New Year's Eve

Hello everyone!

Sorry it has taken so long to update my blog. It is a crazy time of year trying to celebrate birthdays, anniversary, and Christmas! On top of this, our computer had such serious problems that we had to wipe the hard drive and start over. It has taken hours to reload everything so we could be up and running again.

We awoke this morning to snow-the first real snowfall of the season. It is about 3 pm and the snow has finally stopped. I think we wound up with about 4 inches which was enough to send the boys out to shovel. It had been raining for two days so there is ice underneath. Thought it best to take Jim's car to church today as it has 4 W drive, but I couldn't get it to start. Tried to take my car, but it was just too slick, so we missed church. Noah has plans tonight, but I don't think he'll be out on the roads with the ice and the drunks!

We had a nice Christmas. The boys were very happy with all of their gifts. Nathan is really looking forward to going to CO next month for his snowboarding trip and Noah is having fun loading music on his new I-Pod. Jim really enjoys his Frozen Stupid DVD (which was filmed on Houghton Lake ya know). Noah spent alot of his Christmas break working, which he needed to do because he has alot of bills coming due. Nate just loafed around, playing hackysack and watching episodes of 24. Jim took some sick days (or he'd lose them) and then he actually got sick!

Noah is doing well. He finished up his ACT test prep class, retook the ACT, and brought his score up from a 27 to a 30. Hopefully this will help him get a scholarship! He has applied to 5 colleges and been accepted, but he keeps changing his mind on where to go and what to do. He is very busy with basketball. The team lost it's first game this weekend in a tournament. It was disappointing because they were ahead by 16 points, and just played poorly. He would like to get a little more playing time, but the coach is pleased with him and he plays well when he is in. Nate is doing alot better with counseling. We've only had one minor escalation in a month, and it passed quickly. Keep praying for him though. If he doesn't start working in school, he will not be allowed to run track and will be in summer school to make up credits. Jim is finished with the outage. There has not been any decision about the annexation, so I have a job for now. It is expected soon though.

Jim and I took in the Christmas musical at church. It was very different-modern and simple. We also went to dinner and then a Christmas jazz concert for our anniversary. Soon we will be attending the Lion King musical, which was a birthday gift to me. Looking forward to that! We got another desk, and I think this one is the keeper. I'm glad for that because it was a lot of work to switch them out each time! Now I can work on finishing up the office. Started putting the furnace room back together. Still need to paint the floor, but I needed to get through the holiday first. No inquiries on the cat so we have put her on a special diet and are hoping that this takes care of the infections (thus the peeing on the carpet).

Well I'd better go for now. Keep in touch.