Life Right Now

The end of the school year is always straight up craziness. Final projects, exams, recitals, parties, and for Moya and me (this year) a springtime cold/flu bug. Things are finally settling down a bit, though, Moya would disagree as she still has one more week of school and her finals, but I'm actually able to sit down and type up a blog post. The first in over a month.

Allan and I have been enjoying this spring by getting in lots of walks. This photo was taken over a month ago at Reeds Lake, one of our favorite places in town.

We don't always walk down to Crazy Charlie's for fries when we visit Reeds Lake, but it's a fun treat every once in a while.

I'm really enjoying my Mother's Day gift, and I've gotten lots of great bird photos to paint from, but I've got to tell you, I had no idea how fast the birds would empty this feeder. One day. One! Sadly, it spends much more time empty than full of seed.

Allan chaperoned Elijah's field trip to Chicago. They had so much fun. The museum of Science & Industry, Willis Tower, The Bean, Giordano's pizza for dinner, and a historical boat tour of the city. All in one day. They were so exhausted.

This girl has been enjoying the warm weather as much as she can, even doing her homework outside. Yes, that's our field of dandelions, er, backyard I mean.

 Elijah had a belt test a couple weeks ago. This was his first weapons test. He was awesome.

Now he is a Green Deputy. Only two and a half more years to first degree Black Belt status.

Elijah turned twelve on Sunday. Twelve. Sigh.

He always chooses donuts for his birthday. Since we are all gluten and dairy free I decided to make them this year. I added some strawberry puree to the batter and drizzled them with strawberry glaze. Yum. They were a success...which is not always the case when baking gluten free. ;-)