No wonder......

 

This is what happened as I started to make our bed the other day. Almost immediately after I get it made it fills up with kids. They started playing "put the baby to bed". Hailey is rolled up in the top quilt at the foot of the bed after tugging it off because she wanted to sleep on the floor..... No wonder I don't get anything done - well, that's not true - no wonder it LOOKS like I never get anything done :) They love to be where I am, be part of what I am doing, yet be kids at the same time. So everything usually turns into playtime..... and I let it.
I try not to complain about the house being a mess because for the most part it's my fault. I could stop them from playing "put the baby to bed" in my bed immediately after I make it but they were having fun and it was pretty cute to see Caleb playing with them. They help with dishes and water gets everywhere...... they help mop the floor and leave puddles here and dirt there....... they help with laundry and put crazy folded things in the piles....... I know they are helping but it sure doesn't look like it!! But I also know that this time in my life / our lives doesn't last forever. They will get older - the dishes will get done - the floor will get mopped - the laundry will look like it was folded....... and the kids WON'T look little the way they do now. I love them for their willingness to help and work hard at something that comes so easily to a grown up. I want them to remember playing - they will have so many more years of cleaning ahead of them than they ever will of playing.
Sometimes we clean together but often that ends badly :) Usually Hailey and I start something but then I have to go find/check on Caleb and Hailey finds interesting things to do when left to her own devices.... the other day she pulled a stool over to the fridge to clean the fingerprints off - she got the top 2 feet - where there are no fingerprints! I can try to clean alone ...... that results in more messes other places from unsupervised kids.
However, when it's all said and done the house FEELS BETTER when it's clean so I need some balance..... and I hear that having some responsibility is good for kids :)