I was a weekend warrior.
You’ve heard the phrase, right? It’s usually pertaining to those elite athletes who spend their weekends running marathons or taking on a triathlon or some kind of extreme fitness adventure.
Well, this was not that kind of weekend warrior per say…
But pretty close. Pretty darn close.
If you are a mom of multiple active kiddos, you get it. Your weekend can surely be much like a marathon or triathlon. The race is just a bit different. My weekend was probably one of my greatest achievements, in both stamina and strength.
I’m feelin’ the win, moms. I’m feelin’ the win.
It’s not that my weekend was any harder or busier than the average mom; it’s all about how I managed the madness, really. Us moms, we are always running around holding our breath or losing it. At least, that is how I usually cope with the undeniable challenges I face to carry out a schedule that is so jam-packed, I get dizzy just looking at it. I usually end up with several ‘blows’ and quite a few stumbles that screw up my time and add several missteps along the way. As hard as I try to equip myself for weekends such as these, I’m often ill-prepared for the race and it kicks my butt as I skid along the pavement grinding a road rash full of gravel and dirt. There are endless opportunities to fall… from the last minute missing equipment, traffic on the way to a game, food forgotten, yelling at my kids for not being prepared for the day, or me forgetting my phone. Just to name a few.
Well, last weekend was the Big-Time. The Boston of all marathons… the Ironman of all triathlons… and I completed it with both the grace of a natural, and the speed of an Olympian. It wasn’t that we actually made it through the jam packed schedule unscathed; it’s really about how I held myself together and embraced the joy in parenting while in the throes of busyness.
You know the feeling, don’t you? For those stretches of time, we are Superheroes! Our mama superpowers are in high gear as we leap over tall buildings in a single bound and fly through the air with the speed of a bullet- and do it all… wait for it…
With a smile.
I really did.
Ah…
Where’s my cape?
I pulled it off, only a few times in my parenting career.
This was one of them.
It started off on a Friday afternoon:
2:40pm- Pick up daughter.
2:50pm- Run to the grocery store to get the snacks for the upcoming football game. (I’m in charge of snacks.)
3:40pm- Pick up son. Late.
3:50pm- Arrive home to pack up one kid for soccer and the other for the pool.
5:30pm- Drop son at Soccer and daughter at pool.
Swim laps for the hour between drop off and pick up.
Strength.
7:00pm- Fly to pick up son at soccer, with soaking swimsuit on and mascara down my face.
7:15pm- JUST make it, and realize I have to get out of the car to pick up the uniforms for the weekend tournament. I did not know this. I had to get out of the car, in a soaking swimsuit and mascara running down my face. Wearing crocs. With socks. (I know, I know…) I walked onto the field in a dripping wet swim suit for all the parents, kids and coaches to witness the wet mess that I was.
7:30pm- Decide to keep the momentum going and take son to the grocery store for a quick drop in to give him the choice of drinks for football snack.
Walk through the store in a wet swim suit and mascara running down my face. Crocs. With socks.
Brave.
8:00pm- Left the store to fly back to the pool (late) to pick up my daughter and arrive home.
9:00pm. After unpacking from the evenings activities and re-packing for Saturday’s soccer tournament, I decide I need to fuel myself for the weekend ahead.
10:00pm-I eat four bowls of Captain Crunch and watch 6 episodes of The Middle until…
2:00am- Go to bed.
Awesome.
Saturday:
6:30am- pack car and leave by 7:00am to make it to the field for an 8:00am game.
9:30am- Fly back to the house to get football equipment and head to football practice until 11:00am.
11:30am- Have lunches packed and in the car running late for second soccer game because football practice ran over.
12:00pm- Make it to the field in the nick of time for game two.
Speed.
2:30pm- Home and packing for the pool, get kids there by 3:00PM.
3:30pm-5:00pm-Unpack and clean up from the morning, and head to pick up dinner and go to the pool.
6:00pm-8:00pm-SWIM 100 LAPS! (Oh yes I did!)
Ironmama.
8:00pm- Let the kids close the pool down and head home to shower off and get son to bed before day two of the soccer tournament and first football game.
9:00pm- Get computer work done, pack for the next day, and manage to pull off some QT with hubs, despite every muscle in my body being limp as a wet noodle.
Endurance.
12:00am-Learn from the night before, and decide to hit the hay and omit the tv/capt crunch combo.
