Four

So, have you heard people say that after 3 kids it's not as hard? I have. Several times.

They lied.

Big time.

I am just getting out of survival mode, 7 months (in a few days) after having Cora. I can get my important stuff done and sometimes a little more, although I am not ready for crafting and that type of thing.

Don't get me wrong. I love my kids. Cora is the best baby, it's just that there is always someone who needs you. That can be such a good feeling and so overwhelming too.

Anyway, this is why I haven't blogged much. I don't feel badly about this, except that I don't journal much otherwise so it's a good way to do that. I will try a little harder. I do have our trip to MO I need to post...

We'll see.

Bodies

We have been passing around a stomach bug at our house and I just want to say that I am so thankful that I am healthy 99% of the time. Not everyone can say that, including my sweet husband who suffers a lot more than he lets on. I am so thankful for this life and the chance we have to learn about this sacred things we call bodies.

Emergency Binder

(Beautiful, right? It looks like a Trapper Keeper.)

So a year or two ago I started following the website, Food Storage Made Easy. It's a fun site with some get tips on getting your food storage and emergency preparedness stuff going. My favorite thing I've learned from that website is the Emergency Binder. I used their list as a guideline and went from there.

Here's their list:
Birth certificates
Passports
SS Cards
Copies of credit cards, front and back
Homeowners insurance policy
Auto insurance policy
Life insurance policy
Retirement statements
Internet passwords
Immunization records
Utility statements
Work/tax documents that would be difficult to replace
Cash, keep a variety of small bills on hand

So here's what I have:
Contact info. I have our parents, local family, friends, emergency numbers, doctor's numbers and where we would meet in case of emergency, like a church or school.
Account info. Anything with an account number basically. I have our account numbers, phone numbers and addresses of the company. This includes utilities (so I don't have to keep a statement in the binder) credit cards, student loans, whatever. It's basically a brief summary of all accounts and important numbers.
Internet passwords. I know, it's a little scary in a way, but you have to have them somewhere. If I died, Silas would have no clue about half our bills, so at least he'd have all the passwords so he could see what's up. :)
Important certificates. Birth, marriage, car title, social security cards, immunization cards, etc. I even have my old passport and my vision rx as shown below. (Don't worry. I blurred out some of the info.)
Each member of the family has their own sheet protector, so when I went to Kindergarten registration I only had to grab Ryan's sheet protector and everything the school needed was there. Easy.
Insurance stuff. I have the declaration page for our homeowners insurance, our auto insurance and our extra medical insurance cards.
Taxes. I keep the last two years worth of tax stuff. The W2s are in sheet protectors. Last year itemizing actually helped, so this year I am also keeping receipts and note to remind me of our deductions so I'm not scrambling at tax time. It's also good to have an extra copy of your return. Oh, I have our property tax stuff in there too.
Loans. Cruse them. I have the statements and any important notices from our student loans including notes from conversations with people so I know what I'm talking about next time.
401K and stocks. Yes, we have both, although they are sad. We put a tiny bit in a 401K through Silas's work so we have that quarterly statement. I also keep our stock statement. Just so you know, we put a little bit in RIGHT before everything went crazy so we currently have $3.38. Be jealous.
Mortgage statements and any other info from our lender. Behind these I have our Title insurance. I couldn't decide if it should go in the insurance or with the mortgage stuff. Whatever.
Paystubs. Silas's are online now, but I make a tiny bit from coordinating the daycare at a local gym so my last few paystubs are in a sheet protector. I should probably print out a few of Silas's, just in case.
Random stuff: purchase agreement from our car including warranty information, warranty info on our washer and dryer (which I just purchased and it made me feel like a big girl. I usually hate spending money on warranties, but our machines getting older and I use them CONSTANTLY), print out from our credit reports, and stuff about our alarm system (that's a long story).
Cash. Honestly, I think this is probably THE MOST IMPORTANT part of the binder, but I don't normally have more than a few dollars. I need to work on that. What if no ATMs or card readers were working. People probably won't take a check if that was the case, so cash is important.
Oh and I got a pretty purple binder so it would be easy to grab if we were panicing. And no, I don't have it sitting out for all to see. Don't worry.

