Cleaning Team

If it is sunny and over 40 degrees, we spend every afternoon together outside or at a park. 

I've sort of given up trying to accomplish daily tasks during the day and save them all for after the kids are sleeping. 

That doesn't leave much time for rest, but for now it's easier that way. I know it will have to change sometime soon...

In the meantime, my house is a disaster. We do work together every day to pick up our stuff before dinner, but it is dirty! Last Friday it was raining and I decided that I had had enough of the dust bunnies and filth. It was time to get the "cleaning team" in action. Perhaps because it was a novelty, they were all eager to help. What a pleasant surprise! I did promise them they could earn some money based on their effort.  And they all had great effort! Hallelujah!

During rest time, I made a list of all the things we needed to clean. (dust, clean windows, mirrors, sinks, toilets, vacuum, mop floors, etc.) Then I put them in teams. Luke and Irina. Ethan and Aaron. That worked really well. It's nice to have an even number of kids. Luke requested some "funky" christian music and we got busy. 

At some point, they were probably wondering why I was running around taking 

pictures instead of cleaning alongside them. Don't worry… I was cleaning too!

They were all so excited by this new mop from Grammy that we had to divide up the downstairs into zones. 

That way they each had a turn to mop the floor. 

Irina got the award for best dressed worker. There are some battles I'm learning not to fight. ;) 

It was so therapeutic for me to work together and see evidence of some cleanliness. 

Too bad it only lasts a few hours before it looks dirty again. 

*Note: We took a dancing break before we went to clean upstairs. We were having a great time until someone accidentally got kicked in the eye and was bleeding and crying! The injured boy is healing and fine, but we never did make it upstairs. We'll just have to wait for the next rainy day to tackle the filth upstairs. The dust bunnies sure are gathering quite a large army.