Everything Comes at a Price!

For anyone who has visited my house, you know the disaster of a playroom Leigha has. It is the ultimate CLUTTERED mess! First of all, Leigha is not the best at putting something away before she takes something else out or gets distracted (where ever would she get that from?). Every time I would tell her to clean the room up, Noe would always say he would do it for her. Well, guess what? DADDY IS GONE FOR 18 MONTHS! It got worse when I removed the entertainment center from there. Do you know how much stuff fits in one of those?! This weekend I finally had enough! I was bound and determined to try to declutter as much as I could.

Leigha started it for me by cleaning up (aka pushing everything to the side), and then I came in and took over. Her job was to keep an eye on the boys while I cleaned that room. Periodically Leigha would come in and check out what I was cleaning. She was very worried that I was going to be throwing her stuff away or donating it. I have to admit I had to talk her into donating a bunch of stuff, but she didn't fight me too hard.

I cleaned up her bookshelf and traded some books out from the boys' playroom. I found all of the board books and took away most of the paper books. The boys were entranced with all of their "new" books! They each grabbed a book and sat down, looking at them very carefully. Things were going pretty well, so I asked Leigha to come in and help me clean out this small chest of stuff. I really just wanted to dump it all, but wanted her to have a say so in it, too.

I was very pleased with the outcome of my cleaning! I realize it will still look cluttered to many of you, but for this room--it's a miracle!







Now remember, everything comes at a price! Remember when I said that the boys were reading so nicely that I decided to have Leigha come in and join me? At that point I could see all of the boys sitting, in view, reading a book. My little angels. After Leigha and I worked through a few drawers, a horrible realization occurred to me. Not only could I not see the boys, I couldn't HEAR them! Quiet, during the waking hours, is NOT a good thing in my house at all! I sent Leigha to check on them. That's when I heard her yell. My heart sank, wondering what they had been up to.

Normally I would have taken pictures of the mischief they boys get into. This time I was too livid to even go grab the camera. During those few short minutes, the three boys worked together to get the 2 lb. container of strawberries that were sitting far back on the counter. I still don't know how they got the chair over there without me hearing that lovely dragging sound. They proceeded to eat over a 1 lb. of strawberries, leaving the chunks with the stem ALL OVER THE FREAKING ROOM! I had strawberries smeared into the carpet, 4 pillows, their clothes, my still semi-new couches, and their faces and hands. I sent Leigha on a mission to seek and find any other strawberries that might have been strategically placed for later.

Needless to say, they were stripped down and thrown on the couch (yes, THROWN) and told to sit there and not open their mouths. Surprisingly enough, they didn't move at all for the first 5 minutes. Even more surprisingly, I didn't beat their butts like I was so tempted to do. While they sat and stared at me, I cleaned the carpets a bit, cleaned the couches, washed out their clothes, etc. At one point they started to goof off a bit, but I put a quick stop to that. My mom was surprised that I didn't just throw them up in their cribs, but that would be too much fun for them. I wasn't going to let them have a moment of fun after that mess!

I should also mention that it doesn't take anymore than 30 seconds for them to get into trouble. That morning I was in the bathroom for less than 45 seconds. In that amount of time they got into the candy vase, chewed up some skittles, and spit them back into the vase. The funny thing is that when Noah and Matthew are busted, their arms are stretching out towards me immediately. Robert, on the other hand, will shove the contraband into his mouth as fast as possible until I reach him. Sigh.

It's a good thing these kids are cute, or they would be history!





Let me tell you, those boys went to bed at 7:30 p.m. SHARP!