You can't cut apples

AND blog, and so now that I'm here, because I just read this great thing that I want to share (this is my latest attempt at a post-many go unfinished and unpublished when I finally just shut down the computer at night) so the apples are sitting in the sink asking... WHO will cut us up to make applesauce while your hands are clicking away?
At the very least, you can talk to your kids while cutting apples, but you really cannot blog. It results in incoherent, abandonded posts, and unfinished thoughts.

So here I am after way too long and it's not because I don't have anything to say, I guess sometimes I wonder what anyone cares about reading. A part of me feels (as I just saw in Julie and Julia) that blogging is more than a bit narcissistic, and that the assumption that you want to know what is happening in my life
(our lives) is faulty at best. I also wonder about whoever is reading. Do I get to talk to you in real life or IRL as they say? Is this the only way we communicate, and is that good enough? I love comments, but then I'm unsure, do I then comment BACK? It seems like a sort of stilted conversation, with pauses that are too long, and the person on the receiving end keeping their thoughts to themselves.
And sometimes, I really wouldn't comment myself, and generally don't. But hey. enough of this.
We had a great summer. It's fall. There was a frost threat last night, and so I cut down half the basil plants, and covered half. NO FROST. but now I have to make pesto today. :)
I read in the Funny Times (one of my top three favorite publications)a great interview with "The World's Worst Mother" and she created this fantastic blog. Please read it. It is antidote to our fear-ridden times and supportive of parents in unconventional and refreshing ways.
http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/

Aside from that. Well, it's hard to imagine, especially for anyone who has known me longer than four years, but my life has been driven by what is being harvested. I put up jam (grape, strawberry, raspberry) and salsa and am now working on apple sauce. We have 22 quarts of whole tomatoes, and I'd like that many more. I did grape juice, which I can't say I love, but better than buying my apple juice from CHINA which is what happened to me the last (and I mean that) time I bought Cascadian Farms apple juice concentrate.
I have confidence that there are organic trees in my HEMISPHERE that may be able to produce some apples, so that's out. Yeesh. China is now the third largest producer of Organic, and now I can't trust that label at all. Plus, when organic means fruity pebbles but organic fruity pebbles, the word is MEANINGLESS. It has lost all relevance to me.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/organic/china40105.cfm
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2008/06/02/whole-foods-organic-food-from-china/

I think I'll go and cut apples, see what happens when I type instead of process my own food! you shouldn't let me on here!
For good measure, the boys are amazing. I started them in swim lessons this week, and they are doing well, but it is hard work for them. Here is the program they are using if you're interested. It's amazing to watch and truly worth the money.
http://www.infantaquatics.com/

Milo has started talking, but unlike is brother who enunciated each word, and was precocious with speech, he's got different habits: he doesn't have a t, d, th that i can see, and says those sounds with the back of his mouth... so Two is goo, etc.
It makes it harder for us to understand him, but I am sure he'll take his time, and then that will change too. other things he says are very clear, and Rowan is really his best translator for us all.
Milo is generally fearless, funny and open hearted. He loves his big brother so much, and will hug and kiss him. He will also attempt to scratch his eyes out though if he gets teased, so it seems just like a genuine sibling relationship to me!
G is traveling a lot more for work, and still trying to have a normal life with us, but as everyone with kids knows-- life is more than full when they are around.
We as always, feel incredibly blessed, and grateful for our safe home and healthy loved ones.
My book club is such fun and so interesting and I feel so happy to have just one class this fall. I'm in the home stretch here, and have only a few more things to do. (comps, practicum, and one more class.)
And applesauce. So off I go to fill the slow cooker and our house with wonderful smells.
I'll include a picture or two of the boys.