A weekend in retrospect

I suppose that some could argue that since I stay home, every day is a weekend day for me (ask any SAHM and she'll tell you the truth!) but in reality, the weekend to me is the time I get to spend with my family.  I do enjoy some of the quiet time I get during the weekdays but I much prefer having my brood home.

Friday night is pizza night in our family.  I make my pizza dough from scratch (I make enough for four pizzas so I only have to make it every other week) and we nosh on cheese (for the girls & I) and pepperoni (for the boys).  Sometimes we do movies on Friday nights, others it's game night.  This past Friday night was girls night in for my baby girl and I.  We did manicures, pedicures and wallowed in girlie emotion while watching Sweet Home Alabama.  I love the fact that Annika is getting old enough to enjoy non-animated movies with me.  We've watched Diary of a Mad Black Woman (and she learned what sort of treatment one should NEVER put up with from a man), The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (where we sobbed together and she learned of the hatred some humans can harbor for others), and The Help (where she learned that it wasn't too long ago in our American history where humans were treated less than human solely based on the color of their skin).  I love how she asks questions and really thinks about my answers.  It's amazing to me to see the young woman she is growing into.  

Saturday was a pretty quiet day.  Hubby had a big Honey-Do list and Ani and I had shopping to do for Halloween costumes and craft items to stock up on.  Of course, in the fall, Saturdays are also college football days but we managed to fit in a viewing of The Avengers in between two key games.  I almost regret not seeing that in the theater!  I  had been pretty unimpressed with Thor, Captain America & the second Iron Man so I stayed back from the theater viewing back in May.  

As always, church was uplifting and refreshing on Sunday morning.  I love our church.  Even though it could be termed a "mega" church, I love the familiarity there, the friendliness and the diversity.  We have an amazing church family.  After church on Sunday, Annika & I headed downtown for our first viewing of ArtPrize 2012.  In the years since I've moved to Grand Rapids, it truly has grown into a city I am proud to call home.  When I first moved here, I was appalled at the lack of a big city, the unimpressive food choices and lack of museums and big zoos.  The restaurant selection in town now is wonderful and our city outdoes itself with ArtPrize, which just happens to be the world's largest art competition.  There are art pieces on display on the city streets and in several of our downtown buildings.  Here are just a few pictures of the exhibits we saw this weekend.

And our very favorite piece, Song of Lift

It spun around, with the little mechanical "birds" lifting their translucent wings with a wonderful light and musical show included.  This piece is one of the top 10 and will hopefully win after voting is completed.

I finished off my Sunday with an awesome fried chicken dinner, football on the couch with my hubs and way too much time on Pinterest plotting out my next few projects.  I hope everyone else had a weekend as wonderful as mine!