Clean up, Clean up

Warning-- Some may find this a teeny bit boring. But for those of you who spend your days picking up after your littles, I aim for enlightening (wink).

I would not classify myself as a super clean freak (if you looked in my closet you would immediately know this), but I do like my house clean, picked up, and somewhat clutter free... as clutter free as a 1400 sq. ft home could be with 4 kids, 6 and under. Just clarifying.

Boys room after a major clean. 

Our garage is a constant bomb that needs tending too!

I get uneasy/irritated when our home becomes a complete tornado zone. Go figure. But with time and more kids it has actually gotten easier  for me to work out my systems. For sure, long gone are the days of leaving dirty dishes from the night before in the sink to clean in the morning. Yes, I use to do that nightly when we were first married and beyond... I shall not say when this habit stopped... let's just say when our oldest turned two (give or take and probably give a little more).

Isaiah, our first babe :). One of the happiest days of my life.

But now, the experienced mom that I am (chuckle, and big chuckle), systems are in place and up and running.  First of all, I try always to clean in love. This may sound silly, but I have to constantly remind myself that when I am cleaning the kitchen for the 100th time that week that what I am doing does matter, because I am doing it out of love. Out of love for God, for Matt, for my kiddos.

I  looove what Mother Theresa said: "Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love." Every time I read this new life breathes its way into me as a momma. It so sums up what motherhood is in the day to day, hum drum of life-- dish by dish, diaper by diaper, time out by time out...doing small things with great love....

I have found that I could spend my entire day constantly cleaning up the kitchen and picking up toys, but this is so NOT FUN (even when doing it in love) and not what I want to be doing or truly feel God wants me to be doing when I have 4 lively (whiny) children wanting me. So, my master system-- 2 cleans a day. I clean after lunch (with the boys help of course) - the kitchen, the living room, and the activity room. I/we do this right after the girls go down for naps. The house is put together then and sometimes stays relatively clean through to the night, due to kids napping and taking quiet times. And then we clean (all 6 of us, Hope delegates from her bouncy seat) before bed or an hour before bed, whatever I fancy that night. And walah-- Mom is happy and house stays relatively picked up.

Now, I do put a disclaimer in that I am constantly doing laundry, which usually goes on into the late hours of the evening, and when this mom is too tired a big pile of clean clothes ends up on our couch for the next morning or afternoon, or (ahem) evening. But I am working on it, maybe when I master putting clean clothes away right after I fold them, I will truly become supermom, just maybe.