apples and outlets

well this evening, we've had 1 kendalism and 1 near accident. first, i've been cooking apples in the crockpot all day... nathaniel and i peeled and sliced them last night (i'm making apple butter). anyway, i had scooped out some and put it in a plastic bowl for kendal to have with dinner. i fed him a little, he loved it. i put the bowl on a cutting board, out of his reach. while he was working on his turkey and bread (again, no veggies... it is hard to serve them when i don't like them myself!). i got my hand mixer blender thingy to smooth out the apples and as i was pureeing, he aparently wanted some more apples. so, this is what i think happened, because i know where i sat it and it was way out of his reach. he stretched and reached the cutting board, pulled the cutting board to him, then got the bowl of applesauce... and then dumped it in his lap. when i turned around, he had the bowl up to his mouth like a cup. it was a mess, thankfully nathaniel walked in the door so i could make him a bath... and then strip him. these pictures really don't show the mess because it was all on his bib and in his lap (and on the floor and the underside of his tray and in the seat...) and for the first time EVER, he didn't put his hands in his hair when they were dirty! guess he just likes to do that with mac and cheese. haha - not unusual for him to have crust in his hair, in the back and on the top of his head near his crown. (and yes, melissa, that is josh's old shirt!)

"yummy apples!"

note the spoon in the left hand... also placed there on his own.

"more!"

second, the near accident. kendal has been running around in his walker all morning and again this evening. usually when he is in it, i really don't pay that much attention to him unless he lets me know he is stuck on a rug or something. well nathaniel was watching him and he walked right over to the nearest outlet and reached out for it. SCARE!!! he didn't touch it, as thankfully he was stuck on the rug and it was just barely out of his reach.

needless to say, nathaniel is at this very moment putting outlet covers on all the outlets. ALL of them. on a sort of separate note... about the apple butter... i started with 2 crock pots full of raw apples, the apples were from uncle william's trees (picked about a month ago, they've been in the fridge all this time). i stewed down the first pot and added half the second pot of raw, stewed that down and added the remaining raw apples. after they were all soft and i pureed them, i added about a half a cup of brown sugar, 1 tsp of cinnamon, 3/4 tsp of cloves, (supposed to also have allspice, however all i've got is whole - i'm fresh out of ground allspice), and about 1/4 cup of a port we had in our cabinent. this is port that nathaniel said "that is an $80 bottle of port, don't waste it on applesauce!" haha - it did really add to the flavor, though. and i just added 1/4 cup, not the 1 cup the recipe called for... so they've been cooking now for nearly 24 hours. as i'm writing this, i'm trying the apple butter for the first time. these apples are awesome. they are so smooth and creamy... yum! i can't wait to share! (and i do plan to can these and gift them away for the holidays! maybe you'll get lucky!)