There are a few things we do nearly every day. One of them is wake up, one of them is eat, and the other is clean the house. I can't tell you how tempting it is to not clean up the toys every day. I think our quints are at possibly the worst age for making big messes. I have to hand it to Rachelle, though. She is determined to live in a clean and mostly clutter-free house.
When we originally signed the papers to buy the house we currently live in, it just felt right. We were going to have an upstairs room for kids to play in and the rule would be that toys were never allowed downstairs. It was going to be a perfect house with a storage room and a slightly bigger garage where we would have enough room for two cars as well as the lawn stuff and my tools.
Jump forward 3 and a half years and we find a few big bins full of toys, a hamper full of dress up clothes, 5 tricycles, and a big metal teeter-totter shaped like an airplane...all downstairs. We also have taken the storage room and made it a bedroom for the boys and used the extra garage space to store various food and kid things that we will need for the future. We also have a van that is a little too big for the garage and a bunch of strollers and other things that would make it impossible to fit anyway.
The good part is that the current house is almost perfect for what we need. All of those original plans are gone but we are left with a house that could potentially last through all of our kids. Kind of nice how things have worked out even though they are not as we originally planned.
Keeping it all clean though is another matter. On most nights we all pitch in and try to clean everything up before going to bed each night (some help more than others). The dishes, the toys, and the clothes are the main things that need to be picked up every night. This has become harder as the quints have gotten older and have been able to go in more places in the house. On any given day, we will end up finding toys from the same bin in 5 different areas of the house. We try to let them only play with one bin at a time but they are at the age where they can pull the toys out themselves so it is harder to keep them to just one set.
They nearly all like to hide toys so that they can feel some ownership. I think possession is a big deal with these kids because there are very few things that they actually "own". Because of that, they like to take toys (like little cars) and hide them in their tricycle seats or in bags that they carry around. Find a bag that Kassidy is carrying around and you are almost guaranteed to find a bunch of purple blocks, a doll, and maybe Rachelle's Ipod.
Tonight was particularly rough for some reason. It just seemed like everything was everywhere and it was hard to look at it and get up the motivation to clean because I know that in just a few hours, all of the toys I have just cleaned up will be taken out again and spread all over the house. However, thanks Rachelle for making us do it because it always feel better each night when things are clean, the house is quiet, and I can pretend like I am a normal person who can just sit here and write a blog entry in peace. Ahhhhhhhh......
4 comments:
You are a normal person and this is your normal life. Believe it or not you won't have to pick up all that kid stuff for the rest of your life although I'm sure there are days when you feel like it will never end. Hang in there Jayson, you and Rachelle are doing a terrific job and I think you are a great team. You know my favorite quote," If you want to make God laugh tell him your plan." I'm so proud of how you have been able to adjust when He told you his plan for you.
Want to pick up less toys, give them less toys :-)
...and maybe Rachelle's iPod...LOL
You and Rachelle are more than normal. Sir Arthur Henry King the High Councel person over one of our student wards would say (in a british accent) If people want to know why your children don't act like the other children, tell them that your children are superior. That pretty much sums the two of you up.
Finally watched the Texas Quints yesterday and my friend and I were very impressed with the bin organization system. You have a system in place. That's the foundation. Eventually those 3 year olds will become sticker lovers (not just to put on themselves) and will suddenly strive to put things away just for the sticker.
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