The Verdict - X 3!

FHE

Thanks for every one's input - although I think I might have sounded more anxious about this than I really am .... if it weren't for Rebekah (and my acute awareness that I have only 3 short years left with her living here, and 24 / 7 influence), I'd be happy to ditch it for 6 months and pick up later.

So, this is what we decided. We will keep FHE on Monday nights (at 7:30pm), if the little one's are tired they'll just go to bed, if there are scheduling conflicts we'll just carry on with the family members that are here - we're committed to Monday nights. Hopefully everyone will make an effort to be here. I will prepare the 1st lesson of the month, Rebekah the 2nd, Emily (with help from me) will do the 3rd, and Rick has committed to be home for the 4th Monday of each month and prepare that lesson. I also decided to have a "theme for the month" so we each have a general idea of what to teach. Emily suggested "prophets" for May, and so far so good. I ordered a new FHE chart, and feel revitalized and excited about teaching our children the gospel.

BIKE TRAILER

I knew I couldn't possibly make a decision without seeing them, and putting the kids in them. REI is the only store I could find that carried both, so last week Jacob, Jane and I headed 100 miles north to the nearest one.

I'm really glad I went. The Chariot was noticeably wider, and gave them more shoulder room, and also gave Jacob more leg room. The added bonus was it was on sale from $600 to $480. Or as Rick pointed out, with gas, still $600! (I've paid $4.03/gal, regular, for gas the last 2 fill-ups, though I've seen it here for $4.11) It did probably cost about $50 in gas to get there and back, but well worth it for my peace of mind knowing I made the best decision for us, plus I saved the shipping (more justification for the gas.) My kids are great travelers, and we had fun. They played in the tents at REI, and there was a big Whole Foods across the street where we went for lunch. Anytime I head to "the 'burbs" I see if there will be a fabric store close by, so we took a small detour on the way home and went to Joann's for supplies. All in all a fun day, and I am so happy to have the trailer. Now we just need to get Emily riding without the training wheels, and we can be off on the family bike rides!

Computer

After much research I decided to get a mac. I got the new iMac 24. I don't love it. In fact the past 5 days have been an exercise in frustration - but I can tell I will love it. I didn't have e-mail until yesterday, and am still experiencing issues getting online (it's taken 2 days to be able to get onto blogger.) I lost all e-mails prior to May 8th (when the PC crashed) and my entire address book. So, if you know me and have my e-mail (it's still the same) send me something, so I have a record of your address. My Dad, who uses both a mac and a PC, says I will love it but it will take a while to learn it. I'm figuring with my level of productivity, it'll be Christmas before I'm functioning!

I did sign up for the classes, and took one today. It was helpful, although I had hoped to learn faster than I did! The little "lesson books" they gave me seemed eerily like the old discussion books the missionaries used ....

The good stuff - it is one tidy little package. I love the leg room we've reclaimed under the desk, and the lack of clutter on it. We decided to wait and see if we needed to buy extra speakers - we don't, the built in one's are GREAT! I admit I have a full on crush on iCalendar. This alone is worth buying a mac. Each Sunday we have Family Council. It's brief, and held after dinner. Each family member can bring up any issues or grievances they might have and we try to resolve them. The most important part (for me) is that we go over the calendar for the week. I used to print out a week page from Outlook, and fill in each person in a different colored marker (each person in our family has a color assigned to them.) Now I can do it all in iCal, and have my to do-list at the side to boot. Joy!

It's definitely a learning curve. I still am shaky at using word, and retrieving my e-mail. I have no clue how to put on pictures, and it will probably be a while before I can transfer over my rescued files from the PC. We've done some fun stuff, so I'll have to do some catch up posts later ... Rebekah has been helpful and I'm planning on taking her to some of the classes I'll go to.

Well, that's what we've been up to. Hopefully pictures of my adorable children will be gracing these posts again soon. Wish me luck!