Celebrating babies again!

Today we celebrated Dr. Gutti's baby twins on the way! It was so much fun getting together with the ladies from The Dental Office. I have missed them all so much!

Some of the ladies from The Dental Office

Dr.Gutti, Dr. Davis, and sweet little Nandini

 Dr. Gutti is expecting twin boys this July!! Her adorable daughter is so excited and will be the best big sister.  Dr. Davis hosted the shower at her beautiful home! She is getting very good at throwing baby showers:)

 The adorable diaper cake such a fun addition to celebrate the baby boys!

Once again, Kasey found the cutest baby cake.  This twin cake was made by the same lady that made the adorable cake at my shower.  She is sooo talented!! What a fun way to start the week! Four more weeks to go til Henry's due date:) 

Homemade Bread

We are 35 weeks today! Yay, almost there!!! Crazy to think that Baby Henry will be here next month. To celebrate, we made some homemade white bread.  We adapted the recipe from one we found on Allrecipes for Amish White Bread. That website is one of our favorite places to find reviewed recipes online.  It was a super success. The bread has the perfect texture...slightly sweet and super delish.   





 Ingredients:
2 cups warm water

2/3 cup white sugar

2 packs of active dry yeast

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup vegetable oil

6 cups of bread flour

Directions:

1. Dissolve sugar in warm water and stir in yeast.  Allow to proof until yeast is foamy.
2. Mix salt and oil into the yeast.  Mix flour cup at a time.  Knead until smooth.  Place in well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat.  Cover with a damp cloth.  Allow to rise until doubled in bulk (1 hour)
3.  Punch dough down and knead a few more minutes.  Divide in half.  Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9 x 5 in loaf pans.  Allow to rise until dough rises about one inch above the pans.
4. Bake at 350 degree for 30 min.  Remove from pans and allow to cool completely on wire rack. 

Chocolate Chip Angel Food Cake

Lance is not a huge dessert person but he does love homemade angel food cake.  It is not my favorite dessert that we make, but this is my favorite version of angel food cake!  A few years ago we stumbled on this recipe in Rachel Ray's magazine and have enjoyed it many times since...especially with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. It is a perfect cake for this time of year!  It is pretty simple and quick...the hardest part being separating all the egg whites.  Make sure to use very cold eggs to help them separate. The original recipe includes a frosting as well, but we enjoy this cake as is with the fresh berries.

We tested out the new convection oven with this recipe.  It turned out great...again!

Homemade Angel food cake with chocolate chips
3 oz semisweet chocolate chips
1 c. cake flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
13 egg whites
1 t cream of tartar
1/4 t salt
1 1/2 t vanilla

1)preheat oven to 375...350 for convection
2)pulse chocolate in food processor until fine
3)whisk flour and 3/4 c sugar
4)whisk egg, tartar, salt on low for 2 min then increase speed for 2 more minutes until soft peaks
5)sift 1/3 of flour mixture into bowl with egg mixture and fold together.  add vanilla. fold in remaining flour mix into egg mixture in 2 batches

If you don't sift...all these little clumps get in the cake...it is so worth the
extra effort to sift them out of this very airy cake!!

6)fold in chocolate

                                                  
7)put mix into 10 inch tube pan (no need to prepare pan)and tap on counter to eliminate air bubbles. Bake for 40 to 45 min until tooth pick is clean

8)invert pan over wine bottle and let cool

Serve with fresh whipped cream and sliced strawberries.

With this recipe, you end up with 13 egg yolks that are not used.  Definitely do NOT throw them away...Lance and I usually save them for homemade creme brulee, french vanilla ice cream, or lemon curd.  In addition, you can make homemade egg yolk pasta if you have some extra time!

Baby update: We are two days short of 35 weeks.  Not much longer til our little Henry is here!

There are always bumps along the way...

Lance and I always have (or make) house projects to keep us busy.  Our latest adventure was one we would have rather not had, but was pretty much unavoidable.  For the last few years, our dishwasher and fridge have made some odd noises and even a couple of burning smells but continued to trek on.  More recently, we noticed a couple of neighbors receiving new appliances and seeing as our whole neighborhood is equipped with the same stuff our wheels should have been turning. 

Some before shots with the non-working appliances

We knew their passing was inevitable and unfortunately they both stopped working this week...leaving Lance and I with lots of lukewarm food and a load of dirty dishes.  Luckily, we had recently purchased a mini fridge for Henry's nursery so some of the food we could save found a new temporary home!

Henry's mini-fridge in his closet

We spent most of our weekend talking, researching, and investigating brands of different appliances.  We eventually decided to switch to stainless steel and picked out a larger french door fridge and a convection oven to accommodate all our cooking adventures. We learned a lot during our research and after our purchases on Saturday, we had the appliances delivered on Sunday!

