Overscheduled Saturday

I have a little bit of a bad habit.

Soccer for two of the four children? That sounds fun!

A 5k race benefitting a local assistance ministry? What a great idea!

A baby shower? Will there be cake?

Nephews' water-slide birthday party? Wouldn't miss it.

Eight hour shift at my favorite place to work? Easy peasy. I'm used to working 12 hours.

The problem is, all of these activities fell on the same day.

Hi, my name is Mandy, and I am an overscheduler.

All of these fun things seem like great ideas at the time. A couple of them (like the birthday party) are definitely no-brainers. But all on the same day? Really?

I've already blogged about the Fun Run. After the boys crossed the finish line, I high-tailed it out of there with the younger three kids in tow, and made it to Aidan and Emerson's soccer practice a mere 15 minutes late.

Some soccer fans joined us at the fields, and I got to hold my (not-for-much-longer) only niece, baby Laurel.

Emerson succeeded in kicking the ball during the game, and otherwise ran around looking typically clueless. Aidan scored 4 goals during the first quarter of his game, and sat out for the next two quarters so the other kids could play. After the game we headed home so the kids could get naps before Phase II of the Saturday that Never Ends could commence.

Naps and lunch were had by most, then Brandon loaded 4 kids, 4 towels, 4 swimsuits, 2 presents, and a diaper bag into the van and headed out to Joel and Uriah's "water slide" birthday party. Not a day goes by that Emerson doesn't ask when she can go back to the "swimming party". The party was too far away from my work for me to get to go. The kids all had a blast, and they stayed at the party until bedtime.

It's probably best I didn't make it to the birthday party, since I would have been wearing the same swimsuit as Laurel.

She would have been so embarrassed.

Meanwhile, I hoofed it over to a baby shower, planning to spend 30 minutes lying to the mother-to-be about how easy childbirth is and how the sleep deprivation is really no big deal, before I had to leave to go in for my eight hour shift. I noticed on the way to the shower that the gas indicator light was on in Brandon's car. I joked to a couple of my friends that I had to leave and gas up so I wouldn't be stranded on the road with my husband two towns away.

*Five minutes later*

I'm stranded on the side of the road with a completely empty gas tank. Seriously. I don't think I have felt dumber than that in a long time. Thankfully, I called one of my friends at the baby shower and her husband with his little gas can came by and saved the day. I was 20 minutes later for work, and no fewer than three police cars drove by me and the little stranded car.

My day blissfully ended eight hours later, when I crawled into my bed around midnight, happy, exhausted, and grateful for have so many friends and family that there just aren't enough hours in the day to spend with.