A typical day...

Do you recognize this? Well maybe you haven't been in my living room, but in some room, in some house you have seen this. This is what drives every parent crazy, constant messiness. Before we had children John and I would keep up on the laundry and dishes during the week, then we would really clean the house on the weekend in one day...done! I try to remind myself that I am the oldest of eight and spent a lot of time cleaning up after myself and my siblings. I knew that children came with messes. Really,what was I thinking? Sweet babies always, let me repeat always turn into extremely sticky, messy little people. Little people with their own opinions on what clean is. I remember that I knew children are cute, wonderful, fulfilling, that's why I always wanted to be a mom. I knew I'd be able to mold their little minds and teach them to be good little helpers. Ha! Back to real life...Paige likes to sort things which also includes throwing them across the room to land in a bucket. She also is proficient in using a broom as a weapon....accidentally of course. Sydney will help if it's fun and we don't hurt her feelings. Kate well Kate does a great job when she cleans under dad's supervision. Most of the time this leaves mom to straighten up since I don't have the time or patience work with/nag my kids. I have given up on a clean house. I do laundry, dishes and straighten the living room every day. This means that on a daily basis I don't clean the bathroom, dust, sweep all the floors, and most of the time my kitchen table is taken up with things on their way from here to there. I've recently discovered I'm okay with this. I'd rather spend time creating, mothering, reading or gardening than cleaning up again and again and again. I want to teach my girls how to clean but I also want them to learn that it's important to take time for other things too. I'm working harder on helping them to learn that if they work hard, they can then play hard.

P.S. This photo was taken after I had cleaned the living room twice already and by 4 p.m. it looked like this again. This time the girls cleaned it up.