Smoke Detectors

Last night, while watching the 6 o'clock news, there was a report about several house fires that have happened lately in Iowa and that fact that several people have died in these house fires. During the report, the reporter mentioned that some of the houses did not have smoke detectors. They also mentioned that some of the houses did have smoke detectors, but that they were not working properly. They went on to stress the importance of having working smoke detectors in the house.

This specific report prompted me to check all of the smoke detectors in our house. I discovered that two of our detectors did not work due to the fact that the batteries were dead. I replaced all of the batteries, even in the detectors that were currently working recalling that the experts suggest replacing batteries twice a year.

Snow

We have been blessed with a string of nice, warm days last week. Temperatures ranged between 40 and 65 degrees. With the nice weather, the majority of the snow that we had on the ground melted away and it was starting to feel like spring. But, I'm in Iowa and spring does not start in February. Winter returned with a rude awaking this past Friday. We received between 5-7 inches of snow. The once bare ground is now white again and the temperatures are once again below freezing.

Once upon a time I loved winter. I use to enjoy playing out in the snow and doing various activities that snow offers. Now, I could honestly live without it. I still enjoy going sledding and playing outside with my children; but I honestly don't do that very often in the winter due to the fact that I get cold easily. I have said many times that I would move to a warmer location if it were not for the fact that the majority of my family lives in Iowa and that I really enjoy my job.

So, for now, I will continue to accept the fact that I live in a place that has winter for approximately 6-7 months out of the year, despite what the calendars may say.

Family Pictures

We had our family picture taken today at our church for the church directory. I was a little worried about getting our picture taken due to the fact that our youngest does not always like to cooperate when pictures are being taken. When we arrived at our church, they were not quite ready for us, so our kids went into the nursery to play. When it came time for our picture to be taken, I went to retrieve our kids. My youngest didn't come willingly and I ended up having to carry him to the picture taken area. However, once we sat down and they started taking our picture, our youngest did a wonderful job and smiled nicely. In the end, our pictures turned out nicely. We ended up purchasing pictures to give out to family and they will even come framed which is an added bonus.