30 Days of Wonder

Today is Ben's 30th birthday, and in celebration of that fact I gave him a present a day for the last 30 days. It was mostly small things (a box of his favorite candy, a six-pack of his favorite beer) and free things (arranging a skype date with old friends, a gift card for him to pick the movie we watch without me arguing), with a few nicer things thrown into the mix (like the surprise birthday party I threw him earlier this month). Today was the finale, and the present was a portrait from our friend who is a really great painter. It was complicated to arrange since she lives in Israel now, so getting it here was a bit of an ordeal, but it all worked out and he loved it.

Also this past month, we volunteered at the Black Girls Code Robot Expo, which was a great way to get our hang-out-with-middle-school-nerds fix since this will be our first year not volunteering with FIRST Lego League since 2010. Another first - we didn't go to both Frederick and Chicago for the holidays, since now we live far away and Ben is no longer a student with two weeks off. Instead we just went to Chicago, and my family met us there, for a five day combined-family holiday visit. We had a great time, especially hanging out with our four-year-old niece.

Play-doh party

Family selfie

The visit and the "30 days of wonder" (yes I really called it that because I am a huge dork) were a great way to end 2015. Here's looking forward to whatever 2016 has to offer!