Fresh Pear Cake

If there is ever a casting call for Fruit Hoarders, I am SO in.  I just cannot resist any fruit that comes in a box.  I have had this problem for a few years (if you look back at posts, you'll see).  :o)   

It's the next best thing to having my own fruit tree, I suppose.  Or, maybe it is better.  I don't have to pick them and they don't make a mess in my yard!

We have been eating pears and pears and pears since I brought home the box yesterday. 

It works out great for Rachel, too, as she has decided that baby food is for BABIES.  She is a big girl with seven teeth.  Now pass the cut up big girl food, thank you very much.

I have done pear pie, pear muffins, pear sauce and today I tried Fresh Pear Cake.  I even timed it perfectly so my boys could have a warm slice as they came in the house from school. 

Oh, yeah.  Mother of the Year right here! 

(Too bad I am always out of the running for that award shortly after midnight on January 1!) 

 

Fresh Pear Cake

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup honey

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

4 cups finely chopped pears (about 8 Bartlett pears)--no peeling required!

1 cup walnuts, if desired (I did not desire.)

Combine eggs, sugar, honey, oil and vanilla in a mixing bowl and mix well.  Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt.  Stir into egg mixture just until moistened.  Stir in chopped pears.  The batter will be thick.  Spoon into a bundt cake pan and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes.  Cool for 10 minutes before turning over onto plate.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

a way to see in the DARK

My Jason Gray CD finally arrived in the mail and I loooovvveee it. 

(Yeah, I'm still pretty old school when it comes to my music. 

My mp3 player has barely ever been used!) 

 

Jason Gray?

"Who's that," you ask? 

I know that's what you just asked because that's what everyone asked me when I went to see him in concert a couple of weeks ago.  (Not even my husband or my friend Deb who joined me knew who they were going to see.  I'm glad they trusted me!)  He's a Christian singer I recently discovered.

(I thought he was new, but he's not.  Just my discovery of his music is new.)

 

I bought the CD because I liked several of the songs I had already heard.  By some sort of Divine Providence, these songs and the rest of the music on this CD is just what I needed to hear. 

 

This year has had some dark times . . . in our home, family, and friends' lives.  Last week was especially tough on some very special friends of mine.  Ugh. 

As one friend shared with me,

These are the times for which our faith has been given.

 

Amen, friend, amen.

 

Is it a coincidence that this verse had been in my mind and on my heart lately and it is also printed on the inside cover of this CD??

 

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Romans 5:5

 

Good stuff. 

 

Keep hoping.

Keep your eyes on the light.

Even when you can't see it, IT'S THERE.

 

 

 

 

 

Take Me to the River!

We spent Friday afternoon on the beach of the Missouri River. 

Everybody loves a beach . . . and Rachel couldn't resist eating it, too.  Yum, yum.

South Dakota Discovery Center

 

We spent last Friday morning at the South Dakota Discovery Center in Pierre.  The kids had a wonderful time exploring, climbing, building, and learning about science.  Nathan said, "There are TOO MANY exciting things to do here!"  He also loved that he was allowed to shout and touch anything he wanted to touch!

If you're ever in Pierre, this is a good place to visit with kids of any age!

9 Things I Love About My Landen

Happy 9th Birthday to Landen!  Mom's too tired (lazy?) to post pictures tonight of our recent celebratory adventures, so I will just talk about my first-born son and pictures will follow some day in the near future!

My Landen is 9!!  Wow.  It seems like just yesterday David checked me into the hospital and went to Burger King to get something to eat.  (In his defense, NOTHING was happening at that point.)  At some point during the night/early morning approaching LABOR day no less, I declared that I wanted to give the anesthesiologist $1 million dollars for the epidural he had just administered.  David thought that would be a bit extravagant.  No way.  I was sure and still am that that man saved my life!  :o) 
And, so . . .
here are 9 things I love about my Landen.
1.  His smile and laugh.  He has always had the best smile and belly laugh.  He has been making other people smile for his entire life.  One memory I have of him as a baby is sitting in church with him facing me.  He smiled at me and I heard several women behind me making "ahhh" sounds at the sight.  He was a distraction in church quite often . . . and not always because he was cute!  (That part I didn't love so much . . . .)
2.  His love of reading and history.  I love how he can pick out something obscure (like Great Lakes ships) and study every possible detail.  Then he remembers those details, too.  Still, I have to remind him EVERY morning to brush his teeth.  That must not be an important detail in his life!
3.  He is a wonderful big brother to his younger siblings.
4.  He eats anything I put in front of him.  He's a mom's dream around the supper table and even helps me cook and bake on occasion.  In fact, he made and frosted his own birthday cake today!
5.  He has discovered Garth Brooks and thinks it's cool that radio stations are still playing songs from "way back then."  Maybe we'll go to see Garth at the Brown County Fair some day together when he is on his retirement tour.
6.  I never have to wonder what he is thinking.  (I don't always LIKE this quality right now, but I know it could come in REALLY handy if he continues this habit as a teenager.)
7.  He loves to mow the lawn, thus taking the pressure off of me to find time to sneak outside and mow in short bursts over several days.  Now we do it as a team, with him more than willing to watch his baby sister (and watch TV) while I do my part and get some fresh air, too.
8.  His red hair and freckled face.  I always wanted a little red head (and now I have two)!
9.  From the moment I knew I was expecting him (and the charts said he was 4 mm long!), I was completely head over heels in love with this child.  When he was born, I knew for the first time what it meant to be willing to give my life for another person. 

When God gave me Landen, he made me a MOM. 

I am so very grateful for that.

Happy Birthday to the one and only Landen Joachim Melius!