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Hello and I hope everyone had a great Mother's day! Today I want to start off with a little story.
My parents have been doing a lot of work on their house, and a few weeks back Emily and I were visiting when my dad was putting in a new smoke alarm. Emily was intrigued by what it was, but when my dad pushed the test button to show her how it worked it startled her. A bit later she was talking to me about it and told me she was glad that OUR house didn't need that alarm! When I told her we did actually have a smoke alarm in our house she became so upset and afraid, she thought the alarm itself meant our house WOULD burn down, and that terrified her.

The idea of your house burning down is, of course, terrifying, but I realized that we had never discussed any type of plan of what we'd do in case there was a fire, and what Emily should do to keep herself safe.

So I got onto Amazon and found these two books to give us a starting place to help Emily feel more prepared if ever she is in a place where there is a fire.

First, we got this Plan and Prepare book about what to do if there is a fire and read it together. This book is perfectly geared towards small children with images and music to accompany the lessons it's teaching about fire safety. The book talks about making a plan with your family of how you'll get out of the house f there is a fire, where you'll meet, crawling to get low under smoke, and not opening hot doors.

If you can use music to teach these principles to your kids they'll remember them better, and the idea of a fire in your house will seem less scary because they'll know what to do to get out and be safe.

This Stop, Drop, and Roll book is the perfect book to teach about personal fire safety. Every adult probably remembers being taught "stop, drop, and roll" as a kid in school, and now it's time to teach it to our kids. Again, this books can help your kids not be paralyzed by fear when it comes to fire danger, but instead feel equipped about what to do in case there is a fire nearby, or if they, for some reason, find themselves on fire. The pictures clearly depict how you do each step, and again this fire safety book includes music to help solidify this fire safety protocol in you kid's minds.

These two fire safety books were a great intro to talk to my three year old about what to do if there was ever a fire in our home. It can be easy to forget to talk about these things with your kids. Once we were able to be clear on what to do I was able to reassure her that our home will PROBABLY never catch fire. We don't need to live ours lives in fear. However, if there ever is a fire, if we know what to do, we will be okay.

​What other tips do you have for how to teach your kids about fire safety?

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If you're like me you love fresh salsa. But it can be intimidating to know how much of everything needs to go in it. You don't want it too tomatoey or too spicy (unless you like that). So I experimented and came up with this recipe. It has been a favorite everytime I share it with others. It's for sure a game changer and you will love it.

My recipe is based on the delicious fresh salsa my mom would make us growing up. And also based on watching my roommate Shirley make amazing salsas in college. She is of Mexican and Guatemalan heritage and always made the most delicious food. I don't claim that mine is authentic or anything like that, I just picked up some ideas from watching her methods.

I love salsa made from fresh ingredients and I include only one canned ingredient in this recipe: canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. It helps add a smokiness that I think is the key to its addictive flavor. It also is very easy to make because, after charring my veggies, I just chuck everything in the food processor and blend.

I hope you give this recipe a try! I'm making some today to share with some people from church and I don't expect to take any home with me.

​This post contains affiliate links and we will be compensated for any purchases you make at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Happy Star Wars Day!

May 4th has long been known as Star Wars Day, a day to celebrate everything Star Wars. Some even call the week of May 4th Star Wars Week, allowing the festivities to last much longer.

Now, Star Wars is popular in our family, but every year May 4th just seems to sneak up on me. Maybe it's because I can't believe it's May already when I feel like it's still January, but I've never actually celebrated it despite loving Star Wars so much. This year I am prepared, though, and I wanted to share some ways you can celebrate Star Wars Day, or Star Wars Week, even if you're as unprepared as I usually am.