Sunday:
6:30am- Pack car and off by 7:00am. (You know how this goes…)
9:15am- Game over and get home by 9:45am to get ready for church.
10:15am- manage to pull out of the driveway and make it to church on time.
12:30pm- Back home with an extra kid, feed them lunch and pack the daughter and her friend up for the pool. Go over snacks with son and am told I didn’t need to buy drinks after all. Decide it’s so hot that the boys will need some grapes to go along with the cheese-its and bananas.
The Zone.
1:30pm- Take girls to the pool, and then head to the grocery to pick up grapes.
3:30pm- Get home with a carload of groceries, and of course, the grapes. Unload and pack 20 baggies of grapes and haul bananas, grapes, and cheese-its to the car. Make dinner for three girls (Yes, we added one) and pick them up at the pool and head to the football game by 4:30pm.
4:30pm-6:00pm- Watch game. Hand out snacks.
Stamina.
Make it home by 6:15pm just in time to set up for youth group.
6:30pm- Kids arrive for Youth Group. Have an amazingly productive and fun time.
9:00pm- Start cleaning up from group and unpacking from the long day. Start another two loads of laundry, pack lunches for Monday and plop on the couch…
10:00pm- Feeling like a superhero.
Weekend warrior?
You bet.
Just don’t ask me about Monday.
Wow, your weekends sound as crazy as mine and definitely think we both should get those weekend warrior medals. But also just don’t ask me about Monday here either!! 😉
It’s actually really fun, isn’t it? Exhausting- yes. But FUN!! I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. BUT, it would have been nice to sleep in on Monday!! 🙂
You are an amazing mom and so involved with your children. Take in every moment as some day you will look around and they will be all grown up and on their own. What a great role model you are to them:)
YOU have been MY role model for years… on how to be a good parent. You know that, don’t you? I pray I can have the relationship with my kids that you have with yours as the future unfolds. THANK YOU- for leading the way and teaching me SO much. I love you. <3
you seriously ARE an amazing Week-End Warrior, and Week-Day Mama! You do so much with and for your kiddos. What a gift they have in you…and some day they’ll really get it ; )
Aw!! You just blessed me SO much with your words, WPB! Right back atcha, hun. Right back atcha. <3
Oh my! You are a rocking mama!
I still have peaceful weekends, my precious boy is too small to be involved in all this madness! But it’s just a matter of time I know. It won’t last and next year I will re-read your lines, thinking “I should have got prepared for it!!”
Be proud Chris.
Lots of love.
Ya know what Marie? It is SO FUN!! Watching your kids do what they love to do, and cheering them on? Priceless. Going to the pool and taking on more adorable kids just for the heck of it? Awesome. Having your kids be healthy and active? Incredible.
I’ll take it. Even the crazy weekends like this one. 🙂
Okay – not trying to one up you, but this was my weekend. Friday – up at five a.m. to get Hunter to school, to get on a bus by 5:45a.m., to travel to his cross country meet – in FLORIDA. Normal crazy Friday morning stuff. House empty by 9a.m. One hour to meet a deadline, take a shower, and make of list of reminders for Dad, cause I was out of there. Ran to the hospital to visit a friend in downtown ATL, then his the road for a 7 1/2 drive to Daytona, FL. Up at 5:30a.m. the next morning to get to the meet by 6:30 a.m. Hit the road again at 9:30, back to Atlanta, home just in time to see Cammy get his White Belt, than rushed Audrey to a sleep-over. Went to bed at 8p.m. Sunday was more of the same – but I will spare you:). These are the days everyone says we’ll miss, right? If we survive them!
Okay Allie… girl you are the TRUE SUPERHERO!!! Gosh, that sounds crazy! Bless your heart for driving all that way to watch Hunter and make sure he was okay. You’re such a great mom!! You totally one upped me. 🙂 It is a bit nuts with our kids and their activities and goings on, but ya know what? I still feel like there is plenty of opportunity for ME time too. I’m really enjoying this stage of the game. And honestly, we don’t have weekends like that every weekend- Thankful for that because then I might not make it!
Hi Chris! Girl, I need a nap just reading your schedule!! Way to complete it all with a smile and with bravery. You are a supermom! What we do for our kids, right? Your dedication to their lives is so lovely to see. You are putting your own plans aside to fulfill theirs. Yay for you!
