I invited her to join us for Creative Friday this week, so I picked her and her boys at South Towne mall Friday morning.
Eva was excited to play with the boys, and luckily they cooperated!
When I asked Claudia if she wanted a diet Coke, her son Alexei ( age 7) said, "I thought you were off diet Coke!".
One of our self-portrait attempts.
Michelle had this cute, framed photo Claudia had recently sent us out on display. The photo was taken when Claudia joined us for Creative Friday 2 years ago.
Claudia's purse holds a vast array of very random items, this time she pulled out a thesaurus and a dictionary! What the?!
This is blurry, but captures the kids playing the Wii.
Michelle grilled burgers for lunch. I love the way the Swiss cheese wrapped itself around the patty.
Michelle gave Claudia an enlargement of her fabulous Paris flea market photo of French letters. Claudia was totally thrilled of course.
Michelle worked on a fabulous embroidery project using these supplies (the project is a gift, so I can't show it to you).
I brought some tasty chocolate-chip cookies for us, and managed to eat more than anyone else. I blame the plate's proximity to me.
We had some bonus visitors when Michelle's aunt Denise, daughter Emily and their friend Linda stopped by (they're in town bringing Emily back to BYU).
We had some failed attempts at fitting us all in for a self-portrait, but then Max got home and took this one for us.
It was rather comical that we were all standing right there when he got home from school.
I found this self-portrait of Claudia and Alexei on my camera.
Our delightfully messy table.
I provided Claudia with Paper Source cards and a new batch of good mail labels, but she brought postage and her fountain pen so she could work her magic.
Things started to deteriorate for me at the end of the day when the chaos quotient went up. Lucas came home from school and immediately started practicing piano right next to us, meanwhile Max was downstairs practicing cello, and Claudia's boys and Eva were going in and out of the sliding door near us every few minutes!
Every time the door was opened the damn dog had to race in or out, usually before the door was all the way opened, which meant he had to squeeze himself through. Aargh! The boys found the dog's antics enjoyable, but of course it wasn't their activity that was being interrupted for the millionth time, they were just on their way to more trampoline fun.
Serenity now!! Michelle took this picture of me "handling it well".
Claudia gave me this little message.Apparently it was too much to ask for a peaceful day of creating with friends. I should be a well-seasoned pro by now, but I got bugged this time instead. C'est Ma Vie!
**What's the most random item in your purse?
Have you ever had an extended vacation with no car or plan?
Would the kid chaos have gotten to you?**
Have you ever had an extended vacation with no car or plan?
Would the kid chaos have gotten to you?**
Comment Window Tidbit: I've decided I can't take being in the sun, even when I think I'm enjoying it. I ALWAYS end up with a killer headache. I must find an acceptable hat situation or take to carrying a parasol!
15 comments:
Random: my leatherman an pocke knife.
Chaos of any kind gets to me. At YW the other night, we were in the RS room with the Mia Maids doing a sewing activity, so the two machines were whirring. The Beehives were doing a car wash right outside and the Beehive advisor was teaching us and helping them, so she and other people were in and out and we could hear the water running. One of the MM decided to play the piano while we worked and liked to use the foot pedal. As we were finishing up, the Deacons came running in hoping for an extra donut and decided to play the piano too. Although, they just pounded the keys and talked loudly. No one would listen when I asked them to stop and leave.
Sigh. I came home with an almost-migraine and tried not to take it out on my family.
I need a plan. I don't do trips without planning.
You would not do well at my house!!
your parasol comment made me laugh.
i would love to get a letter addressed with claudia's awesomeness. isn't it weird that things like that make us happy?
we finally put a dog door in after living in our home for 8 years b/c i was tired of opening the sliding door for the 2 dogs every 10 mins.
long live creative friday!!
There are some fabulous hats out there that I'm sure would help with the headache issue.
I would not be brave enough to stay on a vacation with no cars. I could do it with no plan, just winging it and finding things to do but not with out transportation.
Kid chaos gets to me very easily now that I have been winging it on my own. I can't handle to noise level.
