If you haven’t been here yet, I promise that you will be here soon – cleaning while your kids are awake and ready for action.  Holy moly b’ys!!

Today’s lunch left us with a larger than normal amount of dishes, so while I was taking care of the mess I set my kids up in the living room with their leap pads.  They were fairly quiet while I was working in the kitchen and seemed to be content when I checked in on them.  During the final five minutes of my chore, something happened.  The only explanation I can offer is perhaps an indoor tornado.  After finally finishing up in the kitchen, I went into the living room…or rather disaster area!  There were costumes and other dress up items scattered everywhere along with my daughter’s prized collection of nick knacks.  I stood in the doorway completely dumbfounded.  How did this happen?  They were so quiet!  Usually a session of dress up is accompanied with the typical “I’m a princess!” or “Rawr!  I’m a dragon!”  After my brain had finally processed what had happened, I sent the kids to their room to get ready for an afternoon nap while I cleaned the living room.

It took me about ten minutes to clean up the latest mess.  I will confess that I was REALLY looking forward to their nap time!  Once I had finished, I went upstairs only to discover that the indoor tornado had hit my children’s bedroom.  I mean…come on!!!  My kids look at me like deer caught in the headlights.  A couple of deep breaths later and I was able to calmly request that they quickly tidy up their room.

Most times, I don’t mind a little mess here and there around the house.  Hey, I have two small kids right?  There’s bound to be the odd Buzz Lightyear, Toothless or Princess Sofia laying around.  I really don’t mind that.  What I mind are the “everything everywhere” messes…especially when I have a schedule to keep. 

By this point, you’re thinking that I have some grand solution to all of this.  You’re thinking “here it comes…the big hidden secret to keeping a clean house!!”  Sorry to disappoint you, however I’m a firm believer that messes come with the territory of raising a family.  My advice?  Simply accept it.  If I were to devote the majority of my time cleaning my house, sure I could have a perfectly clean house all of the time but where’s the fun in that?  Kids will be kids and kids, generally, are a bit messy.  Most will learn to keep things neat and tidy as they grow, but while they’re young I would rather spend my time doing fun things with them rather than clean 24/7.

So embrace those small messes my friends!  Be not afraid of naysayers who look down upon you.  Anyone who would judge you for some misplaced toys clearly does not have kids.  😉