Call me silly.

'Cause I am really.

Tomorrow is July 1st.

And there is nothing particularly exciting about that except that it means one thing.

It means I get to start using my new planner tomorrow.  Something I have been looking forward to since I bought it in April.

I told you I was silly.

Believe me now?

Pictures.

 {Fresh salad greens from the garden.   Just about the only item thriving in the garden.}

 {Warm milk, a sprinkling of nutmeg, and chunks of banana.  A favorite of a certain darling boy and his mother!}  

{Trying to smile through a mouth full.  I do believe those eyes will get him in trouble one day...} 

 {This beauty comes to graze outside our kitchen window a couple times a week. He's majestic.} 

{He delights in a nap with his head covered, but a hand always escapes when possible!}

What do you do...

....when life {or rather a generous friend} gives you apples and pears? {Especially when they seem in need of some tender love and care, as noted by their bumps and bruises?}

You make pear-apple sauce, of course!

Easy Peasy Pear-Apple Sauce

*11 cups of fruit {I had 5 cups of apple and 6 of pear}, cores removed and chopped into cubes.  Don't peal.

* A cup of sugar. 

*A couple cracked cinnamon sticks. 

* Four whole cloves

* A teaspoon each of nutmeg and vanilla extract.   

* A splash of water

Mix it all together in your crockpot.  Set on high and allow to cook until fruit is tender.  Mine took about two  hours.  Remove what spices you can, but don't fret too much.  Blend in batches and return to crockpot.  

Cook on high again with the lid ajar until desired consistency is reached.  I left mine for about an hour. 

At this point you can either store it in the fridge, can it, or freeze it.  I froze 3 pints {or six cups} and had a bit left over for the fridge.

I made a second batch using just apples. It took a bit longer for the fruit to cook, but was just as scrumptious!

Your result should be a slightly chunky, but not too much, spicy fruit sauce.   Enjoy and be sure to share with the  eager drooling babe!  

Papa's the best.

And by that I mean cool.  What could be better than a piece of string, an old wooden crate, and being pulled around the house by your dad when you are one?

From listening to his giggles and watching his delight, I think Job would testify that nothing's better! 

Because I should.

"You need to update your blog, you know,"  my loving mother mentioned to me a couple of weeks ago.
"Really?  I *have* to?" I questioned.
"Well, you don't have to, but you really should," came her wise response.   

So here I am, nine-thirty on a Sunday night, pounding out a few words in my corner of cyber space.
My lack of posts was never intentional. I just haven't known what exactly to write about.   'Cause while life is full and when my head hits the pillow every night I am exhausted, it is also pretty routine and there are just some details a girl shouldn't share with the public at large.

For example, we are expecting our second-born in November.  {That's exciting, not too routine, and worth sharing, more soon!} But...it means that for the past few months, my days have been filled with delighting in my one-year-old, wanting to think about anything but food,  and my social life has seen much better days.  So if I can't write about going to the open-air market, would rather not think about what we had for lunch, gather enough energy to make memories with my son, but can't find the brain power to share them, what have I really had to write about?  That and anytime I thought about sitting down to write, I would think, "I could be taking a nap right now."  And the nap always won.

See why blog has not happened?   Hope so.

But, by God's grace and goodness, the days are changing, we are excited, have much to do, and the energy to do it!  I'm looking forward to sharing bits and pieces of our life again.   After all, I have a budding toddler to give me plenty of material, a babe growing in my womb, and lots of other undeserved blessings to chronicle.

So I'll be here, typing away.  'Cause I should be.  Thanks mom.

{And finally, some cuteness to tide you over till I get some more pictures uploaded....}