OH Where OH Where Has My Table Gone???? OH Where OH Where Can it be????

In my home it is not just the children who are sloppy, I must confess: my husband and I can both definitely leave our fair share of messes behind. Even as a child I was messy so it shouldn't be such a surprise that my children's cleaning up skills are lacking. 

Before children I used to war against the laundry ... I couldn't keep my clothes off the floor for the life of me. Finally I started realizing I shouldn't wait until my laundry was overwhelming to wash it! If I would just do small amounts daily I could keep up with it :)  LOL And with that realization I started to win the war! But that didn't last forever... I had my third baby...And now I am loosing the battle again. :(  (Refer to my first post to check out Mt. Clean Clothes that has become a permanent resident in my living room.) It is just harder during this season of life to keep up with everything and keep my kids busy the way I would prefer and have the energy to do it all. So I am learning to be OK with it, but I am actively trying to come up with a game plan so that it is doable and not overwhelming. 

In preparation of the new school year my house has become an out pouring of all the thoughts and ideas running through my head that I want to implement this year where my main goal is to keep them busy doing productive things while staying on top of the house chores as well. This is taking quite a bit of planning and and cleaning up and organizing which creates more of a mess in the mean time and allows the kids a lot of free time to either watch (too much) TV or make more messes LOL 

  During the process my kitchen table has become a war zone. 

Super Mess

Semi Mess

All my posters, file folder games, construction paper, paint & paint brushes, scissors, tape, feathers, googly eyes etc needs to be organized and sorted through so I can go into the new school year prepared. The kitchen is where I keep all of my homeschooling resources so my poor table has become my storage space as I empty it all out to put it all back! :O   While I am trying my darnedest to get my kitchen table cleaned off completely it has been taking me ddaayyss to get this all done, as I sit here I am must confess I am still not quite there... I had a super busy weekend and just didn't have the time. It did drive me crazy, but we had plans  for birthday parties, the beach and a baby shower so I ignored it and we had fun. I  can just chalk it up to sometimes when a task is that large it is best to take a break and come back to it! 

It definitely worked. I got my table almost completely cleaned off! Now onto the rest of my house to finish other cleaning projects I started. This is our last week of summer, with only 6 days left I am wondering if I will be able to get my house back together in time to start the school year off on the right foot...or the way I envision starting it I should say. This is where it is easy to put pressure on yourself  that doesn't really exist. I can start school on the day I scheduled whether my table is fully clean or not. While I would so love to have all of this done ... if I didn't have three kids to tend to who interrupt me every couple of minutes...I might, but I don't. So let's just face it, it is OK. It is OK that my house is a little unorganized as I prepare for the school year. It is OK that I have to stop what I am doing  all day long to go play with the kids, change a diaper or get them something to eat (which is usually what they want!) It is OK because if it weren't for them what would I even be preparing for?Their messes are signs of their creativity, imagination and shows what they are thinking and is evidence that they are there!

Semi Clean! :) 

I may not win the cleanest house award at this time in my life, but hey at least you can see my kitchen table now!!! :) :P And as long as the children are learning, growing and having fun, what is a messy table now and then.