Scheduling frustrations!

We sat down with our PDA's last night, the family wall calendar and the list of events that need to happen before Christmas and scheduled it all in. Between hockey (which we've missed 2x in a row now and really can't miss again), a Santa breakfast at Dad's club, a trip to the Peak of Christmas, 2 different weekends where we have dinners and downtown trips, getting our Christmas tree (which is a 2/3rds of the day affair) and a few social functions with friends, there isn't a moment to spare. Of course there is time in November but DH is away for the rest of the month (argh). He seems to feel that I should book off a few days during the week so that we can go skiing. I guess this is the detriment of working from home, people seem to think you can just book off whatever time you like. I've tried to explain to him that as it is I have trouble getting all that needs to be done accomplished in the day. I do the morning stuff with the kids, drop them at school, pick them up most days, drop them off at activities, make dinner etc... it doesn't actually leave me with a full day for work. Technically I can book off any day that I want but that is only technically. In reality there is x amount of work that needs to be done by a certain day and it has to be finished. If it isn't finished during normal work hours, it has to be finished after the kids go to bed. Add to this the fact that I am supposed to be doing a tonne of research and I am struggling to find enough time to balance work, clients, family and household let alone research time. My research is taking a serious beating and is not being prioritized. Taking off 2 days from my week on one week means that the next week is insane. I guess I am just not willing to do that to myself given that I am going to have my kids 24/7 for the rest of the month and that means less work/school hours as it is. So now I am debating whether I could actually manage to take the kids skiing on my own... I think I could but am wondering if that is just adding too much stress to my life?