Ben graduates from SLU

Ben graduated from the Psychology program at SLU today.  

We had a bit of a patio party for him after graduation.  We never make a big show of things, we have a very small circle of friends.

Just the usual suspects!!!

Ben is going to Wash U in the Fall to do a Masters in Social Work, he is very excited about this as Wash U is his "dream school"!!!  We have had to go and walk around the campus quite a few times already!!

I found this really cool balloon for him and hung it on his door while he was gone.

Ben and Bobby

Ben, Trinity and Louis after graduation, with the Billiken in the background

Family photo

Maggie voted today!!

 Ben was determined to take Maggie to vote today!!!  I think he probably wanted company more than anything, but "yay for Maggie"!!!!  She is officially an adult......

Happy 25th Wedding Anniversary to us (2 years later)

Sam and I went to Michigan for our 25th wedding anniversary.  Yes, it was 2 years late and no, it wasn't Barbados, but we finally got away somewhere after COVID.  It was a nice quiet few days away together.  Ben stayed at our house to keep an eye on Maggie and they did perfectly well without us.  We stayed in 2 separate B&B places, both very nice.  Sam took his bike and went riding a couple of times.  I went running and got absolutely soaked-I have never been that wet in my life!!!!!

On our anniversary, we found a great little place to eat.  The silverware was wrapped in these spider napkins, so of course we had to send a picture back to Ben (our resident arachnophobe)

The restaurant was famous for martinis-mine was chocolate of course!!!!!

It was a tapas bar, and we got some of the best beef tenderloin we have ever had

We stayed outside of South Haven for the first 3 days, in a place with a small vineyard.  It was very nice and peaceful and we almost had the place to ourselves most of the time

We stayed in South Haven for the next 3 days, our room looked out over the harbour

We did a lot of beach wandering, sunset watching and general lounging around!!!!

Walking around Creve Coeur Lake

Our crazy St Louis weather means that we went for a walk on a beautiful day and the waterfall was still completely frozen!!!  I love this fall

I ran around the lake, Ben and Maggie walked and took pictures

Rare pictures of me and my kiddos-I love them both dearly

Crazy St Louis weather!!!!!

We've had quite an interesting Winter, the temperatures seem to go up and down each week and we've had snow that has been impressive!!!  We had a good snowfall at the beginning of February, and of course almost everything shut down completely.  Since Covid, there are more people working from home and the schools now have experience with remote learning, so they just shut down when there's a rumor of bad weather!!!!

We have another full-time job keeping the birds fed these days!!!!

Digging the cars out is always interesting

We had a lot of rain and some snow today, we always have a lake in the back yard since our neighbor blocked the drain of rainwater.  Luckily, it drains pretty quickly.

Tower Grove Park

Ben loves to go and walk in Tower Grove Park, but I rarely go there (even though it's so close to SLU).  He wanted me to go with him as he's getting close to going to Madrid and planning out his last few days.  They don't have a lot of garden area, but what is there is always fabulous.  We found a huge area of lotus growing in one of the ponds

I am going to miss him when he's gone!!

Still can't resist doing some gymnastics when he gets a chance

Water lilies are always great at this time of year

Memorial day weekend

Ben and Maggie went to Little Rock for the weekend, so Sam and I had the long weekend alone.

 I know I've posted this already, but coming home to new counter tops on Friday night was such a great experience, I'm really happy with them.

I had time to go and get a pedicure, which is always a good thing!!  Sam went out and rode his bike while I was gone

I did quite a bit in the garden.  The strip on the front was really annoying me and so I dug it all up and planted some annuals that Sam and I got from Maypop, it's looking much better now

I dug out some of the plants in the perennial bed, they were getting crowded out and I wanted to give them all a chance to grow equally.  I had planted things that were too tall and it was time to get them out!

I finished get another Baby Grogu and gave it to someone that used to work in the SLU ER

and I replaced my staghorn fern (yet again).  I'll see how long this one lasts!!!!

We also spent a lot of time relaxing and doing absolutely nothing......

Dinner at Ben's

 Ben invited us to dinner at his condo.  He's been eating HotPot with his friend quite a bit and wanted to have a go on his own.  He did such a great job and it was all delicious.  He is definitely growing up, it was a little strange!!!!

Ben's Birthday # 20

 Ben turned 20 today!!!  We went to Half and Half for brunch, it's the first time we've been out to eat for a year and it was great to feel like life was returning to somewhat normal.  It was a big enough occasion that we had to take some photos to memorialize it!!!!

Getting ready for more upheaval

We are finally getting our kitchen and bathrooms done.  They are definitely in need of replacing and I cannot wait until they are done.  They are starting on March 1, so I have been clearing out kitchen cabinets and getting rid of a bunch of stuff.  I feel like I am constantly decluttering and still have way too much "stuff" that I just don't use.  So far, this is the pile that will be going to Goodwill very soon.....

Trying to sort out the shelves in the back so that I can fit all our food in there

Our laundry area will soon be a kitchen area

Totes full of kitchen things that we still need

Honestly, I'm just stuffing things wherever I can!!!!!