Have you recovered yet???
Ceil
I have recovered!! That weekend was nuts!! BUT- it really was wonderful too. 🙂 I’m in the season of motherhood where there is a fine balance between sacrificing for my kids and fulfilling my own separate needs too. It’s totally doable. 🙂 I am loving this season- where I can celebrate and enjoy my kids and also feel that liberation of taking that time I need for me too. 🙂 I’ll take this season over the baby/toddler years any day!!
Yeah, for sure! I think I’m a Weekday Warrior, though. I can do SO MUCH. By the weekends, I can read on the couch if we don’t already have plans. That’s about it!
I have a BIG weekend coming up this weekend, though. I’m scared!!
I am really excited for your big weekend, Tamara!! You are surely taking those courageous steps forward in your career and EMBRACING those moments with such passion!! You got this, girl. You got this. 🙂
I’m dizzy. literally. I need to lie down.
None of my kids have any extracurricular activities right now and I always felt bad about that. but we only had one car for years, which hubby needed for work. Now we have a second vehicle and I think my weekends are going to start looking like yours soon. and I have zero training!! Zero my friend! LOL
Ah… no need for training! It’s like anything in motherhood- you just dive in and figure it out while you’re drowning. 🙂
Honestly- this weekend is not typical. I think that’s why I wanted to celebrate me making it through it! 🙂 BUT- we are definitely busy with the kids both in sports. They love it, and so do we! We are a ‘one activity per kid’ family. This was an exceptional season, because Cade begged us to try football. So for now? We broke the family rule. And it’s been an incredible experience for him! Totally worth it.
Well hello super mom! 🙂 Weekends is when I really catch up with the kids since workdays are usually hi hello goodbye and goodnight for us here! It can get crazy but we’re making memories! 🙂
I rarely feel like a supermom- but this weekend? I kinda did!! Thankful most of our weekends are THIS nuts!! Enjoy and embrace those weekends, my friend! HUGS!
Wow. I remember the days. I’m glad they’re gone.
Thankfully, they are not always that crazy!! But that weekend was a doozer… 🙂 Can I move near you? You could show me how to garden… oh wait, I still have a few more years of this. 😉 Actually- I have several more years of this! *Feeling Old*
Goodness Christine, you had some weekend! I remember one mother from my girls’ swimming club who had 4 kids (including a set of twins) and she never seemed to sit still. I never could keep up that pace, and neither could my kids, so while they did do sports when they were younger we always limited the amount. Both had to give up due to illness or injury and now my 17 year-old does voluntary work at weekends, and the 16 year-old plays a couple of instruments so our weekends are relatively calm. Slothful compared to you!
This particular weekend was nuts!! Cade had been BEGGING to try football. We are a “one activity per kid” kind of family… but we really wanted to give him this opportunity while he was still young enough to have less risk of being injured!!
Hence- Soccer AND football. Soccer is all year round, so we already had signed on for that. It’s been crazy. I don’t like being this busy. BUT, for a season? It’s worth it to watch my son experience something he has always wanted to try. 🙂
As for the other stuff? SUMMER!! 🙂
This is probably my BIGGEST worry about the tween years… all the go-go-go. I don’t have your STAMINA. !! I’m tired now from reading this and need a nap!
OH girl… you DO have the stamina! You do. It will come, just as every other season has inspired you to rise to the experience in motherhood, and endure. There will surely be times of rest too. I promise!! I *chose* to go swim laps, for my ‘own time’ in between the crazy schedule. I *chose* to allow more kids to come with us, to make all those stops for snacks and honestly? Even go to the games. Everything we do in the name of parenthood can be custom tailored to fit our unique tolerance level and abilities. Right?
You will surely be a Superhero no matter how it plays out. That I know. You already are!!
(I thought of you and your book SO much when I said “Where’s my cape?” 🙂 ) Most often, it’s more about ‘losing the cape’. But for once, I felt like I OWNED IT. lol
I love Captain Crunch! That wasn’t the point of your post, I know, but I’ve been eating healthy food all day and now I want some.
You are a warrior, Chris! I’m very impressed that you took time for you, and exercised. Kinda negated the sugar cereal, right? Having a teen driver is nerve-wracking, but it makes weekends like this much more manageable!
Captain Crunch ROCKS… especially around midnight. 🙂 I was really happy I took that time to swim… it made everything else much more manageable…