Creative Friday

Monday was a minimal day at school (oh, joy!). That meant that Jill and Landon were able to get here by 2:15, and Lucas didn't have play rehearsal! It felt like oh so long since we had gotten together. (Remember I lost a good chunk of time in January/early February.)

In addition to bringing me a Sonic drink (such a treat), Jill also gave me giant pink ric rac and the cutest polka dot tape! She totally knows what I like.

Lucas is thrilled to be growing! He is about the same height as me now, and he checks daily to see if he has passed me up. He and Landon had to measure themselves against each other. Looks like a draw to me.

Creative Friday is the one time I can have a hugely messy table and it doesn't bother me one bit. (I have a messy table plenty of other times, but it bugs me.)

I had made some salted caramel rice krispie bars that I found on Pinterest. They sounded delicious and smelled great, but we couldn't decide if we liked them or not. We had to taste a few to determine our reaction. I'm still not sure, but my boys loved them.

Eva went home with a friend that day, but she later came home and joined us at the table to finish working on her valentines for school. We printed them out and got everything assembled over the weekend, so I'm not sure why it took so long to just write the names on, but it was quite the laborious process. She was ready to give up at the end, so Jill and I helped her to tape on the last few treats. But of course she had it in her to make an extra one for Whitney!

Jill made and wrote cards and got some good mail packages ready to go. Always so satisfying. I have absolutely no idea what my claw-like hands are doing in this photo.

I worked on valentines, which I have been sending out in batches this week. I figure belated valentines are better than none at all, right? Also, I love wool felt. So much.

Creative Friday

Hooray for Thanksgiving break! We were finally able to get together for Creative Friday.

When Jill first arrived, I thought I was going to lose it. Max was playing piano (even though he knows he's supposed to quit when Jill is here), Eva was whining, and Marc was getting Lucas and Landon hyped up about the next generation of Wii (at one point, right behind us). Oh, and Jack was whining to go outside. Seriously.

Fortunately, things improved.

Jill had wicked cramps, so I set her up with some good pain relief. I speculated that her Advil is expired because they get sick so rarely in her family. Unsurprisingly, mine has a lot of turnover and is therefore very fresh!

I sent her home with a little stash so she could stay on top of the pain.

I started working on an ornament project I've been wanting to try (thank you, Pinterest!).

(Disturbing side note: while making these, I can see my reflection in the glass and I look like Jabba the Hut. I'm not even kidding.)

I find Jill's stash of colored envelopes to be so pleasing! This time, she got us both drinks (hers for medicinal purposes).

Marc offered her a piece of his birthday cake, a precious commodity.

Jill got right to work on her correspondence.

These envelopes are painfully cute! (I had a little thrill when I pulled one out of my own mailbox yesterday.)

At 5:00, her iPhone alarm went off, notifying us that it was Creative Friday. Funny.

She had such a stack of completed good mail items! (16, if I remember correctly.)

By the end of the day, Jill's hand was reduced to what she called "a hideous claw."

And I had made about 4 1/2 ornaments. (As usual, my project ended up taking much longer than I anticipated! Story of my life. I have 12 finished now, though, and on my tree!)

Lucas and Landon finished the day by eating peanut butter sandwiches while playing chess.

Good times for all. (Well, except Eva. She said that if Jill comes over again without bringing Whitney, she will be very angry. I fear she may not recover from the rejection from her "BFF.")

Creative Friday

Last Friday was our school district's Fall break, so Jill didn't have to work and we actually had Creative Friday on a Friday! (It's sad how rare they are these days, and I am always thrilled when Jill wants to spend her time off together.)

She brought Cafe Rio for lunch, always a treat. (I have been really struggling with my diet of late — not losing, and therefore not having much motivation to stay on it, which means it's even less likely for me to lose anything. sigh.)

Landon ate his lunch with us and added his apple to the line-up, which totally cracked me up.

This was the view from Jill's side.

Eva had been waiting for a friend to come over for a couple of hours and then got the devastating news that the friend wasn't feeling well and couldn't play after all. I didn't think she was going to recover.

Shockingly, she took me up on my idea of working on her report for school! She's always full of surprises.

Jill brought her laptop with her so she could work on some computer projects. It was a Creative Friday first!

Lucas and Landon played computer games for a little while, sitting on one chair. This shot shows the part of my cabinets that were finished at the time (it's slightly better now). Don't even ask me how that project is going. (From hell.)

I worked on notes—thank you and otherwise. It had been awhile, and it definitely felt good.

Jill even cleaned out her wallet! If it is productive and/or makes you happy, it's good Creative Friday fare.

