Simple Pleasures

Do these things happen at your house too?? We have some wildberries that grow in our backyard. The kids like to go out and collect them. My son has been especially fascinated with collecting them lately. Earlier this week, he went outside in shorts and a t-shirt, with big yellow rain boots that come up to his knees. Can you picture this? I have this image of him captured in my mind's eye. He came back in and asked for some gloves (we are talking winter mittens here) to wear so the thorns didn't bother him. So I gave him his gloves. Then I opened the sliding glass door again and gave him a container to put the wildberries in. When I did, something fell inside the house. It ended being a tree frog! It was a large one too. He hopped all around, then finally made it to the sliding glass door. Well that was exciting trying to catch him! They really hop! We got him....my son finally caught him in his bug catching net (which the tree frog really couldn't hop in) and took him back outside. We would have put him in our aquarium to study for a bit before sending back to nature, but there was already a big spider in there. Not sure who would have eaten who and I didn't want to find out. So we sent him back to nature.
Later that same night, it was beautiful here. After an exciting afternoon, we went out front at about 5pm waiting for my hubby and didn't end up coming back in until 7:50pm! All of the neighbors in our court came out and all of the kids as well. We have new neighbors next door and they have a son, about 6 months younger than my son. They were thrilled to have found one another! They played really nicely together. My son showed him the snake skin we found in our backyard. Then he draped it around his neck! We just let the kids run around and play. We ate a quick dinner then got them in bed. The fellowhip with the neighbors was great too.
There were so many simple pleasures in our day. Being at home with the kids. Watching them explore. The picture I now have in my mind of my son out in the backyard in his shorts, t-shirt, big yellow rain boots & winter mittens picking blackberries. The tree frog hopping around the house. My children and I running after it, trying to catch it! The excitement and chaos of the situation. Waiting for Dad to come home. A beautiful night. Fellowship with friendly & kind neighbors; sharing stories, experiences and learning more about one another. Having nothing scheduled so we can enjoy these moments.....