Friends and projects and driving around the entire valley

I have had the pictures for this post loaded and ready to go for daaaaaaaaaaays, but I've been too sad to write the text. My aunt would want me to press on though (so she could read the post, ha!) so that is what I will do.

We're going all the way back to Wednesday, February 1st.

My friend Elpida (who is married to my college friend Anthony), sent me a message saying they were in Phoenix for a conference and wanted to get together.  They didn't have a car though, so we would have to come to them at their hotel (about 35 miles away).  Elliott and I drove up there on Wednesday morning and met Elpida and her kids, Georgia and John, at a shopping center by the hotel.  Anthony was unfortunately in meetings all day.

Elliott insisted on taking a picture of my hair.  It's really, um, good?

We all ate breakfast together and then walked around and did some shopping. 

Mom selfie

Georgia wanted a silly face.  Elliott wanted nothing to do with it. 

After we left north, north, north Phoenix and I took Elliott to school I decided to go to Gilbert for some errands.  First I stopped at Hobby Lobby and bought this for Michael and one for Nick. 

I ended up having lunch at The Uprooted Kitchen and saw Mr. Chad.  I made him take a selfie, which he obviously loved.  I was going to make some sort of joke about the selfie in north Phoenix and the selfie in the east valley, but now two weeks later I can't remember what my point was. 

One of the things I was doing that day was looking for oval frames for these silhouettes.  We had Spencer's done when he was three, but the frame fell and broke when we moved and we've never had it hanging in this house. 

We got one done for Elliott at Disneyland so now they can hang beautifully together. 

Also, I didn't put these pictures in the frame that day, but I did finally photograph this masterpiece.  Let me point out....it's not the same orange shirt.  Let the organization and skill of that feat sink in. 

On Thursday the 2nd I ran into a former student of mine at the grocery store.  She's been gone from my school and caseload for more than two years, but I still feel weird about identifying her, so I didn't. 

On Friday the 3rd Anthony and Elpida and their kids came over to our house for breakfast on the way to Tucson. 

Anthony and I did our undergraduate degrees together.  We took all of our speech and hearing sciences classes together.  We sat next to each other in all of those classes.  We studied for everything together.  After we graduated he did not go in to speech language pathology or audiology.  He actually works for a company that makes cardiac devices. 

 

After they left Elliott made sure Ginger was cozy and not lonely. 

This is where I found her later. 

Friday was also cowboy day at preschool.  We waited until the last minute to get the gear together and I could not find the cowboy hat anywhere.  We improvised with a coonskin cap.  The cowboy boots also no longer fit.  I bought them at Goodwill in 2013 for about $5 so they had a good run. 

On Friday afternoon I went with friends to a party at Melissa's house in Goodyear.  Jeez. I saw just about every square inch of the Phoenix metropolitan area that week.  It took us almost 90 minutes to get there in afternoon traffic.  We were there for a good three hours, but I only took one picture.  Of Melissa's liquor closet. 

On Saturday we played this new game that we got as a gift.  Elliott's answer to this question was:  "not cut off my ankles and my toes."  OK, that's slightly alarming.