I made some progress on my button E. It's not that it's a huge project or anything, just that I put it down for long periods without working on it. (Due largely to other projects, such as the aforementioned project from hell.)

Creative Friday is good for the soul. I sure miss having it every week!

Creative Friday

Monday was a minimal day, which means that everyone gets out of school extra-early, which means that Jill and Landon came over for Creative Friday! I never cared much for minimal days in the past, but now they're my new favorite days.

Lucas and Landon were excited to get together as well.

All I can say is that there's nothing like a photo to give you a reality check. Wow.

I had planned to work on putting some fabric in embroidery hoops for Eva's room, but ended up spending most of my time printing out worksheets for Conference this weekend.

Max took himself to his cello lesson (hallelujah!) and then joined us at the table to do homework. He signed himself up for 5 AP classes this semester, so the poor guy is almost always doing homework.

Eva joined us temporarily so she could draw a surprise for the end of the treasure hunt she made for Ava.

Jill working on her correspondence.

I can't remember what made Jill start laughing, but I thought it was adorable.

I put together these little handouts for my Beehives. (Apparently I neglected to mention that I was moved from YW secretary to 2nd counselor! oops.) It's just a token to help get them excited for Conference weekend! (Again, I love Pinterest.)

Also, I transferred a giant E to this pink fabric I bought last week. I'm going to sew vintage cream-colored buttons all over it and hang it on Eva's wall. Squeee!

Hooray for reconnecting. Hooray for Creative Friday (on Monday)!

Creative Friday

Not only did we have Creative Friday after school on Monday, but we also had an out of town guest! Our blogging friend Rebekah was visiting Utah, and we invited her to join us.

I just love Rebekah. She is funny, and she is real. Best of all, she leaves the most insightful comments ever. On top of all that, she has an unbelievable memory!

I went out to meet them when they arrived. Rebekah was holding large Sonic drinks in both hands. I told her she had lipstick on her teeth, but of course, she had no hands available for wiping it off, so I wiped it off for her. Oh dear. I fear she may never return now that I've touched her teeth...

We barraged her with questions to fill in the gaps in blogging. I hope we didn't scare her. Also, I am coveting her maxi dress. Big time.

Marc joined us to chat for awhile.

On an unrelated note, I think we're all a little jealous of Lucas's birthday haul of iTunes cards.

I worked on my back to school dinner printables and then I taught Rebekah how to make paper flowers.

She, too, makes cuter ones than mine. Apparently everyone does.

I showed them the colors I have selected for painting our walls, kitchen cabinets, and piano. I have a lot of ambition now that the kids are in school. (I haven't started anything yet, but I'm trying to gather my courage.)

I made banana chocolate chip muffins since I had lots of ripe bananas. Jill doesn't like them, so fortunately she had Reese's pieces on hand.

Jill prepped several birthday good mail items. Sadly, I have not sent any birthday good mail in months! (largely because I am out of ideas...)

Jill is borrowing the saw that my dad bought to cut down large limbs and small trees. For days, I have been giggling whenever I think of this sight. We have lent and borrowed many things between us, but a saw is a first.

Creative Friday

We had Creative Friday at Jill's house again yesterday. It's awesome when Eva and Whitney go off to play and we hardly see them for the rest of the day!

It feels almost tragic that now that we're hitting a great C.F. groove, Jill has to go back to work soon. That's just plain wrong if you ask me.

Anyway. I worked on some felt barrettes for Eva and some book page flowers for me.

I may use some of these for gift toppers and I would like to make a wreath out of them as well. But I'll have to make a lot more. A lot.

Jill discovered that these fun size packs contain between 6-8 peanut m&ms. How's that for portion control??

Jill made quite a bit of progress with her correspondence!

I went in to give Eva a warning that we were about to leave and found this game set-up. She told me that they needed about an hour to finish. (I always wish we could stay longer, too.) I'm so happy that they come up with games they both seem to enjoy.

When we were leaving, Whitney presented this bag of Hello Kitty toys for Eva! She was thrilled, of course. (It only served to reinforce her idea that Whitney is her best friend.)

Well. You would think that after years of taking self-portraits together, we would really have our technique down, but then we get one like this. Yikes. (Incidentally, sometimes I wear my hair in a ponytail. I generally think it looks kind of cute when I see it in the mirror, but when I see it in a picture, I am horrified. What the? Maybe I shouldn't be allowed to wear ponytails?)

I'm trying to focus on the positive with Creative Friday. At least we've had quite a few this summer, and we can (hopefully) squeeze in a few more. But I still dread the start of school. Eva will be going to first grade and we could have actually had a block of kid-free time together! So sad.