When you walk into our home, you will be greeted by a sitting area with no coffee table. Instead, there is an area rug big enough to play on. It is almost always home to train tracks, duplo houses, or daddy's big body after work for kids to climb on top of and tickle!
When you try to hang up your coat in our front closet, you will find yourself faced with a plush puppy dog, a bowl of water, and lovingly scattered cheerios. Little did you know that the closet doubled as puppy's house for the day!
As you join me in our kitchen you will notice many things. There is a stainless steel fridge that I just can't keep smudge free. But, did you know that lately big sister has been Tarzan and spends many hours swinging and climbing from that fridge? Who can begrudge those little hand and feet prints that are so gleefully imagining vines, trees, and a tiger in hot pursuit?
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| Hmm...I wonder if gymnastics had anything to do with her current climbing obsession :) |
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| Lil' monkey! |
The floor is crumb free for a glorious 30 seconds, no - make that 15 seconds, after I've finished vacuuming. It is testament to the fact that my children are so eager to do everything I do! When we bake, although it takes 5 times and long and is 50,000 times as messy, we do it together! When i wash the dishes, they hop up on stools next to me and grow the mess by ten-fold help with such love!
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| Don't worry, all hands were cleaned prior to the making of these delicious energy bites! The counter may not have fared so well, though! |
If I am brave enough to invite you into our bedroom, with its piles of strategically placed clean and dirty laundry and unread books on my bedside table, you may notice some hot chocolate stains on our sheets. This is because we've taken to "coffee parties" in bed in the morning. The children drink their almond milk and I sip my coffee, as we wake up together. It is glorious! I know the days are fleeting where such slow mornings will be possible. The sheets fall victim though when, quite regularly, a sippy cup doesn't do its duty.
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| Bedhead and sippy cups! The best days are Saturday and Sunday, when Daddy can join our parties! |
The children's bedroom? Oh my! It is victim to a toddler who has an imagination unmatched and a desire to fit each imagining with a perfect, in character outfit. She knows to put her clothing on her bed when she changes, but you will find that it is mimicking our Alberta Rocky Mountains by the end of each day!
Surely, each and every one of these scenarios won't greet you when you walk into our home, but most certainly most of them will! Without a doubt, as I work to clean one area another is being gleefully lived in. As my mother so lovingly reminded me, "our house should be clean enough to be healthy and messy enough to be happy." It most certainly is!
I can't apologize, however, because each day is a choice for me to let go of my "need" for cleanliness and order, and get down on the floor to play. As I notice my jean's knees getting more and more faded I can't help but smile, because I know that I am learning to let go.
As I walked into Costco a few days ago with my two blond sweeties in the cart giggling over the bumps in the parking lot, I felt my breath leave me for a moment. "How are you mine?".
As I move my foot over in bed after each night waking to touch my warm husband besides me my heart skips a beat for a moment. "How are you mine?"
I am not perfect, our home is not perfect, but oh! the joy in the small moments. We are blessed.
So, feel free to come to our home, but be prepared for what you might see as you walk in!
Love to you this day,
xoxo