I think it's so funny that Claudia's boy knew you were off diet coke! Your cookies look so good right now. . . I love your serenity now photo. I just watched that Seinfeld. Remember Lloyd Braun's wisdom: "serenity now, insanity later!"
that sounds like a fun creative friday so many visitors. I am like you I can't handle the chaos either.
Those burger look delicious!
I'm sure if it weren't for Michelle, you would think I had been in a tragic car accident and no longer on this earth....everyday living has not included blog following of late! Yikes! Not to mention computer woes of a major nature that required a new laptop purchase and blogging woes that includes no dragging photos and no cut and paste options...what the?!
It sounds like a lovely day and I love seeing the photos of you all. Claudia is a darling friend and so thoughtful to all. But, I can relate the the frustration of such chaos!
Thankfully, at my house...total peace all of the time! It comes with the age. You can look forward to it.
I am rolling on the ground laughing at your would the chaos have gotten to you question? My life is a constant ball of kid chaos these days, and the only thing that gets me through is a. knowing it won't last forever, and b. 8pm (when they all go to bed). I think you would probably run out my front door screaming after about 10 minutes in my house :) But you are still welcome anytime!
I think you are becoming asian they are totally anti-sun. Well, creative friday was sooo fun for moi, I guess I am not bothered by any of it...but was soo excited for that delicious lunch and to meet Denise that was a beautiful thing. As always Michelle was a great hostess and I did enjoy my stay quite a bit, I am sorry your quotent of noise was at the top....it was a bit rather distracting I supposed. Thank you again, for making me feel at home and in good company at all times, even with Jack....ciao bella
I can't be creative or productive when there is chaos- so maybe it could just be Friends Friday instead of creative friday this time. How fun to have all those people together!
Michelle's hair is especially great and your earrings are so fun!
I would pay money to see you walking around with a parasol! :-)
fun to have lots of friends for Creative Friday! It was fun for me to see Claudia - she is so fun!
You guys need to gather all your friends and do a girls get away! PEACE and QUIET and lots of fun!
I want to come to creative Friday's just for the food! Yum!
Most random in my purse at the moment is ' would you rather' cards. Makes for some great entertainment while waiting...
I would be in panic mode on an extended vacation without a car!
I am trying so hard to do well on the 'swing shift' each day when the chaos of littles becomes overwhelming and there is much to do!
Do you remember that game show where the host would go into the audience and offer money to the person who could come up with some specific weird object out of her purse?
Some friends and I were talking about that just the other night as we were out to dinner and I pulled a full-size pair of scissors and a glue stick out of my small purse, and another one of us admitted to having a very specific kind of underwear in hers for trying on jeans. (she wears a different fabric for jeans than for other pants apparently.)
Fun post. I am so envious of your creative fridays (even if they are filled with chaos.)
Claudia is very brave indeed. No plan or car? At the very least, I need a car. I go crazy with being able to transport myself.
Those burgers look incredibly yummy.
I love the dictionary and thesaurus though. So often I'm out and wishing I had one or the other with me. I just switched which purse I'm using, so the most random item in there is a new razor blade with the cardboard wrap still on it. One of the little rectangle refill type blades for box cutters.
These photos confirmed 3 things that I already knew:
1. Denise is one of the most beautiful people I know.
2. Claudia is covetously photogenic.
3. You really do make awesome cookies.
It was fun having so many visitors, but the kid/dog chaos was getting awfully hard to take there at the end. Just think: this Friday, we won't have ANY kids, at least for a couple of hours!!
My purse is such a black hole of junk, I can't even fathom what's in there.
Claudia looks awesome. Tell her that. As soon as I saw her picture, that was the first thing that popped into my mind.
I almost started crying on Sunday due to the apesh** behavior of my nursery children. Someone must have laced their morning Cheerios with crack, bz those kids were in-sane nuts. Taking shoes off, kicking people in the head, laughing like fiends, spontaneous crying, running in circles, incessant questions. Sweet Fancy Moses. When my Southern friend Val gets frustrated she sometimes says, 'Jesus, keep me near the cross!'
I eventually just gave over to the moment. They're kids, kids act nuts, go ahead, tear apart my classroom. See you next week.
Oh, and I see those dangly earrings, Jill. You harlot.
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