Running on A Full Circuit

In Mo Willems wonderful book, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, the pigeon says: "But I'm a curious bird."

Rich and I have used this line often to explain the unexplainable messes and conundrums in which our children tend to find themselves.

For example when one child explained his attempt his lack of a Mother's Day gift:

"I wanted to create a heart that was attracted to a magnet using parallel circuits for your Mother's Day present, so I took two wires, two light bulbs, two batteries, and put the magnet in the middle. The heart was on the side.

Something went wrong though because sparks started coming out of one of the batteries, and...honestly, I quit befoe I burned down the house."

My first thought was, "But I'm a curious bird."

There are times I wonder if Rich and I have done too good of a job instilling a sense of wonder and exploration of the world around them in our children.

My second thought was, "Thank you Lord that you gave my child the gift of common sense."

The best part of Mother's Day really is having my house intact.

(A) Typical Mom's Day

You will never hear me claim to be the June Clever of my cul-de-sac, but I do feel that company should not be forced to don haz-mat suits before entering the front door.

It's a fine and delicate line; however my kids crossed it big-time earlier in the week, so in honor of Mother's Day, they earned the privilege of helping me clean the house.

Yep, I spent Mother's Day cleaning the house.

I woke up at 6:30am and couldn't fall back asleep. So, I folded all the laundry that I had washed, dried, stacked....repeat....while Rich was in Virginia.

As I was folding laundry I started to think about how much easier it would have been to sleep if the house had been tidier.

Then I started to get irritated in only the way moms can become irritated.

I wasn't mad or angry. I just wanted my house back. I wanted sporting equipment in the proper place (fyi: my dining room floor is not the proper place). I wanted my kitchen counters free of clutter. Bedrooms needed to be neater. Bathroom counters less bathroom counter-y.

Among the refrains of: "You're mean." "You're unreasonable." "Why do we have to do this?" "You're beyond cruel (personal favorite)!!"

and the possibility of life without electronics of any kind, the work was unwillingly and grudgingly accomplished before our neighbors came over for supper.

The house looked wonderful! *

I felt so peaceful in my own space!

Truly, it was worth all the hassle with the kids because I could sit down and enjoy the time with our friends rather than worry in the back of my mind that I should be cleaning something.

As an even better bonus, the kids were so polite and respectful during the supper that I was even prouder than usual to call them my own.

*I think it's important to note that the house still looks like four kids live here. It's a home. It just DIDN'T look like four kids who had never seen a cleaning supply or heard the words, "Pick up your stuff and put it away! NOW!" lived here." Again I'm not June Cleaver or a miracle worker.