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"I have the kids this weekend, and it&amp;#039;s one of those weekends I hate. I had a little fiscal snafu last month that came out of nowhere, and I&amp;#039;m still backpedaling and trying to recover. That means we&amp;#039;ve got all weekend together, and I can&amp;#039;t even afford to take us to the $2 movies in a neighboring town because I need to conserve every drop of gas in my car to get me to work till payday. It&amp;#039;s crummy. We can&amp;#039;t even drive up the road to our favorite hiking trail with a picnic lunch, either. Normally, this would be a cause for whining from Anna and even some repetitive confusion from David - especially since a movie came out that they both want to see. Lucky for me, Anna is knee-deep in cheerleading season, and this weekend she has games to cheer on both Saturday and Sunday, smack in the middle of the day. That only leaves the evenings free and I&amp;#039;m sure if I suggest a sleepover with her friends, she&amp;#039;ll be happily distracted. Hopefully, that&amp;#039;ll all do the trick. If not, I have to get creative. I&amp;#039;m thinking about letting her make her own Christmas cards this year - maybe we could do that. Or we could start making jack-o-lantern cookies for our upcoming Halloween party - I have all the ingredients and the cookie cutters. David will be happy with having a movie night each night as long as there&amp;#039;s popcorn to be eaten. Do you have any other great older kid activities you can suggest? I&amp;#039;m all ears - I need a few new tricks in my repertoire! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/relationships/dating-marriage/a47529/keep-kids-amused/>