Weekend Life is the Best Life {Even If It's Busy}

Happy Monday, friends! Why is it that the countdown to the weekend takes forever, then the weekend flies by ridiculously fast? I wish weekends would last longer. Who's with me?!?

We are officially in our extra busy season, thanks to the end of the school year. Add in dance recital madness (all of you dance moms know exactly what I'm talking about), wedding festivities for a close family member and end of the year events for 4 kids, and I feel like I'm barely staying afloat. I thought an end was in sight, but a few weeks ago, I sat down with my planner and realized we don't have a single free weekend until sometime in September. Say WHAT?!?

BUT...it's the last Monday of the school year. Liam's last day of preschool is on Thursday. (Although, if you aren't familiar for preschools for kids with IEPs, they still go over the Summer. It's just 3 days each month in June, July and August.) The rest of my crew is done on June 2nd. It's SO close and we are really excited about Summer Break!

So even if they are busy, I live for the weekend. I get a little (and much needed) break from the madness and I usually get some sleep! This weekend was a really busy one, but it was all good things!

On Friday, the kids and I visited my parents and had our usual Friday night dinner with them. It was a beautiful day, so we spent a lot of time on the deck. When I arrived home, a few friends were there, so I ended up playing cards with them for while before I collapsed into bed and slept for 7 glorious, uninterrupted hours! (Surprisingly, I didn't take a single picture!)

Saturday was my overly busy day. As soon as I woke up, I started running. I drove Dylan to his friend's house then I volunteered for several hours at Bloom, which was a Pittsburgh Moms Blog event. It was a fun afternoon with some good PMB friends!

I drove home, completely forgetting the fact that I had to pick up Dylan, so I relieved my husband of his toddler tornado duties, and took Liam with me to pick up his brother.  Finally, we made it home around 6:30. Instead of rushing into making dinner, we all went outside to enjoy the beautiful weather and unwind!

Unwind isn't really a fair term. Getting some exercise while running after Liam is a more accurate description of our time outside!

Dylan's friend came over, and they convinced me to take them to a local basketball court. At first I said no, because I still had to cook dinner and go grocery shopping, and it was already 8 pm, but I felt bad for saying no to a kid who just wants to practice and stay active. So I loaded all the kids into the family mobile, and we headed to the court!

We stayed until it was nearly dark, and when it was time to leave, Liam decided he wanted to strap himself into his sister's car seat. This little, still under 30 pounds, dude still rear faces and he finds the concept of facing forward pretty exciting!

We went home and finally ate dinner! What can I say? Everybody in our house is completely ready for Summer!

Now here's where things get real! A few months ago, I discovered the joy of shopping at our local grocery store late at night on a Saturday. It doesn't work out often, due to other plans, but when I'm home by that time, I jump at the chance! 

I usually take Dylan or Lexie with me to help, since they are older and can handle staying up later on the weekend. This time, I had a few helpers. The kids took really long naps while Grant was home with them all day while I volunteered, so my crew was WIDE awake! When they heard I was leaving (again) Lily and Liam got upset, so off we went to the grocery store at 10:15 PM!

It is completely worth it! We were in and out of there well before 11 pm. Any other time, it takes me over an hour. But at that time on a Saturday night, nobody is grocery shopping, the shelves are fully stocked, and there is no wait in the checkout line. Plus, the overnight employees are really friendly and talkative!

As I expected, Lily didn't last 5 minutes in the store, but Lexie and Liam were ready to party! (And yes, we have two full carts. That's what it's like to shop for a family of 6 each week! I should mention the 20 boxes of fruit and applesauce pouches that I bought because the store was discontinuing them, and they were really cheap!)

So there you have it. My best kept mom life secret! And the fact that I'm a real mom who goes with the flow and takes her children grocery shopping at 10:15 PM. (Just for the record, my kids still sleep. No matter what time they go to bed, they always sleep for 8-12 hours!) When you have a chaotic schedule, you have to do what you have to do!

My husband's work friends were at our house that evening, so after the kids were tucked into bed and the groceries were put away, I joined them for a few games of darts before heading to bed to watch some Netflix and fall into a deep sleep!

Which leads me to Sunday...my kids DID sleep, which meant that I got to sleep in! I had big plans to write all my blog posts for the week (HA!) and take senior pictures, but instead I finished reading THIS book (definitely a must read), and had to reschedule senior pictures for next weekend, due to the rain.

Although I didn't accomplish my blogging goal, I did manage to get a bunch of Summer clothes put away in my kids' closets, then spend quality time with my husband and kids! It was a more relaxing end to a busy, but fun weekend!

What did you do this weekend?

*Linking up for Hello Monday and  Weekending.