Extra-Curricu-Grrrrr’s

It’s that dreaded time of year when we all sign our kids up for extracurricular activities.  I’m a big fan of activities, as a whole.  I think they help build character in kids.  They teach them about being part of a team, about personal responsibility, about trying your best, about being a good sport, and all that other stuff that makes them well-rounded people.

But, HOLY COW, is it a very expensive pain in the arse to get them all signed up!

This year, both kids are going to be doing scouts.  Bean is continuing in Cub Scouts (which means Chris and I are continuing as den leaders and as part of the pack leadership team, which has been a hoot and a half this past year for us!).  He’ll be a Wolf this year and we are already looking forward to our next camping adventure.  Gracie is going to join Girl Scouts for the first time, and I can’t wait to see her in her little uniform!  OH MY GOODNESS!  She is going to be a Daisy, which she thinks is hysterical because that’s our dog’s name.  She keeps asking if Daisy can go to her Daisy meetings with her.  Both Cub and Girl Scouts begin in September, which gives us a week or two to get ourselves ready for schedule overload.

Each of them were also allowed to pick one sport to play.  Bean had to stop with swim team because they meet right after school, and I can’t get him there in time. Sad, but not terrible. He’ll pick it up again next summer. He also decided to take a break from baseball this fall.  Chris and I were kind of bummed about that, but it’s his choice so we are ready to cheer for whatever he wants to try.  Although, you won’t have to twist our arms because he asked if he could play golf!  WHOOO HOOOO!  We are signing him up for The First Tee, which was an organization that was near and dear to my dad’s heart, and that makes me happy, too.  They meet once a week for an hour and a half.  That’s a huge improvement to our family schedule over baseball, which met twice a week for practice and once or twice for games.

What makes me nervous is that The First Tee is pretty popular around here and, at $50 for an eight-week session, it’s sign ups go quick!  I’m crossing my fingers that we can get him a spot!  If that doesn’t work, he wants to play soccer at the YMCA.  So, we have a back up plan.  But, of course, the sign ups for soccer end two days after the golf sign ups.  OY!  These deadlines are stressing me out!

Gracie has been a handful when it comes to picking a sport.  She doesn’t want to get hot or be outside too long (heaven help her, she is my child…).  She has been playing tennis for almost a year, and she really likes it.  But her age group bumped her up to meeting twice a week, which doubled the cost.  We were going to pay almost $400 for her to play tennis this fall.  I went back and forth on that.  If I felt like she was really loving tennis the sport, and not just loving running around with her friends on a tennis court, I would happily shell out the money.  But Gracie is not so much into the sport as she is the girlfriends.  And I’m fine with that.  She’s five.  Be social all you want, kid!  But I can’t justify paying $400 for her to have a social hour every week when she might be just as happy doing something else that costs half the price.

I was nervous about how to talk to her about changing from tennis, but in true Gracie fashion, she didn’t respond as I expected.  I asked what she thought about doing something other than tennis and she didn’t even look up from coloring and responded, “Ohhhh!!!  How about gymnastics?!?!”  SOLD!  So, we start gymnastics in September for Gracie.

Sometimes I start to panic about all this stuff.  I think about schedules and planning and sign ups and fees and needing new gear and I think, “This is crazy!”  But then I take a deep breath and remind myself of the worst case scenario:  I miss all the deadlines and my kids aren’t enrolled in anything this fall.

The earth will not stop turning if this happens.  I promise.

And then I pour myself a large glass of iced tea and scour the internet for t-shirts that say things like, “Golf Mom” and “Gym Girls Rule!”

Living the mini-van dream, y’all.