Extracurricular Activities

Have I ever mentioned that we are a limit your extra activities family. At least that is how I feel when I hear about everyone else having kids in twenty thousand sports at once. One physcial and one musical activity per kid is enough.

That being said, I am starting to wonder if it isn't too dang much. I've been trying to plan out my driving schedule for the summer. It is going to be tight. T has swim 3 days a week at the same time M has to be at dance. So I am working on a carpool schedule that doesn't have me driving to dance on those days. Then there is the early morning violin lessons that have to be squeezed in. And of course, D is restarting dance and his 2 hour lessons start 30 minutes after M's finish twice a week. It's all bound be a little tricky. Right now every day of June is busy. Luckily we are done by mid afternoon 3 days a week. I'm dreaming of layign around the house resting. But we all know that is just plain dreaming. DH reminded the kids that summer means extra chores. It's time to learn to work so I guess I should be the example. :)

Over the weekend we went to the zoo. It was a chilly day for it but we had free tickets so we decided to go even if it was a little drizzly. It turned out to be a fabulous day for it. We got there about 10 minutes after the zoo opened and it was almost like we were the only people there. Here is was the latter part of May and two of the kids had their winter coats on. But it was perfect because the kids could run from exhibit to exhibit without me losing them in the sea of faces that pretty much all look the same. S's new word was habitat for that day but she kept forgetting it. One time it was rabbitat. That was my favorite one as when she said it we were looking at a rabbit. They were a little bummed that we weren't able to see any real panda bears. I couldn't get it through their minds that you just don't find pandas at every zoo.

That afternoon D had a birthday party to go to. We arrived home just in time to get him there. I was so glad that he was invited as it means things are going better socially at school. He was really excited as this was a party that he was invited to without T. I'm glad he is making some of his own friends.

I was one lazy mama that afternoon. My 6.47 mile run and a trip to the zoo resulted in tired legs. So I was a slug for a bit and then decided it was time to clean. The other kids had to do their chores anyway. They were pokey about them and it pretty much took them 2 hours to do chores that woudl take 30 minutes max. D came home and was bummed to find he still had chores as well. Luckily, he's a quick worker when he wants to be.

We then went to a neighborhood party. There was a giant rented bouncy thing and the kids had tons of fun on the slide. DH and I were harrassed a bunch for being overdressed for a neighborhood bbq. But we had ballet tickets and didn't want to change.

It wasn't my favorite ballet. It wasn't a story ballet and well, I like costumes. These weren't too fabulous. I'm also not so fond of the no tights thing that is so popular. I know it shows off their muscles and all but well, it makes me cringe most of the time.

And lastly, we dropped off our train table at DH's parent's house on the way home. Goodbye table! The kids most likely woudl have used it but really we don't need it anymore.

Today C gave her first talk in church. She was pretty funny. She wanted to hold that microphone like crazy. She did, however, speak clearly so she was somewhat intelligible. I was a bit worried because she wanted me to whispier in her ear, yet she didn't want to repeat what I said. She would just finish the sentence because she knew what was coming. Luckily, when it was the real deal she repeated what was on her paper. How did my baby get to be that old?

I'm sure I have a bunch of things tomorrow. I know I need to get a new E string for C's violin. Tomorrow is her first lesson. While I am out and about I am going to try to figure out what to do for this running skirt thing. I went online and found that my size is all sold out in every stinkin' color for the brand and style I wanted. UGH! That's what I get for waiting. Every other woman on the planet must have decided that it was going to be too dang hot to run in pants. So now I may just have to but a cheaper skirt (a la Target) and wear compression shorts under. It's not ideal but it might have to be what I do. I did find one other place that has decent longish ones. But they were 60 buckaroos and well, that's even spendier than the ones I found in the first place. That's what I get for waiting though.

So we have errands to run in the morning, laundry to do and a lot of it (no surprise), then two hours of violin lessons. I think T is going to have to miss his as I can't figure out how to have him at a group lesson and swim team at the same time. M has to go to her group lesson and will leave early so I can drop her off at dance 5 minutes late. If it weren't for them learning the Vivaldi concerto I would skip the lesson. It sure would make my life easier. But she needs to learn this one and so I am trying to work it out.