Pere Lachaise

We had a short excursion to Père Lachaise cemetery. Max was looking for the grave of French composer Poulenc but could never find it. That place is a city unto itself. We were separated for kind of a long time, and then when we were all together again, Eva complained so much that we decided to just leave. 

But it was good while it lasted.

 

 

 

 

sad shrine in disrepair

 

famed lovers Héloïse and Abélard

 

grave of a French magician with carvings of some of his most famous tricks!

 

closeup of an owl for my niece Bella

 

 

This doesn't look like anything else I've seen in Père Lachaise!

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Finally, we will not regret having come..."

Musée d'Orsay - except not

We took Marc's parents to the Musée d'Orsay one day while Marc was teaching. We waited in line for about 40 minutes, Eva complaining all the while. Finally, when we got up to the register, I decided it wouldn't be any fun to drag her around there, so I decided to just take her home so that everyone else could enjoy their visit.

For some reason, my kids are always saying "monkey rage!" and making monkey sounds at each other. So obviously, I had to document the monkey rage in this sculpture.

And we took this for Eva's friend Riley, who is obsessed with horses.

We sat down on some steps across from the museum and watched the boats for awhile. Then we decided to walk along the Seine. We discovered this whole area with games and things for kids. Also a bunch of little restaurants for lunch. 

I had never seen it before, but there were dozens of businessmen and women going there to eat.

We went and stood by our ages.

Oops. This makes it look like Eva is 6, when in fact she is 9.

I wonder if anyone brings game pieces to play at lunchtime?

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!

one more reason for early Christmas prep

Eva has been sick with a high fever and vomiting since Sunday night, so I have been engaged in 24-hour parenting. (Okay, so I'm always on call 24/7, but I don't usually get more than one call during the night shift...)

Thankfully, the vomiting has passed, but she has the kind of fever that brings on pain and tenderness all over her body, plus the occasional hallucination.

All she wants is to be held. Constantly. By me and me alone.

Here is my list of accomplishments for Monday: took a shower.

After Eva went to bed, I cut out and filed my coupons from Sunday.

Tuesday: quick trip to the grocery store! (Because now Max is home sick with a fever as well. And Eva's alternating doses of Tylenol and Motrin actually brought her fever down enough so that she could sit and watch a show without me. For a bit.)

Marc brought home a new thermometer since our old one died, and I thought maybe her fever was gone because she was acting more like herself. No. It was just down to 100.5, which evidently is great cause for celebration.

Funnily enough, she wanted to stop on her way to bed for "one more snuggle." We'd done nothing but snuggle all day long! I laughed, and congratulated myself for not screaming.

After Eva went to bed tonight, I folded one load of laundry and watched a little bit of Brideshead Revisited. And now I am going to bed, because who knows how much sleep I will get tonight.

Ah. Now I remember how difficult it is when my children are sick. Especially in December, when losing entire days is more painful than usual.