Emergency Expo

As part of my church calling, I was involved in putting together an Emergency Expo. The purpose of this activity was to get everyone prepared for possible natural disasters. We touched on topics such as 72 hour kits, earthquake preparedness, food storage, water purification, making a family plan, cooking over a fire, First Aid, and making sure you had the right insurance to cover your losses in such events. A service missionary from the Reno Cannery came, she was so full of information, it almost needed a night of it's own. She got me really interested in food storage and eager to try out the cannery. I'm just not sure I am ready to replace butter and oil with beans. I put together the display for earthquakes and Dan was nice enough to put a booth together about insurance. He thought it would be fun to bring the stand up of Flo.

Here are a few that participated in the fun:

Brya Steffens and Jalyssa Christensen.

Tressa Card.
Michelle LaMont, our Relief Society President.

Jack spent the evening playing with Parker Guisti.

Parker is about 3 weeks older than Jack, he belongs to my friend Lindsey. It has been fun watching these two become more interactive with one another. They are the only boys in their age group. They will need to stick together when it comes to the handful of girls that will go through primary and school with them.

It was a very successful activity. I think the most positive feedback we have gotten in awhile. The attendance was great too, especially since we invited the other Ward to participate with us.

We have a long list of ideas for follow up classes. There is so much to learn and prepare for.

8 is Great!

I can't believe that Dan and I have been married for eight years already. I guess time flies when you are having fun. Or maybe life is just too crazy to notice the passing of time. In some ways it seems like we have been together forever. I know Noah and Zoe don't understand that there was a time when we didn't even know each other.

We have accomplished a lot in these last 8 years. Dan has graduated from college, we have moved twice, bought two homes, added 3 kids to the mix, survived a few job changes, added several branches to our family tree with the discovery of his biological family - just to name a few.

It has been a crazy ride so far and I am glad I get to face each day and new challenge with my best friend by my side.

We ended up celebrating our Anniversary at the local Mexican Restaurant, La Fiesta.

Here are the events that led up to our celebration.

Noah got it in his head that he was supposed to make dinner for us. Keep in mind that he is 5 1/2, so his cooking skills are very limited.

He got the cheese and the cheese grater out and quickly got to work. He even got Zoe involved in grating the cheese.

The whole time I was very nervous about him cutting his fingers and he was not telling me what he was up to. He just kept telling me he was supposed to make dinner.

He then got the taco shells out of the pantry.

At this point Noah realized he wasn't allowed to use the stove and he still wasn't telling me what he was trying to do. By this time Dan had gotten home and was surveying the scene, also puzzled at Noah's determination and how adamant he was about cooking dinner.

Realizing that meatless tacos weren't a very good dinner option, he decided he'd better take us out to eat.

So that's how we all ended up at the restaurant.

The girls...
The boys...

And Jack Jack...

This will go down in the books as a memorable anniversary.

My Crazy Kids

I'm not sure which child took this picture.

They just love the monkey on his butt.

Noah sure loves his baby brother, at least most of the time. Once in awhile he wishes Jack wasn't born. Noah is starting to get overly confident in his baby handling skills and has been spotted trying to do things he knows he is not allowed to do. Such as picking Jack up and carrying him. I think sometimes he, as well as Zoe, forget that Jack is a human being and not a toy.

This is what happens when I leave Jack unattended for too long.

Zoe likes to dress him up and hand him all sorts of random objects.

The other day the kids locked me out of the house. We had gone out on the front porch to do something and they managed to sneak back inside and lock the front door. Lucky for them, or should I say me, I know the code to the garage door and they didn't manage to lock that door. This is what I found when I came inside.
They were feeding him the food I had prepared and left on the table. Another task they know I don't like them doing.

Zoe sure loves her curlers.

These pictures remind me of my Grandma Partin. We already know she has her glare, but I think the resemblance goes much farther than that. It's not a bad thing, I actually have a lot of fond memories of my Grandma Partin and know my kids would love her too.

There is never a dull moment around here.

The Kids Expo

We took advantage of a clear weekend and headed over the pass to spend sometime with family. My Aunt Heidi was visiting from Colorado, plus it had been awhile since Grandma Sandi, Papa Tim, and Granny Milkshake had seen Baby Jack. I didn't give the kids much notice as I wasn't sure if the weather was going to cooperate. In the end, I packed for everyone, including Dan, and informed him we would be going and that the kids and I would be meeting him at his office.

