Wednesday, August 27, 2008

What a helper...

I finally have something to blog about...

So yesterday morning our house looked like a camping tornado had hit it. There was clean and dirty laundry on opposite sides of the living room, kitchen stuff all over all of the counters in the kitchen (marshmallows, stoves, white gas, lighter fluid, dishes, cooking utensils... all of it), flash lights, tents, camp chairs, sleeping bags, glow sticks, you name it, it was destroying our house. And... I had a stampin' up party here last night, so it all had to be taken care of and pronto. I had a meeting that I had to go to at 9 am, so all cleaning was to be done between the hours of 2 and 5:30. We got home from town, (we live about a half an hour out) fed the kids, and laid them down for naps. All except Heather. She got to choose whether she wanted to take a nap, or help mommy clean. She chose to clean. She got to start where I would not likely get to... the bathroom! I was folding the 23 loads of laundry and Heather got to work. She swept the floor, cleaned the counter tops, the sink, the mirror, the shelves (organized) and then got started on the toilet. She cleaned the inside and the outside. She spilled a little water on the floor and decided to "mop" the floor. (With a rag and cleaner) I am not sure that bathroom has ever had as much attention paid to it. And little miss wasn't done... She came out to see what she could do next.

She cleaned the table while I unloaded the dish washer. Then she loaded the dishwasher. Now, when I say that she cleaned the table, I am not talking about 30 seconds and "ok, mommy, I'm done" No! we are talking 20 mins of looking through the light to make sure there are no smudges and attacking the ones she finds with vinegar and a dish rag. That table is very clean. then she loaded the dishwasher and I taught her how to add the soap and set it to the right settings. She started it and then started working on the counter tops. Remember I said that they were COVERED! I helped her put everything away and then she get her trusty vinegar spray and rag and went to town on the counter tops. Next she moved all the furniture away from the walls in the dining room so I could sweep and then moved them back again. When I finished sweeping, she got out her cleaning supplies again and attacked the obvious spots on the floor (spilled ketchup and scuff marks) While I vacuumed.

By this time the other kids had waken up from their naps and for some reason wanted to get in on the action. They were all handed baby wipes and told to clean the finger prints off of the walls and door jams. Jeremiah (the 18 month old) made it quite clear that he was plenty big enough to work along side his siblings so he got himself a baby wipe and got to work too.

Steven and Jeremiah helped me take the big trash (things that we don't put in the trash can like boxes and bottles) out to the street (another blog regarding this to follow) and the house was clean! Although it smelled like vinegar and we had guests due soon. So.... Heather and I decided to bake brownies. There is nothing like the smell of baked goods to make a home more welcoming!

Well, the house got clean, Daniel got home, I got in the shower, and before I got out again, the first guest arrived. AWESOME!!!! I could not have done it all on my own. I love having kids who like to help.

By the way, I do not think I have mentioned yet, that this was the first time I had let Heather do any of the things that she did. I usually want it done a specific way, so i don't let anyone (even Daniel) help. What a dummy I have been. Heather did an amazing job and I could not have finished without her.

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