The working appliances in their new home

On the bright side, this bump in the road has come before Henry's arrival.  I can't imagine loosing a couple of appliances with a newborn baby in the house.  The great news is that our new appliances come with warranties to cover us for quite a while so I can sleep a little sounder at night!  On the even brighter side, our new fridge left us with one last thing to do...a trip to Costco to fill up all our new space!!! Shelley joined us as we restocked the fridge with groceries.  It's amazing how much room this fridge has compared to our old one.  You can't even tell we went to Costco!!! 

Henry's Nursery

This weekend, we put the finishing touches on Henry's nursery.  We have had so much fun picking out all his furniture and putting things together.  We tried to choose things we could use again if we ever have another baby...and everything is pretty gender neutral.  It turned out so sweet and peaceful and Lance and I find ourselves hanging out in there just looking at all his things.

The beautiful painting above Henry's crib was painted by our talented friend Shelley.  It turned out absolutely perfect and with all the details and shadowing it was definitely a complicated painting.  The nursery wasn't complete until it went up! We have baby pics of Lance and me hanging to either side.

Henry already has collected fun things to display.  The little wooden car is one of the many cars that Great Grandad Henry had built for Lance when he was little.  And this sweet cow rocker from Henry's Aunt Lindsey is so adroable!

I love Henry's little bookshelf full of fun books to read at bedtime!

We tried not to have a "theme" but we did fall in love with this gorgeous Jonathan Adler giraffe lamp and Henry has other giraffes throughout his nursery...but I promise we are NOT collecting girafffes:)

The mirror above his changing table has a giraffe pattern and one of my favorite parts of the nursery. 

Henry already has so many adorable outfits and I can't wait to see him in each.  The sweet little white outfit in the front of this display was Lance's going home outfit and the small white shoes on the side table belonged to Lance as well.  We are anxiously counting down the days til our little man is here.  We definitely feel his presence already...specially when we step into his nursery.  We are so ready for April!

Henry's Namesake

Before Lance and I knew we were having a boy we were coming up with potential names.  We thought of making our little man a "third" or coming up with something totally new to our family.  Then last year our family lost Lance's grandfather Henry.  He was a wonderful man and we truly miss him.   Lance's Grandfather lived in Windsor, NC and since I joined the family he was so welcoming and always made me feel like one of the grandkids.  Lance has so many memories that I know he will share with our son but I too have some I would like to pass.


Four generations of Smiths with Henry holding Baby Lance

Some of my favorites are making and eating his delicious"candy" (which is the most fabulous peanut brittle I've ever had), taking long walks in the nature park in Windsor, and early morning breakfasts at the "grease house" (the best little home cooking restaurant).  Lance and I have so many other food memories from Windsor like delicious North Carolina barbecue, Henry's smoked chickens, Vivian's cucumbers and coconut cake, fresh picked blueberries, and cold Hershey nuggets from Henry's fridge. 

Henry's famous "candy"

Lance's Dad and Grandad on the trails behind Henry's house

Me and Sav playing in Henry's backyard

A few years ago, Henry built us a cradle for when we had a baby.  He asked us to send him a picture of something we liked and he would work on it.  I remember Lance saying..."don't rush...we won't need it for a while."  In Henry's style of course, he called two days later and said it was ready to go.  Just like all the wood work that he did...it was perfect and we will truly cherish it forever.

Savannah testing out the new cradle in Henry's shed

Lance and I missed Christmas in Windsor two years ago so we drove up for some quality time with Henry that New Year's.  It is probably my most cherished visit and was sadly the last time we got to see Henry.  During our visit, we learned all the tricks to make our favorite "candy" recipe.  We took many walks in the nature preserve and had quite a few pork tenderloin biscuits at the grease house. 

Breakfast every morning at the "Grease House"

We also had so much fun going through old family pictures and Henry told us so many stories about the people in the black and white photos.  We spent time spying on the deer that came to feed in his back yard and took a couple of slow drives around town..even catching a ride on the local ferry.  What was so nice about going to visit Henry was the comfort of knowing you were going to see someone you loved and you were going to relax and rejuvinate...not in a spa kind of way...but in a way where you switch to a  slower pace, enjoying the simple things, and taking time to appreciate family, good food, and nature.  There was never an itinerary for our trips up to Windsor, but somehow I have some of my favorite unplanned memories there.   

Lance learning the "tricks" to making Henry's brittle

When I first found out I was pregnant, I had so many dreams about our times with Henry in Windsor.  They were so vivid and I know he was watching over us and our baby.  As we prepare for Baby Henry, I pray that he will inherit many qualities from our Grandfather Henry.  I pray he will be calm and sincere, devoted to his friends and family, and will find something he loves to do in life and do it!  Lance and I will make sure that little Henry knows his Great-Grandfather as he grows up and becomes his own self...living up to his strong name!