too much fun, or just too much?

I haven't updated our blog in a couple weeks because we have simply been too busy to report on what it is we're doing. People who facebook me know what I'm up to, but the Grandmas are probably suffering for some details and some pics.

I can't decide if we've been having too much fun or if things have just been too much. I had such a tumultuous, long, dark, winter that "May" must have sounded nice and relaxed. The birthdays would be over, the weather would be better, I would be feeling better, kids wouldn't be sick anymore, right? I don't know what I was thinking when I registered Grace for swimming and riding lessons and Hattie for swimming too (at a different pool on a different day!), on top of Grace's ongoing karate class. I also somehow scheduled every single doctor/dentist check up for the girls this month. The kids have also been playing quite a bit with friends (well, quite a bit for my standards) It's been crazy. On top of it, I've been really feeling badly that I haven't taken my kids on any big outings for a long time and so I planned a big trip to Boston for us last Friday when Grace had a day off from school, right before we spent the whole weekend getting our yard and house ready to host a Memorial Day BBQ yesterday. Plus, I refuse to give up "having a life" so I continue to go to dinner group, book group (keeping up with reading too!), attending special events, even went out to dinner with David last week. I feel like I'm coming close to the phrase "running to stand still." I can't keep up with my work at the barn (which is much heavier this time of year), RS stuff, and YouthLINC tasks, let alone the regular mundane sorts of things around the house.

My car which used to be able to run on a tank of gas for 2-3 weeks is now going through a tank a week, or more. At the end of the day I wonder if any of it was worth the trouble or the expense, or if we would have been better off staying at home. I am a home-body. I feel best if I've been home for at least most of the day (although I do like to get out here and there.) I hate feeling like we're only home to change clothes, sleep, and maybe eat. But, at the same time I feel super lucky and blessed to be able to go and do all that we do and that my kids can have all these experiences. I guess there's a balance in the middle somewhere, but I think I missed the middle spot this month. Hopefully June will bring us back to the middle after some of these lessons are over and we don't have to go to so many appointments. School doesn't get out until June 25th in these parts, so we're still nowhere close to "summer vacation!"

Here's some of what we've been up to: (more on flickr)

(Hattie sitting by the pool at her first swim lesson.)

(Grace riding Tink at her first "real" riding lesson!)(Hattie hanging out with Wesley during Grace's riding lesson.)(the girls all ready to go to their friends' "Pirate/Princess birthday party"!)(trying out the "hand bikes" at the Boston Children's Museum - using "kid power" to generate enough electricity to run some moving parts up above.)

(Katie Clifford and myself, meeting up in Boston to see each other for the FIRST time in 15 years! And, as she stated, it felt like only 15 minutes had gone by... we picked right up where we left off, it was awesome.)(watching giant fish, sharks, rays, sea turtles, and about a thousand other kinds of sea creatures in the enormous tank at The New England Aquarium.)(just outside The New England Aquarium on the Wharf)

(Grace and her best friend, Eamon, on one of their many recent playdates.)