Pineapple Pumpkin Bread

Today marks 3 years since Maw Maw died. Of course, I had to hear "I Can Only Imagine" on the radio this afternoon. I do imagine her up in Heaven and wish she could send me a letter letting me know how wonderful it is. I seem to think of her pretty much everyday and lately have been even more so. I have a watch of hers that she gave me before she died. I don't wear it that often but I did today just to remember her more throughout the day. I also have a necklace that I wore that has on it a small diamond set in some gold. The diamond was from her engagement ring. At some point she had it taken it out of her ring and set for a necklace and I was able to have this after she died. I wear it often along with a heart that has a small diamond in it that was a gift from Chris when we got married.

I think of her house and can so vividly picture things like her carpet and furniture and dishes, etc. Funny how I don't really think of the apartment she lived in from 1995-2003. She had a stroke in '94 and was truly never the same to me. I guess I remember the "pre stroke" Maw Maw the most since she is the one in the happiest memories. We still had happy times after '94 but I think I missed the house so much and associate that with the stroke since she never went back to live in it after the stroke.

I miss her.
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On a happier note: the girls "helped" Chris carve a pumpkin this week. Gracie wasn't too sure about sticking her hand in to get out the gunk but Katie didn't have too much of an issue with it. The girls had a good time decorating it with their "artwork." Gracie was disappointed because she apparently thought Chris was going to carve out everything they drew. Unfortunately for her, he stuck with the traditional jack-o-lantern face.

We took the girls trick-or-treating to a few houses down the street and then they sat on the porch handing out candy to other kids. They both took their job quite seriously. It was funny. Once dinner was ready we retired from the Halloween experience and turned out the porchlight. We had a couple of doorbell rings after that time but not too many.

I felt kind of bad because we met some of our neighbors last night for the first time and we've lived in this house for 4 1/2 years! I felt kind of ashamed. Of course, it's not like they'd come to introduce themselves to us either but we should have been more proactive in meeting them. One of them had just moved in about a month ago because the older man living in the house had passed away. I didn't even know that! I have a new resolve to be better about knowing who they are.
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I made some 'Pineapple Pumpkin Bread' yesterday from 'Cooking with Paula Deen.' It was really good! Here is the recipe if you'd like to try it:

Pineapple Pumpkin Bread
Makes 2 loaves

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
4 large eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 16 oz. can pumpkin
1 8 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour 2 (9x5 inch) loaf pans.
In a large bowl, combine flour and next 7 ingredients. Add eggs and oil; beat well. Stir in pumpkin, pineapple and pecans,
Pour batter evenly into prepared pans. Bake 35 to 40 minutes, or until a tester inserted in center comes out clean.

I kept some for us and sent some to Mrs. Stauffer. I like to send a little goodie to her from time to time. I try to show appreciation since I know how hard she works! I will be making this again; I really liked it!