Master Mess Makers

I don't consider myself an extreme neat freak, but I do really enjoy a clean house where everything has a place. I like order and I feel peaceful at the end of the day when the house looks clean and organized. I feel accomplished.

Good thing I have three messy, squishy toddlers running around the house, right?! It just so happens that a pristinely organized house at the end of the day is an extremely rare occurrence with three toddlers. Probably just when you have children in general, but I'm trying to convince myself that the light at the end of the tunnel will come before I'm about to be an empty nester. Even if it's false hope, I'm clinging to it!

Over the last month I've tried to take pictures of the mess which is our home. My hope with this is that it will be something to kick back and laugh about later. "Oh, the days when I felt like I was cleaning the house every waking minute of the day! Remember the funny messes they made dear?!" Thinking about a point in time where this happens makes me feel less anxious in the present. I hope for the day when I can think about sticky hands that lead to sticky chairs and walls and furniture in an endearing way. :-) Right now it just elevates my heart rate.

I went to go switch loads of laundry for two minutes and I came back to this:

Putting groceries away, I turned to grab more stuff for the fridge off the counter and Jack did this:

Pasta's ready!

The toy room and living room/kitchen are in an almost constant state of this:

I confess the toy room doesn't bother me quite as much as long as they help clean it once a week. It is their space and I want them to feel creative and free in it. However, when they take all the books off of the shelves and get out all of the alphabet letter mats my skin does start to crawl. 

Meal times are where they shine brightly on the messiness scale. Have you ever seen Casper? I think about this scene every time they eat because it's just so close to home.

Our daily sweepings:

Good work boys!