Battling My Messy House

I swear, I clean my house.  Really, I do.  Sometime last week I decided I wanted to have a huge list of things that I've accomplished and I started early in the morning and began to clean things.  By the end of the day, my deep cleaning and organizing were for nothing because in order to be that productive, you must leave your children much to their own devices.  Sure, my drawers and cabinets were organized and clean, but you couldn't reach them without tripping over a hazardous pile of toys, buckets, or one of the 15 outfits Peyton put on that afternoon.

My house is only ever clean for two moments a day.  Nobody is ever here to witness those moments because they are 1) early in the morning before the babies get up and 2) after they go to bed for the night.  Really.  That's it.  At least once a week I don't even clean after they go to bed because I just used my last ounce of energy putting them to bed.  On those kinds of nights, I do have the courtesy to turn off all the lights and lamps so that Chris doesn't have to see it when he gets home from work:)

I'm thinking about all of this because I have people coming to my house tomorrow.  They do not have children so I don't want my house to frighten them.  As I began to tackle the kitchen, Peyton tugged on my shirt.

Peyton: Mom!  It's night time! Yay! I want to watch a moo-tee!
Me: (slowly scanning the livingroom) First, you need to clean up your mess.  You have paper and crayons and clothes all over the floor.
Peyton: Ugh.  But Mom, I clean my room ALL DAY (collapses from exhaustion onto the floor)!

Hahaha.  I can't wait until she is a mom with two busy babies to clean up after.  Then she'll really know what it's like to feel like you've cleaned all day:)