Perspective

Those of you who know me well should know that exercise has never really been my thing. Up until about 4 months ago, I relied heavily on my good gene pool to stay in shape. Now that the girls have been a food source x3 and my belly resembles a balloon that got blown up and then slowly leaked air but never fully deflating (you know, slightly bigger than its pre-air day and now wrinkled and when you press on one area, it forces the remaining air to blow up another part of the balloon.), I decided that genes were not enough. So, I have begun going to an exercise class called Bodypump and I really love it. As often as I can, I go because it makes me feel better and they have child care. I will do anything for 2 hours if someone will watch my children!

Anyway, so I took the boys to the gym, and then we raced over for Will's second t-ball game of the season. When we arrived at the field, we found out that the game had been cancelled due to rain this morning. Normally, I would have praised the Lord for making rain and cancelling the game but I had already dragged my three children and all the gear that they and a t-ball game require out to the ballpark. So, as not to waste all of our efforts, the boys and I decided to play at the playground nearby for a little bit. I will remind you that it had rained this morning and now the sun was out which was creating quite the steamy evening. Oh well, we were having fun and I was already sweaty so no big deal, right?

After as much of a sauna session as we could stand, we hopped in the car and headed out. Well the boys wanted to get some dinner which seemed fine because we looked and smelled like normal fast food clientel. Unfortunately, when I asked the boys what they wanted, Will jumped in with The Marketplace Grill. I was at first surprised because he informed me the other day that The Sizzler was his favorite restaurant and Dennys is second. I think he is an old soul! Anyway, I thought why not? It is Kids Eat Free month at Marketplace so this would be as economical as any other spot. So, Will, Sam, Isaac, and I went on in to the Marketplace. The boys were amazingly good. I mean they are good boys most of the time but they are still boys so the quiet that was our table was really impressive. They ate well, colored pictures, and even gave me their steak knife as soon as they discovered it instead of first trying it out on the tablecloth. We were a sight. I was such the proud mom. I think at one point my head could have exploded from all that pride. We left without incident not even when the boys asked for ice cream and I declined their request.

As I drove home, I was still beaming so I gave my mom a call just to tell her of my awesome parenting moment and that I was certain that I would be the talk of the restaurant. She agreed that we probably would be the talk but maybe for other reasons that I had believed. She reminded me that I did go to a real sit down restaurant in my tank top and exercise shorts with my three sweaty and slightly dirty children on the Kids Eat Free night without a daddy. Hmm, kind of sad really. I bet the next time I go there, they will have a collection can with our picture on it requesting donations.