...and we're back

Everyone has been a little worn out from the trip.

The dark in the morning and dark getting home isn't helping much.

Megan comes in every morning to convince us to get up and take her down stairs to play . This week she has been much more willing to just lay in bed for a few minutes first.

We came back in time for a number of big events in Kiernans busy social calendar.

All of them on the same night it seemed.

First there was the PTA meeting in which 2nd grade took a staring role.

He was a bit nervous sitting on the edge of the kids and watching Megan lay across all the laps and jump up onto the stage.

He went back and forth from stiff attention and rigorous attention to the music teacher for ques to cutting lose with dances.

Behold part of Kiernan's mashed potato rap dance.

Starting right in the middle of PTA was the monthly Pack meeting for Cub Scouts.

It was the meeting for the Cub Scout designed chariot races.

The theme this year was Star Wars and Sci-Fi.

Last years chariot race event was the worst meeting that he had..ever...period.

He got there and he burst into inconsolable tears after a comment from a friend that he was being discourteous. We left and he was very upset for quite a while.

I feared that after the stress of the PTA performance it was bound to be really difficult for him.

I wasn't sure how difficult. Already in the last pack meeting he was ready to leave a good 10-15 minutes before it was done. We stuck it out but he was pretty wiped out.

So we went to Scouts.

It was hard.

It was also a lot of fun.

The Wolf Cubs made a ship called the wolf star which was not as fancy but was easily as creative and swift...and thank goodness much more stable than some of the others.

I was pleased and surprised when after seeing a few big crashes Kiernan volunteered to replace our pilot (poor new boy got cold feet).

I am happy to report that he loved it and that they did not crash in either of their runs.

He was ready to go early again but we stuck it out. By the time we got home he was feeling pretty sick to his stomach and looking flushed but he really wanted to see the moon. So while he got ready for bed and lay on the floor clutching his stomach alternatively, I got out the telescope and set things up to see the moon.

It was quite cold and he was feeling pretty bad but we wrapped ourselves in a blanket and sat still and watched the moon rise behind the trees. We were peaceful and silent and it was good.

I sent him up after too long because he was yawning his head off.

Once the moon cleared the trees I got this shot.

Its not quite as steady as it should be because I was holding my phone instead of using the clamp thing I got from Amazon but it is much better than the last attempt because my boss reminded me to get a moon filter (sunglasses for the lenses (thanks Jasen!))

The week mostly flew in a blur of angry Facebook posts and intense studying for my bio quiz ...we shall see on that one.

On Friday Megan and I had a picnic in the backyard and once daddy and Kiernan got home we went ice skating.

She has been wanting very much to skate ever since Disney on Ice.

Both kids did pretty well.

Megan forgot her coat. We had it but then she took it out to play with and left it in the house. The same thing happened with all the books we loaded up for the Kansas trip. That girl is my daughter for sure!!

She did so well.

I want to get her some lessons over the winter and am deeply torn between ice skating and gymnastics and swimming.

Quick someone win the lottery and throw me lesson money!

I'm looking at you Nana.

On Friday night we had a cool adventure at work. We took some visiting scientists out to Frederick for wine (they are French this was a risky call) and food and a walk in the park.

It was way more fun that getting work done.

Plus as we worked both Saturday and Sunday this weekend no time was lost on the productivity end.

David took the kids and did the leaves and cooked the meals and did all the things.

He also sent me updates from the field like the one above.

He has been taking so much of the home stuff off my plate as i work extra hours (welcome to q4) and work on school stuff.

He is terrific.

We got our Exome results.

I have been so nervous about these. Once long ago when I worked for Molecular Medicine we (those of us in the lab) did our Karyotypes. It was fun and interesting and led to the knowledge that I have a normal female karyotype. I will try to dig it up to put here sometime.

I am not sure why it didn't worry me.

This Exome thing was for all intents and purposes the same thing but I was freaking out about it.

I was sure that I would learn that I had high likelihood for all the cancers and all the heart is about to stop issues out there.

I am pretty much fine. I have a few unexpected things like a biotin deficiency and something weird with how I see the color red.

I was very relieved.

I had a BRCA scare something that would indicate a high risk for breast and ovarian cancer but it turned out fine.

I was not the only one to have this test done. There are lots of us in the labs and not everyone had reassuring results.

I think this kind of testing is really valuable. I think that it will be routine in only a few years.

Its a pretty big deal though. It is stressful and sometimes you find out things that you would rather not face.

In other and obscurely related news look at this box of all the flavors of KitKat bars at work right now.

They are stress relieving.