Tuesday, August 24, 2010

my never-ending cycle

I'm not sure exactly why I bother cleaning my house or bathing my kids. I'd like to say you're seeing the worst of it, but really, you're only seeing the parts that allowed me to keep my head enough to take pictures, so realistically less then half of the really bad times. I'd also like to claim that this was spread out over a long period of time. In reality, these have all happened within the last week. You don't eeeven want to begin to imagine the many states my bathroom has been in this week. It's a never ending cycle of dirt, crumbs, and messes. Welcome to my life.

My daughter has a thing for potting soil.

So it begins...
...and ends
The mud mess (especially in their hair) was so horrible that I had to hose them off before bringing them in for showers. Georgia thought it was great fun...Scarlett, not so much. The ironic thing is that they had done the exact same thing the day before. *sigh*

This picture doesn't eeeeven begin to do justice to the blueness of Georgia (I think it was too light in the kitchen for the light blue chalk). She was totally rockin' it Braveheart style.

I had my back turned for 3 minutes, I swear. I turned around to this...someone thought it was a super-great idea [insert dripping sarcasm here] to have a "flour dance."

That brown blob you see on the floor is Ezra. He's literally rolling around in the stuff.

If Ezra looks a little unsure in his "cheese" here, it's because he can see my glowering face staring at him from behind the camera.


We were right in the middle of dinner the other night when Ezra jumped up and said he "had to do something." We were thinkin' along the lines of a potty break. Nope. Turns out he just haaaad to make this to "catch all of his good dreams." I'm sure you can imagine the tape and paper product trail his amateur dream-catcher left behind.


Nobody ever claimed cupcake-making was clean work...
But I like to think that maybe some of this could've been avoided.


I didn't even get a chance to show you Scarlett bathing in the sprinkles. She got some in her eye while aiming for her mouth. I'll be honest...I totally laughed while she whined.
(don't worry grandparents, she blinked it out very quickly, no scratching sensitive eye area occured)

The End.
(well, not really the end of the messes...unfortunately those never seem to go away.)

17 comments:

Sheffer's said...

Sounds like we need to do a playdate! :D A friend and I actually let our boys roll and play in about 5lbs of flour one cold winter day a few years ago. They had a total blast! It's different when its your idea, not theirs, though! :D

The Dooley Family said...

wow!! I'm sorry! Mitch and I are to the point where we see mamas with whole menageries of children in public and (whether they're well-behaved or not,) we can't imagine having more than 2 right now!! Haha i'm sure we'll feel differently later, but for right now we're a little overwhelmed! And we don't even HAVE kids yet!! Haha this post sure made me giggle though!

Catherine said...

OH NO! :) I think our children were frineds in the here before and someone mstakenly told them, there were sent here to make our lives difficult... don't you? just think of the mayhem that would ensue if we got out kids together! AHHHH! you kids with the flour and mine with the pam, we could have some flat bread or something! throw in some diaper cream and we have a weeks worth of entertainment! Good luck with the cleaning of your bathroom, i will be thinking of you as I wonder to myself if all that dirt is going to clog my drain! Love ya and your tails of wo!

Jennae said...

Would you like me to abduct your children for a day or two? I don't mind. I really do think they are great! Ps. Thanks for dinner. Trevor even told me today how nice it was. :)

Adrienne said...

I just love those pictures. It's so crazy how quick they can be, and destructive.

And sometimes people wonder how come my house isn't all that cute. Because I have to clean faster than they mess stuff up and sometimes they win. Oh well. Kids are happy and no one can say my house doesn't look lived in :)

beks27 said...

First of all I love your purple table cloth! And second of all, I love your blog background, and lastly- your kiddies are so so cute-especially in shades of dirt, chalk, and flour :)

Jeff & Erin said...

Whenever I take a picture of my kids doing something like this my mom gives me "the look" because I am reinforcing their bad behavior :) I like to think I will look back and laugh at them though...as I giggled through looking at yours, thank you for sharing!
Kaleb's most recent thing is going into the other room, then running back into the room we are yelling "surprise" as we turn to see him stark naked! (don't worry, I don't capture that one on camera) ;)
Your little family is adorable, and even if they do make many messes, you can tell they sure are loved!

Kristin Hanson said...

Yeesh. Those pictures make me itch to get around to cleaning up my own house... You know how much I hate a mess, but it was 110 here and no air conditioner so we pretty much just left every pot in the sink (since we don't have a dishwasher, either) and Evie ran around with just about every cold treat you can imagine slathered on her face. Not to mention all the sand from when she "took a nap" at the park. *sigh* At least our kiddos are having fun, right? Even if it means that mom will be stuck cleaning it up :)

Hannah-girl said...

I giggled all the way through this post. Especially at the Flour Dance and Scarlet's sprinkle mishap. I think children covered in mud, chalk, flour and sprinkles are the best. :) Though I'm sure I'll be singing a different tune once I have kids of my own.

Melanie said...

Ugh- amen to the never-endingness of messes. Oh, sure it's cute looking back on it... but some days I think all I'm good for is scraping globs of peanut butter off the carpet! So glad to know I'm not alone.

Jennae said...

Dear friend,
I was thinking about this post on my way home from work and giggling. Then it occured to me (I assume you've read Anne of Avonlea), you have Davy style children and I like them so much better than Dora style children because they are interesting, even if it's mostly mischief. Plus that makes you, Anne who is filled with good stories and a pretty nose!

whitney said...

Jennae darlin', I think that might just be the best comment this blog has ever received.

Aubrey said...

I just left a long comment that was cute and funny and letting you know I can relate, and it didn't publish. It told you the story of how my son pooped all over himself, and got it on me and the carpet in his bedroom and there was lots of deep (gagging) breaths and counts to ten so I could handle the situation. Just remember - girl's night is coming soon!

Alabama Apples said...

Oh, I laughed so hard yesterday when I read it and laughed again when I re-read it! Ohhh...funny little goobers! I will say my children bounce around the house, climb on things, etc., but their messes are never so creative. Yes, I would have to say your children are some of the most creative mess makers I know. Heehee. I don't know how you handle it! I can laugh since they are not mine (and in part because they are NOT mine ;)) but it is a testament what a wonderful mother you are that you take pictures. Give the little moglies loves from Auntie!!

Kristyn said...

i sooo would love your big spacious backyard!

these pictures make it easier to relish in the messes!! (bennett JUST shoved a pancake into the hole behind our speaker, i finally gave up on trying to get it out. it's now assigned to paul to try. so thanks for the fun reminder.)

Mare said...

Best post of the week hands down. It makes you feel like you are not the only one on the planet thinking why bath you if you are just going to end up looking like this everyday! Ah the joys of kids. I wish they made a special machine you could just put them in and they came out clean like on the jetsons!

Erica said...

oh whit- i truly honestly don't know how you do it! i wouldn't be cleaning the bathroom i'd be locking myself it in!!! but then you get a look at those oh so sweet smiles and it's all worth it, right??? haha!!!