Lately I've been feeling a bit over-scheduled. We've had a few weekends in a row where we've had morning and afternoon plans for both days of the weekend, if not a marathon string of events. It's all my own fault, as I could easily say no to something. But with little available free time during the week, and the alternative being bored kids who just want to watch TV, it seems better to be keeping busy.
Last weekend, we decided to take the kids to the Institute of Contemporary Art for their free, kid-friendly "ICA Playdate" series. We had a great time taking Hannah to the same event a couple years ago. The museum itself is gorgeous, with it's view and giant glass elevator. The permanent collection though is rather small and, at this time, wasn't all that kid friendly. It seems that this event has become more popular as well (can you do better than indoors and free during a 10 degree day?), which meant everything was terribly overcrowded. So it wasn't the greatest outing, but I'm glad we tried. We'll definitely head back to the ICA when the kids get older, and go on a day when you have to pay the price of admission.
Sunday was jam packed. I first ran to Rosenfeld's, our favorite bagel shop, to pick up breakfast. Then Marc took Hannah to religious school and attended a special tefillin minyan. I brought Max to synagogue an hour later to attend a Tu Bishvat event for the under 5 crowd. Max didn't actually get involved in the activities, but Marc and I had fun catching up with everyone. Marc took Max home while I picked up Hannah and we picked up some lunch for everyone. After lunch I spent an hour trying to convince Max to nap while Marc did a fast grocery run, then Marc actually got him to nap while I took Hannah to a play date that ended up being fun for both of us. Unfortunately we had to leave early to attend a concert by Josh Nelson, a Jewish musician, back at our synagogue. The concert was great though, so we were glad we made the effort. Afterward Marc left the three of us to attend another event so I got the kids dinner, had a little dance party and then got everyone off to bed. A long, but fun day!
This coming weekend looks crazy too - Max has two birthday parties, Hannah has a play date, we need to go buy her a flower girl dress, religious school, and the kids and I are being filmed as part of a synagogue project on the descendants of Holocaust survivors. I'm tired just thinking about it!
So, are your weekends like this too? If not, how are you doing it differently?
