Sad to be all alone in the world...

I haven't been very bloggy lately. But I have a feeling that's about to change. Richard is out of town until Thursday and I always get more bloggy when he's gone since I'm lonely. (Richard is in Boston doing the last of his "Location Presentations". All the rest of his thingys are nearby.) Sadly, Richard also took the camera. Which means no new pics and no old pics for posts that I had filed in the "when I get a second" part of my brain.

Here's a summary of the posts that could have been with pictures already existing on the camera:

Deceptively Delicious - I won the cookbook Deceptively Delicious from my cousin Jenny over on her blog. It took me a couple of weeks to get going on it because I didn't even own a food processor (which is key to the whole premise behind the book which is to blend up veggies really small and put them into normal foods without anybody noticing). Now we have tried three different recipes from it and they have all been a hit! (By "hit" I mean no more than one child refused to eat it.) We've tried Rice Balls (with sweet potato and butternut squash purees), Applesauce Muffins (with sweet potato puree), and Mac and Cheese (with butternut squash puree). Yes, they use more veggies than just those two in some of the recipes. But for simplicity's sake I picked recipes with the same basic ingredients to start with. I'll try adding a new veggie each time from now on. Verdict: I love it. The recipes are easy to follow and yummy. What could be better? Some of them are "get every pot you own dirty" type of recipes - but I need to be less lazy about that anyway. Two thumbs way up. My kids ate veggies every day this week! And that hasn't happened in a very ... scratch that ... ever.

Isaiah and the table - Isaiah has learned how to pull out Asher's higher-chair from the kitchen table, climb up onto it, and from there get on the kitchen table. He does it ALL THE TIME. It's driving me batty. It doesn't matter how many times I patiently take him down and tell him why he can't climb on the table. It doesn't matter how I try to push the chairs in so that he can't get them out. He has discovered a whole new world on the top of the table and he likes it. It might as well be Shangrala up there. He's never gonna leave.

Fall Fashion for Four Year Olds - I had some cute pics of Naomi in her warmer clothes planned. It seem that at the change of every Season the kids look "even cuter in this style". You know, when Spring comes and they start wearing short sleeves you wonder how you ever lived through the winter without seeing their adorable arms and legs. And now that it's Fall and the long sleeved stuff and pants are coming out I can't believe how cute they look. I think Naomi looks FAR more grown up in jeans than in cute little shorts or skirts. Maybe it's because some of her clothes are so similar to my styles. And Isaiah is wearing the clothes Asher was wearing last winter! Good grief! Those poor clothes only get a break for one season! They don't even get boxed up in between. Poor, exhausted clothes.

Naomi the Artist - Naomi spends hours each day drawing. Literally. I buy her notebook after notebook which she just fills up in a matter of days. She keeps her notebook with her in the house downstairs or upstairs and wanders over to it every so often and draws for 20 minutes. Then she wanders away for a while but is back before you know it. During naptime I bet she spends at least one of her two hours drawing. She got a "how to draw" book in a Chic-fil-A meal and now she can draw Ballerina's and she is in heaven. The detail is amazing. I just love to watch her do it. And I love her big smile when she masters some new part.

Asher on Repeat - Asher thinks that if he asks me something and I reply "no", that means he should try again with a new tone of voice or volume. The same question can be heard again and again. Once normal, then low and slow, then high and slow and whispered, then high and fast, then silly, then normal again just to be sure I heard him, then high and fast and louder, etc. It's maddening. But sometimes it's a little fun to hear what "voice" he'll use next.