Pour some sugar on.....

Sometimes i'm working really hard.
I do things like install shelf supports so that the shelves in my laundry room can hold my food storage.
I use things like power drills and stud finders and step stools.




Then I drop a 5lb bag of sugar on the ground. Thank goodness I had Jake around.
Who else would have spread it all over the floor in the laundry room?
I LOVE MY KIDS!!!

How could this happen?

Ok- it is called "Camping Trip"+"regular weekly stuff"+"being too lazy/busy to fold each load as it came out of the dryer".
Progress.
Finished! (I wish I had a pretty couch under all of that mess)

What does a mom do all day?

At the end of the day I feel tired because I was so busy- but I don't really have much to show for it. When Nate leaves in the morning the kids are asleep and the house is in order... when he comes home the kids are awake and (usually) the house is in order again- but I am exhausted. I feel like I've gotten nothing done but I am so tired. In reality I know I got stuff done... here are some pictures of what a house goes through several times a day. Thankfully Nate never asks what it is I do all day. When the house looks one way when you leave and the same when you come back you have to wonder. This Mr. Potato head and dozens of puzzles will be put away and taken out more than one time in a day. The toast crumbs will be vacuumed up - and then I'll break out the vacuum again to get the chips that some how got in the living room.
As soon as Mr. Potato head and the puzzles are put away the blocks get taken out.. The morning sippies of milk are left on the couch and chair-hopefully not leaking. Flip flops and toys are strewn about.
Oh, the kitchen. The dished need to be unloaded and loaded again- if you click on this photo you will probably see that the green can on the floor is Mandarin oranges that Jakie threw on the floor. I have some art supplies on the table as if I'll be able to find some time between cleaning up mess after mess to work on a logo design that I'm doing.
The counters are pretty clean. I forget what we have spilled over the stove- it will be cleaned up before I can relax. The mail and grocery adds will be put in the "important paper " basket.
This is our play room/treadmill room. Notice the gate- it keeps the kids from throwing stuff at me when I run. The tramp is usually stored with the treadmill but it does look like I got a run in this day (wish I had the buns to prove it.) The rocking chair has been brought in from the living room- as if there are not enough things in this small room.

So this is just the cleaning part. There are lots of things that get done that I only know that have been done- and it gives me a sense of accomplishment. Here are some of them that are not visible - at least to guys- or maybe they do notice but don't really care if it gets done or not.

• I will organize the closets. (i love looking at closets full of labeled boxes and totes knowing that the box labeled "boy 3-6 months" is full of baby boys clothes that were once in a bag in the storage room nagging me to be sorted). Jake helped me sort these things one morning. He "helped" by throwing items I put in the boxes out of the boxes.
• I will sort out the important paper basket. It is nice after 3 months go by and you notice that one of your mortgage statements has a check included with over $300 that you overpaid in escrow.
• Balance the budget- always give me a sense of accomplishment and peace- knowing what money we have or don't have to spend.
• Washing the sheets- I do it every Friday- but you'd never notice.
• Cleaning the bathrooms - this is cleaning again-but I love the look of a white toilet bowl.
• Wiping all of the knobs and light switches with a Clorox wipe. I know this is weird weird weird- but I try to do it once a week. Do you know how many hands have touched those things?

Things I don't do- that people might or might not notice.

• Once I washed all of the curtains in the house- they did not look much different so I will not do it again for another 6 years. That is one things that I did that no one noticed and I could care less about.
• I don't dust. My sister-in-law is a super cleaner and I'd pay you a $1000 dollars if you ever found dust in her house. You CAN'T. (ok- her baby is getting bigger and more mobile so things are a bit harder at her house- but I cannot imagine her ever letting the cleaning ago- even dusting- I think she would go crazy-just like I feel if I go to bed with a messy house.)

Ok- besides all of the house work- moms take their kids to the park- bathe them- at lest once- grocery shop with them- wash the cars- water the plants- go to the library-and visit grandmas.
It's all in a days work. And I really love it.