Spontaneous vs. Overscheduled

Last Saturday was "Barley Day", which comes all too rarely at our house. We are trying to allow each child one day per month, wherein they get to pick the family activity, one meal, and within reasonable bounds, get their way most of the day. Barley picked a movie: Monsters vs. Aliens, the non-3D version (Barley does not like anything, even a movie image being stuck in his face). A wee bit sensitive, this lad.

Anyway, we ran into Teddy's friend E at the movie, who kept proclaiming "how convenient!" it was that we ran into each other. Teddy and E sat side by side, giggling and whispering through the whole movie. Barley sat between me and DH, oblivious to all but the movie and the popcorn on his lap.

Afterward, the boys persuaded us to host a spontaneous playdate, and E spent a few hours with both our boys playing DS, Bakugan, and Legos. Having an extra person around broke up the "nothing to do but fight with my brother" routine, and he was a polite and funny presence in the house. Made us wonder why we don't host playdates more often. Oh that's right, because we are insanely over-scheduled! Well, we still need to work on that.

Today was the last day of the 30-minute dash from Legos, shovel in food (can't McD serve any faster than 3 minutes?? This is supposed to be FAST food--we have a schedule, people!), change into cub scout uniforms, and be at the meeting 15 minutes early to rehearse a sketch (did I say 30 minutes? I meant 15!). Phew! That little bit of space in our schedule is going to be a big relief.