No, really....what was I thinking?

I swear on all that is good and holy....I never intended to overschedule my family. We've actually been very greedy parents for many years - refusing to put our kids into the programs that you're 'supposed' to do so that we could keep our Saturdays to ourselves. But all of a sudden, we're in a different league this Fall.

My 10-year-old daughter is in:

- Austin Girls' Choir

- Girl Scouts (She misses half of her meetings each month because of choir practice, by the way)

My 6-year-old son is in:

- golf lessons (for the next 4-5 weeks at least)

- Cub Scouts

Doesn't sound like too much, right? Well, I spent a few minutes on Friday putting all our activities into our calendars (we use our work calendars to keep up with our lives because if it's not on our PDA/Blackberries then it absolutely WILL NOT happen). Between now and Saturday, December 26th, there is only ONE Saturday when we have nothing we have to do. (That Saturday is Halloween.) I kid you not. Often, we'll be in two places - as in: my husband will be on a campout with my son at McKinney State Park while I'm taking my daughter to a choir concert. And, may I just point out that these are all items that my kids wanted to do. And I fully support them. (At least in theory.)

What's really funny about this whole situation is that I'm just now coming into myself and trying to become the person I want to be. You'd be really surprised how much that cuts into your free time. For example, this week I have a meeting with my new career counselor and I also have a board meeting for the non-profit that I just joined.

The truth is....(and I hate to admit it)....life would be ever so much easier if I was the sort of girl who could be satisfied with a nice income and nobody rockin' my boat. After 37 (almost 38!!) years, however, it is quite obvious that I do not want an easy life. At least my stubborness comes in handy because I'm always manipulating our schedule so that the four of us can spend more time together. ("Hey, while you guys shoot a couple holes of golf, we can walk the gorgeous course and talk girl talk! Then we can go out to lunch together...")

Someone just tell me, please, that I'm not totally screwing up my family with the fact that every Saturday in 2009 is spoken for already.....