Don't get overwhelmed. Just do one thing at a time. You will feel so good when it's done.

Dry pack soup

So, my friend Deruchette is in charge of the extra Relief Society meetings in her ward and recently they did an activity where they used Food Savers to dry pack dehydrated food into glass jars. They made two different soups so that they could have a fast and shelf-stable meal. Before returning the last Food Saver, we decided to do a few more.

We had a lot of the items already but had to get some dehydrated corn, peppers and celery. Luckily our Wal-Mart carries some food storage items like these.


We measured our ingredients...

Hooked the jars up to the Food Saver...

And ended up with a bunch of soup. We even dry packed the extra dehydrated foods.

I had a dream after this that brown sugar was on sale and I bought a ton so I could dry pack it and store it forever. Too bad it was only a dream.

Last few months...in photos

Playing in the snow.


Cora and Ryan

Cleod, ready for lazor tag.

Ryan.

Grant getting ready.

Cora playing computer with Daddy.

Grant "helping" with dinner.

Cora and her cousin Garrett on his blessing day. (She was falling asleep.)

Angry Birds cake made by Joy for Silas's 28th birthday.

Silas with his cake.

Cora's new quilt from Gma Aitchison.
Kindergarten registration for Ryan.

Funny face from Cleod...taken by Ryan.

Homemade burger on homemade bun. Yum.
Cora being adorable.

Ryan finished a big boy pizzle by himself.

Cleod and his friend Kyle, weeding the yard. (It was their idea.)

Boys...being boys.
Robyn's new sunglasses. (I haven't had sunglasses since high school, so it was a big deal.)
Getting Beetle towed back home. (Long story.)
Ryan's last day of preschool.

Dying eggs.
Cora's Easter dress.

Orange Chicken and Fried Rice. Be jealous.

My cousin Jodi's son Blake had a birthday party at this fun place called Creative Minds in St. George. Here's Cleod at the "grocery store."

Ryan on the pirate ship at Creative Minds.

Grant playing with the tools at Creative Minds.

Cleod reading to Ryan, Kianna and Leksi.

My 5 CENT purchase. Woot!

Fans drying the bathroom that Cleod flooded. (Another long story.)

Grant holding one of Chette's chickens.

Ryan jumping on Chette's trampoline. Big deal, because he has been scared to jump in the past.
Cora looking up at Brett.

Best Mother's day present ever

For Mother's Day, my mom and dad came to Cedar for a visit. My mom had asked me a few days before if there was anything I wanted my dad to do around the house while they were there. I have her a short list and mentioned that I wish I could get shelves in my garage. Well, a smart father, helpful husband, one ENTIRE Saturday, 4 trips to the Home Depot, and a little over $100 and I got my garage shelves!

Garage wall before...


Completed shelves


Cleod "helping" with the garage shelves.



Yea!


Now I just need 30 matching totes and I'm good. ;)

Cora Lily

Haven't blogged for a while...and I can't forget to write about my sweet, baby Cora.

She makes life happy.

She is about a week away from being 5 months old! She's only about 13 lbs, which is in the 25th percentile. I can't remember her height but it is in the 75th percentile, so hopefully she'll be tall and skinny like her dad.

Cora is a happy baby. She sleeps through the night most of the time. If she wakes up it's at 3 or 4am and she goes right back to sleep after eating.

She spent a lot of her early months sucking on her fingers and her thumb a little, but the last few weeks she hasn't been doing that much. She does grab her blankie and suck on it for a minute still though. It's pretty cute.

Her big brothers are very good to her. They get diapers and toys and blankets when she needs them and they will play and talk to her when she needs entertainment. This is good most of the time but I still have to keep her in sight...just in case.

Silas adores Cora and the feeling is mutual. When he comes home, she lights up.


For the first few months I was feeding her every 2 hours, but about a month ago I started stretching her to every 3 hours and it has been much nicer. She eats and then stays awake for an hour or so and then naps. Most of the time she'll sleep until it's feeding time again, but not always. She's such a good baby though and will be very patient with me.

Heavenly Father knew that I needed a good, easy baby right now. I feel very blessed that she is mine and that she makes life more bearable.

Oh, and I LOVE dressing a girl. Really. And bows. I love bows!!!