A calming mess

Usually, on any given day, I am running around the house cleaning up after my children all day long. I can not stand to live in a home with dishes piled high, toys flung here and there and everywhere, and tiny pieces of food all over the floor that we step in. I am accustomed to wearing no shoes in the house, for it is the custom here in Hawaii, and in Japan where I grew up. I actually find it a little odd when people do wear their shoes in the home because of this. So as you can imagine, I tend to feel every single morsel that is left by the babies and the dog, (and Chase since he still wears his shoes in the house) and it irritates me to no end. We do have a lot of "stuff", so it takes a lot of work to keep our home looking presentable and clean. I am fortunate enough to have a home where it seems like the layout of the house was built around the kitchen, making it a very open home. Usually, if the kitchen is clean, the whole down stairs looks clean.

One the other hand, the upstairs is always filled with some mess of sort. I have found a way to keep it (for the most part) clean and livable. I found that if I place a basket out side of each child's room (and ours), it is easy enough to walk by and just pick up the personal belongings and throw them in their personal basket (socks, pants, books, toys,). When it is time to clean each room, the basket gets emptied and everything ends up going in to their proper place. Because we no longer have a gate at the bottom of the stairs, the babies have found a new love for playing upstairs and completely destroying everything in their path. Because of this, we lock the bathroom, and all bedroom doors except for theirs.

With a one, two and seven year old (plus all Jordan's friends), you can imagine the intensity of the mess that they produce in such a short time. When the house is clean (for the most part), I do love seeing some of my children's tiny messes. These messes, I call a "calming mess". They are the simple and sweet messes that are left behind, and bring a huge smile to my face every time I see them, and carry no desire to clean them up.

(Williams baby)

(Jordan studying hard)

(Charlottes parade of people)