Puree

I am trying an experiment. I am borrowing a cook book from my neighbor that is all about adding pureed vegetables to regular recipes called "Deceptively Delicious." I want to try to boost the overall healthiness of our food, so here I go! So far I have tried several recipes and like most of them. My favorites are adding squash to mac and cheese and carrots to deviled eggs.
-Nat

Drawing Table

I recently made a drawing table out of a cardboard box since Pearl has been into drawing so much lately. I tied the colored pencils and crayons on to strings so they wouldn't get lost. The first day she used the crayons, she started eating them. Mmmm.

-Nat

By the way, the silly link to our videos that we posted about the Surprise just doesn't seem to work. To see them, go to these links:

Surprise 1

Surprise 2

Speech Test

I've had a couple surgeries and have been seeing a speech therapist. There is some debate about methods that sound better. As such, I've devised this speech test. Please take 43 seconds to listen to the clip. In the clip I read the same passage of a children's book three times. The order of the sequence is random in terms of method used. Please listen and vote for which segment you think sounds best, from a speech perspective.

Bryan

Surprise!

Pearl loves to be "surprised" or "ambushed." I put that in quotes because in all reality she is fully expecting and wanting us to grab her as she walks by and often walks up giggling (as we pretend not to notice her) and waits patiently for us to grab her. Here are a few illustrations:

-Nat

The Explosion

We had a little explosion last month. It happened in our kiln during one of it's maiden voyages. We were attempting to home-make some of our Christmas gifts, but this little incident cut down the "home-made" by about three quarters. We basically got the kiln too hot too fast and the moisture couldn't escape the clay fast enough. Who would have thought that wet clay could be so volitile? Luckily the kiln remains untarnished, but we document the pot carnage.

The few that actually made it through the explosiong or that were fired at a different time, were able to be "glaze fired," the final step in making pottery. I always love how they go in the kiln looking kind of pale and homely, but come out looking all shiny and brilliant. It's basically a magical process.

Before

After

Do you know what this means though? This means that we are now a self-sufficient pottery studio! Woo hooo!

-Nat