City Museum visits

We got a City Museum membership again this year. We went for the first time on January 1, and we have already been enough to pay for the whole membership!!!!  We did not have membership last year and have missed a few things. They are always doing something new.  They have a bunch of these Tom Otterness sculptures and I love them.  I hope they are not just on loan!!!!

I took a few pictures in the architecture gallery.  I think this would look good over our front door!!!!

This is a little scary.....

No idea where this came from but it's one of my favourites

Ben's IEP meeting

I had the first IEP meeting for Ben at Brentwood this week.  They say he is doing really well.  They are ready to "let him off the leash" and get rid of his services altogether.  They don't think he needs them any more.  Of course, he is still behind with some things and definitely needs to improve in some areas, but some of that is him figuring out how to do that.  He is a very good advocate for himself.  His downfalls (have never changed) are that he works through things quickly and then doesn't check over it afterwards.  As one teacher said "he wants to get it done rather than do it right"  That is something he needs to figure out for himself.  We have a semester to see how he does and if he's still doing as well as now then he can change his schedule to get rid of the support.  They suggested that he does an academic lab after chemistry next semester.  It's run by the chemistry teacher, so he can help Ben with chemistry and math if he needs it.  I hope it works out, Ben will need to be independent to move on to what he wants to do.  He still wants to go to medical school.  It's a lofty goal and one I hope he achieves if he truly wants to do it.  If he gets there, it'll be more than I could do....

Not much going on, apparently

If I was honest, my work week last week was so busy that nothing got done at home.  I worked late every single day and even worked 14 hours on Thursday!!!!  Hopefully that's just a one-off week.  I had our department research week, interviewing MD-PhD students, teaching, a seminar presentation, meetings for the dean search and AOA student poster session.  Plus, I had 2 grant deadlines!!!!
Anyway, on Saturday I ran the #4 race in the Snowball Series-a 6K run in Creve Coeur Park.  I had to run it on my own because Sam was working this weekend.  We ran past the Dripping Springs waterfall, it was mostly frozen

This picture of the cats pretty much sums up our lives since we went back to work, everyone has been very mellow!!!!

One of the faculty in my department used to own a flower shop and is really good at arranging.  She did these for research week and we snagged them after the meeting for our break room.

It inspired me to try to do better with my flowers.  This was my first attempt!!!!  Apparently I need more filler!!!!

Is this fashion????

Ben came downstairs in a black shirt, orange and black shorts, maroon tights and orange shoes.

Ben: I need to change my shirt
Me: why?
Ben: cos it's covered in cat hair
Me: please don't put anything other than black on Ben: why? Me: because my eyes are going to start bleeding

He runs upstairs and comes back down with an orange shirt. Then he runs downstairs to show Sam

Ben: let me stand in the light
Sam: stand in the light? You're making your own light
Ben: but I look good, don't I????

Ben's latest growth stats

Well, despite us not doing Ben's GH shots as often as we should, he has still managed to keep growing.

Height 166.3 cm (5ft 5.47in), 39%ile

Weight 53.4 kg (117 lb), 44%ile

BMI 19.4, 45%ile

He is definitely taller than me now, there's no denying it in any way!!!  He's grown 2 inches in the past year, so he is slowing down but Dr T think he could still get another couple of inches if he keeps doing his growth hormone.  She did talk to him about how important it is and hopefully he did pay attention and will keep going for as long as he needs to.  She is getting ready to retire so she said I'll quit when you do!!!!!

Flooding down by the arch December 2015

I was reading an article about the flooding in England to Sam yesterday. In it was a quote from a police officer saying, when we issue a flood warning, it doesn't mean 'come and have a look'.  What is it that makes us all want to come and have a look?  I asked the kids if they wanted to go down to the arch and see the flooding and of course they said yes.
It's hard to get down to the arch grounds these days because they are still doing all the construction around it, but there were certainly a bunch of people trying their hardest to get there!!!!

Maggie has rarely been down to the arch and she has never been up in it.  The line was so long to get in, obviously everyone must think you'd get a great view of the flooding, even though it was a very overcast day.

It is hard to tell just how high the water is because of the construction, but I know there is supposed to be a road and parking under here somewhere!!!!  It is supposed to crest tomorrow morning at just under what the flood of 1993 reached.

Huge amount of driftwood everywhere

We walked up by the old courthouse, I love this building

The smell of burgers made us stop off for lunch.  Ben, Maggie and I had fish and chips (actually, quite successful) and Sam had a bison burger.  Nice side trip for us

Maggie found a screen.....

Noah, get your ark out.....

Right after Christmas, we had a HUGE amount of rain. Luckily, all the improvements Sam has done to the house resulted in us staying relatively dry. We had no leaks in the basement, but obviously several of our neighbors did since there are quite a few carpets lying on the curb waiting for trash day.....
We did have some water come through the flashing around the chimney in the family room, but it dripped into my vase and didn't flood the house.  We had some water in the storage shed, but not too bad.  Sam hasn't decided if it's worth fixing or not since it will all be coming off when the extension is done.
Tilles Park lights closed early this year because the park is flooded.  Not really surprised since it floods every spring in the low lying areas anyway.  Still, I have never seen the water this high up by the playground.

Peace on.......Earth is under there somewhere

Remember the Jingle Bells sign from back in October?????

Yes, this event area is DEFINITELY closed.....

We drove by yesterday before we knew it was closed and Maggie remarked on how high the lake was

Maggie:  I wish it would overflow

Me:  Maggie, we live downhill of this......