Cooking

I used to really like to cook. I know that when we got married I wasn't great, but I've been honing my skills and can whip up some pretty good stuff. Seems like the last few months I've lost my cooking mojo. We've been eating a lot of frozen stuff and really quick things that don't involve actual cooking, but just boiling water (tortellini, I'm looking at you).

Sunday I tried to turn that trend around. I'd seen a recipe for macaroni and cheese with roasted butternut squash in the latest issue of Parents magazine and was feeling inspired. I thought it sounded yummy and I've started looking for more ways to get Matt, and Cadence, to eat veggies. So after I made lunch (marinated salmon and brown rice) and they went down for naps, I got cooking. I roasted the butternut squash. Which, by the way, is great on it's own, but also very good in mac and cheese.

Then I chopped veggies for lentil and tomato soup, which was really easy in the crockpot. I'm a fan of recipes that just involved dumping everything in a pot.

So, at the end of the cooking session, I had two meals that have been feeding us for days. (Well, I'm the only one eating the soup. I think Matt and Cadie are not into lentils.) It was a really great feeling to be in the quiet kitchen, just accomplishing something that filled up our bellies. I had time to think about discussions from church that morning. It turned out to be rather meditative. I've got to do this again sometime...

These are mainly for Dassa

Matt's mom gave Cadie this dress for her birthday and she wore it on Sunday. I feel like I should post more stuff here, and I'm home today because Cadie is kinda sick. Low fever, coughing some, so we kept her home. Anyway, being home I have time to post pictures during her nap. So here they are. The dress looks wet on the shoulder because she got yogurt on it during breakfast. (Next, I'm mending a hole in a sweater that's been needing to be fixed for about 9 months!)

Vintage Cadie

These photos were taken weeks ago, but they are so cute. Cadence was having a blast playing, wearing one of the staples of her fall wardrobe - my osh kosh overalls, which are now almost 30 years old.

Cadence is also totally walking now - she started walking more than crawling a couple of weeks ago. She's gotten really fast over the last few days.

Cadie has moved up to the Ones class

There is big doings for our girl this week. She "visited" the ones class at daycare yesterday, which just meant Matt dropped her off at the infants class and they walked her down the hall to her new class. She did really well, eating at a little table instead of her high chair, and sleeping on a cot instead of a crib. Making new friends and participating in music and art time too!

Today she was not quite as excited when I took her directly to the Ones room. There was a little bit of whimpering and holding on to Mama's neck. But then I walked her over to the table where her breakfast was waiting, took off her jacket, and got her seated, and she started chowing down. She's a girl after my own heart; getting to eat a biscuit really helps in a scary situation.

We had a problem with the internet at home, so no recent pictures until that gets fixed.