Family Friday.... A Simple Pleasure in my Not so Simple Life

 I would definitely not consider my life to be simple.  With a husband, three children, five pets, and a home to care for.... and oh, yeah, myself has to be fitted in there somewhere too!!  But this last week or so has been a little more hectic than usual...  Mother's Day things, school band and choir concerts, doctor visits, 2 kids home sick with strep throat, and of course, the daily things that need to be done around the house that never seem to go away.  Ah, well, such is the life of a Mom!

At least it "ended" on a high note.   Yesterday, I went with with my daughter on her class field trip to Forest Glen, a county park and nature preserve in Illinois.  I was a beautiful day, spent in a beautiful area, with my lovely little girl.  We learned some new things about the animals native to the area, got to see the inside of a working beehive in the nature center, then got to walk through the woods on about 3 miles worth of trails.  And of course, we captured a few of those sights with the camera.

On the hike, she showed her wonderful caring nature yet again.  I have asthma, and several parts of the trails were uphill and mildly rugged.  When added to the fact that I am not "as young as I used to be"... lol (actually translated as "I'm way out of shape after 3 pregnancies and several years of battling depression...")  Well, I tended to get winded fairly easily.  And my daughter, knowing this, kept asking me if I was ok and if I needed to stop and rest.  Plus, she and a few of her friends stayed back with me and another mom who has asthma as well as several other medical issues even when we fell way behind the group.  Now part of that, obviously, is because she is the middle child and very attached to mom.  But I still appreciated the concern she showed me (as well as the other mom) in making sure we were ok and going the slower pace when she could have gone much faster with the group.  She really is such a sweetheart.  She even stopped to wait when I would pause to take a picture, or when one of her friends stopped to investigate something interesting.  I am so proud of her, and days like this remind me why.  She has such a soft heart, and I thoroughly enjoyed my day with her.

Tired as we were after the field trip, the day was still not over.  She rode home with me rather than on the bus, and had to accompany me to my doctor's appointment for a checkup.  She was quite patient throughout.  And of course she got to joke with the doctor about getting to come and see her when she wasn't sick -- which of course we all found funny because she had just been in a few days before being treated for strep throat and finding out she would have to get her tonsils taken out this summer. 

Then it was off to the pharmacy to wait for prescriptions that took longer than usual as they were for some reason extra busy.  So we did some mother/daughter "dream" shopping, browsing through clothes and shoes and  home decor and gardening supplies.   After finally checking out we headed home by way of McDonalds for a favorite late-afternoon snack......milkshakes!

But our adventures for the day were still not done.  We were home long enough to pick up my older son and my husband's shirt, then off to the theater we went.  You see, my husband works a few hours every other weekend at a small local theater, so we have our "family movie nights" there.  So last night our adventures took us to see Spiderman 3.  My youngest son (who went to work with my husband since he couldn't go to school due to strep throat on Friday) was thrilled with this arrangement.  He is quite a superhero fan.... his favorites being spiderman and batman.  And since he and my daughter were very tired after the long day, they both had to "lay" on mom through part of the movie (because mom makes a good pillow I guess, lol!)  So, as I watched spiderman battle evil yet again, I got to enjoy "cuddle time"  with two of my babies (who are 7 and 9!)

 The movie over, we stayed to help clean up the theater.  But since no one had had a chance to eat dinner yet, I went to get pizza and brought it back to the theater.  My husband put in a DVD and we all got our pizza.  Then came the fabulous ending to a fun-filled family day.  We sat down to share a private showing of an episode of season 1 of the Muppet Show on the "big screen" while enjoying our pepperoni pizza!  (Being the immediate family of the assistant manager of a small theater DOES have its perks!!)

Finally, my husband and I took our sleepy children home to their beds.  Finally, after a long day, the simplest pleasures of all...... bedtime prayers, goodnight hugs and sleepy kisses, quiet "I love you"s and kids tucked in tight.

No, I may not have a simple life.... but I will enjoy the simple pleasures that come along the way!