Winter Weekend

It was a wonderful winter weekend here, with ice skating, kung fu, and church.  Plus lots of Legos, reading, and arts and crafts.  It was a remarkable weekend.

Friday night found Bud at kung fu, with Sis and me at home.  She asked me to help her with her spool knitting.  I told her I knew nothing of it, but she said I would be a good tool--well, moms weren't tools, she said, but useful people--since I knew lots of crafts.  But we both found it frustrating so I pulled out some knitting needles, cast on for her, and started her on real knitting.  I'm a very novice knitter, but perhaps we'll improve together.

Our beloved babysitter M, home from college, visited with us on Saturday.  We all went ice skating (well, three skated while two watched), with M helping and playing with them, including a snap-the-whip-type game.  Then we all hand lunch and exchanged Christmas presents.  She knows them so well, a Star Wars Angry Birds game for Bud and a pottery painting kit for Sis.  I can't believe she'll graduate from college in just a few months!

Sunday was church and I was teaching the little kids about David and Goliath.  They were, as usual, uninterested in the story, until I compared the two main characters to Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader--that got their attention.  And when I tried to explain a slingshot, one of the kids said it was what the Angry Birds use!  The Bible as popular culture; worked for them.

Afterwards, we went to see Frozen, the kiddos having heard from the other babysitter M that it was "epic!"  Indeed, it was very pretty--all that ice and snow and Scandinavian decorative detail.  And for Disney, it was quite novel--the princess saved herself, the prince charming wasn't, and the icy queen wasn't evil.  I especially loved Idina Menzel's anthemic "Let it Go;" I think the kids prefer the song about snowmen in the summer!  My only complaint is the look of the female characters, all doe-eyed anime faces, tiny waists, and bigger cleavage.  And what was with Elsa changing into a high slit dress with heels in a movie for tweens?!  Oh, well, it's a start.  Though it made me doubly wish Brave had been a musical.

So that's the weekend, minus mention of a recurrence of my stomach upset probably brought on by lunch with babysitter.  So it's back to potatoes and rice and plain bread for me.  I have a busy week of hospice, historic house, Girl Scouts, and the like and no time to feel sick anymore.  The kids have been very sweet over the course of this bug, bringing me a hot water bottle, a get-well-soon drawing, a doll to play with, and a Lego K-9 to keep me company.  Makes me feel better already.