We normally listen to Christmas music, which we did. Then we pop corn and watch a Charlie Brown Christmas. It was pretty late this year when we got done, so hubby and I nixed the movie and popcorn part. We may do it tomorrow night instead. I want to go do a little shopping when hubby gets home from work tomorrow. I'm not sure what's going to happen though. We also have a birthday party and a trip to the grocery store. I may have to wait for shopping.

Today we had our Nature Nuts program at the park. We learned about how important trees are. The ranger had 17 things laid out on the table. She had us work in teams and look at each item. We had to decide if trees were used in any way to make each product. The Almond Joy was funny. I heard one kid say, "It's a candy bar. You don't use wood to make a candy bar." Well, no, but you use trees. Cocoa trees, almond trees, and coconut trees are all part of that. After we were done guessing, the ranger read a couple of different passages about trees and their uses. She gave us three opportunities to change our answers. I ended up changing all of our no's to yes's. I was right. My friend CP and I were the only ones to get it right. Whoot, whoot for us!

It was freezing at the park today. I don't want to hear how cold it was at your house. Blah, blah, blah. It's always warm where we live, so anything below 70 is cold. That and we had a wicked wind blowing off the lake that just dropped the temperature even more. The clouds blocking the sun didn't help any either. We ended up coming home and bringing two families with us. The kids all played and we moms talked. I had such a good time. The two moms that came home with us are very funny, smart, crazy women. They crack me up. The kids played and played. Mine were filthy by the end of the day. They went straight into the shower when everyone left.

The baby was supposed to do two more performances with the dance company. I just couldn't do it. It was too much. She wasn't very upset either, so that was good. It has been crazy busy and we all needed a break. I've tried not to let the stress get to me, but after a while, you just have to drop something. That was what we dropped. We did do the parade. The boy had a melt down before the parade started, the baby had a melt down after the parade started, and the big girl, as usual, was golden. Thank you, God, for the big girl. I'll post the pictures as soon as I can get that working again. I tried once before, but I'll be darned if my computer works the same way. I'll try from the lap top later.

I have offered our house for a Christmas party for our park families. Some people missed today, and we missed them. I really like having company. I like filling my house with the joyous sound of friends and family. It makes me happy. I hope we get a good response. So far, I've had three say yes. That's about 8 kids and 4 moms, including me. They'll come.

Christmas will be on our own this year. My FIL just had open heart surgery and my MIL doesn't want to stress him out. I don't know how he would be stressed if we did all the work, but whatever. One of my BILs and his family will be out of town for Christmas. So it's just us. That's alright with me. A nice quiet Christmas without waiting for anyone, hopefully no drama, and great company. We may just pick up some food so I don't have to cook and we can snack all night and open presents.

Christmas Eve will be the last service for our Associate Pastor. She has come to mean so much to our family as a mentor, pastor, and more importantly, a friend. I know that I can be myself with her and the other way around. She helps enlighten and lighten my world. We will miss her terribly. The good news is that she is going to a church in the little town that hubby works in. It's actually across the street from where hubby and I had our first apartment. The way life just circles around and around. We are going to make it to the service to support her, hear about Jesus, and say good bye to a great source of joy in our church. PC, we love you!

That is pretty much the update as it stands. I will try to get pictures up as soon as I can. I know there are those of you out there champing at the bit, waiting for them. I'm working on it, I'm working on it!

Have a great day!