A Restful Weekend

This was a fun, restful family weekend. I don't feel like we've had one of these in a while.

Friday night I went to the local high school's production of Anything Goes, a Cole Porter musical. The character actors were the best--Mooney, Reno, and Sir Evelyn were my favorites. And there was tap dancing. I love tap dancing.

Saturday, we woke up early, and Eli made breakfast of sausage and heart-shaped biscuits. After we were dressed, we headed out to search for a lawn mower. We went to two different places (the small engines store and Home Depot), and then decided that we should head out to Plant World to see what they have there as far as flowers to go in the front of the house. I didn't find what I was looking for, exactly, but I did find some "sun coleus" that I'm going to plant in the flower bed in the side yard, I think.

We went to lunch at Jim Bob's Chicken Fingers, where we found out that kids eat free on Saturdays (score!). Elsie insisted on heading to a playground, so we went over to "Monkey Park" (Municipal Park). There were about five different birthday parties going on, and the train was running, so we rode the train around the park for the first time. Then we went to play on the play structures. After a while, Elsie wanted to swing, so Eli pushed her again and again. Oscar continued to go down the slide, again and again. Finally, it was time to nap.

When the kids woke up, I was still asleep, but I heard maniacal laughter and a sound that was suspiciously similar to a trampoline's springs. When I got up to go investigate and Elsie had pulled the rocking chair over and had vaulted herself over the side of the crib and was in there with Oscar, both of them just bouncing up and down with glee. Silly kids.

I wanted to get to the kids consignment sale for the 50% day, so I took Oscar and left Elsie with Eli. They were going to wash the Subaru. I was an hour off, so the sale was already closed down for the season--Oscar and I went to Target instead. I was looking for planters, etc., just to get an idea of what was available for the front patio area (they have some cute ones!) but decided that I could live without anything, so we left.

As I was putting my cart up, a man approached me in the parking lot and asked me if I could buy him a loaf of bread and some lunch meat. I mean, the man wasn't asking for money, smokes, or booze--he was asking for food. Sure, I could do that. He told me he would wait outside for us, but I told him to walk with us. He put his backpack in the back of the cart, and we walked inside. I asked him about himself. He told me about hitchhiking his way back to Anniston, AL (2 hours NE of here), from Florida. His truck broke down and he couldn't afford to fix it, so he was headed back home to borrow some money and a wrecker from his boss man to get it fixed.

In addition to the bread and meat, I hooked him up with some cheese slices, chips, and a big old bottle of water so that he could refill it as needed. We walked back out into the parking lot and I prayed with him before going our separate ways. I can not/will not say no to someone asking for food. Even if I've had some twinges of doubt since then, I feel like I did the right thing. The Lord put me there in that place at the time, and I feel like I was obedient.

When we got home, Elsie was drenched from head to toe, and she turned the hose on Oscar, who was not happy about it. Eli finished washing the car, and I finished weeding my flower beds. The kids helped, pulling up various and sundry pieces of grass to add to my bag of lawn scraps.

While the kids got baths, I went and picked up some special St. Patrick's Day dinner, complete with green ice cream. Bedtime was pretty easy.

Today was a nice day, too. We slept in and then went to Sunday school and the late service. We came home and ate lunch, and everyone settled down for naps at the same time. Again, when I woke up, the kids were laughing maniacally, and Elsie was in Oscar's crib, both little jumping beans.

So, we took the crib apart, returned the toddler bed to our neighbors, and set up the two toddler beds that we now own (I had a friend with twins that was getting rid of both of them at the same time). Oscar is now asleep in his toddler bed, and Elsie is being tickled on our bed, avoiding bedtime. Soon, though.

In no time, they will both outgrow the toddler beds and we'll probably do twin beds next--maybe bunk beds. I don't know. We have a twin bed that was originally meant for Elsie, but it has just worked out that other people have slept in the bed. Anyway, we'll see what happens.

Cheers!