almost spring...

Well, spring is getting closer and closer...while we enjoyed having some snow, I'm going to be glad to have some sun and warm weather back on a more permanent basis. I do really enjoy the clear cold mornings that warm into sunny days. If any of you all read about all the black birds that died in Beebe, Arkansas...and it seemed like an awful lot of birds, here's a picture of just a few of the birds that have been hanging around our house the last few months. The flocks are starting to thin out a bit, but I think we easily could have had 5000 birds just hanging out in our stand of river cane in our backyard.

I had the opportunity to hang out with Chad and the other guys in the band and take some photos of them for their Facebook page. Search for "nowherebound" on Facebook and you can go "like" them. They got to participate in a battle of the bands last week on the U of A campus. They didn't win, but overall had a great time. Rory was hanging out and helping with the photo shoot as well...and had to get in on the action in her rockin' orange sunglasses.

Some of you may have seen one of the most popular iPhone apps in action on Facebook where many of my friends have posted "hipstamatic" prints. It's an app that allows you to take funky photos that are reminiscent of the photos taken with cameras of the same name. You can look it up online. Anyway...I don't have an iPhone, but wanted to see if I could get a similar effect. I found a tutorial online on how to get a similar effect in Photoshop...so you can let me know what you think.

before

after

So, we've recently discovered that Chad has an intolerance to wheat gluten. He was having some issues and given that wheat and dairy are two of the foods that give many people problems, we experimented by cutting out the wheat first. (I don't think he could live without being able to eat cheese...) He's been (generally) wheat gluten free for about three weeks or so and is feeling much better than he has in a long time. I'm thankful we've figured that out, and one of the things it has made us do is be more conscious about what we eat...not that he can't still eat yummy things. One of my first gluten-free recipes for him was for brownies. You can see them in progress below. We even took some over to a friend's house, ate them with ice cream, and they were to die for. If you ever need an awesome gluten-free recipe of any kind, check out http://www.glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/. Karina has amazing recipes for almost anything you'd want to eat, just without gluten. We've made bread, pizza dough, and brownies...and are looking forward to trying more of her goodies.

And since Mama was cooking, and feeling generous about cleaning up a potential mess, Rory got her first taste of a beater. Do you think she liked it? (Notice between the first and second pictures, we did add a bib...)

We're looking forward to visiting with Grandma in a little over a week (over spring break) and maybe even taking her to see Arlo Guthrie while he's in town. I hope you all check out Karina's blog and maybe find a yummy recipe you and your family can try...or share with a friend who can't eat wheat. Hooray for crocuses and daffodils...and hopefully some greens that will start coming up in my garden soon.