But that doesn't mean we didn't do anything yesterday! Just didn't stop to take pictures....so what did we do?
more wrapping of shower gifts
more shower games.
more yummy shower food
more funny stories told
great gag gifts
more funny stories told
back home to clean the house*
outside to catch more bugs
and to water the new flowers
back inside to deal with a crashed reservation system
to eat frozen pizza
and to call the owner of a stray dog
back outside to photograph the progress of our garden
back inside to send wedding proofs and make blog book pages until midnight.
*with all the summer stuff going on our house isn't staying as clean as I normally would like it to be. We are outside a lot and when we do come in, things get dropped and left. If I don't put my foot down, it just keeps getting messier. When I came home from Sunday's shower I started cleaning up from all the mess I'd made getting ready the day before. I was beat but knew that if I didn't clean I would only get grumpy having to walk past everything until I made the time to pick up. I don't want to be the bad guy that makes the kids stop playing to pick up. I also don't want to be the maid. I think I need to be more intentional about family clean up time every night. It's hard to be consistent though. How do you keep up with housework during the busy summer months?
I have the same exact frustration with balancing the fun & the cleaning. Here's what I am trying:
ReplyDeleteRight after breakfast we do a quick "all hands on deck" sweep of the house - which means putting away the clean dishes from the dishwasher (which we run at night while we sleep), tidying of bedrooms, and getting dressed. Then we go into play mode. After lunch we do the same, a quick sweep of the house, which involves rotating the laundry, putting away stuff we played with during the morning, and usually a quick tidy of the common spaces. Finally, we do the same thing after dinner before bed while Daddy does the dinner dishes with one child, myself and the other kiddo bustle around and get things picked up from the day.
Each of these quick sweeps only takes 5-15 minutes. The kids know it is part of their day, and we ALL function better because we can at any given moment be spontaneous and do an activity because the space we want to use is clean. Or mealtimes are more peaceful because we are not surrounded by clutter.
Good luck! It helps if you teach them to do one thing and do it well. Initiate consistency in their routine. My Emma is a rock-star kitchen cleaner. I haven't done dishes in months! Timmy is in charge of the bedroom tidy because he is detail-oriented and gets it looking good every day.
Find their strengths and run with them!
I'm working on a new routine for summer too. Here's what I'm thinking:
ReplyDeleteBefore we can do anything fun (head to the pool or the beach or whatever), everthing has to be picked up and put in it's spot, dishes have to be in the dishwasher, and we have to have at least started one load of laundry.
Then at nap time, we'll focus on deep cleaning one or two rooms (scrubbing bathrooms, mopping the kitchen, etc.).
I guess it's a little easier for me with my older girls though! :)