The most important thing about this month is that E turned 13. At my brother’s birthday party, just a day before Elisa’s birthday, they shared cakes from my favorite bakery, Ceci cela.

There are two important things in this photo: the tiny yellow buds on the trees and the paved (mud less) walkway. Elisa has become a giant recently.
This photo I took for Mary Ann, though it is probably soft ball. I love the colors.

What a girl!

For her real birthday we stayed in the city. At the end of winter I feel restless  and this winter has been endless. Elisa was a good sport and walked with me for hours through Central Park, including past the Sheep Meadow. The name made us feel more at home. Just when she was getting tired enough to complain we  found soft pretzel cart at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the Natural History Museum. Louie was with us, snug in a stroller and stayed awake until we got on the subway to head back.

The other important thing about going to NYC for Elisa was seeing Louie.

It was hard to leave him but the next day it was time to head home for party #3 with Billy and Harriet. Harriet’s beautiful cake was very tall and completely cover in swirling icing the color of lilacs.  Also, delicious. We ate the whole thing in a week and we are kind of caked-out now. There was a scavenger hunt too, designed by Harriet which led to Elisa’s gift. I was tired from the drive and sat on the couch feeling like Louie in his stroller and wasn’t any  help. I hadn’t been sleeping well for too many days in a row and then the weather got warm last weekend. We left the bedroom windows open at night and it was glorious. I dug up perennials one morning to divide while the girls did their school work and on our run up on top of the hill I found ramps in the woods.And then it snowed again. No one was in a mood to see that but it melted fairly quickly. Most of it has. At least the dogs are cleaner. 
April is not over of course.