Too Busy

Alyssa was so grouchy this weekend. She, who spent the night at my mom’s on Friday, who spent Saturday with a friend to celebrate said friend’s birthday, who was home for all of three hours on Sunday before being whisked off to a movie with me and my mom.

She was grouchy.

I picked both girls up from my mom’s on Saturday morning so we could do our usual library, lunch, grocery shopping run. Alyssa was so ouchie in the car. Everything Olivia said irritated Alyssa. She was moaning about being hungry.

I finally asked her what was wrong.

“I don’t know!” she wailed.

Turned out, she really was hungry. After three pieces of original recipe chicken from KFC, she was much more pleasant to be around.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to enjoy the protein enhanced charm because as soon as we got home with the groceries, she had to run to pack a bag so I could take her to her friend Tallulah’s party. She was spending the night, which meant she had to take more than her mud boots (purchased that day for that very party) and a birthday gift.

Tallulah’s mom was bringing Alyssa home the next morning.

When she got home, she was tired from a late night with her friends and probably a let down from suddenly being surrounded by, ugh, family.

She wasn’t too bad, though, just a little pouty here and there. I can handle that since I’m sort of a pouty person myself. I say this with a bit of a shrug, not pride. We pouters can’t exactly always help it.

Then we were off to the movies with my mom. We saw Russell Crowe play Noah. My mom was the one who had the biggest issue with the dramatic license the film makers too.

Alyssa’s biggest issue was that it was a fairly long movie. Sigh.

But you know what? I get it. She was away from home all weekend long. She never really had down time and that makes for a grouchy eleven year old. This is why I’m all about not over scheduling and yet, that’s pretty much what this weekend was all about.

Next weekend we have my sister-in-law’s baby shower on Sunday but that’s it. Should be plenty of time for a certain eleven year old to veg out with her tablet, practice her flute, read and read and read some more of the three books she usually has going at any given time.

We all need down time. I need to remember that the next time she’s a little irritable after a busy weekend. Even if the busyness is full of things we enjoy doing, it still takes us away from the much needed down time.