Weekend inconsistency

I was thinking yesterday how our weekends are so inconsistent. They really never look the same. Overall, this is fine with me; it’s mostly just an observation.

We’ve actually never really had consistent weekends, for as long as I can remember.

From 2006- 2016 I worked every other weekend. (!!!) That’s a lot of weekend shifts. About 3/4 of those were 12-hour 7a-7:30p shifts, both Saturday and Sunday. So obviously those weekends weren’t really a barrel of fun….lol. For reference, Ethan was born in 2008. So this schedule encompassed all of their “little kid” years.

My off weekends during that timeframe probably had a bit more consistency than we have now, just because the boys weren’t as involved in all the extracurriculars yet, or at least not to the same degree. We usually didn’t schedule many classes like swim lessons, etc on the weekends, if possible, due to the fact that I was working so many of them. I never worked M/T/W back then, so I usually tried to schedule any lessons and such on those weekday evenings.

Now, our weekend rhythm is largely dictated by whatever the kids have on the schedule. And it can look SO different week to week.

For example, if Asher has a 2-day swim meet, that will literally hog up over half the weekend. For his last meet, we left home by 7 a.m. both days and didn’t get home until after 1 p.m. If it’s in another city, this could be even much longer. Then we usually stop for lunch out somewhere…

In the fall and spring, soccer games and tournaments are sprinkled all over, and the games are never at the same time each week. Now it’s basketball season for Ethan, and the schedule varies so much for these games, too. Yesterday he had a game at 3:15 here in town. Today he plays at 1, but on the far opposite side of town. So we’ll be gone from 12 to at least 2:30 or so, by the time all is said and done.

Some weekend mornings Ethan has to be to work by 7.

On Saturdays, Asher often, but not always, has swim practice (if he doesn’t have a meet). Sometimes it’s at our local pool, other times it’s at the pool that’s ~25 minutes away.

Sometimes, my parents come to visit for the weekend.

Depending on the schedule, there are some days we split up- I go one direction with one kid, Ivan goes another direction with the other.

And then throw in all of the “have-to-dos”, like cleaning or shopping or errands, etc…. much of that never looks exactly the same week to week, either.

All this to say, our weekends are currently very inconsistent. Or, I guess you could say they are consistent: consistently inconsistent. 😉

Another thing: Sometimes, when we have a more “open than usual” weekend, like this weekend, I can feel almost paralyzed trying to decide how to spend it. It’s like I want to seize the opportunity to get things done, but I also feel like we should use it for family time (since many other weekends are just SO BUSY….), or…. I just want to relax (again, because we are often pretty busy)!! I probably don’t do the best job of planning and maximizing our free weekend time, exactly, but oh well, I guess.

Here are a couple action shots from this weekend:

Itty Bitty Girl got her cage cleaned yesterday. All fresh and spic and span. 😉

Ethan had a BB game yesterday (he scored THREE three-pointers and several two-pointers and was the top scorer in the game yesterday! 🥳). He has another one this afternoon.

Then Ethan had a soccer practice at the indoor field right at our gym!! So convenient! Asher and I worked out together while Ethan had soccer. It was nice because I could literally see the field from the weight room. 🙂 It is extremely RARE for parents to sit and watch practices anymore now that the kids are older. We used to do it all the time when they were younger, but it’s one of those things that none of the parents do anymore. Everyone just drops the kids off and leaves. So it was a little treat to be able to see part of his practice. 🙂 (But overall I am SO GLAD we don’t have to sit at all the practices anymore!! So much time back. Between the two of them, they probably spent over 12-13 hours this week at their various practices or lessons. (Ethan had a total of 3 hours of basketball practice, 1 hour piano lesson, 2.5 hours soccer. Asher is currently just swimming, but he swam for around 7.5 hours this week! Plus 1 hour playing futsal.))

Daily Gratitude:

I am grateful for salt that made the icy roads less slippery when I had to drive Ethan to work. We got a little snow last night- nothing crazy, but enough to make it slippery.