We had a nice visit. It happened to be the weekend of the Kids Expo, an event held at the El Dorado County Fairgrounds every year full of fun activities, prizes, crafts, and give aways. Did I mention all of it is free? While there the kids were treated to a movie and snacks from Aunt Heidi. She was impressed at how much Noah knew about the differences between fiction and non-fiction. She also became fast friends with Jack. Dan and I got to sneak away for the evening and have dinner and dessert alone, an early celebration for our Anniversary. We ate at a little hole in the wall in Downtown Placerville known as the Powell Brothers Steam house. In all my years of living in Placerville I had never been there, so it was neat to see what all the buzz was about. I had a really good seafood stew and Dan ate steamed clams. For dessert we headed to Baskin Robins, I had some yummy ice cream made with Red Hots. It wasn't the fanciest of evenings, but a fun one. We were just too tired to run down the hill into Folsom or Sacramento, plus we weren't sure how long Jack would survive with out me. It was a fun, fast paced weekend.

Here are a few highlights from the Kids Expo:

Chelsea holding a chicken....

Noah and Zoe putting out the flames using equipment from the Forrest Service Fire Squad. The guy was really impressed with Zoe's spunk, determination, and stance. I even picked up a few Smokey the Bear pins. Remember him? I think it is sad that kids these days know so little about who Smokey the Bear is.

Noah sitting inside their truck.

Zoe got her face painted, Noah didn't want anything to do with it.
Trying out the CHP car.

Zoe tried tumbling.
Zoe and Chelsea making butterflies using coffee filters and clothes pins.

Conference Weekend

I really enjoyed General Conference this time. There were a lot of good talks and advice given by the General Authorities. I think my most favorite talk this conference was by Quentin L. Cook entitled "LDS Women Are Incredible!" It was a great reminder to me that the work I am doing is important. That the sacrifices of being a stay at home Mom are worth it. That my efforts are making a difference.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from his talk:

• God placed within women divine qualities of strength, virtue, love, and the willingness to sacrifice to raise future generations of His spirit children.
• Sisters have key roles in the Church, in family life, and as individuals that are essential in Heavenly Father's plan. Many of these responsibilities do not provide economic compensation but do provide satisfaction and are eternally significant.
• "Fathers and mothers are...equal partners." Neither one is financially compensated, but the blessings are beyond description.
• Our women are not incredible because they have managed to avoid the difficulties of life - quite the opposite. They are incredible because of the way they face the trials of life.

Some of my other favorite topics from the weekend were:

• Live within your means.
• Know the difference between your wants and your needs.
• Too many are putting off marriage to partake in the finer things of life such as cars, clothing, and money.
• Live up to your potential.

Here is how we spent the rest of our weekend:

We took advantage of Smith's case lot sale to expand our food storage.

Dan, Noah, and Zoe worked on new garden boxes, while Jack and I napped.

We all enjoyed our cheese waffles during the Sunday Morning Session.

Noah even took the opportunity to attend the Priesthood Session with his Dad. I'm sure the promise of Blizzards at Dairy Queen played a role in his decision to go but, I know he learned a lot and enjoyed the time with his dad.

Hanging Out

Just passing the time with my crazy kids. They are growing up so fast.

Some days are better than other days. I am getting tired of hearing how hideous my choices are and all the other derogatory things that come spewing out of my children's mouths. I also grow tired of them calling each other stupid or losers. Plus the tattling is getting to me too. Especially since that tattle about stupid unimportant things and cover up for each other on the important issues like: destroying things, cutting things up, or coloring on things.

Most days this kid is my favorite....

...he is the only one who doesn't yell or scream at me.

Kindergarten Update

I had the opportunity to meet with Noah's teacher, Mrs. Hoover, during Spring Parent Teacher Conferences. She is very pleased with his progress so far this year and he is right where he should be.

Mrs. Hoover explained that Noah has all the tools needed to be an independent reader, except for the confidence. This was no surprise to me as I deal with it on a weekly, if not daily basis. It can be so frustrating, especially when we are trying to get his homework completed. He gets it in his head that he can't do something, so he doesn't even try to do it. He is so afraid of doing it wrong that he won't even attempt it. He tends to be a little bit of a perfectionist. Where does he get it you may ask? From both of his parents.

Noah isn't too sure that he wants to move on to the First Grade. Mrs. Hoover is trying to have him sit in on a first grade class so he can see what it is like. She wants him to see that they do many of the same things in First Grade as he has been doing all year in Kindergarten. She mentioned he was lucky to have so many of his friends in his class this year and that won't necessarily be the case next year. So, she is trying to help build his confidence. Do you see a trend here?

I was also able to discuss his behavior with her a bit. I had been wondering if he has meltdowns at school when things don't go according to plan, like we face at home. She assured me he is pretty adaptable. She agreed that things tend to be very black and white with him, but also feels this is good as he won't be easily swayed by his peers. I guess he saves up all his frustrations for me. Which is a good thing I guess as it doesn't interfere with his school work.

So I guess we need to work on building his confidence.

Here is a look at his Spring School Picture...

Here is his Kindergarten Graduation Picture. Graduation will be on June 7th.