Is this the magic time slot?

It's fall and that means that life is a bit hectic these days.  School is in session, soccer season is in full swing and CCD has resumed.  All of that is fine, but I'm getting grumpier with each birthday invitation that has darkened our doorstep over the past few weeks.  The problem?  It seems that everyone loves having a birthday party between the hours of 4-6PM on Saturday night.  I could not dislike the timing of these parties more.  It requires me to miss Mass at our usual time (4PM) and prevents us from attending Mass at our second time preference (5:30PM), as well.  Even worse, it requires me to wake up at 6AM the following morning so I can take the girls to 7:30AM Mass so that I can make it to my 9AM CCD class on time.  I could go at another time on Sunday, but that requires me to either starve my kids before a soccer game or rush to get them washed and dressed for Mass at 6PM on Sunday evening.  There's no happy medium.

If my kids were so intent on going to these birthday parties I'd love to say "Sorry, we can't come, we have a prior engagement." (Which in all honesty we do, attending Mass.)  I know if I decline party invitations to take the girls to Mass that they will be miserable, and so I will need to reshuffle once again next weekend.  I hope my girls appreciate what I do for them.