Weekend Joy.

I've had a great weekend. We picked out two lovely pumpkins on Friday and we've taken several walks to admire Fall colors.  I'm almost finished reading Iron Hearted Violet by Kelly Barnhill and I'm at a point where I don't want to put it down.  I read four more chapters this morning before going to church. I have to really push for other times in my days to read other than bedtime because then I only get 2-3 pages read before my eyes drift dreamily shut.

I finished the post about four of my favorite ARC's from September's reading.  It is frustrating to plan a post in my head, finish the books, but not get to my computer all week long to write it.  I have a certain glee over finishing and finally completing the post.

The best part of my weekend though was spent curled on the sofa with Groovy Girl and the dog, watching two movies on Friday and Saturday night. 

My husband and I awarded her 2 movie nights for how well she prepared herself for a recent Social Studies test on Native tribes.  She studied three different times with us and her hard work paid off-she scored 100 % on the test!  My husband took her to our local movie store on Friday night even though we have a Netflix acct., somehow now going to the movie store is more thrilling that pulling it from the ole queue.

Friday we settled in with a big bowl of popcorn and watched We bought a Zoo with Matt Damon as the adorable widow with two adorable children. I don't get out much apparently because I didn't pay attention while this was at the theater so when the credits started flowing I knew we were in for something interesting with Cameron Crowe as the director.  His other big movie, Almost Famous, is one of my favorites.  I teared up a few times during the movie as the family struggles with the mother's death.  I know my family would also completely fall apart if something tragic happened to me. For Real-we joke about it all the time here. I appreciated the teenage son, well-played by Thomas Ford, as he tries to cope with his mother's death.   Plus who could resist Maggie Elizabeth Jones as little Rosie!  We loved her impish look.

Saturday we watched Big Miracle with our favorite Office character, the handsome John Krasinski, plus Drew Barrymore and Kristen Bell.  This is a great story of three whales, a mother, father, and baby California Grays, stuck in an ice swell off the coast of Barrow, Alaska. Ted Danson plays against type as the owner of an oil company angry about the whales and the environment who finally sees the reason behind trying to save them.   The local indigenous tribe is in favor of killing the whales so their traditions are shared with their children.  This incident did take place in the 80's during Reagan's administration yet the arguments are still timely as we struggle with natural resources vs. the natural world issues.

Both stories are based on real events and they were great picks by Groovy Girl.  I have a whole cleaning list that didn't get finished this weekend but I'm grateful for the time spent relaxing and sharing good stories.  How did you spend your weekend?  Everyone in my family is now quietly working on projects which means it must be time for me to steal away to finish Iron Hearted Violet!