9 Months

It doesn't seem possible I could live nine months without seeing or talking to my brother, but God is faithful to give us His strength and hope in the valleys of life. I can't say that I miss him any less or the idea of not seeing him for a while has gotten any easier, but our reunion in heaven grows sweeter by the day. Thank God death is not final. Dave says Vinny's up there mapping out all the cool places and meeting everyone so he can introduce us when we get there.

Easter is approaching and it's the last time Vinny was home in Maine. He was wearing a blue suit he had made in Afghanistan and was so proud of it. I have that suit in my closet now.

Love and miss you Vinny!

Evidence

Spring in Maine is like the mountain lion living east of the Mississippi - you know it's there but you have to REALLY search for evidence. Some people don't think it exists, but I went out looking for it anyway. Enjoy ~

This is our walk in reverse -


the harbor path is no longer covered with snow

Harbor beach is still empty

the river is raging

floats are getting ready to go into the harbor

boats are too

the floats are starting to stink from the warmer weather

Harbor is still quiet

melted snow banks reveal broken fences

the village is sleepy


green grass??!! what's that?

rain and melting snow means lots of water

more water and mud

more water and mud

Flowers Yah!

flowers

my neighbor's greening grass

Pictures April 6 & 7

Getting ready to go out today


Henry's hair

some tummy time

Henry's Three Weeks Old

Our first outing as a family to a restaurant (3 weeks old)

Daddy & Henry at the restaurant

Three weeks old today

Cheese Danishes

Tuesday Night I made Ina Garten's (Barefoot Contessa) Cheese Danishes. They are very easy to make and very good. I'm really not supposed to be eating any of the ingredients because Henry might have an intolerance to some things (I just found out that day) through what I'm eating, but I already had the ingredients and had planned to make them. They are my grandmother Pease's favorite, so I gave a two to her so there would be less to eat here. I think they taste better at room temperature.

**Easy Cheese Danish**

8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
2 extra large egg yolks, at room temperature
2 T ricotta cheese
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 - 1 T grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
2 sheets (1 box) frozen puff pastry, defrosted
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash
*************************
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Place the cream cheese & sugar in bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment and cream together on low speed until smooth. With the mixer still on low, add the egg yolks, ricotta, vanilla, salt, and lemon zest and mix until just combined. Don't whip!

Unfold one sheet of pastry onto a lightly floured board and roll it slightly with a floured rolling pin until it's a 10x10 inch square. Cut the sheet into quarters. Place a heaping tablespoon of cheese filling into the middle of each of the 4 squares. Brush the border of each pastry with egg wash and fold two opposite corners to the center, brushing and overlapping the corners of each pastry so they firmly stick together. Brush the top of the pastries with egg wash. Place the pastries on the prepared sheet pan. Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry and refrigerate the filled Danish for 15 minutes.

Bake the puff pastries for about 20 minutes, rotating the pan once during baking, until puffed and brown. Serve warm.


Makes 8 Danish

First Day of April

Henry's Firsts in Pictures

Henry at his first dr.'s appointment March 31, 2009

Getting ready to go to the Doctor - not very happy

First time in church - very comfy in a sling with mom March 29, 2009

On the way to his first church service

Hanging out with daddy in bed

Henry went to the cleaners for the first time yesterday as well. The customers have been so kind inquiring about Henry and so many of them have even given him gifts. It was nice that a few of them got to see him yesterday. We ran into Scott (the scarecrow on the Halloween blog) and Kelly (his worker and the wicked witch of the west on the Halloween blog). They were so happy to see Henry. As much as I am still adjusting to being a mom and couldn't handle working right now, it made me miss our customers.

I had my two week appointment on Monday and found out that everyone in my Centering Pregnancy class has given birth now. Everyone went into labor before or on their due date. We are having a baby reunion in the middle of April and will post pictures of the babies. Henry was not the smallest because the girl due in mid April got induced the end of March and her baby was only 11 oz smaller than Henry. I'm sure she's glad she got induced if she had almost three weeks to go!