Happy new week to you! We had our first real snow of the winter (except for that bizarre snow we received in October) this weekend. It is amazing how life turns out because I got to be the one to take the four girls out and eat snow and shovel while Bobby was ill. I got to see Ainsleigh and Annabelle old enough now to really love the snow. I got to sled down our backyard hill and run the sled back up to the top.
I honestly didn’t sit down once on Saturday until the night. I kept moving like a robot: laundry put away in rooms, deconstructing Caroline and Johanna’s room (Caroline’s imagination definitely tries my patience), the daily cleanup of the art room and all of its 500 cut-up paper scraps, the basement steps (it is a start, at least), and so on and so forth.
If the thought has ever crossed your mind about my home staying in order and my children playing nicely and then mechanically putting their play things away, let me ease your mind. Within one hour of the whole family waking in the morning, books and dolls and scissors and paper and randomness is strewn all over the floor. My goal is simply to keep at least one floor sane before we undo that one as well.
It is finding that balance that is so darn hard. Although you might not see it on this space, my personality is much more uptight at times than I’d like. I let my kids create and play all day, with certain parameters, of course. Some days, with their help (Ok, Caroline’s), we can keep up our living spaces. Other days, I’m wishing everyone would just sit on the couch and only live and breathe in their allocated space because I’m worn out from the (nagging at times) and constant pick up. Not because I’m obsessed with having a perfect house (totally impossible with twin toddlers and an over-zealous creative 6 year old) but because we must maintain a certain amount of order for there to be function.
So yes, we are very much alike, you and me.
{annual Christmas thank-you writing day}
By nightfall, Bobby and I throw ourselves on the couch after four bedtimes and the long dinner/day’s clean up is through. Although we know it will all happen over again after a wink and a shut eye of sleep, sinking into the couch with a blanket for me and feet propped up for him and a quiet peaceful night to ourselves is all we need to remind us that this is all worth it.
the sleepy time gal
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Hey! That’s my thank you card! How funny to see it there! So, I have a request. I’d like to see the imaginative play of Caroline in all it’s messiness. I am curious what she puts together…
Done.
Will share.
no words have been more true…sounds identical to my house….minus the twins
You know Nicole, so often I plop down with Michael (at the end of the day, after bedtime) and I try to explain this exact desire: “Other days, I’m wishing everyone would just sit on the couch and only live and breathe in their allocated space because I’m worn out from the (nagging at times) and constant pick up. Not because I’m obsessed with having a perfect house (totally impossible with twin toddlers and an over-zealous creative 6 year old) but because we must maintain a certain amount of order for their to be function.”
Obviously, I don’t add the part about having twins.
But, it is so hard to explain that the only reason I want the house “in order” is so we can function within it. I hate when Benjamin wants to do a large project and we don’t have any floor space large enough & clear enough to do it….because he has Playmobil scenes strewn around our entire house, paying homage to ten different historical time periods. It’s kind of like you say about Caroline: “(Caroline’s imagination definitely tries my patience).” I LOVE his imagination, but I’d also like some floor space. 
Thank you for this post…I think every mom can relate.
Sound like your Benjamin and my Caroline would be best friends!
Awww thanks cute!
I was the one who got to take my 2 girls outside to play on Saturday, because my husband was at work – and I must say, I rather enjoyed it! So much so that I volunteered to take them out again on Sunday (we have a small yard, and no hill, so there’s not much for them to do other than just play in it).
I’ve been enforcing the rule of “clean up one thing before taking out another” – I feel like a bit of a police officer at times, but it’s helped tremendously.
And…4 bedtimes?! I don’t know how you do it. I can barely manage 2. And it takes hours. Clearly I need to change how we do things, but I don’t know how!
I like this post very much! Out of curiosity, how do you do your christmas thank you notes with your two littlest ones?
They color and do art, I write their names on their art, then insert it into some of the thank yous with a hand written thank you by me. Every year it changes based on their age.